The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

The hungering jaws of the Frost Angarens drew closer to Oscar and Mary. Oscar's face slowly paled at the realization they were at the peak of their great leap, but he kept calm despite the encroaching maws.

Mary, on his back, was holding in her screams. In the back of her mind, she could only think about how reckless Oscar was. Who in their right mind would willingly jump into the ripping teeth of a beast?

The Frost Angarens' springy bodies allowed them to extend far up in a short amount of time. In mere moments, they were right before Oscar and Mary, about to chomp down.

'All or nothing!' Oscar had been waiting for this moment. Ein collected into his eyes onto a single blue point in his pupil and unleashed the first spell he had learned, 'Stone Gaze'. A thin, almost invisible line of Ein extended from Oscar's eyes to one of the Frost Angarens, burrowing and forcing its way into the pale dead eyes.

The Frost Angaren trembled, and its jaw quivered in a struggle, yet it could not move. The link held strong.

In the next instant, a round black buckler wrapped around a sharp point on the Frost Angaren's frills. Oscar pulled hard with all his strength, pulling Mary and him and sending them toward the unmoving Frost Angaren. Oscar let out a breath of relief as the Frost Anagrens bit on nothing but the air behind them, missing them by a hair.

The targeted Frost Angaren's teeth were shaking, but Oscar held the link strong despite the pain he felt in his eyes and mind from the beast's struggle. He unraveled his buckler and retrieved it as he landed on the nose of the Frost Angaren, staring at it directly in its pale eyes. With a final burst of Reis, Oscar used the Frost Angaren as a springboard and jumped over to the other side.

The link was severed, and the Frost Angaren screeched but soon fell to silence as its fellow beasts sunk their teeth into it, spewing out a rain of blue blood and tearing chunks of its flesh. The other Frost Angarens were so focused on Oscar and Mary that they followed and accidentally killed one of their own by trying to catch Oscar and Mary.

Oscar smiled but soon cursed as he dove straight into a large pile of snow. "Cold!"

Mary also felt a sudden chill unlike any before and immediately used 'Thunderclad' to blow away the snow. Her face was covered with large blotches of blue frost, and her teeth chattered from the chill she felt in her bones. She circulated her Ein and fought against the blue frost, but she was aghast at Oscar's condition.

"We need to find shelter." Oscar was nearly covered in the blue frost. The final splurt he did with his deer anima carrying them across, and his 'Stone Gaze' brought his Ein to dangerously low levels. The blue frost was almost taking hold of him.

"Hang on!" Mary expanded her Ein and covered Oscar in it. She had recovered quite well while resting on Oscar's deer anima, so she had the strength for this. Oscar's blue frost was slowly fading but not fast enough. "I'll carry you; let's look for a place to rest."

Mary swung Oscar's arm around her shoulders and lifted him with her petite body. Her steps were heavy, and the snow crunched under her soles. She carried on with Oscar in tow, looking for a safe place to hide from the falling snow.

"Damned mountain." Mary felt Oscar's body was slowly getting better under her Ein, but she had her limits and knew this would not last long. "There should at least be some places of cover on a mountain."

Her brown eyes continued to scan the place as blue frost slowly crept on her skin. Her Ein shroud was flickering and waning like a veil being broken. Mary could not control her breathing from the intense chill, hyperventilating and letting out large wisps of white air as the heat escaped her body.

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"We can't keep this up." Mary looked around and widened her eyes in pleasant surprise at a small cave. She used her dimming Ein and focused on her feet, turning them into electricity. Mary held Oscar around her in a final splurt of the marathon and entered the cavern.

"Fire, fire." Mary was still hyperventilating, her chest heaving up and down erratically. She clapped her hands to stop the shaking from the numbness and removed several branches from Oscar's small bag. She immediately started flames that reflected an orange light around the icy cave.

The fires roared well as Mary used more branches, emptying Oscar's stock. She placed Oscar right by the flames to warm up. The intense onslaught of frost with his low amount of Ein had made Oscar lose consciousness. Mary waited by the flames, rubbing her arms and stomach under her white fur.

After an hour, the flames slowly died as the branches were completely white and cracking into ash. Oscar finally awoke and rubbed his head.

"You're up!" Mary smiled. "Thank goodness. I was worried."

"Mary." Oscar looked around. "I guess we made it. Thank you, and well done."

"You got us through the Frost Angarens. It's only right I get you to a place to rest." Mary breathed slowly. "Though it was a close call. You were almost completely blue, and I was also about to lose to it."

"In any case, we survived." Oscar smiled and stood up. "Where are we?"

"I moved right since our Frost Orb is around there." Mary put out the flames. "We should be close to it."

Oscar peered outside and looked around. His eyes narrowed in a certain direction and glinted with desire. "The map says there's a rock shaped like a pillar. That should be it."

Mary came out and stared along with Oscar.

A tall, thin rock reached about twice Oscar's height, a short journey away from their location. It was striking as its black color contrasted against the white snow like a lone icon in this wintery wasteland.

"Let's move out then." Oscar put up his Ein shroud and strode ahead.

"Don't just run off without me." Mary pouted and followed Oscar.

…….

"That was a very risky maneuver by Oscar." Robert rubbed the temple of his head. For a moment, he saw the shadow of a certain hated figure with a black helmet covering his face. 'From what I saw during the enrollment trial, he wasn't this insane, or maybe he was and didn't show it. But he's certainly Draven's pupil.'

Ava Jones was relieved to see Mary make it to the small cave and recover from the flames. They would be disqualified if the blue frost had completely taken both of them, they would be disqualified. She was shocked at how far her niece had come from earlier; it was like seeing an entirely new person. 'Perhaps we did handle things wrong. I'm proud to see you working so hard.'

Elder Dustin was mute during this. He didn't feel like speaking to Ava, nor did he feel he had the right to speak to Robert. So, he stayed idle, still like a statue, waiting for something to happen.

…….

Oscar and Mary finally arrived near the black rock pillar. Staring at it, Oscar realized it resembled obsidian as its surface was smooth and glass-like, reflecting his image like a mirror. 'This rock does not match anything else on the mountain. It's likely this was manmade and brought here for a reason. But where's the orb?'

"Where is the Frost Orb?" Mary was puzzled and voiced Oscar's thoughts. She glanced over the land but saw only the familiar tundra and the looming mountain of snow, ice, and rock.

There was not a single indication of the Frost Orb or its location.

'The map only marked the x here, but it also drew this pillar. Is there anything significant on it?' Oscar looked around the obsidian pillar and wiped off the snow covering some parts of it. There was an outline of a golden hand, similar to the one in the safe zone trial. Oscar carefully placed his hand over it.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble. Mary brandished her spear, ready for an enemy to pop up. Oscar did as well with his buckler.

But contrary to their expectations, a section of the mountain fell apart. In the ruins of rocks and ice, a new cave opening revealed itself.

Oscar and Mary looked at each other and then at the new cavern.

"Oscar, this cavern must be it," Mary said.

"Be careful when we go inside; we don't know what might lurk within," Oscar had a grave face. If it were an enemy like the Crystal Guardian, it would be horrifying while fending off the blue frost.

Mary smiled. "Naturally."

Together they stepped toward the new cavern and slowly entered inside. The Frost Orb was in this place; there was no turning back from this.

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