Steven stared at the open door with suspicion.

That puzzle room had been too quick, too painless. Was the System taking it easy on them?

… no. The system had said this Scenario’s difficulty was in its scope. It made sense that the individual rooms of the fort wouldn’t be crazy. The challenge came from the fort as a whole and the time crunch.

Steven‘s back itched. He hated not knowing how much time they had.

He turned to the others. “Everybody ready to move on?” He got a round of nods.

“Let’s try to be fast. I really don’t like the idea of the enemy snowzilla getting freed first.”

Del grinned. “You don’t wanna get crushed by Frosty’s big brother?”

Steven chuckled. “Well, there’s certainly be more boring ways to go. The people reading my tombstone wouldn’t know what to think.“

Micheal laughed as he watched the door. “Some speed running, huh?” He jabbed his thumb toward Markus. “Well, someone here benefits from constant momentum.” He pointed to Steven. “And someone else is very good at ensuring we keep that momentum.”

Micheal cracked his neck. “Let’s do this.”

They quickly gathered into formation.

“Ready?” Micheal asked.

Everyone tensed. “Go!”

They rushed into the next room. Steven took it in at a glance. It was a large kitchen with icy pots and pans hanging from the walls as servants tended to food cooking on blue flames.

The food was made of ice, so Steven wasn’t sure what the point of cooking it was, especially since the flames didn’t seem to be melting anything.

The servants grabbed Steven's attention. They weren’t snowmen. They were much closer to snow mannikins, dressed in medieval clothes that were so finely detailed Steven wanted to stop and stare. The only thing missing was their faces, which were as blank as the golems had been.

The nearest servant turned, paused for a beat, and then hurled a kitchen knife at Markus’s face. Steven blocked it with a shield as Buford hurtled at the thrower.

The servant went down, and the kitchen exploded into chaos.

The nearest servant grabbed a frying pan from the stove and rushed at Markus from the side while another charged Del with a knife.

Steven pulled his first shield towards his right hand, causing it to crash into the knife, wielding servant before it could reach Del.

Markus took care of his servant with a single punch.

As crap continued to fly, a servant near the back with fancier clothes than the rest raised its hands.

Every pot and pan in the room started to rattle and shake.

Steven blinked. Uh oh.

Margie yelped, then pointed. “Noodle, sick ‘em!”

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Pots and pans and stools started hurtling towards them. Markus, Buford, and Del jumped back to stand next to Steven as he called his tower shield. It formed sideways as a noodle raced forward.

The shield thumped into place, pulling a rush of energy from him.

There were a dozen shattering impacts in an instant as every loose object in the room crashed into the shield.

But a moment later, the onslaught ended, and Noodle barked once.

Steven dismissed the shield and saw the dog standing on the servant's crumbling body.

“Good boy!” Margie called.

They tore through the few remaining servants in seconds.

Del rolled her shoulder. “Okay, everyone good? Do we need to take a quick breather?”

They all shook their heads.

“Let’s keep going,“ Micheal said.

Markus, who was walking in circles, started for the door.

Steven knew why the man was doing that, but that didn’t make it look any less funny.

They rushed into the next room.

It was a classical wizard's lab with a glass orb, strange contraptions, potions, wires in the walls, and a cauldron in the center of the room.

Against one corner was a snowman with a pointy wizard's hat and a purple robe.

The snowman stared at Buford.

They were silent for several long seconds.

Nobody moved until the snowman raised one stick arm.

It pointed at Markus and exploded with blue light.

Markus burst forward, covering the room in a flash and punching for the snowman’s head.

An icy blast struck him in the chest but didn’t seem to do much—Markus’s punch connected, hitting a transparent barrier that hung around the snowman.

Steven slammed a shield into the barrier as Noodle, Del, and Buford crashed into it almost simultaneously.

The barrier shattered, and Markus drove an amber-wrapped fist into the snowman‘s carrot nose.

The wizard's hat went flying along with the snowman's head.

Micheal blinked and scratched his head. “That seemed easy.”

Markus shrugged. “I have an Augment that gives me elemental resistance scaling with my meter. My Meter’s about 75% full. I’m pretty sure that ice blast might’ve killed a normal person outright.“

Steven nodded slowly. “I guess we can get good match-ups sometimes. Well, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth.”

They regrouped and then headed into the next room.

The first thing that struck Steven was the lack of smell. He honestly should’ve placed it earlier, but they were so quick to fight in the previous rooms that he didn’t really have the chance.

After the smell, he noticed the table. The room itself was large, with a high ceiling and enough space to hold a decent-sized party.

The table, though, the damn thing was big enough to fit an entire sports team, stretching along the middle of the room.

It was adorned with ornate silverware and platters piled high with food from around the world.

It took his brain a moment to realize that the food was made of ice. It was so detailed.

Snowmen sat at the table, going through the motions like they were eating without bringing any food to their mouths.

That was equal parts funny and unsettling.

Steven‘s eyes passed over a fireplace that shown with blue flames before settling on the head of the table.

And the knight that sat there.

Their form was massive, pushing towards 7 feet, and so broad that it was a wonder their chair didn’t break beneath them.

The armor was shockingly detailed, with a symbol of a roaring lion carved onto the breastplate. Steven could see each interlocking piece of icy armor shift as the figure turned to stare at them. It’s massive gauntlets tightened on its fork and knife.

The lord of the snow fort.

Steven swallowed.

They found the boss.