"But…"
"You've got to be kidding!"
"How is that thing on the 4th floor?!"
Zyhark was slightly aghast, a dozen possibilities flashing through his mind in an instant:
"Could the Dungeon have noticed me and triggered an abnormal event?"
"No, no—that's impossible. It must've been driven upward by something."
"Don't tell me, in the very next second—"
"The 'Expedition'-returning [Sword Princess] Ais shows up like a hero making an entrance?"
"Looks like the plot's diverged from the original!"
Unlike Zyhark's instant shock and analysis—born from being a "transmigrator"—
Yukino's body went taut the moment she heard the roar.
The ease on her face vanished in an instant, replaced by gravity.
The power contained in that roar—
Was on a completely different level from any monster they'd faced before!
There was not a shred of fear in her eyes; only a calm and resolve like permafrost.
Without hesitation, she raised her sword before her once more.
A clear, austere song, like an ice spring, flowed through the chamber:
"—Snow sweeps the sky, frost grips all, the chill surges."
"[—Ice-Soul, Bloom!]"
A brighter ice-blue radiance wrapped her whole body.
The cold coiling along her blade spiked at once, as if even the surrounding air would freeze.
Snowflake-crystals whirled madly, setting her off like a war goddess born of winter!
The full amplification of her "Add-on Magic" engaged again—her presence spiked!
"Fall back. Find cover."
Yukino's voice was frighteningly level; her slightly narrowed eyes locked on the tunnel mouth.
Just then—
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Heavy footfalls, enough to set the earth quivering, pounded closer like drumbeats.
A hulking, corded shadow swelled to fill the tunnel's mouth.
First into view—those massive, curved horns, thick as posts, gleaming coldly.
Then, a body packed with dense fur and explosive power.
Bull's eyes burning crimson with brutality and ruin.
—A Lv.2 Minotaur!
It barged into this secluded 4th-floor cavern with crushing presence!
Nearly three meters tall, it almost plugged the tunnel.
Its savage aura spread like something tangible.
It dipped its head,
And in a heartbeat locked onto, dozens of meters away, that slim figure exuding an icy aura it loathed!
"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!!!"
Another eardrum-splitting bellow.
"Roar" is a signature skill of the bull-headed.
Its effect is to drive terrifying intimidation into foe's body and mind, inducing fear and faltering.
The Minotaur whipped up its giant stone axe, hind legs kicking off.
With a momentum to grind all to powder,
It launched a berserk charge at Yukino, who stood braced to meet it!
The battle detonated in an instant!
Zyhark dove behind a boulder, brain racing:
"Going by the original… at times like this, usually there's…"
His gaze flicked to the tunnel at the back of the cavern, as if expecting something.
…
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
On the lower floors of the labyrinth—
A golden-haired figure pricked to the savage aura above and a chill "mana."
She paused for a heartbeat,
Then sped faster—like a gale—toward the 4th-floor cavern.
…
On-site.
The Minotaur's charge came with unstoppable ferocity.
Its giant axe tore the air with a heavy howl.
Facing that bulldozing chop—
Yukino's eyes were winter-cold; she tapped the ground lightly.
With "Add-on Magic" augmenting her, her body rose, impossibly nimble.
Not a soaring leap, but a deft, abnormal "agility."
She hung for a heartbeat, dodging the main sweep like an ice-crystal witch!
The axe slammed where she'd stood, shards flying, the floor scooped into a shallow crater.
Before the bull could recover its weapon, Yukino's wrist flicked in midair.
Her sword flashed like ice-blue lightning, thrusting at the Minotaur's right shoulder joint!
Even before the tip arrived,
Killing frost rolled in!
Squelch—
Crack!
Blade-through-flesh, and the eerie creak of ice forming.
The Minotaur's arm—thicker than a grown man's thigh—was shorn clean at the shoulder!
This was the output of a "Special-Attack" effect!
No blood sprayed from the stump—thick ice sealed it in an instant.
As if it were not flesh but a component of an ice statue!
"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!!!"
The pain of being maimed wrung a sky-rending howl from the bull.
Those red eyes seemed to bleed.
Its remaining left arm lashed out in fury.
A colossal fist, loaded with wrath, crashed toward Yukino just as she landed!
Yukino slipped like a cat—
A swift slide-step shaved past the blow by a hair.
The wind off the punch whipped her hair,
But her face didn't shift; her gaze stayed terrifyingly calm.
She knew—
Crippling one arm alone wasn't enough to fell this raging bull.
It was time!
She raised her blade before her chest again.
Blizzards seemed to gather in those azure eyes.
Her chant flowed out longer, emptier, colder than before—
Each syllable carrying a force that froze the soul:
"—No reliance, no compromise, no understanding."
"—The true cannot be found; the devil's hand cannot be escaped."
"—Let numbed hearts shatter; let solitude soak in; freeze, all things."
"[—Frost-Sealed Dustrealm!]"
The instant the incantation finished, time itself seemed to congeal!
Centered on Yukino,
A formless but terrifying field of absolute zero exploded outward!
A visible cerulean surge swept the cavern like a storming sea!
Walls, floor, dome—
The moment the surge touched them, they were sheathed in deep-blue, gleaming ice!
Moisture in the air condensed into countless ice spicules,
Clattering down—then freezing again before they kissed the ground.
The entire cavern—
In two or three seconds—became a crystal-clear, deathly silent world of ice!
The Minotaur, taking the brunt, was entombed in a shell of thick ice.
