"System?" Albrecht called out as a dozen bows were drawn and aimed at the three of them. Seeing that they were surrounded by an army, Albrecht helplessly raised his hand. If the System was right beside him, he would've given the System a good whack on the head.
"Um... what do we do now?" Claude asked. For a moment back there, he almost activated his Whitelock Bloodline. Fortunately, he maintained his composure after seeing Albrecht raise his hand.
Surely, Albrecht had a plan in mind, right? Right?!
Anastasia believed the same thing. She also didn't engage with the enemy since she knew that Albrecht had a plan. Ever since they initiated this mission, they fully entrusted Albrecht to lead them. They would follow his lead no matter what.
However, Albrecht was backed into a corner right now. This wasn't supposed to happen!
"Don't move! State your name and purpose in going into the Frost Elf Territory." Drujinn exclaimed as his army of a dozen Frost Elves pointed their bows at Albrecht.
—
A couple of minutes ago, the group was passing by, patrolling the area, when they heard a mysterious 'whooshing' sound. It came from a certain Zecian Portal so they immediately went there, only to find that three humans had just arrived at Frost Forest.
This belonged to the territory of the Frost Elves, so they instinctively pointed their bows and arrows at them.
—
Albrecht gulped. One wrong word and he would be sent straight to his death. He could dodge all the arrows and attack Drujinn, but after equipping the Eye of Judgment and examining him with his Zecian Clairvoyance Skill, he realized the difference in their power level.
He could not defeat Drujinn in a one on one fight.
However, Albrecht had already run hundreds of simulations in his head and even went as far as to look into the past of other Albrecht who experienced something close to what they were experiencing right now. Clearing his throat, Albrecht responded to Drujinn.
"Don't tell me you don't know who I am?" Albrecht asked. "I go by the name Albrecht Stein right now, but... in the past, my name is Beacon. Beacon Frost."
Both Anastasia and Claude had no idea who this Beacon Frost was, but judging from Drujinn's reaction, he seemed to be someone important in the history of the Frost Elves Tribe.
And he was. Beacon Frost was a renowned general in the past. He was the reason why the entire Frost Elves were united and until now, that alliance was still upheld. Currently, a descendant of the Frost Tribe ruled over the race.
"So... you're Beacon Frost... how come you're human?" Drujinn incredulously asked. There was no way that the legendary general in the past reincarnated as a human... however, he didn't want to completely dismiss the idea so he gave Albrecht some room to explain himself.
"How preposterous, my descendant." With the information about the Frost Elves he received from the System, he changed the way he spoke so it would match the dialect of the Frost Elves. "Something ails you, am I right? There's a shift in the power balance of the Frost Elves... and you... you were so weak that you couldn't avoid it."
Albrecht clicked his tongue before he walked up to Drujinn, whose eyes widened in surprise since Albrecht spoke of the truth. Unbeknownst to him, though, Albrecht was just speaking in general terms, and he fell for it.
The reason why Albrecht said all those things was that— it was the only reasonable explanation for why Drujinn was patrolling the surrounding forest. There was no way the current leader of the Frost Elves would patrol the forest.
Most of the time, he would be dealing with the affairs of the other tribes. There's no way the leader of the Frost Elves would have so much free time like that.
"H-how did you..." Drujinn trailed off before he pursed his lips. If he accepted the fact that Albrecht just guessed what was currently happening, then he would have accepted him as the reincarnation of Beacon Frost.
But aside from that, the situation gave him a sliver of hope. If what Albrecht said was true, then surely he had some sort of plan in mind to correct the situation. "How do you propose I deal with it?" Drujinn asked, still pointing the Avalanche Frost Bow at Albrecht.
"First... lead me to the Abominable Snowman. He's the guardian of the Third Outerlayer, right? I need to defeat him. Then we'll talk." Albrecht answered.
His plan had worked, and now they might be able to defeat the Guardian of the Third Outerlayer (technically, the guardian is Drujinn, but the Abominable Snowman is the boss of the Third Outerlayer so defeating it would count as clearing the Third Outerlayer.)
Most of the time, Drujinn would've raised his bow and killed Albrecht on the spot after asking such a ridiculous question. After all, he was tasked with guarding the Third Outerlayer with the Abominable Snowman under him.
Under normal circumstances, adventurers should defeat Drujinn first before they got a chance at defeating the Abominable Snowman.
But now, Albrecht thought that they won't have to defeat Drujinn if he himself gave up the Abominable Snowman to them.
"What do you need the Abominable Snowman for— "Drujinn was about to ask the question before he realized why Albrecht asked for it.
When an Abominable Snowman dies, it drops an Eversnow Crystal which is a rare crafting material. In fact, his Avalanche Frost Bow was mostly made from an Eversnow Crystal.
"Very well, I will lead you to it and aid you in defeating the Abominable Snowman. However, in return... please help me overthrow my uncle, Hrjinn Frost. He poisoned my mom, and now he took over the throne."
'Ah~ so that's what happened.' Albrecht said to himself before he nodded his head in agreement. After closing the deal with the handshake, Albrecht heaved a sigh of relief. That was a close call back there, but they managed to wriggle their way out of the sticky situation thanks to the System.