A cold wind that passed through the frozen streets of Frostheart made a sound like a distant moan.
Lian and Seris slowly walked through the city’s massive gate. Neither of them spoke. Their senses were fully focused on their surroundings to make sure they would not be surrounded again, attacked secretly, or trapped in a snare.
Frostheart was much larger than it had seemed from a distance. Huge ice buildings stood on both sides of the streets.
Blue crystal pillars rose from the ground. Towers that reached hundreds of meters high were lost in the blizzard.
At the same time, a suffocating silence had taken over the entire city. Apart from the sound of the wind, there was no noise. As if the whole city had died centuries ago.
"I don’t like this place." Lian said quietly.
"Me neither." Seris answered without looking around.
She almost never liked anything. But this time, even she was cautious.
Hidden areas can be a big opportunity, but at the same time they can be deadly. God knows what dangers are hidden in there.
If they are not careful, they might die without a grave.
They continued moving. After a few minutes, Lian suddenly stopped. His gaze fixed on the snow.
"Wait."
Seris also looked down.
Footprints.
Huge footprints, as big as a large plate. As if a multi-ton creature had passed through.
But these were not the only footprints. A few meters ahead, another footprint could be seen. This one did not look like a claw. It looked more like the footprint of a giant reptile.
And a little farther... six parallel tracks could be seen on the ground.
As if a six-legged creature had passed through.
Seris frowned.
"These do not belong to one creature."
"Obviously." Lian bent down. The footprints were not completely fresh, but they did not look old either.
And stranger than anything, all of them were moving in one direction. Toward the center of the city. According to his observations, they were not far from the city center.
And these footprints showed that several different types of monsters had passed through here and gone toward the city center. But why would all of them go in that direction?
He examined the area for a few minutes. Then his frown deepened.
"No footprints lead out of the city."
Seris also noticed. All the footprints had entered the city. None had left. As if all the creatures that entered Frostheart...
Disappeared inside it.
A cold wind blew. They continued on their path. Sometimes they entered houses. Sometimes they examined buildings.
And the more they saw, the worse they felt. In one house, the dinner table was still set.
The plates were in their places. Even a frozen piece of bread was on the table. In another house, an open book could be seen on a desk, as if its owner had only left for a few minutes.
But the layers of ice on them showed that centuries had passed since that time.
"It’s as if time stopped." Lian whispered this sentence quietly.
Seris did not answer. She had no explanation for what she was seeing either. There was no sign of human bodies. Either they had been completely destroyed, or they had managed to escape this city.
But even if they had managed to escape the city, how far could they have gone?
They continued moving. After a while, they reached a large square. Lian’s eyes widened a little.
In the center of the square stood massive statues. Armored warriors. Mages with giant staffs. Knights riding unknown creatures.
All made of ice. Lian checked twice to make sure whether these were frozen humans or actual statues.
And the result did not surprise him much.
"They were real humans once, but now they are completely frozen." Lian sighed. These were probably the guardians of this city.
Guardians who wanted to protect this city from something... but this was what happened to all of them.
"But they are all looking at one point." Seris, who had noticed something, added.
The strange thing was that all the statues were looking at one point. Toward the center of the city. Toward a castle.
A massive castle that was taller than all the other buildings in the city. Its towers were lost in the blizzard. A faint blue light shone from its ice windows.
Seris was the first to break the silence.
"We go there."
Lian nodded. He was thinking the same thing. If any place was going to have information or treasure, it would definitely be there.
They continued on their path toward the city center. The closer they got, the more footprints appeared.
Bigger. Stranger. And of course, more terrifying. On some walls, claw marks several meters long could be seen.
Some buildings looked like they had been cut in half with a single blow. But despite all this, there were no corpses. They did not even see any more frozen guardians.
There were no monster corpses either that would show a fight between monsters.
After a while, they reached the central square. And then... both stopped.
In the middle of the square, something stood. At first glance, it looked like an ice hill. But when they got closer... they realized they were wrong.
This was a creature.
A monster. An ice giant. Over fifteen meters tall. Its body was like a mountain of blue crystal and ice.
Two massive horns stuck out from its head. Its hands looked like the claws of an ancient giant. And on its chest, dozens of broken ice spears were embedded.
As if an entire army had once fought to stop it, but had failed.
Lian swallowed.
A panel immediately appeared in front of him.
[Frostfallen Titan]
[Rank: Fallen]
[Level: ???]
His eyes narrowed. A Fallen monster! This creature was on the same bloodline and status level as that Fallen Wolf!
And worse than that, this monster’s level was at least ten levels above him! That meant it was many times stronger than that Fallen Wolf. This monster had power equal to a normal rank level 30 or even 35 monster.
And this was not good news at all.
"Can you see its level?" He looked at Seris. This girl had a higher level than him. She might be able to see this monster’s level.
"Yes. Level 19." Seris nodded, but a small frown could also be seen on her face.
Lian also frowned. Level 19. That was 12 levels above him. And it was a Fallen monster. This was a big problem.
"Can you defeat it?"
"I don’t think so." Seris thought for a moment and then said in a normal tone. But her answer did not make the situation much better.
Lian stared at the ice giant for a few seconds. No movement could be seen. No breath. No sound. Just a massive pile of ice.
"Do you think it is alive?" He added.
"I don’t think so."
But at that very moment, a sound was heard.
Crack...
A weak sound, like ice cracking. Both immediately fell silent. Their eyes locked onto the ice giant.
A few seconds passed.
Nothing happened. Then again.
Crack...
This time clearer. One of the layers of ice on the creature’s chest cracked. The silence of the square suddenly became heavier.
Neither spoke.
But both understood one thing. Whatever was in front of them was not completely dead. And it might wake up soon.