Chapter 125
Two of the three arrows hit the enemy accurately, but one fell to the ground, seemingly due to its great distance.
Seeing another of their companions attacked, the bandits were enraged, and more and more of them rushed out of the tribe with weapons.
But a knowledgeable middle-aged man stopped in front of the ice crystal arrow that had missed its target and failed to explode—he had noticed something amiss.
He stared intently at the strange and dazzling ice crystal arrow, and soon a connection was made.
A legend... and the major events that have recently occurred in Freljord...
Then, he excitedly shouted, "It's Avarosa's Magic Longbow! The legendary weapon used by Avarosa! Quick, grab that person! She's Frostguard bounty hunter!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire Frost Children Tribe erupted in cheers.
The Frostguard, the tribe ruled by the Lissandra, possess endless wealth, an abundance of meat and wine, and their bounties are always substantial!
As long as we catch that person!
"Go! Go! Go!!" The bandits shouted as they mounted their mounts, determined to capture Ashe.
And this was precisely one of Ashe's plans.
She intends to single-handedly draw away the vast majority of the Frost Children Tribe's fighting force.
She put away her longbow and ran at full speed in the opposite direction from where she had come, trying to lure the bandits as far away as possible.
Only in this way could her people take advantage of the situation and empty their warehouses.
But she was also destined to be in danger.
A two-legged person can't outrun a four-legged ice beast, especially since she was already starving.
She was soon forced to the end of the Rift —a dead end, completely buried by collapsed rocks and snow, which might take half a year of continuous sunshine to thaw.
This situation surprised and unsettled her.
Because... this was originally her planned escape route; this the Rift was supposed to lead to another place.
This looks like... an avalanche just happened here...?
Bad luck...
Now, she must pick up her magic longbow again and face these vicious bandits.
She wasn't afraid, but tension was unavoidable.
Even though she is the Avarosa's Inheritance, one of the legendary Three Sisters, she is actually just a girl under twenty years old with very limited combat experience.
On the other hand, those damned bandits, many of them are of Iceborn blood, with extremely strong individual combat abilities. They could even be said to be second only to the Frostguard in the entire Freljord —otherwise, they wouldn't be able to live so comfortably by plundering.
One man against nearly a hundred, coupled with severe physical exhaustion... the outcome of this battle seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
Even Ashe herself began to plan her escape—she never thought she could defeat such a large number of bandits on her own; escaping was her initial plan.
If she could defeat them head-on, she would have led her people to attack long ago. Why go through all this trouble and use a diversionary tactic?
"People of Avarosa! Surrender!" shouted the leader of the Frostborn bandits, her words brimming with confidence—she was a robust woman, presumably the Warmother of the Frost Children Tribe.
"..." Ashe gave no response, but instead gripped her longbow tightly again in front of everyone—perhaps that was her way of responding.
Seeing this, the Frost Child Warmother didn't hold back. With a wave of her hand, she prepared to have her people rush forward, dismember the opponent, tie him up, and send him to the Lissandra to claim the reward.
Ashe's ice crystal arrows were poised to be fired, waiting for the first person to charge forward.
But just then, she suddenly heard a slight noise behind her.
Turning my head, I saw the collapsed area behind me trembling slightly... as if someone was digging a tunnel behind me.
The next moment, a sharp, blade-like object pierced through the thick snow.
The next moment, a head popped out from inside.
A man. He looks quite young.
He was still muttering something:
"How did I end up being buried by an avalanche while I was walking...? Huh? Ashe?"
Chapter Thirteen Ashe: Don't look at what you shouldn't see, don't look at what you shouldn't see...
Chen Ce felt he was quite unlucky.
After several days of arduous travel—traveling day and night—we finally arrived in Freljord, only to find that instead of the Avarosan Tribe, we were buried by an avalanche.
He simply followed the map and entered the Rift.
Then he raised his voice a little when he spoke to Rhaast.
Hmm... okay, at most we can add one charge, "I was resting against the rocks by the Rift and accidentally knocked them over."
That shouldn't have triggered an avalanche, right?
When an avalanche truly occurs, every snowflake bravely ventures to the ends of the earth.
Fortunately, Chen Ce's physique was no less than that of a sports student thanks to his Heartsteel, and he was able to dig out of the ridiculously thick snow after a short while.
The moment he stepped out, he saw a familiar figure from behind—a familiar girl.
Silver hair, blue eyes, a slender and graceful figure, wearing only a thin sleeveless archer outfit and a short skirt in sub-zero temperatures...
He was also holding a uniquely designed Frost Crystal Longbow.
Isn't that Master Ai?
Chen Ce was overjoyed, even forgetting the frustration of being buried by the avalanche—it seemed that his route design was absolutely correct.
Only Rhaast cursed the act of using him as a cheap shovel.
"Who are you...?"
A look of doubt and caution crossed Ashe's eyes, and the Frost Crystal Longbow in her hand, driven by magic, once again generated ice crystal arrows.
She didn't recognize the young man at all, but he seemed pleasantly surprised to see her... just like those bandits who wanted to send her to the Lissandra for a reward.
Looking at their clothing and appearance... they were clearly not locals—at least not from southeast Freljord, and therefore not from their area.
Very suspicious...
Chen Ce noticed the doubt in the girl's eyes and immediately introduced himself, "My Chen Ce, and I'm from --"
"Who's that over there?!" A rough and loud voice suddenly rang out, abruptly interrupting their conversation.
She is the Warmother of the Icefield Children Tribe.
That muscular woman riding a giant ice beast.
