Luckily, the snowstorm is not unrelenting. It lets up for a few hours total throughout the day. We start the journey and head off south. The "frost king" makes his home at the coldest point in the fracture, but he can wait.

Jatan told me that this place used not to be a place of constant snow but became like this after the apocalypse. The creatures I've been killing are warped versions of animals that lived here before, except for the mephits.

The goblins have a local myth about the mephits origin relating to the gods. There are two gods aligned to cold, the goddess of winter and the god of ice and snow. Apparently, the goblin god Legdaz caught the ire of the twin gods and had his people cursed with ice, but Legdaz, God of Mischief, managed to trick the gods and only had them plague his ugly goblins, claiming that he only made ugly ones.

But that doesn't make sense since there are multitudes of different mephits. Unless all the elemental gods got together and collectively cursed Legdaz's ugly goblins, that story doesn't hold up.

Wait. If Legdaz is the god of mischief, then it's plausible. The guy has two aspects, the patron god of goblins, the creator who made them in his image, and the god of mischiefs and trickeries.

I wonder what divine drama I just stumbled into.

I guess it's time to kill the tyrants.

~

The "beast of snow" is the leader of the [Snow Mites], the furballs that I ignored early here. The mites are relatively low in level, but their numbers are nothing to scoff at.

I started thinking about my titles, [Fell the Mighty] and [Infanticide], and their curious effects on the entire party's leveling. In my experience, when I grind levels with my beasts, the experience is put into a single pool before being distributed evenly. My different modifiers to experience are applied before they get distributed, meaning that [Infanticide]'s effect of not getting experience from foes way weaker than me will cripple the growth of my beasts.

Unfortunately, I can't just stay out of the fight and allow them to monopolize the experience for themselves since my very existence makes them stronger.

Pity that I am such a good tamer.

~

We take the Khan expressed south from our current location. We had to travel through the woods again, and we got attacked by wolves again. Seriously, what's the deal with canines hating me!

There were only ten wolves, and they weren't enough to level us. I expected Khan's numbers would deter any intelligent predators, but I guess not. Either all the animals are starving to death, or they are all getting agitated by something.

I did kill their "king," maybe that has something to do with it? Once we leave the forest, I'll most likely stop caring about this anyways, so I might as well not think too hard about the hierarchal implications of killing the strongest beasts in the woods.

Luckily we made it to the mites locations before the snow started to pick up again. I get on Duchess' back and take off to the skies for an overhead view.

The mites number in the thousands, possibly millions. Seeing the white-colored creatures move around is almost hypnotic. The color similarities with the slight movement make it seem like the land is moving on its own. Anyway, time to kill our way in.

I plan to kill [Snow Mites] until they get mad enough to call their boss. Since the snow beast is also a mite, it would be implied that it shares the deep pack bond that the mites have.

The only issue is committing genocide without retaliation, and Duchess is my go-to snake for this operation.

Like all [Radiant] magic, Duchess' [Radiant] magic is powerful but very heavy with the mana consumption. It's also quite difficult to cast these spells, as shown by Duchess managing to only learn three invocations even with her 160 mind stat.

Her most damaging [Radiant] spell does heavy damage directly around her. The distance the light travels is something she can tweak, reducing damage for more range. It seems counterintuitive, increasing "intensity" by lowering the "brightness."

With how she is now, she can cast [Flash] eight times before being drained. With [Empower] on her, she can only use it eight times, but she would have mana left over for other things. Fortunately, all her spells have mana reductions thanks to her [Brillant Feathers].

I ride on her back, watching as she flies close enough to the [Snow Mites] but far enough where they cant retaliate. She becomes the deadliest camera in the world. Every time she flashes, hundreds of lives would be taken.

Even with my resistance, without [Bolster Resistances], I would have died by proxy.

[Resistance: Radiant 75 > 150]

The aftermath of her going all out with me in the crossfire was doubling my [Radiant] resistance. Oh, and the death of hundreds of thousands.

As we kept killing them, more arrived out of nowhere, so my early census was inaccurate. The worst thing besides the smell was that [Snow Mites] don't drop mana crystals. All that death and we don't profit in the slightest, it's a waste.

After all this, the tyrant I'm hunting never showed. I fly Duchess back to the others and regroup my thoughts.

If mass murder didn't get its attention, then nothing will. Jatan described the creature as "three goblins tall and with fur white as snow," so the "beast of snow" should be visible among all the furballs.

