Eternal Winter's Reign - Book 2 - Chapter 25 - The Countdown Begins
Added 2023-10-26 21:04:02 +0000 UTCAlexander North
At some point over the next few hours, I begin to nod off, falling half-asleep and half awake. But every single time a frozen one gets anywhere near the cavern with the crystal in it, I immediately wake up and turn to look at it, making the creature run away without a moment’s hesitation.
A process that repeats more often than I’d like throughout the wait.
Eventually though, my wait bears fruit. Out of nowhere, the cold energy in the crystal suddenly flashes and increases further, following which the crystal makes cracking sounds and parts of it shave off to eventually reveal a small apple-sized crystal. One filled to the brim with cold energy and most likely a lot easier to eat.
It’s also not attached to the ground anymore.
I reach out and grab the crystal before putting it in my pocket and quickly running out of the cavern.
Because I can sense every frozen one in the surrounding kilometers moving towards here right now. Including the spider that I’d almost killed.
Looks like the attraction of the crystal overwhelms any minor intelligence they may have.
Then again, even I feel a strong compulsion to eat the crystal right here and now. One that is honestly rather annoying.
And I’m not even a full frozen one.
I quickly charge through the caves while killing any of the frozen ones I encounter and absorbing the cold energy in their bodies. A process that quickly becomes repeated rather frequently as more and more frozen ones charge me from various different tunnels.
Even the spider one from before attacks me while basically almost dead. Which makes killing it a little too easy.
After absorbing the spider’s energy, I continue running as quickly as I can through the tunnels until I finally make it out of the nest, having slaughtered who knows how many frozen ones along the way. Then I end up faced with all of the frozen ones of the area surrounding the nest, including more than a few wendigos and wraiths, along with some more spiders and even a couple brutes.
None of which pose much of a threat to me, fortunately.
So I quickly deal with them while charging my way towards the base, hoping against hope that this is the only time I’ll ever have to do this.
I just hope the doctor keeps her promise and lets me absorb it after they finish their examination. Because if they don’t then I’m leaving this base.
She won’t be stupid enough to lie to me though. I can tell she’s smart just by her rank at her age and Tier.
Not just anyone can reach her rank while being a Tier 2 Symbiont Host, after all.
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A Nest Located East of the Capital City
Craolyx slowly opens her eyes as she senses another energy crystal finishing forming. But unlike the first energy crystal that was devoured before it finished, this one isn’t devoured at all. Instead, she senses the crystal on the move while being carried by a powerful source of energy. One she can sense isn’t a frost denizen.
The sapient frost denizen narrows her eyes as she senses a small amount of heat energy mixed into the being carrying the energy crystal.
That must be the being Cryonix spoke about before he fell into his coma.
Craolyx narrows her glowing blue eyes while tapping the talon on her index finger, one much longer than the claws on her other fingers, on her throne’s arm rest as she considers the new information. The information about the hybrid of both the warm ones and the frost denizens.
A being of both sides of the war, yet neither at the same time.
If I’m able to bring the creature to the Lord…
Craolyx and her brother, Cryonix, have always had a strained relationship. Cryonix was always stronger than her and more trusted by the Lord than her, but if she were able to bring back the hybrid to the Lord, she knows that she’ll be bestowed a blessing in return for her hard work.
She continues tapping her talon on her throne’s arm rest while resting her chin against her left hand, her left elbow resting on the other arm rest.
One of the reasons many of the other frost denizens tend to look down on Craolyx is her vaguely warm-one-like appearance. Since she looks a lot like a warm one, just with pale skin, pale blue and glowing veins, glowing blue eyes, long white hair, and claws with a single talon on each of her index fingers.
Many of the other frost denizens believe her to be weak because of that. But Craolyx isn’t weak. She may not be as powerful as her brother, but she is not weak.
Up till now she’s been waiting for the nearby energy crystals to fully develop and enhance her forces before she goes on the assault. But if the hybrid anomaly is going after the energy crystals to empower itself, then she may have to make a change of plans.
The energy crystals would make excellent bait for the creature.
She knows that she has to be careful about it though. Because she knows that the anomaly killed Hailion half a year ago before the anomaly itself vanished.
An act that significantly hurt the frost denizens’ chain of command on the planet.
The anomaly is strong. Hailion wasn’t anywhere near as powerful as I am, but he wasn’t a pushover either. So I need to be careful with how I deal with the creature.
She repeatedly taps her talon on the throne for several minutes, simply debating on a possible plan of action.
Eventually she raises her head and sends a mental order to the frost denizens within her own grand nest. An order with the decision she has reached.
I’ll let it absorb a couple more energy crystals to grow more comfortable.
Her eyes narrow slightly and a small smirk stretches across her face.
Then it’ll be ripe for the picking.
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