“This sucks,” Kade hissed as he shivered. He had been trudging along in the snow for what felt like hours.

Even with his increased capabilities, the cold was seeping into his bones. It felt like he would freeze to death if something didn’t change soon. He had already used [Inferno Burst] multiple times to warm himself.

However, that was only a brief relief, quickly snuffed out by the constant snowfall. It was becoming necessary to activate the ability more frequently. While it was workable at the moment, it would soon become impossible.

Kade refused to deplete all of his [MP], wanting to keep at least one activation of [Inferno Burst] in reserve. He limited himself to using the ability approximately once every eight minutes.

That was too long when the cold overwhelmed him merely a minute in. It hadn’t been nearly that bad at the start, but the longer he stayed in this Rift Zone, the less resistant he seemed to the cold.

If there had been a hint of a change in the terrain to give Kade a mood uplift, he might have been able to deal with it. No matter how long he walked or where he looked, all he saw was snow.

There were no footprints, no plant life, and no hope. It pissed Kade off to an unbelievable level.

If anger could keep him warm, he would be the coziest person in the universe.

“Are all Rift Zones like this? Fucking wastelands with the occasional monster here and there?” Every word out of Kade’s mouth created a puff of condensation. It pissed him off even more.

The system not bothering to answer him didn’t help.

Kade flipped his [Soulrend] to point it at the ground. He needed warmth. [Inferno Burst] made another appearance.

He closed his eyes in relief as the fire chased away the cold. The flames immediately melted the surrounding snow, revealing the same dead soil he had seen multiple times before. Massive walls of snow surrounded him as the fire melted several feet of snow.

This Rift Zone had been a frozen hell for a long time.

Less than a minute later, the flames disappeared. It was time for him to move again, and he hoped something would change this time.

I’m pretty sure there’s a saying about doing the same thing and insanity. I feel pretty fucking insane right now.

He might be sick of the constant snow, but he never reduced his alertness. Annoyance was no reason to get ripped in half by some random snow bear.

Kade wouldn’t have thought paying too much attention to any movement could have been his downfall.

“Fuck!” Kade scrambled back when his [Soulrend] dipped well below where the ground should be. He barely stopped himself in time from falling down a steep cliff.

The perpetual whiteness of everything somehow made the steep drop blend in with the land below.

Besides getting a slight shock at his near misstep, he was ecstatic. There was a change, even if it was just a cliff leading down to more land with snow.

Kade carefully returned to the edge of the cliff. He looked over it to see if there was anything that might require an effort to climb down.

There was not.

All he saw was exactly the same as what had angered him for the past several hours.

Kade eyed the pale blue cliff wall, completely made of ice. He could see a several-foot-deep area at the top of the cliff that had soil. It was dead soil, but still soil.

He had little idea how soil could be on top of what looked to be literally hundreds of feet of ice, but he had long stopped questioning anything about this Rift Zone.

Kade sighed and looked back. He could choose to go in another direction, but he didn’t know if it would lead him somewhere more worthwhile.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I should go back and pick off some icehowlers. At least I’ll have fun—

His eyes grew wide when he felt something pull him back. He slammed his [Soulrend] into the snow to halt his movement, but whatever got a hold of him was far too strong.

Kade had a choice. He could either try to save himself and probably fail, or he could try to take down the little shit that was trying to kill him before he fell to his death.

He obviously chose the latter.

Kade grunted as he twisted his body and thrust his [Soulrend] down. It pierced the white flesh of a wormlike creature. He was about to use [Inferno Burst], but a last-second observation reversed his decision.

He had pierced the tail end of its body. And he hadn’t caused enough pain for it to let go of his foot.

Kade was pulled off the cliff and plummeted. He no longer cared. He felt the worm pull him down faster. His [Soulrend] was ready.

The worm’s body was long—at least fifty feet. Kade waited for a fraction of a second until he was halfway towards its open mouth.

He plunged his [Soulrend] deep into the worm’s body. He used the worm’s own act of trying to eat him to destroy itself.

