Chapter 20 — Tides Beneath the Frost
Two days passed.
The storm had not let up, but the trio had learned to move through the blizzard like predators rather than travelers. Their path led them six kilometers north of Iceflake City—far enough that the barrier's glow was faint behind them, a distant blue shimmer swallowed by drifting snow.
The plains here were silent.
Too silent.
Vaibhav scanned the horizon, boots crunching into frost that hadn't yet been disturbed. "No trails for the last kilometer."
Alicia knelt, fingertips grazing the ice. "The air pressure shifted. Something large passed recently… but it's further north now."
Shin stretched his arms casually, breath fogging. "Well, whatever it is—it's not here."
The snow disagreed.
A deep vibration rolled under their feet.
Alicia's eyes widened. "Stampede."
The ice erupted.
Twenty beasts burst from beneath the frozen crust—jaws snapping, claws carving through the ground as if it were snow-paper. Ordinary Ice Fangs, Exalted Frost Sabers, and several mutated variants charged in a disorganized frenzy.
Shin's grin stretched wide. "Now we're talking."
A mutated Exalted beast barreled at him. Shin stepped forward, grabbed it by the face, and slammed it into another mutated Ordinary beast charging beside it. Both skulls shattered.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
> [+3 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[+2 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
On the other side of the field, two Ordinary Ice Fangs rushed at Vaibhav. He met the first with a clean punch, fracturing its ribs, then pivoted and kicked the second beast across the ground.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+3 Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[+2 Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Alicia moved like a blade of winter. Her controlled steps carved arcs in the snow as she weaved through three Ordinary beasts. She sliced through their throats in a single flowing motion.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Three Exalted-Class Frost Sabers lunged at once.
Shin cracked his neck. "Cute."
He blurred forward—one punch to collapse the first beast, one kick to send the second spiraling, and one lazy backhand that split the third's jaw apart.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+3 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[+5 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[+4 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
A mutated Ordinary beast tried to flank Alicia. She raised her hand—an emerald pulse blasted outward, staggering it.
Vaibhav finished it with a punch to the temple.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Another mutated Ordinary leapt toward him. He caught it midair with a palm strike to the gut, then slammed it headfirst into the ice.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+5 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Shin grabbed two mutated Ordinary Ice Fangs by the tails and swung them into a mutated Exalted beast trying to escape.
Three bodies hit the ground at once.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[+1 Mutated Exalted Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The last beast—a large Exalted Saber—charged Vaibhav from behind.
He didn't turn.
He simply leaned aside, letting it pass, then grabbed its tail and whipped it into the ground hard enough to shake the nearby ridge.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: Frost Saber]
[+2 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Snow settled.
Steam rose from twenty corpses spread across the frost.
Alicia wiped her blade. "That wasn't a hunt. That was panic."
Vaibhav nodded. "The beasts are running from something."
Shin snorted. "Let them run. We'll follow."
Vaibhav crouched beside the nearest corpse. "First, shards."
The trio began tearing into bodies—thick fur, frozen muscle, crystal bone.
Ordinary beasts had small blue cores. Exalted ones had deeper cerulean shards. The mutated beasts held dangerous red crystals—pulsing, unstable.
Alicia worked methodically, blade slicing open chests with surgical precision. Blue shards flickered faintly in the cold as she placed each one carefully on a cloth spread across the snow.
Shin was far less delicate.
He grabbed mutated beasts by the ribs and tore them apart with ease, steam rising as he dug out their red shards—fiery cores glowing with corrupted ice energy.
Soon, a pile of blue shards lay at Alicia's knees, and a pile of red shards glowed dangerously beside Shin.
Vaibhav stepped back, letting the two absorbers work.
The snow around them was stained with beast blood and cracked ice. Steam drifted from the corpses as the cold reclaimed them.
Alicia knelt first.
She slid her blade into the ribs of a fallen Ordinary beast, prying open the chest cavity with careful precision. Frost cracked under her touch as she reached inside and retrieved a faint blue shard—pulsing weakly like a dying ember.
She placed it against her palm.
