## Chapter 799 – Winter in the Capital

As soon as I got home, I told my wives about what happened.

We had already discussed it before, so the decision to leave felt more like going on a picnic.

Karin wanted to see the high-level spirit, and Risha was also interested. Claudie was curious too.

Liz seemed less interested in the high-level spirit, and so did Winia and Ari. Anyway, they were coming along. But Hilde was jumping up and down, saying she absolutely couldn’t be left behind.

And so, we set out en masse in the middle of winter.

Of course, we weren’t leaving right away. Since we were going far in winter, we had to make sure we were well-prepared. It took us two days to get everything ready.

Now it was time to leave.

“Claudie, are you really going to be okay?”

I was still worried about Claudie.

Claudie, a half-elf with dark elf blood from the desert, was very strong in the heat but quite vulnerable to the cold. It was like she had a debuff that prevented her from using her full strength. I knew that all too well.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I have this Sasquatch coat, too. Of course, I’m not in as good of condition as usual, but… I’ll be okay. I can’t stay home when you’re going so far.”
“If you say so…”

Well, she had gone out with me in the winter before. And even with the debuff, Claudie was still stronger than me. Plus, the Sasquatch coat was sure to keep her warm.

As I was thinking this, Hilde came over and grabbed Claudie’s wrist.

“I’ll help you. I can use magic to raise the temperature a little. It should help warm you up.”
“Oh, thank you.”

Claudie smiled and gently stroked Hilde’s hair.

“Hehe, it’s nothing. It’s the least I can do.”

After absorbing Berial’s power, Hilde’s magical abilities had greatly increased. She had also been constantly practicing using her new powers at home.

“And Ari?”
“Hmm… Honestly, I don’t think I’ll be of much help this time. Winter is just that kind of season. But I can’t stay home alone.”

Ari was honest. She was an Alraune who controlled plants. Perhaps when she grew up, she would be powerful from spring to autumn, but for now, there wasn’t much she could do in winter. But so what?

Ari was Ari.

“Okay, okay. Ari, wear this.”
“Ah…”

I put Garos’s hide around Ari’s shoulders. Ari didn’t have a Sasquatch coat with extremely high insulation. I had put another coat on her, but it wasn’t enough.

“It feels warm.”
“Of course. Garos is a tough bastard.”

Lycanthrope hides were also quite good.

“Ah! I want to wear that too!”
“I gave you my coat, Hilde.”
“Still!”

Anyway, now that we had loaded all the luggage, all that was left was to bring Illyong and Ilyong and hitch them to the wagon. After making sure my wives were in the wagon, I headed to the barn.

“Let’s go, you bastards.”

ㅡGrowl.
ㅡGrrr…

I had made simple clothes for these bastards yesterday because I was worried they would be cold. It was a bit difficult to dress them because the kids were so big, but I had to keep them dressed like that during the winter.

And so, we left home.

* * *

There were no particular problems on the way.

The road from the capital to that area was well-maintained. Plus, there were so many people flocking there from all over the place that the snow piled up on the main road had been almost completely cleared.

So we went straight ahead without any obstacles.

With that, we quickly arrived at a city near the granary area. As soon as we arrived, we booked the biggest inn we could find, unpacked, and rested for the day.

As a result of our inquiries while resting, we learned that the city was extremely crowded.

Armies gathered from all directions were stationed there. In addition to magicians and mercenaries, adventurers who had nothing to do in winter were also flocking there.

They were all here because of the high-level spirit.

I heard that the Ice Palace was built not far from here, but to be honest, I didn’t really understand what that meant. What kind of Ice Palace was it? Was she Elsa?

In any case, the allied forces of the Royal Knights and local lords who tried to attack that place had been defeated. I couldn’t imagine how they had been beaten so badly.

It was hard to imagine.

Even so, I couldn’t understand how the Royal Knights had been so thoroughly defeated by the spirits. Those guys were real human weapons. Of course, I had become much stronger now, so it wasn’t as obvious, but their power was beyond first-rate.

How could those guys lose when they joined forces with the lord’s army?

Historically, even though high-level spirits were strong, they had always been subjugated somehow. As such, the Royal Knights should have had experience hunting them and a response manual… Was Arquina stronger than expected?

Or maybe Karin was right, and they were all just fucking idiots.

Anyway, we rested well for a day, woke up early in the morning, prepared everything, and then headed to the granary area.

Whatever it was, I would get a sense of it when I saw it for myself.

* * *

“Is this for real?”

A world of ice was unfolding before my eyes.

“Is this some kind of Frozen Kingdom?”

Seriously, my mouth was hanging open and wouldn’t close.

This was almost like a giant skating rink. The frozen ground sparkled dully in the sunlight, and the chunks of ice rising up like glaciers added to the chaotic atmosphere.

This was what I saw as soon as I arrived.

I couldn’t see the granary area or anything else. All I could see was a skating rink with glaciers sticking out of it.

No, actually, it wasn’t a skating rink either.

I only thought that because of the completely frozen ground. To be exact, it was more like a skating rink with ice mountains rising up randomly.

In addition, the various ice trees nearby further amplified the inhuman atmosphere.

The end.

Yes, this was a true scene of the end. The result of the ominous prophecy that everything would freeze in the end. This scene was just a small fragment showing a taste of that devastating future.

