“Kiek? It really exists!” Mirian exclaimed.

“Right. But doesn’t he look more like a monkey than an ogre?” Galfredik remarked.

“It’s different from a regular ogre. Different. It’s known as a snow ogre, but its official name is Yeti. It’s also known as the snowman, and it’s an ice-type high-ranking monster. They’re quite rare,” Romari explained.

The spirit, vampire, and wizard whispered while huddled together in a makeshift cover made from putting branches together. They were stationed at the foot of the mountain, and their position overlooked the forest.

“Really? Is it stronger than an ogre?” Galfredik asked. He felt his blood boil with excitement at the appearance of a brand-new monster. It would be a great achievement for him as a knight to kill the monster.

“They’re probably similar in strength, but I think a yeti is much stronger in a cold environment since the source of its life is the cold itself. That’s why it’s said to be difficult to even approach a yeti. Its breath will cause metal to get frosty and all living creatures to slow down,” Romari responded.

“Hooh. That’s amazing,” Galfredik exclaimed. Contrary to his words, however, his eyes shone with fighting spirit as he glared at the yeti.

All of a sudden, the yeti threw the griffon against a large cliff, then thumped its chest with its long arms while roaring.

Kuwuuuuugh! Kuwuuuuuuughh-!!

“Kieeeeek!”

“Hiek!”

Mirian and Romari shriveled at the monster’s roar. This yeti was the reigning king of the snowy mountains, and its roar contained a powerful Fear that could even affect a spirit and a wizard. Understandably, it was much worse for the orc warriors and mercenaries as they faced the full brunt of the Fear-containing roar. Almost all the troops; except a handful of skilled warriors, fell on their asses or dropped to their knees, while those who managed to remain standing were shaking in fear.

“Both of you, get it together,” Galfredik said. He was the only one mostly unaffected by the yeti’s Fear.

The two came to their senses.

“Kiek?! He’s coming down!” Mirian yelled. The yeti was over three meters tall, but it began to run down the steep slope at breakneck speeds unbefitting its stature. Although the three figures were quite distant from the yeti, they could see how the boulders and rocks standing in the monster’s way were easily demolished.

The yeti’s momentum was overwhelming.

“Kuweeeegh! Everyone, prepare for battle!” the chief orc shouted. The orc warriors of the Tolo family finally managed to overcome the fear and hurriedly began moving into formations while raising their weapons. Simultaneously, the mercenaries unsheathed their own weapons and formed a semi-circular formation.

“Evil spirit, you go tell the master what’s going on,” Galfredik ordered.

“Got it!” Mirian saluted before quickly flapping away.

“Miss Romari. You and I will go to those dogs,” Galfredik said.

“Ah, yes. Huh? What are you doing?” Romari freaked out when she saw Galferdik squatting like a duck with his back toward her.

Galfredik replied, “What do you mean? Aren’t you going to climb on?”

“What? Me? Why?” she asked.

“How else are you going to get there? Will you be fine running up by yourself?” Galfredik asked with a frown.

“Ah…” Romari gazed at the sheer slope, then she eventually climbed on Galfredik’s wide back.

“Hold on tight to my neck,” Galfredik advised.

“Ah, yes,” Romari answered. However, she only barely grasped Galfredik’s cape. She had no experience with the opposite sex, and she had absolutely no intention of giving her first hug to a vampire who kept on teasing her every day. However, she immediately regretted her actions...

Papapapapa!

Galfredik unleashed all of his vampiric power and started dashing through the snow.

“Hueeeeek?!” A strange scream broke through Romari’s lips. However, the roar of the yeti and the shouts of the Tolo warriors buried her scream.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The yeti quickly arrived in front of the Tolo warriors after running down at a formidable speed.

“Fuck! Fire!”

Kuweeegh!

The hot-tempered warriors and mercenaries let loose their wooden spears. Most of them were either orcs or half-orcs, so they possessed immense strength. Dozens of wooden spears flew at the yeti with incredible momentum.

Kuwuuuuuugh-!!!

