It has been a week since we have been stuck in this stalemate. Right now, the iron skin spell is chugging along strengthening the fort as well as it can. In this week, the spell has accumulated quite a bit of iron mana. I am going to need that soon enough if I am to pull off what I plan to do.

  I would have preferred not to make such a desperate plan, but I can't take that risk anymore. I barely managed to complete the iron skin as it is. Every moment I almost ended up screwing the formation just because I kept imagining the ice beasts army about to attack us out there.

  Well, without the formation, I don't exactly have a method of attacking. We are not as weak as some people like to think we are without our formations. Still, I don't have too many options right now. That is the only reason that I would make such a desperate plan. If it succeeds though, I will be able to start my work with my full focus.

  This plan is why I am here at the southern gate with the five people other than me who have a cultivation. They are the only people who would be able to survive outside of the fort without their coats. The ones that will be able to fight in the plains beyond.

  Those coats are useful for holding back the cold. They also tend to make our presence obvious to our enemies, especially in the plains. When I am strolling into their home base, being easily detectable is equivalent to suicide.

  Right now the only part of the plan that I am comfortable sharing is that we plan to infiltrate the enemy's base. The only way we will be infiltrating the place is to walk in the plains for about fifteen minutes without protection. That should be enough to hide our presence here.

  At least that is supposed to be the plan but if I am a bit honest, I have no idea if we will be able to pull it off. Even if we do end up reaching the place there are just too many uncertainties.

  I mean, I don't even have a weapon of my own here. Even the sword I have had to borrow from the troop. I mean, I could have bought a sword from the frozen peak. Plenty of the shops there had pretty decent swords.

  At least then things would not have been this embarrassing. Well, there is little that I can do about it now other than regret it. As for why I would need a sword when I have the vine armor. Well, I going to need it for something else soon enough. (It is about time that I admit to myself that the vine armor has been a failure.)

  It is a pretty standard design for a sword. It is something that is issued to every soldier of the frozen peak. The quality of the sword is decent at the very least. It is going to survive a fight between mages too, though I won't dare to use it a second time.

  Another thing to be noted is that it is not mana-attuned metal, so there are not going to be any surprises there. I can fill it with all of my mana and the only thing that I will be able to guarantee is that the sword is not going to break any time soon. Even that is not a strong guarantee.

  I swing the sword a few times, trying to get used to its weight and balance. The sword is about the correct size for me to use all of my stances at the very least. That means that I will be able to fight properly for as long as the sword doesn't break.

  (After about five minutes of me playing around with the sword.)

  Right now in front of me are the five people that are going to go with me on this present mission. None of them are going to be particularly useful. They are new soldiers, though I have to admit that they are well-trained. To give you an idea of their strength, I think they wouldn't be able to defeat me if all five of them were to gang up on me. Granted, I have a lot of experience in such fights, but still.

  The only people of note here are Shamon and Entim. Shamon has nearly achieved the first circle based on the mana that he is emitting. Entim on the other hand, I would say that he is halfway through the process of breaking through. He is also supposed to be the soldier with the most potential to break through in this group. At least that's what Shamon tells me. I have to rely on the man's judgment because I still don't understand the draconian magic path.

  I would say that Entim is roughly about my age by looks. He might be a few years older. Regardless, all five of these soldiers are ready for action. Right now, they are waiting for my signal to leave.

  I have to do something before leaving for the mission. I have delayed it for long enough. Well, I begin to focus on controlling my vital mana. Unlike before when I push my vital mana to cycle faster through my body right now my goal is to slow down this cycle. I have to do this to push back all of my mana back into the mana core. I don't struggle much with this normally but ever since I have come here I have formed a habit of circulating mana resisting the cold here. Now it has come to bite me in my back.

  It takes a few embarrassing moments for all of my mana to return to my core. Instantly, I can feel my body grow heavier. I can feel the world grow blurrier as my senses degrade to the level of a normal mortal. I feel like my body has become sluggish and moving is becoming harder. Well, I will get used to this soon enough. After all, I am quite used to such sudden changes in my body. Thankfully my mana sight remains as it is.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “It is time for us to leave.“, I command, which the soldiers listen to dutifully. They are a silent bunch, these snowwinders.

  Right now we are standing in the safety of the southern gate. Once we step out we will be completely at the mercy of the weather outside.

  Not thinking about it too much, I step out into the frigid wasteland outside of the fort. Instantly it feels like I am trying to walk through ice. The winds battering me feel like blades of ice that are cutting into my body. The soldiers are walking through this weather like it is nothing.

  Well, I grit my teeth as we begin our trek. Right now, the enemy is about five to ten minutes worth of trekking from the southern gate. This trek is the most crucial part of our plan. After all, if we are caught en route, we will be too dead to care if the plan has succeeded.

