It was the second day since he’d settled into the mall.

The blizzard that had been raging hard enough to blind him had calmed down to some degree. And Walfred was still up on the rooftop, chewing and swallowing snow.

Crunch, crunch!

A cold and bland taste.

It was a flavor he was sick of, but he couldn’t stop.

Just by eating it, he could rack up more experience than he’d get from combat.

[Experience gained.]

[Experience: +3.12%]

"Hmm, it really has dropped off."

The experience gain had noticeably dropped from Level 18. In the early days, even one handful had sent it shooting up, but now he had to eat steadily for it to register.

Even so, he had no complaints.

It was a hundred, a thousand times better than risking his life fighting monsters for experience.

"Burp."

Walfred rubbed his bloated stomach and tossed in one last handful.

Ding!

[Level up!]

[You’ve reached Level 19.]

His level had gone up.

Just one more step until Level 20 now.

Right then.

Ding! Ding!

Notification chimes rang out one after another.

[Skill proficiency has reached its maximum.]

[Skill level has increased.]

[Cold Resistance: (Lv.1) → (Lv.2)]

[Cold Emission: (Lv.1) → (Lv.2)]

"Oh?"

Walfred’s eyes lit up.

A skill level up.

He’d heard that skills leveled up in proportion to how often they were used or how long they were kept active. Since these were passive skills that were always running, they must have leveled up naturally.

Walfred immediately checked the information.

-----

[Passive: Cold Resistance (Lv.2)]

[Grants resistance to cold, slowing effects, and freezing.]

▷ Cold-related resistance: +20% (40%)

[Special Ability]

▶ Unlock condition: Skill Level 5

-----

"20 percent, huh..."

It had doubled from the existing 10%.

With the additional buff from [Frost Domain], the total came to 40%. Maybe that’s why the cold definitely felt less harsh than before.

He could probably even wear lighter cold-weather gear now.

-----

[Passive: Cold Emission (Lv.2)]

[Periodically emits cold air to the surrounding area.]

▷ Emission interval: 50 seconds (25 seconds)

▷ Cold range: 11.5-foot radius (23 feet)

[Special Ability]

▶ Unlock condition: Skill Level 5

-----

Next was Cold Emission.

As Walfred checked what had changed compared to Level 1, his brow immediately furrowed.

"What? The emission interval is shorter too?"

He’d thought only the range would expand.

The cold emission interval had decreased from 60 seconds to 50 seconds. And with the [Frost Domain] effect applied, it dropped all the way down to 25 seconds.

’At this rate, won’t I be emitting cold air every few seconds eventually?’

By then he’d basically be a walking disaster. Not only would he be barred from every shelter, he might have to live alone for the rest of his life.

’If I could just turn the skill on and off...’

It would be perfect.

He’d just have to hope that the special ability that unlocks at skill Level 5 included a switch function.

Holding onto a small wish in his heart.

Walfred broke out of his thoughts with a sigh.

After that, he checked the current skill experience for his other skills.

-----

[Unique: Frost Feast]

▶ Current experience: [57.14]%

[Passive: Frost Domain]

▶ Current experience: [91.33]%

-----

[Frost Domain] was almost ready to level up.

Probably because it was always active in environments below freezing, the experience had piled up quickly. Meanwhile, [Frost Feast] only went up when he ate something himself, so the pace was slow.

’Come to think of it, maybe Frost Feast gives more experience when its skill level goes up too?’

That would be amazing.

Holding onto another hope, Walfred got up. He’d been eating snow nonstop since morning, and his lower abdomen was feeling chilly.

"Guess I need to hit the bathroom."

Walfred stood at the rooftop railing.

Then, without hesitation, he threw himself into the air. Once his dive from the seventh floor began, the sharp sound of wind cutting past his ears followed.

Whoosh!

The ground rapidly approached his face.

It was a height that would kill or cripple a normal person instantly, but Walfred was unfazed. He stretched his feet down forcefully toward the ground, which was thickly covered in snow.

Thud!

His body buried itself in the snow.

A heavy vibration traveled up his legs, but that was all. His joints felt a little stiff, but he wasn’t in any pain.

This was partly thanks to the snow that had piled up, but it also proved that Walfred’s physical abilities had become much stronger than before.

"...I feel like I’m slowly turning into a monster."