The yeti responded by letting loose a piercing roar containing a Fear, powerful enough to create a small blizzard. At the same time, the monster swung a wooden stick the size of its body. Most of the wooden spears and the following arrows were either sent flying or fell vainly on the snowy ground. Several spears managed to avoid the yeti’s wooden stick and the powerful wind it created, but they couldn’t even penetrate the monster’s fur, let alone its tough skin.

“…!”

“Hey, you fangless bastards! Why are you just staring at it? There’s only one! I will award three gold coins and three horses to the one who deals a fatal injury to that furball!” the orc chief exclaimed.

It was an offer that the warriors and mercenaries would have died for, but right now, they remained frozen stiff. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to move; rather, they physically couldn’t move. The Fear and pressure emanating from the monster were much too overwhelming. Moreover, the yeti initiated the charge.

The yeti had already been nervous for quite some time now due to the uninvited guests entering its territory without permission. It was made even worse because some of the creatures possessed extraordinary spirits. The yeti’s pride was hurt and it felt instinctively repulsed by the strong auras. But that wasn’t all… Its patience wore thin and eventually reached its limit due to the influx of low-ranking and intermediate-ranking monsters, and now, even orcs emanating terrible stenches were crawling up its mountain.

Kuwuuuuuugh-!!!

Yetis were naturally bad-tempered, but it was no wonder that this particular yeti erupted with so much anger.

“Kuwuug!”

“Kuwegh!”

Three or four mercenaries were thrown back with every swing of the yeti’s wooden stick. Unfortunately, most of the mercenaries had only brought simple knives, axes, and javelins since they were only planning to climb a mountain. As such, most of the mercenaries couldn’t even get close to the yeti with its three-meter-long stick. Nevertheless, the orcs took full advantage of their numbers. Eventually, they succeeded in surrounding the yeti and had a few warriors approach it from the back.

“Die!”

“Kuwuugh!”

Crack!

Two orc warriors thrust their knives into the yeti’s broad back. However, their knives were made from poor-quality iron, and the weapons failed to penetrate even half of the yeti’s thick skin. The yeti grew enraged at the pain and roared while turning its head.

Kuwuuuuuugh-!!

It revealed its black teeth as it shot out a white, frosty breath toward the orc warriors.

“Kuwuuuugh!”

The orc warriors clutched their faces before collapsing on the spot.

Fwoosh! Crack!

The yeti stomped on the fallen warriors with its feet, then advanced once again while swinging its wooden stick.

Kwakwakwakwa!

The surroundings became filled with roars and screams, and orcs continued to be thrown back by the yeti’s wooden stick.

“D-Dammit…!” The expressions of the elders turned pale as they witnessed the one-sided massacre being done to them by the snowy mountains’ king. Just then, something happened that shoved them even deeper into their despair.

Kuweeeeeee! Kyaaahk! Kyaahk!

The orcs spotted a group of monsters at the foot of the mountain. They were letting out screams which were distinctively different from that of the yeti.

“What?!”

Various monsters, including goblins, kobolds, harpies, and gnolls began to rush madly toward the site of the yeti’s slaughter.

“R-Retreat! Everyone, run down the mountain!” Facing one yeti was already too much, so when a large number of roamers started rushing toward the orcs, the chief had no choice but to order a retreat. However, their formation had already collapsed due to the yeti’s attack, so the troops couldn’t easily pull themselves out.

Orcs were able to display their abilities to the fullest in plains, however, they were currently fighting in an icy, snowy mountain. The various monsters had adapted to the environment over many years, and they quickly managed to catch up with the fleeing troops.

Chaos ensued soon after…

Kuwuuugh! Kyaaaahk! Kuwegh! Kuahk!

Kuhahaha!

There was a strange laugh mixed with the roar of monsters, but no one noticed it among the bloody frenzy. Naturally, the laugh belonged to Galfredik. He had succeeded in driving the monsters toward the orcs with the help of Romari’s magic, as well as the help of the transformed beowulf warriors.

As a result, the troops of the Tolo family were attacked by more than a hundred monsters, including a high-ranking monster. Their ranks were completely dismantled, and they frantically ran back the way they came from.

