The more I looked at the mountains in the area, the more I realised just how troublesome this would be. The entire landscape was one of ice and rocks, with a few small streams running off the ice in areas where the sun was shining directly on it. The only trees in sight were on the horizon, only visible thanks to the elevation of my constructs, meaning everything we could use in an attempt to break the guardian was composed of the elements it controlled. Trying to break a rock-controlling spirit by hitting it with a rock, or having it hit said rock, sounded like an exercise in futility. Maybe if we had a high-enough cliff so that the kinetic forces involved were great enough to overcome the spirit's control, but that was a tall order. And required the thing to be moving swiftly, unless I somehow managed to set off a landslide without the thing noticing my preparations.

Somehow, that plan had far too many unknown elements in it to make me comfortable. It wasn't one I was willing to instantly discard, simply because it might be a possible plan, but I would greatly prefer to try something else. If only I had a good idea what that 'something else' could be.

Just as I was letting out a sigh, I violently flinched when yet another of my scrying constructs was violently dispelled by one of the local raptors, leaving me with a little less vision over the surrounding landscape and the slowly growing seed of a headache. It wasn't the first construct the local avians had destroyed and, unless something very odd happened, it wouldn't be the last. But at least I was starting to get a better look at these raptors and making a list of them.

There were multiple types of them, two of which were the primary hunters in the area. One was the massive, eagle-like raptors I had seen carrying elk or deer in their claws for later feeding. I was considering calling them Rocs until I managed to get close enough to identify one, and, amusingly, these were the comparatively smaller problem for me. While they were incredibly swift for their size, that was only for their size. They could catch my constructs if they attacked from behind and above, but that was about it. Additionally, the Rocs weren't all that interested in trying to chase down a small avian, which wouldn't even be a snack to them. They might chase one of my constructs out of curiosity or a simple thrill of the hunt, but a predator capable of taking down the local elk and deer, which weighed somewhere between sixty and maybe two hundred kilograms, just wasn't interested in going for birds barely weighing in at a kilogram.

The other type was a much bigger problem, as they were quite small compared to the Rocs. For now, I was calling them Wind Hawks, simply because I hadn't been close enough to them to use Observe. They were relatively small, maybe twice the size of my scrying constructs, but what they lacked in raw, physical power, at least compared to the Rocs, they made up for in speed and agility. To make matters worse, I had seen a few indications that hinted at an ability to use Wind Magic, which was the reason for their name. Due to their smaller size and incredible speed, they were happily hunting down my constructs, despite the constructs being of no use to them. They couldn't, to the best of my knowledge, eat and digest what little physical matter I used to anchor my constructs around, and I was relatively certain they didn't get EXP for them. And yet, they hunted them as if it was going out of style.

A vengeful part of me wanted to go out there and hunt those feathery bastards down. A more realistic part was shouting the vengeful one down, reminding me that I could kill one, I could kill a hundred, maybe even a thousand, forcing these birds to abandon the surrounding area.

But doing so would likely attract the attention of the Rocs, who might consider my body a suitable meal and fighting those massive birds in the sky would be a challenge. Sure, I would likely win; my raw magical power was nothing to scoff at, to say nothing about my versatility. If the Wind Hawks or Rocs were too swift and agile to get caught in physical manifestations of my magic, like conjured Ice, Mind Magic was projected without a physical medium, making it just about impossible to dodge. And high in the air, a few seconds of stun likely meant an uncontrolled and quite sudden landing on the ground, unless the bird happened to be in a good gliding position and its wings locked up upon being stunned.

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Shaking off these vengeful thoughts, I returned my focus to the landscape, considering potential ways to handle the guardian.

An avalanche might be a solution, or a landslide. Just because the guardian could shrug off the material, the sheer physical impact might work. Maybe. Possibly. Admittedly, most likely not.

I hated the lack of options, of ideas, at least when it came to the destruction of the guardian. I didn't want to try to circumvent or avoid it. It rankled me to be forced into the position of a thief, sneaking around in the night, too weak to walk proudly and challenge those who would dare to face me. What sort of example did I pose by avoiding a powerful foe? Wouldn't that send the signal that circumventing a difficult challenge was the best course of action?

Sitting on my throne, hidden in the latest iteration of our temporary shelter, I pondered my course of action. And, at the same time, I idly wondered about my actions and deeds, the example I set for my daughters and those who might hear about me.

What would those whom I had taught magic to think, if they learned that I was too weak to face this guardian? They wouldn't care about the raw power, of that I was fairly certain, but what would they think if they realised that I had been too stupid to find a way to conquer a stronger foe? Too uncreative to wield my magic to its full potential, not versatile enough and being forced into a confrontation on my enemy's terms, one I couldn't win because I was too weak.

Would it be the lack of power that defeated me, or the lack of creativity? And which was worse? Worse in the eyes of my students, worse in the eyes of my family, worse in my own eyes? Maybe even worse in the eyes of Lady Hecate.

That particular thought was a curious one. When had I started to truly care about the way my daughter's patron viewed me? Originally, I had been grateful to Lady Hecate for her actions to help my daughter, and the blessing on me, lessening the curse I was labouring under, but that was it. Gratitude for her deeds, until that gratitude had morphed into respect, especially, not so much respect towards her as a deity but respect towards her as an incredibly learned, experienced and brilliant arcane scholar.

My lips twisted into a grin when I realised that I wanted to be viewed the same way. Not just by my students but by my children, too. And even by Lady Hecate, I wanted to earn her respect and that she, eventually, could see and respect me as an equal, as arrogant and premature as that wish was. Intellectually, I was fully aware that I was far from Lady Hecate's equal; the deity was far above me in every metric one cared to imagine. But despite knowing that full well, I refused to yield and lose what I had achieved thus far.

Avoiding the guardian would likely be possible. My Darkness, Wind and Mind Magic were all fairly good when it came to concealing information or warping what information my enemies might get about me.

But how could avoidance be turned into victory? Could I conquer the Nexus after avoiding the guardian and use it to my advantage? Even to try, I would have to leave my daughters behind, alongside Silva and Sasha, and walk the rest of our road alone.

Thinking back, the Ice Nexus on Mundus had been claimed by that giant Yeti, the thing devouring and corrupting the Nexus with its hunger. To claim the Nexus, the Yeti had to be defeated, in that case, killed by conjuring the devouring flames of Nidhögg.

Somehow, I had a feeling that I would have to defeat and kill the guardian here to claim the Nexus, rendering the question of sneaking around and avoiding it completely moot.

And bringing back the headache from earlier in full force. The thing had to die and I had no idea how to accomplish that.

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