Top priority was leveling up as much as possible.

Having decided what to do, Walfred swept up the snow and ice piled on the walls and floor like a starving beast and shoved it all into his mouth.

Crunch! Crackle!

Honestly, it didn’t taste like much.

It was just cold snow and chunks of ice, after all.

Still, he didn’t feel any aversion to it. Each piece was precious experience.

[Experience gained.]

[Experience gained.]

The sweet chime kept ringing one after another.

How much time had passed?

After scarfing down snow and ice until his stomach felt cold, Walfred suddenly noticed something.

’Ice gives way more experience than snow.’

The snow piled on the floor was soft and easy to eat, but the experience gain was minimal.

On the other hand, just one chunk of solid ice gave him as much experience as five handfuls of snow. So at some point, he started focusing exclusively on the ice.

Right then.

The notification he’d been waiting for appeared.

[Level up.]

[You’ve reached Level 10!]

[Hunter rank has increased.]

[Rank: F → E]

"Yes!"

Walfred clenched his fist and let out a cheer.

E-rank hunter. Normally, this was a rank you could only reach after at least a week of awakening, sometimes a full month, of fighting monsters tooth and nail.

But he’d reached it in just a few hours, and without a single battle on top of that.

"Wow, this skill really is insane."

Walfred muttered the words from the heart.

At first he’d been disappointed about awakening with the Frost attribute, but who would have thought he’d land a skill like this?

A smile spread across his face on its own.

"Status."

-----

[Name]: Walfred

[Level]: 10

[Attribute]: Frost

[Mana]: 1,000

[Rank]: E

[Experience]: 03.14%

-----

The only changes were his level, mana pool, and rank.

There was nothing else worth noting, so Walfred closed the status window right away. At the same time, an additional message popped up.

[Level 10 milestone confirmed]

[A new skill slot is being unlocked.]

What kind of skill would he get this time?

He really hoped for a combat skill or a ranged attack skill. Holding his breath with that wish in mind, Walfred waited for the result.

A short while later.

[A new skill has been acquired.]

▷ Support: Frozen Weapon

"Frozen Weapon?"

He could roughly guess what it did just from the name.

With a mixture of anticipation and concern, Walfred pulled up the detailed information.

-----

[Support: Frozen Weapon (Lv.1)]

[Transforms snow or ice into the shape of a weapon.]

[The completed weapon is influenced by [Passive: Cold Emission], boosting its power. As long as mana isn’t depleted, the weapon will neither melt nor break.]

▷ Mana cost: 1 per 5 seconds

▷ Required materials: Snow or ice

▷ Maximum held: 3

▷ Cancel command: Cancel

▶ Convertible weapons: Sword, spear, axe

-----

"Ah... it’s a support skill."

Walfred clicked his tongue in disappointment.

He’d been hoping for a combat or ranged attack skill, so the letdown was unavoidable. But looking at it more carefully, it wasn’t a bad skill at all.

’At least it means I’ll have a weapon.’

It had to be better than fighting with bare fists.

Meanwhile, a notification popped up saying the effects of Frozen Weapon had doubled thanks to Frost Domain, the skill he’d acquired at Level 5.

On top of the bonus that the weapon wouldn’t melt or break until his mana ran out, it also synergized with the passive skill [Cold Emission].

Walfred decided to test it out right away.

"Frozen Weapon."

When he placed his hand on the ice wall and activated the skill, the shapes of weapons appeared before his eyes.

A sword, an axe, and a spear, each in their own form.

The one Walfred chose was the spear.

It was the weapon that would let him fight while keeping at least some distance between himself and the enemy.

Crackle!

The instant he selected the spear...

A crisp cracking sound rang out as part of the ice wall tore away. The fragments of ice floating in the air then rapidly assembled under the skill’s effect.

A long shaft glinting transparently.

A wickedly sharp Frost spearhead. An ice spear radiating cold air now rested in his grip.

"Whoa..."

A genuine sound of awe escaped Walfred’s lips.

The grip felt amazing. On top of that, it was incredibly light, with perfect balance. But the most surprising feature of all was the hardness.

"This is really ice?"

When he tapped the spearhead with his fingernail, it rang out like he was striking metal. After finishing his hardness test, Walfred eyed the ice wall.

And in that moment.

He drove the ice spear straight into the wall.

Crack-crack-crack! Thunk!

A hole punched through the solid ice wall.

Roughly a third of the spearhead had buried itself inside the ice. Stunned by the truly remarkable result, Walfred clicked his tongue in amazement.

"This could probably pierce a Snow Wolf’s hide too."

The ice spear was more powerful than he’d expected.

Walfred’s confidence grew.

Right then.

[Passive: ’Cold Emission’ activated]

[The weapon created by Frozen Weapon is being enhanced by ’Passive: Cold Emission.’]

[Weapon power has been enhanced.]

Along with the notification that Frozen Weapon’s bonus ability had triggered, the entire ice spear suddenly began glowing with a faint blue light.

Pulling the spear back, Walfred turned toward the opposite ice wall to see what had changed and thrust the spear forward with all his might.

"Hyah!"

Boom-boom-boom! Crash!

A violent explosion and tremor.

It was a completely different sound from before.

