’I wonder what sort of ability the Beast has. A regular ice-based gift wouldn’t be enough to make me feel this cold.’
This thought passed through Jason’s mind as he walked close to one of the silver statues in the ballroom, but Jason’s brow suddenly furrowed when he was close enough to get a good look at the statue. The statue was of two Janta Centaurs that were in a dancing pose. The male Janta had his hand around the waist of the female, and the female had a smile on her face as the male was in the middle of swinging her on the dance floor! But something about the statue stuck out to Jason immediately! The statue was too perfect! Jason had seen perfectly made statues before, but he had never seen anything like this in his life, and that one fact suddenly brought up an entirely new outlook for Jason. Jason looked around at all the statues in the room, and he noticed how every single statue was arranged in a natural position! The statues literally looked like they were partygoers who had been in the middle of enjoying their time at the ball!
’These aren’t fucking statues... they’re creatures that were frozen in place.’
Jason felt his heart beat spike when this thought crossed his mind! The statues all had natural expressions on their faces, and none of them even looked like they had been in the process of trying to escape from something, and this told Jason that they had all been frozen before they even knew what was happening! This was a flash freeze of the highest quality! Jason realised that he had to be extremely careful when crossing the territory of this beast. If it was capable of doing something like this, then there was a chance that it would have a skill that would be too quick for Jason to avoid! Jason really wasn’t willing to find out what it was like to become a statue. Jason looked around at all the statues one last time, and then he pulled up his coat collar and let out a foggy breath before he began to walk out of the ballroom!
As Jason walked, he noticed that there were even more silver statues all around the castle. There were statues of Janta dressed as slaves, royalty, and even some that were carrying swords at their side like warriors. Not a single one of them managed to survive the flash freeze! They were all smiling and laughing with each other, and if not for the fact that they were frozen solid, Jason would have thought that they were still alive!
Jason walked calmly past all the frozen statues, and it wasn’t long before he reached the large double doors that led outside the castle. The doors were slightly open, but there were specks of snow falling through the opening to show that the outside was far colder than whatever Jason was feeling in here. Just at the side of the door, Jason noticed that there was a piece of paper stabbed into the wall with a knife. There were some writings on the paper, and Jason walked close to it, and he frowned when he didn’t recognize the language.
[The user has discovered a new language.]
[Would the user like to learn the Hanir tongue? Yes/No?]
Jason chose yes, and he felt that same sensation coming over his brain and tongue as the language was slowly integrated into his body before Jason turned back to the writing on the paper, and he tried to read them once again.
From whence the highest star dies,
And the deepest pitfalls,
The beast awaits us all.
Beware the screaming beast of snow,
From their call, the beast will know.
It appears always without fail,
Before the strongest it will prevail.
’A poem? Who the fuck would write this? Is it talking about the beast of the apocalypse?’
Jason tried to figure out what the poem was trying to say, but he didn’t really understand it. He knew that the beast in the fifth line meant the beast of the apocalypse, but what did the Beast of snow in the fourth line mean? And the most confusing part was the first three lines. The highest star and pitfalls? That could mean anything. Why would they even write something like this here? The piece of paper had also been frozen solid by the extreme cold, but Jason had a feeling that it hadn’t been here for as long as the other stone statues. It had likely been left here by someone who had stumbled into this desolate world before him. Jason read the poem a second time, and he frowned again as he decided to just memorize it. Jason was sure he would figure out the meaning of the poem later.
Jason turned towards the exit, and he grabbed one of the doors before he began to calmly pull it back without much effort, but Jason felt his entire body shiver when an intense breeze suddenly slammed into him!
WOOOSH!
’Fucking hell.’
Jason cursed as he took a step back! What the actual fuck!? Jason narrowed his eyes in anger towards the cold outside, and he had to squint as he braced himself and stepped out of the door. The outside was just as much of a winter wasteland as Jason expected it to be. In front of the castle was a wide region that had been frozen solid, and it was covered with a thick blanket of snow that was constantly falling from the sky. Jason looked down, and he frowned when he saw that there were some steps that vanished under the ice covering everything. And when Jason leaned down and cleared out some of the thick snow, he was even more shocked when he realised that the steps continued down into the ice!
The ice that Jason could see right now was just a massive flood that had reached up to the doors of the castle and frozen solid to form a new ground level! There was an entire portion of this kingdom that had been lost beneath the ice and would never be discovered again! Jason sniffled calmly and he looked up at the distance once more. It was as though everything Jason learned about this beast only made him less eager to meet with it. Jason was certain that if he weren’t as strong as he was, he wouldn’t even be able to move around as easily as he was right now.
[The user is currently within the kingdom of Gran in the world of Jaeran. This kingdom once boasted the largest population in the world of Jaeran, and there were vast cities and forests surrounding this castle, but it would appear that an attack from the Beast of the Apocalypse rendered the city inhospitable.]
Jason scoffed at the system’s notification. This city was a little worse than just ’inhospitable’. Living here would be no different from a death sentence. Jason shoved his hands into his coat pockets, and after one final look around, he began the long trek across the desolate icescape.
....
[The World of Jaeran]
Back in the world of Jaeran that Jason had just left, in a large valley within a massive forest, the Machina army had set up camp as they prepared for their next planned attack on Jason. The army had arranged thousands of tents all across the valley, and at the centre of the camp stood the largest tent where all the Generals in charge of this mission were currently holding a meeting. The Machina had learned a lot from their previous interactions with Jason over the past month, and they now knew that they had to be swift and decisive when dealing with Jason, so they had sent out an army of three thousand Machina with ten SSS-Rank Generals that were in charge of ensuring Jason was brought back dead. And one of the Generals in charge of the army was Freya, the female Machina who had been at the Stone Catacombs during the previous hearing.