Serena and Thermal take Elle shopping for a sturdier javelin, insistent on giving her better gear for a more dangerous mission. They go through the market and pick up a few items within their limited budget. Tiami gives them a detailed map of Una City and wishes them luck on the mission. Going down to the gym for light training, the trio practice a few team manoeuvres. By the time they part, they feel as ready as they can be, despite the cold grip of anxiety wrapping around their hearts.

Before Elle heads to bed, she takes a moment to stare out the window at the starless sky. This might be her last time seeing it if the mission goes badly. When she finally falls asleep, the old nightmare of her forced outing returns, and Elle faces it head-on like she did in the past. She manages to stay asleep the whole night, waking only to the quiet vibrations of her alarm.

Downstairs, Elle blinks at the moderately busy lobby as various hunting groups gather around tables. She knows that the council hired the guild to cull the monsters and defend the perimeter around Una City, but she didn’t realise so many people would show up. Elle estimates there’s over twenty people in the lobby, but there’s a lot of ground to cover. Her team will have protection down to the second level, and then they’ll be on their own.

“Hey, Elle! Ready to go?” Serena greets Elle first, surprisingly in good spirits. Her short blonde hair appears to be combed, and she’s noticeably missing her usual cloak. Instead of her regular form-concealing outfit, she wears a jacket and loose pants like Elle. Two sheathed daggers hang on both of her sides, and Elle suspects she has more discrete weapons hidden on her person. Last night, the half-nymph explained her ability to make solid illusions which can’t move from their spots, so she can create a temporary, long-ranged fighter if need be.

“Hey, Serena. Good morning, Thermal. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” Elle offers her a nervous smile. “You’re not wearing your coat?”

Serena chuckles, “Nah, too many things down there that it might get caught on.”

Thermal dips his head. “Good morning, Elle. We are waiting for the rest of our group to finish their preparations.” They’re travelling with one of the parties assigned to guard Una City, hiding their real mission and giving them protection for a part of the journey. “Did you manage to rest well last night?”

She smiles back at him. “Yeah, I didn’t wake up randomly or anything weird like that. How are you feeling today?”

He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I must admit I have some pre-mission jitters. Only recently have I become accustomed to risking my life.”

Serena replies, “At least we’re risking our lives together. I know we fought last time, but I’ve got both of your backs this time around.” She reaches hand out. “My old team used to do a cheer before heading off. Let’s do one for good luck.”

Elle immediately puts her hand on top of Serena’s while Thermal awkwardly follows suit. Serena yells, “One, two, three, we got this!” Several hunters around them whoop as they lift their hands. After a few more minutes, their assigned group leaves the guild and heads towards the Ice Shield.

Despite the early morning, people line the streets in Vinayre, putting finishing touches on their decorations and displays for the festival. Red and orange streamers dangle alongside giant leaf decorations above them, keeping with the autumn theme. The snow has either melted or been cleared away, giving no hint that a blizzard passed through this area. As the hunters walk through the city, people turn and look at them curiously. Elle fights the urge to hide behind Thermal who seems to be similarly uncomfortable.

While crossing a street, a gaunt man half-collapses in front of them. A skinny woman manages to partially catch him, almost falling to her knees as well. Two hunters in the front go to help them. From their bony statures, Elle guesses that the two civilians have permanently low aura or are ‘drifters’ as she’s heard other people call them. The woman thanks the hunters and wishes them good luck on their mission. It reminds Elle that this mission has consequences beyond the Hunter’s Guild, filling her heart with steel.

They continue past the city hall, glancing at the older main building combined with more modern extensions. The clock tower stands imposing over them, and Elle marvels that the tall, concrete structure survived the Calamities. Past city hall, the party walks beyond the guarded greenhouses where they can make out a surprising amount of foliage. If she’s not mistaken, she thinks there are tiny bulbs of vegetables or fruits starting to peek out from the leaves.

Elle might be imagining it, but the temperature around them seems to drop with every step. Since her jacket is designed for combat, it keeps her from getting too hot during fights, but the cold has an easier time soaking into her. She grits her teeth as she forces herself to get used to the unpleasant chill in the air. Elle glares at the gigantic glacier as they travel below its cover, watching the light be filtered into a rainbow through the ice.

