I have been meditating for a week to get rid of the ice mana inside me. Well, I have little else to do anyway. Turns out that if the chill gets extreme enough, paralysis is also possible. Right now, I can't move my body even an inch.
For the last couple of weeks, I have been feeling the chill in its full glory. Things have been steadily getting better, at least. A week ago, I could feel nothing other than a weird sense of warmth. My body has gotten so cold that it has overloaded my ability to feel it. Still, that warmth is something that I don't want to feel in my life again. I swear that I could feel my life slipping away from me. It was like sand that I was trying to hold in my hands.
The move used on me by the giant turned out to be one of the favorite methods of attack for the snowlords. It is a spell called the "snow drive". (This was something that even the weakest warrior stationed here knows about, by the way.) The spell involves absorbing all the ice mana in the area and using it to craft an ice bolt. This bolt is supposed to be powerful, capable of destroying forts like this in a single hit.
This spell of theirs is not supposed to be easy. One in a hundred Snowlords is capable of pulling off this spell. Well, I don't know much about the spell beyond what I have recorded. The soldiers themselves do not have a lot of idea about their spells. The little that I have learned about the spell comes from the stories that they are telling each other.
I guess that I should speak about the reinforcements now. A couple of days after our fight, a group of sixty soldiers and three mages came here as our reinforcements. I would have spoken more about them if I knew about them. Normally, I would need to go up and greet them. Right now, I am in no state to do that.
At the moment, if I were to get out of this room, I would just turn into a frozen statue. The mana barrier of this room is the only thing that is ensuring that I don't have that fate. It is keeping out the ice mana flooding me.
If I were to leave the barrier, all the surrounding ice mana would flow into me, much like it flowed into the giant. (Only, in my case I won't have runic tattoos to control the flow of that mana.)
Our reinforcements are three mages from some noble family. (Thankfully, my hearing is still intact.) I have been feeling the mana that they have been emitting in the place. My mana sense is pretty sensitive, but even I can't do that easily. Let's just say that they are emitting a shit ton of mana at this moment.
They are easily at the top of the foundation stage and might even be in the stage beyond. (Their strength is why I have been able to focus on pushing out the ice mana so much.) Maybe that is why they are so reluctant to meet up with me. They are clearly important people. Such people like to be as far from the scholars (and by extension, from us guards.)
Other than that, they also have their worries. The giant and the female snowlord have disappeared. There is no way of knowing how or when they will attack us now. I am sure that they are expecting an attack any moment now.
The third snowlord is dead, though. My gamble with the man worked. The soldiers literally ripped through the man. Right now, he is at the bottom of the pile of corpses that have been thrown into the pit formed near the walls.
Other than that, the fort itself is not in a pretty situation. The walls of the fort are intact (there the ironskin took the brunt of the damage of the failed snow drive), but the buildings of the place have been wrecked. The reinforcements need to set up a proper defensive line. An ambush would be disastrous. They need to fix the fort while maintaining this defensive line. In short, they must have a lot of work as well. I am not surprised that they have yet to come down.
At the moment, the fort is the least of my concerns. After all, the fort is now the responsibility of whichever noble family has taken over the place. My world is, at the moment, stuck to the formation core and the room it is in. I don't need to worry about anything else.
The only good thing about the nobles coming here is that it can be said that I can finally relax. After all, the nobles would certainly not like to be dependent on another mage. They are going to be sending me back to the frozen peak one way or another. It is just a matter of when.
I have been quite busy the last couple of months. I am starting to see why meditation appeals so much to people. It is a pretty good way to unwind.
(After God knows how long.)
I don't know how long I have been down here, but I can finally move my limbs. It is just jerky spasms that are closer to shivering than actual movement. Still, it gives me something to do other than just stare at the ceiling and meditate.
More importantly, I have regained my ability to speak. This is going to be quite crucial, especially with what is about to happen here. At the moment, one of the new sources of mana is coming down here. I do not know who it is, but I will certainly need to keep my game face on. (Especially with the way that I must look at the moment. Let's just say intimidation is off the table.)