After letting out a small chuckle.

Walfred headed to the first-floor bathroom.

A short while later, after emptying himself out and going back up to the rooftop, he blinked.

"Huh?"

The snow had stopped, like a miracle.

The heavy snow that had been pouring down for two days straight had ended, and faint sunlight was streaming through the gaps in the clouds.

The light reflecting off the ice and snow was blinding, so Walfred put on his goggles and looked down at the ground.

’Now that the snow’s stopped, things are going to start moving around.’

Whether monsters or people.

Especially the search teams from the Newark Galleria Shelter, who would be resuming the operations they’d put on hold.

Which meant this place wasn’t a safe zone either.

’What should I do?’

Should he leave right away?

No, it was still too early.

’Let me hit Level 20 first.’

Just one more level to go.

Once he reached the long-awaited Level 20, special features that only hunters could use would unlock.

’The Hunter Community.’

A virtual community that, like the internet from before the ice age, only hunters could access.

Information directly tied to survival was exchanged there, things like new gate openings or A-rank-and-above monster sightings. In a world where information equaled survival, access to the community was essential.

’Plus I can learn new skills too.’

So even just to boost his survival odds and improve his combat chances, hitting Level 20 was important.

Walfred sat back down where he’d been.

He started shoveling snow into his mouth mechanically.

[Experience gained.]

[Experience gained.]

[Experience...]

How much time had passed?

Around the time his accumulated experience went past 50%.

Walfred stood up to stretch his stiff back from sitting for so long. As he was stretching and casually looking down.

His gaze stopped dead.

"Huh? That’s..."

The boulevard in front of the mall. A group of people were moving along the snow-covered road.

"A search team? No, there are too many people for that..."

At a glance, there had to be more than forty of them.

Walfred quickly pulled out his binoculars. Through the lens, he could see them clearly.

People wearing cold-weather gear and carrying packs of belongings.

Hunters armed with weapons were mixed in among them. A combination of unawakened civilians and hunters. From this, Walfred figured out who they were.

"Refugees."

Either their previous shelter had collapsed.

Or it was a group moving en masse to a better-situated shelter. Intrigued, Walfred observed the refugees more closely.

Then he noticed something strange.

’Their clothes...’

The hunters at the center of the refugee group.

Their clothing was way too light.

Even though the snow had stopped, they weren’t wearing cold-weather gear, just thin heat-insulated parkas?

’Are they trying to freeze to death?’

That thought crossed his mind, but on closer inspection, they didn’t look cold at all.

In fact, every time they passed by, the snow and ice beneath their feet was melting. And the spot where the melting was most active was deeper inside the group.

Where a young girl was.

"That’s..."

Heat shimmer rising around the girl.

Even faint steam from the snow and ice melting. After observing this phenomenon, Walfred immediately understood the girl’s identity.

"...A fire attribute Awakened."

The exact opposite of the trash-treated Frost attribute. The most aristocratic of aristocrats. A blessed ability that saved lives just by existing.

The reason all those people had been able to push through this cold and travel was purely thanks to the girl.

’But where are they headed?’

Watching the refugees’ route, Walfred soon spread out his map. It didn’t take long to figure out where they were heading.

"The Newark Caverns."

Once he knew the destination, he found himself nodding.

That place would definitely take them in.

No, since they’d come bringing a fire attribute hunter, they’d welcome them with open arms. The refugees would be treated generously too.

’Tch, I’m jealous.’

Walfred clicked his tongue bitterly.

It left a sour taste in his mouth that, even though they were both hunters, some were treated like nobility while others were treated like trash.

Right then.

Stomp stomp stomp!

He suddenly caught something approaching rapidly from a corner of his binocular view. An armed force charging straight toward the refugees.

A familiar face was at their head.

"Chaz?"

A C-rank wind attribute hunter.

Around twenty hunters from the Newark Galleria, including Chaz. They quickly overtook the refugee column and blocked their route.

’What is he trying to do?’

Walfred held his breath and watched the situation unfold.

The distance was too far for sound to reach, but the atmosphere was tense. When Chaz shouted something, the refugees murmured.

A moment later.

Thwack!

Chaz suddenly kicked the man he’d been talking to. Using that as a signal, hunters from both sides charged out and a fight broke out.