“Kugh! Kuahh!” The orc chief and the elders led the retreat, and they continued running while huffing heavily. Screams and shouts continued to resound, and less than 100 troops were following behind them. Unfortunately, most of the survivors were mercenaries. The warriors of the family had failed to escape since they were occupied with the yeti.

Dozens of monsters herded by Galfredik and the beowulfs chased after the fleeing soldiers.

‘I-I have to return! I have to go back and gather more troops! If that doesn’t work, I’ll ask other fangs for their help…’

The orc chief started to panic, and he couldn’t think of turning his back to fight against the monster. He had never even imagined that his troops were certainly more than capable of dealing with the horde of monsters. In addition, he couldn’t even remember that his eldest son had already crossed this devilish mountain.

Kuweeegh! Kuwegh!

The orc chief knew that the halting screams belonged to the warriors and mercenaries who wouldn’t survive for much longer in this world. Even so, he ran with the sole desire to escape from the cursed snowy mountains as soon as possible.

Eventually, once the group finally managed to reach the end of the slope, there were fewer than fifty troops left following behind the orc chief and the elders.

“Kwuuu… Kuwegh!” The tribe chief came to a stop and took a moment to catch his breath once flat land became visible. The other orcs were utterly exhausted as well, and they sprawled on the spot. Their strength left their bodies as relief washed over them. But unfortunately, their nightmare was still ongoing.

Fwish!

“Kuweh…?” The orc chief became wide-eyed when he saw a blurry, gray figure jumping off a rock located on the slope with a whistle.

Chwararara!

A sound similar to a trembling rattlesnake resounded, and the gray figure suddenly changed color to glossy black.

“!!!”

The unidentified creature was covered from head to toe in jet-black scales. Only a pair of eyes as red as lava identified the creature as a human being.

“W-w-who is it!?”

“Kuwegh?!”

The orcs jumped off the ground in shock. Eugene removed only the black scales covering the lower half of his face before responding with a chilling grin. “Duke Batla.”

“Kuwegh?!” The Tolo orcs squealed with surprise, and Eugene rushed at the creatures after completely revealing his vampiric abilities after a long time.

***

The battle against the Tolo orcs ended before it even started. Fifty exhausted orcs were rendered helpless when Eugene attacked them from the front and Galfredik rushed their backline with the beowulfs.

Normally, the orcs would have fought to the death while arming themselves with their Fear, which would have resulted in the death of one or two beowulf warriors. However, they had already expended their energy from the hectic escape, so they naturally failed to put up a good fight.

“Kyah! I knew you had a plan, Dark Lord!”

“Kuhehehehe! Of course, there’s a reason why he’s my master. If it were just us, most of them would have escaped with their lives,” Galfredik added with a boisterous laugh.

He wasn’t wrong. Eugene’s original plan had been to lure the Tolo family’s army to the summit of the snowy mountains. However, there were too many unexpected variables. First of all, it was unknown whether the orcs could endure the bitter cold and actually make it to the summit before turning back. In addition, it was unlikely that Eugene’s small group could annihilate them all.

As such, Eugene modified his plan to make use of the monsters. The yeti’s appearance only served to bolster his purpose.

“Let’s go and get rid of the snow ogre and the rest of the monsters then. By the way, you took care of the wizard, right?” Eugene asked.

Galfredik responded, “I left her with the evil spirit and one of the beowulfs. It’s not like monsters are going to climb up the mountain again after descending.”

“Good. Ah!” Eugene started toward the mountain, then hesitated.

“What is it?” Galfredik asked.

“I feel like I’ve forgotten something…” Eugene muttered.

“Huh? What do you mean? Forget what?” Galfredik said.

Eugene frowned and fell into deep thought. After a moment, he raised his head.

“The hunter...”

“Aha.” Galfredik nodded.

Eugene felt a little disappointed. He couldn’t possibly imagine that the hunter had lived through the chaos. It wasn’t as if Eugene had gotten attached to him, but the hunter had been quite capable so far.

However, Eugene’s thoughts disappeared as soon as he arrived near the bloody forest.

“Hmm?”

“Huh? You’re still alive? Moreover, those two…”

The yeti and the monsters had disappeared, and in their place was Romari, a beowulf warrior, the hunter, and Maxenne.