Their proximity to the Ice Shield also makes the strange pulses more obvious to her. Every few minutes, the glacier emits a gentle wave of cold which feels like someone is sporadically hitting Elle with an air conditioner. It feels like the glacier is breathing, and it creeps her out as they get closer to it. Staring at its base which is wider than half of Vinayre, she can see how this towering structure blocked a falling city in the recent past.

Serena whispers, “You doing okay, Elle? You look kinda creeped out.”

She blurts out, “It feels like someone’s breathing on me,” and then immediately winces at her phrasing.

Serena slowly turns and glares at Thermal who’s walking on the other side of Elle.

He scowls and hisses back, “I would never!”

Elle shakes her head and clears it up, “Sorry, not what I meant. Can either of you feel that cold pulse every couple of minutes?”

Serena’s hazel eyes widen. “Yeah, you feel that too? But you’re all human, right?”

She tilts her head, not having considered Serena’s half-nymph heritage. “Uhhh, as far as I know, yeah…” That being said, she doesn’t know if Equinox messed with her in other ways.

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Squinting at the Ice Shield suspiciously, Thermal replies, “I can feel it a little bit as well. I had always assumed that it was the flow of elemental mana from the glacier which generates the perpetual fog. Based on its origins, I think the Ice Shield’s high aura density makes it more akin to a living being than true ice.”

Elle shivers, disliking the idea of sentient ice. “Cool… We love that.”

Leading them around the base, the hunters chat with each other, clearly familiar. They try to make small talk with Elle too, but she’s so stressed about the mission that she can only give short answers. Serena makes up for the awkward lulls while Thermal seems to entirely zone out of the conversation. When they finally round the corner, Elle slows down as she takes in the remains of Una City for the first time.

Fragmented roads lay scattered between wrecked shells of buildings, forming vague routes through the ruins. Judging by the piles of broken concrete and furniture, Elle guesses that previous scavengers cleared paths for their work. Despite the well-tread ground, there’s still enough broken glass lying around that makes her grateful for her runners and gloves. Amongst the wreckage, she can make out arches and toppled columns. A dried fountain remains remarkably intact ahead of them, only marred by a singular crack. The marble angelic statue in its centre raises a bowl designed like the hemisphere of an unknown planet, presumably containing the fountain’s spout. Una City was once resplendent, and its pride still haunts this frozen valley.

Outside of the city proper, the hunters begin to draw their weapons and arrange themselves in an almost a triangular formation. Serena, Elle, and Thermal end up in the middle, guarded by the other hunters. Tiami only told the other hunters that the trio would be on a scouting mission in the depths of the ruins and thus should preserve their strength. Although they’re still technically near Vinayre, the Ice Shield and giant heaps of debris makes them feel much more isolated. Elle can only see mountains poking up from behind wreckage, quite a distance away.

At one point, a mutated gryphon circles above them and seems to size the group up for a moment. After someone fires lightning at it, the gryphon squawks angrily and flies away, likely nursing its wounds. Elle keeps her ears pricked for sounds of movement outside of the group, saving her spatial-sensory powers for later. It’s eerily quiet though, and they climb up a small hill with no issues.

On the other side of the hill, descending rings of rock surround a dark hole dropping straight into the earth. Elle can barely make out more toppled buildings in the hole which likely leads to the maze of tunnels which Thermal described. They climb down haphazard pieces of junk stacked to form steps, avoiding random sharp pieces of metal as they get closer to the hole. To her relief, Elle can’t spot any corpses, confirming Tiami’s reassurance that they gave proper burials for the dead.

Half of the team stay near the outer rim, while the rest begin to climb down a ladder which looks to have been installed after the Calamities. Elle grips the cold metal tightly, nervous about slipping from such a great height. Halfway down the climb, Elle stops feeling the cold pulse from the Ice Shield. They aren’t in Vinayre anymore.

