Above the mage

Chapter 234 [Wild and Agile]

Within the valley, snowfield hyenas roamed everywhere, howling wildly with their heads raised in hunger.

These snowfield hyenas are not large in size, resembling dogs in appearance, but smaller than snow wolves.

However, body size does not represent combat strength.

In fact, in most cases, snow hyenas are much more troublesome than snow wolves.

Firstly, the Snowfield Hyena starts at level one, which naturally makes it much stronger than the Snow Wolf at level zero.

Moreover, their bite force is exceptionally strong, capable of easily breaking through hard bones.

Therefore, if you are bitten by a snowfield hyena, you will at least lose half your life.

Secondly, it's a matter of personality.

Snow hyenas are typical opportunistic predators, flexibly adjusting their hunting strategies based on food sources in the environment and the situation of competitors.

They will seize any opportunity to obtain food, including "picking up scraps".

This means following behind other predators, waiting for them to work hard to obtain food, and then swarming in to steal the fruits of their labor.

This made them a universally hated species on the snowfield.

Furthermore, this creature is not only a social animal, but also extremely vengeful. In order to take revenge on you, it can follow you for months, just waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Therefore, ordinary people dare not provoke this thing.

Since Baruch was ready to take action, he intended to annihilate the enemy.

A pack of about a hundred snowfield hyenas, including at least one snowfield hyena with a second ring.

Even without the snowfield hyenas of the second ring, the mere hundred or so first-ring ley line creatures are terrifying enough.

Without Baruch, even if God had a hundred times the courage, he wouldn't dare to attack them.

But now, with a strong player leading the way in "farming" the map, Gaode's task is simply to ensure its own safety and try its best to get as many "kills" as possible.

Baruch had already targeted his objective and made a decisive move.

Catch the thief first to catch the king.

His first target was the leader of the snowfield hyenas, who was lying at the highest point in the valley.

This leader is slightly larger than the other snowfield hyenas and occupies the best position, making it very easy to identify.

A pack of snowfield hyenas with a leader is more difficult to deal with.

So now that we've decided to take action, we must try to eliminate the Snowfield Hyena leader first.

Baruch stretched out his hand.

Gao De's eyes widened.

The next moment, he saw a medium-sized hand formed from the black soil of the snowfield appear on the ground where the snowfield hyena leader was lying.

The hand appeared extremely abruptly, and immediately grabbed upwards.

Just like the Five Finger Mountain of the Buddha, it directly and firmly grasped the leader of the snowfield hyenas.

Then, Baruch stretched out his hand and made a squeezing motion.

The medium-sized hand formed from the soil immediately made the same movement.

Ow! ! !

Caught off guard, the snowfield hyena leader cried out in pain.

It tried to break free from the grasp of the hand, but failed at first.

It failed to break free, and Baruch's second spell followed.

A powerful surge of magical energy was unleashed without any attempt to conceal it.

The ground within a 20-foot radius of the snowfield hyena leader's body twisted and deformed at that moment.

Immediately following this, large patches of hard ice thorns pierced through the soil.

Each icy thorn was like an ice sword, viciously piercing the snowfield hyena leader's body.

what! ! !

Under this intense pain, the snowfield hyena leader let out a sound like a human woman's wail, and then blood gushed from its body.

The blood splattered out and immediately cooled in the frigid temperatures of the North.

Just like the life of the snowfield hyena leader, it had completely cooled down and was no longer vibrant.

In the blink of an eye, a fierce and troublesome second-ring snowfield hyena was reduced to a corpse hanging on the ice spikes.

Before the snowfield hyena pack could react, another beam of fire "descended from the sky," blasting a snowfield hyena with a ring to the ground.

Then, a second beam of fire flew in, its target the snowfield hyena that had just been blasted to the ground.

The snowfield hyena hadn't recovered yet, so it couldn't dodge and ended up taking another hit from the fireball.

The immense impact of the exploding flames left the snow hyena with only a final, deathly howl.

It was Gaode that made the move.

With Baruch taking the initiative, God, while marveling at his opponent's strength, also followed suit by casting a spell, aiming at a Snowfield Hyena within the nearest spell range, and making a fierce attack.

With a calculated strategy and the opponent caught off guard, the results were quite remarkable. Just two [Flame Arrows+] were enough to take the life of a level 1 creature.

However, this kind of good thing only happens once.

The hyena pack in the valley had already realized what was happening.

They howled and charged toward the two people on the hillside.

But upon seeing this, Baruch burst into laughter, showing no fear whatsoever.

He flicked his right hand diagonally downwards with incredibly smooth movements.

With this action, a powerful surge of magical energy rippled through the air, spreading out like waves.

This magical fluctuation materialized in an instant.

