The frost-walker base was known as 【Mountain Father】. It was incredibly easy to identify; one could see that towering mountain range from a great distance.
Adorned with pure white snow, the mountains appeared solemn and majestic. However, the mountain surfaces were covered in patterns of etched gold. Along those channels flowed a liquid that resembled molten gold, which poured into the great lake surrounding the peaks, sending plumes of cloud-like steam rising from the rift valleys.
Countless metals and mithril merged with the mountain range until it was almost impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.
Mechanical rings loomed over the mountains, vibrating with iridescent ripples. They emitted waves of silver bell-like chimes, each louder than the last, causing the forests to tremble in the cold wind.
A super-fortress fashioned from an entire mountain range—such a magnificent megastructure was truly breathtaking.
A wonder. It was, without a doubt, a wonder.
Faust nearly held his breath, staring wide-eyed as he looked up at the mountain slopes drenched in molten gold.
Though he had long known this world held many beautiful and mystical things, he hadn't left his country for the first twenty years of his life. The grandest "wonder" he had seen was his own Qingxi River. While beautiful, it certainly couldn't be called a wonder.
"What's the matter? Are you intimidated?"
Selena had been watching Faust's expression closely. Seeing him look so astonished, she immediately spoke as if she had caught him in a moment of weakness.
"Heh, it's no wonder. In your remote and tiny kingdom, you likely wouldn't see an ancient relic like this in a lifetime. But it's not just you; even the envoys from the Radiant Dynasty, which conquered the world, fall silent before this 【Mountain Father】."
"No need to suppress yourself. Praise and revere it to your heart's content. There's more to surprise you later."
Every word from the Snow White revealed her sense of superiority as a local. It was her way of trying to gain the upper hand over the man.
"............"
A real country bumpkin now.
Faust couldn't argue. He truly was shaken. It would be unseemly to keep making excuses, so the Prince of Qingxi chose to concede this defeat for now, saying:
"Is this the truth behind how the Midwinter Kingdom resists the Empire? The imperial legions don't even dare set foot past the border?"
"It wasn't quite like that. There was one battle. Since then, the Radiant Dynasty has classified Midwinter as a nation beyond conquest."
Selena was quite satisfied with Faust's admission of defeat. she gently brushed a snowflake from the man's forehead and took hold of the prince's sleeve, tilting her delicate face up toward him.
"Let's go, my knight. Escort me inside 【Mountain Father】."
The two of them traversed the forest swept by freezing winds, drawing closer to the frost-walker fortress step by step.
Then, Faust noticed a strange phenomenon.
"We're just walking over so openly, and yet there are no guards nearby?"
All along the way, Faust found no trace of any humans near the frost-walker base. Even further out, there were no Midwinter Kingdom settlements at all.
"What is there to guard? The intelligence of a 【frost-walker】 is superior to that of most people."
Selena never hesitated to criticize others. It was hard to say if this counted as being sharp-tongued because Faust completely agreed with her view; she was basically speaking his mind.
"The only reason some people aren't classified as mentally deficient is because they still have the capacity for self-care. By comparison, even the lowest frost-walker is more like a living person than they are."
"Besides... frost-walkers aren't just tools to be driven at will by Midwinter people. They have their own principles of operation. High-level frost-walkers are almost all hidden within the mountains and dense forests, forming their own nation. Only a portion of the lower-level frost-walkers emerge to serve the kingdom; those are the ones the Midwinter people can command."
Selena stroked her frost-nipped cheek with a slender finger and said calmly:
"In fact, Midwinter people almost never approach the realm of the frost-walkers. Those frost-walkers who haven't left the mountains will not obey orders. They are more like neighbors who happen to live on this land with us."
Faust: "Tch... so after all that, you don't actually have a definite guarantee?"
The prince's clicking tongue made Selena huff in dissatisfaction. She crossed her arms and said:
"If there is anyone in this world who can completely tame the frost-walkers, it can only be the Midwinter royalty! My knight, are you doubting my charm? That is not how a proper knight behaves."
I'll take your word for it then.
Faust yielded, indicating that since she was a Midwinter local, whatever she said must be right.
The two continued forward. As the saying goes, 'looking at a mountain can kill a horse'—even though they could clearly see the silhouette of 【Mountain Father】, it still took half a day's work to finally reach the foot of the mountain. Before a massive bronze gate, a guarding frost-walker leaped gracefully in front of Selena.
"Princess."
It spoke in an emotionless synthesized voice, asking:
"Do you have a command?"
Snow White stated directly, "I wish to see your leader."
Without asking for a reason, the frost-walker immediately nodded and returned to its post. It grasped a giant metal horn and inputted a command. Suddenly, the sound of the horn echoed through the mountains.
"Vrrrrm—"
After the long resonance of the horn died down, Selena looked up and said:
"Here they come. Those are the leaders of the 【frost-walker】—the Great Titans."
What titans?
Before Faust could process the information in Selena's words, he heard a thunderous boom.
"Boom—"
Then came another massive sound.
"Boom—"
"Boom—"
".........."
Seven earth-shaking tremors occurred in succession. When Faust looked up again, the freezing wind and white frost were eclipsed by shadows. Seven gargantuan 【frost-walker】 units were leaping down from the heights of the mountain range. Through a series of buffering maneuvers, they landed steadily on the ground.
They possessed forms almost identical to armored knights. On their mithril-forged shells, pale and faint blue engravings covered every inch of steel, shimmering with transient ripples of light.
The frost-walkers held massive sword-spears with spiral-shaped, faint blue tips. They strode across the vast, level wilderness with heavy, steady steps. Every contact with the ground sent a terrifying vibration through the earth.
The steel constructs, over a hundred meters tall, displayed their magnificent and majestic stature in the sunlight, leaving one almost speechless.
Wow, there really are titans.
Since he had already seen 【Mountain Father】, these colossal entities, estimated at one hundred and fifty or sixty meters, didn't quite shatter Faust's threshold of shock. Or rather, Faust had already formed a guess and expectation in his mind. Not to mention, Mephistopheles had directly pointed out their essence.
【Hmph... how long has it been? In the Golden Age, the son of man used these alchemical creations to build the Tower of Babel. Now, they are called Great Titans?】
This left the Snow White, who had been looking forward to seeing the prince lose his composure, feeling slightly disappointed.
She clicked her tongue before looking up at the Great Titans who stood tall enough to touch the sky.
One Great Titan knelt on one knee before Selena and spoke. Its voice was muffled and booming, sounding as if it came from all directions at once:
"Princess of Midwinter, for what reason do you summon us?"
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