Chapter 62: Hold On Tight
After leaving Bayway Station.
Walfred raced south along the Northeast Corridor tracks with Elsa on his back.
He blew past Crown Heights Station in no time, then reached Elizabeth, Linden, and Metropark. His speed was, quite simply, beyond imagination.
"Burst."
[Snow Walker]’s action speed boost.
On top of that, with the special skill [Instant Burst] added in, Walfred’s body tore across the snow-covered tracks without leaving so much as an afterimage.
Riding on his back, Elsa whooped with excitement like she was on an amusement park ride.
"Whoa! This is so fast. Hee hee!"
There was one more reason he could move at high speed.
Elsa’s stamina was extraordinary, far beyond that of other kids her age.
Probably because she wasn’t human, but a dragon.
He’d assumed he could keep running like that until his stamina gave out, but things didn’t go as smoothly as Walfred expected.
’Monsters...’
The moment they passed Metropark Station, the number of monsters prowling around the tracks began to grow.
One, two, five, ten.
And it peaked at New Brunswick North Station.
"Whoa! There are so many bears!"
Elsa shouted, pointing in every direction.
Just as she said, the station had been overrun by dozens of Snow Bears. A monster at the very top of D-rank, a beast with toughness and strength that no ordinary bear could even compare to.
"Grrrrr!"
The Snow Bears surrounded Walfred, their blood-red eyes flashing. They cut off his escape route, poised to charge the moment they saw an opening.
’If I could use Icicle Chaser, I could take care of this easily...’
But he’d already burned it back at Princeton Junction Station against a pack of White Boars. It was still on cooldown.
So hand-to-hand it is, then.
Walfred spoke to Elsa.
"Elsa."
"Hm?"
"Hold on tight."
"Okay!"
With that spirited answer as his cue.
Walfred bent his knees and stretched both hands toward the frozen tracks. And then.
"Frozen Weapon."
An ice axe appeared in each hand.
At that signal, Walfred’s body vanished.
He leapt in the blink of an eye.
He swung his ice axes with all his might into the thick of the Snow Bears.
Whoosh! KA-BOOM!
With a sound that split the wind, a powerful shockwave swept in every direction. The Snow Bear he’d marked as his target was cleaved in half with a single blow.
Splatter! Thud-thud-thud!
Chunks of innards and blood rained down.
The Snow Bears, snapping back to their senses a beat too late, let out unearthly howls and charged at Walfred.
But not one of them landed a hit.
"Burst."
Vanishing in the blink of an eye, Walfred reappeared right in the middle of the Snow Bears.
Then, adding rotational force to his entire body, he spun like a top, swinging his axes in a whirlwind.
Whoosh! KA-BOOM!
The axes, loaded with terrifying force, smashed everything around him indiscriminately. The sounds of shattering bone and flying flesh rang out without pause.
Against his physical abilities enhanced to the extreme, the merely D-rank Snow Bears were swept away like fallen leaves, unable to put up any real resistance.
And then.
THWACK!
With the last remaining Snow Bear’s head sent flying as the final note, the battle ended.
Just two minutes. That was all it took to wipe out dozens of Snow Bears.
"Hee hee! That was fun!"
Elsa beamed.
Clinging to Walfred, she said the part where he spun like a top had been especially fun.
The innocent comment was so completely at odds with the surrounding scenery of blood, guts, and chunks of meat that Walfred burst out laughing in spite of himself.
Then he happened to glance up at the sky.
’It’s already gotten this late...’
The sky was steadily darkening.
Night was coming.
’No wonder the monsters kept multiplying.’
It must have been because the day was ending.
Most monsters are nocturnal, becoming far more active once night falls. Pressing on like this would be inefficient.
’Better to rest somewhere nearby and move on.’
But where?
The closest spot was New Brunswick North Station, which they’d just passed.
But the area around it was far too open and exposed for resting. There were plenty of nocturnal monsters too, like White Boars and Snow Bears.
’Somewhere a bit cozier would be nice.’
Thanks to [Blessing of the Frost Dragon] and [Cold Resistance], he’d grown much hardier against the cold, but when it came to resting or sleeping, he still wanted shelter from the blizzard.
Then something suddenly came to mind.
’Oh, right. Come to think of it...’
The next stop was Trenton Station, wasn’t it?
Trenton Station was much larger than New Brunswick North, and it even had a massive underground shopping arcade.
The perfect place to spend a night.
Walfred picked up the pace, and before long, they arrived at the Trenton Station platform.
Just then.
Ding!
[Skill proficiency has reached its maximum.]
[Skill level has increased.]
[Support: Snow Walker (Lv.1) → (Lv.2)]
[Snow Walker] had leveled up.
Probably thanks to running across snowfields all day and spamming Burst.
Walfred immediately pulled up the details.
-----
[Support: Snow Walker (Lv.2)]
[Greatly increases action speed while on snow or ice. After remaining on snow or ice for a set time, ’Instant Burst’ becomes available.]
▷Mana cost: 30 per minute
▷Action speed: +220% (+440%)
▷Charge time: 14 seconds
▶Instant Burst distance: 100 ft (200 ft)
[Maximum held stacks: 3]
-----
’Not bad.’
Action speed had increased, Instant Burst’s charge time had dropped, and the burst distance had grown.
It was a shame the stack count hadn’t gone up, but even so, this was a sizable improvement.
’If I just had one more mobility skill like Snow Walker, that would be perfect...’
Walfred silently swallowed his disappointment.
Of course, today’s journey hadn’t been a short one either.
From Bayway Station to Trenton Station was over twelve miles in a straight line alone.
Factor in the blizzard conditions and the monster fights, and that was a remarkable pace.
"Daddy, Daddy."
Elsa piped up.
"Are we resting here today?"
"Yeah. Let’s find a good spot."
Walfred looked around the station building with Elsa, scouting for a place to spend the night.
Finding a suitable spot wasn’t easy.
The first floor was utterly barren.
The nearby shelter had probably stripped it of all its supplies long ago.
’What should I do?’
Go up to the second floor?
Or head underground?
Walfred deliberated. The underground arcade would be best for escaping the cold, but in his experience, places like that almost always had a shelter already set up.
As he weighed his options.
"Hey, you there!"
A voice suddenly rang out.