At the same time, deep in the Misty Mountains.

The snow was falling endlessly, and the thick dragon's tooth pines stood wordlessly in the snow curtain like black tombstones. There is only dead black and noisy white between heaven and earth, reminiscent of the interlaced color blocks on the canvas, and the brushstrokes of nature are cold and solemn.

An ice bear wriggled its body to squeeze through the dense wind and snow, and its huge paws left deep paw prints on the snow, which were then quickly covered by the heavy snow. It had been hungry for days, and though it was still stocky, its fur had no oily sheen and hung loosely—there was not much fat left under its skin. Hunger makes it weak and makes it more dangerous. A ferocious light radiated from the bloodshot pupils of the ice bear. The ice bear walked and stopped, moving his black nose like black jade.

A faint smell came from the wind, and the ice bear shook his head, using his extremely sharp nasal cavity to accurately hold the breath that was absent in the low temperature. It was fresh, uncoagulated blood that stimulated the ice bear's cerebral cortex, and it unconsciously secreted a large amount of saliva that dripped down the white teeth. At the same time, an unprecedented hunger pang was seduced, writhing in the shriveled stomach of the beast. It has traveled far, far and wide to forage for food, even leaving its own territory. This is a bit strange for a beast at the top of the food chain in the Misty Mountains, where each ice bear is a tyrant who cannot be disobeyed, and hunting is nothing more than a tax on the weak in its own territory, and no predator will be willing to risk angering an ice bear to enter its territory and compete with it for food, and that is often the only end: to become the prey of the ice bear, which is the natural enemy of all life in the Misty Mountains.

But since the beginning of spring, the tyrant has been provoked by hubris. The wolves invaded its territory and drove away all the animals it considered to be food reserves. The enraged ice bear walked out of his tree hole and prepared to start hunting this group of snow wolves, who did not know the height of the sky and the thickness of the earth. But when the ice bear saw the head wolf of the pack, it smelled the danger - it was a behemoth with a physique no less than it, and its ice-blue fur was as magnificent as a glacier in direct sunlight, and it looked at the ice bear with haughty and contemptuous eyes. The ice bear felt an instinctive uneasiness and fear under the gaze of the wolf, as if it was its own natural predator standing in front of it—but it had no natural predators in the Misty Mountains, and fear should not be part of its instinct. But instinct is instinct because it comes naturally and irresistibly. For the first time ever, the ice bear felt a natural and irresistible fear in front of a beast of his own size, and it bowed its haughty head in submission, allowing the wolves to clear its territory. It paid a terrible price for this - starvation tormented it for half a month, forcing it to exile itself from the land of peace, and went further and further on the road of foraging for food, but found nothing. The Misty Mountains, once thriving with life and species as abundant as snow, were dead and barren as pale deserts.

The smell of blood in the wind grew stronger, and the ice bear was sure that it was approaching the source, and its somewhat manic head calmed down. Although it has been tortured by hunger for a long time, it still retains the demeanor and dignity of the ultimate predator. Almost subconsciously, it entered a state of hunting, bent on all fours, crawling forward in the snow, allowing the lines of its body to assimilate in the wind and snow. It quickly and silently approached the source of the smell of blood.

A black cave suddenly rose out of the snow, like a gloomy void suddenly appeared in the chaotic white flying recklessness, like a gluttonous devil opening its mouth, and swept wind and snow into its belly. In front of the entrance to the cave lay several corpses, the same death: a slender feathered arrow pierced their eyebrows. Ice bears had no appetite for dead bodies, and those bodies were half-buried in the snow, apparently dead for a while, not the source of the smell of blood.

