Chapter 22 — Storm Beneath the Ice
The ice-valleys of the far north were nothing like the plains or ridges they'd crossed before. Here, the terrain dipped sharply into deep, twisting chasms carved by centuries of frozen storms. Jagged walls of ancient ice rose so high they swallowed the sky, leaving only slivers of pale light to filter through. Even sound felt muted—absorbed by the towering frost around them.
Vaibhav walked at the front, breath steady, senses sharp. "The pressure here… it's heavier."
Alicia nodded. "Multiple Mythic signatures. Strong ones."
Shin grinned, cracking his neck. "Good. I was getting bored anyways."
A shadow shifted above the valley rim.
Then the ice exploded.
A Mythic Frost Basilisk lunged down from a cliffside, massive serpentine body covered in layered ice-plates. Vaibhav dodged its fanged strike, countering with a punch straight into its throat. The blow cracked the first scale layer but didn't pierce through.
Alicia's emerald beam cut across the Basilisk's side. Its screech echoed through the valley, and Vaibhav leapt upward—slamming his fist into the fracture Alicia created. The beast's body convulsed, crashing into the valley floor.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav (life force absorbed)
A rush of warmth surged into his chest—heavy and intoxicating.
Another roar erupted from deeper inside the valley.
A Mythic Frost Lurker emerged from beneath the ice, all limbs and jagged frost spikes. It shot toward Alicia with impossible speed. She sidestepped and slashed upward, severing one of its limbs. Vaibhav struck its core with a straight punch.
The beast collapsed.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+6 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
A wave of frost wind blasted outward, and a third beast emerged:
A Mythic Glacier Serpent, scales shimmering with runes of ice. It whipped its massive tail toward the trio, smashing a ridge into shards. Vaibhav rolled beneath its strike, Alicia cut across its spine, and together they shattered the serpent's skull.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+2 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The valley trembled again—this time deeper, angrier.
Two Mythic Frost Guardians, hulking humanoid ice constructs, stomped into the clearing. Each step cracked the ground. One swung a massive arm toward Vaibhav, but he slipped under and drove a punch into its torso. Alicia targeted weak points with precise energy bursts.
The Guardian crumbled.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+2 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The second Guardian roared and charged. Vaibhav struck its leg, shattering the joint, and Alicia finished it with a precise cut to its core.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+6 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
One final Mythic signature rose behind them.
A Mythic Frostback Behemoth tore free from the ice, body plated with glacier-thick armor. Shin stepped forward, unimpressed. "I'll handle this one."
He vanished, appearing atop the Behemoth's head. One strike. Two. The ice armor splintered. With a final blow to its core, the giant toppled.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+3 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Before they could breathe, a chilling howl rolled through the valley.
Red cracks pulsed along the ice walls.
A Mutated Mythic Frost Wraith materialized behind Vaibhav, claws dripping shadowed frost. Vaibhav spun—his fist met its skull. Alicia's beam pierced its heart. The wraith disintegrated.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+3 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
A second presence lurked above—a Mutated Mythic Glacier Hound, limbs elongated, eyes glowing crimson. It leapt at Alicia with fangs bared, but Vaibhav intercepted, smashing it into the ground.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+1 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
A third mutant charged—a Mutated Mythic Frostclaw Omega, claws long enough to slice through cliffs. Vaibhav blocked its strike, countering with a concentrated punch that shattered its spine.
> [+2 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
A massive thud shook the ground.
A fourth mutated presence emerged—this one radiating killing pressure.
A Mutated Mythic Frost Titan, towering, limbs covered in cracked frost armor. Vaibhav and Alicia attacked together—cutting through its joints, hammering its chest—until the Titan fell.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Snow exploded behind them.
A fifth mutated aura.
A Mutated Mythic Frost Yeti towered over them—massive white fur streaked with red veins, fangs dripping with freezing vapor.
Shin stepped forward.
He smiled. "This one's mine."
The Yeti roared, swinging an arm thick as a tree. Shin caught it mid-swing—ice shattering from the impact—and twisted, throwing the Yeti across the valley wall. It slammed into the cliff, causing an avalanche of powder.
