Chapter 31: The Terror of a Superior Predator

Shortly after, the subordinate led him to an emergency exit at the end of the fourth-floor hallway. When they opened the rusted metal door, a steel staircase attached to the building’s exterior wall came into view.

The subordinate pointed at the staircase railing.

"Right here."

"What about it?"

"This is the only spot where the snow hasn’t accumulated. And look, the railing is dented inward, like someone kicked off from it hard."

That wasn’t all.

On the steel staircase of the building across the way, there were traces suggesting someone had landed. When the subordinate pointed this out, Hector let out a hollow laugh.

The last place you look is right under your nose.

It had never occurred to him that they’d slipped away using something as simple as jumping from building to building.

"That son of a..."

The guy was annoyingly clever. Biting down hard on his lip, Hector stepped up onto the railing, following the trail the fugitive had left behind.

"Follow me! We’re going across."

With a shout, Hector launched himself through the air and landed on the steel staircase of the building opposite.

THUD!

His heavy frame landed with a deep boom and a jolt of vibration. After that, his subordinates crossed over one by one in the same fashion.

And then they found the decisive clue.

"...!"

Marks where snow had slightly melted and then refrozen. Faint but unmistakable footprints. Just as the subordinate had guessed, they had moved by leaping from building to building.

A dangerous glint lit up Hector’s eyes.

"Let’s go."

With those words, the hunt resumed.

Hector and his hunters followed the footprints, leaping from building to building.

The cold was draining their stamina badly, but if they could just get their hands on the fire attribute brat, they’d never have to fear this kind of cold again.

’I will catch them.’

Hector picked up the pace.

After passing countless buildings, they arrived at the last building on the edge of the technology park. That was when a subordinate looking down below shouted.

"Sir! Over there...!"

Where the subordinate pointed was behind the building, at an intersection on the far side of the Passaic River. A trail of distinct footprints could be seen stretching across the thick blanket of snow.

"So they finally went down to street level."

Hector leaped off the rooftop without hesitation.

His subordinates followed close behind.

After the world froze over.

Hunters generally avoided moving around at night unless absolutely necessary. Nighttime was when monster activity spiked.

’And right now, it’s late at night.’

Chaz was surely holed up somewhere, resting at a base camp. With that fire attribute brat clinging to him like dead weight.

Hector was certain of it.

After following the trail of footprints for several dozen minutes, Hector and his subordinates abruptly halted in their tracks.

"What is that...?"

A stark white barrier appeared before their eyes.

From the Newark Technology Park, he’d assumed it was a snow fog. But up close, calling it fog was a stretch.

No, it wasn’t fog at all.

The boundary between where the barrier was and where it wasn’t was far too sharp.

"What in the world is this?"

"It doesn’t look like snow fog..."

"Could it be a gate?"

The subordinates traded theories among themselves.

It definitely wasn’t a gate. Gate entrances didn’t look like this. But it was too artificial to be a natural phenomenon, either.

Hector narrowed his eyes.

That was when he spotted footprints on the ground, presumably left by Chaz and Lauren. The footprints cut off right at this exact spot. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

’They went inside. No doubt about it.’

The only other possibility was that they’d flown away using something like a levitation skill. But as far as he knew, Chaz didn’t have a levitation skill.

Just as the puzzle pieces in his head were clicking into place, a frantic shout rang out.

"S-sir!"

"Snow Bears! Snow Bears are approaching from the Passaic River!"

The subordinates guarding the rear called out.

He looked where they pointed: the far side of the Passaic River.

Massive beasts could be seen charging across the frozen river. Enormous bears with thick ice armor encasing their heads and bodies.

Hector’s face twisted.

"Damn it, of all the pests..."

D-rank monster, Snow Bear.

Three or four times the size of a grizzly.

On top of that, the thick ice they wore like armor made them a natural counter to frost and water attribute hunters, just like the Ice Golems.

"Battle stations! Everyone, weapons out!"

"Defensive formation, gather up! Hurry!"

Close to twenty of them.

The subordinates immediately prepared to fight the Snow Bears. But Hector had a different plan.

"No. We push forward."

"What? But the Snow Bears..."

"Once we get in there, we can shake them. Unless they’re Ice Golems, monsters don’t like the cold either."

Beast-type monsters in particular tended to avoid the cold. Even Snow Wolves chose areas with plenty of vacant buildings for their territory.

More importantly, Hector and his subordinates were in the worst possible condition. Between the cold, the hunger, and the exhaustion from the relentless pursuit, they were completely spent.

Fighting more than twenty Snow Bears in this state was a massive risk.

"We move before they get here. Let’s go!"

"Yes, sir! Understood."

At Hector’s urging, the hunters broke formation and hurried through the white barrier. Hector himself followed right behind.

After they had all disappeared.

The Snow Bears, arriving a step too late, stood staring at the dome-shaped white barrier the hunters had gone through, like dogs that had lost the trail of a chicken.

Then, at that moment.

"...!"

The Snow Bears’ bodies convulsed.

They recoiled in shock as if they’d seen a ghost, stumbling backward step by step.

The emotion etched into their pitch-black eyes was fear.

The terror of a superior predator.

Grrrr! Whiiiine!

In the blink of an eye, the Snow Bears lost all will to fight and bolted in unison, fleeing in the opposite direction of the white barrier.

The Snow Bears vanished in an instant.

A short while later, nothing remained in the deserted area but a deep, still silence.