Even as the man comes down, I can feel the plans form in my mind. Different methods of attacking, none of which are feasible. I am actually in a pretty good position if I could just move. If the other party is coming down to kill me (well, it is unlikely), my paralysis is going to cause me quite a problem. Otherwise, with the formation in my control, I would have been able to easily fight all three of them. As things are, I am at their mercy.
As I make these unlikely plans, I finally get to see the man. He is at the moment being directed by Shamon, who leaves the room almost as quickly as he enters it. The thing that I find interesting about the man is the fact that he is wearing a coat made of animal fur. (To those not of the region, animal fur is quite common here. The process of making clothes from it seems to be quite an expensive endeavor up here. Thus, it is something only the nobles can afford.)
He is a young man, about a couple of years older than me. That instantly makes me wish that I could record the man's face. The only way that such a young man could have achieved such a level of strength is if he were the young master of that family.
"I would presume that you are Captain Antonio, of the black mountain." The man spoke first, bending down to match my eyeline. He certainly looks quite ordinary. You can hear the arrogance in his tone, though. This is a man who thinks quite heavily of himself.
"That would be the truth, my friend. Though I do not think that I know your name.", I reply.
"I am Captain Ankon Starfall, of the Snowwind army", he speaks, he doesn't like to be called my friend. "specifically, of the construction corps."
"That is nice, though I would have to enquire of your exact purpose. I am not in a state of greeting you, I fear." I speak.
"Well, I have to intrude on your healing. It relates to the repair of the fort above. We have not worked with formations like yours." He speaks, finally sitting down next to me. "I need the design of your formations, captain. You will not be able to repair these formations, and we need them working yesterday."
"Well, the formation that I have put into the core behind me is quite flexible. Complete your repairs to the fort, and I will do all the necessary repairs to the formation down here. I will just have to ask for a couple of days, though, since I need to recover from my present state." I reply, trying to hold back a grin. He seems to think that I am a fool.
"The chances of the snowlords attacking are quite high, Antonio. It would be wise to return to a combat-ready state as quickly as possible.", he says. The lack of honorifics is a clear attempt to prove his strength. "The repairs to the fort will be done within half a day. Right now, it would be stupid to wait for even a couple of days. We are at risk of being attacked."
"Well, it is a job that requires precision, Ankon. I am sure that you are a fine mage, but I would say that it is better if I pull this off. You say it will take you half a day to repair the damage to the fort. I will recover by then to repair the fortress. You focus on repairing the fort. I will look after the formation.", I speak. "Now, I would request that you leave. I will need to meditate now."
"Well, is there any chance of completing it earlier than this? It would be quite helpful in case of an attack happening during the final repairs to the fort.", he tries again.
Well, there is no way that I am giving the man something that important.
"I could try, but with the way you are distracting me, it would be quite hard. Your people do not have experience with what I am about to do. Formation magic is not something that can be done half-heartedly. The result of rushing this work can be disastrous." I reply. "I am sure that you don't won't suddenly swell up like a balloon and burst into a flood of blood mist. That could happen if I were to make a mistake with the formation and you were to take control."
"I shall take my leave then, Antonio.", the man says, getting up and leaving the room quite abruptly.
Well, it looks like I have offended the man. Well, it is fine, I have not come here to make friends anyway.
Well, I shift myself to make myself more comfortable. It would have been better if I had a couple of weeks to do this, but half a day should be barely enough.
One more meditation session should be enough to get my hands stable enough to complete this task. Well, to start with, the formation is not really damaged. (At least it is not damaged in a significant way.) The main task is the modifications that I will need to do to the runes of the thing. (These modifications will allow the formation to work in the repaired part of the fort.)
I would have been able to do this in a few minutes at any other time. Now, I will have to take at least a couple of hours, and there is still no guarantee of success. (Even with the meditation session.)