The Yeti charged again with terrifying speed, pummeling the ground with explosive blows. Shin moved through them effortlessly—ducking, weaving, landing counters that cracked bone.
The Yeti roared and unleashed a burst of mutated frost energy.
Shin punched through it.
One final blow to its jaw caved the skull inward.
The Frost Yeti collapsed, steam rising from its corpse.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: Frost Yeti Lord]
[+3 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The frost settled.
Steam rose from eleven fallen beasts.
Alicia wiped her blade on her sleeve. "Extract the shards."
They moved body to body—cutting through thick armor, frozen flesh, and glacial bone.
Alicia placed six Mythic blue-white shards on her cloth.
Shin tore open the mutated corpses, retrieving five crimson shards that burned like contained storms.
Vaibhav stepped back as they began absorption.
Alicia pressed the first shard against her palm—its cold light dissolving upward.
> [+4 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 1)
The second glowed stronger.
> [+5 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 2)
A gentle one.
> [+2 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 3)
A shard pulsing with frost energy.
> [+3 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 4)
A dense shard that vibrated in her hand.
> [+7 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 5)
The last one burned with icy brilliance.
> [+5 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 6)
Shin began absorbing mutated shards.
The first burst like red lightning up his arm.
> [+5 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 1)
The second crackled violently.
> [+5 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 2)
A shard with unstable flicker—
> [+3 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 3)
A colder crimson shard—
> [+4 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 4)
The last one pulsed deep crimson.
> [+2 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 5)
Far ahead, the ice-valley opened into a massive gorge.
A sound rolled through it—deep, rumbling, endless.
The trio stepped forward—
—and froze.
Countless beasts—hundreds—migrated across the blinding white plains below. Ordinary, Exalted, Mythic… and scattered among them, mutated Mythic monsters, some towering like walking mountains.
Alicia whispered, "They're all moving… southwest."
Vaibhav clenched his fist. "This isn't migration."
Shin's eyes narrowed.
"This is evacuation."
Later.
The trio descended farther along the valley's southwest edge, following the path the migrating herd had carved through the snow. The air grew unnaturally cold—colder than anything Alicia had measured before. Even Shin's breath misted heavier.
Then the world went quiet.
Too quiet.
No howls.
No movement.
No crunch of hidden creatures shifting under the snow.
Alicia slowed. "This isn't normal. The lower tiers… they're gone."
Vaibhav scanned the terrain. "Only strong presences left."
Shin's smile faded for the first time in days. "Yeah. I feel it too. Something scared everything else away."
A deep Mythic pressure rolled in from the right. The ice cracked open as a Mythic Frostback Reaver climbed out—massive, armor-plated, its back lined with frozen spines taller than a man. The beast roared, charging straight for them.
Vaibhav stepped forward to intercept. He ducked under the Reaver's opening swipe and hammered its jaw with a brutal upward punch. Alicia fired a beam into its exposed shoulder joint, weakening its armor. Vaibhav followed with a second strike to its core.
The Reaver collapsed, shattering the ice beneath it.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+2 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
Another Mythic aura surged from behind. A Mythic Frostmaw Panther, sleek and cold as midnight, darted across the snow with lightning speed. It pounced at Alicia—Vaibhav intercepted midair, smashing his fist into its abdomen. Alicia finished it with a vertical cut that bisected the creature.
> [+4 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[Beast Spirit Acquired: Frostmaw Panther]
A third Mythic presence emerged from the frozen fog—a Mythic Iceburrow Crusher, tunneling through the ice floor. It erupted beneath Vaibhav, jaws snapping upward. He planted both hands on its maw, forced it open, and slammed a punch deep into its throat.
The Crusher hit the ground, twitching.
> [+6 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
Suddenly, the temperature dropped sharply. Red flickers pulsed in the snow.
Two Mutated Mythic Frostspawn Horrors stalked out of the fog, bodies distorted with glowing crimson cracks, eyes burning with feral mutation.
The first lunged at Vaibhav, swinging elongated claws. He blocked the strike with crossed arms—felt the shock vibrate through his bones—then punched through the creature's chest with a burst of force.
