Chapter 150: Corviman

Several days later.

Between heaven and earth, everything was a field of pure white.

A thick layer of snow blanketed the forest and open plains.

Two figures and a large gray wolf were trekking through the desolate snowy woods.

Behind them, a long trail of footprints stretched back into the dense forest from which they had come.

“Hoo—” Arya tightened the fur hat over her head, her breath instantly turning into puffs of steaming white mist, her cheeks flushed red from the cold.

She instinctively moved a little closer to Gauss, who was walking in front.

Gauss was dressed less heavily than she was.

But getting closer to him, one could feel a faint warmth, like a walking little stove.

Gauss’s gaze swept around their surroundings.

He was actually a bit cold too, just not saying it—after all, it wasn’t unbearable yet.

The reward from the thousand-kill milestone a few days ago—1 point in Strength and 1 point in Constitution—was now showing its value.

With 8 points in Strength and 8 points in Constitution, he was a full three points above a healthy average human’s base of 5 points in each stat, granting him greater resilience against harsh weather such as extreme cold and heat.

Of course, the most important thing was that in battle, one needed to move freely—wearing too much would hamper agility.

Chewing on some dried meat, his thoughts turned to the Monster Encyclopedia in his Adventurer’s Handbook.

“Total Monsters Killed: 1311.”

The efficiency of kills in the past few days could not compare to the first two.

After all, these were relatively scattered small monster settlements, and this year’s colder weather had reduced the efficiency of adventurers overall.

Arya guessed that most people’s earnings this year would shrink considerably.

However, for the two of them, it hardly mattered—the gains from the first two days alone had already filled their pockets to the brim.

These last few days, braving the cold was more a matter of, “Since we’re already here, we might as well earn a bit more.”

After all, even though efficiency had dropped, it was still much faster than taking those Tier 1 Entry-level Commissions back in Graystone Town.

Unfortunately, barring any surprises, today would be the last day of the Winter Hunt.

It was simply too cold.

Many adventurers and their attendants had already expressed their intention to return to town.

Gauss continued looking further down the encyclopedia entry.

“Current normal monster types recorded: 19.”

These days, after adding the 17th normal monster—[Frost Serpent]—only two more had been added afterward: [Direwolf] and [Assassin Vine].

The former was a common vassal at monster strongholds and a frequent visitor in winter.

The latter was a plant monster disguised as ordinary vines that attacked passing creatures with entangling binds.

The rest were mostly repeats of monsters already recorded.

This was partly because the monsters Gauss had been killing—like Goblins and Kobolds—were among the most common in the wild, so encountering them again was only natural.

Secondly, the biodiversity of a given area was limited, and with winter’s arrival, many monsters either migrated or went into hibernation, making encyclopedia collection harder.

But—today, they likely wouldn’t return empty-handed.

Gauss rubbed between his fingers a palm-sized, pitch-black corvine feather.

This was information he had deliberately sought out in camp yesterday—the target lay just ahead.

“Caw! Caw! Caw!”

From overhead came the familiar cry of the contracted raven, Ike, breaking Gauss’s train of thought.

Instead of being annoyed, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

The raven’s return meant it had found their target.

Fortunately, ravens were highly adaptable creatures—even in the severe cold of winter, they remained active and well-adjusted.

In the past few days, Ike’s presence had indeed saved them considerable effort.

After Arya rewarded it with chunks of meat for its labor, and through brief communication, they had obtained intel on nearby monster strongholds.

“If all goes well, let’s head back to camp after noon.”

Looking at Arya, whose flushed cheeks made it obvious she wasn’t used to the cold yet still came out with him, Gauss felt a trace of guilt.

In truth, that morning many small teams in camp had given up going out, choosing instead to warm themselves by the bonfire and wait comfortably for the Winter Hunt’s final day to end.

Gauss had originally thought to let Arya stay in camp while he went alone to find the 20th monster entry, but after thinking about it—

For some reason, he never voiced it in the end.

Perhaps he sensed that even if he did, Arya would still follow.

After all, they were a team that advanced and retreated together.

“Mm-hmm.” Arya nodded.

Under the raven’s guidance—

The two continued forward through the snow.

“Caw!”

When they were almost at their destination, Ike gave two low calls as a warning.

“Thanks.” Gauss didn’t care whether it understood human speech—he spoke the thanks anyway.

Then he climbed a slightly higher snow slope.

Eagerly, he looked down at the monster stronghold not far away.

This was about the 20th monster entry and the second racial talent that would follow—even though he considered himself calm, he couldn’t suppress his anticipation.

It was like facing a blind box—

Before opening it, the sense of expectation was always the strongest.

His eyes narrowed slightly, gaze passing through sparse snow-laden pines to a clearing deliberately cleared below.

A bonfire blazed, its dancing flames driving away the cold. Shadows formed a loose circle around it, as if yearning for its warmth yet afraid to get too close.

“As expected—” A flash of light appeared in Gauss’s eyes. Among the figures, he clearly recognized his main target for this trip—Corvimen. These fellows might even have been distant kin to Ike in ancient times.

Corvimen were standard low-tier monsters: their upper body in the form of a crow, covered in jet-black feathers with claws and wings; their lower body a humanoid torso standing upright.

They could use their wings to glide short distances, but ordinary Corvimen could not flap and fly like true birds.

Yesterday, an adventurer small team had found traces of corvine feathers here, but since it was late, they didn’t follow the trail to find the stronghold.

This morning, that same team decided not to venture into the Emerald Forest, so they simply shared the location with Gauss.

“One, two, three… fifteen.” Gauss counted silently.

Not many—though individually stronger than a normal Goblin, these fifteen were no threat to Gauss now, and even Arya could handle them with some effort without relying on Ulfen.

But the number didn’t matter to Gauss anymore.

He slid down the snow slope.

“Fifteen Corvimen—once we clear them out, we’ll eat lunch and head back.”

Gauss used Message to relay the plan to Arya.

“Alright, I’ll use Entangling Spell to coordinate with you.”

“Mm, we’ll stick to the routine we’ve been practicing these past two days.”

“I understand.”

Arya replied softly, making a hand signal.

“Caw! Caw! Caw!”

From the gray sky came a slightly dry raven’s cry, abruptly cutting through the stillness of the snowy forest, drawing the Corvimen’s attention by the bonfire.

“Caw!”

They looked up warily, but when they saw the black raven circling above, their tense nerves relaxed.

Ravens were common in winter, and with their partial shared bloodline, the Corvimen felt little need for wariness toward these flying relatives.

They didn’t notice that a few dry green seeds, mixed with a few clumps of grayish-white bird droppings, had landed with soft “puh” sounds on the ground not far from the bonfire.

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