Chapter 270: Wild Agility

Inside the valley, snowfield hyenas howled incessantly, their heads thrown back from hunger.

These snowfield hyenas were not large, resembling dogs but smaller than snow wolves.

But size did not reflect combat power.

In fact, snowfield hyenas were far more troublesome than snow wolves in most cases.

First, snowfield hyenas began at the First Circle, making them vastly stronger than zero-circle snow wolves.

Moreover, their bite force was astonishingly powerful, capable of easily snapping through hard bones.

So anyone bitten by a snowfield hyena would lose at least half their life.

Second, it was a matter of temperament.

Snowfield hyenas were classic opportunistic predators, flexibly adjusting their hunting strategies based on available food sources and competitors.

They seized any opportunity to obtain food, including scavenging.

That meant following other predators, waiting until they secured their kill, then swarming in to steal the fruits of their labor.

This made them universally despised on the snowfields.

And these creatures weren't just social—they held grudges fiercely, capable of trailing you for months just to wait for their chance at revenge.

So ordinary people dared not provoke them.

Since Baruk was preparing to strike, he intended to annihilate them all.

A group of a hundred or so snowfield hyenas would include at least one Second Circle snowfield hyena.

Even without a Second Circle hyena, a hundred First Circle ground-living creatures were terrifying enough.

Without Baruk, even if Gao De had a hundred courage, he wouldn't dare attack them.

But now, with a powerful ally leading the charge, Gao De's task was simply to ensure his own safety and grab as many kills as possible.

Over here, Baruk had already locked onto his target and struck decisively.

Capture the leader first.

His first target was the snowfield hyena leader, lying atop the highest point of the valley.

This leader was slightly larger than the others and occupied the best position—easily identifiable.

A hyena pack led by a commander was far more difficult to handle.

So once the decision to strike was made, eliminating the leader first was essential.

Baruk extended his hand forward.

Gao De widened his eyes.

The next moment, he saw a medium-sized palm formed from snowfield black soil appear on the ground beneath the hyena leader.

The palm appeared abruptly and shot upward in a grip.

Like Buddha's Five Finger Mountain, it clamped the hyena leader firmly in its grasp.

Then Baruk clenched his hand into a fist.

The soil-formed palm immediately mirrored the motion.

Aaoo!! The hyena leader, caught completely off guard, shrieked in sharp, agonized pain.

It struggled to break free, but failed at first.

Before it could escape, Baruk's second spell came seamlessly.

Violent magical energy surged forth, utterly unhidden.

Around the hyena leader's body, within a twenty-foot radius, the ground twisted and warped.

Then, thick spikes of ice erupted through the soil.

Each ice spike resembled an ice blade, driving viciously into the hyena leader's body.

Aaah!! Under this excruciating pain, the hyena leader let out a scream like a human woman's wail, then bled profusely.

The blood sprayed out and instantly froze in the North's freezing cold.

Like the hyena leader's life, it had grown utterly cold, no longer alive.

In the blink of an eye, a fierce, troublesome Second Circle snowfield hyena became a corpse impaled on ice spikes.

Before the hyena pack could react, another beam of flame "descended from the sky," blasting a First Circle hyena to the ground.

Then came a second flame beam, aimed precisely at the hyena just knocked down.

The hyena hadn't recovered, let alone dodged—it took another full hit of the flame beam.

The massive shockwave from the explosion left the hyena with only time to let out one final dying shriek.

The attacker was Gao De.

Under Baruk's overwhelming opening strike, Gao De, awed by his strength, immediately followed up with a spell, targeting the nearest First Circle snowfield hyena within spell range, striking ruthlessly.

With the element of surprise, the results were impressive—just two 【Flame Arrow+】 spells claimed the life of a First Circle creature.

But such good fortune wouldn't come again.

The snowfield hyena pack had now reacted.

They howled and charged up the slope toward the two men.

Yet seeing this, Baruk laughed aloud, showing not a trace of fear.

He swung his right hand diagonally downward, the motion fluid and effortless.

With this motion, a powerful magical surge rippled through the air, spreading like concentric waves.

