At the same time, a red figure suddenly appeared inside Lucian's castle."My lord, the gargoyles have found our castle!"
Lucian was startled. Hadn't he ordered them to lead the gargoyles away? How had they still been discovered?
It wasn't a big deal that the enemy had discovered his castle; the real issue was that his own troops hadn't managed to gather any information about the enemy's castle.
These gargoyles and the Lord girl from that night seemed to appear out of nowhere.
However, the vampires did bring back some good news; they had discovered the lair of the Flame Demon Wolf from last night's beast tide.
Lucian decided to eliminate them to quickly enhance his own strength, especially since the oppressive presence of Alex was still palpable, and now his own castle had been discovered.
But the location of the cave was not as close to his castle as Lucian had guessed; it was still some distance away, leading him to suspect it was a different cave altogether. Lucian immediately set out with his vampires.
But neither Alex nor Lucian had realized that another Lord was hidden within Frostwind Snowy Mountain—[Ice Queen] Samson.
Yes, Samson. Who would have thought that the Lord known as [Ice Queen] would be a burly man!
Alex's castle was located on the eastern side of the snowy mountain, while Lucian's was on the western side outside the mountain, with the distance between them spanning the entire Frostwind Snowy Mountain.
In the middle of Frostwind Snowy Mountain, between two mountains forming a valley, lay Samson's castle, covered in snow and indeed difficult to detect.
Other Lords' castles were either built on the mountainside or at the summit, but only Samson's castle was uniquely located.
Samson's troops, the snow maidens, were beings formed from ice and snow, resembling bird-like creatures.
These beings had a woman's head and body, with arms that were wings made of frost, and their feet were large bird claws.
Although the snow maidens were beautiful, they were not humanoid, having lost their legs in exchange for bird claws, which were their main method of attack.
These ice-elemental beings also had a combat bonus in Frostwind Snowy Mountain and could remain immortal as long as they were in an icy environment.
This was snowy mountain, covered everywhere with ice and snow, and Samson believed his snow maidens were invincible here.
While the combat power of the snow maidens was not strong, they were highly intelligent and known for their immortality.
Samson thought that the two factions of gargoyles and vampire Lords were like him, second-tier Lords who had somehow become enemies, constantly seeking each other's locations and fighting on sight.
Samson felt that these two forces were much stronger than his own, but his snow maidens were renowned for their wisdom and immortality.
Even though undead were hard to kill, Samson didn't see this as a problem.
If they couldn't be killed, why not just freeze them solid? In such a cold mountainous region, was being sealed away any different from being dead?
"My lord, a frost cave has been discovered!"
Upon hearing this, Samson's face lit up with joy. Frostwind Snowy Mountain had several frost caves, each containing valuable treasures, much like instances in games from a previous life. Sёarch* The NôᴠelFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
But the locations of these frost caves were extremely hard to find, and each one contained at least a few Commanding level beings.
While the two Lords fought each other, Samson could quietly develop his strength in the dangerous Frostwind Snowy Mountain with his snow maidens.
He even fantasized about making those two Lords submit to him, kissing his toes.
"Let's go!"
Ɯ√ᒪΕМⱣΥᏒ.ϲӨƜ
Samson and his snow maidens transformed into a pile of snow and disappeared from sight.
...
Meanwhile, Alex was still in her castle, listening to the specter's report.
"His castle is outside the western side of Frostwind Snowy Mountain?"
Alex fell silent; this was going to be tricky. Not to mention the dangers of crossing Frostwind Snowy Mountain, just the distance alone was a challenge. Ice Cream, flying at full speed, would take over four hours to cross Frostwind Snowy Mountain, and Arthur would need five hours in the harsh mountain environment.
The bone dragons and gargoyles would take about eight hours. Alex couldn't possibly think that just bringing Arthur and Ice Cream, both Commanding level, would be enough to destroy the vampire's castle.
As top-tier Lords, the enemy's castle must have at least seven or eight Commanding levels.
Moreover, it was a special period, and Ice Cream couldn't just leave casually; he had to keep a low profile.
Without Ice Cream, her strongest level 5 force, Alex wasn't 100% confident she could defeat the enemy.
She couldn't really lead her undead army on a long march, taking half a month to get there, could she? The longer they stayed in snowy mountain, the greater the risk of encountering danger.
"Respected Queen, the gargoyles have also discovered a strange cave in snowy mountain. I've been inside to check it out, and through the walls, I saw some strange werewolves, mostly at Commanding level."
Hmm?
Could this be an instance?
With only a few Commanding levels inside, and it being daytime when the dangers of snowy mountain are relatively lower, and the cave's monsters not having double attribute enhancements, wasn't this just delivering resources on a platter? There should be treasures inside the instance, right?
This was definitely worth exploring.
Alex would not miss any opportunity to grow stronger; she had to make good use of the resources around her.
"Arthur, John, let's go!"
Since it was a cave, they definitely needed to enter it. Arthur's size was too large, probably unable to fit.
So, Alex chose to bring John, who had a normal human form and could definitely enter. Having John as the main force should be sufficient.
After all, Alex's own strength was not to be underestimated now.
As for why she brought Arthur, it was purely to serve as a flying mount.
Alex rode on Arthur, his bony neck still as uncomfortable as ever.
Because John couldn't fly, Alex specifically brought a level 8 bone dragon to carry John.
"Let's head to snowy mountain!"
Arthur, carrying Alex, took flight directly from the castle into the sky, followed by John, who transformed into a dragon rider, riding a bone dragon behind the undead queen.
Alex didn't bring the specter, as it was too slow and would delay them.
She had the specter point in a general direction; once they reached the approximate location in snowy mountain, other gargoyles would lead the way.
The location of the frost cave was on the northern side of Frostwind Snowy Mountain, slightly on the outer edge, which also proved that the guards inside the cave wouldn't be too strong.
With Arthur's flying speed, it would take just over an hour to reach the destination.