After sunrise, we had no other choice but to break camp and travel under the harsh weather. Sleepy remained outside his crate. His nose shone brightly, the light visible even under the sunlight filtering through the snow. The little guy didn't shiver or show any signs of being bothered by the cold. William was stoic as he moved forward. But I could tell he hated the blizzard.

"That's interesting," Kris commented on Sleepy's glowing nose. "It… Sleepy didn't do this sort of trick before, did he?"

"I don't think so. It started this morning. But no, his nose hadn't shined like this before. My current belief is that the glow is an effect of a Perk he earned recently."

"It had no effect on Sleepy's disposition, I assume?"

"It seems to make him immune to the cold weather and also warms his surroundings," I said, leaving the part about walking on air out.

"Let's move, then. It's good to have a portable source of heat. It might be a sign he has a Fire affinity."

It seemed that once he was sure it wasn't dangerous, the Mage lost interest. It made me less paranoid.

Visibility was bad. We had to rely on Kris's compass to navigate. My concern wasn't getting closer to the source of this weather, it was surviving it.

Minutes after we left camp, I noticed an odd phenomenon. Snowflakes that got too close to Sleepy liquefied, causing a cascade of chill water droplets. These were even more dangerous than the snow since the water could soak wherever it could and then freeze again once out of Sleepy's bubble.

I had to return the little guy to his crate. He wasn't happy about it but once I closed the door, the nose stopped glowing and the temperature dropped below freezing. The pull on my MP pool to power the environmental protection enchantment increased.

*

*

The blizzard showed no signs of abating. For five days, we trudged through an ever-increasing snow layer, following Kris's compass. We should be already at the source but our speed was abysmal.

The only one who had no trouble moving was William who for some reason could walk on the fresh powder and not fall. Seeing him walk on unpacked snow gave me an idea.

"We need snowshoes," I said the next time we made camp. "We won't get anywhere without them."

I should've thought about snowshoes before but it wasn't something I ever saw outside survival guides. I knew how to make one, at least.

I sent and cut green branches. With a spool of twine, I tied the branches to make a paddle, tying flat sections of bark to close the gaps. I left some thin and flexible branches sticking out the top to tie the snowshoes around our boots.

That gave us much-needed mobility. Four days later, the compass was slowly turning.

"We are close but moving on a tangent," Kris said. "Funny. I guess something is messing with our perception."

I tried to perceive something in that direction but the blizzard made it impossible.

"Let's keep our wits about us. I hope you invested in Wisdom and Intelligence, George. We will need it."

I didn't show any reaction. It was true that without my parallel progression, I would be starving for Attribute points.

We moved carefully, checking the compass all the time. Something was trying to redirect my attention elsewhere as I often found something trivial trying to grab it. But the more we resisted it, the easier it was to notice the distractions.

"This settles it," Kris said. "Some passive effect is keeping us from reaching our target. I say passive because if the effect had a will behind it, we should see the effect intensify or a subtle change of tactics. Yet, it remains the same. I must say, I am impressed. I believed you would completely fall prey to the distraction effect."

"My Class is categorized as wilderness, investigation, and support, not pure combat. I have enough Intelligence and Wisdom."

The categories were created by scholars trying to make sense of the System. Whether the System also had a similar kind of classification was anyone's guess.

Kris nodded and cracked a wide smile, "And a pretty good natural talent to boost these. What a blessing."

We kept going in silence. All our focus was on making sense of our clouded surroundings and keeping the misdirection magic from leading us astray.

Kris came close enough to rub shoulders.

"We are close. Less than ten meters," he said.

Despite my enchanted cloak, the cold was biting at my bones.

*

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

*

I prepared my bow. Some believed bows had a minimum range of a few meters but it was a myth. So long the target was an arrow's length away from the bow, I could shoot it with full power. Closer than that and the string wouldn't completely transfer the energy.

Most weapons, even swords, shared this problem, with daggers and knives the honorable mention.

I saw a humanoid blur of green skin move between piles of snow. Didn't shoot on purpose.

The blizzard picked up pace, strong winds swirling the snow and keeping it in the air. Our visibility became worse. Kris created a sphere of fire above his head. The snow that hit the giant ball hissed as it became vapor instantly.

I could see that Kris was spending most of his focus on that spell. It couldn't be easy to antagonize a blizzard.

Another green blur. It was a lanky tall creature with a wide and flat head, covered in green fur. I shot at it but a combination of strong winds and supernatural agility allowed the creature to dodge.

We needed to take away its advantage. An archer and a Mage against what definitely was a melee-focused monster was a recipe for disaster.

The blizzard. If we could get rid of the snow…

The monster came to strike Kris from behind. A jet of fire shot from the big ball, burning the snow and forcing the monster to back off, aborting the assault.

Interesting. Kris had his eyes closed, now that I paid attention. Could it be that Kris's senses extended from that sphere? Did he have a full all-around vision?

I had to do something. It was too fast for me to shoot without at least more time to aim. The snow had to go.