The refugees formed a protective ring around the girl who appeared to be the fire attribute hunter. From that scene, Walfred could roughly piece together what was happening.

’They’re after that kid.’

A fire attribute hunter held more than enough value just by existing. Even at Level 1, just having one in a shelter meant they could be used like a living furnace.

In the middle of it, the girl’s hood was knocked off, revealing her young face.

"...Ah."

A face that looked like she was in her late teens.

The moment Walfred saw the look of pale terror frozen on her face, he remembered someone he’d been desperately trying to forget ever since the ice age began.

[Jenna]

Walfred’s only niece in the world.

After his older sister’s family had passed away in an early accident, she was the only blood relative he’d taken in and raised himself.

Jenna was around that girl’s age too.

The day she’d left the house excited about her field trip to Key West, the Antarctica Black Gate had been unleashed, and her fate had become unknown ever since.

’I almost lost it at first.’

Part of him wanted to comb through every inch of Key West to find out if Jenna was safe. But Walfred had neither the strength nor the means.

He’d nearly gone insane over it, but he’d steeled his heart in the end. If something happened to him too, Jenna would be left completely alone.

So he’d hardened his resolve and buried Jenna’s existence in a corner of his memory. He didn’t have the bandwidth to think about anything else, even just to survive.

’But things are different now.’

Walfred had awakened as a hunter, and gained power.

So once he hit Level 20, he’d ask the Hunter Community about the situation in Key West.

After that, he’d build up enough strength to head to Key West and find Jenna himself.

Just as he was steeling his resolve.

Crunch!

He heard a strange noise.

Faint, but definitely there.

What was that sound?

Walfred lifted his head. In the meantime, a much louder and clearer sound hit his ears than before.

Crunch! Crackle-crackle-crackle!

In that instant.

Walfred figured out where the sound was coming from.

The sound wasn’t coming from up on the road where the hunters were facing off, but from ’below.’

The asphalt and ice-covered ground.

Cracks soon ran through it, and Chaz and the hunters seemed to sense something was off as they stopped moving.

And.

Crack! Boom!

The ground screamed as it split apart.

Through the ice fragments shooting up like an explosion, a hideous form rose up.

A massive body the size of a three-story building.

Eight legs covered in black fur. A monster with six glistening red eyes.

"Skreeeeee!"

It was a colossal spider.

After confirming the thing’s face through the binoculars, a chill ran down Walfred’s spine. Right then, Chaz, who had also seen it, let out a scream of a shout.

"E-elite Monster!?"

A shout loud enough that even Walfred could hear it.

In that moment, Walfred remembered information he’d vaguely heard before. That monsters were classified into several types beyond just the alphabet rankings.

Among them, an Elite Monster referred to a creature that, unlike regular monsters, had something called a ’mana stone’ embedded in its body.

’And the fact that Chaz is that surprised...’

Meant the spider monster was at least D-rank.

In that case, with their current strength, taking down the spider monster would be impossible.

To take down a D-rank Elite Monster, you’d need ten D-rank hunters or at least three C-rank hunters.

Just as he was unconsciously swallowing dryly.

’Wait.’

Walfred’s mind raced.

Where the monster had come from. The road right in front of the mall. The distance was less than 660 feet.

’Aren’t I in danger too?!’

This wasn’t the time to be watching dumbfounded.

Once that thing started rampaging, this building wouldn’t be safe either. Walfred immediately turned around.

To leave this place right away.

"Damn it! Pull back for now!"

"Run! Hurry!"

Walfred wasn’t the only one choosing retreat.

Starting with Chaz’s shout, the refugees were also running for their lives without looking back.

The problem was the direction.

"...!?"

The direction they were fleeing from the spider monster.

Of all places, it was the mall where Walfred currently was. They probably figured a forest of buildings was better for escape than a wide-open boulevard.

But for Walfred, it was the worst-case scenario.

"Don’t come over here! You crazy bastards!"

Walfred cursed without thinking.

In that instant.

The ground shook with a thud.

At the same time, the spider monster bent its massive hind legs. Preparing to jump. The target was just as he’d expected.

Whoosh!

The spider monster shot up into the air.

A massive shadow rose rapidly and quickly loomed over Walfred’s head.

"Oh, hell no...!"

The moment Walfred cursed.

CRASH!

The mall building shook violently, and a thunderous roar exploded out.