It dissolved instantly into a soft blue mist, flowing up her arm like cool water.
> [+4 Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 1)
She moved to the next corpse, cutting through frozen muscle. A smaller shard flickered inside. She lifted it, closed her eyes, and pressed it against her skin.
The shard melted into a thin stream of light.
> [+2 Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 2)
The third shard was brighter—She absorbed it.
> [+4 Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 3)
She continued her focused rhythm—cut, retrieve, absorb.
A shard with a deeper throb:
> [+3 Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 4)
A faint one, but still pure:
> [+3 Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 5)
Alicia then reached the Exalted beasts.
The first Exalted shard shone with dense cerulean energy. She braced herself before pressing it into her palm—the force rippled through her aura.
> [+4 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 6)
The next glowed brighter, lines of crystallized frost etched through it.
It burst into her arm like a surge of winter lightning.
> [+7 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 7)
Shard after shard:
A colder one:
> [+6 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 8)
A dense one:
> [+4 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 9)
A volatile one:
> [+6 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 10)
The last Exalted shard flickered like a heartbeat before dissolving.
> [+3 Exalted Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 11)
Alicia exhaled, mist trailing from her lips. "Done."
Shin crushed it in his palm.
The red energy exploded upward, spiraling into his veins, burning across his skin like living flame.
> [+4 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 1)
Shin absorbed second.
> [+3 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 2)
Next:
A shard with jagged edges, glowing like fractured ruby.
He absorbed it with a sharp inhale.
> [+4 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 3)
Then—
A larger mutated core.
He absorbed it.
> [+5 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 4)
The fifth—Its reddish glow trembled weakly. Shin absorbed it with a flick.
> [+3 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 5)
The sixth shard flared unexpectedly, sending a spark of mutation arcing across his wrist.
Shin grinned. "Feisty."
He absorbed it.
> [+3 Mutated Ordinary Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 6)
He then took the Exalted shard. crimson shard, radiating a heavy mutated aura.
Shin absorbed it.
> [+4 Mutated Exalted Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 7)
Next—
Shin absorbed the next Mutated Exalted Shard.
> [+6 Mutated Exalted Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 8)
Finally, the last mutated Exalted shard—one with veins of dark crimson streaking through its center.
Shin absorbed it.
> [+7 Mutated Exalted Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 9)
Alicia stepped back. Shin dusted off his hands.
Vaibhav felt the residual energies dissipate around them like dying sparks.
Alicia inhaled slowly. "We've gained too much strength in too little time."
Vaibhav nodded. "Which means the beasts evolving this fast isn't normal."
The wind howled across the plains, carrying flecks of frost as the trio stepped cautiously across the shattered ice. The storm thickened overhead, swallowing the horizon in shifting sheets of white.
One hour later.
Tracks deepened. Frost cracks widened. The pressure in the air grew heavy—dense enough that Vaibhav felt it against his chest with every breath.
Alicia stopped first.
"Mythic signatures—six total. Surrounding us."
Shin's smile was immediate. "Perfect."
The ice beneath them groaned.
Then ruptured.
A colossal Frostbound Serpent erupted upward, coils of armored ice ripping through the ground. Its jaws snapped at Vaibhav, frost vapors hissing out like poison mist.
Vaibhav ducked under the bite, fists igniting with condensed energy. He struck upward—once, twice—each punch cracking through the serpent's armored scales. The serpent thrashed violently, lifting him off the ground, but Alicia's emerald beam pierced straight into its exposed underbelly.
The beast convulsed, collapsing back into the ice.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav (life force absorbed)
Before the body hit the ground, a second serpent burst forward, icy fangs aimed at Alicia.
Vaibhav intercepted—blocking its jaws with both arms as frost coated his gloves. Alicia maneuvered around the serpent's body, slicing along its spine in a continuous arc of emerald brilliance.
The serpent roared, twisting, but Vaibhav drove a punch through the gap in its armor.
The serpent fell limp.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: Serpent Shade]
[+3 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The third Frostbound Serpent didn't hesitate. It shot through the snow like a spear, coiling around Shin, constricting with a pressure that could crush steel.
