Roaring Heroes Battle the Overlord (Ainz)

The magic crystals hadn't even been fully set up yet when the poorly constructed teleportation circle was accidentally activated. Magic flowed along the intricate runes, with a sizzling sound like gunpowder burning, but nothing was teleported away. Instead, it just scorched a patch of snow.

Barrett grabbed EeDeChi and pulled her back, retracing their steps. They ran back to the riverbank, with Barrett carefully erasing their footprints along the way.

EeDeChi asked, "Where do we go from here?"

"We..." Barrett pulled out a map. "We swim through!"

He used a thin cotton thread to measure carefully along the map, overlapping it with the river. Stretching the thread straight, he used a wooden ruler to measure the distance and then estimated the river's approximate length based on the map's scale.

The sounds of the battle between the treants and the Sorcerer Kingdom's army echoed faintly from the forest, but Barrett remained busy at the riverbank.

He used his sword to carve a small hole into the ice surface, then reached in to feel the water, trying to estimate the river's flow rate. This allowed him to calculate how long it would take for the water at their location to reach the river's end—the waterfall.

The water was painfully cold, like a school of piranhas nibbling at his hand. Barrett quickly pulled his hand out of the hole and wiped off the water droplets.

"About 40 minutes," Barrett muttered to himself. "With a margin of error of plus or minus 20 minutes. So let's say... 60 minutes."

EeDeChi stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief. "The other route you mentioned... you mean to dive under the ice and follow the river?"

"I can dive in the ice river for 60 minutes no problem," EeDeChi said, staring at him in shock. "But can you do it?"

Barrett pulled a small, grayish-white ball from his spatial ring. "This is a potion made from gillyweed. I only have one. Taking it will grant me the power of a fish, allowing me to breathe underwater for an hour and a half. I was originally planning to use it for an underground river expedition."

"Are you out of your mind?" EeDeChi exclaimed. "It's winter! You'll freeze to death in there, and the oxygen levels under the ice are way lower!"

"It's rare for you to care about others. But don't worry, I still have the equipment I prepared for the underground river expedition. I've got red magic crystals for heat and half a tank of oxygen," Barrett said, pulling out a few bottles and jars.

"Your spatial ring really is a treasure chest," EeDeChi sighed in relief.

"An elite adventurer always has to be prepared for anything. You never know what might happen next." Barrett boasted. "Like now, we were just trekking through a forest, and suddenly, we're about to dive into an ice river."

The two adventurers hurried to the frozen river, wiping away the snow on the ice. They had lost the cover of the forest, but fortunately, the skeletal dragon and peryton in the sky were busy hunting treants and hadn't noticed them.

Barrett used his sword to carve a narrow hole in the ice, just big enough for one person to squeeze through. A few fish leapt out of the water, and Barrett snatched them one by one, adding them to his outdoor cooking menu.

EeDeChi glanced at Barrett, took a deep breath, and slid into the ice hole, moving like a black fish under the ice.

Barrett swallowed the gillyweed potion, and in an instant, his cheeks split open as gills sprouted, transforming him into something resembling a kuo-toa from the sea. He strapped the red magic crystals to his chest, feeling the warmth flow through his limbs and bones. But Barrett knew he was about to dive into water below freezing for an entire hour.

I hope I don't end up as a frozen fish after 60 minutes.

Barrett gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and leaped into the river through the hole in the ice.

After some time, following a long stretch of swimming, Barrett broke through the surface, gasping for air.

He found himself in a lake filled with icy debris, with a massive waterfall behind him, at least four stories tall. The water splashed down violently, mixing with shards of ice. He had just fallen from the waterfall into the lake.

The estimated dive time had been off, and he had been underwater for nearly an hour and a half. Barrett felt his entire body frozen stiff, his teeth chattering uncontrollably, and his limbs were nearly numb.

The red magic crystals had already exhausted their energy and were knocked off when Barrett fell into the lake. The fish-like transformation was fading, and the gills closed up. A gulp of cold lake water splashed into his throat, and Barrett felt his whole body freezing, turning into a solid block of ice.

