They were at least eighty to a hundred ghouls swarming their caravan from the west.
The rider and the broad-shouldered man had to work together, there were two ghouls that managed to get past both the male sorcerer and Sieg, and apparently the rider was no pushover; his skill with the rifle was decent.
The broad-shouldered man would point his longsword straight, making distance between him and an enemy, and if the ghoul ever tried to lunge at him, he would slash at it with his back always facing the rider.
And if the ghoul was slashed, he would kick its foot to make it fall to the ground, and immediately follow with a deep thrust of his longsword down the ghoul's temple.
Then the rider came with an assist, carefully aiming his rifle whenever the broad-shouldered man was about to face two at once; he would always shoot the second ghoul, preventing the broad-shouldered man from being overwhelmed.
Rider also had the added responsibility of making sure that the horses remained calm throughout it all, but these animals were well-mannered and caused no problems to them.
All the while, Sieg and the male sorcerer dealt with a great number of ghouls. Mentally, Sieg was counting how many he had killed, and so far it was five against… twenty of the male sorcerer's kill count.
He's obviously weaker than Mister Knight, and when he fights, how is he so calm? Sieg surveyed his comrade and noticed that the male sorcerer didn't entirely rely on his sword.
Indeed, the male sorcerer used a combination of martial arts and sword fighting.
Male sorcerer was weaving his elbows to strike the abdomen and face, incorporating martial kicks in between sword slashes.
More interestingly, the male sorcerer was doing this without a single hint of hesitation.
Sieg, on the other hand, when a ghoul was coming, would slash and let Cryostalgia do all the freezing work. Nonetheless, Sieg tried his best to keep up.
A ghoul rushed at him, but Cryostalgia was already poised for a stab, so he struck.
Sieg thought about it, kicking or using his elbow as a follow up, but those actions seemed far beyond his capabilities, and more importantly, too risky to incorporate. Even if he wasn't flashy, he would just have to accept that:
Being more consistent was enough.
"I'll just have to settle on what I can do."
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Then, at the rear of the caravan, the intellectual man and the scrawny man witnessed a breathtaking scene.
It was like a dance of nimbleness coming from the female sorcerer — they too were allured as she moved swiftly from upcoming ghouls. One was immediately beheaded, others lost their hands, while most got stabbed in more ways than one.
Her slashes were unseen to their eyes, almost as if she was made of mist.
"We should conserve our ammunition; that woman is more than capable of handling it all on her own!" Intellectual man remarked.
Scrawny man agreed. "Where did we get these people? And how is that guy (Sieg) even with them?" he murmured in confusion.
However, the intellectual man had another view. "There's no point in questioning that. Let's just count our luck that these people are our mercenaries in partnership, they only increase our success in taking down the Tundra Beast!"
The scrawny man had no complaints, he, too, knew that if there were only three of them, they wouldn't stand a chance.
The battle outside the caravan took a while, but the waves of ghouls slowly thinned out, victims of fire, ice… lead and steel.
"This is just a nuisance — don't you think it's far too easy, Candidate?" asked the male sorcerer, cleaning the blade of his sword with a handkerchief.
Sieg as well thought it was rather far too easy. He looked into the horizon of the snow, and just as he thought everything was over, a loud roar emanated from the distance.
"It's over for us—" the intellectual man muttered closing his eyes.
And up in the distance, a looming, towering figure emerged. It appeared to be a large white ape, bigger than the entire caravan, hairy and muscular in frame.
But that's not what worried Sieg, it was the fact that it carried a large staff, and it appeared to be a temple's pillar.
"No way — I'm facing Arctic Sun Wukong?!"
Then the realization hit.
"WE'RE FACING ARCTIC SUN WUKONG?!"
Sieg gave the order to retreat into the caravan. The female sorcerer and the male sorcerer swiftly obeyed, broad-shouldered man also went inside, before the rider immediately urged the horses to move at great speed.
The caravan jolted forward as the rider drove the horses into a desperate gallop, snow spraying beneath their hooves. The animals were pushed to their limit, even as the wheels rattled violently behind them.
A thunderous roar echoed from the rear.
The Arctic Ape gave a terrifying chase.
It did not run through the snow like a beast — it leapt like an ape would.
Each bounce carried it frighteningly far, its massive body crashing down and shaking the ground, the pillar-staff slamming into the ice to propel it forward.
More harrowing was the blood spread across it, its eyes fixated on one person — Sieg…
Why is the ugly thing looking at me?!
The artic ape was closing the distance.
Male sorcerer glanced back once, then clicked his tongue. "It's faster than the horses."
Then female sorcerer's eyes narrowed, "It will catch us soon."
Another roar sounded, it was closer than before. The shadow of the towering ape stretched across the snow, looming over the caravan as the horses neighed in panic.
"We can't outrun it!" the intellectual screamed.
The female sorcerer then gazed at a frightened Sieg, and even nudged at his shoulder to calm him down, "We'll have to act before it catches us."
The ground shook again as the ape leapt — landing closer than ever.
Male Sorcerer made one thing clear:
"This is your test, we are not doing anything until you command it…"
Sieg took a deep breath, the scrawny man looked confused on why he was the leader but didn't bother voicing out his opinion.
"I don't know if this will work, but I have a plan." Sieg proposed.
Chapter End.