After climbing almost one hundred metres, they end up in a cleared area at the bottom, steadying themselves on the rough, slanted surface. The light from above reveals the scrap piles shoved to the walls around them. Ahead, the wide path slopes downwards and eventually splits into dark tunnels where the light can’t reach. Elle finds it interesting that this pit existed before the Ice Shield, meaning there used to be a giant hole in the ground next to Vinayre with nothing blocking it.

A few hunters pull out solar-powered flashlights as they continue down the left tunnel. It’s eerily quiet. Every time someone accidentally kicks loose rubble, Elle fights the urge to flinch from the sudden noise. Although the tunnel itself is wide, the heaps of debris lining the tunnels constrict the space, barely giving her enough room to swing Pointy the javelin. If a great worm attacks them, they might die from the falling debris first.

Thermal has Tiami’s map in his hands and checks it as they walk. Several paths offshoot from this one, but Tiami has kindly drawn the safest route for them. Apparently certain areas are more unstable, so the map also marks tunnels which have already caved-in. Meanwhile, Serena occasionally glances behind them, staying on-guard. The half-nymph told them that she can see in the dark, so Elle feels safer knowing that she’s keeping an eye out. Serena catches her gaze and squeezes Elle’s shoulder, giving a reassuring smile which she returns.

After about fifteen minutes, they emerge into a cavern filled with the remains of a city block. Unlike the earlier parts, this section of Una City seems much more intact with identifiable buildings still standing. Upon seeing her confused expression, one of the hunters inform her that these structures used to be closer to the surface, but the fourth Calamity shifted the earth around. Once again, Elle is surprised so many people survived the Calamities when they all sound so catastrophic.

They walk through the deserted neighbourhood peering through dusty windows for signs of monsters. Elle can see curtains and toppled dining tables and guesses this was likely a residential area. Nothing jumps out at them. It makes her more paranoid since they still haven’t been attacked yet. The rows upon rows of townhouses remain silent and imposing. When they arrive on the other side, they find that the ground level drops several metres. Spread across the floor below, the ruins are much more broken as if they had fallen from a great height.

Once Elle awkwardly climbs down a rope set up by the other hunters, she inspects the debris in greater detail. There’s a shocking amount of chewed-through armour, a higher quantity than the other areas. Broken weapons lie scattered across the floor, tainted with dried blood. Elle doesn’t spot any bones which matches the monsters’ tendency to eat people whole. No monsters come crawling out of the scrap heaps though. It’s not only devoid of life; it’s also devoid of the dead like an emptied graveyard.

At the end of this cavern, a singular tunnel leads out of it. The hunters gather around it, intending to set up watch here. According to Tiami’s map, the trio should continue down the tunnel by themselves to get to the lowest sector while the rest of the hunters will secure their exit. However, Serena has spotted something interesting and doesn’t want to enter the tunnel yet.

Elle follows her. “What are you looking at?”

Serena points at a snapped spear on the ground and chunks of concrete. “Doesn’t this look kind of like a trail? I wonder if Bleck’s group left it…” She begins to wander between the scrap heaps.

“If his group left it, then their destination must be the tunnel, correct?” Thermal trails behind them. “Is it necessary to look for their secret entrance as well?”

Elle shrugs. “May as well cover our bases.”

They make their way through debris, trying not to disturb the tracks. As they progress, they notice signs of a fight where parts of the heap look like something smashed through it. It abruptly returns back to the normal, organised piles closer to the walls. At the trail’s end, Serena pushes aside a broken shelf to reveal a hidden tunnel opening.

Elle tilts her head. “Hmm, it looks like Bleck’s group might have been attacked as they were heading towards the main route. It’d explain why only one section was messed up.”

Serena nods. “Yeah, seems like it. But where are the monsters?”

“What is this doing here? It is not marked on the map.” While the two investigate the secret tunnel, Thermal steps away to examine runes carved into the wall farther to the left. Elle cranes her head to see an unfamiliar pattern about two hand-spans wide partly hidden by rubble.

Thermal walks over to it. The ground gives way beneath his feet. He falls with a scream as debris from nearby scrap heaps begin to tumble after him.