Ever since the Antarctica gate liberation, gates had been appearing far more frequently than before.

And cases like this one, where gates emerged beneath snow or ice, out of human sight, weren’t exactly rare either.

"Hold on."

Just then, Walfred, who had been walking ahead, raised his hand.

Near the Passaic River. Beyond the open snowfield, dozens of dark shapes could be seen squirming in the distance.

Monsters.

"From here on, we need to move carefully."

"...Yeah, I think so."

Lauren swallowed hard.

Tension was written all over her face.

Walfred crouched low and slowly pushed through the snow, advancing forward.

Then, at that very moment.

"Grrrrrrrr!"

A familiar sound rang out without warning.

Snow Wolves.

By rough count, more than ten wolves had caught the scent of humans and were closing in.

"M-Mister..."

"Stay behind me."

Leaving the fear-stricken Lauren behind.

Walfred extended both hands into the air.

"Ice Needle. Frozen Weapon."

Ice needles and an ice spear.

He created the Ice Needles to keep the wolves targeting Lauren at bay, and the ice spear to take out the wolves directly.

As the distance between him and the wolves closed.

Walfred kicked off the ground like lightning.

Whoosh! Thwack!

One dropped in the blink of an eye.

Taking that as their cue, the wolves charged at Walfred and Lauren from all directions, but not a single one succeeded in its hunt.

Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip! Crunch!

The ice needles Walfred had prepared in advance shot toward the wolves’ eyes. Then he swiftly finished off the incapacitated wolves.

And the result.

The fight was over almost too easily.

"Wow..."

Lauren watched with her jaw on the floor.

She had seen hunters deal with Snow Wolves before, but she’d never seen anyone take them out this fast.

Meanwhile, having dispatched all the Snow Wolves, Walfred pulled a pair of binoculars from his backpack. He looked toward the Passaic River, the direction the Snow Wolves had come from.

"Hmm."

The situation wasn’t great.

Snow Wolves, massive White Bears, and on top of that, a swarm of Blizzard Bats circling the sky.

Seeing all kinds of monsters swarming the New York side of the riverbank along the Passaic River, Walfred frowned.

’I was originally planning to follow the rail line straight to Silicon Alley...’

That way, there’d be no risk of getting lost.

But it didn’t look like that was going to work.

To reach the railroad tracks, he’d have to fight through those monsters. And since the tracks were in open terrain, they’d be sitting ducks.

He decided to change plans.

"We need to take a different route."

"Where to?"

"Let’s move along the Passaic River. It’d be better to go around by way of the Pulaski Bridge."

"Okay, got it."

This would make the route to Silicon Alley a bit longer. But even if it meant a detour, a safer path was the smarter choice.

Lauren went along with Walfred’s decision without argument.

The two moved along the Passaic River, taking the route with the fewest monsters.

How long had they walked?

Around the time they passed under the Pulaski Bridge and were nearing the Newark Technology Park. Walfred, who had been walking nonstop, came to a halt once again.

’What’s that...’

A string of monsters was crossing over from the other side of the Passaic River, moving right into the path he’d been planning to take.

On top of that, a hill had appeared at just the wrong time, making it impossible to get a clear view ahead.

’What should I do.’

Walfred thought it over.

But not for long.

He decided that rather than blindly pressing forward, it was more important to first check how many monsters were beyond that hill.

It would also be a good idea to confirm whether there were any threatening creatures, like an Elite Monster, along the route to Silicon Alley Station.

’Let’s see.’

Walfred looked around.

That’s when a tall building inside the Newark Technology Park caught his eye. It was a mixed-use commercial building with various restaurants and a movie theater.

"Let’s make a quick stop over there."

"Huh? Why there...?"

"I want to get up on the rooftop and scope out the area."

"Oh! Sure, sounds good."

Lauren nodded without hesitation.

The two entered the commercial building and headed straight for the top floor. Then, just as they were looking for the emergency staircase leading to the roof.

"Um, hey..."

Lauren suddenly spoke up.

After a moment, she fidgeted and said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"...Would it be okay if I used the restroom?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Thank you."

Lauren vanished in a flash.

Left alone, Walfred headed for the rooftop via the emergency stairs. When he finally broke the lock on the rooftop door and pushed it open.

Clank! Creeeak!

A wide-open snowy landscape unfolded before him.

