Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Ambush in the snow (I)

"I'd never thought that the Burning Aura could be so convenient," Goldmi praised.

"I couldn't agree more. It's freezing cold without it," Gjaki agreed.

"What if you give me a hand?" Eldi complained.

They had left through the Gate that Goldmi had created, after being accompanied there by Skullcrusher some days before. It was in a cave, on the side of some mountains whose peaks they had left behind a few hours ago. Luckily, they hadn't had to cross them, as the barbarian siblings had done back then.

Since then, they had been on a wide snow-covered plain, in which vegetation was conspicuous by its absence. Although Goldmi knew that, beneath the white layer, some plants survived. She could feel them.

When the brief summer arrived in those lands, they would bloom quickly, thus giving rise to an explosion of life that would last just a few days. Many animals would wake up from hibernation to feed on plants and their fruits. Others would show up to hunt said animals. They only had a few weeks to wake up, reproduce, and hide again before the snow and ice once again claimed their territory.

Nonetheless, the land they were heading to wasn't like that. In that place, there wasn't even the span of a brief summer. The snow and ice were perpetual.

Right now, they were under a strong wind that was blowing the snow with it. This meant that visibility was reduced, and Gjaki's Bats were very inefficient.

The goshawk couldn't see much from the sky either, plus she needed to come down often to renew the Burning Aura that kept her warm. The lynx didn't have that problem, since she had her own aura. The kraken barely peeked out from between her sister's clothes.

They had to rely on the elf's Life Detection, or the high human's Bat's Hearing. This had allowed them to detect the threat that was hidden between the blizzard and the snow.

"Didn't you say it was easy, and that we could leave it to you?" Goldmi mocked.

"One is easy! Ten are easy! A hundred, no way!" he complained, stuck in a Burning Wall.

The fire was very harmful to those beings accustomed to the cold, so they were reluctant to approach it. The problem was that the cold also caused the power of the fire to fade sooner.

They were strange round, hairy beings, about a meter in diameter, and without legs. Those beings were supposed to have eight eyes, one in each direction, although they were difficult to distinguish. They bounced continuously, and their main attack was their collisions. Upon impact, their fur became Stiff and spiky, thus making it very dangerous.

They also had the Spikes skill, which allowed them to shoot the hair from a distance, although then they would lose it. In addition, their white color helped them camouflage themselves in the snow, in which they could spend months without moving thanks to Hibernate. Its counterpart, Awakening, ensured that they hardly needed any time between their resting state and their current offensive attitude.

They looked like fluffy stuffed animals that anyone would want to hug and take home, but they were actually dangerous predators that hunted in packs. They even had a group skill with which they summoned the Blizzard they were currently in. It had made the usual constant wind situation worse.

"Well, I guess we can give him a hand, since he can't handle some fluffy balls," Gjaki also mocked.

Suddenly, the Blizzard came to a still. That exposed the furballs, which was the name with which they had been baptized by some players.

Eldi's companions hadn't limited themselves to making fun of him. They were preparing to counterattack, which began with Wind Push to stop the Blizzard. Just like in the game, the unexpected wind spell interfered with the furballs spell and canceled it.

Before they could react, the lynx had rushed between them, covered in fire. She threw some Fireballs, while physically attacking the first one that came within her reach. Steel Skin made her body almost invulnerable to the attacks of her enemies, although she had to be very careful with her eyes.

The goshawk was simply launching Wind Blades from the sky. Those types of enemies were capable of protecting their entire body like a porcupine, so they were very difficult for her to face claw-to-claw.

The kraken had climbed on her sister's shoulder, from which she was Inking the furballs. Not only did it blind them, but the ink that she was throwing from a distance was flammable. Her four-legged sister was taking advantage of it.

Choking was also surprisingly lethal. The kraken's spell enveloped an enemy in a bubble of water, which ended up freezing in that cold. Therefore, her enemies became trapped in a sphere of ice.

She would even Enlarge her tentacles if any ball approached her sister. The sharp hairs of her enemies could pierce them, but it wasn't much of a problem for the shrunk kraken. Her watery body could regenerate small punctures very easily. Furthermore, she was next to her sister, who could heal her if necessary.

The vampiress followed the lynx closely, and coordinated with her. She finished off the enemies the feline burned, often with a hammer. She also wielded the whip to Grab a ball and throw it against another, which made the feline's job easier.

The Tentacles that she was placing from time to time were also effective, and she even used Necromancy to cast the dead against their former companions. Gjaki usually preferred to summon Blood Hounds, but the icy cold froze the blood they carried inside, thus rendering them inoperative.

Her Clones often appeared in order to confuse her enemies. She even sometimes Blew Up them, which damaged and distracted those enemies.

Goldmi controlled the wind so that a Blizzard wouldn't form again. Her enemies had tried several times to invoke it again, and had encountered the counterattack of the elf. She also relied on Tramontane to appease the natural wind.

As a direct attack, Rough Arrow was the most effective. The furballs' fur could also be used as a Cushion to diffuse the attack of an arrow. However, they were vulnerable to bludgeoning damage, so it was effective for hitting and knocking them.

These arrows weren't very harmful in themselves, but she used them with great skill. The furry spheres were often pushed into a Burning Wall, or temporarily knocked out in front of one of her allies.

Occasionally, she would use Wind Traps by shooting three arrows at a group of enemies. The problem was that she couldn't waste her mana, due to the need to avoid enemy Blizzards. Those beings were between level 90 and 92, and very dangerous if they could hide.