"What happened?" Lex asked calmly, keeping himself from expecting the worst. Being a universal business owner meant constantly putting out fires. He no longer let something as minor as being trapped in another realm, or hiccups with his primary business, cause him to panic.
"Well, remember how you were searching for people with special skills using the Mystery trial? A couple showed up yesterday, both went into the Mystery trial, and after a few tries, both of them completed the trial! On top of that, the husband is a swordsman, and the wife is a historian, two of the kinds of people you were looking for. I… cannot see what prize the trial gave them, but they both seemed very pleased with the results, and wanted to talk to you.
"Since you obviously cannot meet with them, I took the liberty to do so, but uh… I cannot help them with their concern. Both of them want to be hired at the Inn."
"That… doesn't sound like a problem. Why are you so embarrassed?"
"Well, it's the first time I appeared in front of a guest, and I really wanted to help them… but I… anyway, with your increased authority you can scan them even though you're not at the Inn. And then, you can initiate the hiring test via the Platinum key directly from there as well, if you wish."
Lex paused for a moment as he tried to focus on the Inn, and an image popped in his head like a surveillance camera. The couple in question were… unusual, to say the least.
The husband was wearing a robe, while his hands, feet and face were covered in bandages, making him look like a mummy out of a movie. The wife, instead of bandages, had covered her entire body in mismatching clothes, ensuring that none of her skin was visible either. To top it all off, black smoke hovered around her, making it hard for people to see her figure in the first place.
Lex scanned them mentally and was quite intrigued by the results.
The husbands scan was:
Name: Qawiun
Age: 120,384
Sex: -/Male
Cultivation Details: Earth Immortal
Species: -/Sentient Sword
Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1
History: A sword that gained sentience through a twist of fate. Starting out as a common sword, it was given to a soldier who made many contributions, until it became nothing more than a memento and family heirloom. Eventually, as the family declined, the sword was sold to an adventurer, who later died in a spirit well, leaving the sword there for several millennia. For reasons unknown, instead of developing a spirit stone mine, the well channeled all its energy into the sword until it gained sentience.
Remarks: A sword identifying as a man gives a whole new meaning to gender identity
The wife's scan was:
Name: Anita
Age: 499,999
Sex: Female
Cultivation Details: Earth Immortal
Species: Human/Lich
Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1
Bloodline: -/Luminous Spirit
History: At the dawn of human civilization on her planet, she was the Queen the led, the warrior that fought, the murderer that massacred, and the mother of innovation. When she felt her subjects were too stupid to rule, she ended her retirement and discovered a way around death and led the humans out from the brink of extinction. Then, one day, she decided to nap, but forgot to wake up. 350,000 years later, she was woken from her slumber by the sword that became her husband.
Condition: The patient has been pregnant for 2950 years. Her expected date of delivery is in 50 years. The patient is in an extremely weakened state and should avoid strenuous activities such as traversing space, disinfecting in active volcanoes, leading a revolution against the zombies, trying to subvert fate and relinquish the control of her own destiny, etc.
Remarks: Impending motherhood has made her docile. She no longer tortures the souls of her enemies and even lets them go sometimes.
Lex sighed in awe of how unusual the universe was, but didn't dwell on it for too long. He shared the information with Mary, before telling her, "they are too powerful to enter the Inn permanently. I can still accept them, but I need to wait till I have at least 1% energy in the system so I can use some of the higher authority functions. Tell them that I'm slightly busy, and will give an answer soon. Considering their long lives, even making them wait a dozen years probably won't mean much to them."
Mary nodded and turned to her task. Lex would have loved to observe the Inn some more, but he had more pressing matters at the moment. Getting a decent understanding of the terrain and the kind of trees in the forest, and more importantly, feeding all that information to his monocle, gave him the edge he needed.
He gathered some pinecones – or the equivalent in this realm – as well as some fruit that the monocle said was not poisonous to him, and then headed towards the village. As he expected, he didn't run into any wildlife while he scouted and the path towards the village was completely desolate. Well, mostly desolate…
Lex saw a familiar green ring of light and then saw someone fall in the snow. However, unlike Lex's bewildered reaction, the boy, who seemed much younger than Lex, quickly got up and assessed his surroundings. Upon noticing Lex, he took a step back and drew out a short sword, instantly creating a standoff.
The strange situation only lasted a few seconds before a yellow orb appeared and informed the boy of his assessment details, which were identical to Lex's.
"What's with the dagger? Are we supposed to be competing for the assessment or something?"
