Chapter 130: Permafrost
[Corvin]
[Rank: Dread]
[Level: 39]
[Strength: 160]
[Stamina: 80]
[Agility: 155]
[Vitality: 175]
[Endurance: 105]
[Magic: 135]
[Mana: 900]
[HP: 10,325]
[Affinity: Dark]
[Skills: Flight, Death Sense, Scavenging, Shadow Strike, Carrion Swarm]
[Reward: 50 Skill points, Gray Key]
’Gray Key? What is this?’
[Key to the castle]
’Castle.... Malakai’s Castle? Wait, so if I didn’t level up Corvin, I couldn’t get into the castle?’
[Yes]
Jack started to rub his temples.
So many things are hidden within the system, and he couldn’t figure them out without testing and hoping for the best.
Jack looked up and saw a change in Corvin.
The most significant change in Corvin was his presence.
The great raven had always been impressive, but now he radiated an aura of lethality that made Jack’s hair on his arms stand up.
This was no longer just a powerful companion, this was a predator.
Corvin stretched his wings, the span now reaching nearly four ters from tip to tip.
When he looked at Jack, the intelligence in those violet eyes held new depths of understanding.
’How do you feel?’ Jack asked through their ntal link.
The response ca not in words but in pure emotion.
Strength, confidence, anticipation, and beneath it all, a hunger that matched Jack’s own growing appetite for combat.
But there was sothing else, a deeper understanding of their partnership, an awareness that they were becoming sothing greater than the sum of their individual parts.
Before Jack could fully appreciate their partnership, a sound split the mountain air that made every instinct scream danger inside of his head.
AWOOOOOOOOOO!
The howl started low and built to a crescendo that seed to shake the very foundations of the mountain.
It carried malevolence that went beyond re animal aggression.
This was the sound of sothing ancient, powerful, and utterly without rcy.
’System, analysis. What was that?’
[Scanning audio signature...]
[Cross-referencing threat database...]
[Analysis complete]
[Entity: Disaster Class]
[Current Status: Stationary ]
[It seems to be observing you]
[Threat Level: EXTRE]
[Recomndation: AVOID DIRECT CONFRONTATION]
Jack felt his blood run cold despite his confidence boost.
Disaster Class ant sothing capable of leveling cities, reshaping terrain, and commanding forces that could challenge entire armies.
The kind of entity that appeared in legends as divine punishnt or world-ending calamity.
And Disaster-class entities weren’t even the peak of monsters.
The knowledge should have been paralyzing.
’Why is it watching ?’
’How many entities of that class are in the area?’
[One Disaster-class entity detected]
[No movent toward your location detected]
[Additional note: Entity appears to be accompanied by an individual.]
’Then it’s one of the things watching ,’ Jack realized, rembering the system’s earlier warning about multiple presences observing his fight.
Soone, or sothing, of catastrophic power was using this engagent as entertainnt or evaluation.
What could a Disaster-class entity want with him?
Was this another test, another step in the prophecy that seed to be guiding his developnt?
Or was he simply interesting enough to warrant observation by powers that could reshape continents?
Before he could pursue that line of thinking further, Corvin’s enhanced senses detected movent in multiple directions.
The great raven’s head snapped toward the eastern approach, then south, then west, tracking multiple incoming threats.
Through their bond, Jack felt Corvin’s assessnt.
"Here they co," Jack murmured, his hand tightening on the Lightning Spear as he began detecting the approaching enemies.
The first wave ca from the east: Wind Harpies, their shrieks cutting through the mountain air like banshee wails.
Jack counted at least twenty of them, their feathered forms diving and weaving through the air with supernatural grace.
Each harpy was roughly human-sized but built for aerial combat, with razor-sharp talons and the ability to generate devastating wind attacks.
[Wind Harpies Detected]
[Rank: Dread Class]
[Count: 23]
[HP: 6,500 each]
[Affinity: Wind]
[Skills: Flight, Wind Blade, Sonic Scream, whirlwind]
From the south ca a different kind of threat.
Lesser Fire Demons, their forms wreathed in flas as they bounded across the rocky terrain with supernatural speed.
Jack could feel the heat radiating from their positions even at a distance, and the stone beneath their feet glowed cherry-red from their steps.
[Lesser Fire Demons Detected]
[Rank: Dread Class]
[Count: 18]
[HP: 7,200 each]
[Affinity: Fire]
[Special Abilities: Fla Aura, Fire Blast, Heat Wave, Fireball, Thermal Vision]
[Threat Assessnt: High damage output]
’Yeah im not falling for the fireball trick again.’
The fire demons moved with the fluid grace of creatures born from elental fury.
Their presence was changing the local environnt. Jack could see heat shimr rising from their approach, and the scent of superheated stone filled the air.
But when he looked to the west, his head rolled. Lesser Ice Demons, their crystalline forms refracting light in prismatic patterns as they advanced.
Where the fire demons brought heat, these creatures brought killing cold that made the very air sparkle with ice crystals.
[Lesser Ice Demons Detected]
[Rank: Dread Class]
[Count: 15]
[HP: 7,800 each]
[Affinity: Water]
[Special Abilities: Frost Aura, Ice Shard, Freeze, Cold Immunity, Ice Spear, Ice Do]
[Threat Assessnt: Environntal control, don’t stay to close]
Fire and ice demons in proximity would create extre temperature differentials that could shatter stone and disorient enemies.
Jack’s position was becoming the center of a storm that was about to explode.
And approaching from the north, moving with deliberate nace, ca the largest threat.
Stone Basilisks similar to the ones he’d just defeated, but accompanied by sothing far more dangerous.
[Stone Basilisks Detected]
[Rank: Dread Class]
[Count: 12]
[HP: 8,000 each]
[Affinity: Earth]
The basilisks were concerning but manageable based on his recent experience. It was their escort that made Jack’s senses scream warnings.
[Low Grade DeathFrost Demon]
[Na: Permafrost]
[Rank: Nightmare Class]
[HP: 25,000]
[Affinity: Ice/Dark]
[Skills: Absolute Zero, Ice Prison, Demon Regeneration, Fear Aura, Command Presence, Ice Beam, Snowflake]
[Threat Assessnt: EXTRE, capable of coordinating lesser demons]
The Nightmare-class demon stood twice the height of its lesser counterparts, its crystalline form shot through with veins of absolute darkness.
Where the lesser ice demons brought a slight cold, this creature was so complete it made reality itself brittle.
But what made it truly dangerous was the intelligence in its movents.
This wasn’t just a powerful monster, it was a battlefield commander, coordinating the other groups through so form of supernatural communication.
Jack found himself grinning despite the overwhelming odds.
The demon looked very similar to Cho, but its skin was a deep blue.
The ground quickly turned to ice with every step he took.
’Alright, who on earth nad this clown. His na is so cliché, it’s dumb.’
This was exactly the kind of challenge he wanted. Multiple enemy types requiring different tactical approaches, environntal hazards, and a central commander that needed to be eliminated to break enemy coordination.
’System,’ he thought, his mind already formulating battle plans, ’what’s the most effective way to induce an enraged state in monsters?’
The question felt crucial. If he could manipulate enemy psychology, he might be able to break their coordination and get an enraged nightmare core.
"Is this the demon presence I detected? Looks like a flimsy human." Permafrost said as all the demons began laughing.
[Analyzing....]
[...]
[The best way would be to lower their health below 25% and then...]
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