As the ice-dust settled, the huge beasts became visible. Every mountain in the vicinity seemed to be covered by their huge bodies, the frozen ice-crust covering their bodies almost merging to become one with the frozen mountains.
They looked like wolves, at least the head and body of a wolf, with long tails of a lizard flicking over the grounds. Large and small chunks of ice flew about from the impact of the tail on the frozen earth. Slanted red eyes blazed through their frozen body layers, like tiny swirls of lava entrapped within ice crust, waiting to break through and flood the world in fire. Saliva dripped down long, sharp fangs, as they stared at their prey with hunger slowly devouring their senses.
The scent was what had attracted them, and now the fog was playing havoc with their minds. Not that they minded....they were tired of the same meals every day. Now that these different creatures had presented themselves at their door front, it was impossible to let them go.
Gasps of disbelief, fear and pity filled the air. None of the people watching from the other side of the illusory screen believed that these people would be able to make it back. Now they were not watching to see strategies and battles...they were waiting to spectate a massacre.
"Ice Mortaris Hounds!.......These people are done for! None of them will be coming back alive...or coming back at all!"
"What are these beasts?"
"They are one of those beasts which are originals of the Mystic Lands. Every terrain within the mystic Lands has some of these special beasts, which can only be found inside the dimension. They do not exist outside. Only during the Glockial Conquest, when the Mystic Lands is opened for the Challenge, do we get to see these beasts. Thus not a lot is known about them."
Rihanna kept watching, her brows raising in interest. Did this Mystic Lands have something in common with the Space Time Duplicating Dimension? She remembered having seen many strange beasts, common or rare in that dimension, which did not even have a mention in any of the books in the outside world. Was this also a dimension created in an ancient time to preserve some of the beasts of that specific time?
The Ice Mortaris Hounds at front were medium sized. However a few at the top of the mountain seemed to be much larger.
As the spectators were still pitying the fates of these cultivators caught within the encirclement of the large beasts, two of the beasts at the front flicked their tails in the air. The large tails cut through the air with sharp sounds, before the beasts turned the tail and pierced the frozen mountain with the tip of their tail.
In a matter of seconds, the entire face of the mountain broke into large cracks, extending all the way to the foot where the groups of Whamei and Ye were still caught in their predicament. Where the cracks finally came to stop, huge icicles, in the exact shape as the tail emerged from beneath the grounds, flapping about in the air like the tentacles of a large octopus, hitting the cultivators unable to escape its range.
As the tentacle sensed the people who had fallen beside it, it changed direction, wrapping itself around the body of the injured person, then forcefully dragged it back inside the crack. The tentacle receded all the way back to the hounds standing halfway down the mountain slope, and re-emerged, with the wounded cultivator tightly grasped in its clamp-like grasp. The hounds lunged at its prey, ripping apart its head with a single vicious bite. Blood gushed out of the torn neck, pouring down the mountain slope.
The entire auditorium had gone silent...like the lull before a storm. No one could find their voice to even let out a gasp. Shudders ran through the bodies as everyone's mind was wholly focused on the brutality of the scene before them.
And the same fear hit the members of the group.....only it was manifold times greater. All of these hounds were at least a High Grade beast! And the larger ones at the back had yet to even come forward!
After the momentary lapse of momentum, the cultivators started reorganizing themselves. The Ice Flies had sensed the change in their surroundings, and feeling the threat of more powerful creatures, they silently crawled back, gradually disappearing from the scene. This gave the remaining people respite, and they started focusing on the incoming attacks from the hounds surrounding them.
One by one, the cultivators started releasing their contracted beasts. Since these people had been selected for the Glockial Conquest, none of them were weak. Moreover, all of their contracted beasts were at least a High Grade Demonic Beast.
A variety of lizards, lions, hounds, birds and snakes appeared at the foot of the mountain, an the first wave of Ice Mortaris Hounds bounded down the mountain slope. Soon, the two lines of beasts on both sides collided with each other, and the air was filled with the sizzle of fire, ice, wind, water, poison and lightning.
"Ummm.....where did those contracted beasts appear from?"
Ye Luo turned in a daze to stare at Rihanna. His mind was still caught in the scene before him, and the surprising question left him more confused.
"Beast Storage Spaces."
Rihanna raised her eyebrow in surprise. This she did not yet know! In cities and even outside, she had mostly seen people either carrying their contracted beast, or the beasts walking along with them. Even in the dimension she had not come across beast storage spaces. Thus this was a new discovery for her.
Ye Luo blinked to get his mind back in focus, then frowned at Rihanna's puzzlement.
"You don't know about Beast Storage Spaces?"
To which she shook her head very decidedly. Nope.....no one had told her about this as yet. Nor had she read about it.
"Ummm....not surprising. Beast Storage Spaces are not that common, and they are very expensive. Common cultivators might never be able to see a Beast Storage Space in their life, leave alone buy it. They are often auctioned at the Underworld Auction houses. or gained as part of special mission bonuses. All these cultivators who volunteered for this Glockial Conquest must have received one of these Beast Storage Spaces as part of their perks."
"Oh.....So it is must be specially created to store live animals?"
"Hmmm.....there are also Nature Storage Spaces available, where alchemists can keep, and even grow herbs and plants. They too are not that common."
Rihanna nodded, contemplating this new piece of knowledge as she turned back to focus on the fight. She already had a nature storage space it seemed....if that is what the Ancient Seed of Spirit Space could be called. But her space could evolve...what was the difference in these Beast Storage Spaces and Natural Storage Spaces and her own space?
There was a great disparity in numbers between these Ice Mortaris Hounds and the Contractual Beasts, and the cultivators had no choice but to grit their teeth and enter the fight. The mixed group of beasts and humans managed to bring the fight to a stalemate, but the other side still had a large number of beasts which had yet to enter the fray, and the cultivators were already reaching their breaking point.
"Look.....the Whamei Team has sent three more groups...Ye Team has also sent two more groups....Oh! The Challenger from one of the Ye Teams has also come!"
Currently on the map, five groups of cultivators were circling round the mountains and the area where the battle was going on. Seeing their groups in s predicament, both the Whamei Team and the Ye Team had come to a temporary truce and alliance, and all the five groups were being headed by a Challenger from the Ye Team.
The beasts on the mountain could also sense these new additions hovering around them, and a restlessness could be seen as more and more beasts started piercing the mountain wall, and jagged cracks ran all over the slope and grounds, spreading out like claws in the direction of the ongoing fight.
As another wave of Ice Mortaris Hounds dashed down the slope to join the fight, the groups of new cultivators released their contracted beasts to balance the arena. Amidst the colliding beasts, humans and elemental powers, large ice tentacles broke through the layers of frozen earth, thrashing about violently. The fight was becoming more and more chaotic, as the beasts and humans had to dodge the berserk ice tentacles while keeping up with attacking and taking down their opponents.
"What are they doing?"
The Challenger had left the rest of the groups, and followed by his own small group, he was currently circling around the mountains from a distance.
"He is setting up some sort of an array. Hmmm...he should set up a power locking array...though it might not last long if those beasts are at supreme grade, but it will still give them a chance to take down the ones at high-grade and change the balance of the situation. But there is too much ice...locking it will not be easy..."
Rihanna was busy making her own judgments and predictions of the situations and what could be done to turn it around. Like all the other spectators, the three had their eyes glued to the screen before them. Everyone was trying to predict what would happen next.