Arad jumped into the freezing waters of the black river, and all of the Yetis gasped. The cold waters were a death sentence. The Yeti’s fur would soak in and get heavier; they’ll be cold, unable to swim well, and quickly drown. They can’t even use their cold breath in there.

It was shocking to see Arad throw himself into death after showing such might in battle. But what happened was already done, and they still had to stop the Qallupilluits.

"Well, well, well..." Gojo walked above the Yetis’ heads, using invisible platforms as footing. That might’ve seemed like a waste of mana, but at this point, Gojo really didn’t care much, and having a small squad of Yetis to command later is worth the cost.

Besides, he really didn’t like how the Yetis smelled, so he preferred to stay above them.

All of the Yetis looked up, shocked and confused. They’ve never seen one of their kind fly, but that’s what Gojo seemed to be doing, standing in the air with a faint smile.

Gojo had another reason to stand high, and that was to get a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield and find the best spot to start fighting in. He wasn’t as martially savvy as Arad, so he really had to pick his fights well.

Soon, he spotted a nice open space with just a few Qallupilluits around, nice for him to warm up.

The distressed Yeti growled at him. Arad was already dead, and he wasn’t going to let the child Yeti die. Gojo still looked too young and small to fight, and he should be hiding in the back with the other kids.

As Gojo landed between the Yetis and the tens of Qallupilluits, a crystal clear barrier sword appeared in his right hand. Perfectly sized, with an edge thinner than a hair, sharper than a razor blade, and lighter than a feather.

It was the second-best weapon for Gojo now, beside a staff, because it allowed him to fight in melee without wasting mana and to cast spells.

One of the Qallupilluits rushed at him almost immediately, opening her disgusting mouth and unleashing a beam of compressed water that was powerful enough to punch a hole through steel.

Qallupilluits were able to use water magic, but not in the same way humans do. They could breathe it out in a compressed, high-pressure beam. They can’t sustain that breath for more than a few seconds, but it is powerful enough to tear holes through plate armor, and that’s where people knew it could cut steel.

But to Gojo, that spell was far too simple to be a threat. He had to be as dumb as a rock and standing in the same place like a statue to be hit by it. Of course, the danger here was getting hit by a sneak attack that you couldn’t see or predict, which would result in instant death.

There isn’t a single Yeti that could tank a direct hit from the Qallupilluits’ compressed water beam, and this was the reason this side suffered so many losses against the ugly Qallupilluits.

Gojo was no different, and in fact, he was much weaker than a Yeti. But what he lacked in physical strength and speed, he made up for with magic and skill. And, not smelling like a wet dog.

With one horizontal slash, Gojo cut the water beam in half and froze it. And before the Qallupilluit could understand what happened, he had already slipped beneath the frozen beam and cleaved her head with a single slash.

He didn’t have the arm strength to cleave the Qallupilluit’s head, but his sword’s sharpness made up for the difference. And unlike a really sharp blade, the edge of his sword would never dull as long as he maintained it with mana.

And on top of all of that, his barrier sword was infused with cold magic, the same way one of Liliana’s friends taught him. It could flash freeze almost anything, and all of the wounds inflicted by his blade won’t bleed.

"Arad said to keep your kind alive, but I need to make an example of a few." He kicked her body aside and touched the frozen beam with his palm.

He wasn’t done with spells yet. His biggest disadvantage now was being outnumbered. He could count the Yetis on his side, but he wasn’t about to rely on a bunch of dumb monsters that smelled like wet dogs. If they were smart enough to be of help, they would’ve won this fight long before Gojo and Arad arrived.

The next spell was one of Liliana’s favorites. Gojo could cast it using anything from water to flesh and stones; it usually cost a lot of mana for perfection, and in his draconic form, he could reach an astounding level with it, but now, he had to make a bare-bones one.

From the frozen beam, an identical clone of Gojo emerged, fully made of crystal clear ice, and held another barrier sword. "Time to dance."

This spell was the advanced version of the one he used to create the ice golems in the camp yesterday. He had gone out of his way to make it shaped like him to make controlling it easier, but didn’t bother with how it felt or looked in terms of colors.

He would usually paint the clone with mana to make it look exactly like him, and he would even make it warm, soft, and even give it the texture of a proper body. The more details he created, the bigger the mana cost would be.

Gojo and his clone rushed through the Qallupilluits’ ranks like the wind, evading their vicious claws, ugly maws, disgusting tongues, and deadly water beams with precise moves.

The Qallupilluits had more weapons than just their water beam. They had long, sharp black claws in their ugly hands, a massive maw with sharp teeth, and a long, sticky tongue they could fling around like a toad.

But that too wasn’t all they could do. Their upper body looked human, but their lower half was that of a seal, or an elephant seal to be exact, which means they weighed a ton and were known to ram their bodies at people to crush them.

Then came the funny part. Since they were monsters and not just animals, they could move in weird ways thanks to their raw power, and those Qallupilluits could jump as high as three meters and dive-bomb anyone they wanted.

Gojo swung his sword in sync with the clone, sending two flying barrier slashes through the air that exploded with cold magic upon impact, freezing a Qallupilluit they hit in place.

Of course, with the Qallupilluit being aquatic monsters, they were super wet, and even though their skin was covered with a slimy and sticky mucus that prevented them from freezing in the cold, Gojo’s magic was much worse than anything this Arctic Land could throw at them.

The Yetis charged in as well, breathing freezing mist at the Qallupilluits as well as pushing their ranks back as Gojo cleaved his way through. He and his clone moved as one, decimating anything that dared get close in a frigid storm of blades and ice.

"You know what I hate more than someone who smells like a wet dog? a one that smells like fish!" With Gojo’s cold magic, the Yetis’ rage and cold breaths, and the Qallupilluits’ water beams, the battlefield turned into a chaotic mess of magic, blood, and screams.

But the river where Arad jumped wasn’t any calmer, as now it was boiling and foaming, frothing with blood and torn flesh.