Rise Of The Infinite Sovereign

Chapter 339: Ice savages

Beyond just a floating landmass. Sirion was also the smallest continent, larger than Niton by little.

That didn’t mean it could be looked down upon. Even expanding his senses to maximum, Zydrax couldn’t encompass it all.

Nevertheless, just surveying one third of it was enough. It gave him a better understanding of the ecosystem here.

Its inhabitants were known as Ice men, bipedal creatures closer to fish than man, with webbed hands and feet, scales looking like processed aluminium, gills in groups of three just above their elbows and on both sides of their necks, slanting, no one, not even him-Zydrax-could decipher anything of their origins beyond the the fact that they came from fish.

And honestly, most couldn’t care less. They were already here anyways, knowing where they came from wouldn’t change anything.

These creatures had grown to withstand the extreme cold of these parts and developed themselves, creating a unique ecosystem.

In a centuries or even decades, they would develop to a point where they could be called a society.

Right now, all they did was eat, sleep and fight.

Making guttural sounds, ice men would suddenly jump at one another and begin fighting.

They bit with the rows of small teeth underneath their mouths, pinning muscle against muscle and wrestled, slamming one another into hard ice until one died or surrendered.

From a viewpoint, one would agree they are more of prey than predator with the lack of weapons in their arsenal.

But being one metre on average, they were packed with muscle, and bigger than any other in the area, making them a dominant force.

To eat, they dived into the ocean, never going deeper because their eyesight couldn’t accommodate the great depths and neither were their bodies capable of withstanding the pressure.

Moving at fast speeds by thrusting their feet, they hide and wait, before lunging at unsuspecting prey with their razor sharp teeth wide open to snap shut upon impact, tearing into the bones of their kill and preventing it from escaping.

Rising to the surface, they drop the kill for another waiting there that would take it inside to feed the younglings stationed inside igloo-like homes made out of ice.

It was a pretty decent environment.

One thing to look out for was their sense of smell.

Even in the ocean they could collect information from traces left in the water to track prey.

Out of the water, anything unfamiliar was detected in a matter of minutes.

Zydrax hid his scent and presence, so it was natural they couldn’t smell him.

While their hearing couldn’t match their sense of smell, it wasn’t half bad either.

That was why when Zydrax carelessly stepped, and broke an ice cube of the tip of the palisade, the resounding echo from its landing signalled his position to a lot of them.

Quickly, they notice the piece of broken ice and trace it upwards to see Zydrax garbed in his black suit staring right back.

It was the first time they found another species on the island, and they didn’t like it one bit.

Uttering guttural roars as a welcoming, they rally to the wall, standing right below Zydrax’s position.

Oh yes, there were a few more things not yet mentioned.

One was that ice men had a grotesque head hosting two large beady yellow eyes contrasting their aluminium scaly skin.

Brandishing Skyfall in its Scythe form, Zydrax smiled at the entourage awaiting him below.

"Well, I never expected to talk things out anyway"

Ice men were prone to violence, and as a species still at its infant stages, they didn’t have proper language nor had they developed a sense of reason.

Moreover, the lack of a predator in their feeding grounds eluded them of their weakness.

With the definition of strong not yet ingrained in their minds, these things were fearless and attacked indiscriminately.

In short, they were simply angry oversized fish.

This was why they were commonly referred to by a moniker more fitting of their nature rather than the name ice men.

Ice savages.

A light leap sent Zydrax off the palisade and into the ground below.

Puncturing the wall with Skyfall, it tore through it as Zydrax descended.

Close to the ground, he unhooks Skyfall, landing with a Bam! Prompting a shockwave that sends the surroundings ice savages afar.

With no reasoning faculty and very little strength, Zydrax saw no need to even try engaging them in a conversation.

He wouldn’t wantonly slaughter of his own will, but if such puny creatures dared to bare their fangs at him, they would most surely die.

After all, he merely came to sightsee and pick some souvenirs, the lives of Ice savages was of no concern to him.

Unfortunately the Ice savages didn’t see things that way.

Of the few sent flying, some had broken into homes, others smashed into the wall.

Such commotion could not go unnoticed, and once they saw the bodies of tribe members, many ice savages quickly pinpointed the source and charged.

This formed a cycle where others followed those ones without any reason.

Stretching, Zydrax smiles at the approaching wave.

"I guess I was in need of a little warm up"

With no idea where the ice source was located, Zydrax couldn’t risk damaging the continent too much, lest he regret it later.

Reducing his strength, he attacked, swinging his scythe with the strength of an early master.

But to these adept level creatures, he might’ve well become a ghost.

With his presence and scent covered, they couldn’t pick him with any other senses than sight.

Even though Zydrax was more a mage than melee fighter and was one that hadn’t fought in a very long time, the gap of ranks between him and such low creatures was insurmountable.

Anything that entered within seven feet of him was diced into mincemeat.

After the first twenty or so, you’d expect normal creatures to rethink their strategy and

But ice savages could not be called ’normal’ in any sense of the word.

Moreover, they did not understand the concept of retreat.

This was also why they were annoying to deal with.

They were as weak as they were annoying, chasing attackers relentlessly and because they have a very active reproductive system, they easily bolstered their numbers and recovered lost troops.

Making them less of a nightmare and more of a hassle to face.

Not to mention, they had very few things one would want, so there were few reasons one would even want to fight them.

Only, their strategy of relentless attacks wasn’t working this time.

