## Chapter 800 – Winter in the Capital

The first thing I noticed upon entering the maze was that it wasn’t that cold.

Even though I was surrounded by ice on all sides, it wasn’t that frigid, perhaps because there was no wind. It could also be because my body had become superhuman. So, it didn’t seem like there would be much of a problem, but I was still worried about Half-Elf Mama and Ari, who was fundamentally a plant.

“Cloudy, Ari, aren’t you cold?”
“I’m okay for now. Hilde-nim is helping me.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks to this and this.”

Cloudy tapped her Sasquatch fur coat with her finger and pointed to the will-o’-the-wisp right in front of her.

Looking at it, Hilde had created a floating, blue will-o’-the-wisp. Cloudy and Ari were clinging to it.

Is it warm?

Just looking at the color, it seems really cold.
But when I got closer, I felt a hot heat.

“Wow, it’s hot.”
“Right? It’s burning with passion for Katt-nim!”
“Hehe, it’s that hot, huh?”
“Actually, it’s hotter. I’m adjusting it. After absorbing Berial’s power… my magic power has definitely increased. Now I can handle it without any problems.”
“That’s great.”

Anyway, with the winter clothes and this, it’s all good. Still, I asked everyone. Of course, they were all superhuman, so they said they weren’t that cold.

Wienia said she was okay too.

So, we proceeded through the ice maze.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s anything here?”

Liz-nuna said as we walked.

“Yeah, it doesn’t?”

As she said, we had been walking through the ice maze for almost thirty minutes, and there hadn’t been any attacks or anything.

It’s actually starting to get fun.

Since we were surrounded by ice walls like glaciers, it felt like we were on a tourist attraction. When else would we see such a crazy sight?

“It might just be the entrance, so there’s nothing. Witch-nim, do you feel anything? I don’t really know.”

Karin asked Risha.

“Hmm… This one can’t really pinpoint anything either… There’s so much cold magic power permeating everywhere that proper identification is impossible.”
“Cold magic power?”
“I was trying to pinpoint their location by sensing the magic power that magical beings possess, but here, that magic power is scattered haphazardly everywhere, making it difficult.”

That makes sense.

This ice zone was clearly created by the influence of magic performed by a high-level spirit. If that’s so prevalent, it wouldn’t be strange if other similar energies, namely the energies of ice spirits, were all obscured.

Anyway, as Karin said, it might just be the entrance, so there’s nothing.

Whatever the case, we moved forward.

As we advanced, if the path became unclear, we immediately climbed the nearby high ice walls to grasp the surrounding terrain as much as possible.

Since we could just look at the ice palace in the distance for direction, there was no chance of getting lost. After all, our destination was that palace.

“Katt-nim, should I just take out my wings?”
“No. There’s no need for that. Even if you fly and look, it’ll be the same because of the snow. And there’s no need to turn into a succubus in a place like this.”

Someone might see.

“Is that so? Then I’ll do that. But if you think I need wings, please tell me.”
“I will.”

I don’t know if there will be a need for them.
That’s when it happened.

“Katt, sound. Something’s coming. It’s not the sound of people.”
“Where!”

At Cloudy’s words, everyone took a battle stance.

Guarding the corner in front and the rear.

It’s not a particularly narrow path.
They could swarm us.

“But it doesn’t seem to be coming that fast… It’s slow.”
“Leisurely bastards?”

Honestly, with our party’s combat power, it doesn’t seem like there would be any problems, but if that high-level spirit bastard, who has such ridiculous magical skills that he created this vast ice zone `alone`, we have to maintain a proper state of tension to win without taking any damage.

I honestly can’t imagine creating such an ice zone alone. Even though this is a world with magic, there’s a limit, isn’t there? This world also has common sense, to some extent.

No matter how much science has developed on Earth, it’s impossible to travel through time or clone humans.

It’s a similar feeling.

ㅡCrunch.
ㅡDdddd.
ㅡSqueak, squeak.

Soon, strange sounds began to be heard from the other side.

It was by no means a normal sound. It was the kind of sound that would be made when a being with a body made of ice was walking while trampling on snow.

ㅡSqueak, squeak.
ㅡThump, thump.

“Wow.”

As I expected, what was approaching from the other side was an ice golem in the shape of ice, and a monster that was like a human made of ice with a cold body.

ㅡDddddddd.

“Crazy ice bastards!!”

A whole bunch of those beings stretched out their arms towards us and approached at a speed slower than running.

“Father? Are those also spirits?”
“I wonder?”

Are these kinds of bastards considered spirits? I think I know that they are magically created monsters, but I don’t know the exact classification.

I saw Naias make an ice golem last time.

