The silence that followed Alvian's question was heavier than the snow piling up around them. The twenty Corrupted Frost-Treants, creatures that would normally require a coordinated assault to take down, stood frozen in grotesque poses, their health bars decimated and their movement speed reduced to absolute zero.
Valeria stared at Alvian's back. The sheer gap in power was infuriating. It wasn't just that he was strong; it was the casual, almost bored way he wielded abilities that should be impossible for a freshman. She gripped the hilt of her claymore until her leather gloves creaked.
"Attack," she commanded, her voice tight but controlled. "Don't let them thaw."
She didn't need to tell them twice. Valeria launched herself forward, her claymore flashing in a silver arc. She smashed into the nearest frozen treant, the blade shattering its brittle, ice-covered timber.
"CRACK!"
[You have slain Corrupted Frost-Treant (Level 22)!]
Arin, shaking off his shock, began launching fireballs. Normally, his fire magic would struggle in this environment, but the targets were stationary and brittle. The thermal shock of fire meeting super-cooled wood caused the monsters to explode into shrapnel.
Alvian didn't join the cleanup. He stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the perimeter. His Frost Descent +2 had done its job. It was a mass-crowd control weapon, a tool to set the stage. He didn't need the XP from trash mobs.
As the last treant crumbled into sawdust and ice, Valeria marched up to him, her chest heaving slightly from the exertion and the biting cold.
"You broke formation," she accused, though the venom was gone from her voice, replaced by a hard, pragmatic edge. "You engaged without an order."
"I neutralized the threat before it reached us," Alvian countered, meeting her gaze evenly. "Formation is for survival. Domination requires initiative. Would you prefer we traded blows with twenty elites in a freezing debuff zone?"
Valeria opened her mouth to argue, then snapped it shut. He was right. Logically, tactically, he was right. And that annoyed her more than anything.
"Next time," she said, pointing a steel-clad finger at him, "you warn us. We are a team, Alvian. If you unleash an AOE that big when we're in the kill zone, you'll kill us too."
"I have perfect control," Alvian said simply. "I don't miss."
Elara, the healer, stepped up nervously. "Um, guys? The drop rate… look."
She pointed to the remains of the treants. Amidst the usual trash loot, several glowing violet crystals lay in the snow.
Alvian walked over and picked one up. It pulsed with a sickening, rhythmic beat.
[Item: Corrupted Sap Crystal]
[Grade: Rare]
[Description: Crystallized life force corrupted by an artificial Winter Seed. Radiates a curse that drains vitality.]
"Artificial," Alvian muttered. It confirmed Rogge's hypothesis.
"This isn't a dungeon break," Alvian announced, tossing the crystal to Valeria. She caught it, flinching slightly at the cold energy it emitted. "Someone is doing this on purpose. They're terraforming the region."
Arin paled. "Terraforming? You mean… like a ritual?"
"Worse," Alvian said, turning toward the distant spires of the city of Silverwood. The city was shrouded in a thick, unnatural fog. "A takeover. We need to get to the Governor's mansion. Now."
The journey to the city was a slog for everyone but Alvian. The [Deep Freeze] debuff drained their stamina bars rapidly. Alvian, moving with the unnatural grace of his high Speed stat and his affinity for the cold, often had to stop and wait for them to catch up.
He watched them struggle. Valeria was impressive; her willpower kept her moving when her stamina bar should have been empty. She was a true warrior. Arin was pathetic, constantly whining and drinking stamina potions. Elara was quiet, focused solely on keeping thermal buffs on the party.
'They are heavy,' Alvian thought. 'But Valeria… she has potential.'
They reached the city gates an hour later. Silverwood, usually a bustling trade hub, was a ghost town. The streets were covered in three feet of snow. Windows were boarded up. The few guards on duty looked more like ice sculptures than soldiers, huddled around magical braziers that barely kept the cold at bay.
"Halt!" a guard croaked, his voice raspy. "State your business."
Valeria stepped forward, flashing her Academy insignia. "Squad Alpha-9, Overlords Academy. responding to the Governor's distress call."
The guard's eyes widened with relief. "Academy! Thank the Founders. Please, the Governor is at the mansion. It's… it's his daughter. She's getting worse."
They were ushered through the empty streets. The oppression in the air was palpable. It wasn't just cold; it was a spiritual weight. Alvian could feel the mana in the air screaming.
They arrived at the Governor's mansion, a sprawling estate that now looked like a tomb. Inside, it was warmer, but only slightly. Governor Thorne, a man who looked like he hadn't slept in a week, met them in the main hall.
"You're here," Thorne said, grasping Valeria's hand. "Please, tell me you brought a cure. The healers… they don't know what to do."
"We need to see the patient," Valeria said professionally.
They were led to a lavish bedroom that had been converted into a medical ward. In the center, lying on a bed surrounded by mana crystals and warming runes, was a young girl. Alice.
She was pale as death. Her skin was covered in intricate, frost-like patterns that seemed to be moving, slowly spreading across her body. Her breath was so shallow it was barely perceptible.
"The healers say her core temperature is dropping," Governor Thorne whispered, tears in his eyes. "No matter how much fire magic they pump into her, she just gets colder. It's like she's generating the ice from the inside."
Arin stepped forward, trying to look important. "A classic case of Cryo-Parasitism. I can burn it out with a concentrated solar flare spell."
"If you do that, you'll kill her instantly," Alvian's voice cut through the room like a knife.
Arin bristled. "Excuse me? I am a Senior Arcanist! You're a freshman with a fancy sword trick. What do you know about magical pathology?"
Alvian ignored him and walked to the bedside. He didn't use magic. He used his eyes—and the SSS-Rank perception that came from having a stat sheet that defied logic.
He looked at the frost patterns on the girl's skin. They weren't random. They were runes. Ancient, jagged runes that spelled out a sequence.
He reached out.
"Don't touch her!" a local healer snapped. "The cold will burn you!"
Alvian laid his hand on Alice's forehead. The cold tried to bite him, but his [Heart of Frost] attunement absorbed it. He felt the mana signature. It wasn't a parasite. It was a beacon.
"She's not sick," Alvian said, pulling his hand back. "She's a battery."
The room went silent.
"What?" Valeria asked, stepping closer.
"This isn't a disease," Alvian explained, pointing to the runes. "This is a Sequence. Someone planted a [Seed of the Endless Winter] inside her soul. It's using her life force to power the blizzard outside. The monsters, the temperature drop… it's all radiating from her."
Governor Thorne looked horrified. "A Seed? Who would do such a thing?"
Alvian turned to the window, looking out at the frozen city. He knew exactly who. In his past life, this event had wiped out the entire Silverwood province. It was the debut of one of the most dangerous cults in history.
"The SnowMages of Hernas," Alvian said, the name tasting like ash in his mouth. "And if we don't extract that seed in the next six hours, she won't just die. She'll detonate, and this entire city will become a permanent glacier."
[Ding! Hidden Quest Triggered!]
[Quest: The Frozen Heart]
[Objective: Save Alice and stop the Sequence.]
[Time Limit: 05:59:59]
[Reward: ???]
Alvian looked at the timer. Six hours to stop an apocalypse.
"We need to operate," Alvian said, turning back to the stunned room. "But we can't do it here. We need a catalyst to draw the seed out. A Fire Spirit Herb."
"That grows in the Volcanic Ridge," Valeria said, her face pale. "That's miles away. Through the blizzard."
"Then we better start running," Alvian replied, a cold smile touching his lips. "Or everyone in this room dies."