Rise of the Northern Warlord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Vaerik stood atop the mountain peak, overlooking the ice-armored bear pack below.

Sunlight shone on their grayish-white ice armor, the hexagonal ice crystal scales reflecting blinding light.

Their front paws bore sharp claws like cold iron, and their back armor occasionally flashed blue flames when opening and closing with movement.

These ice-armored bears were massive in size, each low growl like thunder shaking the earth.

But no matter how you looked at them, these giants possessed no hint of cuteness—they were extremely fierce creatures.

They moved through the snow, seeking prey to satisfy their hunger.

Beside Vaerik stood two children—Lilia and Weir.

They were the only two among the eight knight candidates who had activated their bloodlines to become knight apprentices.

Today Vaerik decided to bring them to witness this hunt firsthand.

To rescue them from monotonous daily training as reward for their efforts.

Lilia’s eyes sparkled with excitement, gripping tightly a longsword almost as tall as herself, imitating adult knights’ postures.

Weir wasn’t to be outdone, adjusting his equipment then immediately straightening his back, trying hard to look like a real knight.

"You’ll stay beside me to protect me," Vaerik said quietly.

Actually fearing these two little ones might get excited and charge down to fight the ice-armored bears to the death.

Protect the lord! What an important mission!

Lilia and Weir straightened their backs even more, nodding tensely and excitedly.

When all preparations were complete, Vaerik waved his hand: "Prepare, bear-killing plan begins."

With the command issued, distant commanders waved large flags, ordering knights and hunters to quietly move from various ambush points.

Hunters stealthily approached the ice-armored bears’ activity area, quietly scattering female bear urine in heat.

This special scent could rapidly attract ice-armored bears, especially male bears who were extremely sensitive to this smell.

As the urine was scattered, the bear pack began slowly assembling, nine ice-armored bears gradually gathering in one place, heading toward the canyon.

Another group of hunters hidden on distant ridges created sounds of falling rocks, successfully guiding the bear pack into the predetermined canyon.

"They’ve entered the canyon, all units act according to plan." The signal officer waved flags to indicate.

In the canyon’s low-lying area, a row of sharp wooden stakes had been carefully buried underground.

Under the hunters’ guidance, when the ice-armored bears entered the canyon.

Since bear paws lacked thick armor, these stakes pierced like venomous snakes, quickly stabbing into several lead bears’ paws.

Severe pain rapidly spread throughout their bodies. The ice-armored bears roared, trying to pull out the deeply embedded stakes.

But their massive size and overly cumbersome strength prevented immediate escape.

The remaining ice-armored bears also fell into the same predicament, causing the entire group to become chaotic.

Next, hunters ignited pine resin and fire oil accumulated on rock walls, flames instantly devouring the mountainside.

With a thunderous roar, fireballs rolled down from cliff edges, precisely landing in the bear pack’s center.

Explosion sounds and flames spread together, instantly engulfing the several ice-armored bears trapped by stakes.

Though the flames’ high temperature ignited the ice-armored bears’ fur, their heavy ice armor didn’t immediately collapse under fire.

Only leaving scorched marks on the ice-armored bears’ hard scales—not fatal blows.

The bear pack felt pain from the searing flames, instead becoming more chaotic and violent.

The ice-armored bears clustered together, squeezing and colliding with each other.

Now the ice-armored bears’ eyes and neck weak points were exposed, but due to heavy ice armor protection, ordinary arrows could hardly penetrate these hard shells directly.

Archers hidden above the canyon began using fire arrows, shooting toward the ice-armored bears.

Attack power was minimal, but these arrows weren’t meant to penetrate—their purpose was exhausting the ice-armored bears’ stamina and patience.

Fire arrows shot toward the ice-armored bears’ bodies, flames spreading along the heavy armor.

Though unable to tear ice armor, the flames’ continuous burning could constantly drain the ice-armored bears’ stamina, noticeably slowing the pack’s movement speed.

Though they remained powerful, the heavy ice armor was covered with cracks, some areas even melting from high temperatures, exposing tough but no longer invulnerable skin beneath.

At this moment, knights ambushed all around moved.

"Now!" The signal officer’s command flag suddenly fell.

Knights raised swords and spears high, gathering battle energy, blade edges igniting with blazing red light.

Crimson battle energy flowed along weapons, causing even air to distort with slight trembling.

"Charge!"

The knights’ warhorses suddenly leaped out. Their targets were clear—ice-armored bears’ joint areas, lower jaws, throats, and eyes—the bears’ weak points.

Archers had greatly reduced defenses in these areas, and the knights’ task was to end their lives.

An elite knight wielded his spear, battle energy condensing into blazing radiance at the blade tip.

He aimed at a slightly smaller ice-armored bear whose throat had been cracked by arrows.

The knight’s gaze was hawk-like, his warhorse galloping through fierce winds.

Battle energy burned on the spear tip as he viciously stabbed into that crack!

"Swoosh—"

The spear directly pierced the ice-armored bear’s crack, fresh blood and red battle energy intertwining like molten lava surging into the bear’s body, burning its flesh.

The ice-armored bear let out earth-shaking roars, its massive body trembling in agony, nearly collapsing.

Watching Weir’s eyes sparkled with excitement, jumping up directly: "We defeated one! The knight lords are so strong!"

"Don’t celebrate too early, Weir." Vaerik’s voice was calm. "This is still just the first phase."

Weir was stunned, somewhat confused—wasn’t this ice-armored bear about to fall?

Just then, that tottering ice-armored bear raised its head and roared furiously.

The hard shell began producing violent cracks, ice flames spreading like demon wings, rapidly extending into the air with bone-piercing cold!

Ice flames quickly contacted air, erupting in intense cooling explosions.

"Retreat quickly!" The commander urgently waved flags.

That cold force swept the surroundings. Several knights hadn’t yet reacted before being covered by ice flames.

Fortunately, with battle energy protection, they didn’t lose mobility and quickly retreated.

However, the ice-armored bear’s attack didn’t stop there.

As the ice-armored bear’s berserk state fully activated, three massive crystal spikes protruded from its back.

The crystal spikes continuously released shock waves with ultra-high energy, heat waves and explosion sounds intertwining, shaking surrounding knights until they nearly lost combat ability.

The surrounding air seemed to become heavy, each violent tremor making breathing difficult.