Lex was not taking the kids' threat too seriously, mostly because, as a defense mechanism, Lex could easily gauge the threat level of anyone weaker than him, or near his cultivation level. It was instinctual. The kid's cultivation was higher than Lex's, but his threat was minimal to none.
"You're also taking this assessment?" he asked, surprised.
"Yeah, though I didn't know other people could take the assessment with you. I guess they're checking teamwork or something. Do you have any idea if this is a simulation or if this place is real?"
"Simulation? What are you talking about? Of course this place is real. Didn't they brief you about the assessment before sending you?"
"No, I didn't get any briefings. To be honest, I didn't even feel like asking questions because the guy assessing me was smiling at me like some kind of predator. The first thing I'm going to do once I get out of here is report him to the police as some kind of threat."
Back in the assessment center, in a room full of people watching this particular assessment, the uniformed man's wide grin suddenly twitched and everyone in the room turned to look at him with wary eyes.
"He's just joking," the uniformed man managed to say between gritted teeth, right before Lex said, "I swear I'm not joking. It was so creepy, I would have jumped into a lion's den without asking questions to get away from him. Speaking of which, do you know what the academy's motto is? Also, if this place is real, does that mean our life is in danger?"
The man's face spasmed as he tried to control himself, but that made his grin look even creepier.
Back on the snowy mountain, the kid explained to Lex, "our life is not in danger because as soon as it's threatened, we'll be teleported back. But, if that happens, that'll affect our assessment score. To pass the assessment, we just need to survive long enough for the assessment to end. But barely anyone does that. The more stuff you do, the better and more accurate your result will be.
"A snowstorm is coming, not to mention a tribe of Kalter Flug. We can survive on our own if we hide or run far away, but the damage that village will suffer is real. Their houses could be damaged and lives could be lost. Even if I have to risk cutting the assessment short, I can't just ignore real human lives over something like that."
Lex thought for a second. Even with his increased strength, he would not risk being without shelter in a snowstorm. Hypothermia was a real risk, even to cultivators, not to mention any other danger a snowstorm would bring with it. That was absolutely fine because it had never even occurred to Lex to run away from the village like the boy was suggesting, but if he planned on helping out, he needed to understand the incoming dangers some more."
"Do you know what a Kalter Flug is? Because I've never heard of it. And while we're on that topic, why did you dismiss the Sol birds? Are they not a threat?"
"How do you not know what a Sol bird is?" the boy asked, genuinely startled by Lex's ignorance.
Even the uniformed man and his team who were watching the assessment frowned at this revelation.
Lex shrugged as he casually answered, "I suffered some damage to my spirit and lost some memories. The nurse told me I'll either get them back or make up for them."
"But… how bad is your memory loss if you even forgot that? How could they let you take the assessment like this?"
Upon seeing Lex only casually shrug, the boy pointed a finger up into the sky towards the sun.
"That up there is a flock of Sol birds. They're the primary source of light in our world."
Lex's jaw dropped as he looked up into the sky with squinted eyes. It was only then that he noticed that what he had so far assumed was the 'sun' seemed to be moving in the sky.
The birds were too bright for Lex to observe them directly, but now that he was looking up in the sky, he was able to notice that there was no great ball of fire in the sky. It was only now that Mary's description of a realm had sunk in. This realm or world or large landmass, whatever it was, existed as a single entity as large as Earth's solar system. First of all, that was so much land that Lex found it difficult to comprehend. Secondly, if the entire realm existed as one landmass, how did the season's work? What was the distinction between night and day? What would happen if you kept traveling directly up? Would you hit some kind of ceiling?
What would happen if one of those birds wanted to take a rest, and flew down? Were they just a source of light, or were they extremely hot as well, like the sun? How did the plants survive if this world was dependent on birds for light? Was there a secondary source of light?
Lex suppressed all his curiosity and focused on the matter at hand. His survival was not in question since he would be pulled back if his life was in danger, but that did not mean he was looking forward to being pushed to that brink. The birds were… a matter he would look into later.
It was clear to him now that he lacked certain 'common sense and knowledge' when it came to this realm, so sticking with this kid would be for the best. After all, between these Kraven everyone was at war with, and these birds that gave sunlight… sol-light? Basically, with all the weird stuff going on, he had no idea what to expect.
"My name is Lex," he introduced himself. "My memory may be foggy, but I think we'll do better if we stick together, don't you? My combat skills are not bad, so if we encounter any danger I should be able to take care of it."
