Conquering His Cold Heart

Artemis a young captain level officer spoke with arrogance as he grabbed his large rune covered bow from his back and made his way towards Hamon.

He was one of the highly gifted youngsters among the frost wolf battalion, someone with a lot of ambition and promise. Hamon wouldn't be surprised if Artemis was leading the frost wolf battalion in the next decade.

Along with his skills with the bow, his knack for understanding battle strategy, leadership qualities and ability to remain calm under the most dire of circumstances made this young soldier almost perfect in the eyes of those around him…. save for one fault, arrogance.

Which to be honest couldn't really be considered much of a fault when he had the skills to back it up but none the less a trait that could eventually lead to his downfall. Hamon wished to round off this quality of his in this war and thankfully a recent enlistee by the name of Frost was the perfect tool to do that.

Frost was someone that looked to be similar in age to Artemis, yet his strength had already reached B-rank, surpassing Artemis who was still at the threshold. He wanted to Artemis to realise the fact that there's always someone better out there regardless of how talented you think you are, Frost was one such person.

Of course, Frost paled in comparison to Artemis's other traits that he developed as a soldier, but power was always the focal point especially when people were young.

Artemis wasn't part of the ranged corps right now but an individual shock trooper that had yet to see any action in the past few days, his abilities kept hidden. A painful situation for such an ambitious young man, even more so when he got to witness Frost in action.

But finally, he was going to be able to show off his skills.

Artemis's face revealed a fierce desire, his eyes spurting flames and his hands were gripped tightly around his bow as his hawk like eyes surveyed the battlefield looking for prey.

Hamon smiled mischievously understanding the young man's feelings.

"Artemis, I need you to ride on Kiba and be our aerial sniper. Take out the damn poison heralds that Frost can't reach or misses as such a task is too much for one man."

Kiba who understood what Hamon was saying turned to look at Artemis with a tilted head as he examined this young man with some confusion.

"So, you need me to support Frost." Artemis asked with a peculiar tone.

"Yes Captain Artemis, do you understand your orders?" Hamon infused his aura into his voice showing that he wasn't playing. These orders could mean the difference between victory and defeat, he had no time for arrogance and or personal feelings.

Artemis's eyes winced as he felt Hamon's aura and heard his serious tone. He let out sigh before replying.

"Understood Colonel, I'll see to it immediately." He saluted before walking next to Kiba.

"Looks like you and me will be partners for a while." He looked straight into Kiba's eyes, showing not a single iota of fear, viewing him as an equal.

Most soldiers in the frost wolf battalion were like Artemis in this way as they held many wolves under their command who were treated just like any other solider in the battalion.

Kiba eyed this Artemis with a slight frown. He wasn't exactly fond of the young man and preferred that only Frost ride him like a mount, but he understood his position here. The fact that there wasn't any scorn or trepidation in the young man's made it easier, but he still audibly scoffed before lowering his back.

The combination of Artemis and Kiba then swiftly made their way high up into the air, using the sun to obscure their position.

"Artemis will surely be pleased getting to ride a flying mount that compliments his fighting style." A major who was stationed alongside Hamon spoke with a smile, excited to see the devastation such a team could wreak upon this battlefield.

"Yes, I'm sure he is in a way, shame Kiba is already bonded to Frost otherwise I would have done everything in my power to make a connection between the two of them." Hamon replied with a tinge of regret before focusing his gaze upon Frost who was still taking out poison herald after poison herald.

"Hopefully they work as a team and not against one another. I gave Artemis a warning but who knows how he'll behave once things kick off."

"Tsk!" Frost loudly clicked his tongue as a poison herald successfully avoided his [icy grasp] spell while the next nearest one retreated from him with all it had. His actions were making significant waves and these naturally cowardly creatures had picked up on that. They started fleeing the moment Frost even moved funny regardless of whether they managed to deal any damage to the enemy.

The madness of the battlefield already made catching these quick shadow-like bastards difficult and now that they were actively avoiding him, he failed more often than he succeeded, infuriating him.

He knew however that the moment he stopped chasing them and refocused on his duties as a member of the vanguard team they'd retaliate with vengeance. He was now stuck finishing what he started regardless of how inefficient it was.

Twang! Fwoossh!

Suddenly he heard the twang of a long bow and the sound of an arrow flying through the air before from the sky, obscured by the light of the sun it pierced the skull of the poison herald who avoided his spell, killing it instantly.

Another arrow swiftly followed that one killing the second poison herald who believed it had successfully escaped Frost's reach.

Frost felt a tingle down the back of his neck, as though he was being eyed by a vicious bird of prey.

He looked up but had to shut his eyes due to the sun, leaving but a narrow slit for him to see out of. There in the sky he could slightly make out the form of Kiba as well as something riding on top of him.