Ice fragments flew in every direction as the spearhead punched cleanly through the ice wall. Seeing the result, Walfred muttered as if it had clicked for him.

"So the power really does get boosted."

Walfred nodded silently.

Looking down at the ice spear in his hand, his eyes glinted with quiet intensity.

"With this much power, I should be able to handle a few Snow Wolves no problem."

On top of that, Frost Domain, the skill he’d picked up at Level 5 that boosted his physical abilities in environments below freezing, was essentially active at all times now.

The only remaining concern was that ever since the Antarctica Black Gate was unleashed, every monster had been granted cold resistance and Frost resistance.

But it didn’t really worry him.

’Cold and Frost resistance levels are supposed to vary depending on the monster’s rank.’

The rank where cold resistance actually starts to feel meaningful is C-rank monsters and above. Snow Wolves, on the other hand, were famously F-rank.

So a Snow Wolf’s cold and Frost resistance would basically be negligible. Having shaken off his concerns, Walfred quietly looked up at the hole.

Right then.

Growl!

A loud rumble echoed from his stomach.

A sudden wave of hunger.

The confident look on Walfred’s face crumpled in an instant.

"...I’m starving."

Of course he was. He may have filled his stomach with snow and ice, but in the end it was just water weight. Rubbing his empty belly, Walfred lifted his head and looked up.

The only exit leading to the surface.

A moment later, Walfred clenched his fist tight.

’Time to head out.’

He couldn’t stay down here forever.

He was hungry, and now even if he ran into Snow Wolves, he wouldn’t go down easily.

With his mind made up, Walfred adjusted his grip on the ice spear and drove it straight into the wall.

Crack! Thunk!

Using the firmly embedded spear as a foothold, Walfred hauled himself up. Then, using his powerful grip, he dug his fingers into the opposite ice wall hard enough to leave gouges.

One step, then another.

Repeating this motion, Walfred climbed toward the surface at a surprisingly fast pace.

---

At that same moment, inside the shelter.

Chaz, a C-rank hunter who had just emerged from a gate, was in a foul mood. He’d just received an unbelievable report from one of his men.

"...Say that again?"

Chaz’s brow was deeply furrowed.

In front of him stood a young hunter with a somewhat boyish face, his expression rigid with tension.

"What happened to the search team?"

"W-well, the search team that went out to secure supplies was attacked by Snow Wolves. Out of the twenty members, only two made it back alive..."

Wham!

Before the report could even finish.

Chaz slammed his hand against the wall in irritation.

The sound made the atmosphere inside the shelter even heavier. Everyone watched Chaz cautiously, gauging his mood.

"Last week’s purge wiped out every monster in this area. So where the hell did Snow Wolves suddenly come from?"

"...According to the survivors, they were attacked by Snow Wolves while securing food and supplies at a warehouse store."

"A warehouse store? You mean the one near that intersection?"

"Y-yes, sir."

At his subordinate’s words, Chaz’s expression hardened.

The warehouse store he’d just mentioned was only about half a mile from the shelter.

And last week’s purge operation had been carried out within a 1.86-mile radius centered on the shelter. In other words, the search team had been attacked inside the safe zone.

’This doesn’t add up.’

Normally, monsters outside of gates respawn on a roughly monthly cycle. That’s why purge operations are scheduled to match that cycle.

But a Snow Wolf pack showing up just one week after the last purge? If that was really true, there was only one explanation he could think of.

’Don’t tell me the respawn cycle has changed?’

That was the only conclusion he could come to.

Even so, it was hard to believe.

The respawn cycle hadn’t shifted once in the six months since the Antarctica gate was unleashed, so why would it suddenly change now?

After mulling it over, Chaz quietly turned his gaze upward. Then he manipulated the special interface visible only to hunters.

[Hunter Community: Connecting]

[Accessing the New America Republic channel.]

The Hunter Community.

A feature unlocked starting at hunter rank D, it allowed hunters to communicate with others in different regions.

Chaz combed through every recent post and comment on the Hunter Community with a fine-toothed comb.

But there was no information anywhere about the monster respawn cycle speeding up.

’Damn it.’

The situation had gotten complicated.

If monsters were running loose outside the shelter, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to forage outside.

’I don’t know what’s causing it, but...’

The immediate priority was solving the problem.

The unawakened members of the search team were a critical labor resource. Losing them was equivalent to a drop in food production.

Plus, if word got out that there was a problem and reached B-rank hunter Hector, the shelter’s leader, he’d definitely catch hell for it.

’There’s only one thing to do.’

Eliminate the source of the problem.

In other words, wipe out every threat outside.

And only by securing solid evidence that Snow Wolves had attacked the search team could he escape Hector’s wrath and reprimand.

After his brief deliberation.

Chaz turned to address the young hunter waiting in front of him.

"Rickey."

"Yes, boss."

"All the D-rank and below hunters currently in the shelter. Get them all assembled here."

"A-all of them? Don’t tell me..."

"That’s right. We’re heading out."

The moment Chaz finished speaking, the hunter called Rickey went pale.

"But boss, the weather right now..."

"What’s the weather got to do with hunting some lousy wolves? Go round them up now."

"...!? Y-yes, sir." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Rickey rushed off.

His face twisted in displeasure, Chaz stared out the window. He silently watched the snowstorm outside grow more violent with every passing moment.