Without halting a moment of stabbing the 'Winter' bear with my daggers, I was soon greeted by a system message emerging before my slightly tired eyes.
[Stage #13 : The Crystal Temple.]
+
Stage Information: Upon arriving in this new world filled with an endless winter, one must travel aimlessly to find a shelter to keep oneself safe and sound from the cold and the predators.
Stage Task: Find the Crystal Temple within the snowy mountain range.
Time Limit: ∞ Hours.
Reward: 600 coins and a firefly.
Failure: None.
+
Reading the stage's description in an easy-going way without worrying about the 'Winter' bear who was still drilling its teeth in my stomach, I sighed.
I thought to myself while penetrating a ton of wounds at the bear with my daggers.
'Infinite hours.. If anyone were to see that, they would be overjoyed. But that would be their downfall.'
Even if the stage has a limitless time limit, that doesn't count as a good thing. Because there will be death upon staying in a timeless stage.
If one were to think through the line properly while reading the stage and understanding the environment around them, they would learn that if they were to stay longer within this stage, then they'll die a slow death.
Since the world we were in is in an everlasting winter, we could potentially die from Hypothermia, death from experiencing a cold temperature or freezing.
Much worse is that they could get hunted by the polar bears and other creatures within this area, dying as a meal for those creatures.
"Frostina. Watch after the guild for me." I muttered, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to hear my words.
With the fire emblem on, my team wouldn't die after 1 hour or so, including the winter clothes they got from the Stage's reward. As obvious as it is, their lives are guaranteed to be thriving in less than a day.
Yet, I still prayed for my team to get inside a temple or somewhere to keep them warm from the cold atmosphere in about half a day.
Anyways, the bigger problem is whatever the 'Helpers' were stupidly trying to do by enforcing the system to go off course. By doing something like that, it's like you're giving up your lifespan to order the system around.
'Forcing a stage to begin.. How stupid is that 'Helper'?' I scoffed.
Without a doubt, I wanted the 'Helpers' to keep processing to do idiotic things like wasting their lifespans to end their lives, however, there must a motive behind those actions.
"..when will that appear?"
As if I spoke of the devil, the system messages popped up right in front of me.
[The 'Map' has been unlocked!]
[You can now freely use the 'Map' however you wish.]
"Finally." After I read the messages, I quickly opened up the 'Map' to start generating my surroundings.
Once a panel emerged from thin air, I could see a trail of discovered land in the 'Map' while the entirety of the 'Map' showed in a black foggy color as if it was not yet uncovered.
Since this 'Map' needs a player to travel around to discover more lands by themselves, it could take anyone a very lengthy time to completely fill out the 'Map'. Not that anyone would waste their spare time to do that though.
The most crucial part of this 'Map' was that it could act as a teleportation device to any area of this world, as long as you discover the land, you can teleport there after a 10 seconds delay or depending on what situations you are in, it could be much more than 10 seconds.
Needles to say, it's not a free ride. You must pay a fee of 777 coins to teleport in your desired location and if you were to get interrupted while you teleport, then might as well say goodbye to your 777 coins wasted on not being teleported.
More importantly, this 'Map' could help identify the location you're in. For example, the cave icon on the 'Map' that just appeared upon entering its range, is the cave of the 'Winter' Bear.
If I were to tap on that icon, it will show me information of what is in that cave and area. However, it doesn't have the necessary information for me to know clearly about what's inside that place.
You could say that the icons can only reveal vague descriptions. Because the main information would be left out, meaning you must discover it by going in that area by yourself to fill in the blank space.
"Crap." While I was explaining to myself, I had arrived in the 'Winter' bear's cave, getting thrown toward the upper surface of the cave in a violent way.
As a result of suddenly hitting the ceiling, I coughed out blood that got accumulated from my stomach. Not only that, my blood was also pouring out of my stomach like a river from the holes of what the 'Winter' bear did to me.
[Hidden Skill, 'Simulation' Lv. 2 has offset the pain.]
"Urgh!" Even though I didn't feel the pain, I kept on bleeding continuously as I dropped down to the floor of the cave.
When I landed on the pool of blood that was on the ground, I got blood everywhere on my clothes and myself.
Not that I felt furious about getting blood on my skin, but the clothes that Mirai made for me, were all dirtied by my blood. It made me a bit frustrated of myself to ruin such a gift from one of my comrades.