She is also of Iceborn, and it is rumored that her bloodline is inherited from one of the Three Sisters, Serylda, who is wild and fierce.
She held a large battle axe, almost the size of the [Black Cleaver], and was accompanied by several blood allies—her "husbands."
In the matriarchal society of Freljord, a powerful Warmother often has several Blood Alliances—equivalent to "husbands" in other countries. However, these Blood Alliances are generally also powerful fighting forces within the tribe, and the Blood Warmother of some large tribes are mostly Iceborn.
The Children of the Icefield are one of them.
These members of the Blood Alliance are all Iceborn extremely strong combat capabilities.
"A skinny man? You're here to steal Avarosa's successor too? Hah... You're not worthy!"
The Warmother, the Son of the Ice Plains, revealed a cruel smile, then waved her hand and ordered her people to charge in full force.
In an instant, no fewer than twenty giant ice beasts began to rampage through the Rift, their sheer force nearly triggering a second avalanche.
"Dismember the Avarosa's heir! Don't kill that man, tie him up!"
"Yes!" The bandits arrived menacingly.
Seeing this, Ashe no longer had time to pay attention to the strange young man and immediately drew her bow and shot an arrow at the enemy in front of her.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh--!
Several ice crystal arrows were fired in succession, each one hitting the bandits on the back of the frost behemoth with pinpoint accuracy, instantly freezing the leading bandits into ice sculptures.
Unfortunately, these few people were far from enough to support the Frost Children Tribe, which numbered nearly a hundred.
The frost behemoths charging forward did not stop despite their master's death; they quickly regained their footing under the command of several other Frostborn bandits.
With nowhere to retreat, Ashe could only desperately keep shooting arrows, her delicate forehead already covered in tense cold sweat.
Meanwhile, Chen Ce calmly brushed the snow off his clothes—he was more afraid of the snow getting his sweater wet than of these ice field bandits.
Furthermore, he was somewhat helpless... He was, after all, a well-known "star" in both the great nations of Ionia and Noxus, yet in Freljord he was looked down upon by the leader of a mere bandit tribe...
And that line, "Don't kill that man, tie him up," just sounds a bit off...
It's almost like... a bandit wanting to kidnap a woman to be his wife...
It truly lives up to its reputation as a matriarchal primitive society... so wild...
While he wasn't as ridiculously muscular as Sett or Darius, he was still considered extremely fit by ordinary standards, yet here he was being treated like a "skinny pretty boy"...
Okay, okay... lecturing is useless; broken bones are better lessons.
"Thinking about it, it's been a long time since I've fought anyone... I hope I won't perform too badly."
As Chen Ce spoke, he twirled the giant scythe in his hand, Rhaast's single eye immediately burst forth with a blinding crimson light.
Clearly, Rhaast also craves blood—perhaps it has been for many years.
"Slaughter them!" Rhaast's excited roar echoed in his mind.
Chen Ce didn't waste any more words and slowly walked towards the direction from which the frost behemoths were charging—it looked as if he was about to have a head-on collision with those behemoths that were more than ten times his size.
Ashe had been somewhat cautious, instantly changed her mind upon seeing this scene.
At first, she thought the strange man who had been dug out of the snow was an outsider with ulterior motives, but now it seemed he was...
I was simply terrified.
"Are you crazy...!" Kind-hearted by nature, she couldn't bear to see Chen Ce trampled into a bloody pulp by the horde of ice beasts, and quickly cried out to stop him, "Come back! Hide in the snow! They're after me!"
"It was me too." Chen Ce shrugged. "I heard it all just now. That arrogant woman said she was going to tie me up."
"This... run!!"
"No need. I've already heard about the atrocities committed by these Icefield bandits—they're from the Icefield Children Tribe, aren't they? They've done nothing but burning, killing, and looting; each of them has at least a dozen innocent lives on their hands. They all deserve to die."
"Can..."
Ashe wanted to try and persuade them again, but the crazed ice field bandits had already charged towards them on their ice field behemoths.
She quickly shot two arrows straight ahead, then immediately turned to Chen Ce to help him avoid death.
But the other person's "impulse" still far exceeded her expectations.
Before she could even conjure another ice crystal arrow, the man wielding the giant scythe had already charged towards the horde of giant beasts ahead.
"Don't hurt my plaything tonight!" shouted the Warmother, the Child of the Icefield.
Hearing this, the few people at the front were extremely dissatisfied, but they could only forcibly change the direction of the ice field behemoth to avoid accidentally stomping the "skinny bamboo pole's" head into the ground.
They planned to pick him up and take him away as they passed by that skinny bamboo pole.
What they didn't expect was...
Their "great compassion" was not appreciated.
The thin man even moved a little—blocking their way.
At such a close distance, it's impossible to stop now.
"Are you courting death...?!" The nearest bandit finally snapped.
He pulled the iron chain, and rows of sharp iron spikes immediately pierced into the flesh of the ice field behemoth. The behemoth, in pain, raised its forelegs and stomped forward with all its might—right where Chen Ce was.
Upon seeing this, the Warmother, the Son of the Icefield, let out a regretful sigh—her plaything to serve her tonight was gone.
But he brought this upon himself, so he has no one else to blame but himself.
Ashe sighed heavily, then turned back to her enemy—she had tried her best, but she couldn't save a madman determined to die.
Just when everyone thought Chen Ce was about to be crushed into mincemeat by the frost behemoth, something unexpected happened—
The "slender" figure had disappeared.
Yes, they disappeared suddenly, without any warning.
Like a mirage that vanishes in an instant.