“No…” Illyan, who was in a daze, muttered as he saw Degres fall in such a way.

“What the hell is this monster?” On the other hand, others had much more violent reactions. To the point that they even forgot for a moment that the ground under their feet was crumbling as they roared in indignance at those monsters.

“Fucking undeads!”

Even Zers, who was usually calm and collected at important times, was now watching with bloodshot eyes at that monster. It was so quick that nobody could do anything as the monsters were hiding behind ice protrusion and were using the fog to hide their tracks.

“Aaaarhg!” As the first one, he wanted to charge at the beast who ended his father figure.

This roar woke Illyan from his lamenting as he stared at the beast. He saw how it was looking at him with nobody else in its sight. It was as if time slowed down when he saw its rotten half-missing cheeks inch up in a disgusting smile as it crouched looking ready to lunge at him.

But this time it was different. He felt it. The malevolent energy flowing throughout its body and the pressure it gave off. He didn’t know if it was only because his younger self was too young and weak to perceive it or if the beast got stronger… However, he was sure of one thing.

Right now, it was the strongest creature he ever saw.

Realizing this, he kept eye contact with it to not lose sight of it and with hurry grabbed Zers who was now running in front of him with a lifted spear.

“Ah-?!” What are you doing, Stone?!” Zers’ furious roar resounded as he didn’t understand why Illyan would stop him.

However, Illyan completely ignored him.

When he got hold of him he used his full force to force him back and hurled him as far as possible.

“Wha-?”

Just as Zers was flying in the air, the monster didn’t miss the opportunity, and with its great speed, it disappeared. That alarmed Illyan but unfortunately, he was too late to dodge.

Boom

Squelch

With great force, he flew across the land as his chest was lacerated with deep wounds.

However, with great control over his body, he flipped himself and landed on the ground. He ignored the lacerations and instead focused on the beast who had already closed the gap and used its massive body to its fullest advantage.

“Ugh!” Without any other option, Illyan could only defend frantically. It growled as its empty sockets looked at him. He felt the resentment in them that he now could finally understand. It wasn’t just resentment towards him. It felt more like resentment towards everything.

And this emotion fueled its power as it charged at him again and again.

Unfortunately, this time it didn’t just attack. It wanted to grab him. Before, he used the force behind its claws to make distance, but now he couldn’t and instead had to dodge at all cost.

Zers, who just fell on his feet, opened his eyes wide as all of those several attacks happened in just a few seconds. If he were where he stood before, he would be already minced meat. This was as cold water doused his bubbling rage, and several drops of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

But he couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. Soon, another beast attacked him with ferociousness he never saw in any other species. It was using everything to inflict any kind of injury as it could. It was clawing at him, trying to bite him, and even charging at him with their antlers.

The only thing Zers could do was to keep a distance with his spear.

However, that wouldn’t solve anything as more and more people died at the hands of those monsters and were then eaten. Some were even eaten alive by those of a bigger stature.

Seeing this, he could only clench his teeth.

“Agh!” With a mighty roar, he charged at it and exchanged blow for blow. The beast was already half-rotten. There is no way that it can move after losing the means to!

In this manner, he exchanged over ten moves with the creature until it finally took the last breath.

“Hah…Hah…Hah…”

Heavily breathing, he tried to catch his breath as he looked around. It was mayhem.

The only luck was that there was a small number of these creatures.

However, he noticed that the ice fog was once again returning. If that really happens, all of them would perish here.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

It was only after he saw the frozen fur on their rotten bodies and the cold air coming out of their maw that he realized why this was happening.

‘Wait, are those beasts behind this fog?!’

With eyes full of horror, he started to run towards his comrades to warn them.

Unfortunately, the places to tread on were slowly disappearing as the fissures were widening and new cracks were created…

……..

‘Damn it, Damn it, Damn it!’

If there was anything Illyan wanted to do now, it was to scream his lungs out at this fucking beast that destroyed his life. If he could, he would inflict as much pain on it that it would rather end its pathetic life than live anymore.

‘Why?! Fucking Why?!’

That was if he really could do something. But the current Illyan? He couldn’t do anything. For all this time, he thought his growth was quick enough and to be proud of. He thought he was already stronger than some weaklings.

But now when he saw the beast that was definitively much weaker in his younger age surpassing him with such ease he felt so much inner wrath ailing his already broken heart.

The only good thing was that the wrath was then fuel for his gift, and his wounds were healing at record time. Even the frostbites that were unexpectedly appearing on his body were healing.

‘Is it also using the Cold Energy? Or is it something else?!’

That was the only thing he could think of before the extreme cold that even his baptized body couldn’t withstand blew through its maw.

