novelraw Chapter 327 323: Snowstorm!
Chapter 327 323: Snowstorm!
"Caw, caw!!!"
A sharp, piercing cry cut through the sky.
Gauss looked up at the tiny black speck above.
Raven Echo and its crow underlings were calling out a warning — there were monsters nearby.
"Teacher?"
Noticing that Gauss had suddenly stopped explaining, the engrossed Abby looked up at him curiously.
"It's fine."
Out of the corner of his eye, Gauss glanced at the road ahead. A few slimes bounced out of the tall grass and plopped right into the middle of the path as if they owned it.
Before they could do anything else, several black spikes shot through their murky, gelatinous bodies.
"Splurt!!"
Their cores shattered, and at the same time, a kill notification flashed in Gauss's vision.
"Slime (Mucus) Slain ×4."
"Let's continue."
Gauss withdrew his gaze and went back to combining magical theory with demonstration as he explained the cantrip Ray of Frost to Abby.
After Light, Ray of Frost was the second cantrip she was learning.
It was somewhat ironic: because of Gauss, Abby had developed a deep yearning for Fireball, and by extension she adored the fire cantrip Firebolt as well. But compared to Firebolt, Abby turned out to be much more suited to the cold-element cantrip Ray of Frost.
The spellbook Gauss had specifically picked up back in Fisher's Song was finally proving useful.
From his analysis, part of it was probably that everyone's body has different innate affinities for the elements, and part of it might be related to the alterations the witch Megan had performed on her.
Maybe, compared to searing fire, Abby was simply better suited for frost and cold.
This discovery made Abby a bit disappointed, but Gauss comforted her.
Non-fire magic could still become incredibly powerful. And being more suited to cold didn't mean she'd never be able to learn fire spells. Once her grasp of magic deepened and her understanding of spell structures grew, she'd be able to safely branch out into other elements later.
…
The party continued on through the wilderness.
"Caw!"
"More enemies again?"
"No, we've reached Old Crow Pass."
Stretching across the flat plains ahead was a mountain wall like a natural fortress, and right before Gauss was a long, narrow cut through the high ground, as if the earth had been split open by a giant axe.
This was Old Crow Pass.
Once, it had been an important travel route, but ever since the kingdom opened a safer, well-maintained road to Flutehold City, this dangerous natural path had been abandoned for years.
"There's even a wall?"
Arlebena stared in surprise at the canyon entrance, where an ancient stone wall still stood. Beside it towered a massive stone statue.
Perhaps because too much time had passed, the statue was battered and worn, pitted with holes. Its outstretched right arm had broken off at the elbow, but judging from the bent left arm, the figure had once been posed mid-draw, like an archer with bow in hand.
After checking the surroundings to make sure there was no ambush, the party moved to the statue's base.
"So tall…"
Alia couldn't help but sigh.
The stone statue had to be at least forty meters high. It was hard to even imagine how awe-inspiring it must have been in its prime.
"Looks like an elf."
"Probably a relic from the elven era," Gauss guessed.
All over this land, beyond the borders of current nations and settlements, you could still find relics of elven civilization.
Those were the days when elves had been the undisputed rulers of the continent.
Although every race claimed it was their own people who first kindled the flame of civilization, the available evidence overwhelmingly suggested that it was the elves who first shaped the modern world: the Common tongue, the class-and-level system — all of it took form in that era.
Humans had risen later, building atop the foundation the elves had already laid.
Most humans, even if they didn't say it out loud, knew this deep down.
Some called that era the Second Age — the Elven Age.
As for the First Age before that, known as the Age of the Gods, what little people knew came from myths and stories passed down by word of mouth; direct records were almost nonexistent now.
The First Age was when the gods themselves, their avatars, demon lords, dragons, devils, and countless ancient races used the prime world as their battleground.
Titans fell, their corpses crashing into earth and sea to become the world's nourishment.
The gods walked the land in radiant forms, warring for faith and dominion. Their wrath split mountains; their favor could raise an oasis overnight.
