Although the rumbling sounds of hundreds of hoofs hitting the ground fell into his ears, Asher wasn''t distracted from his search for Eritrea.


    He quickly found her some meters ahead, and when the ovok he mounted reached there, he grabbed her arm, brought her to the ovok he mounted, and leaped off the ovok with a weak, bleeding Eritrea in his grasp.


    Thud!


    Theynded close to the wall. Asher looked at the panting ranger, who was bleeding from her right leg.


    Roar!


    Upon hearing the roar again, Asher turned and saw a snow white bear that had ice spikes protruding out of its limbs and back engaged in a fearsome battle against an ovok. The bear had already killed five big ones and was about to kill the sixth one.


    "A deste winter bear!"


    Asher gasped.


    "Your Lordship."


    Eritrea said weakly, causing Asher to realize the danger of the ovok, which had prepared to skewer both of them with itsrge horns. Asher carried Eritrea in princess style, took two bold steps, and mmed his foot against the ovok''s head, cracking the steel-like horn that guards the skull!


    Thud!


    The beast copsed.


    It was dead!


    Asher was ready to jump for the rope when a huge white creature jumped over the wall andnded with a dreadful growl that sank into the bones of every ovok.


    Immediately, ice spikes burst out of the snow-covered ground, mutting as many ovok that were in that area. Those who couldn''t stop themselves were impaled by the spikes, and the others quickly followed the forest instead of the path close to the bastide''s wall.Sirius red at the gold-ranked winter bear, which also looked back at it without an inkling of fear.


    The bear opened its mouth and unleashed a reverberating roar.


    Sirius turned to properly face the bear and revealed a bit of its fangs.


    In the next moment, Sirius closed the gap and didn''t bother evading the bear p, as it just bounced off his fur.


    Sirius looked down at the bear and slowly lowered his head while it let out a growl that grew deeper and deeper. The snow under the bear began to crystalize into pure ice.


    Swish!


    All the soldiers on the wall saw swift movement, and the bear lost its head.


    .....


    The next day, after the morning dew had been licked out of the air by the sun''s heat and radiance, Asher stood outside the bastide looking at the badly damaged walls.


    The horns of the ovoks had badly damaged the stone wall to the extent that Asher was sure that a full-powered blow from one of his vanguards would bring the wall down.


    Speaking of his vanguards, all seven of them were around him. After yesterday''s incident, no shura vanguard allowed him out of their range. Alex and Eritrea were still healing from the damages, while he, although injured, still needed to do his work as a lord.


    More waves wereing; if he should leave these walls like this, Silverleaf would fall.


    "Hopefully, Kelvin got someone skilled in apothecary." He muttered to himself.


    Since the system wasn''t nning on upgrading the town anymore, he could only go with fusion, meaning his men would start getting stones to start a wall, which he would fuse to get a stronger wall.


    He wasn''t nning to make this ce more than a mining town because the location wasn''t conducive for expansion. The space is limited, and around this ce was a sacred ground.


    The Prwolf sanctuary.


    A ce that was the tomb of all Ashbourne rulers and the birthce of their pet beasts.


    Later, Asher met Eritrea and Alex.


    Alex was healing fast and would be okay in a few days, but Eritrea would need a week to be healed.


    After he made sure they were alright, he went ahead to monitor the soldiers and miners as they all began to build a wall, but not out of rocks but ice and snow!


    Sirius was the most important element of the construction because of his ice ability.


    After the blocks were molded, he would use his powers to reinforce them, making the ice blocks stronger than normal.


    Asher had to first spend a couple of days teaching Ark how to create a mold for the blocks, then he diligently monitored the workers until it was almost two weeks!


    Alex and Eritrea were properly healed at this point, and while Alex joined in the construction, Eritrea did scouting.


    By now, the destnds were as frigid as a freezer, and beasts that couldn''t adapt would die while those that didn''t want to die would run toward the wastnds.


    Asher wondered how the tribes there survived, and Eritrea said their homes were built in a way that they could store heat.


    There, mes were in almost every part of their activity, and their meals would be so hot that she promised Asher''s tongue would be damaged for weeks!


    But the elves once dominated the destnds, back when it was just the endless north. Asher wondered how they handled the cold.


    He needed to know because he would soon be moving into the destnds and he would have to figure out a way to handle winter.


    Currently, Asher stood on a in field, clothed with a fur coat over his casual attire.


    His arms were crossed as he gazed at the ice wall that had been built around a third of the bastide. They were now constructing the remaining side.


    Once the ice wall, which was made one meter taller than the stone wall, waspleted, Asher nned to fuse them and see the result.


    p! p!


    A messenger falcon perched on his arm. Looking at the wolf''s crest on its chest, he knew this falcon was a special one reserved to send messages directly to him.


    And only Kelvin had ess to it.


    While reading through the letter, he came to know that they had gotten what they needed tost the stronghold throughout the winter. Kelvin also informed him about the physician and the amount of gold currently stored in Nineveh''s Treasury.


    Suddenly he heard hurried footsteps toward him and lifted his head to see it was Eritrea who had a distressed look.


    "My Lord, the rangers at the tower are in an unfavorable situation."


    Asher''s brows furrowed.