The boy quickly went over a few thoughts in his mind, and suddenly realized this for the opportunity that it was. If he could get Lex to follow him, it would show leadership skill in his assessment, and affect his final role.
"The name is Drum," the boy said, putting his short-sword away finally. "Since your memory is affected, I think it might be a good idea if you follow my lead. This is already my third assessment, and I did really well in all the previous ones, so this should be no different."
"What's the plan then, Drum?" Lex asked, neither saying yes nor no to his suggestion. Although Lex himself had the idea of using the kid to cover his gaps in knowledge, taking orders from him felt… icky. Of course, that didn't mean he wouldn't listen to good sense when he heard it.
Besides, the feeling had nothing to do with the kid in question. Rather, Lex had gotten so used to being in charge and then giving orders as the Innkeeper, suddenly taking orders felt wrong to him. That was also part of the reason why Lex was so uncooperative with the uniformed man. Lex had no authority here while that man could do as he pleased, a thought that was off-putting.
Drum didn't seem to notice, and started heading towards the village. "They need to be warned about the snowstorm and everything else. We can just tell them we're students of the academy, that should help convince them that we're telling the truth. And, to answer your earlier question, I don't know much about Kalter Flug so we can also collect some information about them if the villagers know anything."
"Do you have a student ID or something to prove what you're saying? Unless you do, I suggest we own up about taking an assessment, and be truthful about the incoming dangers. More importantly, we need to find the village head, or someone well respected in the village. Explaining the situation to one person will be a lot easier than explaining the story to every person in the village. Once that's done, we can take suggestions from him about how to plan for the upcoming storm. A native of the area would know better than us about how to survive in these conditions."
Drum nodded and accepted Lex's suggestions. As long as he was the one walking in front, and the so-called 'party leader', he was completely fine listening to Lex's suggestions.
As the duo approached the village, they discussed ways in which they could help overcome the incoming issues. That's when Lex realized that he was severely lacking in skills.
Drum boasted some basic woodworking and engineering skills, which should help reinforce some buildings if required, as well as advanced knowledge of formations. Well, advanced for his level. Either way, the only help Lex could provide was manual labor.
While Drums' ego was boosted seeing how he was more skilled than his older counterpart, Lex was actually happy with how things were turning out. The more Drum shined, the less likely he would be selected for some elite squad. All Lex wanted was some decent guidance on cultivation and access to a library. He had no idea how he would gather the energy he needed and would have to do plenty of research.
The duo attracted quite a bit of attention as they neared the village, as two men walking through waist high snow to reach an unremarkable village was not a common sight. A small crowd of what Lex assumed was the patrol or volunteer guards waited for them on the boundary of the village.
"Ahoy strangers, you're pretty far off from civilization. Are ye lost or something?" one of the men yelled towards them.
"Not lost, we're assessment takers for the Academy," Drum yelled back, which seemed to garner a positive response. "Take us to your village elder, we need to have a discussion with him."
The modestly armed villagers happily 'escorted' Lex and Drum to the village leader so that they could talk, and so that they'd be near at hand should the leader decide the two were untrustworthy.
Drum explained the incoming danger, as well as how they knew the information. There was a risk in doing this, for if the villagers didn't believe them, then they would have no recourse. If they had instead lied and just asked for lodging, and weathered the storm while hiding and not informing anyone of the incoming danger, it would have been easier to survive, but it would have also affected how they would be designated.
Drum had explained the grading process to Lex. The assessment would give two results, the first being what profession was most suitable for the student to pursue, and the second being their grade within that profession. For example, Drum explained that he hoped to be designated a formation master. But not all formation masters were the same, as some were better than others. The better your grade within the profession, the more you would be nurtured by the academy. It need not be said that Drum was aiming for the highest level.
Lex didn't care much for trying to pick a specific profession, since he was not familiar with the options. He would just take things as they came, and currently, things were not going according to how Drum wanted.
The villagers believed the two about the incoming storm as well as danger, but Drum had envisioned the village then treating him as some kind of leader afterwards, which would give him a chance to show off his skills. They should have been grateful for the information and impressed by their status as students of the academy. They should have been awed and honored.
Instead, as the villagers were so used to these problems, they already had a system in place of how to react, leaving Lex and Drum with little to contribute. At most, they could help with manual labor. Furthermore, because Drum was fairly young, and Lex only just coming into proper adulthood, they did not give either of them any of the reverence Drum had been expecting.
Drum didn't like being sidelined and was sulking, while Lex had already inquired about where they could stay, and how they could get food. The villagers may have a way to take care of themselves, but that didn't mean that the hospitality they extended would provide the same security. Now Lex had to look out for himself.