In an instant, the surge solidified.

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

Creak. Creak. Creak.

The tiny ice crystals surged toward Baruk's palm.

The next instant, his previously empty right hand held a pale blue crystal greatsword formed entirely of ice.

The sword resembled a lightsaber from Star Wars, radiating a faint, chilling glow.

Its blade was pure ice crystal, translucent and clear, as if reflecting the surrounding landscape.

【Frost Sword】.

A sword forged from magical energy, its edge razor-sharp, every inch of its body exuding icy cold.

With the Frost Sword in hand, Baruk's eyes flashed with a cold gleam, growing more confident and bold.

Facing the charging hyena pack, Baruk advanced instead of retreating.

He squeezed his thighs, and the ice-maned tiger Lein leapt forward, carrying him toward the hyenas.

The scene resembled a knight charging headlong into an enemy army.

Of course, the one who died wasn't Baruk—it was the hyenas.

Now, Baruk, wielding the Frost Sword, plunged into the hyena pack and began slaughtering.

The two hyenas at the front leapt into the air, lunging at Baruk, snarling as they opened their jaws toward his neck.

They bared teeth sharp enough to crush marrow, their small eyes gleaming with malice, as if they already saw Baruk's blood spraying five feet into the air.

Blood spurted.

But the blood wasn't Baruk's.

It was the Frost Sword slicing cleanly through the two hyenas, spraying twin arcs of crimson.

Several more hyenas lunged at Baruk from the sides.

Yet Baruk, riding Lein, dodged their leaps with agility, striking as he moved—more hyena corpses fell onto the snow, blood splattered everywhere.

In the North's freezing cold, the blood quickly froze, forming a grotesque, painted scene of crimson.

With his abundant kills and Lein's speed, Baruk had already plunged into the heart of the hyena pack.

His sword swings were swift and brutal, as if practiced thousands of times—he needed only one strike to send a hyena screaming to the ground, never to rise again.

He moved with ease, as if dancing with the hyenas.

The hyenas, his unwilling partners, each stepped gracefully onto his Frost Sword, bursting into one blood blossom after another.

Gao De, still on the snow mound, watched, stunned.

This was nothing like his idea of how a mage fought.

Mages weren't supposed to control distance, cast from afar, and keep enemies at bay?

Who fought like Baruk—relying only on a magical sword and a mount, slicing through enemies with refined skill?

Only now did Gao De understand why Baruk's hand had felt so rough when they shook hands.

Clearly, from years of practicing technique.

Baruk's combat style had opened Gao De's eyes.

A mage didn't have to be bound by tradition—combining magic with refined technique could produce results greater than the sum of its parts.

For example, if he mastered the 【Nine Yin White Bone Claw】 and combined it with 【Cat's Claw】, his combat power would surely be astonishing too.

Of course, it was only a thought.

Rather than spending immense effort and time learning the 【Nine Yin White Bone Claw】, it was wiser to learn more spells.

Even with limited spells, enhancing their power through technique was certainly a viable path.

Thoughts flashed through Gao De's mind, but his hands didn't stop.

While the hyenas focused entirely on Baruk, he quickly shifted into the "main tank's" damage-dealer role, casting spells to pick off stragglers.

But this time, he no longer used 【Flame Arrow+】; he used 【Freezing Ray+】.

Gao De had noticed that Baruk's 【Frost Sword】 dealt freezing damage.

Though Baruk's skill was superb, he couldn't guarantee every strike would instantly kill a hyena.

These snowstep hyenas are precisely Gao De's target.

Any snowstep hyena struck by Baruk's sword suffers frost damage sufficient to instantly trigger Gao De's 【Frost Ray +】 freeze effect.

When the freeze effect triggers, the power of 【Frost Ray +】 rises to 10 degrees; under level-up casting, it becomes 20 degrees.

This power even exceeds 【Flame Arrow +】, not to mention the added freeze effect—though in most cases, it's of little use, since a snowstep hyena hit by Baruk's sword and then struck by his 【Frost Ray】 typically dies outright.

Baruk, wielding a frost blade, rode his Ice-maned Tiger, charging repeatedly through the snowstep hyena pack.

