Chapter 119: 119. Frost Salamanders (1/2)

Feeling the strange cold assault his body. Dohel stood rooted to the spot for some time when Kylyra's voice suddenly snapped him back to his senses.

”Stop standing around dumbly and do your job. If you have so much energy to spare why don't you join Larut and help keep an eye out.”

”Ah but... I'm supposed to be the leader, I shouldn't be doing grunt work like this.”

Larut laughed silently at the dumb look on their prestigious leader's face as Dohel tried to put up even more of a protest. However, Kylyra wasn't having it this time. She felt irritated as she was not only rejected by a guy she didn't even like but flat out ignored, and the only reason she had even done that was that their dumbass leader had made her do it.

Then there was the uncomfortable feeling she got back at the city's gate. Seeing the one responsible for her misery look so cheerful like he was having fun. She didn't miss the opportunity to get back at him.

”Just shut up and get to work.”

”But—”

Dohel was about to put up more of a fuss when he saw Kylyra give him the stink eye and swallowed back the words he was about to say as he chuckled dryly. Anne and Aine giggled by the side which made Dohel feel like he was being targeted for some reason and wanted to defend himself when Larut's voice suddenly cut in from the front of the carriage.

”Shh! There are movements.” His voice contained a trace of tension and his calm demeanor now adopted the traits and vigilance of a professional Hunter.

Everyone turned to face the direction he was looking at as they readied their weapons and Kylyra moved forward to take the position of a vanguard.

”Where?”

”There. Over there,” Larut said in response to Kylyra's question. He pointed down the path towards the side of a steep hill by the entrance of a cave to the side in the distance. However, they were still too far off so nobody could see anything inside the dark cave whose entrance was slightly covered in snow. Even so, none of them doubted Larut's senses.

”What should we do?”

”Should we go around it?”

”That would add at least an extra day to our trip.”

”Hmm... Let proceed with caution. If they don't leave the cave we'll just ignore them.” Larut said as he signaled the group to take a defensive formation.

”Alright, we'll follow the plan. Mr. Lix, please fall back and help us defend the carriage if any monster somehow gets by us.”

”Understood.”

”Thank you.”

Tyler had no problem with this as he had no intentions of helping out just yet as he remained seated atop the driver's seat in the front of the carriage although Nadine was the one with the reins.

The group moved forward slowly and cautiously while sticking closely to the edge of their path. They were currently traveling up a hill so the paths they could actually take due to the size of the carriage were few and in between as most of the paths that lead to the Fabelt pass were incredibly tight and narrowed.

While they tried to move as far away from the cave entrance as possible. The size of the carriage had made it a little difficult as they were still relatively close to it.

As they moved ever closer to the cave in an attempt to proceed down the path. The group suddenly heard movements from the dark cave and the snow and ice that had originally blocked most of the entrance began to quake violently.

”Damn it!”

”Looks like we won't be able to avoid a fight after all.”

The ice in the cave suddenly shattered from a loud impact and a pile of snow caved in on the entrance. However, as if to say they weren't bothered by the snow. Monsters slowly moved through the snow and revealed themselves.

They were bluish-grey scaled creatures that moved on all fours. They had ice-blue, four-legged serpentine bodies, long reptilian heads, and very long spiked tails with razor-sharp claws that most of them used to climb up the side of the cave walls as they observe the group.

There were about sixteen of them that came out of the cave as they move about in the snow like it was nothing. Their reptilian eyes scanned the party of Hunters in front of them and a few of them moved forward to meet them.

”Damn it, our luck must not be good if we ran into so many frost salamanders so soon,” Dohel said as he brought out a small bottle from his pouch and poured the contents on the blade of his large greatsword.

Frost salamanders were Intermediate class monsters that were usually only seen around this time of the year as they usually hibernated during the other three seasons. Their strength dually varied between the upper Tier 2 to the mid Tier 3 standards so they were classified as Intermediate class beast.

Since they were rarely seen and only ever appeared during winter. This was the first time the group had actually seen them in person. However, their information contained details on this monster and its weakness so there was no panic in their eyes as the monsters approached them.

”There are about sixteen of them, how should we deal with it,” Larut asks as he fell back and equipped his crossbow.

”Let's just attack and see what happens,” Kylyra answered

”How about be we just stick to the plan instead. Aine and Anne, please get ready.”

”Okay.”

”Roger.”

”Larut, seal up the cave entrance and drag down those perched on the wall. We need to take them out in one go.”

”No problem.”