Whoosh!

Blue cold air burst from Walfred’s body and wrapped around the ice needles floating in the air.

In that instant.

The needles grew dramatically in size.

They weren’t thin needles anymore but had transformed into something more like thick spikes. On top of that, chilling cold air visibly flowed from their pointed tips.

’Right. Come to think of it...’

Hadn’t the system said that being affected by [Cold Emission] enhances skill power? Remembering what he’d forgotten, Walfred turned his eyes back to the mannequins.

And shouted forcefully.

"Launch!"

Boom!

This time, the sound itself was different.

It wasn’t the sound of needles flying, but artillery shells.

The ice needles shot off in the blink of an eye, and they didn’t just pierce the mannequins.

Crack-crack! Boom!

They punched right through the mannequins, and the tremendous impact shattered their torsos to pieces.

Watching the broken plastic fragments scatter in every direction, Walfred wore a stunned expression.

"Whoa..."

Before being enhanced by [Cold Emission], it had been a harassment skill, but now anyone could see it was a fully lethal attack skill.

Firepower that could finish off an enemy for sure.

Walfred shivered.

’Cold Emission is actually pretty useful?’

At first he’d thought it was a penalty skill.

He’d just assumed it was a skill that periodically released cold air and chipped away at his body temperature.

But it turned out to be a skill that buffed Frost attribute skills. A satisfied smile spread across Walfred’s lips.

’I think that’s enough performance testing.’

From here on, it was time to comb through the mall’s interior again and look for useful items. Walfred dusted himself off, got up, and headed straight off the rooftop.

A short while later.

"Found it."

Walfred had gotten his hands on one of the items he’d been searching for yesterday. A wall-mounted map showing Newark and the surrounding area in detail.

Thump!

A map showing Newark and the surrounding regions.

It was torn and stained in places, but it was still good enough for figuring out the terrain and buildings.

Walfred pulled out the red ballpoint pen he’d grabbed earlier and drew a circle on the map.

[Current location: Newark Plaza Mall]

After completing the circle.

The red pen traveled along a long straight line, eventually arriving at a spot where he drew a triangle.

[Newark Galleria]

The shelter where Walfred used to stay.

Having marked his current location and the Newark Galleria Shelter, he moved his finger to gauge the distance on the map by eye.

"About 0.75 miles, give or take."

To get out of the Newark Galleria’s sphere of influence, he’d need to travel at least 1.1 miles in the opposite direction from here.

If he hung around aimlessly here and ran into Chaz or other hunters from the Newark Galleria Shelter, things could get ugly.

’Where should I go?’

Walfred’s gaze wandered across the map.

Sure, he was planning to travel solo for the time being, but he couldn’t keep that up forever.

There were limits to what one person could do alone.

’If I’m out there alone and run into a monster with Frost immunity...’

There would be no way out.

Every single one of Walfred’s skills was Frost attribute.

That meant he’d eventually need a party, and to get one, he’d have to join a group.

Right then.

Walfred’s gaze stopped on one spot.

[Newark Caverns]

A place about 1.86 miles from the Newark Galleria.

It had been a famous tourist attraction since before the ice age, but now it was famous for a different reason. The largest survivor group in Newark was based there.

On top of that, an A-rank hunter served as their leader, and they reportedly had three fully cleared gates, so their food situation was supposed to be plentiful too.

"From an environmental standpoint, it’s the best, but..."

The cave interior maintained a constant temperature year-round, so it would be great for keeping warm against the cold too.

Even so, Walfred shook his head.

’If I show up there now, I’ll definitely be treated as a low-priority newcomer.’

That place was a massive, well-established organization.

There would be no place for someone who was still only E-rank, and a despised Frost attribute hunter at that.

On top of that, the moment they discovered his [Cold Emission] skill, he could get blamed for lowering the cave’s temperature and kicked out.

’Anywhere else?’

Walfred’s gaze moved again.

Out of Newark and toward New York. That’s when a familiar place name caught his eye.

[Silicon Alley Station]

"Silicon Alley..."

A transfer station for the 1 Line and 7 Line, and where the company Walfred used to work for was located. The underground here ran pretty deep, making it ideal for a shelter.

And there was one more thing.

The area was famous for another reason.

’A B-rank fire attribute hunter.’

The owner of the Silicon Alley shelter, a fire attribute hunter whose mere existence was valuable.

Because of that, Silicon Alley Station was said to have a significant number of survivors as well.

Plus, thanks to the fire attribute Awakened, the entire underground space was supposed to be enveloped in warmth, with rumors that you could walk around without cold-weather gear.

’A place like that could offset my penalty.’

Even if [Cold Emission] dropped the surrounding temperature, with the heat radiating from a fire attribute user, it wouldn’t even register.

’If I have a chance anywhere, it’s Silicon Alley.’

Of course, going there right now would be too far and too risky. There was no telling what kinds of monsters might show up along the way.

Walfred drew a circle on the map with the pen. Primary goal: leveling up. Secondary goal: entering the Silicon Alley Station Shelter.

"For now, I’ll focus on leveling up."

Wherever he went, he needed power to pull his weight. All that talk about a trash attribute meant nothing in the face of overwhelming levels.

Walfred dusted himself off and stood up.

With a determined expression, he climbed the stairs leading to the rooftop. Snow and ice. To take in plenty of nourishment that would become the source of his strength.

---

Newark Galleria Shelter.

Chaz blew out a long stream of cigarette smoke.

"Whew..."

A clearly tense expression on his face.

He kept blowing smoke until the cigarette butt burned down quickly to nothing, his eyes fixed on the massive dimensional gate before him.

