The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

As the morning unfolded, a wild and icy wind howled, echoing between the mountain slopes, and descended onto Oscar and his team, their Ein shrouds burning like flames to combat the increasingly heavy snowfall it brought. Oscar checked his watch and grumbled. It had been several hours since he set out from Frostveil City and only just arrived at the foot of the mountains. He eyed the mountains from the bottom to the ominous clouds obscuring the peaks, a thick blanket of snow enveloping the mountains and dyeing them pure white.

Against the raging winds, a loud rumble clapped and reverberated until the ground trembled. In the distance, the slope of a mountain erupted into bursts of snow that soon tumbled down as an avalanche, a great tide of nature's fury in fierce winters, indifferent and unforgiving to anyone who had to traverse through it. And he had to do it. As he watched the avalanche suffocate anything under it and turn into an ocean of snow, Oscar turned to his group, the newly named Black Aegis order.

"We're splitting up from here to cover more ground. We move in pairs of two. I'll take Susan and Alec with me. Do not stray too far out of range of our communication beads." Oscar placed a gray stone, the communication bead, into his ear and pointed to the mountain from which the avalanche came. "We'll cover this mountain first. Routinely check in every five minutes with your location."

The other four members already paired with each other, as Oscar hoped they would since that left Fred and Emily with no other option but to form a pair. Without waiting to hear any disagreements, he ordered everyone to set out. He briskly flew away with Susan and Alec onto his chosen route, going around to cover the mountain's base and climb up from the other side. Before separating, he sneakily gave Fred a thumbs-up, signaling him to take advantage or else his efforts would be wasted.

"C-Captain. Should we not fly up immediately?" Susan asked.

Oscar looked at the large clumps of snow below, his feet barely an inch away from dragging on its surface. Ruffling his fur cloak to cover him better, he answered, "There's a chance the enemy might catch sight of us if we fly straight up. Stay low and canvas the area as we slowly move up. Understand?"

"Yes!" Susan raised her feet comically, like a child afraid to touch the surface of a pool.

"It's been five minutes. Everyone alright?" Alec handled the job of holding everyone accountable, and Oscar heard everyone respond through his communication bead, their stable voices resounding in his ear. Alec was the one who relayed Oscar's group's location and progress. "Captain, everyone is accounted for. But is combing through every mountain wise? I can't imagine the previous scouts would miss anything."

Before Oscar could answer him, a bellowing roar cried out against the winds, a powerful echo that turned the snow into a flurry, swirling and compounding. An intent lay behind it as it drew closer to his group, malicious Ein guiding its course. Not willing to let it even touch their cloaks, Oscar opened his palms, glowing until flames rose from its surfaces. In a single command, the fire formed a barrier around his group and clashed against the incoming storm, a blazing grumble meeting an icy howl. Due to the heat, the snow turned into a hissing steam before it fell back down to the ground as ice from the dense cold.

The land cleared, and the perpetrators were revealed. Several large, burly figures pounded on the ground, roaring to reveal their rather large tusks, which complemented the curled horns on their heads. Their coats were as white as the snow, but their blue eyes gleamed radiantly like wisps of the night. Native to the Bellariach Mountains and a dangerous foe for unsuspecting travelers, the Yetis growled, drooling.

The Yetis didn't interest him. Oscar's attention turned to what their large hands carried, strange objects firmly grasped within their palms. He couldn't tell from large amounts of snow and ice covering these objects, but he had an inkling they were humans, the shape resembling a human figure. Not wanting to waste his Ein, Oscar nudged the sleeping Erden awake, and his friend rushed out, greeting the Yetis with his ferocious gaze.

For the sake of stealth, Erden used his antlers and body rather than flames to combat the Yetis. His speed was unmatched by the large Yetis, and he circled to the back, stabbing his wings into the weaker Yetis, tearing them into pieces. The battle was absurdly one-sided, not even a challenge. Erden trampled his hooves, breaking the limbs of the powerful Yetis, their bones visibly protruding from under their thick fur. Mere beasts trying to fight against a Mythical Beast was tantamount to suicide. Grinning above the bloodied corpses, Erden devoured their cores, sending some Ein to Oscar to absorb.

"Your beast is scary. I wonder how you managed to tame such a wild Mythical Beast." Alec avoided Erden while floating around and reached down to one of the bodies the Yetis were holding. He grimaced and waved Oscar over.

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Arriving by Alec's side, Oscar also grimaced, dark lines creeping onto his brow. Using a soft flame, he melted off the snow and ice from the body, a frozen, pale face of fear greeting him. Judging from the blue clothes on the man, he was their ally, most likely someone who fought and died in one of the innumerable battles across the frontlines on these mountains.

