Dragon King's Harem Chapter 106. Ice Needle Forest II (Patreon)

Dragon King's Harem Chapter 106. Ice Needle Forest II

"I see..." I just found out that I could use my Magic Messenger for something like this.
"Thank you for your help, Jyne."

Those words managed to put a sweet smile on Jyne's lips. Her heart beat faster upon that simple compliment.
"Don't mention it. I'm glad I could help you."

After we stopped near that altar, I got off my mount, knelt before the altar and touched the magic formation. An announcement appeared before me.

[New essence detected!]
[Ice sacred place's essence]
[Do you want to extract it?]
[Yes] [No]

'Yes.'

[Essence Absorption initiated ...]

The formation let out cold air that swirled around my body. Within seconds, the cold air turned into flakes of ice that surrounded me. Then my body absorbed it. An announcement appeared in front of me.

[Congratulations! You have acquired a new skill: Ice Lance!]
[Ice Lance (Requires 5 Mana) - Calls forth chunks of frigid ice to strike at your target. Each ice will inflict 50% ice magic damage.]

I removed my hand and returned to my Yegaun.
"Let's get out of here, "I said as I turned around my mount and moved forward. With this, I had only one altar left. Besides that, I was confident enough to face Blaze Draco with my 3 new ice skills, Freeze, Glayze and Ice Lance. Well, I planned to see the Ancestral Dragon first, before I went to fight the Draco. Just to check how much I had grown and my limits. Besides, if I could beat him, maybe, he would give me another skill.

Hours had passed. The sky was getting dimmer and the forest was getting darker. Unfortunately, despite the circumstances, we couldn't speed up our pace since the terrain didn't allow us to do so. It made all of us restless, even though I knew we were not far from the exit. Our eyes swept around us, staring at the horde of monsters that had been following us secretly for a long time. I bet they were waiting to ambush us.

As the minutes passed, the monsters following us grew more and more. I even decided to take out my Mana Weapon just in case they suddenly attacked us. So were the others.

"We are here!" said Jyne in excitement as we could see the end of our path. Her index finger points to the exit. It also brought a smile of relief on our lips since we were able to get out of this forest before nightfall.

One by one our Yegauns came out of the Ice Forest and a different scene entered our vision. It brought a much more different colour to our eyes. A field filled with short black purple grass and snow. I couldn't say it was beautiful since it looked like a fantasy horror movie's setting. But it was much better than the boring white snow.

"Uh... It's kinda different from what I thought," said Jyne. I could catch the disappointment in her tone.

"There are no good views around here. But it's better than before," said Eir, who was also bored like me. Indeed, for us, this was much better.

"Um... I don't like this view," Evelina said. Well, I could understand her since this place looked creepy.

"C'mon. We have to move now. We can talk again at the inn," I said as I kicked the side of my Yegaun. This was not a good place to have a long talk since the monsters in the forest still put their eyes on us.

Once again we passed the open field to the next town. As we moved, the scenery around us changed. The white dominance of snow began to disappear, replaced by black soil and dark purple grass. The temperature around us was also getting warmer. The white trees were replaced by dry black trees with some fruit which shaped like various pale limbs hung on the branches. In contrast to its hideous appearance, the fruits were edible and the tree was not a carnivorous plant.

But that didn't mean we were safe, some glowing red eyes peeked out from the dry bushes, indicating that some monsters were already after us for their dinner. Several black flying monsters flew above us.

As the suns almost set, a town entered our view. Rather than white, the town was dominated by black with a bit of white from the snow. In contrast to the gloomy vibe, the light coming out of the windows or the crooked buildings gave the city its own colour. The wall looked taller than the other cities. Gloomview Town, that was the name of that town. Well, it fit the city's atmosphere.

We were almost at the gate when Jyne brought her mount towards me.
"Sir, a-are you sure we'll be spending the night in this town?" she said in a stammering voice. Her eyes fell on the town that looked more like a haunted town.

"Yes. The night is more dangerous in this place and it's the only town near here," I replied, my hand pointing to the gate. Since we got closer to the Black Grotto, the monsters around us had Shadow and Death elements. Although it was similar, Shadow and Death elements were different. They even had different peak times. While the Shadow element Mana reached its greatest power at dawn and dusk, the Death element reached its greatest power at night. And instead of eating their prey, monsters with those elements ate other things. The Shadow type monster ate the prey's Mana, while the Death type monster ate the prey's energy. They would not kill each other but worked together to hunt their prey. So staying in the open in this area was definitely not a good idea.

Then Evelina's voice came from my other side.
"Um... Isn't there another place? I don't mind sleeping in an open area like the Snow Garden instead of this place," she tried to negotiate. Just like Jyne she also looked scared.

This time it was Eir who answered her.
"If I'm right, according to the map, there's only a cemetery nearby," he said.

Eir's words made Evelina and Jyne's faces turn pale.

"I planned on sleeping there if Al hadn't given me the Tonic of Camouflage," I added. I didn't mean to scare them since what I said was true.

"On second thought, we wouldn't mind spending the night in that town," Evelina said quickly. While Jyne nodded in agreement.

I turned to Evelina and Jyne in turn.
"Just endure it for one night. We'll be out of here tomorrow morning."

And they answered me with a nod.