Countless tiny ice crystals appeared in the air, swirling and dancing.

Crackling sounds.

These tiny ice crystals swarmed toward Baruch's palm.

The next instant, a light blue crystal greatsword made of ice crystals appeared in his previously empty right hand.

This sword looks like a lightsaber from Star Wars, emitting a faint, cold light.

The sword is made of pure ice crystals, so clear and translucent that it seems to reflect the surrounding scenery.

【Frost Sword】.

The ice sword, formed from magical power, has an incredibly sharp edge, and every inch of its blade exudes a chilling aura.

With the Frost Sword in hand, a cold light flashed in Baruch's eyes, and he became even more confident and flamboyant.

Faced with a pack of snowfield hyenas charging towards him, Baruch did not retreat but advanced.

He squeezed his legs together, and Ryan, the Icemane Tiger beneath him, pushed off with all four limbs, propelling him towards the snowfield hyenas.

The scene looked like a knight launching a fearless charge against an enemy army.

Of course, it wasn't Baruch who died, but the snowfield hyenas.

At this moment, Baruch, wielding the Frost Sword, charged directly into the hyena pack in the snowfield and began a massacre.

The two snow hyenas that charged ahead leaped into the air and pounced on Baruch, barking wildly as they tried to bite him.

They opened their mouths, revealing sharp teeth capable of biting through bone marrow, aimed at Baruch's neck, and a fierce glint appeared in their small eyes, as if they could already see Baruch's fate of being splattered with blood.

Blood splattered out.

However, this bloodstain did not originate from Baruch.

Those were two streaks of blood left by the icy sword as it skillfully sliced ​​across the bodies of the two snowfield hyenas.

Several more snow hyenas rushed towards Baruch.

However, Baruch skillfully steered the Icemane Tiger Ryan to dodge their pounces, simultaneously drawing his sword as he dodged.

Several more snowfield hyena carcasses fell onto the snow, their blood splattered everywhere.

In the frigid temperatures of the North, it quickly cooled and froze, resembling a blood-splattered painting.

Baruch, having achieved considerable success, had already charged into the heart of the snowfield hyena pack's encirclement, thanks to the speed of the Icemane Tiger Ryan.

His sword-wielding movements were swift and ruthless, as if he had practiced thousands of times. Usually, just one strike would send a snow hyena howling and collapsing to the ground, never to rise again.

He moved with ease, as if he were dancing with these snowfield hyenas.

These snowfield hyenas, acting as his dance partners, jumped one by one into his icy sword with perfect coordination, bursting into blooms of blood.

Gao De, who was still on the snow-covered hill, was stunned by what he saw.

This was completely different from the traditional way mages fought that he was used to.

Shouldn't a mage control distance, cast spells from afar, and constantly harass the enemy?

No one else can compare to Baruch, who, with only a magic sword and a mount, charges into the enemy ranks and fights with exquisite skill.

It was only then that Gao De realized why Baruch's hands had been so rough when he shook hands with him earlier.

Clearly, this is the result of years of practicing the skill.

Baruch's fighting style was quite an eye-opener for God.

The so-called mage does not necessarily have to be bound by the traditional concept of remote spellcasting. Combining magic with exquisite skills can even achieve a 1+1>2 effect.

If he mastered the "Nine Yin White Bone Claw" and combined it with the "Cat Claw Technique," his combat power would be equally astonishing.

Of course, it's just a thought.

Instead of spending a lot of effort and time learning the "Nine Yin White Bone Claw," it's more worthwhile to learn more spells.

However, given a limited number of spells available, indirectly enhancing the power of the spells one possesses through skill is definitely a viable approach.

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Gaode's hands were not idle either.

Taking advantage of the fact that the snowfield hyenas' attention was focused on Baruch, he quickly transformed into a damage dealer under the "main tank" and cast spells one after another to "pick up the scraps".

However, this time he used [Flame Arrow+] instead of [Freezing Ray+].

Because Gao De discovered that the damage caused by Baruch's [Frost Sword] was freezing damage.

While Baruch was highly skilled, he couldn't guarantee that every sword strike would instantly kill a snowfield hyena.

Some snow hyenas are either lucky or manage to dodge in time, avoiding fatal injuries but escaping death.

These snowfield hyenas are exactly what Gaode is targeting.

If any of these snowfield hyenas were to be struck by Baruch's sword, the freezing damage they would suffer would be enough to trigger the freezing effect of God's [Freezing Ray+] directly.

The power of the [Freezing Ray+] that triggers the freezing effect will increase to 10 degrees, and under the ring-up spell, it will be 20 degrees.

