บท 135: Chapter 135: Springing into the Hot Springs
Even though I said that, my ice dragon and Silvia were already exacting a heavy toll on them. Many of them lay dead, crushed or impaled.
Silvia, in particular, had conjured a blizzard of ice swords. Hundreds of frozen blades rained down on the hapless incubi and succubus, killing them outright.
They stood no chance whatsoever.
It was only natural. Incubus and succubus were known mostly for their seduction spells and charm magic. They didn't actually possess high combat power. Cassandra was an exception, but that was because she was a carbon copy of a particular succubus from another universe where the protagonist was reincarnated (?) into the body of Sebastian the Overlord.
None of the other incubus or succubus possessed tremendous physical strength like she did. And now that she was dead, they were pretty much screwed.
"I won't let any of you escape!"
Silvia continued to bombard the fleeing enchanting legion with her ice swords. My ice dragon pursued, crushing and trampling whoever was stupid enough to try and fly away. He seized one in his jaws, biting her to death, and then swat another to death, sending his broken body crashing into the steep slope of the mountains.
It was a massacre, and that was even before I joined in. With a grin, I cast another spell and sent icicles shooting upward, ripping apart more of the escaping incubi and succubus.
We weren't going to let even a single one survive.
After a few minutes, there was nothing left of the incubi and succubus but their torn bodies and blood on the snow. I used my glasses to scan the area, but came up with nothing. There was no other living things in the area.
"Good job, both of you." I nodded at my ice dragon, who disappeared when I dismissed him. Then I bowed politely to Silvia, who waved her hands frantically.
"Not at all! I only did my duty!"
"I still appreciate it, though." I nodded and joined her. We checked for any injuries, and then proceeded toward the mountain.
"With this, the enchanting legion is all but destroyed." Silvia paused for a moment, considering. "There will still be a large number of incubi and succubus left, but they are effectively leaderless. This is a good opportunity to lay claim to them."
"Put a leader, one who's amenable to helping me, in charge of the enchanting legion," I agreed. "That's a great idea. Then we'll be able to prevent pointless bloodshed and genocide."
Perhaps I should have left some alive and taken prisoners instead of killing all of them. But I wasn't in any condition to take any prisoners at the moment, and I couldn't be sure they would betray me, not when Silvia and I were isolated from our forces.
Speaking of which, I was surprised that they could find us. My reason for traveling light, with a very small entourage, was because I didn't want to alert the Havan Kingdom to my presence. Nothing would make them more vigilant than receiving news that a sizable army of demons was marching toward their border. No matter how much I told them we weren't there for an invasion, it was difficult for them to believe me.
After all, I wouldn't believe the humans either if they were amassing several thousand soldiers across the border while telling me they had no plans to invade the Demonic Empire.
Besides, I was a one-man army, just like Byun. I could win the GSL Code S even without a team. Okay, scratch that, of course I wasn't that professional and I couldn't handle a reaper like Byun (I was more like Gumiho anyway). Regardless, the point was that I could practically fight an army all by myself, as long as I had the right support.
Support like Silvia, Stella, Larson, Billy and Doug.
Speaking of which, we had to reunite with the rest of my group.
"Let's get going," I told Silvia. She nodded and we continued up the slope, scanning the area for any signs of the rest. We also kept an eye out for the frost giants or other incubus and succubus. I didn't know if they would find out that I had already taken out that Divine General, but it was safe to assume that they would attack Silvia and me on sight.
Best to be safe than sorry.
A few hours later, we had managed to climb up the mountains when I spotted something.
"That's…steam?"
By combining the sensors in my glasses along with the magnification function, I could see clouds of steam rising in the distance. The readings in my glasses indicated that the smoke was composed entirely out of molecules made out of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. In other words, water molecules. The thermal signatures confirmed my suspicions – that it was steam.
Not only that, the sensors in my enchanted lenses picked out traces of sulfur and sulfur dioxide. The scent of rotten eggs permeated the place, which meant one thing.
We were near a volcano.
"Should we keep going?" Silvia asked. I understood her nervousness. Ice mages like us didn't particularly like volcanos. Molten lava, which could reach up to temperatures of 1,200 degrees Celsius, was basically antithesis of our frozen magic.
"Yeah, we don't have a choice. It's possible that the others have already made their way across there and are waiting near the border. The sooner we can meet up, the better."
I made the decision and we carried on without another word.
Traversing through the steam and stink of sulfur, I detected a rise of temperature despite the snow, which was melting away and releasing small puffs of fog that hung over the valley. Thankfully, my glasses was equipped with a sophisticated array of sensors, so my vision wasn't as obscured as it would otherwise be.