Demons and devils drenched the world in their eternal blood war, and souls became currency in their cosmic trade.
Dragons, titans, insect queens, elemental colossals— all manner of ancient beings clashed across the land.
Humans, if they even existed at that time, would have been nothing more than background extras at best.
That epic, cataclysmic age finally ended with a world-shaking disaster.
The gods were forced to withdraw from the earth, retreating to their divine realms in the heavens. Demon lords and archdevils were driven out and sealed away, and the surviving ancient races faded into seclusion. The world's rules slowly stabilized.
Otherwise, not even humans — nor even the far more gifted elves — would have had any chance to rise out of that chaos.
Gauss and the others stood in silence, visibly shaken by the statue's imposing presence, staring at it for a long time before finally looking away.
"Shadow, want to go in and scout with me first?"
"Alright."
"Alia, you three wait out here for now."
After giving his instructions, Gauss and Shadow passed through the gate in the wall and entered the gorge.
"WhoooOOO…"
The wind howled between the cliffs like ghosts wailing.
The canyon passage was fairly wide, sheer rock walls rising high on either side.
Tough, withered vines and low shrubs had forced their way out of the stone cracks; here and there, mountain springs trickled down from grooves and fissures in the rock face.
Since direct sunlight only shone down for a brief moment at noon, the air inside the gorge was noticeably cooler than outside. Now and then, a gust of wind cut through, cold enough to sting right down to the bone.
"Caw, caw, caw!"
On the cliff faces, many wild crows had built their nests.
"Plop."
A white-grey splatter of bird droppings fell from above, landing among the many dried stains on a boulder.
"So many crows."
"Later we could catch some and have Echo bring them to heel. Then we'll have more eyes and ears for the party."
Gauss ignored the falling bird mess. His main task was finding signs of gnoll activity in Old Crow Pass.
He pulled out a transparent, pale-red crystal from his pocket.
Leman had given him this stone; it could sense the taint of Yeenoghu, the gnoll king, demon lord of butchery. The closer they were to a locus of that corruption, the deeper and darker the color would become.
"Doesn't look like it's nearby," Gauss said, shaking his head.
Old Crow Pass had several side branches, each running off in a different direction.
Gauss and Shadow did a light preliminary survey around the entrance, then returned to the wall to regroup with the others.
"Anything?" Alia asked.
"We got a general direction, but it's getting late. We came back," Gauss said, glancing at the sky. "By the way, where's Echo?"
"Caw, caw!!"
As if summoned by name, Echo flapped over.
Gauss pulled out the crows he'd captured earlier from his bag of holding.
He'd picked them carefully — sturdy birds with glossy feathers, about a dozen in total.
The crows of Old Crow Pass were generally larger than ordinary ones, by a good thirty percent.
With ropes tied to their legs, these newcomers could only hop and flap; they were unable to take off.
Of course, the presence of the "stronger bird" in front of them — Raven Echo, radiating commanding aura — also helped. The captured crows trembled, bowing their heads to show submission.
Quite a few of them were so scared they pooped on the spot.
Echo's influence over ordinary crows was clear.
"As expected, you really have the potential to be a crow boss."
Gauss nodded in satisfaction.
His efforts in capturing them were not wasted.
Once Echo stepped in, it wasn't long before the new crows were completely won over.
Gauss untied their restraints.
The black swarm rose into the air, and the rain of droppings that started to fall immediately made Gauss shout up for Echo to discipline its new underlings.
He was not about to spend his days watching for aerial surprises.
"Caw!"
After that scolding, no more droppings fell anywhere near them, and Gauss finally looked away.
Magic had its pros and cons.
Detection magic could be picked up and countered by anti-divination spells.
Sometimes, it was ordinary creatures like these that made the best scouts.
Crows and sparrows were extremely common. Most people — and certainly most monsters — wouldn't immediately suspect they were scouts. The only thing monsters cared about was whether those birds might get close enough to become a snack.
"Caw, caw!"
Echo fluttered over to Alia's side.
"Echo says these crows know where the gnolls are."