She told me the direction and description, and I assumed it was a [Snow Mite]. Could it be that I'm in the wrong place entirely? Maybe the tyrant I am looking for is just sleeping in some corner.

My thoughts are interrupted when the snow starts falling from the sky. It's the everyday scene in this fracture, but this time something feels off. Khan gets agitated and starts "dancing" around like he always does in a fight.

[Master? I see it.]

I look over where Duchess is mentally pointing and see the "three goblins tall" creature that Jatan described. Except it's much more immense.

"Duchess, did that goblin say three or three hundred?"

[Definitely three.]

"Shit."

The lands around us aren't flat but semi-mountainous. This is important since a massive ball of white is barreling right toward us like an avalanche. Khan scatters as Duchess takes Rob into the sky, leaving Flash Gordon and me behind.

I told Duchess to ditch me because I wanted to test something out, and she complied without a second thought. I don't know whether to be glad that she follows my orders well, trusts me with my shenanigans, or if she is willing to leave me regardless of circumstance.

I trust Duchess, so I'll take her action as support rather than dwell in what-ifs. More importantly, I know Flash Gordon won't leave me.

Time to throw this [Elemental Stone] at a mini-avalanche.

~

First, I activate [Empower] on Flash Gordon, then hurl him with all my strength at the giant snowball.

[Hurl D lv2 > Hurl D lv3

Thrown attacks are stronger.

Damage: + 25% ↑

Velocity: + 25% ↑]

Flash Gordon whistles his war song as he flies through the air. I wanted to try something with a skill I hadn't touched yet. I was planning on doing this experiment on Duchess after killing all those mites but now is the perfect opportunity.

[Master's Gift C

The Master may graciously bestow a boon upon his servants. A servant will gain access to one of the Master's possessions and be able to use it.

Skills can be given but require the Master to pay double the activation cost before the servant can use them. Skills return after the servant activates them.]

[Master's Gift] allows me to give my "servants" a gift, and although getting a streamed line way to pay my beasts money is pretty neat, the ability to lend skills to a beast is interesting, although it never was necessary.

I'm more interested in the definition of "boon" or "possession." Since technically implied, it doesn't explicitly state it has to be an item I'm giving away.

While Flash Gordon is in the air, I decide to be a gracious master and give Flash Gordon the boon of having five hundred of my mana, to see what would happen.

And what I saw was awe-inspiring.

He grew until my little Flash Gordon was a little boulder instead.

[Living Fortress U

The user can take a stand against any foe.

The user doubles their size and quadruples their weight.

Mana Cost: One mana per second, mana cost stacks exponentially.]

Since I can stack the growth effects, I can make Flash Gordon grow to sextuple his size. I don't know if the math holds out, and he is twenty-four times heavier as well, but he's soaring through the air like he doesn't even notice the extra weight.

Flash Gordon smashes into the towering ball of snow and penetrates deep inside. The snow explodes outwards on impact. He struck dead center and forced a [Snow Mite] out the other side. I dodged the residual snow and watched as a ten-foot ball of fur looked dazed and confused at what had happened.

[Large Snow Mite C Lv80]

Flash Gordon couldn't finish it in one hit. The snow must have formed a protective layer around the mite and cushioned the blow. Why was the mite covered in snow anyway? Was it intentional, or did it just roll down a tall hill?

Hundreds of [Snow Mites] start to swarm the area, but they are harmless thanks to my resistance. The only danger they can bring me is suffocating me in a mass of fur. That has high potential if I stand still for too long.

Duchess is out of mana, and I just gave most of mine to Flash Gordon, so she has to use her breath weapon. She hadn't used it before since its damage scales off vigor and deals diminished damage compared to her spells.

Her elemental affinities are [Mental], [Radiant], [Air], and [Fire], so at least she has a variety of damage types to choose from.

I see her spew sparkling gas from her mouth that mentally stuns groups of [Snow Mites], then she roasts them with a healthy blast of fire. If I get another slot for my [Promote Piece], she will become my bishop.

Enough about Duchess, I focus on the [Large Snow Mite]. Flash Gordon must be dazed since he hasn't left the aftermath of his attack, so it's up to me to finish this guy off. Except that all these mites on me are getting annoying.

Some of Khan floats over and starts munching away at the mites. I'm not sure If he knew that I needed help or If he was just hungry. It sucks that Duchess and Flash Gordon are the only ones that can talk.