Chapter 157. The hunt 2

The group of ten operatives moved deeper into the cold, white, and foggy region.

The temperature dropped rapidly with every step they took. Ice began to form on their battlesuits. The wind howled and grew louder. It carried sharp, needle-like frost that struck deeply into their exposed skins.

"Keep your guards up," the advanced rank 3 leader said. "Scout, keep scanning. Healer, be ready to support anyone if their worldly energy drops too fast. Those of you with flame affinities, illuminate the area so that the temperature can be warm."

Everyone nodded. Those with flame affinities used their affinities to make large flame clovers.

As for the scout, he replied, "Understood," trying to push his affinity through the thick fog. But the fog in the air was too dense. "The fog is messing with my vision. I can barely see ten meters ahead."

"Just stay close," the leader said. "We stick together."

The ten operatives kept marching through the deep snow.

Every breath they took formed thick clouds of vapor in the air.

The flame clovers begun to dwindle.

The battlesuits they wore, which usually gave them a strong sense of security, felt colder and heavier by the second.

Little did they know, Aiden was watching their every move from his base of operations.

The blizzard region they had walked into was a natural death trap of zone zero the trail of chaotic beast corpses had led them into.

The severe climate, combined with the dense fog, was doing all the work for him. He just had to sit back and observe. The environment would kill them.

Aiden thought quietly, "They should be dying anytime from now."

The blizzard in the region suddenly intensified.

Violent gusts of wind erupted around the squad, blinded their vision completely, and caused their voices to grow dim.

The temperature reduced completely, causing their battlesuits to freeze over instantly and draining their worldly energy reserves at a rapid pace.

"What is this?!" one of the intermediate rank 3 warriors said. "My worldly energy is draining too fast!"

"Shit, those with flame affinities, warm up the place," the squad leader said.

"We can’t! Our reserves are being depleted! Also, we’ve used up all our worldly energy recovery elixirs."

The squad leader cursed, "Healer, do something!"

"I’m in the same situation here!"

The operatives quickly tried to use their affinities. The healer tried to activate a light field across the place.

Those with flame affinity tried to warm up the place. But nothing worked.

Their worldly energy reserves were down. Their worldly energy recovery elixirs were also finished.

The localized blizzards in this part of zone zero were too severe. The environment was too harsh, even for them. They were finished.

Heavy frost and sharp ice storms swept through the area and smashed through them.

"Argh!"

"Help!"

The beginner rank 3 warriors were the first to die. Their worldly energy reserves were much smaller than those of the intermediate and advanced rank 3 warriors. Their defenses collapsed one after another. The extreme, razor-sharp frost conditions of the region tore through their frozen battlesuits, freezing their blood and killing them where they stood.

Panic broke out instantly. The squad’s formation fell apart in the blinding fog.

"Stay together!" the squad leader said, trying to keep the team focused. "Do not panic!"

But it was already too late.

In the chaotic, blinding fog, they couldn’t see each other or where they were stepping.

The sound of the howling wind drowned out their voices. This made communication almost impossible even through their comms.

As the operatives collapsed from the environmental pressure and depleted energy reserves, Aiden simply observed from afar. Since this group was operating outside his three-kilometer radius, he marked the exact positions where they fell. He decided he would use his crimson hands to retrieve their corpses, absorb their blood essence, and submerge them in the swamps later, after all the operatives were dead.

One by one, the beginner and intermediate rank 3 operatives fell to the harsh climate and died in the white fog.

"Where is Julian?!" someone said.

"I can’t see the scout! Scout, report!" someone said.

"The healer is down too!" another voice said over the comms before cutting off into heavy static.

No other response came.

The surviving operatives were terrified.

They weren’t even fighting an enemy—the environment itself was stripping their energy and freezing them alive while their teammates collapsed into the snow one after another. Their proud military training meant nothing against the pure, oppressive force of zone zero’s natural weather.

"Retreat! We need to get out of this fog right now!" the squad leader said, panic finally taking over.

He turned to run back toward the entrance of the region, with the remaining survivors rushing right behind him.

They stopped caring about their formation or their objective. Their only thought was escaping the freezing white hell.

However, as they charged blindly through the foggy terrain, they stepped directly onto an unstable icy ground, a pitfall hidden beneath the deep snow.

The ground caved in completely.

"Aaaahhhh!"

Screams echoed through the snowy valley as several operatives fell into the pit, falling onto the sharp, frozen spikes at the bottom. The impact and the freezing cold killed them instantly.

Blood pooled at the bottom of the icy pit, quickly freezing into crimson crystals.

Only the squad leader—an advanced rank 3 warrior—and one intermediate rank 3 warrior managed to stop in time, barely avoiding the pitfall.

They stood on the edge of the pit. They panted heavily with pale faces. They couldn’t even see the dead bodies of their fellow operatives in the pits due to the blinding fog.

Their worldly energy reserves were almost completely depleted from struggling against the blizzard and sprinting through the deep snow.

"What... what kind of place is this?" the surviving intermediate rank 3 warrior said, his body shaking uncontrollably from the cold. "Is this region just a death trap?!"

The squad leader sighed deeply in fear.

Cold sweat froze on his face.

"We need to report back to Command..." the squad leader said, his voice trembling.

"Shouldn’t we report to the team leader?" The intermediate rank 3 warrior said.

"If we are dying here, do you think they are also alive?" The squad leader said.

The intermediate rank 3 warrior sighed. He couldn’t argue with that.

The squad leader raised his hand to touch his comms device. "Command, this is team 2 of operation Zero, we have suffered heavy casualties..."

Before he could finish his sentence, another sudden, violent wave of frost swept through the area. The blizzard reached its absolute peak, freezing the air itself around them.

With their energy reserves already completely empty, the intermediate rank 3 warrior couldn’t maintain his body temperature anymore. His frostbitten heart stopped, and he collapsed face-first into the snow, dead.

The squad leader tried to push through the storm, but his body was completely frozen stiff. The frost spread across his neck and face, turning his skin pale blue.

He took two staggering steps forward before his vision faded, and he collapsed right next to the pit, dying on the spot.

Within just a few short minutes, all ten operatives in the first group were dead—victims of zone zero’s brutal climate and Aiden’s patience.

Kilometers away in his base of operations, Aiden observed the frozen bodies with calm eyes. He noted the exact locations of all ten corpses for later collection and blood essence absorption once the entire region was cleared.

"Group one is completely dead," Aiden thought, resting comfortably in his base. "Now it’s group two and group three’s turn."