Chapter 258 - Frost Demons
Some distance away from the snowy mountain cave, Fenriri's nose twitched from time to time before she paused by specific locations and dug out a spirit herb from the thick snow.
"Master said to collect spirit herbs, but I don't know what's good and what's not. I better just grab whatever I find and bring them all back…" Fenriri thought.
Nevertheless, she forgot to bring a bag to carry the spirit herbs, which greatly limited the number of herbs she could carry before making a trip back.
A few minutes after finding some Grade-2 Frigid Silvergrass, Fenriri found another spirit herb near the bottom of the snow mountain area.
The spirit herb was a type of root.
But while she was pulling out the root, Fenriri quickly found that the root was much longer than she anticipated.
At the same time, it was much harder to pull out.
"Why is this root so long and stubborn?" Fenriri was surprised before her expression quickly turned solemn and determined, "Hmph, just you wait! I am definitely going to pull you out!"
Fenriri exerted her strength and tug hard on the surprisingly tenacious frigid spirit root before it slowly came out a few inches at a time.
Rumble…!
The ground suddenly shook unstably before the ice formed huge cracks and split apart, causing dense layers of snow to get devoured by the large rifts and sink into the abyss.
Ka-cha!
The ground beneath Fenriri's feet collapsed, causing Fenriri to lose her footing and immediately plunge into the abyss—before she was shortly saved by the spirit root she held tightly onto.
Fenriri dangled against the walls of the ice rift before she uttered with shock, "W-W-What's going here?! Why did the ground suddenly collapse?!"
"I need to get out of here first!"
Fenriri quickly recovered from her hesitation before she quickly used the spirit root to pull herself out of the rift.
However, the spirit root loosened each time she pulled, causing the spirit root to extend and lower her deeper into the abyss.
"C'mon, little root… You were so stubborn before. Now's not the time to go easy on me…" Fenriri wanted to cry before her body sank another inch, causing her to immediately cry, "Big root, I mean you're a big root! Please hold on!"
…
…
…
At the same time, Albion ended his short cultivation session as his brows crumpled together into a frown.
The ground rumbled in the distance, and an avalanche was shortly formed, rushing down the snowy mountain slope, gathering power and momentum by the moment.
"Master, save me—!"
Fenriri's cry was shortly heard in the distance before Albion immediately shot to his feet and blinked into the distance at incredible speed, rushing to the source of Fenriri's voice!
The spirit root was eventually uprooted by Fenriri's weight, but Fenriri reacted quickly and dug her ice claws into the ice cliff to stop her plunge into the abyss of unknown depth.
Alas, the entire section of the ice wall broke off from the rest of the surface ground and plunged into the abyss, causing Fenriri to resume her descent with no other support to break her fall.
Swoosh~!
Albion shot over like a flash of lightning, shattering the enormous block of ice with his bare body before he grabbed hold of Fenriri's twist and asked, "What on Earth did you do, Fenriri?"
"Fenriri didn't do anything! Fenriri was just pulling out this spirit root for Master!" Fenriri quickly showed the spirit root with her other hand as the two continued to free fall into the abyss.
Empyrean's Decree!
Albion furrowed his brows shortly before a trace of mental power wrapped around them and temporarily broke their fall, following an ocean-like tide of snow pouring down from above.
The countless snow and ice shards showered them, but it was not a big deal for Albion as he shielded the both of them with a telekinetic barrier.
Even if it took on the brunt of the falling avalanche with his bare body, it would not have been enough damage to even scratch his itch.
Rumble…!
Nevertheless, a few moments passed before the shower of snow and ice ended before more and more surrounding large pieces of ice land shattered apart, sinking into the abyss as the rift grew ever larger.
Within a few minutes, the surrounding mountains were also swallowed into the abyss before an enormous rift formed on the world's surface.
Light quickly shined into its depth before the entire region was revealed.
"Master, Fenriri thinks Fenriri is not suited for treasure hunting…" Fenriri gulped with disbelief while gazing at the distant ground below.
Who knew that pulling out a spirit root from the ground would cause such wanton destruction?
"Relax. This wasn't your fault," Albion assured before saying, "It seems like this enormous space had been hidden below the ice surface. Still, who knows if this space had always existed or that it was recently formed."
Albion and Fenriri slowly descended before they reached the bottom of the open region and landed on solid ground with stable footing.
"Let's see if there's anything valuable to collect down here," Albion calmly stated before saying, "We need to retrieve our bag of goods too."
Since the entire mountain collapse with the ground, the cave and everything inside naturally fell with it.
"Ahh—!" Fenriri immediately exclaimed with a startling cry before she asked, "The food inside the bag wouldn't be crushed, would it?"
"That's what you're worried about?" Albion glanced at Fenriri speechlessly before shaking his head and answered, "The food is likely flattened under all that weight, but—hm?"
Albion suddenly paused and shifted his gaze over to the ground a few yards away from them as blue-colored beings of varying appearances began climbing out of the ground.
Some had horns, protruding bones, and wings, while others had an odd number of limbs and eyes—nothing the likes of which Fenriri had seen before in all the years she had lived in the Netherfrost Blizzard Realm.
"What are these things?" Fenriri asked with astonishment before saying, "Fenriri has never seen them around here."
"They are Frost Demons," Albion answered as his narrowed eyes dangerously.