A half-collapsed shopping mall.

A group of hunters combed through the ruins of the building with a fine-tooth comb. Before long, horribly mangled corpses were discovered here and there.

It was a stomach-turning sight, but the hunters collected the bodies as if it were nothing.

Then, just at that moment.

Thud, thud, thud!

A hulking man in a thick fur coat approached the corpse-littered scene.

The ruler of the Newark Galleria Shelter.

B-rank hunter, Hector.

With a look as dead as a rotten fish eye, he glanced over the pile of bodies and spoke.

"What about Chaz? Did you find him?"

"...Not yet, sir."

Most of the corpses were refugees from Crown Heights.

And E-rank or lower hunters that Chaz had taken with him. Hearing the report from the hunter in charge of body recovery, Hector’s brow furrowed deeply.

"Any trace of that kid?"

The hunter just shook his head in silence.

Just as Hector’s expression twisted even further.

"Boss!"

A hunter who had been recovering bodies on the other side came running over in a panic. He pointed toward the corridor leading to the mall’s back exit and shouted.

"We found a trail!"

At those words, Hector walked toward where the hunter was pointing. What he found there was a muddy slush where snow and ice had melted.

"This is..."

Signs of snow melted by intense heat.

The muddy trail stretching beyond the back door continued in steady, even strides. On closer inspection, two distinct sets of footprints were visible.

Hector’s lips curled.

"They got out alive."

The fire-attribute Awakened was alive.

But there was one more survivor.

The proof was a large set of footprints layered beneath the smaller ones.

Then Hector’s gaze shifted to the carcass of a giant spider lying dead in a corner of the mall.

’Frozen Weaver.’

A D-rank Elite Monster, known to be the boss of the recently liberated Crown Heights gate.

It was a formidable opponent, too tough for Chaz to handle alone. But if his subordinates and the hunters mixed in among the refugees had all joined the fight?

They would have had a decent chance of winning.

’Which means...’

It was safe to assume Chaz was alive.

And with the fire-attribute Awakened, no less. So why hadn’t he returned to the shelter?

There was only one reason he could think of.

"That little bastard had the nerve to stab me in the back?"

It was obvious: Chaz had recognized the value of the fire-attribute Awakened and betrayed them to keep her for himself.

If he migrated to a larger shelter, he’d at least get better treatment than he did here. Or maybe he’d start a new shelter and become its leader.

"I could eat that bastard alive and still not be satisfied!"

Hector’s fury erupted.

After venting his rage on everything around him for a while, he bellowed through heavy, seething breaths.

"Put a bounty on Chaz’s head right now!"

"Yes, sir. How much for the bounty..."

"Three thousand coins for a live capture. One thousand coins for any information critical to securing him."

"...What? Th-that much?"

His subordinate asked again in shock.

The standard bounty for a C-rank hunter was typically around a thousand coins. Hector scowled in response, and the subordinate hurriedly nodded.

"Oh, understood, sir! I’ll post it right away!"

Seeing Hector’s rage about to turn on him, the subordinate hastily logged into the Community.

And in the meantime.

Hector gathered all the hunters who had been busy recovering bodies.

"Listen up, all of you. That bastard Chaz stabbed us in the back. He ran off with the fire-attribute Awakened we were trying to secure for the shelter’s survival!"

The hunters murmured amongst themselves.

"Last night’s blizzard was brutal, so he couldn’t have gotten far. He’s either hiding somewhere nearby or heading to another shelter."

Hector’s eyes darted wildly.

With a tone that seemed to barely contain his fury, he clenched his fists tight.

"Spread out and find him now. The moment you spot him, pin him down and report to me. I’ll snap that bastard’s neck myself!"

"Yes, sir!"

With those final words.

The hunters of the Newark Galleria Shelter scattered in every direction. To retrieve the traitor Chaz and the fire-attribute Awakened he had stolen.

---

The next morning.

It was quiet outside the container.

The wind that had howled like mad all night had died down completely. Looking out at the scene of light snow flurries drifting here and there, Walfred got up.

"Time to head out."

"Oh, I’m all set too."

Lauren, who had been in the corner of the container, stood up with her backpack on. It must have been bitterly cold overnight, but her face had a healthy color to it.

Probably because she was a fire-attribute Awakened.

Walfred opened the firmly shut door. A wall of snow piled up to their waists greeted them.

"Wow... The snow really piled up."

"Follow the path I make. Step somewhere weird and you’ll sink in with no way out."

"Got it!"

Walfred took the lead, plowing through the snowy path.

Thanks to his enhanced physical abilities, he pushed through waist-deep snow without any trouble.

And Lauren, too, followed along five yards behind, hurrying down the trail Walfred carved.

Then, out of nowhere, Walfred spoke up.

"By the way."

"Yeah?"

"I heard the Crown Heights Arena shelter collapsed because of a gate liberation buried under the snow?"

"Oh, that’s right. How did you know?"

"Saw a post about it on the Hunter Community."

Walfred replied, recalling the post he’d seen on the Community the day before. Lauren nodded and let out a deep sigh.

"We really had no idea. We never imagined there’d be a gate buried near the shelter."

Lauren’s voice was tinged with bitterness.

The apartment complex they’d walked past every single day. Buried under snow with its entrance completely hidden, and all along, a gate teeming with monsters had been lurking there.

"If we’d known about it earlier, we would have asked nearby shelters for help and done everything we could to clear it out. When a gate liberates, it doesn’t just put us in danger."

And in fact, now that the gate had liberated.

Monsters had spread not only around Crown Heights Station, but all the way to Bayway and the greater Newark area. Walfred nodded in understanding at Lauren’s words.

"Just bad luck, is all." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"Exactly. Once something’s buried under the snow, there’s no way to find it unless you have a detection skill."

Lauren sighed again.

"For all we know, there could be a gate right under the path we’re walking on."

It was a chilling thought.

But he couldn’t deny it.