The worm let out a strange screech that shook the ice cliff dangerously. He was vaguely aware of the cracks that were forming, but he was more focused on making sure his [Soulrend] split its body open.

Kade felt the worm trying to rip him away from its body and fling him far from the cliff, but he wouldn’t allow any chance for it to live while he died.

He tried his best to shift the tip of his [Soulrend] so it pointed down, aiming for maximum damage.

Kade activated [Inferno Burst].

The screech the worm let out completed the cracking of the cliff. The flames burnt up its body as it raced up its body. Before it could finish the worm off, the frosty crystals visible inside its body extinguished the fire.

That the worm was still alive after taking so much damage surprised him. It only meant that it would suffer prolonged death throes.

The worm had lost its grip on his foot. It couldn’t hang onto the cliff wall, let alone focus on anything else.

Kade stored his [Soulrend]. He allowed himself to fall faster than the worm before summoning it again when he reached the area near its mouth. That was becoming a useful trick.

He couldn’t say it had a face a normal animal would have. It was just an enormous mouth with thousands of sharp teeth.

Whatever it was, Kade would burn it to a crisp.

He thrust his [Soulrend] into the skin right below its mouth before activating [Inferno Burst].

The explosion of flames finished it off, disintegrating the worm into white powder.

The blast blew him away from the cliff wall. He heard the interface beep softly, but had no time to pay attention to it.

Kade was falling to his death. He had some time before he would splatter on the ground, but he had no obvious options to save himself.

Using [Inferno Burst] might have killed the worm, but also assured his own death.

He felt the cold air biting his body as he plummeted. He spread his arms and legs wide to slow himself—anything to give himself a bit more time.

Kade heard a rumble. He looked up and regained hope.

Large chunks of ice had split off the cliff and were falling to the ground. More importantly, they were falling faster than he was.

He maneuvered himself into a place that would allow him to use one of these chunks. He waited until there was one right beside him before kicking off it to get himself back to the cliff.

Kade used his [Soulrend] to slow himself by plunging it into the ice. The tip scraped on the ice wall with little effect at the start until several tens of feet later when it could finally gain some depth.

Unfortunately, it worked a little too well. Kae came to a screeching halt and hung onto the shaft of his [Soulrend] well over fifty feet above the ground.

Kade could feel his [Soulrend] creak at the pressure he was putting on it. It was a miracle it hadn’t broken yet from the stress he put on it.

He looked around to see if he could use any small protrusions in the cliff wall to get down safely.

There was nothing to be found. The cliff wall was as smooth as it was at the top.

Thankfully, the distance to the ground wasn’t nearly as dangerous at this level. Especially since a thick blanket of snow covered it to soften his landing.

Kade knew there wasn’t enough height to use the [Soulrend] to stop himself again.

Falling, it is.

He yanked his [Soulrend] out of the cliff and let himself plummet to the ground. He winced at the sharp pain that shot up from his legs after he landed.

The interface didn’t warn him about his health, but it appeared for other reasons. It was the messages suppressed during his fall.

You have destroyed a Snow Wyrm (Arcana Level 25)!

Spear Impale (Level 2)—>(Level 4)

Kill 100 Monsters (1/100)—>(2/100)

Level-up! (x2)

Arcana Level 19—>Arcana Level 21

MP Recovery: 5.7% per minute—>6.3% per minute

Free Points: 0—>2

Constitution: 21—>23

Endurance: 11.5—>12.5

Strength: 21—>23

Kade dismissed the interface. He leaned on his [Soulrend] and looked around, expecting more of the same. He was wrong.

Instead of just snow, Kade saw buildings. Admittedly, he could only see the very top of them since the snow buried the rest, but that didn’t change the fact that there were buildings in this Rift Zone.

He didn’t move. Even though he had to fight tooth and nail to avoid the temptation to search the discovered settlement.

Kade needed to recover his [MP]. He also lost some of his health since the fall damage occurred after he had killed the Snow Wyrm. The level-up hadn’t restored his body. There was no sense in going anywhere until he had [Inferno Burst] available.

Fifteen minutes to recover my [MP].

He kept his senses on high alert. This was the best chance for a monster to ambush him.