It is obvious that more knowledge and intelligence can be obtained from those prisoners and strongholds.

But the Eighth Knights would often burn down their strongholds after capturing them, and they were even unwilling to use the food and supplies of the Dark Church...

In order to dispel the doubts of those who were hiding in the dark and observing them, the performance of Mark's team in the combat during this period was quite remarkable.

Whenever a battle breaks out, Mark's Holy Light always actively dispels the filthy low-level spells for his teammates and covers the scout team's advance.

Although he was using the passive power of the cross necklace to purify, the knights felt that Mark's purification skills were very high, and he was worthy of being a saint with a priest profession.

With the help of her elf archer profession, Anna's arrows often hit the enemy's vital points before they even show up.

Monica, like a true scout, roamed in the shadows, detecting traps, marking targets, and silently eliminating sentries. She had accumulated the most military merits in the Eighth Knights.

Every time she used her military merits to exchange for some books collected by the church on the ice field, the deputy leader would always give her an additional copy of the latest church book of the Holy Light Church.

It looks like the deputy leader really wants to bring Monica, the studious assassin, into the Church of Holy Light.

As for Enzo, he wielded a war hammer, responsible for clearing hard bones and carrying heavy roadblocks, and assisting in the construction of temporary fortifications. The brute force of the dwarf was particularly effective in demolishing small strongholds.

Mark deliberately suppressed Xiao Mu's presence, and occasionally pretended to put up a shield or provide emergency treatment when in danger.

In every attack, Mark behaved like a dedicated and courageous clergy trainee, taking the initiative to undertake the tasks assigned to him by the scout team and having no objection to the orders of the Knights.

Monica perfectly plays the role of a taciturn yet skilled assassin scout.

Anna and Enzo also restrained their own characteristics and integrated into the team.

However, as the Eighth Knights went deeper into the ice field, touching the Dark Church's entrenched position for a longer time and investing in a larger area, the resistance force suddenly became fierce and tenacious.

The intensity of the battle escalated rapidly.

The enemies you encounter are no longer just mobs of soldiers.

The true elite of the Dark Church also began to appear.

Although the Dark Church has declined today.

But since they all migrated from the central continent to the Arctic Icefield, the strength they retained should not be underestimated.

The well-equipped, well-trained and fearless Dark Knights phalanx, relying on the solid fortress built on ice cliffs and glacier cracks, became a tough nut to crack on the Eighth Knights' advance.

The organized Skeleton Mage Corps summoned overwhelming frost wraiths and strengthened undead creatures from the rear, and cooperated with the native trolls who manipulated ice to launch wave after wave of charges.

These are the legions of members from different branches of the Dark Church who came to support after receiving the call for help from the church headquarters.

Occasionally, projections of frost giant eagles or ice dragons corrupted by dark forces will appear in the sky, and only the combined magic of the Knights' heavy crossbows and the Priests' Corps can repel them.

The scale of the battle quickly escalated from a squad conflict to a company-level or even battalion-level offensive and defensive battle.

But even when the battle reached this point, the legendary Captain Theodore never intended to leave the battle.

During a raid on a medium-sized stronghold built in a ten-thousand-year-old ice cave, the scout team even encountered a defense line commanded by a high-ranking bishop of the Dark Church.

The violent ice storm mixed with filthy dark magic instantly covered the scout team's attack path.

The sudden attack caught the scout team off guard.

"Hold on! Priest, disperse!" Lieutenant Gerard's roar was almost drowned out by the roar of spells.

As the only "priest" in the team, Mark was the first to bear the brunt of the attack.

He struggled to hold up the holy light shield blessed by the cross necklace, and the golden light barely illuminated the front shrouded in frost and darkness.

A range-wide ice shock wave slammed into the shield, causing it to fluctuate violently and even tiny cracks to appear on the surface.

The light dimmed visibly, far less purified and tenacious than it had been in the previous battle.

"Ugh!" Mark groaned, staggered back, and his face turned pale instantly, as if this attack had exhausted a lot of magic power.

He subconsciously covered his chest.

That was the location of the old wound left by the Frostwhisper rift, and a dull pain came from it at this moment.

The light from the cross necklace in his hand also seemed to become extremely dim.

At the same time, Monica tried to cut in from the side shadows like a ghost to interfere with the enemy spellcaster.

However, dense groups of ice cones shot out suddenly from several tricky blind spots like spikes of death.

She dodged quickly, her movements as swift as the wind, but in a backward leap that should have been a perfect dodge, her movement seemed to have been miscalculated and was slightly slow.

Phew!

A sharp ice spike flew past the outside of her left arm, instantly tearing through her leather armor and skin. Blood quickly seeped out, staining her sleeve red.

She gritted her teeth and groaned, enduring the pain, and with noticeable sluggish movements, she hid behind the nearest ice rock.

When he tried to perform shadow shuttle again, it seemed that due to the injury on his arm and the disorder of his magic power, it became no longer smooth.

Anna kept drawing her bow and drawing arrows from the high point at the back, and the buzzing sound of the elven longbow was endless.

She aimed her sharp eyes at a dark skeleton mage who was channeling necromancy.

The bowstring is fully drawn and the arrow is released!

However, due to the violent airflow of the ice storm and the interference of the dark magic field, the arrow that should have been fatal unexpectedly deviated from the target and nailed into the ice pillar beside the skeleton wizard with a whistling sound, and ice chips flew everywhere.

Then, the aftermath of a sweeping Frost Nova passed by just at the moment when her body paused slightly after missing the target.

She seemed unable to dodge in time and was knocked down by the icy shock wave. She fell awkwardly on the hard ice surface, and the elven longbow slipped out of her hand and slid a few steps away.

She struggled to get up, her long light green hair covered with ice dust, her breathing was rapid, and her face was full of embarrassment and helplessness.

In front, Enzo was roaring and fighting with a rushing skeleton abomination.

The dwarf's hammer smashed the rotten head of the abomination skeleton with tremendous force.

But at the moment the abominable skeleton fell to death, the corrupted cold air accumulated in its body suddenly burst out.

Enzo also failed to dodge in time. The biting cold instantly penetrated into the wounds that had begun to heal from the previous battle like a poisonous snake.

Especially the frostbite on his arms from previous battles.

"roar--!"

Enzo let out a painful and angry roar, and saw the blue-black frostbite marks on his arms spreading and expanding rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, even climbing up the stubble on half of his cheek.

His strong dwarf body suddenly stiffened, and his movements became obviously stiff and clumsy. Even swinging his beloved war hammer again seemed extremely difficult, and every swing was accompanied by painful and heavy gasps.