This power even surpasses [Flame Arrow+], not to mention it also comes with a freezing effect—although it's not very useful in most cases, because usually after being hit by Baruch's sword and then by his [Freezing Ray], the snowfield hyena is basically dead.

Baruch, wielding an ice sword and riding an ice-maned tiger, charged back and forth through the pack of hyenas on the snowfield.

Faced with the onslaught of attacks, he remained as steadfast as a rock, easily crushing their attacks and taking their lives in the process.

Moreover, during this process, Baruch even had the capacity to intercept the snow hyenas that were trying to attack Gaudre, creating a favorable "output" environment for Gaudre.

Soon, a pile of snowfield hyena carcasses appeared in the valley.

After Baruch once again swung his sword and beheaded a snow hyena that pounced on him from behind, there were fewer than fifty snow hyenas left that were still able to move normally.

These snowfield hyenas no longer pounced forward, but instead emitted low growls.

Animals' wisdom allows them to understand that the enemy before them is beyond their ability to defeat.

The next moment, the remaining snowfield hyenas let out a mournful howl at the leader's corpse hanging on the ice thorns, and then in the blink of an eye, they turned around and scattered without hesitation.

Baruch was not surprised to see this.

His extensive experience gave him an unparalleled understanding of the habits of snowfield hyenas.

He squeezed his legs together, urging the Icemane Tiger to turn around and rush towards Gaode on the snow hill.

From a distance, before he even reached Gaode, he reached out his hand.

Gao De instantly understood his intention.

As the Icemane Tiger leaped past him, he grabbed Baruch's outstretched hand, used the momentum to jump up, and landed steadily on Ryan's back.

"We must nip this in the bud. We need to wipe out all these escaped snowfield hyenas. Otherwise, with their numbers, they could still form a small pack and launch attacks on nearby tribes," Baruch's calm voice rang out.

"Ryan has a keen nose, and these snowfield hyenas smell so foul, they can't escape."

"However, it will probably take a few days."

"It's okay, I'm not in a hurry," Gao De quickly said.

It's not that I'm not in a hurry at all, but the opportunity to "grind" with the pros is rare, so naturally I'm not in a rush.

Although Ryan had a keen sense of smell, these snow hyenas were also cunning and scattered as they fled.

And with the snowfield being so vast, chasing these hyenas in such a large area is ultimately not an easy task.

Four days.

Baruch led God around the valley for another four days, during which they caught about thirty more snowfield hyenas before finally stopping.

"The remaining snowfield hyenas have already run far away. It won't be easy for them to find their companions after running so far."

"Since snowfield hyenas don't live in packs, they don't pose a significant threat to human tribes," Baruch said.

"Let's not waste any more time. I'll take you to the Snowflake Clan first."

"No delay, no delay," Gao De said with a smile.

He meant it sincerely.

The benefits of following Baruch are obvious.

If he were to act alone and encounter a creature from the first ring of ley lines, he would definitely not dare to attack rashly unless there were fewer than three of them.

However, lone creatures of the ley lines are quite rare on the snowfield, so the progress in obtaining a first-order ley line is definitely slow.

However, on his first day with Baruch, he gained a complete piece of the essence from the Snowfield Hyena.

During the subsequent four days of pursuit, they encountered snow wolves several times.

Gaode just tagged along for a bit, and ended up getting two more "kills" of the first-ring Ice and Snow Wolves, bringing his Ice and Snow Wolf origin progress to 4/7.

Therefore, even if it meant staying on the snowfield with Baruch for another month, Gao De would be more than willing.

However, since Baruch had already said that, Gao De certainly couldn't say he was refusing.

Inside a simple cave.

A humanoid spirit, resembling a ghost but without a face, is busy at work.

It moved stones one by one and piled them into a stone circle in the center of the cave.

After doing all this, it flew out of the cave in a suspended form.

Not long after, it flew back carrying a large bundle of timber.

Under Gao De's intense gaze, the spirit placed the wood in the center of the stone circle and lit it.

Then, it diligently cleaned up the debris in the cave.

"Is this also magic? Such powerful magic." Gao De looked at the busy spirit and said with great interest.

After spending the last few days together, Baruch had become less wary of Gao De. Seeing Gao De's curiosity, he casually remarked:

"Yes, it is a spell, but it is not powerful; it is merely a first-level auxiliary spell."

"It's called [Wild Agility], and it's one of the essential spells for us Snowfield Guardians. Although it doesn't have any damaging abilities, it's very useful for us who travel alone on the snowfield year-round."

"It can do many things, including finding food, water, and shelter, tidying up the camp, and other chores. Mastering [Wild Acuity] is like having an extra servant that can be summoned at any time."

He looked at Gao De and suddenly said, "If you're interested, I can teach you."

(End of this chapter)