A small message that only hunters could see appeared in his vision.

[D-rank Gate: The Singing Garden]

A safe gate that had been fully cleared back in 2021.

The interior of the Singing Garden was fertile land where flowers and crops grew year-round across all four seasons. A space practically tailor-made to serve as a food storehouse.

And this was the very reason they’d chosen the department store building, despite its relatively cramped underground space, as their shelter.

Hummmm!

Right then.

The surface of the gate rippled with a blue glow.

Chaz threw the cigarette he was smoking on the ground and ground it out with his foot. Soon after, five or six men walked out of the gate.

Stomp, stomp!

Among the men carrying piles of supplies, one stood out for his particularly massive build.

A man with a thick coat draped over him and a vicious-looking face crossed by a scar.

The ruler of the Newark Galleria Shelter.

B-rank hunter Hector.

"Boss, welcome back."

Chaz bowed sharply. Hector waved a hand dismissively as if it was a hassle.

"Yeah, yeah. Anything happen?"

"There was, sir."

"Of course nothing happened... what?"

Hector’s brow furrowed.

His expression made clear he was not pleased.

Seeing this, Chaz swallowed dryly and began his report. The story about how most of the search team had died because of Snow Wolves that had suddenly appeared.

After the entire report ended.

Hector asked back with a scowl.

"So. What happened to those wolves?"

"Yesterday, I personally led a strike team and wiped them all out, sir."

Chaz quickly added.

Trying to make clear that he’d handled the cleanup perfectly.

Hector, on the other hand, snorted.

"You little punk. You bragging about killing wolves?"

"...I apologize, sir."

Chaz bowed his head.

"I’ll investigate where those wolves suddenly came from and report back to you soon."

"Forget it. Drop it."

Hector said while rubbing his chin.

"I have a guess about that already."

"You have a guess, sir...?"

"I heard a D-rank gate was unleashed at the Heritage Apartments near Crown Heights Station."

"...What?"

A gate unleashed.

Those words signaled disaster, meaning the ecosystem from inside the gate had spilled out into the world.

Just like how the Antarctica Black Gate’s unleashing had turned the Earth into this mess, when a single D-rank gate burst open, the surrounding area would be utterly devastated.

"B-but! I’ve never heard any reports of a gate appearing in that area...!"

"They said the gate itself was buried under snow, so nobody noticed. Just bad luck."

Chaz fell silent at Hector’s words.

As Hector had just said, gates occasionally appeared underneath piles of snow.

"Then the wolves showing up was also..."

"Probably got pushed out by territorial fights between monsters because of the gate unleashing."

Hector shrugged.

"Oh, by the way, how many died?"

"Eighteen total, sir."

"Tch, what a waste. We needed the manpower at the farm with harvest season coming up."

Hector clicked his tongue.

Not because he was sad people had died, but as if it was a shame that valuable ’labor’ had been reduced.

Even that lasted only a moment. Hector quickly seemed to lose interest and changed the subject.

"Oh, right. Chaz."

"Yes, boss."

"You don’t have anything special on your schedule tomorrow, do you?"

"Nothing in particular, sir."

"Good. Then go fetch a kid for me."

"...A kid?"

Chaz tilted his head.

His expression said how am I supposed to know which kid you mean. Hector spoke again.

"You know the Crown Heights Arena Shelter, right?"

"Yes, I’m familiar with it."

"They got hit dead-on by the gate unleashing fallout, so they’re basically finished. The refugees will probably be making their way to the Newark Caverns..."

Hector’s lips curled up sleazily.

"And there’s a useful piece of merchandise among them."

"Merchandise, you mean a hunter?"

"That’s right. And not just any, an F-rank fire attribute hunter."

"...!"

Chaz’s jaw dropped.

The fire attribute. The most valuable and rarest attribute in this frozen world.

Even an F-rank hunter who’d just awakened would be treated entirely differently if they had the fire attribute.

"Perfect rank for an interception."

Hector’s eyes glinted with greed.

He had a pathological obsession with collecting useful hunters. So when it came to a rare fire attribute user, going after them with everything he had was a given.

"Anyway, I’ll mark a few of the refugee movement routes for you, so guard the chokepoints and bring that kid back."

"Understood, sir. But..."

"What is it?"

"What should I do if the hunters traveling with them resist? Capturing all of them alive would be tough."

"First, offer them a chance to join us. If they refuse, take them all out. Of course, bring the fire attribute kid back without a scratch."

Hector was famous for treating talent well and being a manpower hoarder, but that was only as far as hunters who accepted his recruitment offers went.

What if they refused the offer?

From that point on, no mercy was shown.

Knowing this well, Chaz nodded obediently without saying a word.

"I’ll keep that in mind, sir."

"Good. Oh, and one more thing."

"...?"

"If possible, bring back all the regular folks traveling with them too. We need to make up for the labor we lost to those wolves."

That probably wouldn’t be hard.

Once a few of the resisting hunters were killed, the unawakened would fall in line on their own.

Chaz bowed deeply.

"Yes, sir, I’ll bring them all back."

"Good. I’m counting on you."

Hector seemed satisfied as he patted Chaz on the shoulder and disappeared toward the residential quarters. Bowing toward his retreating back, Chaz clenched his fist tight.

’...I can’t afford another mistake this time.’

As far as Chaz knew, Hector was never lenient about his subordinates’ mistakes. He was definitely going to keep this incident filed away in his head.

So even just to make up for it, Chaz had to absolutely complete this order. Otherwise, there might not be a next time.

Chaz’s eyes glinted coldly.