Facing waves of attacks, he stood like a reef, effortlessly shattering their assaults while taking their lives.

Throughout this, Baruk even had the spare capacity to intercept snowstep hyenas attempting to bypass him and attack Gao De, creating an ideal "damage-dealing" environment for Gao De.

Soon, a pile of snowstep hyena corpses accumulated in the valley.

After Baruk swung his sword again and severed the head of a hyena leaping at him from behind, fewer than fifty hyenas remained capable of movement.

The remaining snowstep hyenas no longer lunged forward; instead, they emitted low, mournful whines.

Animal instinct told them their enemy was beyond their capacity to defeat.

The next moment, the surviving hyenas let out a final wail toward their leader's corpse hanging on the ice thorns, then turned and scattered in an instant, fleeing without hesitation.

Baruk saw this and was not surprised.

His vast experience gave him deep understanding of snowstep hyena behavior.

He squeezed his thighs, turning his Ice-maned Tiger toward Gao De on the snow dune.

From afar, before reaching Gao De, he extended his hand forward.

Gao De instantly understood his intent.

As the Ice-maned Tiger leapt past his side, Gao De seized Baruk's outstretched hand, used the momentum to leap upward, and landed steadily on its back.

"We must root out the threat completely—we must eliminate every last fleeing snowstep hyena. Otherwise, with their numbers, they'll regroup into a small pack and attack nearby tribes," Baruk's steady voice came.

"Layne's nose is sharp, and these hyenas reek— they won't escape."

"Though it'll probably take a few days."

"No problem, I'm not in a hurry," Gao De said quickly.

He wasn't entirely unconcerned, but opportunities to "farm" alongside a senior were rare—so a little delay didn't matter.

Though Layne's nose was sharp, the snowstep hyenas were cunning and scattered in flight.

And the snowstep plain was vast—chasing them across such a wide area was never easy.

Four days.

Baruk led Gao De around the valley for another four full days, tracking down another thirty or so snowstep hyenas before finally stopping.

"The remaining snowstep hyenas have fled too far. Traveling this distance, finding each other won't be easy for them."

"Snowstep hyenas that don't gather pose little threat to human tribes," Baruk said.

"Now, let's not waste more time—I'll take you to the Snofar Clan first."

"No rush, no rush," Gao De said cheerfully.

He meant it sincerely.

The benefits of traveling with Baruk were obvious.

If he acted alone, encountering a first-rank earth-vein beast, unless there were fewer than three, he'd never dare strike first.

But on the snowstep plain, solitary earth-vein beasts were rare—so acquiring first-rank essence would progress far too slowly alone.

Yet with Baruk, on just the first day, he gained one full unit of first-rank essence from the 【Snowstep Hyena】.

During the following four days of pursuit, they also encountered several snow wolves.

Gao De merely tagged along and claimed two more first-rank Ice Wolves—his 【Ice Wolf】 essence progress reached 4/7.

So even if he followed Baruk for another month on the snowstep, Gao De would be more than willing.

But since Baruk had said this, Gao De certainly couldn't refuse.

In a crude cave.

A humanoid spirit, ghostlike but faceless, was busily working.

It carried stone after stone, piling them into a ring at the cave's center.

After finishing, it floated out of the cave.

Soon after, it returned, carrying a large bundle of firewood.

Under Gao De's intense gaze, the spirit placed the wood in the center of the stone ring and lit a fire.

Then, diligently, it began cleaning the cave's debris.

"Is this a spell? So powerful," Gao De said, watching the busy spirit with interest.

After days of interaction, Baruk had grown less guarded toward Gao De; seeing his curiosity, he replied casually:

"Yes, it's a spell—but not powerful. Just a first-rank auxiliary spell."

"It's called 【Wild Agility】. One of the essential spells for our Snowstep Protectors. Though it has no offensive power, it's extremely practical for us who travel the snowstep alone."

"It can do many things: find food, water, shelter, tidy campsite—mastering 【Wild Agility】 is like gaining a servant you can summon at any time."

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

(End of Chapter)