Shin stretched his neck.
"Warm-up's over."
He flexed his arms outward.
The serpent's coils shattered.
Shin grabbed the beast by the throat, lifted it overhead, and slammed it into the ice with enough force to crater the entire ridge.
The serpent twitched once, then lay still.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: Frostbound Serpent]
[+5 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
A low, thundering tremor shook the earth.
Alicia's eyes widened. "Another approaching."
The snow split.
A massive silhouette surged upward—larger than the other serpents combined.
Frostbound Serpent Monarch — Mutated Mythic.
The beast opened its maw, releasing a spiraling storm of freezing mist. Vaibhav and Alicia braced behind layered barriers.
Shin simply stepped forward.
The Monarch lunged at him.
Shin planted his foot, caught the serpent's skull with both hands—
—and stopped its full-force charge.
The ground fissured beneath Shin's feet.
"Down."
He twisted the beast sideways, lifting the Monarch off the ground and hurling it into a nearby ice ridge, shattering it to dust.
Vaibhav rushed forward, slamming his fist into the serpent's wounded flank—the scale cracked violently. Alicia aimed at the fracture and fired a focused emerald beam that cut through the Monarch's armor.
The beast shrieked.
Shin appeared above its head like a falling star.
His heel dropped.
The skull split open.
The Monarch went still.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: Frostbound Serpent Monarch]
> [+5 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The ice trembled again.
Two more shadows emerged.
Two Mutated Mythic Ice Beasts, their forms warped—elongated limbs, frost spikes protruding.
They roared in unison.
Vaibhav and Alicia took the left.
Shin took the right.
One beast lunged at Vaibhav, claws slicing the air. He ducked and drove an uppercut into its jaw, knocking it skyward. Alicia fired a beam that cut through its abdomen. As it fell, Vaibhav slammed his knee into its throat.
The beast didn't rise.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The second Mutated Mythic sprinted at Shin with unnatural speed. Shin sidestepped, grabbed its leg mid-charge, and slammed it three times into the ground before ripping off one of its frost spikes and driving it through the creature's skull.
The beast spasmed and fell limp.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+2 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The frostlands went quiet.
Six Mythic beasts lay scattered around them—steam rising from their corpses.
Alicia wiped frost off her blade. "Let's Take out shards."
They approached the bodies.
Alicia handled the blue Mythic shards.
Shin handled the mutated red ones.
Vaibhav stood watch.
Alicia knelt beside the first serpent corpse, slicing through its armored scales. She reached into the cavity, withdrawing a glowing light-blue shard pulsing with dense Mythic power.
She pressed it into her palm.
The shard melted into her skin like liquid frost.
> [+3 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 1)
The second shard was larger, humming faintly. She steadied her breath before absorbing it.
> [+5 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 2)
The third glowed with a soothing blue warmth that washed over her aura.
> [+4 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 3)
Shin crouched beside the Monarch's corpse.
He tore open the ribs with both hands, exposing a massive crimson shard.
Shin's grin widened. "Now this is pretty."
He absorbed it.
> [+5 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 1)
He moved to the next mutated Mythic, prying open the chest with a single pull. A smaller but volatile red shard glowed inside.
He absorbed it.
It burst like a firecracker up his arm.
> [+6 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 2)
The last mutated Mythic shard flickered faintly, as though resisting him. Shin smirked.
"Stop pretending."
He absorbed it without hesitation.
> [+5 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 3)
Steam rose from their bodies as the last energies dissipated.
Alicia looked around at the devastation—six Mythic beasts dead, the frostlands cracked open for nearly a hundred meters.
"This isn't natural," she whispered. "Not even for the Frostlands."
Vaibhav nodded. "They're moving for a reason."
Shin brushed frost off his coat. "Yeah. And we're about to find out."
Alicia focused, aura spreading outward like a web. Her eyes widened.
"North," she said softly. "Thousands of beasts… Ordinary, Exalted, Mythic… even mutated signatures."
"They're migrating," Vaibhav muttered.
Alicia shook her head, voice trembling slightly.
"No.
They're being pulled."