Ice Blade Squad 123

A hundred miles outside Ice Prison Royal City, the Heavenly River Legion's garrison stretched across the land. Its gray-brown camps carved out a neat patch of ground on Gobada's bleak wasteland, making it several times livelier than the desolation farther out.

Barn, Declan, and Gideon huddled inside the small courtyard they'd been assigned, peering through the wooden window as they curiously surveyed the scene outside.

Fukaloss had gone to Ice Prison Royal City alone that morning to recruit new squad members. Sanctuary residents weren't allowed to enter the city freely. Even with her connections, she could only arrange for the three of them to stay at the military camp outside the city as prospective members of the Ice Blade Squad. They wouldn't be officially registered until the squad reached its full complement.

Barn had already learned from Fukaloss that three Godlevel legions served under Ice Prison Royal City: the Raging Tide, Heavenly River, and Ice Thorn Legions. Each had more than a thousand Godlevels.

The Ice River Legion guarded the Royal City, while Godlevel private squads like the Ice Blade Squad fell under the Heavenly River Legion's command.

The garrison outside the city was its outer camp, and the place where all the Ice Blade Squads were based.

The Ice Blade Squads had been established for Godlevels who preferred to act alone rather than submit to a legion's restraints. Their members varied in strength, and their missions were usually the tedious work the legions couldn't be bothered with: sneaking behind enemy lines to sabotage resource sites, raiding supplies from hostile Sanctuaries, and providing mobile support on the flanks during wartime. Ice Prison Royal City never expected these scattered fighters to hold the front line. It merely let them fight under the city's protection, then took a share of whatever they gained.

"This courtyard is huge." Leaning on the windowsill, Declan swept his dark golden eyes over the empty street and couldn't help remarking on it. The courtyard had a main house, a side room, and a small open space where all three of them could cultivate separately. It was much roomier than their cave deep in the wasteland.

Gideon squatted in a corner, his massive bear paw scraping at the flagstones as he replied in a deep, rumbling voice, "This place isn't even within the Royal City. Gobada has no shortage of barren land, and land is cheap, so they can give us plenty of space." He looked toward the city, his huge eyes full of longing, but their light quickly faded. The ice-blue wall was a barrier Sanctuary residents could never cross.

Barn gazed into the distance too. Ice Prison Royal City's walls formed a hazy blue outline along the horizon. Even from a hundred miles away, he couldn't sense the pure elemental energy beyond them.

He understood the situation perfectly. The true heart of Ice Prison Royal City lay within those walls: powerful Godlevels and their families. Even if those family members were only Sanctuary residents, they could enjoy abundant elemental energy under the protection of powerful Godlevels, without having to risk their lives for food like the Sanctuary residents in the wasteland.

The three legions and the Ice Blade Squads were merely the city's outer forces. Their Godlevel members were either weak Lowgods or friendless loners, able to obtain a little protection and a few resources only by fighting for the Royal City.

Barn leaned against the windowsill, lightly tapping the wooden frame with his fingertips as he silently worked through the numbers. According to the original novel's rules for the planes, the ratio of Highgods to Midgods to Lowgods in the Supreme Plane was 1:1,000:100,000. With elemental energy so scarce in Gobada, cultivation was far harder than in the Supreme Plane, so the ratio here would be even more lopsided. Out of a thousand Lowgods, there might not be a single Midgod; out of ten thousand Midgods, there might not be one who could break through to Highgod.

(In the original novel, after Godlevels poured out of Gobada, most of them, along with the Sanctuary residents, had already gone to the Supreme Plane. The book described the place here as "densely packed." I guess only the stronger ones, like Adkins and the others, chose to wait for the Necropolis of the Gods to open. The rest probably felt they had no chance of competing and left.)

He even suspected that every Godlevel in the three legions and the Ice Blade Squads was a Lowgod. Only Midgods qualified to bring their families into the Royal City and stay by the sealed passage.

After all, that was the only chance to escape Gobada. If Barn were an ordinary Midgod, he would certainly bring his loved ones and stay by the passage too. Even if he had to wait a hundred million years, he wouldn't leave.

Lowgods in Gobada didn't have as hard a time acting alone as they did in Hell, but they still had no chance of competing with Midgods. The Royal City's resources and the advantage of being near the passage had never been meant for them.

The three of them waited in the courtyard for ten days. Declan was cooped up and restless, practicing his Dark Element mysteries in the courtyard day after day. Gideon stayed in a corner cultivating Earth Pulse, while Barn spent most of his time meditating. He still hadn't found an opening to fuse his mysteries.

At dusk on the tenth day, a pale-blue streak of light cut across the sky and descended straight to the courtyard gate. Fukaloss's voice came from outside. "I'm back. Open up!"

Barn and the others hurried to open the gate. Fukaloss still wore her Blue Court Dress, her white hair and golden eyes set off by a face that showed some fatigue but couldn't hide her excitement. Two figures followed behind her, one stern and the other bizarre.

"Did you go hungry these ten days?" Fukaloss asked casually as she stepped inside and glanced at the three of them.

Gideon immediately went up to her, lowering his massive head ingratiatingly. "Not at all. We still had food stored away. We just missed you so much, Miss!"

Barn and Declan hurriedly nodded along, their faces arranged into just the right smiles.

The two figures behind Fukaloss both frowned at such blatant flattery, a hint of scorn flashing in their eyes. Neither said anything, though; they simply stood quietly at Fukaloss's side.

Fukaloss clearly enjoyed the flattery. She waved it away, then stepped aside to reveal the two newcomers and introduced them. "Let me tell you, these are the new members of our Ice Blade Squad. Now that we have five, we're officially a squad! This is Julia, a dragonman. She specializes in the Lightning Element and uses a bow. And this is Blair, a Beholder. He specializes in Soul Attacks."

Barn's gaze first settled on Julia, one of the dragonmen found across many planes.

She was tall and maintained a human form, but her draconic features were unmistakable. Fine purple scales covered her body, gleaming coldly in the setting sun. A pair of curved, purple-gold horns rose from her head, and all four of her limbs ended in sharp dragon claws. Only her face looked human, its features sharp and stern, a hint of defiance in her eyes. Her vertical pupils were a vivid electric blue, and she regarded the three of them with a cool, assessing gaze.

Dragonmen really did look a lot like Dragon Blood Warriors, Barn thought.

But his gaze soon shifted to Blair, and he felt a faint chill.

The Beholder had also taken human form. He was lean, and his entire body was made of pale-blue ice, his skin glinting with a frosty sheen. Most uncanny of all was his face: no nose, no mouth, not even ears. A huge gray vertical eye took up most of it, its pupil a deep, bottomless blue-black. When his gaze swept over Barn, Barn felt his soul go faintly numb, as though something had peered into him.

The sight instantly brought to mind the Evil Eye King from the Necropolis of the Gods in the original novel. He, too, had a single eye and specialized in Soul Attacks. But this Beholder, Blair, was still weak.

Declan was startled by Blair's appearance and instinctively edged closer to Barn. His defenses against Soul Attacks were weak. Gideon, however, remained unperturbed. Earth Element defenses protected both body and soul, so he had nothing to fear.

Then Fukaloss said, "These three may be a little slick, but they're strong too. This is Gideon, Barn, and Declan."

The five introduced themselves to one another. Then Fukaloss said excitedly, "Well, that makes us the Ice Blade Squad 123! Let's have some barbecue!"

Barn looked at Fukaloss. "Miss, what does the number mean?"

"It's our squad number. We're the 123rd Ice Blade Squad!" Fukaloss beamed.