The source comes from the depths of the cave. The ice bear cautiously approached the entrance of the cave, and then it heard a fierce clanging sound, and the soldiers were infinitely magnified by the trumpet-shaped hole, like two thunderbolts that poured into the ice bear's eardrums, and it could not bear the noise, and shook its head and took a step back. But just then, the clanging came to an abrupt end, and in a roar of pain and rage, a giant man flew upside down from the darkness. He was covered in tiny wounds, and the crimson blood drew a flying arc in the air, and the sweet and warm bloody qi escaped. The giant man fell to the ground with a bang, rolled twice, and crashed into the ice bear's feet. Ignoring his wounds, he stood up and tried to rush into the hole.

A pair of huge soles of feet fell on his shoulders, and a majestic shadow rose behind him, and the giant man looked back in amazement, only to see a stinky mouth of blood surrounded by sharp teeth falling from the sky, darkness covering his vision, pain shattering his consciousness, and death annihilating his soul.

"Click", the ice bear gnawed the giant man's head in one bite, and the fresh blood food in his mouth stimulated its eyes to redden, and completely stimulated the tyrannical factor in its nature. The ice bear let out a low roar in its throat and brutally tore at the giant's lifeless body with its front paws. Soon the ice bear was sitting among its broken limbs, contentedly nibbling on a thick, sturdy thigh. Vicious flesh flowers bloom on the rock face. The muffled sound of bones being crushed and chewed echoed through the cave, and even the howling wind and snow converged at this moment, and the whole world listened quietly and humbly to the grunt of the tyrant as he ate.

Inside the cave, Bodes raised her arm and raised her spear over her shoulder, aiming it at the Ice Bear's head, but Estelle held her hand and whispered, "It's useless, the Ice Bear's fur is tougher than you think, don't provoke it." ”

"After all, he is a brave man, and I can't bear to see his body ruined by a wild beast." Boudis sighed softly and thrust her spear back into her back. Estelle shook a bloodstained white wolf skin in her hand—the one she had just ripped from the giant man's shoulder—wiped her cheek with the clean part, and handed it to Bodes. The two sat down wearily against the rock wall, taking care not to make much movement in their armor. As soon as they entered the Misty Mountains, they encountered a small patrol force of the Misty Mountains, although they numbered only a dozen or so, but the elite level was far better than those raiding squads that roamed the Vaal Snow Fields, and each of them was a seasoned warrior. After Estelle suddenly shot down one of them with a cold arrow, the others locked on to their position as soon as possible. They didn't give Estelle time to wind up a second arrow—perhaps they had reacted in tandem when they heard the arrow break through the air. Estelle's reaction was just as quick, and she immediately turned her horse's head as soon as she released her arrow, leading Boldeth away. At that time, Bodes began to intuitively and deeply realize how familiar the baroness who had been a bounty hunter in the Misty Mountains for several years was with the complex and treacherous terrain of the place. It wasn't like she was running away, but rather like she was strolling around her back garden, walking a dozen or so stupid dogs with no brains—the same patrol they encountered. Boudis followed Estelle completely mechanically, watching as she separated the Misty Mountain warriors who were fighting at home and broke them down one by one. Walking the dogs is easy, but they get into a bitter battle when they are slaughtered. These Misty Mountain warriors are both stupid dogs and rabid dogs, and their fierce and life-threatening style of play has made the two who desperately want to save their physical strength suffer enough. However, when Eastel realizes that it is not worth it to go on like this, they are unable to escape the enemy's tracking, and the three remaining warriors of the Misty Mountains bite them to the death, after all, the Misty Mountains belong to the tribes that have lived here for an unknown number of generations. The space for them to move became smaller and smaller, and they even had to abandon their overly conspicuous horses and wrestle with the enemy in the snow on foot. Thankfully, they didn't encounter any other patrols throughout the night. This small hidden cave saved them. Relying on a surprise cold arrow, Eastelle took down the two again, and the last one – and the toughest one – was just reduced to an ice bear's meal.

"Strange ......" Boudis saw that Estelle was still staring at the ice bear, still muttering to herself.

"What's wrong?"

"It's the first time I've seen an ice bear in this area. They are generally only found at the eastern and western ends of the Misty Mountains. ”

"Could it be that it ran out?"

