Snow of pure mana was piled up in heaps up there? How many levels would he gain if he ate it all?

Walfred swallowed hard.

"All right. Let’s go eat it right now."

"Let’s go!"

Elsa laughed brightly.

Walfred took Elsa into his arms, then fastened her securely with an emergency cord.

And the moment he jumped from where he stood,

Whoosh!

He instantly leaped more than 30 feet.

With that, Walfred once again felt firsthand that his physical abilities had been greatly enhanced.

Right after he reached the ice wall,

"Frozen Weapon."

an ice axe took shape in his hand.

Walfred drove the ice axe into the ice wall and began climbing, repeating the motion as he leaped upward.

---

Meanwhile, at that moment.

The underground platform of Financial District Station. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Fleeing the monsters that had emerged from the White Dome, the refugees of the Silicon Alley Shelter had left Prospect Park Station and barely made it to the Financial District.

But the unease hadn’t lifted.

"Waaah, Mommy."

"Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay."

Sobbing could be heard here and there.

It couldn’t be helped.

Escaping the expansion of the White Dome and the threat of the monsters was a relief, but the shelter’s main force of Hunters still hadn’t returned.

"I-is the chief going to be all right...?"

"He’s surely safe."

"That’s right. You know what kind of man Chief Jonah is."

"He’ll be here soon."

In particular, the absence of Jonah, the group’s pillar of strength, made people all the more anxious.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t only the non-Awakened who were trembling with unease. Lauren, crouched alone in a corner, couldn’t hide her anxious expression either.

’Mister...’

Lauren squeezed her eyes shut.

And she pictured Walfred’s face.

A blunt but kind man. The benefactor who had brought her, on the verge of death, all the way here. And the person she could trust more than anyone right now.

"...Please, you have to be safe."

Clasping both hands together as if in prayer, Lauren murmured as though wishing for Walfred’s safe return. As the long wait dragged on,

Ding!

along with a notification sound that only Awakened Hunters could hear, an unusual message appeared.

[Notice: Powerful Enemy Exterminated]

[Channel: New America Republic / Region: New York]

"Huh? What’s this...?"

Lauren tilted her head.

Since Awakening as a Hunter, it was the first kind of notification message she’d ever seen.

Just then,

-----

[Target]: Bone Drake

[Type]: Elite / Young Dragon

[Rank]: A

[Exterminator]: Walfred

[Contribution]: 100% (solo)

-----

"...!"

Lauren’s eyes went wide.

Walfred.

That was Mister’s name.

’He’s safe!’

Lauren’s expression brightened in an instant.

Along with a look that said she’d never imagined she’d find out Walfred was safe in a way like this.

Anyway, taking down an A-rank monster solo, wasn’t that incredibly impressive?

Just as that thought crossed her mind,

"Hey, did you just see that?"

"If it’s Walfred, then that’s surely..."

"You mean the Hunter who came from the Crown Heights South area, right?"

"Yeah. I remember he came in with that student over in the corner."

The Hunters around her began to murmur.

And.

"Student!"

The Hunters came swarming over.

"This Walfred person, what’s his deal?"

"Exterminating an A-rank Elite solo... I’ve never even heard of that being possible."

"Isn’t he maybe a hidden S-rank Hunter?"

"You know anything?"

They poured out a barrage of questions, none of them waiting to go first. The sudden situation left Lauren flustered and at a loss.

"I-I don’t really know either. Just... just that he’s an incredibly strong person..."

Honestly, she didn’t even really know the difference between A-rank and S-rank.

Since Awakening with the fire attribute, Lauren had never once set foot outside the shelter, so she had zero knowledge as a Hunter.

But seeing the Silicon Alley Shelter’s Hunters talk about Walfred like he was someone amazing, she found herself feeling oddly pleased and broke into a smile.

’...Mister.’

Walfred was an unusual man.

After the world froze over, most of the adults she’d seen were selfish and greedy.

It was especially bad the more so among Hunters.

They didn’t hide their ugly desires, and among them there had even been an adult who openly demanded the body of a girl younger than Lauren.

’Mister, on the other hand, was different.’

Even knowing Lauren was a fire-attribute Hunter, he hadn’t wanted a single thing from her.

And even when she’d said she’d do anything if he just took her to the Silicon Alley Shelter, Walfred hadn’t laid a finger on her.

That wasn’t all.

Walfred had risked his life trying to shake off the pursuer tailing her, and no matter what crisis came, he’d never abandoned Lauren and run.

Maybe that was why.

Lauren found Walfred far more dependable than the adults at the Crown Heights Shelter she’d spent several months with.

’It’d be nice if I could keep staying with Mister from now on too...’

She trusted and leaned on Walfred enough that thoughts like that came to her.

But she knew.

That wanting to stay with Walfred forever was purely her own wish, her own selfishness.

’Just like I’m trying to find my sister, Mister’s desperate to find his niece.’

So one day they would have to part ways.

If only for the sake of their own goals.

Still, the thought of having to part with Walfred drew a sigh out of her without her realizing. As Lauren’s expression began to cloud over little by little,

"E-everyone!"

"The chief has returned!"

Cheers rang out from afar.

The news that Chief Jonah, who had held off the monsters at Prospect Park Station, had returned. At this, the Hunters dashed over toward Jonah in a hurry.

"You’re safe, Chief!"

"Phew, what a relief."

The Hunters let out sighs of relief.

But the reactions of Jonah and the Hunters were a little strange. They’d won a great victory by defeating an A-rank Elite Monster, yet their expressions were somehow conflicted.

Still, none of that mattered to her.

’The Hunters returning means...!’

It surely meant Walfred had returned too.

Lauren also got to her feet and ran over to Jonah and the Hunters in one breath. Meanwhile, the moment Jonah saw Lauren, he flinched and murmured,

"...Lauren."

A voice that sounded somewhat drained.

What’s wrong with him? Puzzled, Lauren looked over the Hunters who had come back with Jonah.

And then she soon noticed something odd.

No matter how she looked, Walfred was nowhere to be seen.

Lauren tilted her head.

"Chief, where’s Mister?"

"..."

Jonah let out a sigh.

And then he spoke.

"Hunter Walfred was carried off during the battle by a Bone Drake that appeared out of nowhere."

"...What?"

Carried off? By a monster?

But a notice had just popped up saying Mister had exterminated an A-rank monster solo?

Lauren wore a confused expression.

So just as she was about to ask again,

"You don’t need to worry, though."

Jonah added an explanation.

"As the powerful-enemy extermination notice mentioned, Hunter Walfred took down the Bone Drake on his own. He’s surely safe."

"R-right? So then nothing’s wrong, right?"

"Yes. He may even have let himself get carried off on purpose. In order to catch the thing."

Of course, how a man who was nothing more than a D-rank Hunter had managed to defeat an A-rank Elite Monster was still a mystery.

But that wasn’t what mattered right now.

That question would resolve itself naturally once Walfred rejoined the group. Jonah did his best to reassure the anxious Lauren.

"So he’ll be back soon. He knows we’re heading to the Financial District, so he’ll come this way as soon as he gets out of the White Dome."

"Haah, thank goodness..."

Lauren breathed a sigh of relief.

Mister was alive.

And the unease she’d just felt vanished at the words that he’d be returning here before long.

But just then.

"No."

A suddenly hard, rigid voice spoke up.

Along with the negative reply, a remark that felt like a bucket of cold water followed.

"He probably won’t be coming back."

The owner of the voice was a hulking man.

The very one who had collapsed all the entrances of Prospect Park Station to block the surging monsters.

It was Hunter Miles.