Chapter 301: The Southern Alpine Snow Belt — Crossing the Snow and Wind Separately

The cold air was warmed as it passed through his nasal cavity, then surged into his lungs, giving Zhao Ji a sudden boost of energy.

He hammered hard at his sore, numb thighs, but only produced two dull thuds; encased in thick hard cowhide armor, his striking seemed to have no effect.

Turning his head to look behind him, that Monster was still persistently crawling over. The swirling wind and snow had covered its body in a thick layer of accumulated snow.

The creature's persistence left Zhao Ji with mixed feelings of joy and worry.

He had no choice but to continue enduring the soreness throughout his body, wading through the thick snow to find a path and move slowly southward.

When Zhao Ji finally passed through a mountain trail with strong winds, the wind lessened significantly; he used his glove to brush the ice and snow off his face, scraped the snowflakes stuck to his eyebrows, and looked up ahead.

A vast forest with undulating terrain appeared in front, also covered in snow, but the good news was that as the terrain changed and the altitude dropped, the snowfall in the forest ahead seemed quite normal.

Flakes of snow drifted slowly down from the sky, free from the unbearable, gale-force wind and snow that had been amplified on the mountain peaks.

Blinking his eyes, Zhao Ji exhaled several puffs of hot air to make his vision clearer. He focused his gaze into the distance and saw what he had hoped to see—scattered wisps of smoke drifting throughout the forest.

Putting his nearly frozen brain to work, Zhao Ji guessed that the human activity scattered throughout the forest certainly could not have been left by resident farmers.

This was already the depths of the mountains, rarely visited by humans, not to mention that animals were more ferocious in winter than usual; generally, normal people would not have their dwellings so scattered across a vast forest.

That would not be safe.

Unless the humans living there were themselves very dangerous people. For example, a Bandit Group that plundered and killed.

Very good.

Zhao Ji took out his new Shield again, sat on it, and slid down from a gap in the continuous mountain peaks.

He tried his best to choose the gentlest slope, while simultaneously gripping the Shield handle with one hand and using the butt of his Long Spear to brace against the surrounding sliding snow to change his direction.

Zhao Ji felt he had a talent for skiing and considered whether he should craft himself a pair of snowboards and ski poles to move quickly across the snow this winter.

Lowering his Faceplate to block the biting wind, the howling wind outside reached his ears through the sound holes left in his Helmet. Although his whole body felt terrible, sliding down the mountain quickly at this moment still made Zhao Ji incredibly happy.

"Hahahaha!" He couldn't help but laugh out loud. At this moment, the deadly cold and the Monster behind him were all left behind; he was sliding freely on this vast, snow-covered land with his Shield, and these moments of sliding made him feel incomparably free and at ease.

All sorts of things since arriving in this other world flashed before his eyes: the panic and embarrassment of his initial arrival, the time spent self-studying the language in the Merchant Guild hut, the dull and tedious time working odd jobs in the workshop, his first time Hunting a Monster due to a wager, the lively Harvest Festival, fighting Goblins with every means possible, the exploration of the Elf Ruins where he lost track of days, risking his life to save the people in the Bandit lair, the battles in Bingxun Pass where he was ambushed by Bandits and then ambushed them in return, and, and the confrontation and chase with the Monster that had been pursuing him relentlessly from the mountain behind.

These experiences made him suddenly realize that he had done so many things in less than a year since arriving in this other world, far more exhilarating and rewarding than the dull, tedious life he had lived in his previous life, following a path chosen by others.

At this moment, Zhao Ji's mind drifted; he was thinking, yet it seemed he was thinking of nothing. His vision blurred, and the young, brave heart in his chest beat strongly—thump, thump—reheating the cool blood flowing through his torso and pumping it to every part of his body.

The Divine Power Seed of the Agricultural God Church, which had always been hidden deep within his body and invisible, also felt its master's current mental excitement; it spun, doubling the release of the power that had been secretly supporting its master's body all along.

Zhao Ji could not see his own body beneath his armor, but his entire body was emitting a faint green light of the Agricultural God's Divine Power, and the sore, numb body tissues throughout him were gradually becoming active under the illumination of this green light.

Gurgle.

A strange sound came from Zhao Ji's stomach; he snapped back to reality and suddenly felt that his stomach was extremely hungry.