“Is this really the granary area? I was expecting at least a plain.”

Karin said, tapping the ground with her toe.

As she said, I couldn’t see a single grain of the granary. This wasn’t a plain; it was just a dungeon made of ice.

Large chunks of ice rose up like mountains, and to make matters worse, sharp ice thorns that felt threatening stuck out as if to warn us.

Not only had the entire area been frozen, but it had also been decorated in such an inhuman way. Was this the power of a high-level spirit?

“Hey, you guys. Look at that.”

But all of this was nothing.

“Holy shit.”

Far away.

Beyond the glaciers and ice thorns, in the distance.

“What the fuck, seriously.”

An ice palace that felt like a mirage was towering high.

I couldn’t even guess how far away it was or how big it was. It was already amazing that the plain had turned into something like Antarctica, but there was even a huge palace built in the distance.

Is this for real again?
Is this some kind of joke?

It felt like some malicious prankster was making an absurd joke.

I asked Risha.

“Risha. Does a high-level spirit usually have enough power to build a palace like that from scratch? No, not just that. Can they use enough power to turn this plain into this mess all by themselves?”

I didn’t think so.

After a moment of silence, Risha slowly opened her mouth.

“…This one doesn’t know for sure, but this is definitely abnormal. Even if this one was a witch who was proficient in ice magic instead of black magic, she wouldn’t have been able to cover such a large space with ice.”

Risha also seemed quite surprised.

“And that huge palace-like structure… It’s impossible for a high-level spirit to exert such power alone. If something like that were possible, the human world would have already been destroyed.”

Clearly abnormal.

“This one may be a different kind of being than the high-level spirits that have appeared so far.”
“…”

A different kind of being.
This high-level spirit is special, is that it?

ㅡScreech!!
ㅡScreech!!

And up there in the sky, there was something like a giant bird flying around. When I looked closer, it wasn’t a bird but some kind of monster, and its body was made of ice.

An ice monster bird.

A Hanbing Goejo (寒氷怪鳥).

“What is it? Are they wyverns? They look similar…”

Liz said, looking at the sky.

“Liz. Look closely. Their bodies are made of ice.”
“Oh, really. Their bodies are all made of ice.”

Such monsters existed.

“Could that be some kind of lower spirit that the high-level spirit created with magic?”
“In this one’s opinion… it seems so.”

Risha agreed with Winia’s words.
Hearing that, I felt a sense of gravity.

“This seems more serious than I thought.”

How long had it been since Arquina appeared, and the human lands had already turned into a different world like this? It was like… a permanent land of ice from another world had been brought to this world.

A kind of summoning.

This land of ice was so abnormal that I had such thoughts.

I had to admit that even if the Royal Knights were defeated, it couldn’t be helped.

Even though those guys were superhuman, they were still human at their core, so there were limits. They must have been fighting with a small unit when they were defeated. If they had used their full strength from the beginning, they wouldn’t have been slaughtered like that.

Still, the Royal Knights Master Knight, who could be said to be almost a division commander, said he would bring the knights himself.

“Katt. What should we do then?”
“We came all the way here, so we should check it out.”

I could see that camps for soldiers and mercenaries had been set up outside the boundary of this skating rink-like ice floor. It was so wide that there were quite a few people. Even now, I could see armed people gathering and entering the ice zone in the distance.

The people who entered soon disappeared behind a huge pile of ice.

It was truly a maze or a dungeon.

There were countless entrances, and I could see some people going in and out.

“Let’s go to a less crowded area. There are so many entrances that it doesn’t really matter where we go.”
“Okay.”

We immediately went around the boundary line to a less crowded area. There were too many forces stationed near here. There were various flags and camps set up.

As we moved until around noon, a less crowded area appeared. Here, too, there were several “paths that looked like entrances” to the ice zone.

“Let’s scout for a bit. The magicians will wait here.”

ㅡFlash!

I immediately climbed up the ice wall that rose up like a glacier. I could see Claudie, Karin, and Liz jumping and stepping on the ice wall nearby and climbing up.

As soon as we climbed to a high place, we took in the surrounding scenery.

“…”

The plain that was once called the granary area was now just a bizarre terrain made of ice. Ice pillars sticking out sharply and ice walls like glaciers rising up countless times. It was like looking at a maze.

Moreover, the ice was ice, and there was so much snow piled up that I couldn’t properly identify the inside of the maze. It seemed like I would have to come up to the wall every now and then to check the nearby terrain and then enter the interior.

“Let’s go down!!”

I shouted loudly and went back down the wall.

“Katt. How is it?”
“It’s just a mess. I think we’ll have to go in and check it out ourselves.”
“Hmm, but you guys should be careful. I’m a magician, so I know a little about this… This is a very serious situation. Anyway, yeah.”
“I’m always careful.”

An Ice Age had appeared in the last few days. There was no way I wouldn’t be careful.

Anyway, I had come prepared.
It wasn’t that far from the city.

I thought I could explore for a few days, but honestly, the Ice Palace was too far away. The culprit of this incident, Arquina, was definitely inside that palace.

How long would it take to get there?

We immediately stepped into the ice maze.

“Let’s make a map as we go. If we find anything, we might be able to learn something about this.”

I was also worried about the ice monster birds flying in the sky.