He saw the figure move before the sound of a bow being released and another arrow piercing through the air perked his ears. The arrow flashed by his face, avoiding it by a hair's breadth before lodging itself in the skull of a yeti attacking him from behind.

The yeti let out a loud whimper before falling dead. Frost turned around to see a single high-quality arrow lodged deep in the creature's skull. He then brought a hand to his cheek; he could still feel a burn from where the arrow passed.

A soul communication then came through from Kiba who informed him of the situation in a proud and happy tone.

"Back up huh." Frost smiled evilly as he pried the arrow from the yeti's skull and examined it in detail.

Despite flying through the air at insane speeds and lodging itself deep in the skull of a yeti the arrowhead, shaft and even fletching were unmarred.

The arrow had enough weight for it to wield devastating penetrative force yet was still light enough and well balanced to glide through the air. The shaft though bending when Frost applied pressure showed no signs of snapping despite using a great deal of force.

This was by far the highest quality arrow he'd ever witnessed and got his hands on, far higher quality than what was needed to take down a mere yeti.

Frost looked over to the now deceased poison heralds. The arrows lodged in their skulls though of similar design were clearly lower in quality, this high-quality arrow was used for a reason.

'Is this him showing off?' Frost pondered with an amused expression. His smile stretched from ear to ear as he placed the arrow within his storage ring.

He then gripped hard onto his glaive and twirled it around in a skilled manner while showing his smile to the one flying amongst the light of the sun. While Frost was having difficulty seeing Artemis and Kiba the same couldn't be said in reverse in fact Artemis could even see the individual contours of Frost's face and the stitching of his robe.

The young archer couldn't help but smile wildly as his heart thumped. He gazed down into Frost's eyes and knew his message was understood. It was time to show this Frost the power of a Captain of the frost wolf battalion.

"Hahahahahahah" he laughed out without reservation before lining up another arrow in his bow.

"Kiba take us 10 metres to the left and stay within the sun's gaze, can't have the B-ranks getting a line of sight on us." Artemis requested to Kiba while eyeing up his next target.

"Chuff" Kiba chuffed while doing as asked, smiling as he did.

The monster horde didn't just have close combat fighters, there were also ranged units and spell casters though they made up a much smaller margin. Artemis and Kiba flying through the air would make for an easy target if they weren't hidden by the sun and or constantly aware of their surroundings.

Artemis may wish to show off in front of Frost and the Majors, but he wasn't a fool, he knew the weaknesses of a solo archer.

With Artemis assisting him Frost was able to cull a great many more poison heralds resulting in the B-rank leader nearly spitting up blood before he ordered a mass retreat of his kin, staring daggers towards Frost and the obscured archer in the skies.

Their teamwork was almost seamless as though they'd fought side by side for years, a result that greatly surprised the two involved as well as Hamon and the observing Majors.

"Damn they cover one another's shortcomings without even having to communicate. Hard imagine that this is the first time they've fought together." One of the Majors couldn't help but comment with wide opened eyes. Together Frost and Artemis killed dozens of poison heralds as well as countless other monsters that were in the vicinity, creating a clear decrease in activity wherever they passed.

A dream team of fighters.

Hamon didn't reply with words, but his wide smile said it all, the results were beyond what he expected, and he could see with his skilled vision that Artemis had a very different expression on his face from when they began.

Artemis noticed their compatibility even more so than the others and was blown away. Where he initially wished to test his mettle against the newcomer Frost and prove to him that he wasn't the only one with skills and talent he now found himself full of respect and even awe for the young man as well as his partner the glacial winged tiger that he was currently riding.

Frost's movements, instincts and adaptability to any situation was something he envied yet the most shocking thing was Frost's complete and utter trust in him. He would openly ignore certain monsters because he knew Artemis would have a line of sight on them and would take care of it.

Artemis felt his petty arrogance and jealously towards Frost wash away as this situation repeatedly happened. While he viewed this interaction as a test between them, Frost simply enjoyed having skilled support, someone he could entrust his back to while he went all out.

He never had the slightest inkling of rivalry, was it because Frost was so far beyond him skill wise or that he himself was just petty and insecure, Artemis didn't know but his initial arrogance seemed childish and pointless.

The moment his mindset changed there was a significant change in Artemis, his arrows flew faster, and his heavy bow felt lighter and easier to pull. He felt his bond with archery deepen and with-it new knowledge unfurled, and a mad smile adorned his lips.

He achieved advanced bow mastery, an obstacle that had been impeding his path and weighing on his mind for past few months.

'Hahahaha master was right my skills were already high enough to advance but my mentality wasn't hahahaha.' Artemis laughed internally as a weight lifted from his chest and the knowledge completely unfurled bringing with it a new skill.

Not one to be patient Artemis filled his bow with his internal energy as he activated this newfound power.

"[Sky descending squall]"

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