It fell instantly.
> [+4 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
The second roared, charging Alicia. Its claws sliced through frost and air in a blur. Alicia dodged, carving through its limbs one by one with surgical precision. Vaibhav joined her, delivering a final blow to its skull.
The Horror collapsed into freezing mist.
> [+5 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
A sudden crack echoed across the valley floor.
Two shadows moved low to the ground—a pair of Mutated Frost Wolves, larger than horses, glowing red patterns pulsing beneath their fur. Their eyes locked onto Vaibhav and Alicia simultaneously.
One sprang at Alicia. She raised a triple-layered barrier—the wolf shattered through the first two but slowed enough for her blade to arc across its neck.
The wolf crashed into the snow, lifeless.
> [+2 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
[Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
The second wolf lunged at Vaibhav. He stepped aside, grabbing it mid-leap by the snout, twisting, and smashing it into an ice boulder until it stopped moving.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: None]
[+4 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
The ice trembled once more.
A third Mutated Mythic presence.
A Mutated Mythic Frostbound Juggernaut stomped into view, its body nothing but slabs of mutated frost armor and a single burning red eye. It locked onto Shin.
And Shin stepped forward.
"Finally. Something worth the warm-up."
The Juggernaut barreled toward him with thunderous force. Shin met the charge head-on, fist slamming into its chest. The shockwave blasted snow in every direction. The Juggernaut staggered—but didn't fall.
"Good," Shin muttered.
The beast swung a mutated hammer-like limb. Shin ducked under it, delivered a rising punch to its jaw, then grabbed its mutated arm and tore it clean off. The Juggernaut roared in agony.
Shin jumped, driving both feet into its torso, shattering its armor.
The massive beast fell backward, impact shaking the entire valley.
> [Beast Spirit Acquired: Juggernaut Fang]
[+3 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Vaibhav
A faint breeze moved through the frost.
Alicia exhaled. "Shard extraction."
The trio moved among the corpses.
Alicia bent over the Mythic beasts, slicing open thick hide and plated ice, retrieving seven shimmering blue-white shards. Their glow illuminated her face with cold brilliance.
Shin tore open the mutated bodies, retrieving seven crimson shards, each one radiating unstable mutation.
When all shards were gathered, the piles sat on the snow:
Alicia's neat row of blue-white Mythic shards.
Shin's chaotic heap of red, pulsing shards.
Alicia absorbed first.
She pressed the first shard to her palm. The energy melted upward through her arm.
> [+2 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 1)
The second glowed brighter.
> [+4 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 2)
A jagged shard dissolved violently into her aura.
> [+6 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 3)
Another followed, gentler.
> [+3 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 4)
A heavier pulse.
> [+3 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 5)
A shard stiff with cold energy.
> [+5 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 6)
And finally:
> [+3 Mythic Power Points Gained] — Alicia (Shard 7)
Shin cracked his knuckles and kneeled before his mutated shards.
The first ignited instantly when he touched it.
> [+3 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 1)
The second pulsed faintly.
> [+2 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 2)
The third sparked violently.
> [+4 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 3)
He pressed the fourth against his chest—red lightning branched across his arm.
> [+5 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 4)
A weaker shard followed.
> [+1 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 5)
The sixth vibrated like a heartbeat.
> [+4 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 6)
And the final shard, the brightest of all—
> [+5 Mutated Mythic Power Points Gained] — Shin (Shard 7)
Shin exhaled softly, aura stabilizing as the mutated power settled. His Mutated Mythic Power Points were now filled.
Alicia looked over the battlefield—shattered ice, steam rising, the corpses of Mythic titans scattered like broken statues.
"It's changing," she whispered. "The whole ecosystem. Everything is… shifting upward."
Vaibhav nodded slowly. "Even the ambient energy feels different."
Shin frowned for the first time in hours. "Something big is forcing them out."
Then—
A roar rolled across the glacier valleys.
Not Mythic.
Not mutated.
Something deeper.
Older.
Strong enough to vibrate their bones.
The trio turned toward the sound.
Something beyond Mythic… had awakened.