"If we need them to, they can lead us there."
"Good. We'll follow tomorrow."
…
They camped under the wall for the night.
At dawn the next day, Gauss noticed that the flock circling overhead had quietly grown.
There were now thirty to forty crows.
"How…?"
"Probably the ones Echo tamed went back to their nests in the canyon last night and brought their friends over." Alia blinked.
She hadn't explicitly told Echo to do this.
"Whatever. More is more."
Gauss sliced off some raw meat and tossed it to the ground.
The crows swooped down like black rain, snatching up the chunks, but none of them ate immediately; instead they turned to look at their leader, Echo.
Only after Echo gave a satisfied caw did the flock tilt back their heads and gulp down their breakfast.
"Caw, caw!"
Happy calls echoed through the gorge.
A few more peeled away, winging back into the pass.
Gauss didn't stop them.
Food was no problem — with goblin corpses everywhere, there was plenty to go around.
Crows and carrion went hand in hand. Goblins, kobolds… their bodies were well within a crow's acceptable menu.
Once everyone had eaten, the group headed back into the canyon.
Gauss didn't leave York and Abby outside.
Better to keep them close in the gorge than leave them alone on the plains.
Besides, the pass was relatively safe, and with so many "native crow" scouts around, it would be hard for enemies to sneak up on them.
"Caw, caw!"
Led by their guides, Gauss and the others moved quickly along the pass.
A rank animal stench drifted toward them on the cold wind.
Gauss glanced down at clumps of odd-colored fur caught in the cracks between rocks and knew the gnolls were close.
"Stop."
Here, the canyon had widened considerably.
Because it was broader, sunlight reached this stretch for longer, and under normal circumstances, it should have formed a little patch of greenery within the cliffs.
At least, that's how it should have been…
Alia brushed her fingers over the vines clinging to the rock face.
"The plants are withering… something is poisoning this land."
Gauss nodded.
He summoned several clay constructs.
The clay goblins he could call now were each equivalent to a Level 2–3 warrior, and combined with their fearless nature, they were not to be taken lightly.
He left two clay goblins and Ulfen to guard Abby and York.
If things went wrong, the clay goblins would stall, and Ulfen would grab the two and bolt.
Once he'd arranged that, Gauss pulled the others aside for a quick talk.
"Given the terrain, I probably won't be able to use Fireball this time," he said.
He didn't want an explosion bringing the canyon walls down — yes, it would probably obliterate the gnoll lair, but it could also trigger landslides and other chaos.
"I'm going to try out a spell I just learned — Snowstorm — and force them out of the grove. We'll wait here and ambush them as they flee."
"This time, don't hold back. Let me handle the main force."
He wanted this over quickly, both because a demon lord's influence was involved and because fighting in a gorge was inherently riskier than in an open field.
"Got it."
"Understood."
After a brief exchange, Gauss gave them a look.
Then he floated forward, rising slightly off the ground.
"Level 3 spell: Snowstorm Lv2 (18/20)."
He hadn't been using it long, so the proficiency wasn't quite capped yet — but for terrain control, it was more than enough.
He drew in a long breath.
Dragon speech spilled from his lips, low and resonant.
A chill tide of magic swirled around him, and the already cool air plunged even further toward freezing.
"Hummm…"
Pale blue waves of magic spread outward from Gauss in ripples.
"Snow… Storm!"
With his final two syllables of Dragon Speech, the spell detonated.
"Boom!!!"
A deep, muffled roar rang out — like the heart of some far northern glacier splitting open.
Above the grove, the weather flipped in an instant.
Snowflakes the size of feathers appeared out of thin air. The temperature plummeted at a speed the naked eye could almost see.
Frost crusted over every leaf and blade of grass in moments.
"Crack, crack!"
The cold snapped leaves apart, sending them crashing to the ground where they shattered.
This wasn't just ice and snow.
Countless razor-sharp shards of ice and frozen rain were spinning in the howling winds of Gauss's spell, their whistling "shh-shh-shh" cutting through the grove.
Winter's storm had descended.