Fragments of ice scattered everywhere as I watched the Rank 5 monster burst out of the ground behind us where we had been standing, its terrifying roar echoing behind us and filling my head.
This thing wasn’t like the Demon of Dreams or the Nightmare Flower, creatures specialized in the mind, which made them weaker compared to other monsters.
No, this thing was built purely for killing.
Its gaze sent chills down my spine as Elliot and I reached a dead end where a wall of ice several meters thick and dozens of meters tall appeared before us.
Normally, something like this wouldn’t matter to us.
But now, with a monster behind us that could resume chasing us at any moment, slowing down for even a second wasn’t an option.
"Elliot, do something!" I shouted toward him so he could hear me through the roaring wind.
Elliot focused his gaze ahead before grabbing my arm the moment we reached the ice wall.
In the next instant, I felt space distort around me and the environment shift as we crossed to the other side in a single moment, bypassing dozens of meters instantly.
Elliot released my arm and kept running while I stared slightly stunned by what he had just done.
"You can carry other people with you now?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but it’s extremely exhausting... and incredibly difficult."
"Is it chasing us?"
Through my senses, I could still feel the monster where it had emerged. "No... it’s not following us... but don’t stop and keep running at full speed."
Elliot stared at me while running, his voice pushing through the roaring wind into my ears. "Do you see now?... And you were treating this whole thing like a joke."
"A joke? No, I said we could escape, and we did... though we still need to go back there anyway."
We continued getting farther and farther away until the monster completely vanished from my senses.
Elliot turned his head and glanced behind us, but there was nothing except ice blocking his vision. "I think she doesn’t want to stray too far from there because of her children."
I nodded. "That’s obvious... and it’s not good for us either."
Elliot shifted his focus forward again. "What are we going to do now?"
I looked toward a certain direction where the others were waiting for us.
"Go back."
...
After escaping and making sure that thing wasn’t following us, we made our way back.
By the time we reached the place where we had left the others, the sun had already hidden its final fragments beneath the horizon, leaving behind only a fading orange glow across the sky.
We walked toward the bottom of the icy mountain we had descended earlier, where I could see a small entrance carved into the ice along with someone sitting near it, holding a piece of bone while carving it with a long dagger.
The moment we got closer, he raised his head, his brown eyes staring at us.
Elliot raised his hand and waved. "Hey, hi Kyle."
Kyle nodded in response while hiding both the dagger and the bone from his hand, staring at us expectantly. "So, did you find it?"
Elliot nodded. "Yeah... kind of."
The other frowned after hearing that answer. "Kind of?"
I quickly approached the entrance. I really didn’t want to explain this twice. "It’s a long story. Let’s gather the others first."
Kyle nodded at my words while standing up. "They’re inside."
Of course I know they’re inside... I can sense everything here.
The three of us entered the shelter carved into the mountain, and after several meters we reached an open area where the other three sat holding steaming cups.
The scent of calming herbs slipped into my nose.
The moment we entered, they all turned toward us while Leona smiled in greeting. "You guys are back."
I nodded. "Yeah, we came back from running all over the place while you sat here drinking tea."
"What did you expect?... That we’d kneel outside while letting the cold freeze our noses waiting for your arrival and cheer for you, oh great lord?" Izel replied.
I walked over before throwing myself onto a chair. "More or less... yeah."
Ellen looked at me expectantly, interrupting our little exchange. "What’s the result?"
I smiled while glancing at everyone in the room. "There’s good news and bad news... which do you want to hear first?"
"The good news." Leona answered immediately.
I shrugged. "The good news is that we found the ruins... well, I’m not completely sure. All I sensed was what seemed to be an entrance leading underground."
"That’s amazing." Both Leona and Izel smiled at the same time while Kyle visibly trembled slightly.
Ellen frowned, her gaze stopping on me. "And the bad news?"
I raised a finger while everyone fell silent. "About that... there’s a mother living there with her children, and she’s preventing anyone from approaching."
I smiled before adding, "She almost bit Elliot and me when we got close."
Izel tilted her head in confusion. "Bit you?..."
I nodded. "Yeah."
Ellen sighed, clearly starting to lose her patience. "Please speak directly."
At that point, Elliot stepped in and explained briefly. "It’s a Rank 5 Evil monster, the source of the sound we heard earlier."
Everyone fell silent while I sighed and gave the hero a look. "See? You ruined the mood."
Ellen looked at me before asking, "Can’t we go around them or ignore them and dig from somewhere else?"
I shook my head. "Unfortunately no. We already tried, but she detected our presence from one and a half kilometers away."
"What about her children?" Leona asked, and I answered,
"I don’t know, we didn’t see them, but from what I sensed, they’re only Infant Rank."
Ellen placed her hand beneath her chin. "And the mother monster itself?"
"It’s strong... a Rank 5 monster born for killing with a strange ability."
Izel set her cup down. "Do you have any idea what its ability is?"
I nodded. "Yeah, we saw it kill a bigger monster. At that time, it opened its mouth like it was about to roar, but it didn’t. After that, the other monster froze in place."
"That’s all we’ve seen so far."
I finished speaking, and silence returned to the place for a while.
"One problem after another... this never ends." Izel muttered angrily.
Ellen’s eyes met mine, more serious than ever before. "Caius, what do you think? If we fight it, can we win?"
I remained silent for a moment in thought before answering, "I haven’t seen much... but if everyone is prepared to die..."
"Our chances are around forty percent or less."
Their gazes filled with shock and disbelief.
"Forty percent... and we’re prepared to die?" Leona repeated behind me while I nodded.
It wasn’t like I was exaggerating or anything, but this was different from every battle we had fought before.
We had become much stronger and far more efficient in combat, but the gap between Rank 4 and Rank 5 was still enormous, not to mention that none of us were even close to Rank 4 yet.
On top of that, it possessed a strange ability that froze its enemies... obviously, this wasn’t something where we held any advantage over our opponent.
Ellen sighed in frustration. "Evil monsters are Evil monsters after all. We won’t be lucky with them every time."
"But that’s only if we charge at it directly." Kyle’s calm voice echoed through the icy hall.
He had remained silent until now.
"We don’t need to do that... what we need is to observe it, understand it, then find the best way to slaughter it."
I turned my head toward him with a smile on my face.
"You’re right... we don’t need to become monsters too... we’re rational humans after all."
I don’t know why, but I felt their gazes change toward me after I said that last part. But who cared.
I pushed myself up from my seat.
"So let’s head back there and see if there’s another simpler way... or just do what Kyle suggested."
...
After taking a short rest, we left that place and started heading back to where we had been a few hours earlier.
But this time, we were six instead of two.
The place was dozens of kilometers away, so it took time to reach it, and naturally, the path wasn’t free of monsters.
So by the time we reached a place where we could see the blood staining the ice and where the monster had shattered the ground to emerge before us, the sunset colors had already vanished from the sky.
At the same time, the stars began appearing one after another high above, announcing the beginning of this long night.
Standing atop a tall piece of ice, we remained there while the cold wind struck our bodies, sending chills beneath my clothes.
"So, is it there?" Kyle asked while staring into the distance.
"Yeah... it’s there."