But the one in front of me, which looks like some kind of demon, was clearly a different class of being. Its head was like an ice dragon, and thick ice plates were attached to its forearms, as if it were wearing armor.

It’s also quite large.

Above all, the ice humans next to those monsters also seemed to be armed. Because the saturation of each ice is different, it really looks like that.

That’s when it happened.

ㅡSqueak!
ㅡCrunch!
ㅡThud!

Suddenly, those sounds were heard from the ice walls on both sides, and suddenly the shapes of ice monsters and soldiers were created and walked out of the wall as they were.

The guys who walked out like that started to approach us. Could this wall itself have been a production factory for those monsters?

“Oh, so because they are beings made of ice, they can just be created in these walls.”
“But they don’t seem that strong, right? Karin. Isn’t that right?”
“Well… they’re not strong by our standards. But they do seem a bit strong.”

The nunas, who wouldn’t lose out to anyone in terms of strength, looked at the ice monsters while making such comments.

“Something’s coming out. I’ll just finish them off.”

ㅡWhoosh!!

Wienia said that once without any change in expression and then fired fire magic at the guys coming from the rear. ㅡBoom! With one explosion, the ice monsters with their upper bodies melted down collapsed.

As expected, the difference in compatibility.

“Well, this is nothing.”
“That’s right.”

Liz-nuna and Karin, who were watching the scene, also walked lightly and smashed the monsters with movements like catching bugs.

ㅡClang!
ㅡBoom!

Every time they swung their swords, the ice golems, which were about 2.5 meters tall, were smashed and collapsed, and every time their fists struck the body, they turned into powder and scattered.

In the first place, it’s nothing to those nunas.

I also immediately chose one and approached it.

ㅡSqueak!

The guy was like an ice troll. I thought it would be dull because it was ice, but it wasn’t. It moves very naturally.

And it seems a bit fast.

“Wow, shit.”

The ice troll, recognizing me, raised its dull arm.

ㅡCrunch!
ㅡThump!!

It slammed down on the spot where I was. Of course, I dodged it lightly. But the attack power seems certain. First of all, it’s frozen solid ice, so the defense power must be considerable.

Because of the mass, the attack power is also crazy.

But at best, it would be at a similar level to the golem I met in the Berial dungeon. Ordinary guys would have a hard time catching this monster, but it’s easy for me, who has the skills to easily win the martial arts competition.

ㅡWhoosh!

I lightly raised my sword to cut off the guy’s arm.

ㅡThud.

Even though its arm fell off, the guy tried to attack me with the opposite arm as if nothing had happened, and I went behind the guy as it was and swung my sword greatly to cut the guy’s waist in half and knock it down.

ㅡThump.

The destroyed ice monster soon disappeared as it fragmented.

“It’s a pushover.”

It was a simple first engagement to the point of being futile.

As expected, this level doesn’t even tickle me.

Harun Gosbelt, the young genius of the Royal Knights. He was an Elder Knight, but his proper skills were said to be one rank above that. Even that guy couldn’t satisfy me.

It’s amazing that he achieved that much at a young age, but I’m even more amazing than him. These kinds of bastards are very easy for me.

To be on par with me, it has to be Garos. These ice monsters can easily defeat Garos.

“Hmph… their combat power doesn’t seem to be anything special. They must be small fry.”
“It hasn’t even been two hours since we entered. They’re obviously small fry.”

As Cloudy said, these guys must be small fry. More than thirty ice monsters appeared, but they were annihilated very easily.

“But if the high-level spirit can not only make such a palace but also directly create these small fry… that might be a bit dangerous.”

Risha said.

That’s true.

“But it’s still nothing. Let’s go further in. I’m a bit curious about what’s there.”
“Yeah. Let’s go further.”
“Darkie, but there’s no loot.”
“What the hell.”

As Wienia said, there was nothing left by the ice monster. After collapsing, it just turned into small ice fragments and disappeared.

No core or anything.

Looking at it, it seems like this maze is full of these kinds of bastards… and those guys don’t give loot? There are no bastards more vicious than this. We catch them easily, but other guys will have to do a dog and pony show to catch them. But if they don’t give anything, oh my god.

I began to understand even more intensely why the knights were screwed.

As if reading my thoughts, Karin said.

“Well, I wondered why the knights were broken, but now I see.”
“Right? They can’t help but be screwed.”
“To be cold-blooded, it’s not that the monsters were weak just now. It’s just that the women here are more monsters, so they caught them. It would be difficult for an ordinary War Knight to catch two at the same time. It’s hard to break because it’s raw ice.”

That’s true.

“But the further we go in, the bigger and stronger guys will come out, right? Unless you bring a large-scale force, you won’t even be able to get near the palace. Seeing this, I think we’re going to solve it again?”
“Hmm, that seems likely. Karin-nim is right. In other words, we can monopolize the credit?”