It was at that moment he noticed more of the difference from years ago. The antlers that were white pristine before were now completely frozen and looked even more dangerous. The same was with its claws… He didn’t notice much as in this place full of Winter Beasts it was normal, but it seemed it had a more profound meaning.

‘I can’t beat it… Not in a short time. But we can’t waste our time here or we will all fall.’

He couldn’t do anything except defending himself. The beast was too quick for him to perceive without fully focusing on it, completely ignoring the surroundings.

But that started to be even more dangerous as the vibrations they created caused the reaction of the shadow underneath the ice to wriggle, making even bigger cracks.

At first, he thought only the surface layer froze over in the same way it does in lakes and other water bodies, but he underestimated the coldness of this Cold Energy. Whenever he looked down one of those fissures, he just saw darkness. It was as if the entire sea froze throughout. But in that case, the water he got from the shore was just an ice capsule full of water probably with impure Cold Energy…

This made him think deeply. Wasn’t that too coincidental? Wasn’t there actually too many coincidences this time? He felt like he was cornered from all sides, carefully guided here.

‘Was the divination right in the end? Will this be my resting place?’

Thoughts as these started to pile up in his mind as his mind was disoriented. This made his moments sluggish, which caused him to accumulate more and more injuries.

At one point, the monster even caught his arm for the first time. It didn’t take a second for it to squeeze it dry of blood as every bone was turned into mush.

Illyan used his axe to sever one of its fingers to get out of its claws, but his arm was already mangled. He wanted to counter-attack and hit its organs that were visible, but he couldn’t reach out to them as his weapons were too short.

‘I should have taken the spear..!’

Illyan, who preferred the freedom of movement over bigger weapons, rarely walked around with bigger weapons than his one-handed battle axes. He usually didn’t need long weapons as his abilities already far surpassed normal humans and so the weapon advantage wasn't a big deal for him.

But that is only against normal people or even normal animals. This monster was neither of them.

He used his full power swing only to chop off one of its fingers, yet it didn’t seem to be bothered at all.

Instead, it looked at him with hate. He couldn’t understand why. It was this monster that caused him to suffer, not the other way.

But it was at this moment when the monster opened its maw.

“...Hum-aan…Haa-teee…!!”

“!”

‘It can talk?!’

It was so baffling that he stopped moving for a moment. However, the monster didn’t stop from trying to tear him apart. It was moving erratically as if it didn’t know how to move properly and was charging madly at him at any given opportunity.

If Illyan didn’t have such high proficiency in the [The Way of the Body] then he would probably fall in this battle right at the beginning.

It didn’t take long before his body started to fail him as his stamina was exhausted after a relentless exchange of blows and regeneration of his wounds.

Just as he thought he would need to put his life on the line to get out of here, he heard the cry of agony.

With wide-opened eyes, he noticed Zers who sneaked behind it and used its spear to pierce the inside of its body. That made it finally cry out as it wriggled in pain.

But Zers, who thought this monster wouldn’’t be able to survive this in the same manner as the last one, didn’t know that he was in a perilous situation.

The monster wanted to turn around and turn this hateable human into mush.

However, the moment it turned around, Illyan lunged at it and threw his jagged blade at its heart.

Growl

Once the blade hit its heart, it lodged deeply inside of it, making it feel even more pain. But that was not all as Illyan jumped on its back and used his axe to bash its skull until the bits of the cranium didn’t fall down on the ground.

“Zers!”

“Got it!” Zers, realizing this wasn't the same as the previous one, quickly retreated with his spear.

Illyan, who also knew that his best opportunity had passed, jumped down from it as it started to swing with its claws all around as it roared in wrath.

“...Hu…Mannss…!!”

Its face turned even more malevolent as it stared at them in hate.

“Stone, I think it is some kind of undead! We need fire or a purification ritual!” Zers, who saw this immediately thought of some weaknesses that the undead had but Illyan immediately shook his head.

“How do we create fire in this weather? Also, I can’t purify it! I can’t use it in a fight yet!”

Yes, Illyan learned how to purify the dead so they won’t revive in the form of undead or even something worse as they pass on the Spirit World. However, he didn’t have that much experience and could only use it on really dead bodies…

“Damn it… Then we can only run. I already told others to run once they get the opportunity. There are only 20 or so of those monsters and none of them are as strong as this one.” Zers looked indignant as he definitely didn’t want to run from this thing. He wanted it dead.

Illyan nodded at this as he sighed. He knew exactly how he felt… But when you are weak, throwing your life away wouldn’t solve anything.

“We should-”

Boom

Creak

“OOOOOooooooooagh!!!”

Just as they thought about retreat the sound so powerful that their ears started to bleed resounded from within the ice below them. And then…

The entire Frozen Sea started to rise together with them….