As the Depravitas and Vikings pressed on, their eyes sharpened at the sight of massive patches of snow on their path. Snow is a common sight on a high mountain like Nagan. Once you were over 4000 meters, such a natural phenomenon could not trouble the group. The problem was that there was no ordinary snow.
A tense atmosphere gripped the group as demonic blood energy altered the once pure white landscape, transforming it into a grotesque vision of coagulated blood snow.
The snow had a sickly, reddish hue as if the very essence of the mountain had been corrupted. As the group focused on it, they could feel it pulsing with a life of its own, a ghastly reminder of the demonic presence that had tainted it. Lightning bolts continued to strike the surface, but the blood snow was impervious to the electric blasts.
[Beep! A dense and extremely high amount of demonic blood energy has fused into the snow, giving it a coagulated blood-like appearance, extreme resilience, and resistance to lightning energy!
For contamination to be so high in the snow, the core of the corruption must be close!]
Vlad’s eyes turned icy as he heard the analysis from the A.I. Chip, his gaze fixed on the mountain peak shrouded in thick storm clouds. ’As I suspected, the contamination core lies at the mountain peak. That is also where my Lightning Core is located, and Freya’s High Champion.’
The Inferno Comet Runic Set began to radiate, engulfing Vlad’s body in demonic fire. He wasn’t about to use the Runic Set’s ability just yet, but he summoned the flames for a different purpose. A sword materialized in his right hand, and he began to channel the flames into the weapon, preparing to unleash a Champion Tier Force Skill designed by the A.I. Chip.
Once the demonic fire contacted the sword, Vlad began focusing his Force, drawing it from his Soul Dimension and channeling it into the weapon. More and more Force gathered into the sword, fusing with the demonic flames.
Vlad clenched his teeth as he kept sending Force into the sword, a swirling energy appearing around his hands. The ground beneath his feet trembled slightly, and nearby objects were pushed away by the sheer force being gathered.
Freya’s eyes widened as she saw the amount of Force that Vlad managed to gather. For a warrior with a strong soul, it was easy to manipulate and channel Force, but gathering so much and concentrating it in a single point put immense stress on your body and mind.
Vlad’s body was naturally strong thanks to his Depravita Racial Heritage, and the spiritual part was managed thanks to the A.I. Chip. This attack was very powerful but required a lot of casting time and focus, so it was only now that he found a reason to use it.
"Arc of Devastation!" A massive arc of flaming Force swept out from Vlad’s sword, shimmering with destructive power, as it cleaved the thick layer of coagulated blood snow, incinerating everything around it, advancing dozens of meters.
Jormungandr, Freya, and Grey Hawk had remained silent as they saw the focus needed to activate the ability, but they were confused by the young man’s seemingly blind attack. However, it was then that they heard it.
"AHHHHHH!" A scream of pain emerged from the snow, and the next second, a massive and bulging humanoid figure nearly five meters tall emerged from the blood snow. It had a humanoid form but no eyes or ears.
The group could see a deep cut in the golem’s shoulder that went all the way to its chest, but there were no inner organs inside, only more coagulated blood snow. The monster seemed to be made purely of the substance that flooded the ground.
Vlad’s eyes were cold as he stared at the golem. The demonic forest at the mountain’s base had already taught him a harsh lesson, and he would not fall for an ambush like that twice.
The creature was massive and seemed to have immense physical power, but its movements were slow. Now that they saw it, the group would have no problem defeating it. Or at least that was what they thought until the golem buried its right arm in the coagulated blood snow, and the injury on its shoulder vanished in seconds!
Once the injury was fixed, the golem focused on the humans, its face displaying a pure expression of rage, but it did not move. Instead, it began to hide again in the deep layers of blood snow.
[Beep! Analyzing targets.
A new mutated species that is classified as Snow Blood Golem. Hulking constructs formed from the coagulated blood snow mutated by the high-level demonic energy. They are slow but incredibly strong.
It can regenerate from wounds by absorbing coagulated blood snow from the ground and hiding their presence. Their punches cause severe internal bleeding.
Note: Their vitality and energy pool are connected to the coagulated blood snow. As long as there is enough around them, they will continue regenerating.]
Vlad’s eyes narrowed as he saw the analysis of the Snow Blood Golem. It had physical might that matched his, and while it was very slow, it practically had never-ending vitality since there were countless tons of coagulated blood snow for it to use and regenerate.
Vlad quickly assessed the situation, realizing the futility of a direct confrontation with the Snow Blood Golems. He discarded the idea of marching into the snow and fighting, understanding that even if he were to use his Runic Set’s ability, it would only consume a fraction of the total blood snow.
Freya came to the same conclusion as Vlad, understanding that marching into the blood snow was suicide. However, they needed to pierce through it to reach the zenith. Instinctively, she turned toward the young man, as he seemed to have an answer for any problem that might arise. She saw Vlad taking the corpses of demons and beginning to inscribe runes on them.