That’s a good guess.

“But nuna. The Master Knight is coming, right? Those guys?”
“I think they’ll bring one regiment. If the timing is right, we might meet at the palace.”
“One regiment?”

Karin gave a simple explanation.

The Master Knight is no different from a division commander. And under that division commander are three regimental commanders called Knight Generals.

Karin’s prediction is that the Master Knight division commander will bring one of his regimental commanders with him this time.

There must be various circumstances, so the idea that one division can’t move entirely is probably a judgment based on her experience. Then, you can just send one regimental commander, but the reason for coming together is because of the Knights’ reputation? That’s what Karin thinks. The Master Knight is also a highly respected knight.

“But how strong is the Master Knight?”
“Even if those three attack at the same time, this nuna is so strong that she can’t win.”

Is that strong?

“No, I don’t get a sense of it?”
“You’ll get it later, so wait patiently.”
“Okay.”

Anyway, we went deeper while chatting like that.

How much further did we go?

ㅡWhishoo.

A wide cavity appeared. It was such a wide and open space that it felt like I could breathe, but it was as if only this place was maintaining the plains of the granary. Of course, the surroundings were blocked by high ice walls except for the passage. The floor was also a skating rink.

“Darkie, unnies. I don’t think this kind of space exists for no reason.”
“That’s right.”

Looking at it, there was a large tombstone of a strange color erected in front of us. Some kind of ritual? A magical altar? Or it could be a monument. Whatever it is, it’s a sinister tombstone because it was made by monsters.

First of all, it’s exploration.

Just as I was about to approach the tombstone, Karin, who was at the front, hesitated and muttered.

“Ah… shit. What is that?”

Instinctively turning around, the other nunas were also frowning.

“W-what is it? What’s wrong with that?”
“That is…”
“…”

Cloudy was covering her lower face with winter clothes, so I couldn’t tell what her expression was. Wienia was also tilting her head, and Ari had no change in expression.

That was the moment.

ㅡHop!

“H-Heok!! Katt-nim!!! And everyone, unnies!! Look at that! It’s inhumane!!!!!!”

At the same time, Hilde, who jumped up, screamed with a shocked expression while tearing at her hair. She was pointing at the tombstone with her right hand, which was not tearing at her hair.

Inhumane…?

With an ominous feeling, I immediately ran to a position where I could see the tombstone properly.

And.

“Eek.”

As soon as I reached the tombstone.

“KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!”

A scream burst from my mouth!

Inside the rectangular ice tombstone!!!!

The corpses of people who were painfully distorting their faces were packed tightly!!! They were completely frozen, trapped inside the ice tombstone in a state of hypothermia!!! The reason why the color of the tombstone felt strange when viewed from a distance was because more than ten people were packed tightly inside the ice tombstone!!!

This was a warning and declaration of war from the spirits!!!

The content was that they would kill all of you humans and bury them in the ice!!!!

So they created this inhumane object!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“This isn’t real!!!”
“Shit! Darkie’s screaming!”

Filled with anger, I immediately drew my sword and ran towards the tombstone!! I have to destroy that impure murder tombstone!!! Karin and Cloudy followed me, and I cut the base of the tombstone with them, being careful not to damage the corpses inside.

ㅡThump!!!!!

The tombstone fell forward like that.

But the people were not freed. Jewel bar! Yeah, jewel bar!!! Jewel bar, jewel bar, jewel bar!!! Jewel baaaaaar!!! The people were just trapped inside like jewels embedded in a jewel bar!!!!

I can’t get them out unless I melt the ice!!!!!

“All I did was knock down the tombstone!!!”
“Aaaaaaack!!”

Such an inhumane thing…!!!

I tore at my hair with Hilde and roared.

ㅡKugugugung!!!

And right then!!

ㅡKugugugugugugugugu!!!
ㅡCrack!

Suddenly, the floor in the central part of the cavity cracked.

ㅡSwoosh!

As if a cursed giant who had been buried alive was trying to escape, a large hand popped out from the inside. The hand that popped out like that rested on the floor and raised the body that was buried below.

“Uh!!!!!!!!!!”

ㅡKuooh.

“Son of a bitch!!!!!!!!”

What crawled out of the floor was an ice knight with a height of almost 5 meters. A giant knight wearing ice armor and holding an ice sword. What was placed on his head was also an ice helmet.

ㅡShine!

From the eyes of the helmet, a blue light containing infinite hatred towards humans was emitted. Why do you hate humans!! Because humans murdered his mother!!!

“Unstoppable impulse Dejaaaaaaaaat!!!!!!!!!!”