Epic Of The Demonic Sage

The sound of frost and ice settling on the ground could be heard as the moisture in the ground and surroundings started to freeze. The teeth of the soldiers couldn't help but chatter and they shivered.

Unfortunately for them, the cold was simply too much that they couldn't even complain or cry about it. It had made them sluggish and unable to move anymore. While they weren't frozen to death, if this kept up, they probably will.

Gabriel who had wisely chosen to retreat, was watching the entire thing with sharp eyes. He looked at the Ice user and knew that he must not be just anyone.

"An Ice gift such as this that can freeze this quickly and affect these many people… he is definitely at the Epic Rank… but where can someone like this come from. The Drew Territory doesn't really have any official person who had a gift like this.

The couple of Epic Ranked gifted that are in the territory there are not like these." Gabriel muttered to himself.

The information about gifted was already well known to him since the Drew Territory was under the Land of Etara before and they had a lot of interactions. But now seeing this, Gabriel was more than sure that whoever was supporting the Drew territory in the background was not weak. 

'For them to be able to afford to send someone like this… an earl? Or perhaps even a marquis?' Gabriel wondered to himself.

One must know that hiring warriors or mercenaries that had Epic Ranked gifts was a very expensive affair. Oftentimes they charged several thousand Aether crystals and depending on the kind of a task they were employed for, their charges may rise even more.

For something like guarding a place or shipment temporarily didn't cost as much, but to go and fight in a battle territory or war? That would take a large amount of fortune. If a noble could afford that, they may as well spend that on recruiting more of the normal soldiers and increase their chances of winning that way.

Plus, there was always the chance that the warrior or mercenary may not even accept a job like that. After all, why would they choose to die in a battle like that when they could take low paying but safe jobs.

And even if they survived the battle, there was always the chance that the party they fought against may take revenge in other ways. The mercenaries that usually took part in battles such as these were either at the Rare rank or lower.

Those didn't really have as high of a value as that of the Epic Ranked ones. Thus for them, the pay of a war or battle job commission was always the best. That was also the reason why the Inanis family had been able to recruit a hundred mercenaries so easily.

Gabriel looked at the enemy soldiers that were being frozen by the icy winds of the man and sighed in pity. He knew that if it was his own soldiers here, he would not have been able to retreat so easily.

His gaze then went to the bulky warriors clad in Maroon armors. 

"They're really something else huh… just what did Asher do to them to make them like this? I understand upgrading gifts but… they are beyond that." Gabriel was truly perplexed.

"Will they be fine from this?" Gabriel said, seeing the Lost getting slowed down.

But just as he was watching, a different sound was heard.

~Crack~

"Huh?" Both Gabriel and the Icy wind user were a bit confused.

~crack~crack~

"No way!" The ice user finally got a view of the scene in front of him.

His gift had been deactivated by him since he thought that this was enough. Due to using the Icy Winds, the view in front of him was like that of a blizzard before this and barely anything could be seen.

But now that he had stopped, he could see that everything had been changed to a frosty white look. His companions were stuck in the positions they were in, while some of them had fallen on the ground due to losing their balance.

The ones who were injured and lying on the ground still had a chance had survival before, but now they had truly been frozen to death.

~CRACK!~

This time a very clear sound was heard, and even movement was witnessed. Gabriel and the Ice user saw the lost who was throwing out Phlegm move. But not just him, but the other four Lost also started to move.

The cracking sound was coming from their armor. The ice that was inhibiting them was breaking. It had settled on their joints and now it was cracking as they tried to move.

"HNG!" A strange grunt was heard coming from the Lost as a jet of steam was let out from their masks.

Their breaths seemed like they were filled with hot vapor. 

"HNG!HNG!HNG!" Their breaths got more intense and the density of the vapor also increased.

Lucius who was at a distance, felt the change in the Lost.

"They're getting angry… this won't be good if they end up revealing themselves," Lucius muttered to himself.

His gaze went to the army of Inanis and saw that they were now doing far better than before. With the constant barrage taken away from two sides, they could fight much better. The Lost that had entered the western side had also eased up the rate of attacks and now they were able to manage far better than before.

"Maybe it won't go so bad after all…" Lucius changed his mind and sent out a signal with hell energy.

The signals that he sent out were in the form of pulses and were something that the Lost could sense rather easily. Of course, the message in them needed to be very brief and Lucius needed to be close enough for them to receive it.

But the moment they got it, their eyes glowed in a red light and a beastly growl came out of their mouths.

"HRNNGGG!"