Heck, the scene was almost too tragic because beyond the loud irritating roars, they were unable to harm him.

That was overstating it, they couldn’t move him back a single step.

Instead, they simply served themselves up as cheese and cheddar, butchered like plants before a mower.

Worse, as it continued, the commotion got louder, drawing more and more ice savages.

Once those ones saw the ongoing trend, they joined in as well only to be slaughtered as their death throes called more ice savages to their deaths.

The only challenge for Zydrax was to avoid getting his coat bloodied with so much flying around.

Butchering them with Skyfall in its scythe form, Zydrax distaste grows as corpses pile before him and thanks to the ice savage’s vicious cycle of stupidity, more of them keep approaching.

If he kept this up, he would inevitably get covered in blood!

He makes an unsightly expression at that thought and wills Skyfall into twin swords form.

The next instant, he moves from his spot, increasing his speed to that of a Grandmaster, driving the swords through the necks of every ice savage in his path, before stopping at the beginning of the line they formed.

*Cha!

Like a watermelon sliced midair, the head of every ice savage fell to the ground, some bounced a few times even.

On cue, the bodies fell like a pile of dominos, the collective sound echoed, followed by an eerie silence.

Following that, Zydrax preemptively struck, getting across the whole place like a flash of light, killing every approaching ice savage before stopping.

He wouldn’t have them disturb his sightseeing a second time.

At the same time, the smell of blood perforated the surroundings, meaning more would soon gather.

Zydrax resolved to finish things faster, else he would end up wiping out their entire species.

Of course, that didn’t mean he would not sightsee, he’d just do it a bit faster.

Storing Skyfall, he moves with quick pace, getting a view of the surroundings.

Unexpectedly or as expected, there was not much to see.

The ice houses, baby ice savages, and a clumsy attempt at combining fish bones.

The ice savage were close to creating their concept of weapons.

Thanks to the battle, he rushed his visit, and now down, he’s bored.

Zydrax resolved to find the Ice source.

Focusing his senses, Zydrax searches for the biggest concentration of essence.

This led him to the upper part of Sirion.

Sirion was a circular icescape, so Zydrax divided it into three sections.

Upper, core, and lower.

Having started from the lower section and looked round the core section, Zydrax reached the upper section.

There he found not many but few homes, amounting to a total of twelve and they were bigger than all others he’d seen prior.

Arranged in positions to give the shape of a bow, with the biggest home right at the middle.

Just then, an ice savage exits his home and sees Zydrax.

This ice savage was taller than most with more muscle as well.

Immediately, he roars, and the eleven ice savages exit their abode, each an outlier of their tribe.

An ice savage even taller and bigger than them comes out of the biggest home in the center, with an awkward creation of necklaces made out of fish bones hung on his neck.

They roar at Zydrax in synchronicity, but the latter simply blinked.

"You must be the elders and chief...not that you know what that means"

Skyfall appears in his hands in its twin sword form.

"In any case, let’s get this over with"

Zydrax speeds up in front of them.

*Cha!

Gaining sight of him again, Skyfall had penetrated the head of the elders from the mouth.

The elders attacked, lunging forth while the chief stayed back, inflating his cheeks.

Beyond just their roars and indiscriminate hostility, the ice savages had one more thing to identify themselves.

It was why they were called ’ice’ savages rather than just savages.

Dispatching the elders effortlessly, Zydrax turns to chief, only to have a beam of ice blasted at him.

It was this ability. The ice scream.

They let out a shout, simultaneously releasing a spray of ice on their opponents to hold them in place of at least slow their movements.

A death sentence to anyone in a brawl, and considering it was of the same degree of coldness as Sirion, even Grandmasters would find it hard to break.

Unfortunately for the chief, it met the worst possible opponent.

At the end of its long ice spray was Zydrax casually dusting off ice off his hair and clothes.

The chief was stupendified as Zydrax muttered. "That was a good attack" before finding itself in the air soon after, breathless.

Zydrax had created a stomp out of the ice right below the chief and sent him in the air before the chief could register the attack.

Then Zydrax jumps, grabs the chief and tosses him to the lower section like a waste bag.

"Good riddance"

Landing, Zydrax straightens his coat.

He could have created a spike from the ice to kill the chief, but decided not to.

Clapping his hands of imaginary dust, he turns.

He could clearly sense where the large essence signal came from.

The ice chief’s home.

Entering, he sees nothing but remains of fish.

"It must be underneath" said Ezra.

Zydrax nodded, sending a stream of mana into the ice to manipulate it.

"Hmm?"

It fails.

He tries a second time.

It fails again.

With a shrug, Zydrax takes a deep breath and sends a restrained punch onto the ice, cracking just a bit more than the surface.

While the ice was of very high quality, it would be too regretful if he accidentally destroyed or even damaged it.

Breaking off the surface, Zydrax carefully digs out the ice as if peeling an onion while also widening it to give his hands more space for movement.

Eventually, half of Ezra’s body is submerged, leaving the lower half laying on ice as he continues to dig.

After what felt like forever, he touches upon a foreign object, something not of ice, feeling like glass.

Carefully scooping off the ice off the object, a light strikes Ezra’s eyes as a oval shaped transparent orb glowing bright white light is revealed.

From the wave of mana it was giving off and how ice was growing Ezra’s fingers by just being so close.

There was no doubt, this was the ice source.

But beyond that, Zydrax couldn’t almost believe what he was seeing.

"This...!"

It seems he’d chanced upon something more than he’d bargained for.