Chapter 153: Bring Her Back
After learning the whole truth.
Walfred sprinted madly across the snowfield.
Perhaps because hundreds of people had moved at once, the tracks they left behind hadn’t been completely erased, even in the raging blizzard.
Walfred kicked off the ground even harder, chasing the trail they had left.
’Jenna! Please...’
Be safe. Let nothing have happened to her.
As he raced on with that desperate prayer.
The countless tracks left by the crowd led Walfred to a steep slope. He climbed the hill quickly, and the moment he saw the scene beyond it.
"...!"
Walfred’s eyes went wide.
Countless bodies, collapsed and frozen on the ground.
At the sight of the pit filled with snow mounds large and small, he hurled himself straight down.
Whoom! Craaaash!
With the impact of his landing.
The snow piled on the ground erupted all at once.
Walfred tore wildly through the hazy cloud of snow, whipping his head in every direction.
"Jenna! Jenna!"
His shout rang out on all sides.
But perhaps because of the fierce wind?
His voice didn’t echo; it scattered into the air in an instant. Even so, Walfred didn’t give up, screaming until his throat was raw.
"Where are you?! If you can hear me, answer!"
No answer came.
Just as anxiety began creeping over him.
Twitch!
In a corner of the pit, one snow mound rising noticeably higher than the rest stirred faintly.
The subtle squirming of children being protected in someone’s arms. Someone who had shielded the children with her own body, blocking the falling snow.
The moment he saw that face.
"...!?"
Walfred’s eyes flew open.
It was a face he had missed so dearly.
"Jenna!"
Walfred rushed over.
In one motion, he pulled the snow-buried Jenna out and held her in his arms. Her body had gone cold. Watching her eyelids slowly closing, Walfred cried out urgently.
"Stay with me! Jenna!"
Did she respond to his voice?
Jenna’s lips trembled faintly.
A moment later, a voice that seemed ready to flicker out at any second flowed from her.
"Take care of, the children..."
With those words.
Jenna closed her eyes. Seeing this, Walfred’s eyes went wide as he screamed.
"...!? N-no! Jenna!"
He shook her body, but there was no response.
Walfred sobbed, pleading, his face on the verge of breaking into tears.
"Open your eyes! Please..."
"Move, mister!"
At that very moment.
Alice, who had followed along with Aria, shoved him roughly aside. She wrapped the fallen Jenna in a tight embrace and soon began radiating intense heat.
Seeing that.
Walfred realized with a jolt.
’...I have to get away from Jenna!’
Jenna was in a state of severe hypothermia.
Walfred, on the other hand, was constantly giving off cold through [Cold Emission]. Staying by her side like this was as good as gnawing away at her life.
Walfred hurriedly put distance between them.
Far enough away that [Cold Emission] couldn’t threaten Jenna. Then he prayed desperately that Alice could bring her back.
"Ugh, it’s so cold I can’t get my output up...!"
Alice cried out urgently.
The moment she finished saying that the surrounding temperature was too low to raise Jenna’s body heat, Walfred spun around to Elsa.
"Elsa! Go to that girl lying over there and absorb the cold from her. Hurry!"
"Okay, got it!"
Elsa scurried over.
Then, just as she had done in Philadelphia, she placed her hands on Jenna’s body and began absorbing the cold.
Shhhaaaah!
With the activation of [Cold Absorption].
The cold lodged in Jenna’s body, and even the cold across the entire surrounding area, was drawn into Elsa.
Visible changes soon followed.
The thick layer of snow melted rapidly, and the temperature around Jenna and Alice climbed sharply.
"Good. Keep it going just like that!"
Alice poured out sweat as she fought to raise Jenna’s body temperature. And before long, a hint of color slowly returned to that pale face.
Then Aria, who had been watching anxiously from the side, spoke up carefully.
"H-how is she?"
"I barely managed to get her temperature up. But..."
"But?"
"We can’t stay out here forever. I’m running low on mana, and the wind is too cold... We have to get indoors as soon as possible!"
She was right.
Elsa’s [Cold Absorption] wasn’t nearly enough to block the freezing, gusting wind.
Aria turned to Walfred.
"Then we should head to Coral World Shelter..."
"...No, we’re going to the Coral Cave."
"What? B-but from here to the Coral Cave, even at top speed, it would take more than two hours..."
"There’s a way."
Walfred pulled a compass from inside his coat.
It was the [Returner’s Compass], which he had purchased some time ago from the hunter shop’s Special Sales.
-----
[Name]: Returner’s Compass
[Rank]: Legend
[Special Skill]: Return
[Enables spatial travel by designating any previously visited coordinates as the destination. However, travel to other dimensional planes is not possible.]
[Press the button on top of the compass and picture the desired coordinates to activate it instantly. This applies to all targets within the effective range.]
▷Effective range: 16-foot radius
▷Activation time: 30 seconds
▶Cooldown: 7 days
-----
An artifact that made spatial travel possible to anywhere he had ever set foot. Walfred walked toward Jenna, scanning the surroundings.
There were no other survivors.
The only ones left alive were Jenna and the children.
Once he had gathered with everyone, Walfred firmly pressed the button on top of the compass.
Click!
-----
[Returner’s Compass: Operating]
[Return: Activated]
[Select your desired coordinates.]
-----
And in that moment.
The countless places Walfred had passed through rose up in his mind like holograms. At the same time, an intuitive map was drawn in his head.
Without hesitation, Walfred found and selected the entrance of the Coral Cave Shelter.
-----
[Returner’s Compass]
[Coordinates selected.]
[24.553610 -81.779987]
[Time until activation]: 30 seconds
-----
The compass needle spun rapidly.
Watching Jenna cradled in Alice’s arms, Walfred clenched his fist, his face heavy with anguish.
’If I had only, been a little faster...’
Jenna would never have ended up like this.
Rage at himself and crushing guilt bore down on his shoulders. Squeezing his eyes shut, Walfred bit down hard on his lower lip.
And.
"..."
Soon, his gaze turned to the east.
Coral World Shelter, where Jenna had been staying.
Somewhere in there were the bastards who had driven her to this state.
’...I won’t let this slide.’
Once Jenna recovered.
Once enough safety was secured.
He would wipe out every last one of the bastards who took part in this, down to the very root.
Starting with Edward. That son of a bitch.
-----
[Returner’s Compass]
[Special Skill: (Return) Activated]
[Brace for impact.]
-----
And in that instant.
A burst of light erupted from the compass, wrapping around Walfred’s group and the children without a single gap.
Flash!
Moments later, all that remained where the light had faded were countless footprints. Everyone who had stood upon them vanished like smoke, without a single exception.