As luck would have it, because Zhao Ji was distracted, he didn't notice a small cliff in front of where his Shield was sliding. It wasn't until his whole body was suspended in mid-air over the cliff that he realized he was in trouble.

Sitting on the Shield in the air, Zhao Ji failed to adjust his body posture in time, and with a loud "thud," he plunged headfirst into the snow beneath the cliff.

Fortunately, the snow that had been falling for over a day was thick enough; after Zhao Ji plunged in, his feet were left sticking out, still able to kick about.

"Hey, hey, hey. How unlucky, just distracted for a split second, how did I fall?" Zhao Ji's voice came from inside the snow, muffled and carrying a frustrated yet playful tone.

He struggled to wave his arms around his body, patting away the snow, then arched his back and flipped over, taking quite a while to get himself out of the snow.

It was mainly the armor on his body that hindered his movements; otherwise, he would have backflipped out long ago. But the armor also protected him well, ensuring he wasn't injured by the things he was carrying when he landed in the snow just now.

Once out, Zhao Ji tidied up his belongings, then sat on the Shield once more, 'slowly' sliding toward the edge of the forest, which was no longer far away.

On the mountain, the Monster braved the wind and snow and the ice that was accumulating thicker and thicker on its body, rushing out of the area shrouded by the high mountain gales and arriving at the south side of this mountain peak.

Here, the wind and snow suddenly subsided, making the Monster, which had been frozen to the bone, feel a burst of joy. Although it had abundant Magic Power within its body and was not very afraid of the low temperatures from the cold wind and snow, nor the thick snow on its head, not being afraid and not liking it were different things. Compared to the chilly winter, it preferred the humid and rainy seasons of spring and autumn; whenever raindrops fell upon the world, it didn't have to use its poor eyesight, but instead used its highly sensitive vibration perception to sense the entire world visited by the raindrops.

It liked to hunt prey that had been soaked by rain; the wet texture allowed it to eat and drink its fill without spending extra time looking for clean water sources. It only needed to swallow the wet prey whole to have a full meal of both food and water.

Shaking off the thick snow from its body, it revealed its dark, mottled surface. Lacking convenient human 'eyes', it had to make do with a spare large eyeball it had stored inside its body, which it had barely managed to grow in the original position of the human head.

This thing was not as good as human 'eyes'.

And it was also silly; unlike human 'eyes', it couldn't talk or communicate with it, letting it know things it would never know in the forest.

For example, what the name of this land was, the names of those 'eyes', and the long-winded sentences those 'eyes' used to curse it.

It liked them all.

Occasionally, when those 'eyes' were done cursing to their heart's content, they would even communicate with it normally for a sentence or two. The most common thing they asked was its name.

But it had no name.

Why should it have a name like a human?

For a long time, it had been the only powerful creature in the entire forest; all the animals in the forest knew it had arrived as soon as they sensed it, and it could also know from far away which animals existed in the vast surrounding forest through vibrations.

So, why have a name?

It barely opened the eyes it hadn't used for a long time and vaguely saw the vast, gently sloping snow-covered hills around it, which made it feel a sense of unease; the experience from just a short while ago also made it feel afraid.

That situation where it couldn't control itself was something it had never experienced since it first gained consciousness.

So it paced uneasily on its five legs in place, and the long, stiff bristles on its body also trembled with a hint of fear.

But its blurred vision saw the vast forest down the mountain, which made it feel a burst of surprise; it was truly fed up with the flat ground without trees to climb, and it was also fed up with the gently sloping snow-covered hills.

Several bristles pressed against the ground could still sense that human who had humiliated it, also heading toward the forest.

Then, it should go down; go to the forest, eat that human, and perhaps there were other animals in the forest it could eat to replenish the body tissues it had lost.

Of course, it had to cross this vast, gently sloping snow-covered hill first; this time it couldn't be too fast, it had to take it slow.

The Monster hesitated for a while on the gently sloping snow-covered hill, then lowered its body, carefully sticking to the rocky ground beneath the snow, using those rocks to increase friction so it wouldn't roll down again.

"Hold onto the rope!" the female Knight shouted, a cry that did not lose to the roar of the gale on the mountain peak.

The other Hunters all gripped the ropes tied around their waists tightly, moving step by step along the path in the snow trampled out by the person in front.