"Impossible," Estelle shook her head, "I deliberately studied the ecology of the Misty Mountains at the Poimbru Royal Academy for a period of time, and the ice bear's territorial awareness is unbelievably strong, and he will not take the initiative to leave his territory unless it is extreme." ”

"What do you mean by extreme circumstances?"

"It's not clear, the sample available for study is limited, and even the oldest scholars can't draw accurate conclusions." Estelle shook her head regretfully, "Alas, I really want to catch this ice bear back, maybe the Wang Academy will buy it at a high price." ”

"Don't mess around!" Bao Daisy was startled, she knew the baroness too well, "You said don't provoke it!" ”

"Of course I know, am I so ignorant?" Estelle glanced at her dissatisfied, "We still have a mission to do, but after a night of tossing, the shadow of the army was not seen, and we were all delayed in dealing with this patrol. ”

"Could it be that they weren't here at all?" Boudis guessed.

"Impossible!" Estelle said decisively, "Why else would they rely on such a tight blockade of the Vaal Snow Plains?" Raider squads can only be mobilized most efficiently by stationing troops in the mountains that meet the snowfields. And despite the fact that we had been running all night, we had been at the outermost part of the mountain, and it was likely that the army would be near the higher elevations. ”

"What then? We're tired of a patrol alone, and if we go any further......" Badis said implicitly.

"I know that." Estelle pursed her lips tightly, her fingers fidgeting her long, ice-blue hair, wrapping them tightly around her fingertips. Boudis breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Estelle's small gestures meant that her point was agreed. The Baroness was merely trying to restrain her extraordinarily adventurous spirit.

Sure enough, Estelle didn't dwell on it for long, she waved her hand unwillingly: "When this ice bear is gone, we'll report back to Ryan." ”

There was no word for a while, and the wind and snow outside the cave were still howling monotonously. The two suddenly realized that the chilling chewing sound had disappeared, and the ice bear had stopped eating at some point, and instead stared in the direction of the cave entrance, letting out a low roar.

A giant wolf resembling an ice bear appears at the entrance to the cave, its fur a magnificent ice blue, reminiscent of a glacier exposed to direct sunlight. It walked slowly into the cave with noble and graceful steps. As the giant wolf approached, the roar of the ice bear became more and more solemn. It knew the wolf, and it was the wolf that had dug out the instinct of fear from the deepest part of its nature, forcing it to submit to it, and even forced to leave its own territory, which was a lifelong humiliation.

The desire to surrender rose again, but this time before it could take control of the ice bear's body, it was completely crushed by the warm smell of blood in its mouth, and replaced by the tyrant's bloodthirsty desire for revenge. The ice bear stood upright and roared at the giant wolf as if it had muffled thunder in its mouth. The giant wolf didn't look at the ice bear squarely, its gaze swept over the blood-stained stone wall, shrugged its nose slightly, and after recognizing the scent of its victim, the giant wolf's face was distorted by the fanatical rage, and the hairs on its neck exploded like a circle of sharp ice spikes. The giant wolf suddenly exerted its strength, and in an instant, it turned into a dark blue shadow and pounced fiercely on the ice bear. The two giant beasts rolled into a ball, fighting each other with sharp claws and sharp teeth, and venting the fiercest and most cruel part of their wild nature to each other's bodies in the most primitive way.

The aftermath of the clash of behemoths swept through the cave, and the rock walls shook violently, knocking down the ice ridges on the top of the cave. Both Boudis and Estelle reacted quickly, and when the first ice edge smashed not far from them, the two found a relatively safe corner and continued to secretly observe the desperate struggle between the bear and the wolf.

"Oh my God...... "Balliss, hearing Icedale's low exclamation, "the legend is true." ”

"What legend?"

"The wolf," Estelle said, holding her right hand tightly on the rock wall, breathing heavily, as if cheering herself on

"Yes...... Omenwolf wolf. ”