After spending a long night, The next morning quickly came by. Cain woke up to Sofia laying on top of him.

“Wake up it’s down,” Cain poked her cheek, she snuggled his side and curled into a ball.

[Telekinesis] Cain lifted her up and shook her a bit, “I said wake up. We still have a long way to go.”

After a few seconds, Sofia finally mumbled something, “I want to sleep more..”

“Don’t worry, you will wake up when you wash your face.” It wasn’t that hard to wake her before, the one who used to want to sleep was Alice not her.

Eventually, Cain managed to wake her up and they headed outside, Chad was already waiting patiently. “What took you so long?” Chad asked with a worried face.

“Nothing important, should we have breakfast?” Cain opened his bag to grab the dried meat and the bread.

“No need for that, I already roasted some meat in the kitchen.” Chad pointed toward [Lisworth’s magnificent mansion] “I found a few rabbits scavenging around the horses so I turned them into breakfast, sadly they were thinner than they looked.” Chad looked a bit sad. The rabbits deceived him.

“Well, they need a lot of furs to survive in the snow. They must have looked quite fluffy and fat.” Cain laughed. He didn’t know that his father could make such a mistake.

Sofia stared at the pile of fur and blood under a tree in the distance, “Poor rabbits..” She looked sadder than Chad. How could they kill such cute animals?

Noticing her ghastly expression, Cain spoke “Rations are a very important resource in adventuring, mainly because they last for a long time. So most adventures save them as a last resort when the food is scarce and hunt when they could. Managing food is one of the most important parts of adventuring.” Cain explained, that it was natural.

After having breakfast and barely convincing Sofia to eat, they rode their horses and headed deeper into the mountain forest.

Cain immediately started noticing that the temperature was dropping rapidly, more than it should for this region of the continent.

“Be careful, whatever is the being we’re going to face. Its mere presence is shaping the land.” Cain warned them. Not many creatures were known to influence nature like this.

A great example is dragons. If a fire dragon resided in a normal mountain for a long period. The magic natural emitted by the dragon will slowly turn the mountain into an active volcano. Even deserts were known to turn into forests when a green dragon to home in them.

“Is it a dragon?” Chad asked with a worried face, facing dragons was always something that no one wanted to do.historical

“No, I don’t sense its presence or magic. We’re facing something different like..” It was then when Cain felt some of his Ice mephitises are killed. Moreover, it was a normal kill. They were frozen to death.

Cain immediately halted his horse and readied his magic. “It a wit..” Before Cain could finish, a big blue-skinned elf-like man formed from the snow and grabbed Cain by the face.

BAM! The snow around them condensed into ice daggers and exploded in a barrage of sharp glass-like blades. Both Cain’s horse and Chad’s horse were shredded. Sofia barely escaped her life as Cain protected her with his body since she was behind him.

Engulfed in a storm of snow and ice, the man flew to the sky with Cain’s bloodied body.

“Bastard!” Chad jumped behind the man with raging bloodlust. The man didn’t even look back, a moment later. A woman’s body formed from the snow behind the man and kicked Chad back to the ground.

The woman mumbled something a giant spear of Ice appeared in her palm, she released the thing after Chad.

[Firestorm] Sofia was slow to react but she still acted, unleashing her stronger fire spell in the hope to melt the snow.

Just a moment before her spell could hit the ice speak, another storm of ice and snow blocked her path. A girl appeared behind Sofia and whispered. “Guinea pigs came on their own!”

Hearing the whisper, Sofia blasted herself away with [Burning Feet] and tried to assess the situation.

The girl in front of her was clearly using magic, but she could see a catalyst anyway. Could she be?

CRACK! The ice spear crashed into the ground as Chad landed behind Sofia, “Witches, a whole family of them!”

“What about Cain?” Sofia cried.

“We can’t help him now, he has to deal with that man alone for now. Those two women are no joke.” Chad exclaimed as he activated his foresight.

“Mother, would the father be okay?” The girl who just scared Sofia asked her mother. The woman landed by her side, “That guy is strong, but your father is stronger!”

“Care to introduce yourselves?” Chad asked the woman, packing all of his charm and charisma in an attempt to seduce her.

“Foul being, die!” The mother pulled a strand of her hair and froze it.

At that moment, Chad saw Sofia getting frozen in his foresight so he immediately pushed her away. The mother witch pretended to aim for Chad while she was going for Sofia.

As Chad saved Sofia, he took the hit. It was an invisible wave of cold magic designed to freeze a body immediately. To his luck, he was quite resistant to the magic he already saw. It was like bracing yourself for a punch that you saw coming.

The witch was surprised by Chad’s reaction and fortitude, “You’re a human right?” she seemed a bit confused. It was almost impossible for a human to tank that spell.

[Icestorm] The girl lunged at Sofia with a massive burst of ice. Sofia’s eyes glowed red as crimson flames erupted [Firestorm] The two spells clashed again.

[Investiture of flames] Sofia’s body got engulfed in fire and she flew directly at the girl with a fiery kick.

[Ice tower] A pillar of Ice emerged from underneath the girl’s feet lifting her to the sky. Sofia’s kick shattered the pillar and she quickly changed direction to follow the girl. [Firelance] Twisting her body, Sofia launched a fire lance with all her might.

[Ice orb] The girl gathered her hands and feet together and conjured a massive ice ball under her. The ice ball blocked Sofia’s lance and started falling toward her.

“Do you really think that it will hit me?” [Burning feet] Sofia flew around the ball to confront the girl.

[Fire blade] Sofia conjured a blade in her hand and swung at the girl slicing her neck, and then going for a second strike and cutting her torso in half.

As Sofia was about to enjoy her victory, the girl’s body turned into snow and fell apart. BAN! Something heavy hit Sofia in the back of her head. Knocking her to the ground.

..

Thud! Chad took a heavy step and leaped at the woman with a sword slash. The woman quickly backs down leaving an ice storm behind her.

Chad charged right in for a slash, the ice storm was too weak to stop him anyway. To his surprise, he sliced nothing, and the woman disappeared.

“Where did..” It was then that Chad felt a hand emerge underneath him [Ice spear].

By bending his knees and falling on his back, Chad dodged the spear that was about to penetrate his crotch and grabbed the witch’s hand.

“Come here!” He pulled her from the snow just enough to see her head. He then stomped her face to the ground with all his strength.

At that point, he was surprised by feeling his body shudder from the cold. The witch’s body turned into snow as she appeared far away and pointed her hand at him.

[Ice infection] Small limbs of ice started forming on Chad’s body. That spell was designed to freeze a target from the inside.

“Die! Consumed by the eternal ice!” The witch grinned.

Chad glared at his arms, “This will be annoying.”

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About the smut situation. What do you think?

More smut is always better.

Less smut is always better.

A healthy mix between the two is a good idea.

Smut is only good when it reinforces the emotional connection between the characters.

Smut is only good when it drives the story forward.

Other ideas, anything really.

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