It came for me. I swung my bow and parried a claw meant to disembowel me. The green monster and I locked eyes as it snarled with pointy, yellowed teeth at me.

William bleated a war cry and charged. The monster disengaged before the Tityron could get to it. William was just too slow.

I glanced at Sleepy's carrier and an idea came to mind. I shoved an arm under the bowstring and released Scout's Oath. I quickly opened the latch and commanded Sleepy to come out.

He jumped out and walked four steps in the air. His nose painted the snow red and soon droplets of water flew in all directions.

Kris's fire sphere grew in intensity, devouring these droplets with a series of hisses.

The stinging cold abated. Visibility improved and I saw the monster ten meters away. I noticed it had two triangular cat-like ears but no other discernible feline features.

As fast as I could, I pushed my bow up and moved my left hand to snatch it from the air while drawing an arrow in the same motion. Nock, draw, aim, shoot. The monster ran left but my arrow flew true. Not where it was but where it went.

I struck the small of its back but the arrow barely penetrated its skin. Most of its force was blunted by its HP. The wound was so shallow the arrow dangled from his skin.

The monster hissed, the pain elevating its anger to a new level. Before it was toying with us, the monster's cruel nature made it wish to hurt us slowly to satisfy its dark needs.

Now it meant business. With a guttural howl, it rushed straight at us.

Only to parry a firebolt with the middle of its chest. The monster's fur burnt, revealing a pink skin underneath.

It flinched in pain. Then three arrows sprouted from its chest, all three bouncing off a rib and dangling. Five hits. A melee-oriented monster could have an HP divisor of nine.

The arrows scared the monster. They hit right where the heart should be in a humanoid and it understood the implications. It stared at me with its yellow eyes full of anger, a grin that was too wide, stretching all the way to the edges of its bulging, triangular cheeks. One of us wouldn't leave these woods alive.

A black blur struck the monster's waist. While the arrows flew, William glided over the snow to deliver a silent charge. Its two long horns caught the sides of the monster's pelvis, knocking it down.

Two clawed arms rose to tear the daring Tityron to ribbons. I doubted the wool would save William from a nasty wound.

I nocked two arrows, one on each side of the bow staff. I was about to fire when a giant winged snowflake crossed my sight. No, it was a rabbit butt. Sleepy dove and bit the monster's face.

I aimed and fired. The dual shot was a hard trick to pull and very niche but here it served me well. The arrows lodged themselves in the monster's forearms and this time, penetrated more than just the tip.

"Heel!" I shouted to recall my bonds. My will carried through the links between our souls and they disengaged.

The monster's nose was missing its tip and was bleeding. I couldn't believe Sleepy did such damage to it.

Three arrows flew in quick succession to cover my pet's retreat. The monster, no longer protected by its HP, used its arms to cover its vitals.

Once Sleepy and William were out of the way, a massive tongue of fire descended on the monster as it accelerated forward to give chase.

I drew another three arrows and shouted commands. "Sleepy! Crate! William! Heel!"

The monster tried to evade the fire circling us to the right. If Kris kept the attack, it would strike me or my pets.

But now I had the measure of its speed. The first two arrows flew a little ahead of its path, forcing it to halt and stagger. The third struck its ear hole.

The magic stirring the blizzard vanished. The supernatural winds died down immediately but the snow already in the air kept falling for a few more minutes.

> For killing level 31 Green-inch, you gained 1,792 Experience points.

It was not enough to level but I was close to level 21. Sleepy and William, however, both advanced 2 levels from this fight. The amount of Attribute Points I got from both bonds more than surpassed anything a sub-Class could give. And I could bind two more beasts, if I found the right creatures.

Kris' compass exploded into a shower of colorful confetti. Most of it burned when the pieces of paper touched the giant fire orb. Kris was unhurt and dismissed his spell once the surprise wore off.

The area around us warmed up really fast. Sleepy's nose lost its glow.

> You earned an achievement! Holiday Cheer! Earned for defeating a monster who really hates holidays on a very special day.

> Legend has it that a very special child was once born to save all of humanity. The world who witnessed it died but those of us who survived still remember. And hey, humanity still exists! Perhaps the child who was born on this day almost two hundred thousand years ago did save humanity. Who could know for sure? It's a matter of faith. This is one of the achievements you can talk about. All that you want.

> Benefit: You and your current bonds gained 10% efficiency for Wisdom, Charisma, and Clarity.

I stared at Kris. "Did you know we would earn this achievement? Did you get the achievement as well?"

The Mage was as puzzled as I was. "No to knowing, yes to earning it. I only knew that the compass would take us to the creature responsible for the snow. From what I understood of the System message, it has something to do with that doomsday church that doesn't worship the Triumvirate."

"I'm not complaining. Do you think… are they right?"

"Perhaps if we were still in the old world. But not anymore. Koyphyvv has existed for fifty thousand years and still has a lot of tales to be told."

"Well, mission accomplished. Shall we go back?"

"Ho, ho, ho," Kris Kringle, the king of jingle, laughed. Bells rang. "Let's go home. Merry holidays, George."