Eternal Winter's Reign - Book 3 - Chapter 5 - Gargoyles (Patreon)

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Alexander North

Well, as it turns out, the things are easier to kill than I thought they’d be. All I have to do is punch them. Nothing more and nothing less.

Because these ice golem type Frozen Ones seem to be all about freezing things they touch, with only one other ability that they use from time to time. Which is an ability to generate and throw large blocks of ice.

But that ability is easy enough to dodge. Especially with my wings.

And my Cold Immunity is strong enough to completely negate their freeze touch ability.

So I just go around punching these ice golems and shattering them one by one.

As for the other soldiers with me?

They… don’t do as well.

But they aren’t doing poorly either. But that’s mostly because these Froze Ones are all around Tier 3. While the soldiers are half Tier 3 and half Tier 4.

Mostly the soldiers are just struggling to find a way to kill these particular Frozen Ones without being frozen in the process.

They don’t have Cold Immunity after all. So they actually do get frozen when they make contact with the ice golems.

But, even without Cold Immunity, they still fare better than regular humans. Simply because they’re more adapted to the cold than a regular human.

We all hunt the ice golems one after another, clearing out the surroundings of the nest first and foremost. Then we absorb the energy of the various ice golems. Which doesn’t really amount to much for me.

It’s good for the Tier 3 mutated ones in our group though, and any amount for me is still beneficial.

After dealing with the ice golems outside of the little ice fortress, we head inside of one of the fortress’ many entrances. Only to find even more ice golems inside of it.

But these ice golems are different from the ones outside.

Or at least, some of them are.

Amidst the humanoid block ice golems, there are numerous ice golems in the forms of relatively humanoid creatures made out of pure ice but not in block form. They have large bat-like wings and kind of look like gargoyles from mythology. Just made out of ice instead of stone.

The gargoyles – which is what I’ll call them from now on – all just sit perched on a balcony overlooking the entryway we’re in. Just watching us as the rest of the weaker ice golems down on the floor with us charge.

Terminal, can you tell me anything about those gargoyles? All I can tell about them is that they don’t seem to be emitting any cold energy right now.

|The cold energy in their bodies is being sealed at the outer layer of ice, blocking it from escaping. Additionally, none of them have moved at all since Alex entered the fortress. Therefore, it is assumed they are either unable to move lest a condition be completed, or simply do not desire to move. Further information requires additional data.|

Understood.

While the others are dealing with the rest of the golems, I jump straight into the air before flying with my wings towards the gargoyles. Which makes the gargoyles finally move with a slight tremble. One that shakes some tiny shards of ice off of their bodies.

Almost like they were literally frozen in place.

And when I move, they all rush straight towards me while opening their mouths wide and firing off beams of what looks like liquid ice at me.

I counter them all with a solar flare, sending a powerful wave of heat energy out before following it up with my fist driving right into the face of one of the gargoyles. Cracking their face a little.

But then I swing one of my wings around to slam into the same gargoyle, sending it crashing down to the ground with bits of melted ice all over it thanks to the heat in my wings. Destroying quite a few ice golems in the process thanks to the gargoyle landing on them.

I quickly drop down to avoid several more beams of ice fired at me before flying around the air of the entryway clashing with one gargoyle after another. All the way until the soldiers down below finally finish off the last of the ice golems and join me by using their own abilities to attack the gargoyles.

Eventually we manage to take them all down before absorbing the energy in their bodies. Finishing up this small entryway into the fortress.

Although the entryway is more like what I’d see in a manor or a castle rather than a fortress.

After we recoup a little bit, we proceed to leave the fortress under my orders and then enter through a different entrance. Simply to avoid attempts to surround us as much as possible.

It would suck to end up being surrounded by Frozen Ones who rushed out of the other entrances to enter our entrance and attack us from behind while we’re mid-battle after all.

So we meticulously begin to clear one entrance after another until they’re all cleared of Frozen Ones.

At least in the initial rooms of each entrance.

Their rather similar-looking entry halls.

Which, again, don’t look like something I’d see in a fortress.

By the time we finish clearing each of the entrances, the other mutated ones begin to show signs of fatigue. So I order a retreat back to the ship, and for them to bring back some of the ice golems and gargoyles along the way for the researchers there to study.

I would prefer to continue searching the fortress on my own, but I need to get back into the habits of the military.

Especially since half of my near-death experiences lately were from exploring and hunting on my own.

Overall though, I’d say this exploration went rather well for a first exploration on the planet.

Some of the soldiers were harmed during their battles with the ice golems, but there were no casualties. And I can’t help but notice that they seem a bit less stiff than before.

Whether that’s because they’ve realized I’m at least a decent leader by now, or if they’ve just warmed up to each other as a group, I don’t really know.

Either way, things are looking up for this group as we head back to the ship.