Chapter 185: Blizzard

So, one of us may have lost a finger.

And maybe, the blood from that lost digit, might, perhaps, have attracted some snowsharks. 

Of course, it would be rude to point fingers. So I will not name the culprit who is at fault for this. My participation in the fight amounted to mostly pointing at things for Sylves to shoot at. Which I could do! 

After all, I lost my pinky. Ah, I mean, one of us lost their pinky. It could be anyone.

Regardless, I have solved the cold problem. Runes softly glow underneath my skin - where my solid mana creates little hollows for the magic to activate within. The gaps are tiny, and it would have been easiest to just carve them into my skin, but I’m wearing a long-sleeve and I really don’t want to get it bloody.

So, instead, I created the runes under my skin. It hurt, and it was messy, and I blew up one of my fingers, but now, my extremities all have heating runes applied to them, keeping the blood and tissue warm. Obviously it’s far better to lose a finger through a mana-instability explosion than through frostbite, right? 

Right.

[Job up! Core Controller 9 > 11]

[Inscription 24 > 25]

Now, the levels are very welcome, since making the runes and the tinkering took a lot of mana. About half my vessel, in fact. Maybe using so much mana was what destabilised it and made my finger explode? Probably.

Still, I’m glad it was enough to push [Inscription] over the second threshold - and give me enough job mastery to get another essence package. Already, I can feel it flowing into my head. Ways of enhancing cores more, ways of using their principles in other ways, and once again, it leaves me feeling a little inadequate.

As usual, when I learn. I want more. Every time I get better, it makes everything I’d been using feel so inefficient. Even my [Suppression] field! With this new essence on cores, I know I can make it better. In fact, I could use [Selection]’s targeting mechanisms to weave its strands into pseudo-core nodes and…

I drift off, and Thatch stabs his claws in the snow next to me. I look at him, and he gives me an effortless smile and a shrug. “Shark was about to chew off your foot,” he says.

“Right, thanks,” I reply calmly, bringing a bit more of my focus to [Observation] while tinkering with my skills in the background. As we walk, my suppression loops grow more advanced, a little more efficient, and I grow stronger. Bit by bit. 

- - -

“Spotted something!” Sylves yells from above us. Inu nods eagerly, wanting us to move faster for a while. Raven and his posse entered the floor a bit ago and are gaining on us, so we hurry. Trey is still struggling, even with Kuro to warm him up, and us regularly “feeding” snowsharks to him. He is level 14 by now, but that still put him below even me in his physical stats.

When I look where our faerie is pointing, I do also see something in the distance. It’s… a tree. A very, very tall tree, in fact, with leaves an icy white-blue. She spotted it first from above the canopy, flying high - though she couldn’t stay up there for long. The canopy had giant birds that would swoop down to try and take a bite out of her.

“That must be the exit, right?” Anna asks.

“Landmarks usually indicate the way up,” Bofoy provides with a small shrug, their fur rustling at the motion. “I’d wager this is as good a bet as any.”

I nod, then turn to Inu. “Can you call Opal back?” I ask. “They’re probably going to get lost soon, otherwise.”

She giggles for a moment, then nods. I feel a bit of mana pulse out from her with the telltale signs of [Empathy], and a moment later, Opal appears at her side. Their sword is bloody, and their cloak is a little torn. The heating runes on it flare, and Opal looks a bit pale from frost. Yet, the smile on their face is unwavering. “Yo,” they greet. “So did you know there are bigger things than the sharks out there. Cuz I learned.”

“Like what?” I ask, curiously.

Then, there’s an impact in the snow behind us, and Inu flinches softly. “Me,” Coldscar announces cooly.

- - -

We run, of course. Still, I tilt my head when the scithian comes crashing from the sky, and the frost explodes around him. This is troublesome. My shadow-mask is currently absent, so I do the best I can manage - manifest a solid sphere of blue mana around my head, like a fishbowl.

“You went to an ice floor while being hunted by me?” Coldscar sneers. “Come on, what were you expecting?”

“For you to be a fucking moron,” Opal mocks with a grin. “Come on. You, on your own, against all of us? How’s that gonna go, Coldy?”

Their voices sound dull and muted through my fishbowl-hat. I have to use [Observation] to even get a sense of what’s going on around me, and Coldscar is almost invisible. I can see now why Inu failed to notice him getting close, properly. He’s almost made of snow, melting into it, and I can’t even properly keep track of him while knowing he’s here.