"The beasts like the Yetis must be scavenging the dead. It's free food for them, nicely preserved for them to eat later." Alec brought other bodies over while speaking harrowing words nonchalantly, something Oscar disliked but understood his second-in-command had to be the one who could speak the harshest.

"It would have been impossible for us to find all of our fallen in this snow after every battle, right?" Susan looked away from the line of corpses.

"Not in this snow. The prolonged exposure to the cold here is detrimental to our forces. Not just us, though." Oscar melted down another corpse and noticed the black attire and emblem of a black turtle, one of the enemy. "Alec, tell everyone to watch out for any corpses. They might not be the priority, but we should bring as many of our fallen back as possible. They deserve a proper burial."

While Alec relayed his orders, Oscar looted what he could find: a few rations, armaments, a few diaries he left unread, and their identity tokens, which he left on their bodies. He placed the bodies inside his space pocket and saw Susan's pale face, his hand reaching out and patting her head over the fur hood. "Regather yourself. If we find one alive, you will have to heal them."

Susan nodded, "I understand." She controlled her breathing and gripped her hands together.

"Everyone has been notified and did their routine check-in. So far, nothing suspicious has been found." Alec said, readjusting the mask on his mouth.

Oscar hurried the group over, and they continued their search, leaving no stone unturned, scrutinizing for any signs of Ein usage or an unnatural protrusion. He scaled up the mountain, a ground cleared once by an avalanche, already filled to the brim with snow. All around him was nothing but the white, icy, wintery landscape, not the best conditions to find whatever they were looking for. Oscar resisted the heavy winds, his fur cloak ruffling around and almost flying off his back, and he scaled up the mountain.

More beasts greeted him and fell before his might, the cores feeding his and Erden's progress. More bodies surfaced, and Oscar gathered them to bring them them. Passing through the shield of clouds, he finally stepped onto the peak and saw nothing, not a single clue to the source of the insidious winter he had suffered through all morning, one that everyone had been suffering against for over a year now.

"Check-in. We are at the peak. What's your status?" Alec contacted the rest and relayed to Oscar, "They should be coming."

After a few minutes, everyone gathered at the peak. None of them seemed to enjoy the view from up here, only a downcast response as they all found absolutely nothing. Fred and Emily seemed the most down, but Oscar avoided asking them for now and checked the time. He clicked his tongue and said, "It took us around an hour to climb the mountain. Before night falls, we can search through a few more. Stick to your groups, and let's head out. Surely, no one is tired?"

"No, Captain!" Everyone responded with a rousing shout.

"Good. Let's not return to Frostveil City with nothing to show for it." Oscar patted down the frost building on his fur clock and ventured down the mountain to start anew on another. Several mountains later, and with nothing to show for it, he began to feel the fatigue of having his Ein Shroud up for too long. His Ein Awaken and Erden's supply of Ein helped to alleviate the loss of Ein the whole time, but prolonged use still exhausted his mental state.

'Switch with me and take a rest.' Demon suggested.

'No. Everyone else needs the time to rest as well.' Oscar waited on the peak with Susan and Alec. The horizon of mountains was already engulfing the two suns, almost ready to plunge the entire place into night.

'Useless burdens.' Demon's voice was colder than the air gnawing on his face.

Ignoring his alter ego, Oscar realized the rest of his order had arrived and said, "Who's hungry?" The others smiled and sighed in relief, and he led them down the mountain and, with Emily's help, carved a cavern into the base of the mountain, a good shelter away from the poisonous snow. To be careful, they covered the entrance with a tarp that would hold the snow to act as camouflage.

Erden jumped down and lit his entire body on fire, everyone sitting around him for warmth and respite. Oscar carved a piece of stone into a block and used it as a makeshift table, putting the map of the Bellariach Mountains on it. With Alec beside him, they conversed while the others rested and ate hearty soup of Yeti meat.

"So far, we've been through these seven mountains. And found nothing." Oscar crossed out several mountains on the map. The entire Bellariach Mountains stretched from north to south on the eastern side of the map.

"Previous scouts have already been here. Look–" Alec pulled out another similar map but had far more marks on it. "They already canvased the entire Bellariach Mountains carefully. Even if the snow is coming from these mountains, it might not mean the source is here."

"Well, it's not coming from the enemy's side. Scouts and spies report zero indication of anything of note being there. There's nothing in the sky, either. The enemy airships stay back and only approach for battle. Damn it, Alec. We must be missing something." Oscar grumbled.

Alec nodded, scrunching his brow, and mumbled before speaking softly, "Unless a King Exalt decided to use their spell directly, it should be impossible. Whatever it is, it has a wide range to hit Frostveil City and the surrounding lands."

Oscar received a hot cup of soup from Susan, thanking her, and sighed, "Something is missing."

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