It looked to be lying down, sleeping, as the mist that covered everything on this floor rolled out of its open mouth and off its colossal body.
The sound that was causing the very floor and mist to shake seemed to be coming from it as well.
As the sound continued and the shaking intensified, both Azrael and Olivia were thrown onto their faces, right into the snow.
And the moment they landed, something strange happened: the sound disappeared, the vibrations stopped, and no more mist was produced.
But with the disappearance of one sound came the approach of another.
When the first sound faded, another took its place in less than a minute. This new sound was like a volcano preparing to erupt.
The ground groaned as the impossibly heavy creature shifted.
KRRRNNNK
It sounded like stone grinding against stone. A deep, ancient GRROOOAAN rolled through the air—they felt it more than they heard it.
Then the ground gave one last colossal shake as the creature planted itself upright, snow and frost exploding outward.
When the duo finally got a good, hard look at what stood between them and true, glorious freedom, they heard that same familiar sound.
Ding!!
[New Entity Scanned]
Classification: Mana beast (dungeon boss)
Subject Identified: Snow's Wrath
Rank: Ferocious
Description: The snow looks to be soft and harmless, but that isn't always the case. For even snow can feel disgust, anger, RAGE!! And this beast is that rage given form. Never underestimate the snow, or you may one day very well be buried in it.
But before they even had time to analyze what the system said, they were pulled from their thoughts by a new sound.
It was a deep, low, suffocating hum.
MMMMMMMM!!!
It made its way through their bodies, rattling their very bones.
Looking up, they saw where the horrid sound was coming from. The beast had its gigantic maw open, its head pointed directly toward them.
What they saw between those monstrous jaws was something that sucked the heat from their bodies, giving them a deep chill.
It was a deep blue and white mixture that looked like liquid energy.
Just by being present, it seemed to draw all the remaining heat from the floor, dropping the temperature even further.
And when the sound finally ceased, a new one appeared—accompanied by a blast.
VOOOOOOM—BOOOOOM!!!
A gigantic blast of frost shot from within the beast's mouth, aimed right at them.
Luckily, they were able to escape.
Azrael decreased the gravity surrounding them as they pushed their bodies to the limit, going as fast as they could and barely evading the blast.
Looking at where the blast landed, they saw not the crater they were expecting. No, they saw the snow that was once there turning to ice—deep, sharp, crystalline ice.
And this wasn't just within the blast's radius.
No
once the blast made contact with the snow, it began to spread like a dangerous infection, freezing everything in its cold, crystalline path.
The frost spread like liquid silver, cracking the snow beneath their boots.
Each step echoed through the cavern, threatening to betray their position to the beast as the jagged ice crept closer.
an ever-expanding trap that threatened to pin them in place.
But they weren't stupid enough to sit still and let the ice find its way into their bodies.
They didn't even wait for the blast to land completely before they started moving.
While moving, Olivia plunged her hand into the depths of her own dark shadow, attempting to pull something from within—her very first companion in this life.
At first, only the edge appeared: cold, wide, and catching no light, as if the shadows themselves had dyed it in their color.
The blade was thick and brutal, its broad spine drinking in the dark while the cutting edge gleamed faintly, like a promise of violence waiting to be kept.
As it was pulled farther out, its weight became obvious, but she held it with incredible ease.
The sword glided from within her shadow without a hint of resistance, as if the shadow itself was being cut simply for the sin of holding it back.
The steel seemed wrapped in shadows, only giving way to thin lines that showed the faint shimmer of metal soon to be filled with blood, as it was meant to be.
The tip emerged last, heavy and hungry, aimed downward as though it expected to be fed blood from the moment it was freed.
Then the hilt appeared—long, wrapped tight, made for hands that know how to kill with momentum rather than elegance.
Her fingers closed around it, and the shadows peeled away, retreating like smoke.
While Olivia pulled her sword from within her shadow, Azrael wasn't idle.
He waited for nothing, running straight toward the beast in front of him, a giant, wild smile on his face.
How could the crazy bastard not?
When faced with this glorious creature that would either be his untimely end or the wonderful beginning of his story.
He would either kill it in a blaze of wondrous glory or die in a blast of chilling snow.
Running up to the colossal creature, he didn't break stride once.
Whipping his hand out, he readied his spear, decreasing the gravity around it to his limit.
Before he reached it, a few meters in front of the creature, he jumped into the air with all his strength, increasing the gravity around himself and his spear as he began to fall—then swung the spear with all his might, aiming for the creature's back since he saw no eyes.
But right before he could strike, something hit him from out of the air.
It was a white blur, covered in gigantic spikes. Luckily, they weren't sharp, or his death would have been assured.
But even the heavy impact didn't affect him as badly as it could have. He was able to regain his balance, landing on top of one of the snow spikes that littered the floor.