Suddenly, a pair of strong hands grabbed him, and Barrett was thrown out of the water, flying like a fish leaping from the ocean, landing in the snow on the shore.

Barrett looked up to see EeDeChi, the one who had thrown him from the water. She was running across the ice shards on the lake, walking on water with ease, and she leaped gracefully onto the shore.

EeDeChi quickly pulled a few pine branches from the trees at the lake's edge and started a roaring campfire. Barrett huddled by the fire, trembling, trying to absorb the warmth.

Fortunately, his spatial ring hadn't been lost. He pulled out a few sets of dry clothes without hesitation, changing right in front of EeDeChi. Then he draped his wet clothes over the fire to dry them.

EeDeChi, drenched in black clothes, was soaked through, water dripping from the edges of her garments. But her expression remained calm and unconcerned, as though spending an hour and a half underwater and then falling from a waterfall was just an ordinary walk in the park.

However, Barrett occasionally glanced her way and noticed for the first time that her wet black clothes clung tightly to her skin, revealing the graceful curves of her figure.

EeDeChi noticed his gaze, and her face darkened. She pulled a white sheet from her spatial ring and wrapped it around herself, her voice colder than the snow and ice. "What are you staring at?!"

"Nothing, just admiring how solid your muscles are." Barrett quickly looked away and focused on the campfire. He pulled out a map to change the subject.

"If we're heading to the Eight Greed Kings Desert, I suggest we go through Slane Theocracy. The desert borders both Slane Theocracy and the Elf Country. The Elf Country doesn't exactly welcome humans, and most human adventurers heading to the desert choose to pass through Slane Theocracy."

EeDeChi raised an eyebrow. "How much do you know about Slane Theocracy? Is it a religiously dominated country?" She has never been fond of religion, especially cults.

Barrett paused for a moment, then answered:

"Rather than saying it's a religion-first society, it's more like a human-first society. Slane Theocracy is all about cleansing other races in the name of the gods. Within the theocracy's borders, other intelligent races have been completely driven out. Even beastmen that once formed tribes are rarely seen. In Slane Theocracy, adventurers can find themselves out of work because the theocracy's military and bureaucracy have basically taken over the adventurer's role."

"That sounds like a really interesting country," EeDeChi said, studying the ornate letters on the map. "Does Slane Theocracy have any top-tier forces?"

"Slane Theocracy is famous for its 'Six Scriptures' special military units: Black Scripture, Sunlight Scripture, Clearwater Scripture, Holocaust Scripture, Windflower Scripture, and Ashendust Scripture." Barrett explained in detail, recounting what he knew. "Of them, Black Scripture is the strongest. They call themselves humanity's guardians, and every member is a powerhouse who has reached the 'Hero' tier."

He looked up and saw dark smoke rising from a distant mountain range. Changing the subject, he said, "But let's think about the road ahead. We need to figure out how to leave Re-Estize."

The Sorcerer Kingdom's control over Re-Estize was no different from controlling puppets on strings. By now, Re-Estize's soldiers were probably already out in full force, hunting them down under the Sorcerer Kingdom's orders. If they were discovered, it would turn into a catastrophic battle. Countless innocent civilians would be dragged into it.

After discussing their options, the two decided to disguise themselves as winter huntsmen. A winter huntsman was a warrior who specialized in hunting magical beasts during the winter months.

Though the winter snows froze everything in sight, the harsh forests were far from peaceful. Dangerous beasts like winter wolves, ice crows, and wasteland spiders would begin to stir, and even frost giants might intentionally trigger avalanches, causing chaos in human towns.

These beasts, with their organs capable of storing magical energy, expelled frost and snow as they hunted down prey. At the same time, their magical organs were highly sought after, often sold for a steep price.

This led to the winter huntsmen hunting them, or sometimes, the beasts hunting the winter huntsmen. Who was the hunter and who was the prey? That could only be determined when one side was dead.