  None of us even dare to strengthen our barriers for fear of being caught. The only mana that I dare to use is to reinforce my sword. Even for that, I am pushing my mana control to its limits to make sure I use as little mana as possible. I am making the sword just strong enough that a sudden swing will not break it. I can assure you that no ice beast will be able to detect my mana. Granted, I have never met the creatures so I can't tell how sensitive to mana these creatures are.

  (After about five minutes.)

  We have finally reached up the enemy's base. Things are going to grow quite tricky now. What I am calling our enemy's base is a series of tunnels dug up by the ice beasts in the snow. Supposedly, the troop leaders have to use their abilities extensively to keep the place stable. So we hope that we won't need to meet any of the troop leaders if we go in by stealth. We can fight them, but then we wouldn't be able to pull off what we came here to do.

  Right now, we have a pretty rudimentary map of the place. We can thank mana echolocation for this. The only problem is I am no master of this dwarven art so the only thing that I can do is make a rudimentary map. (To be honest, this is the main use of echolocation even among the dwarves. All their forts are underground.)

  We absolutely cannot get lost in there, especially with what is about to happen. That is why I am still standing here. In front of me is a breathing hole for the tunnels down below. We will be able to enter the place if we are ready to squeeze a bit. (Well, the hole is miniscule compared to the size of an icebeast.) Once I enter the tunnels, there is no going back. This is the only chance to retreat that I have.

  As I am thinking this, I throw my sword right into the throat of an ice beast. I had almost missed the creature in my mana sight. It has just popped out of one of the nearly invisible holes in the ground and would have discovered us soon enough.

  Well, we have spent enough time outside. I gesture to the soldiers to follow me. Jumping into the hole, I end up in a tunnel that is quite large for my expectations at least. If there is going to be a fight then we are going to be fighting quite comfortably.

  That is both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time as it also applies to our enemies. They must have built a place so large that they could fight comfortably. Well, no use obsessing over it. I gesture towards a tunnel to the left. Based on my map that should lead toward the center of this tunnel system.

  I can't say for certain but the center is in that rough direction. It did not take long for the map that I had built to become useless. Still, we had accounted for that. We manage to walk for a few moments as I feel a concentration of ice mana behind me. My sword flashes behind me right into the eye of an ice beast. The creature struggles for a few moments before dying. I guess now would be a good time to mention that the icebeasts are quite similar to wolves in their shape.

  The only thing that could be considered different would be their faces. Their faces and mouths resemble more like a snake than that of a wolf. Well, if the creatures can detect us enough to ambush us, there is going to be no point in maintaining stealth.

  “Screw it. Troop, enter into a defensive position. We will charge towards the target.“, I command them. The soldiers follow my command silently and effectively as they quickly enter into a box like formation. It would mean that we are abandoning stealth. Let's just hope that the troop leaders are not too active.

  I begin to run, while the soldiers behind me keep up with me as well as they can. Any creature ambushing us now would be in the easy reach of at least two soldiers. It does not take us particularly long to get lost as we run through the. The entire thing is a confusing mess of tunnels built under the ground. Thankfully, we are still able to retain a general idea about the direction in which we are going in.

  Also, I have been remembering every turn that we have taken. When it is time to go away, we won't get lost. Well, If I mess this up while leaving, the icebeasts will be the least of my worries.

  As I am recording, we finally reach the center of these caves. It is like a massive cave that is roughly the size of a standard airship. Shamon tells me that these centers always exist. Something about this place acting as the foundation of the entire cave system.

  The only thing that I have understood or care about the center is that collapsing this place will collapse the entire thing. Again I am surprised that there is no troop leader here. After all, with such a massive structural weakness I would have assumed that a troop leader would always be stationed here.

  Well, it would take a massive amount of mana to destabilize this place in the first place. The minute the troop leaders detect any foreign mana they would have come running to this place to protect it. Blowing up this place means that almost all the icebeasts here will be crushed to their deaths. The troop will be able to manage the few that might survive being crushed to their deaths by tons of snow.

  That leaves only the issue of how exactly I am planning to blow up the place. For this, I have to make use of the single most wasteful thing that a formation master can do with a mana reservoir. I am going to be projecting the mana from the reservoir at the fort to this place.

  Well, I am sure that many of you do not know what projecting is. It would be stupid to try and explain it in the middle of a battle like this. Better to do it later.

  Right now this cave of ours has two entries. Enemies will be pouring in from both of them. Before I even command the five soldiers under me have already begun to cover these positions. They have good teamwork so I am sure that they will manage to hold the enemy for a few minutes.

  Now I have to make use of these few minutes to do my work. Well, I have delayed this enough. Time to get to work.