Silvia stumbled about uncertainly, though, her sight inhibited by the fog. She had to hold onto my arm as we trekked across the uneven terrain, glancing around hesitantly. I led the way confidently, able to see past the fog because of my enchanted glasses.
And people were demanding that I stop wearing glasses because…I don't know. They had something against glasses. Why? They couldn't self-insert into what they perceived as nerdy characters?
Shaking my head, I pushed my glasses up my nose and continued forward.
"What's the matter?" Silvia asked, but I quickly shook my head.
"No, nothing."
The downward climb was less tedious than the uphill trek, and we made good progress over a shorter period of time. By now, the sun had set and darkness had settled over the horizon. Thanks to my glasses and vampire night vision, I wasn't impeded by the darkness at all. I was able to continue guiding Silvia across down the mountain. It didn't take long before we reached the foot of the mountain.
"We should set up camp and rest here for the night."
Honestly, even though the both of us could keep going, there was little point in pushing ourselves. I would rather we rest up well and restore whatever energy we had. There was still a legion of frost giants wandering out there, along with the remnants of Cassandra's enchanting legion. We might have eliminated well over a hundred incubi and succubus, but from last count I was aware that there were thousands of them.
Obviously not the whole legion was here with Cassandra, but she definitely brought a significant force along. Maybe about a thousand or two. That being the case, I believed it best to rest as much as possible so that we were in optimal shape to fight the enemy.
At least that was the plan, until a couple of frost giants lumbered out into the open, bellowing as they wielded their clubs. They hadn't spotted Silvia and me, at least not yet. I glanced at her and nodded. The two of us slowly crept closer to the two frost giants, keeping an eye out for more of them.
Fortunately, it didn't seem that there were any other frost giants. These two must have been separated from their brethren during the avalanche – much like Silvia and me. They were probably looking for their comrades.
They were pretty stupid, though, moving about in the open and not caring about drawing attention from the enemies. Did they not know that we had survived and were moving about stealthily? Or did it just not occur to them?
Then again, the frost giants weren't known for their intelligence to begin with.
"What should we do?" Silvia asked. I could tell that she already had an idea of her own – and she wanted to pulverize the frost giants – but she was deferring to me because I was her commander. I considered for a moment before scanning the area.
"There's no other enemy in the vicinity. We can take them, but we will have to do it fast. And try to keep out of sight, just in case this whole thing is a trap. We don't know if there are other enemies around, maybe using these two poor frost giants as bait."
"Hmm." Silvia nodded thoughtfully. "Do you really think so?"
"Yeah." I turned to look at the frost giants and pointed at them, wagging a finger. "That's bait."
Silvia gave me a strange stare. I guess she didn't catch the reference. It was only natural. I wasn't mad, and my name wasn't Max.
Nonetheless, we wasted no time coordinating the attack.
"I'll take the one on the left and you take the one on the right. If you're fine with it, of course, my liege."
"Yeah, I am. Sounds like a good plan as any. Let's do this by the book and take them out before they know what hit them."
Both of us then unleashed our ice spells at the same time. The frost giants didn't know what hit them, their titanic forms entombed in ice in the next few seconds. They stupidly stood still, their eyes unblinking, then their frozen figures shattered into countless fragments of ice.
Silvia and I paused for a moment, waiting to see if any enemies emerged, or if there was any furor at their deaths. But there was nothing. No movement, no noise…not even a single cry of rage or fear.
Evidently the frost giants were on their own.
"Let's keep moving then," I suggested. Silvia nodded and we both continued onward.
We didn't get very far when we spotted something in the distance, many of them covering the valley that stretched between the mountains.
"Those are…hot springs?!"
I couldn't believe my eyes. Silvia tensed for a moment, trying to see, but her vision was still obscured by the thick fog.
"Really? Hot springs?"
"Yeah. This is great." I paused for a moment. "Hot springs nourish your body tremendously and accelerate your recuperative processes. The warm temperatures should also help disinfect any wounds that you might have sustained in combat."
"Yeah, I've heard about them too." Silvia quickened her pace, eager to see the hot springs I was talking about. It didn't take long before we got deep into the valley, where even the fog was no longer able to block her view.
Despite the darkening skies, the volcano was still bright because of superheated rock and places where lava was visible. The area with hot springs was illuminated brightly, though visibility was still poor because of the steam that hung over the region like a cloud.
"This is incredible!" Silvia marveled. "I didn't think we would come across hot springs here!"
"Yeah, well…hot springs are common in volcanic regions," I replied. Somehow I had read that somewhere before. "Geothermally heated pockets of groundwater that ascend to the surface and pool together in volcanic craters. They are naturally occurring."
"I see." Silvia glanced at me, looking impressed. I coughed and pushed my glasses up.
"Well, we should just set camp here tonight…and since we're here, we might as well take advantage of the hot springs while at it."
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