Walking at the very front was naturally Knight Lanisha; she walked at the very front herself, followed by her beloved horse tied to the belt behind her, and then two young and strong Hunters. In the middle of the team were several old Hunters, and at the very back of the team were two of the strongest young Hunters.

The surrounding wind and snow made it difficult to see anything clearly, and sometimes it was even impossible to distinguish north from south.

They could only rely on the female Knight's extraordinary senses to lead the team southward. According to the direction the Monster was seen heading earlier, that creature was indeed running south the whole way.

It was possible it was avoiding their Tiaofa Dui, or it was possible it was pursuing that human they had never seen.

There are two schools of thought within the group, and Knight Lanisha herself leans more toward the former, as she feels the attacks she has dealt to the Magic Beast are already quite threatening. Unlike the powerful monsters conquered and tamed by knights, these wild Magic Beasts that grow up in the mountains and forests have habits not much different from animals.

As long as they are injured, they will all flee and rarely fight to the death, unless it is during the mating season or involving things like territory or eggs; only then will those fellows fight with their lives.

The aforementioned Magic Beast naturally has none of those, so she feels that the injured Magic Beast has been fleeing all the way under their pursuit.

Of course, that unlucky Human who encountered the Magic Beast is also quite remarkable. Having the misfortune to run into a Magic Beast in the Forest, they actually haven't been casually eaten by it yet.

Such a person is exactly the kind of team member her Hunter group needs.

Compared to the shy Magic Beast that secretly preys on Humans on the roads of the Cunzi, that wolf-type Magic Beast leading a large pack of Wild Wolves to wreak havoc near Umi Lake is the truly difficult one.

Thinking of the humiliating experiences of being driven back by that Magic Beast and its large Wolf Pack several times before, Knight Lanisha kicked out with a "Boom—", scattering the thick, accumulated snow in front of her.

The Hunters behind her hurriedly drew their respective weapons to be alert to their surroundings, and used all their strength to shout loudly: "My Lady, is the Magic Beast hiding in the snow nearby? Should the group spread out?"

Realizing she had done something foolish, the female knight hurriedly turned around to explain to her nervous Hunter subordinates: "No, no. There is no Magic Beast nearby; the tracks where it crawled have been heading south. It's just, uh, just that there was a large Shitou blocking our path. I didn't want to go around it, so I kicked it away."

The Hunters each let out a sigh of relief; the strong winds and ice and snow in the area were truly not a place where bows and arrows could be deployed, and they were all afraid that the Magic Beast would turn cunning and ambush them in this terrain where it was difficult to form a battle formation.

Fortunately, it was just a Shitou blocking the way, kicked aside by the Knight, a false alarm.

A Hunter stepped forward slightly, opened his mouth wide, and shouted loudly toward Lanisha: "My Lady, should we find a place to take shelter from the wind for a while?"

"What? Shelter from the wind? To find a place with less wind, we would have to take a detour, which would instead take more time to get through this area," Knight Lanisha said in a loud voice.

This young Hunter, who was positioned toward the front, pointed at Lanisha's beloved horse and shouted loudly over the sound of the wind and snow: "No! It's that your horse is frozen to the point of collapse. You should take a look at it."

Lanisha hurriedly looked at the beloved horse that had been following behind her; although this horse with a unique bloodline had a strong body and could bear the weight of full-body metal horse armor, unlike a Human Knight, its horse armor only used a layer of thick Linen Cloth as a barrier and insulation between the armor and its body.

At this moment, the sturdy horse was trembling on all four hooves, swaying and on the verge of falling.

The eyes revealed through the Long Face Armor of the horse's Helmet were showing a look of anticipation; seeing that its mistress had noticed its condition, it hurriedly exhaled a puff of hot air and then let out a pleading whinny.

"Oh dear, I forgot that when we came out this time, I didn't put the thickened thermal clothing on it inside. Damn it! Quick, everyone move, there is a depression surrounded by Shitou ahead, the wind and snow should be lighter there." She bumped her own Helmet against her beloved horse's Helmet and hurriedly pulled the horse to walk quickly toward the place she saw.

As she walked, she patted the accumulated snow off the outside of the horse's armor: "Baby, are you feeling very cold? It's okay, it will warm up soon. The wind and snow are lighter ahead." The horse followed its mistress obediently, its body shivering as it followed closely.

The Hunters behind also put away their weapons, gripped the Rope at their waists tightly with both hands, and hurried to follow the back of the person in front.