A pristine white snowfield, untouched by anyone.

As he crossed it and made his way toward the rooftop railing.

Ding!

[Skill proficiency has reached its maximum.]

[Skill level has increased.]

[Frost Domain: (Lv.1) → (Lv.2)]

"Oh."

Right on cue, his skill had leveled up.

A core skill that made his enhanced physical abilities even stronger. Walfred checked the detailed effects of Frost Domain.

-----

[Passive: Frost Domain (Lv.2)]

[When the average ambient temperature around the caster is below freezing, all of the caster’s physical abilities and all acquired skill effects are greatly enhanced.]

▷Activation condition: Ambient temperature at or below 32°F

▷Active duration: Constant while condition is met

▶Physical ability enhancement: +300%

▶Skill effect boost: +100%

(Note: [Frost Domain] itself is excluded)

-----

Only one thing had changed.

Physical ability enhancement had gained an additional +100% compared to Level 1. He was very pleased with that, though there was something slightly disappointing.

"The skill effect boost stayed the same."

If the skill effect had gone up too, all his frost-attribute skills would have gotten stronger. A bit of a letdown, but the physical ability increase alone was more than enough to be satisfied with.

With a shrug, Walfred went ahead and checked the current experience status of Frost Feast.

-----

[Unique: Frost Feast]

▶ Current experience: [91.18]%

-----

"That one’s coming up soon too."

About one more day of eating snow and his unique skill would level up as well.

Having accomplished what he’d set out to do.

Walfred pulled out his binoculars and approached the rooftop railing. To survey the surrounding area he hadn’t been able to check earlier because of the hill.

’Silicon Alley first.’

The railroad tracks and the expressway stretching along the Passaic River. Beyond them, the Silicon Alley area was shrouded in what looked like dense fog.

It wasn’t a whiteout.

It was more like an enormous cloud had settled down onto the ground. A phenomenon sometimes seen in areas with heavy snowfall, commonly known as "snow fog."

’Nothing out of the ordinary.’

Next was checking how many monsters were along the route toward Silicon Alley.

But the results were unexpected.

"...Huh?"

There wasn’t a single monster in sight.

All that stretched beyond the binocular lenses was a white snowfield and some oversized chunks of ice.

The only monsters around were the group that had crossed the Passaic River just moments ago.

And even they were heading toward Weequahic. Already moving out of his route, so no need to worry about them.

’More importantly, what are those ice chunks?’

Chunks of ice a bit bigger than a bus.

Through the binoculars, they looked like nothing more than snow-covered lumps of ice. But the longer he stared, something felt... off. An inexplicable sense of unease.

Just as he narrowed his eyes to get a better look.

BOOOOOM!

Out of nowhere, a heavy tremor and a thunderous roar slammed into Walfred’s eardrums. The source of the sound was the south end of the Pulaski Bridge. The very path they had taken earlier.

"What the?"

Walfred quickly adjusted the focus on his binoculars.

Hazy smoke was rising from the source of the noise. And out of that smoke, a considerable number of hunters emerged.

Crash-crash-crash! BOOM!

Hunters locked in battle with a horde of monsters.

Most of them were familiar faces.

They were hunters from the Newark Galleria Shelter, the same shelter Walfred had belonged to before his Awakening.

And then.

"...!"

A familiar face appeared through the binoculars.

A hulking man in a thick fur coat.

A being slaughtering monsters with blades of ultra-high-pressure water, like something out of a water jet cutter.

"H-Hector...!?"

The leader of the Newark Galleria Shelter.

B-rank hunter, Hector.

The moment he spotted him, the scattered puzzle pieces in his mind clicked into place.

Chaz, who had attacked the Crown Heights refugees.

His objective had been to secure Lauren, the fire-attribute Awakened. This likely wasn’t something Chaz had done on his own; there was a strong chance it was an order from the shelter’s leader.

And now.

Hector had personally led his forces all the way here. That could only mean one thing.

’He’s come after Lauren!’

Since Chaz had failed, Hector had obviously come to retrieve Lauren himself. The value of a fire-attribute Awakened was just that high.

"Damn it!"

Walfred cursed under his breath and stowed the binoculars. There was no time to waste. They had to get out of here before those people arrived.

The instant he grasped the situation.

Walfred swiftly left the rooftop.