"Ice Golems? Out of nowhere?"

"Yes! There looked to be dozens of them!"

The subordinate nodded frantically.

Hector scowled.

As far as he knew, golems were creatures that acted alone. And now what? They were moving in a pack?

"What kind of crazy... Move!"

He wouldn’t believe it until he saw it himself.

Hector shoved his subordinate aside and started walking.

The moment he stepped out the rear exit, a deafening noise hit him along with an overwhelming presence.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Tremors that shook the earth.

Through the hazy visibility, he could see massive chunks of ice barreling toward them. Hector’s eyes went wide at the unbelievable sight.

"...!?"

That report he’d just heard was true?

And just as his subordinate had said, the number of Ice Golems appeared to be well over forty.

"Son of a...!"

Why the hell were golems traveling in a pack?

And heading straight for them, of all places.

Feeling his plans fall apart, Hector’s face twisted. Meanwhile, subordinates who had come running after hearing the commotion spoke up.

"What do you want to do, sir?"

"Should we round up the guys and take them on?"

"Are you insane? How are we supposed to fight that!"

Hector snapped.

Ice Golems. Their levels were low, sure, but they were monsters with frost immunity and strong resistance to water-attribute attacks.

A terrible matchup for Hector.

Hitting them with water-attribute skills would just freeze on contact and make them bigger.

’On top of that...’

There were way too many.

Even mobilizing every subordinate he had here, there was no hope of winning. In the end, Hector bit down hard on his lip and shouted urgently.

"Get upstairs! Now!"

A variable he’d never anticipated.

But if he could just secure the fire-attribute Awakened, Lauren, who had to be hiding somewhere in this building, this was a solvable problem.

Elemental golems absolutely refused to engage with their opposing element.

"Move it, you idiots!"

"The golems are coming!"

With that, Hector and the hunters scrambled up the stairs toward the upper floors. Rushing to find Lauren and resolve this crisis.

---

Meanwhile, at the same time.

Walfred lay flat on the rooftop of a building next to the intersection, watching the entire scene through his binoculars.

When the Ice Golems moved toward the building where Hector was, he pumped his fist.

’Worked like a charm.’

His plan had been simple.

He’d used Lauren’s Heat Emission and Heat Preservation to heat canned food until they were scorching hot, then rolled them toward the Ice Golems to steer their movement.

Simple, but devastatingly effective.

The Ice Golems instinctively moved away from the heat, and as a result, they ended up heading toward the building where Hector and his hunters were.

"Get upstairs! Hurry!"

"Move it, you idiots!"

Panicked shouts flew back and forth.

Hector and the hunters fled toward the upper floors of the building and disappeared. After that, the golems took over the first floor they’d been occupying.

Rats in a trap, plain and simple. Watching this unfold, Walfred tilted his head.

’But why did they go upstairs?’

Ice Golems were a particularly tough matchup for water-attribute Awakened. So he’d naturally assumed they would flee back to the shelter, but Hector had chosen differently.

While he was puzzling over that, a guess suddenly crossed his mind.

"Ah! Could it be..."

Did Hector think Lauren was still hiding inside that building? There were tracks showing someone had entered, but no tracks leading back out.

If that guess was right, Hector would tear the entire building apart searching for Lauren.

’Either way, this bought us time.’

Walfred left the scene without a second thought.

Then he retrieved the cans rolling on the ground, still radiating intense heat. Shortly after, he headed for a church building near the intersection.

Creeeak!

When he opened the chapel door and stepped inside, Lauren, who had been crouched and hiding between the pews, flinched and looked up.

"Mister!"

Her expression was a mix of relief and anxiety.

Lauren rushed over and asked.

"H-how did it go?"

"Went well. They won’t be coming after us for a while."

"Really? Phew, thank goodness..."

Realizing they’d escaped the pursuit, Lauren sank into a chair as the tension drained from her body. Walfred gave her a slight nod of his head.

"You saved us back there."

"...Huh?"

"Thanks to your skills, I was able to lure the Ice Golems toward them."

"Oh, n-no. All I did was heat up some cans..."

Lauren gave an embarrassed smile.

She insisted what she’d done was no big deal, but in reality, it had been an enormous help.

Without her Heat Emission and Heat Preservation skills, there would have been no way to avoid the Ice Golems or shake off their pursuers.

’If I’d run into those Ice Golems alone, without Lauren...’

He didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened.

Walfred shuddered at the worst-case scenario. Then Lauren suddenly spoke up.

"Mister."

"...?"

"But what do we do about these?"

What Lauren was pointing at.

The very cans they’d used to redirect the Ice Golems’ path.

Maybe because they’d been heated to the extreme and enhanced with the Heat Preservation skill? The cans were swollen up like they were about to explode.

"I don’t think we can carry them like this."

"Yeah."

Some of the cans had even popped open, their contents leaking out. After staring at them for a moment, Walfred spoke as if he’d made up his mind.

"Let’s eat before we go."

"What? Right now?"

"I’m hungry anyway, and it’d be a waste to throw them out."

"But if we do that..."

"They can’t follow us for a while. It’ll be fine."

It wasn’t like eating would take forever.

When Walfred sat down in a chair, Lauren hesitantly followed suit. Today’s menu: canned corn, sardines in tomato sauce, and chili, among others.

Normally, the food would have been frozen solid and tasteless. But not right now. It was piping hot and perfectly cooked.

Chomp, chomp!

"This is good."

"Yeah."

The conversation was brief.

Walfred and Lauren ate in silence, emptying the cans. As the meal was nearing its end, Lauren, who had been watching Walfred’s mood, suddenly bowed her head.

"...Thank you."

"What’s this all of a sudden?"

"It’s just, when those hunters were chasing us earlier, I honestly thought you’d leave me behind and go. All I’ve been is a burden to you."

Lauren voiced the anxiety she’d felt earlier. But Walfred hadn’t given up on her, and after all they’d been through, they’d escaped the pursuit together.

"But you helped me to the very end... I never expected you’d go this far. I’m really grateful."

"..."

Walfred stayed quiet.

When he’d first met Lauren and decided to bring her along, it was because of what he stood to gain from delivering a fire-attribute Awakened to a shelter.

’But...’

That wasn’t all there was to it.