Frozen mid-roar, fist cocked—like a paused frame.
Its powerful muscles lost all meaning as "Ice Magic" negated them.
The ice didn't just bind it—
The marrow-gnawing cold
Ripped away its vitality, carving down its defense and speed.
Crack…
Crack-crack…
Fine fissures crept over the frozen bull.
Yukino's breath hitched faintly.
Clearly, firing two powerful spells back-to-back had taxed her body.
Especially such a wide-area extermination spell—its toll on stamina, spirit, and mana was immense.
Without a sliver of hesitation,
Yukino drew a sharp breath and dashed in again!
She blurred into a blue streak; her sword bore a cold gleam honed to a point.
Like a falling star, it speared the frozen Minotaur's chest core!
BOOM—!!
In the next instant,
The massive ice statue shattered in a thunderclap!
Not a simple crack—
But an inward detonation, the body bursting into countless flying ice shards!
Fragments caught the phosphorescence, a brief, dazzling rain of crystal.
In that icy rain,
The hulking Minotaur vanished utterly, leaving no remains.
Only a magic stone, several times larger than others, deep violet and throbbing with power.
And—
A pristine drop item, a "Bull Horn," clinking to the floor.
The cavern sank into coffin-still quiet, only the lingering chill coiling as pale mist.
"D…done?"
Zyhark peeked out from behind the rock.
He'd known Yukino's potential was frightening—
But to witness, with his own eyes, a cross-tier, elegant-yet-cruel battle,
And that last environment-warping spell—shook him to the core.
That biting cold had his teeth chattering even from a distance.
He drew a lungful of icy air and strode to Yukino's side.
By now Yukino had let "Add-on Magic" fall.
Her face was a touch pale, sweat beading at her brow, her breath a shade quick.
The ice-blue halo and snow had faded.
Yet she stood there—her cool silhouette and the frozen world around her seeming one.
Zyhark saw the faint tremor in her fingers and felt a tight pang.
An emotion he couldn't name welled up.
Before he knew it, he spread his arms and gently hugged Yukino from behind.
"S-So cold…"
He set his chin on her fragrant shoulder; his voice carried a real tremor.
Half-grumbling, half-in-earnest:
"That magic's too much."
"I feel my blood freezing—lend me some warmth."
But—
His arms felt it clearly: the girl in his embrace was cold too.
She trembled, just a little—
The signature aftermath of spirit and mana heavily spent.
At the moment he held her, Yukino's body stiffened.
Unexpectedly, she didn't tear free, nor stab him with her usual barbs.
After a few silent seconds,
Her cool voice, tinged with fatigue but in character, flowed out:
"…It seems your physical quality is pitiful, and your cold resistance equally abysmal."
"Truly… incurable."
She paused,
Sensing the warmth from behind slowly seeping through cloth, and added:
"And approaching me unannounced right after a fight is dangerous."
"Had I overreacted, you'd be like that ice wall over there."
For all that—
Yukino did not push him away.
They stood quietly in the ice cave, warmth passing through layers of cloth,
Easing the chill and tension after battle.
A subtle warmth began to move in the cold air, quietly flowing.
After a long moment—
Feeling Yukino's breathing steady, her tremors fade,
Zyhark slightly loosened his arms.
Still holding her, he leaned to murmur by her ear:
"To answer your earlier question first."
"I may be a god—"
"But with my divinity sealed, I'm basically the same as any mortal, you know?"
"All right, ojou-sama, let's head back."
"Today's haul… far beyond expectations."
He glanced at the [Magic Stone] on the ground and the rare "Bull Horn," his tone relieved:
"If we stay, I really will turn into a popsicle."
"And our pockets are about to burst."
Yukino gave a soft "mm," this time without rebuttal.
Continuous fighting and the huge drain of magic indeed left her tired.
…
Not long after Zyhark and Yukino left the cavern turned into an ice prison—
A figure like living gold
Flashed down the corridor and alighted precisely at the cavern entrance.
[Loki Familia]'s [Sword Princess] Ais halted.
When she took in the sight within—
Those lake-calm golden eyes widened, brimming with disbelief!
What met her gaze wasn't a rampaging Minotaur—
Nor adventurers on their last legs, but a chamber entirely frozen!
Wherever she looked—ice.
Walls, floor, vaulting roof—everything under a thick layer of blue, glinting crystal.
All breathing a honed, cutting cold.
The air's extreme chill hadn't dissipated; every breath fumed white.
It was as if the place had just been baptized by a god of winter.
Ais's eyes quickly swept the scene and fixed on the chamber's center.
There, the ice was thickest, the cold deepest.
On the ground lay scattered, unusually large ice shards.
"The 'Minotaur'… was taken down…"
Ais murmured, natural blankness shaded by puzzlement:
"Who did this…?"
She could feel it—the residue of pure ice-aspected "mana" in the air.
Power far beyond the reach of ordinary adventurers!
What's more—
There were scarcely any other battle marks.
From this near-domain-level freeze,
The one who slew the bull was extremely powerful.
And—
The fight ended fast!
A mighty sorcerer?
Or some unknown Familia's prodigy?
Ais crouched,
Her slim fingers touching an ice shard—the biting cold prickled her tips.
She looked around this silent "tomb of ice."
In her golden eyes glinted inquiry—and a hard-to-name interest.
Orario…
Has a remarkable newcomer appeared?
...
…
(End of Chapter)
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