CHAPTER 13 — FrostWill?
ELION — POV
The pharmacy stood across the ruined parking lot like a gutted carcass—windows cracked but not shattered, front door hanging crooked on one hinge. A sun-bleached sign swung lightly in the breeze, squeaking with an irritating rhythmic scrape.
Compared to the grocery store, this place looked untouched.
Which while looked like a good sign, gave me a bad feeling.
"Stay close," I murmured.
Alexiy nodded, swallowing hard.
We pressed our backs to the wall and inched forward. Glass crunched under my shoe and the sound echoed too loudly inside the hollow storefront. I paused, and waited to see if Danger Sense would respond.
…Nothing.
Just the low hum of quiet.
Too quiet.
I nudged the bent door further open with my bat and stepped inside.
The lights were dead. The air was cold. White tiles stretched in a grid of dirt smears and dropped pill bottles.
Shelves were toppled in some aisles, but a lot of medication was untouched—behind the counter, behind glass, or scattered in boxes.
"Looks empty," Alexiy whispered.
"Never assume that," I murmured.
She nodded.
We moved aisle by aisle, slow and methodical.
I checked behind counters. Behind shelves. Behind the cold-storage units.
Nothing.
No groaning. No dragging footsteps. No bursts of movement.
Just silence.
I cracked the lock on the Employees Only, with a crowbar we found in the back in the grocery store, stashing dozens of pill bottles into my Inventory.
Painkillers, Antibiotics, Steroids, Saline, Bandage rolls, Even a few epi-pens. My mother was a nurse so I grew up learning how to properly pronounce the medication names. And I grabbed the best ones.
Jackpot.
I looked up to see Alexiy out grabbing, vitamins, bandages, and other necessary Over the counter medications, I though I saw her grab a few pregnancy tests as well.
"Okay," I whispered. "Five more minutes, then we move—"
Danger Sense detonated in my skull like a migraine flashbang.
NOW.
Before I could warn her—
A deep, wet growl vibrated through the store.
Shelves rattled.
Glass cracked.
Something big stirred in the back hall where the staff breakroom was.
"…Elion?" Alexiy breathed, voice shrinking.
"Behind me."
The creature stepped into view—
A Variant.
Just from the look alone, this was no normal zombie. Twice the mass of a normal zombie., it stood at over 10 feet tall. Skin gray and stretched over thick, pulsing muscle. Jaw unhinged wider than it should. Eyes glowing dull amber like dying coals.
And worst of all—its footsteps were steady and focused. Every step seemed to shake something deep inside me.
It saw us.
It roared.
The whole building shook.
"RUN—!" Alexiy squeaked.
The Variant charged.
I threw a telekinetic shove at it—
—nothing.
Like shoving a boulder.
The Variant didn't slow. Not even a step.
"Fuck—!" I grabbed Alexiy and shoved her sideways, as I dived the other way. Shelves exploded as the monster slammed through the aisle we'd just been in.
It skidded, turned, claws scraping tile.
Then it locked onto Alexiy, still laying on the ground struggling to get up after the shock to her system.
Of course it did.
Of course it went after the injured one.
It lunged.
She froze—just a heartbeat—terror pinning her in place.
"NO!"
I threw myself forward—too far away—
Telekinesis wasn't enough. Shadow Veil couldn't help her. I couldn't reach her in time.
My mind screamed. The world seemed to almost slow down as my mana surged—wild, instinctive, uncontrolled.
I didn't think. I willed.
Cut. Pierce. KILL.
Mana exploded from my chest and arm—sharp, cold, bursting outward like a detonation of winter.
A spear of ice formed in mid-air.
Long. Deadly. Edges rippling like frozen lightning. Blue-white mist spiraling behind it.
Then—
It launched.
Not thrown. Not guided.
It was Fired. Like a railgun blast.
FWOOOOOOOM—
The ice spear ripped through the air with a deafening crack and buried itself straight into the Variant's temple.
The creature's skull split open.
It dropped instantly—dead before it hit the floor.
The ice spear shattered into glittering shards on impact.
Silence.
Even the dust froze where it fell.
You have killed a Level 2 Variant 'Zombie' and have been awarded 5 stat points to assign.
Alexiy collapsed to her knees, shaking violently.
Her eyes flicked to the corpse—then to me—then back to the corpse.
"E-Elion… Y-You—just—… what was that!?"
I didn't answer.
Because I didn't know.
Frostwill… had responded to my desperation.
This skill... It didn't obey rules. It didn't need the usual focus like skills. It didn't need anything more than a thought... with Show Veil I had to focus my mana in a certain way for it to cover and hide me, and now that I've been practicing it can also hide Alexiy when I focus. Same with Telekinesis. I had to weave my mana into a 'pattern' to be able to make it 'dense' enough for it to push physical matter.
But Frostwill felt different. It obeyed intent.
Cut.Pierce.Kill.
I remember it. 'Will' a stat. another name for will... my first thought is "Willpower". To control my own thoughts. My own actions. To be myself...
I exhaled slowly. Trying to not thinking anymore about Frostwill or I would end up spending hours just thinking about the terminology. Forcing myself to not dwell on the new power I desperately wanted to look into right now I respond to Alexiy.
"That," I said, "was me not letting you die."
Her breath trembled.
Her eyes grew wet—not from sadness, but shock and relief and something much heavier.
"Thank you," she whispered, voice cracking.
I made my way over to her now and helped her stand, supporting her weight.
"We need to finish grabbing supplies," I said quietly. "More variants will come if we stay too long."
She nodded shakily and wiped her eyes.
The Variant's corpse leaked blackened blood across white tile.
The ice shards glittered like broken diamonds.
And for the first time…
I realized Frostwill was more than a skill.
It was a weapon.
A dangerous one.
A decisive one.
One that changed everything. I grabbed the purple orb with telekinesis and shoved it into my Inventory for now.
"Let's move," I said.
She swallowed.
"Okay."
Side by side, we stepped over the corpse—
—and deeper into the pharmacy's shadows.