Eventually, getting up with my two feet, I grasped my sword's hilt and stabbed its blade to the ground, using it to support myself upright and not to fall or stagger.
"Goddamn it. My HP is slowly depleting because of my blood loss." I mumbled as I glanced at the bear that just stood there without moving after it tossed me.
Though it may seem strange, the 'Winter' bear hadn't moved a muscle after entering its cave. As it happened, I slowly but surely took a step forward, walking up toward the bear with my sword that got turned into a spear.
Seeing as I didn't want to come close toward a powerful foe like this 'Winter' Bear, I figured I would use a spear to put a distance between me and the bear while we fight.
Using a bow would be good but I would get slaughter if the bear gets in close range with me.
'It's still not moving..' I pondered, starting to dash toward the bear at a lightning-fast pace.
[You have activated the Skill, 'Discharge' Lv. 2.]
The bear stayed in its spot even though I was sprinting at it in top speed with my killing intentions.
With my spear out, I aimed it at the bear's vital points which was the heart, going for it as fast as I possibly could.
[Imitation of 'Marine Javelin' Lv. 2 has activated.]
[Imitation of 'Extraordinary Multitasking' Lv. 3 has activated.]
After the javelins got summoned behind me, I directed my spear at the bear's chest, thrusting it in aggressively to take out its heart.
While I was doing so, the javelins behind me pierced through the bear's head as they poked out of the back. Sticking out the tissues of the bear's brain outside its head as blood proceeded to drip off of the end of the javelins.
"Did I get it?" I murmured, yanking my spear out before jumping back a few steps away from the bear.
[Imitation of 'Fast Leveling' Lv. 3 has activated.]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
[You leveled up!]
'..For an apex predator, it died from a level 46 player like me. This is quite odd.'
When my eyes had a glimpse of the 'Winter' Bear, it was standing still with serious wounds on its body. But the most shocking thing was that the bear remained alive after having its brain scattered on the ground and its heart no longer beating.
"No.. it's dead." I said, gazing at the dead bear while I switched my spear into two chakram daggers.
With a body that had already stopped functioning, the bear stepped forward, extending its claws at me.
I sneered after I figured what was going on. "So that's how it is."
Slowly but surely, I took a deep breath while clasping my chakram daggers, focusing my attention not on the bear but on somewhere else.
"Let's get this over with."
When my mind cleared up for a while, I commenced on sensing my vicinity, feeling the presence of someone hiding somewhere within this cave.
As if the bear would allow me to do so, it charged at me, roaring an ear-piercing growl inside the cave which caused the ground and ceiling to tremble at an extreme extent.
Reverberating a blaring growl to force me not to concentrate on my task, I halted on what I was doing, blazing my chakram daggers with the fire of 'Divine Flame' as I was ready to strike down my true enemy.
[Imitation of 'Portal' Lv. 3 has activated.]
Calling forth a portal on the left side of the 'Winter' bear, I rushed in after tossing one of my chakram daggers into the portal beside me.
With my weapon appearing out of the portal, it landed a blow to the bear's rear, inflicting a scar onto the fur of its injured body.
But then, the 'Winter' bear unleashed a terrifying roar before slamming its arms to the ground, forcing the floor to crack greatly.
At that moment, I leapt over the bear after I threw my other chakram toward the portal that was next to the bear, sending the other end of the portal to another area in this cave.
"Ignite."
Upon being above the bear's head, I grabbed the chakram that was on the bear and slashed it straight down. As Lucifer ruthlessly unleashed his black lightning from the circular blade of the dagger, the bear was once again killed by me again.
"Phew." I panted for a short moment while I hopped off from the bear, landing back to the ground.
Thinking while I grasped my weapon. 'This was an easy kill.. if it were not controlled by someone, I wouldn't have been able to kill it by myself.'
As I turned around to look at the bear, I found it collapsing to the floor which indicated that it was truly dead this time.
In actuality, it was being controlled by someone who was in the cave. For this bear to stop being controlled, I obviously went for the mastermind behind this bear.
Which was why I sent my other dagger to that person, and the same person who I was talking about, was finally leaving their hiding spot and was coming for me.
"You. What do you want from me to manipulate an apex predator like this one?" Pointing at the corpse of the 'Winter' bear, I glanced at the figure that was appearing behind me.
"...You…!"