Five people were traveling in the middle of the huge forest. Two of them were Souta and Eilish. The other three were the princess who served Souta and Eilish. Her name was Dreimi. The other two were the Royal Guard Captain called Bandur and the Holy Knight Captain called Heimer.
These three people were Souta and Eilish's guides to Devil Sea.
This forest was called Cryo Forest. It was a huge piece of land between the Arsen Kingdom and another country called the Viz Republic. According to the information, in the center of this forest, there was a giant pond of ice. Everything within that place was made of ice and no one could approach it because of the low temperature.
"Have any of you visited that place before?" Souta asked.
"I only saw it from a distance. I couldn't approach it since I could die from an intense temperature." The Royal Guard Captain Baldur answered.
"Hmm..." Souta rubbed his chin and something came into his mind. "Okay, let's check it out."
Princess Dreimi and Heimer looked at him with wide eyes. That place was considered extremely dangerous. No one could survive the intense freezing atmosphere of that land.
"A-Are you sure?" Baldur asked.
"Yeah, if it's dangerous then we'll pull back but I doubt that it would harm me." Souta shrugged his shoulder.
"I understand." Baldur nodded.
They didn't know Souta or Eilish's power. They just know that both of them were strong, strong to the point that they could rival the top experts in this world.
Arsen Kingdom was one of the strongest but they definitely weren't the strongest. They were probably in the top 10 or top 9 and the difference to the forces above them especially those in the top 5 was huge.
"Let's be careful. This forest is the land that separated two countries. The Viz Republic is currently in a chaotic situation." Heimer said.
"It's been a while since we've entered this forest yet we haven't even encountered a single monster. It's strange." Princess Dreimi said while observing the surroundings.
Heimer and Baldur couldn't help but nod at her words.
Souta glanced at them and didn't explain. Actually, they should've encountered dozens of monsters already but they ran away after sensing Souta's aura. Their instinct was telling them that Souta was a top predator.
Roar!!
Suddenly, a roar resounded through the forest.
Eilish and Souta raised their heads in the direction where they sensed the roar was coming from.
"Speaking of the devil, a monster had appeared!" Baldur said grimly as he pulled out a giant sword on his back. He stood in front to protect Princess Dreimi.
Heimer brandished the two swords on his waist as he prepared himself.
Souta raised his shadows as a shadow appeared above them.
Bang!!
The figure landed on the ground causing the dust to shoot up. The intense fluctuations of energy spread out covering several hundreds of meters in an instant.
Souta stared at this monster. The monster was like a lion with glossy black fur. Its eyes were green and it had red sharp spikes protruding on its back.
If he wasn't wrong this monster was called Night Lion. It was a territorial and fearless monster. It would attack anyone that entered its territory.
"Hey, are you sure that you wanted to attack us?" Souta said in a soft voice using monster language.
The thoughts of his words were only passed to the Night Lion so the others didn't understand him.
Roar!!
The Night Lion roared in response as if it didn't have any plan on backing away.
Souta only shook his head.
At this moment, Heimer launched him toward the lion. Baldur followed him and the two of them fought the Night Lion.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Souta, Eilish, and Princess Dreimi watched the battle from the sideline.
Bang! Bang!
The battle didn't last long as Heimer and Baldur ended the Night Lion's life in just a minute.
An intermediate third-stage monster died just like that. It was a fierce monster unfortunately it faced someone like the Holy Knight Captain and Royal Guard Captain, who both experienced countless battles.
The group didn't immediately leave. Instead, they removed some of the valuable parts of the Night Lion just like the monster orb.
After that, they continued their journey.
Soon, the temperature became low. White mist covered the floor which was full of grasses made of ice. Even the trees in the surrounding were all made of ice. There were frozen statues all over the place. These statues were monsters and people that were frozen upon entering this dangerous land.
"If you walk straight, you will find the frozen pond," Baldur said.
"This..." Souta looked down as he opened and closed his palm repeatedly.
"This is suitable for people that have ice affinity," Eilish said.
"Yeah," Souta nodded at her words.
The group continued to walk but they stopped after walking hundreds of meters. Princess Dreimi couldn't handle the freezing temperature anymore.
"I'm sorry, this is the farthest I can go." Princess Dreimi apologized. Even if she tried to protect herself with her mana, it was useless in this extreme environment.
Souta looked at Baldur and Heimer before he said, "Stay here and protect the princess. I'll go there with Eilish."
Baldur and Heimer nodded at his words. There was nothing that they could do. Even though they wouldn't die, the freezing energy was still affecting them by a little bit.
Souta and Eilish advanced.
Souta surveyed his surroundings as he wondered why the other creatures in this place weren't showing themselves. With the range of his ability, he could sense that there were at least thirty creatures here aside from them.
'Maybe, they are sleeping. After all, it feels good to sleep in a cold place.'
He wasn't bothered. He would detect it if anyone tried to approach him or the princess' group.
After a few seconds of walking, the freezing atmosphere grew to an intense level. There was nothing but pure ice in here. There was not even a speck of dust as almost everything was frozen.
Eilish had no choice but to use her mana to protect her body from any harm.
Souta looked up as he could see floating shards of ice. It was suspended as if it was attached to something.
"Even some parts of the space are frozen...?!"
He was a little bit surprised. Although the fabric of space in this world was different from Imperium, it was still unbelievable for an environment like this to appear in this world.
Hmm...?
Souta suddenly narrowed his eyes. One of the creatures that he sensed with blood moved slightly. It also released intense energy that made the atmosphere colder.
"Did you sense it?" Souta asked.
"Yeah," Eilish nodded at his words.
"This is a little bit interesting. We'll check it out." Souta grinned widely.
The two walked further until they reached the so-called frozen pond. The atmosphere here was simply unbelievable. The amount of ice elements in the air was so high to the point that even time had slowed down.
Of course, Eilish and Souta were unaffected since their bodies reached a higher state. But the blue fish on the pond was moving slowly, clearly affected by the slow-moving of time.
Souta picked up a piece of ice fragments on the floor before he released it in midair.
Thud!
The time it took for the ice floor to land on the ground was six seconds. The height was just over a meter and a half yet it still took six seconds.
"Interesting..." Souta smiled wider. He focused his attention on the pond.
There was a small plant with a white thumb-sized fruit hanging on it. Besides the plant was a humanoid creature with clear blue skin. This creature had a shard of ice covering its body. It has long white hair, a white horn protruding from its forehead, and a pair of pure blue eyes.
"Souta, that's...?" Eilish narrowed her eyes. The creature wasn't moving but she could clearly feel the pressure coming from its body.
"A fourth stage monster called Icy Veil Lady..." Souta said to her.
Icy Veil Lady was an evolution of Freezing Booslo. It was a monster that only had female genders. This monster kidnapped other male monsters and forced itself on them, before eating them as a nutrition for their babies.
But reaching the fourth stage would make a monster different. They were far more intelligent than any of the lower species other than dragons who were born intelligent.
"Hey, can I take that fruit over there? I quite like it." Souta said.
The monster slowly turned its head and stared at Souta and Eilish with clear blue eyes. A piece of white veil was covering her nose down to her mouth. She looked beautiful and seductive but Souta knew that Icy Veil Lady was an extremely powerful monster.
"No, you should go away from my home." The Icy Veil Lady said in a frosty tone.