Soon, their group arrived at the depression surrounded by Shitou that the Knight had mentioned.

The strong wind could indeed not blow in here, and even the accumulated snow on the ground was not much.

Every Hunter carried a Sun God Church Amulet borrowed from the Knight, and could feel the temperature and sensation of the sun shining on their bodies at every moment, so even though the clothes on their bodies were not very thick and not suitable for crossing high mountain and snowy regions, they all actually did not feel cold.

The wind and snow lessened, and they gathered together to keep warm, chatting along the way to relieve the discomfort of traveling through the wind and snow zone.

"Hey, having crossed two such high, connected mountain peaks in a row, we can show off to the others after we go back."

"But compared to subjugating a Magic Beast, this is still far too lacking. After we go back and tell the others how we defeated the Magic Beast, that will be exciting."

"That's true, but when everyone gets tired of hearing us brag about the experience of defeating the Magic Beast, won't this experience of crossing the high mountain wind and snow region come in handy?"

"Well, that is a possibility."

On the other side, Lanisha put her own Sun God Church Amulet on her beloved horse's ears; it was mainly because the warhorse's neck and head were too big and too long, especially that horse face—Humans don't have such a long face. The rope that came with the Amulet couldn't be put on, so Knight Lanisha had no choice but to put this Amulet on her beloved horse's ears.

The warhorse's ears were also wearing protective covers made of leather and cloth; she untied the covers, wrapped the Amulet's rope around once, hung it on, and used the horse's hair to tie and secure the Amulet.

Then she put the protective covers back on.

Soon, the god's miraculous power brought a very good effect to this exhausted and frozen warhorse.

The warhorse raised its head, looking with some confusion at the dim, gloomy sky shrouded in wind and snow outside the Shitou depression, wondering why it felt as if it were being shone upon by the sun in summer when it clearly didn't see the sun.

Understanding the look full of confusion in her beloved horse's eyes, Knight Lanisha whispered something by the horse's ear. The warhorse nodded its head, seemingly having understood something, or perhaps not having understood at all, just liking the way its mistress spoke affectionately to it.

"My Lady, you should let it drink some of this; drinking a bit of this in winter is definitely the right thing to do." An old Hunter approached, briefly checked the warhorse's recovery, and secretly handed over a small wooden bottle he had taken from the inner pocket of his clothes.

The female knight took it and looked; it turned out to be a small bottle of strong spirits brewed in the 'Warton's Satiety' tavern in Kendall City. The Knight, who did not like drinking strong spirits, also knew that this thing was not cheap; just this tiny bottle was enough to make a strong man, even in the coldest weather, dare to take off all his clothes and run wildly on the road.

She would usually drink a little alcohol before or after training, but she wouldn't drink such strong spirits; she mainly relied on the numbing effect of alcohol on the body to avoid the soreness caused by daily training.

A knight of ordinary level like her could only rely on this simple method to avoid the muscle pain caused by excessive training.

"Thanks, this amount should be within the range that a warhorse can bear." Knight Lanisha did not decline, directly twisted off the stopper of the wooden wine bottle, and sent it into her beloved horse's mouth.

The fiery, stinging sensation of the strong spirits made the warhorse start to resist a little, but soon, it licked its tongue and rolled all the spilled liquor into its mouth. The four hooves that were still shivering stopped shaking, stood straight, and seemed to have more vitality.

It raised its neck, became active, swaying left and right, and even exhaled warm, hot air from its nose.

Seeing that her beloved horse was much better, Knight Lanisha returned the empty wooden wine bottle to the old Hunter. The old Hunter looked at the warhorse that had regained its vitality and was also very happy; the Hunters in the group all liked the female knight's warhorse, so they all paid close attention to its physical condition.

As the owner, Knight Lanisha often ignored the various conditions of her mount, which also had to do with the fact that she hadn't planned on becoming a Knight when she was growing up.

"So what now? Should we rest here for a while, or should we continue to pursue the Magic Beast?" Knight Lanisha took out some dry rations that could be eaten directly from the Backpack on the warhorse's back, opened the Helmet's Faceplate, and ate half of it in one bite.

Several old Hunters discussed it and finally decided to rest for a while first; everyone in the group should eat and drink something, as the worse the environment, the more one must ensure that all aspects of one's body are kept in good condition.