Chapter 36: Problems on snowy days

They rose after another long kiss. Strax simply smiled at her, who was still quite embarrassed, but now couldn't deny it anymore.

"No matter the age, or anything else... I'm enjoying this insolent bastard," she thought, watching him offer his hand to start walking alone again. "Tsk," she bit her tongue. Was she annoyed? Yes, but with herself, not with Strax.

On the other hand...

[The hidden mission was successfully completed, however, your rewards will only be delivered at the end of the arc.]

"Tsk, disgusting system, why delay the rewards so much? Isn't the level system already a complete failure, giving me only 1 point per level instead of increasing all the statistics, what else do you want to steal from me? Even the rewards?!" he roared, growing increasingly irritated with the system that completely limited him on all occasions, something he had no control over.

"I'll have to manage. At least this beautiful woman is by my side. I just need her to recover her mana and we can have more chances of surviving," he thought, directing his attention to Samira.

"We need to head North, right?" Strax questioned, and Samira nodded, explaining, "We'll have to find the nearest road first and I can better locate us, but heading north, where the sun rises, is our best option currently. Lazune isn't too far from here," she remarked.

"Can you tell me more about this place?" he said as they resumed their path. "Well, there's not much to say. It's a port city, a major trading center that encompasses spices and valuable resources, mainly because it has good connections with the Vampire continent. Although they only drink blood, their land is reasonably rich to sell their resources," Samira explained...

"Vampires in..." he murmured. 'And to think there would be something like that around here. So far I've only seen humans and some mutant creatures, like the wolves...'

"What are Vampires like?" Strax asked curiously. "Sometimes I forget you were discarded by your family and thrown into a backwater like Steinhartd," Samira sighed and unloaded all her frustration...

"They're idiots! They only think about blood and lust, besides being naturally strong and born with superhuman strength! These bastards are still arrogant! I hate Vampires!" she said quickly, as if venting about a bad day at work. Strax couldn't help but laugh at that. "Hahaha," his laughter echoed.

"You seem to have been frustrated by a Vampire, why so much bitterness?" he asked amused.

"That damned one! She always took my expensive jobs and told me to stick with the stupid things of those retarded nobles!" she vented in anger. "Haha, it's so funny your face when you're angry."

"You!," she turned but saw he was smiling in a different way, at least she saw it that way. "Hey, what's this?!" she quickly exclaimed in surprise upon noticing something. "What?" he said smiling.

'Why did this bastard start to look so handsome?! Was he always like this? How is this possible!' she screamed internally, and shortly after, "Humpf! You drive me crazy!" she said and continued to walk ahead, leaving Strax speechless.

"Hey, wait for me! Finish telling the story about Lazune!" he ran quickly to catch up with Samira's steps, at least she didn't start running. If she did something like that, Strax would probably fall far behind.

Samira and Strax glanced at each other, their eyes widening in terror as they realized what was happening.

"Why are we so unlucky?" Strax questioned, as everything trembled and the noise of rocks started to grow louder. "An avalanche!" Samira shouted, her voice almost lost in the deafening roar of the approaching snowslide. She quickly grabbed Strax's hand and started to run.

They ran desperately through the tunnel, the flickering flame's light wavering as they struggled to stay upright on the unstable ground.

"It's the bear!" Samira shouted, feeling the heavy footsteps above her head. The sound it made was truly different from the noise of the snowslide or the mountain breaking. It was a desperate moment.

They knew they needed to find a way out as soon as possible, before it was too late. With their hearts pounding uncontrollably in their chests, they surged forward, ignoring the fatigue and fear consuming them. "Don't stop!" Strax said, starting to use everything he had, even though his tired body wouldn't stop now.

By a miracle, they spotted an opening ahead, a faint light shining beyond it. With their last bit of strength, they ran towards the hope of escaping the imminent avalanche.

With a desperate leap, they emerged from the cave just in time, being swallowed by the snow.

For an agonizing moment, everything was dark.

When the avalanche finally stopped, Samira and Strax found themselves lying in the snow, panting and covered in ice. But, miraculously, they were alive.

"Ahrgt, I'm sore all over," said Samira as she began to dig. They were buried, but they could still breathe. Quickly she began to emerge from the snow.

"We made it," Samira murmured, looking at Strax who emerged from the snow just like her.

"Damn. That was close," said Samira, but... it wasn't what she expected. The magical bear, now emerging from the snow with fury, roared loudly, unbearable. Strax and Samira glanced at each other. "We don't have a second of peace," Strax commented.

When Strax said that sentence, the bear emerging from the snow quickly prepared and launched ice spikes toward Samira with frightening precision. Before she could react, Strax acted instinctively, jumping in front of her, shielding her with his own body.

"Ahhhrgt!" The ice spikes hit Strax hard, piercing his skin and making him scream in pain.

Samira watched in horror as Strax fell to his knees, wounded and bleeding, but still determined to protect her. "You son of a bitch, why target her?!" she roared in anger.

"Strax!" she cried, running to help him remove the small spike that hit him. "I'm going to pull it out!" She said and pulled it out "AHHHHHH!" He screamed in pain.

"Hey, you damn bastard, I'm going to kill you," Samira roared with so much anger, so much anger that her hair partially caught fire. Her hands were bathed in flames, and her eyes were extremely furious.