The battle continued to rage. Many tieflings were frozen into ice sculptures, torn to shreds, or mutilated and devoured, but many yetis also fell under the tieflings' onslaught, their bodies sinking into the deep drifts of snow.
"Awoooo—!"
Suddenly, a massive howl echoed from the distance.
The cry was piercingly shrill, sweeping across the entire hillside with the freezing wind.
Immediately, all the yetis joined in the howling. The cries echoed endlessly across the rolling peaks, sending chills down everyone's spines.
"What is...?"
Mezrolash slowly looked up.
At the crest of the slope stood a burly yeti, throwing back its head and beating its chest.
It was far larger than ordinary yetis—taller than three men standing atop one another—looming in the snow like a mountain blanketed in white.
Massive, curling horns grew from the sides of its head, and its enormous canines were sharp enough to pierce a human skull. Its eerie blue eyes radiated the cold of a polar night, seeming to whip the swirling blizzard into an even greater frenzy.
"An abominable yeti."
Mezrolash took a deep breath, uttering the name that struck terror into the hearts of every northern dweller.
These tower-sized yetis were common fixtures in cautionary tales told by mothers to frighten unruly children. Fiercely territorial and brutally savage, they attacked and devoured any warm-blooded creature they encountered, scattering the bones across the ice and snow.
"Fall back, all of you."
The tiefling paladin held back his companions who were about to charge, stepping forward alone and pointing his longsword defiantly at the monster.
"Its opponent is me."
In the distance, the abominable yeti unleashed an excited hunting roar and bounded forward more than ten meters in a single leap, kicking up waves of snow.
Closing the distance to the tiefling, it fixed its gaze upon him, icy magical power saturating its stare as if to freeze everything solid.
"Chilling Gaze!"
This magical stare was far more terrifying than that of any yeti before it.
Instantly, Mezrolash felt a bone-chilling cold, as though submerged entirely in ice water. Every inch of his skin and every single bone hardened with frost, bringing him excruciating torment.
"Aura of Protection!"
Forcing back the urge to slip into eternal slumber, the tiefling summoned a crimson aura around himself.
The radiant light enveloped his body, warding off the invasion of the bitter cold magic and allowing him to partially break free from the freezing paralysis.
"Hellish Rebuke!"
Mezrolash thrust out a finger, conjuring a ring of blazing fire around the abominable yeti.
Yet to a creature of such colossal size, the meager flames meant virtually nothing. It merely parted its maw slowly, fine and dense gravel-like icicles forming in its throat.
"Cold Breath!"
A blast of frigid air capable of freezing any warm-blooded creature solid erupted from its jaws, blanketing a wide cone before it. It snuffed out the infernal flames and surged toward the tiefling paladin.
Mezrolash threw himself into a hard roll to the left, barely evading the blast.
"Haa... haa..."
"What terrifying breath."
Using his sword for support, he struggled to his feet, panting heavily, only to realize that the fingertips of his right hand, having brushed against the frosty mist, had frozen solid and lost all sensation.
Fortunately, the abominable yeti could not unleash its breath attack continuously; it required time to recharge. At that moment, eager to tear its tiny foe apart, the beast charged forward to engage the tiefling in melee.
If I took a direct hit from that...
I would die.
With lingering dread in his heart, Mezrolash watched the charging abominable yeti with heightened gravity.
Setting hesitation aside, he gripped his sword and lunged forward.
"Bestow Curse!"
With a fierce shout, he coated his blade in the dark, spectral glow of necromancy and slashed at the abominable yeti.
The beast instinctively swung its thick arms to block.
The immense impact sent Mezrolash flying along with his sword, but at the same time, the sharp edge sliced through its white fur, allowing the curse to take hold.
"Rooaaar!"
The abominable yeti froze in place as if rooted to the ground.
Clutching its head with both hands, it threw back its neck and howled in agony.
Mezrolash tumbled across the snow several times to dissipate the kinetic force. Then, ignoring the throbbing pain in his body, he scrambled to his feet and charged the abominable yeti once more.
"Roar!"
The abominable yeti howled again, swaying as it violently pounded its chest, on the verge of breaking free from the curse.
Mezrolash knew he only had a minute.
Once, as a paladin of redemption, his sword would gleam with divine radiance, like an angel descending upon the mortal realm. Now, as an Oathbreaker, his blade burned with a blood-red light that seemed to hail from the depths of Hell.
Yet it did not matter. He answered only to his own will.
"Divine Smite!"
He let out a fierce shout and leaped high into the air, his longsword imbued with a thrilling, crimson glow.
Yet just as the tiefling was about to strike, clarity returned to the abominable yeti's eyes in an instant, and it threw up its powerful arms to block.
Schwing!
The sound of sharp steel cleaving through flesh tore through the air.
Mezrolash's strike severed the abominable yeti's thick, massive palm clean off.
The beast unleashed a roar thick with agony, fury, and frenzy.
Its other giant paw reached out and snatched Mezrolash right out of the air as he fell.
"Not good!"
Mezrolash twisted and struggled desperately, but under the crushing absolute strength of the abominable yeti, he could not budge an inch.
The yawning maw grew larger and larger before his eyes.
He could even feel the piercing chill radiating from deep within its throat.
Burning with hatred over the loss of its hand, the abominable yeti intended to devour the tiefling alive!
In desperation, Mezrolash braced his longsword upright, using the last of his strength to ward off the yeti's snapping jaws.
Clang!
The longsword struck the beast's massive canines with a sharp metallic ring.
Seeing their leader in peril, the surrounding tiefling warriors rushed forward to help.
Yet their blades and arrows barely scratched the abominable yeti's tough, thick hide—amounting to nothing more than an itch. Instead, the distraction allowed the nearby ordinary yetis to counterattack, inflicting even more casualties upon the tieflings.
Seizing the moment while the abominable yeti was distracted by the scattered attacks, Mezrolash unleashed his final oathbreaker spell.
"Darkness!"
A dense shroud of darkness rapidly expanded outward with the tiefling at its center, engulfing the abominable yeti and blinding it to its surroundings.
Yet even swallowed by the pitch-black fog, and despite Mezrolash hacking at it with his sword, the monster maintained its iron grip.
At the same time, the abominable yeti rolled across the snow with him in its grasp, threatening to break free from the dark shroud's reach.
"No..."
"I will lead my people..."
Amidst the absolute darkness, determination burned in Mezrolash's solid black eyes.
"...to survive!"
Crimson light flared across his longsword once more as he swung for the abominable yeti's head.
"Divine Smite!"
Chapter 49