The wind in the Ice Rift Valley was like a lost, lonely ghost, letting out a long, mournful wail.
It was snowing.
Endless, fine snowflakes, sharp as the keenest ice crystals, were swept up by the gale, lashing wildly at everyone's faces, bodies, and armor, creating a heart-wrenching, rustling lament.
Bone-Breaker stood in the midst of this blizzard.
His massive frame, already tortured by endless hunger and cold until he looked like a walking skeleton, trembled slightly in the biting wind that seemed capable of freezing the soul.
Yet, it was not because of the cold.
It was a tremor originating from the depths of his soul, impossible to suppress!
He slowly raised his head, gazing with eyes filled with endless shock and deep despair at the towering mountain before him—a mountain forged of white death and steel that seemed impossible to overcome!
It was a scene full of contradiction and impact, unlike anything he had ever seen in his life!
The Wolf leader, who was shockingly young, sat quietly on the back of a Snow Giant Wolf king—a beast whose size far exceeded any of its kind, as if it had emerged from the ancient primordial wilderness.
He wore a set of iron-inlaid leather armor that gleamed with a cold metallic luster, filled with a sense of minimalist yet violent beauty.
Behind him, there was no magnificent cloak symbolizing power.
There was only his silver hair, as bright as Moonlight, dancing wildly in the violent blizzard like the most flamboyant and confident banner of a king!
His face was devoid of expression.
Those eyes, like the deepest and coldest of abyssal pools, were as calm as the eerie, windless sky before a destructive avalanche that could swallow everything.
He sat there quietly, not saying a word, not making a single superfluous movement.
Yet, the terrifying aura radiating from him—tangible and vast as the sea—was even more suffocating than the gale sweeping across the world! It was even more chilling!
He did not seem like a living creature.
He seemed like the embodiment of all death and coldness on this ice field!
The only god of this white wasteland!
And behind him, those 113 Snow Giant Wolf Cavalry, silent as statues of death, were like a black forest forged from the sharpest, coldest steel!
Uniform standard-issue equipment!
Uniform cold killing intent!
Uniform silence like a mountain!
Their terrifying aura—disciplined, obedient, and acting as a single entity—formed a stark, ironic, and sorrowful contrast with the pathetic guards behind Bone-Breaker, who were trembling in fear at the apocalyptic scene, barely able to hold onto their rusted, worn-out weapons.
Bone-Breaker's throat instantly went dry.
He felt as if his heart had been tightly gripped by an invisible, cold, and immensely powerful hand! It made even breathing difficult!
Was this what he had called "bandits"?
Where was this a band of bandits!
This was clearly a peerless death legion that had charged out from the depths of hell!
An unprecedented sense of powerlessness, like the most surging, freezing tide, instantly overwhelmed his heart, which had been hardened like rock by countless hardships and despair!
Yet, he was Bone-Breaker!
The leader of this pathetic tribe, already on the brink of extinction!
Behind him, in that narrow, dark cave, huddled over a hundred poor tribesmen already tortured to the brink of death by hunger and cold!
They were his final responsibility as a leader!
He could not retreat!
And he had nowhere to retreat to!
Bone-Breaker bit down hard on the tip of his tongue!
The sharp pain and the rusty taste of blood instantly allowed his nerves, completely paralyzed by boundless fear, to regain a sliver of clarity!
He forcibly suppressed the boundless fear and despair erupting like a volcano within his heart!
He straightened his spine, which had been hunched by the weight of heavy responsibility!
With all his might, he let out a hoarse roar filled with anger and unwillingness!
"You! You damn plunderers!"
The voice was so hoarse, so filled with a frantic tremor that only comes from extreme anger and despair!
"By what right! By what right do you break into our territory!"
"Those Giant-Horned Oxen! Those Frost-Horned Deer! That is the only hope our tribe has to survive this damn winter!"
"It is a gift bestowed upon us by our gods!"
"It is you! You greedy, shameless bandits! You stole them! You stole all our hope!"
The accusation, filled with endless anger and sorrow, echoed wildly throughout the desolate and deathly silent Ice Rift Valley!
Yet, the voice sounded so pale, so... powerless.
It was like the final, unwilling wail of a dying ant facing the ruthless wheel about to crush it completely!
Colin listened quietly.
His cold, statue-like face remained devoid of expression.
Only after Bone-Breaker's roar of grief and indignation gradually subsided did he slowly speak.
His voice was neither loud nor soft, still as flat and devoid of emotion as ever.
Yet, it carried a terrifying power cne-Breaker."
"You must pay with your life! "
"To atone for the act of killing my guards! "