Why did he announce himself with an entrance, though? If we take him out, we’ll bring the Ire down on the rest of their team. But despite that, I feel a shiver crawl up my spine. The air feels even colder. In fact, I can feel ice beginning to grow along my remaining four fingers. Well, at least I have less to lose than the rest of our team.

“Trey!” Anna yells for the kid. I feel more than see her dashing for the kid, quickly shielding him with her body as more ice crashes over us and the temperatures drop. And drop, and drop. Hm. How troublesome.

“Don’t bother,” Coldscar says, shaking his head. “There’s a price to pay for crossing me. And I have to demand it in blood. It is as simple as that.”

And at that, I feel a change. Richard. Her mana bubbles upwards, and I notice that she has a lot of it. 

Like, wow.

Holy shit.

The little hiy’ht erupts into a bonfire of mana, a roaring tempest, and I’m reminded for the first time that her body runs on heat. And her class is an eater. She can store things, but if she chooses to just devour them… is literally everything turned into thermal energy, I wonder?

Flames flow out from her unendingly, and her figure turns into a small volcano in this frozen landscape. The hissing sound of snow melting spreads out from her, in a ring that soon approaches me, and soaks my shoes. Then, her flames course forward, right at Coldscar.

But the old scithian just frowns, walking towards us as we continue to run and gain distance. He’s fast, gliding across the snow, his body darting forward with the flakes. To my mana-sight it almost looks like he’s coming apart, and then recombining-

Oh, right in front of me.

Mana spills out from me in a torrent, and [Selection] latches on to him, whispering his position to me. I weigh him down, suppressing his movements, pushing down on him with far more force than ever before. My own mana burns its way through me, and for a brief moment, the runes in my arms overload. 

And the snow around me slows.

Somehow, Coldscar distributes my debuff across not just himself but a whole blizzard. Unless, of course…

The blow crashes into me, even as I bring up my arm to block. A patch of ice spreads on me as I’m sent flying, tumbling through the snow, my fishbowl-helmet cracking. Kuro spreads out, darkness cutting through the white, but I grit my teeth.

“He’s the entire storm!” I yell, my voice muffled by the sphere around my head. “He can make bodies from the snowflakes!”

Even as I say so, some more of the falling snow touches the patch of ice on my arm, and it spreads. Tendrils of cold creep under my skin, sucking the heat coursing through me away. I hiss, feeling my blood cool and my flesh grow numb. With my warning, though, Coldscar drops all pretense of being locked to one body.

Three simulacrums rise from the ice, targeting Jean, Anna and Bofoy. Opal and Inu block two of them, authorities spilling out and crashing into each other. I pour more mana through me, heating the runes, dispelling the cold as my flesh sizzles around them. Mana pours out of me, and it spreads through my entire field.

[Suppression 30 > 31]

I feel the vastness of the storm resist this change, distributing it into places where Coldscar isn’t actually at, but still bear with it. Sylves begins to call up a storm of her own, wind carving through the snow and tossing the flakes aside - until all at once, the simulacrums that targeted us fall apart into piles of white.

Instead, they materialize around her. The gang-leader stares at her with that same everpresent frown on his three faces. I see Sylves’ vicious smile fade for a moment. “Well, that’s just unfair,” she says, quietly, before the blows land.

Despite slowing them down as much as possible, the faerie is sent flying, frost creeping across her. Ice spreads all over her skin, and I hear Thatch roar. Anger bubbles from him, crawling across his skin, coating him in layers upon layers of monstrous muscle and fur. There’s a deep growl as he pounced on the snowy manifestations of Coldscar.

Jean runs for Sylves, as does Richard. The hiy’ht arrives far earlier, the snow melting around her as more fire spills out, keeping the storm at bay. Even the ice on Sylves thaws slightly from her influence, letting me get to her side. I feel the heat brush up against me, too hot, but I ignore it. Instead, I flood Sylves with healing, and her eyes shoot open as she gasps for air.

A half-second later, she sees me, then grits her teeth, and raises in the sky. The winds around her roar. Inu and Opal dash for more facsimiles, vanishing. Coldscar keeps teleporting, but Opal remains right on their heel, and Inu somehow locks one of the apparitions down with her authority.

A heartbeat passes, then another, as Sylves and Richard work together. Wind catches fire, and the storm hisses as some of the snow melts away, the cold receding faintly. Our weaker members fight to reach this haven of heat, struggling through the blizzard while Coldscar laughs cruelly.

“It will not be enough,” he says. “You will never be enough.”

At that, I look at Sylves. “Hey,” I say. “Bet you half my mana that you won’t flick my forehead.”

She grins, viciously, and nods. “Accepted.”