The cold, stale air flooded Kyle’s lungs, the discomforting cold crawling past his armour and into his body, making him shiver.
He turned toward the others, trying his best to find Reed through the blistering winds.
But all he could make out were the backs of the other members of Steronick’s group and Rita, who stood right next to him, her staff tightly held in her grasp.
She seemed far less worried than Kyle expected her to be.
Either she was well-trained not to panic even under the worst of situations, or...
She knew what was going on.
"Everyone, stay together!"
Someone yelled.
"Guards up—Awwk!"
Another person shouted but failed to finish his warning as a loud crack resounded throughout the vicinity, followed by a sickening thud of something crashing heavily into the ice.
The group reacted immediately, each of them spinning toward where the scream had come from.
Nothing.
Nothing except a glaring stain of crimson spreading across the pristine white snow.
Someone had been taken from right beside them...
And none of them had even noticed.
Steronick immediately assumed a battle stance, his expression falling grim as he stepped closer to the group and took the lead.
"Everyone, fall into formation!" he yelled.
At once, everyone instinctively formed a kill circle, weapons drawn and eyes narrowed, desperately searching for even the slightest disturbance within the endless curtain of snow.
They had no idea where they were.
Nor what exactly was hunting them.
But one thing was certain.
They were in mortal danger.
Kyle stood close to Rita, and by his side was their supposed benefactor, Reed. The handsome man never once allowed his expression to falter despite the circumstances, remaining just as composed as Rita.
Almost as though they possessed the absolute assurance that, whatever happened here...
They would survive to see another day.
Kyle thought differently of himself.
’Even with the Roach’s fortification... my head can still be crushed by whatever is preying on us.’
The group fell silent.
Not a single person dared move.
Eyes swept left and right.
Hands tightened repeatedly around the freezing hilts of their weapons as the biting cold slowly numbed their fingers, making even the familiar weight of steel feel strangely burdensome.
The silence stretched.
Long.
Oppressive.
Until—
The snow beneath their boots suddenly exploded.
A deafening crack thundered through the frozen wasteland as the ground shattered apart, launching everyone helplessly into the air amidst a violent eruption of snow and ice.
Kyle released a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding as a long, hoarse scream tore from his throat.
Then he crashed violently into the merciless embrace of the frozen earth.
Hot, searing needles.
That was what his face met.
Followed by blinding white that burned his skin raw despite its unbearable cold.
’Fuck it! Fuck! So cold!’
Kyle groaned, immediately forcing himself back onto his feet, sword already rising into a defensive stance.
The moment he stood—
Screams.
One after another.
From his left.
From his right.
Panicked cries echoed endlessly through the blizzard, accompanied by loud, nauseating crunches of bones shattering beneath the unimaginable pressure of something hidden within the storm.
And thanks to the dense wall of swirling snow, he could barely see more than a few meters ahead.
The world had become a prison of white.
All he had as proof that he wasn’t alone in this frozen nightmare were the desperate screams of his companions disappearing one after another.
"W-what..." Kyle stuttered, his teeth chattering violently as he tried to call out to whoever remained alive within the endless blizzard.
Seconds passed.
Then everything suddenly became silent.
No screams.
No footsteps.
No figures moving through the storm.
Nothing.
Kyle’s heart sank.
As far as it seemed...
There was no one left here except him.
’Damn it... Don’t tell me they’re all dead. For the first time in a while, I’d really like that protection.’
Kyle steadied his breathing, forcing himself to calm down.
This was a terrible situation.
He was being hunted by some bizarre abomination within its own habitat, where it possessed every possible advantage.
The freezing air clawed at his lungs.
His vision was crippled.
His feet sank several inches into the heavy snow with every movement.
Meanwhile...
Whatever hunted him glided through it effortlessly.
’From my analysis... I don’t have much of an advantage against this bastard.’
Kyle grimaced, tightening his grip around his sword.
’Think... Think! Think! What can get me out of this situation?’
Whoosh!
It was subtle.
Barely noticeable.
But Kyle sensed it.
A strange shift in the atmosphere.
The hairs along the back of his neck stood upright.
However, it wasn’t because of the monster lurking beneath the snow.
It was something else entirely.
Kyle sharpened his senses.
Then slowly...
His gaze drifted upward.
His mouth fell open.
The sky...
Had torn apart.
The endless blizzard abruptly ceased, as though some unseen hand had commanded the heavens themselves to be still.
For the first time since arriving in this frozen hell, Kyle’s surroundings became clear.
He blinked several times.
Just a few steps ahead stood Rita, her staff firmly gripped in one hand while her other palm remained stretched toward the heavens.
She was casting...
What exactly?
Then it descended.
Thin, crooked streaks of golden lightning split the heavens, dancing wildly through the air as they surrounded one colossal bolt that plunged straight toward Kyle.
"What?!"
Kyle barely had enough time to react.
The lightning struck.
An explosion erupted.
An eerie, ear-piercing shriek echoed behind him.
The lightning...
Had never been aimed at him.
It had been aimed at something else.
Kyle slowly turned around.
The sight before him caused his blood to run cold.
Half-buried beneath the snow was the charred corpse of a grotesque monstrosity.
A gigantic caterpillar.
Its body was thicker than a grown man and several times longer, the rest of its massive form still disappearing beneath the snow like an endless tunnel carved into the earth.
Its shattered carapace had been ripped apart, exposing uneven masses of pink flesh beneath.
Viscous green blood slowly oozed from countless cracks in its armour while black smoke curled lazily from the place where the lightning had struck.
Its two cloudy, lifeless eyes remained fixed upon Kyle.
Its enormous jaws...
Still frozen open.
Still moments away from biting his head clean off.
If the lightning hadn’t struck when it did...
It would have succeeded.
Kyle instinctively staggered backwards, unable to tear his gaze away from the grotesque creature.
Only after several seconds did he finally turn around.
With the blizzard nearly gone, the battlefield became visible.
Reed.
Thors.
Steronick.
One surviving member of Steronick’s team.
And Rita.
She had killed the monstrosity.
In a single strike.
She had also...
Saved his life.
Kyle stared at her from afar, wanting to say something.
To thank her.
To show his appreciation, if only a little.
But before he could utter even a single word—
"Survivors?!"
At the unfamiliar voice, everyone instantly raised their weapons and turned toward its source.
Dozens of meters away stood a lone figure dressed in a dark, tattered cloak that concealed his entire body, a hood pulled low over his face.
Sensing the group’s hesitation and the suffocating tension hanging in the air, the man slowly reached up and lowered his hood.
Beneath it was the face of a handsome young man.
Yet seeing another human did little to ease anyone’s nerves.
Not a single person lowered their weapon.
The man didn’t seem to care.
He simply sighed.
"There is a shelter. Come with me if you want to live."
Without waiting for an answer, he turned around and began walking away, disappearing deeper into the endless white.
The group remained rooted where they stood for several long moments, silently watching as the stranger’s figure gradually grew smaller against the frozen horizon.
Then they exchanged glances.
No one spoke.
No one trusted him.
But eventually...
They followed.
Because taking a chance with one mysterious stranger...
Was still far preferable to remaining in this cursed land of endless ice.
Hopefully.