Lex also asked about heating, and if they required chopping down trees and logging, but he had underestimated the village. All the houses had central heating, powered by spirit stones, with each house having its own independent supply so they didn't need to worry about power loss during the storm.
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"How can you be okay with this?" asked an exasperated Drum. It had been a few hours since they arrived and both he and Lex had been given one room to share in the village leader's house.
While Drum had tried hard to impress upon the villagers that he could help reinforce their buildings, or perhaps build some formations, the villagers did not take up his suggestions. First of all, their houses were not weak structures, and had survived their fair share of snow storms. Secondly, due to the weather in these parts, they had encountered many wild beasts and so long as they stayed inside their well-built homes, they would be fine.
Not only were their homes sturdy, the wood they had used was actually an excellent insulator, so they could remain warm and cozy even in the harshest of conditions. The only thing they had to care about was food.
"If they don't want our help, then it's not like you can force them. Just take your own precautions. The assessment will last a long time, and I don't like relying on others. Maybe you should scavenge some food, 40 hours is a long time. Or, if you really want to build a formation, build one in our room. We tried to help the villagers, if they don't want help it's on them, doesn't mean we need to risk our own lives."
"Fine, let's go scavenge what we can."
"Not right now, I'm taking a nap."
Lex's reply irked Drum, which in turn entertained Lex. Once Lex was done with his 'nap' they went out to gather some more food from the forest and helped out around the village however they could. Once they returned to their room, Drum confessed that he couldn't build a formation because he didn't have any of the materials required, as he had hoped that the villagers would be able to provide him with the basics since he was supposed to be helping them.
That reminded Lex of the ring John had given him which stored a book about arrays. Since they were stuck in a room for 40 hours, or so it seemed, Lex took out the ring and started reading up on it.
The books did not seem to be written in an instructive format, but was rather the author's introspection on the topics being discussed. Let alone the universe, even a single galaxy was too wide a scope for the author to speculate on the origin of formations and arrays within it, so he simply discussed how he himself first discovered them.
It started when the author became the strongest being on his planet, but was not strong enough to actually leave the planet, nor was his civilization technologically advanced enough. With endless power and nothing to do, the author began to explore his world when he encountered a strange phenomenon.
There was a single point in an otherwise unremarkable place that had the highest concentration of spirit energy he had ever seen. But the energy only covered roughly ten square feet of area. A single step outside, and not only would he return to an area of common energy concentration, he could not even detect the higher concentration energy, as it was perfectly camouflaged.
After studying it for a while, he discovered that there was no hidden heritage or overwhelming secret. The way physical features influenced the common world, like wind speeding up in a valley or the chill of winter turning rain into snow, so too were various coincidental spiritual features resulting in this specific outcome.
The small area happened to be above the tip of an undiscovered spirit stone vein. But the vein was covered by a certain type of rock that acted as an insulator. However, a recent earthquake caused a crack to form, which allowed the spiritual energy to break through. Then, there was a certain type of vegetation in the area that had deep roots and absorbed any stray spiritual energy, but the specific ten square feet area was devoid of roots as it was host to a kind of insect that fed on roots.
Long story short, basically a series of seemingly mundane events led to a phenomenal result. That's when the author started experimenting, since he literally had nothing better to do. He did not delve into the nature of his experiments, and skipped directly to the result.
According to the author, formations and arrays both were simply taking the mundane and using them to produce extraordinary results.
After that the book was abridged and directly went to the topic of arrays. Lex read for about five minutes before he facepalmed. Then he read the description again and then facepalmed one more time.
Drum noticed Lex's strange behavior, but he was not in the mood to inquire. After a few minutes of feeling sorry for himself, Lex resumed reading the book.
The author gave a long and convoluted, as well as unnecessarily philosophical explanation for what arrays were and how they functioned. Lex, instead, could define an array in three words. It was programming.
Arrays could theoretically do everything a formation could do, albeit a weaker version of it, but the benefit was that arrays did not require any external material the way formations did. Arrays only required the array master, spiritual energy and a series of symbols that the author had categorized as the universal language.
The symbols weren't really a language, but the author observed that when spiritual energy was manipulated in certain shapes outside of one's body, in the natural environment, they gave birth to certain effects. The author compiled these symbols by studying things that existed in nature. For example, by studying a plant that released frosty spiritual energy, after a lot of trial and error, he was able to surmise a symbol that did the same – again, on a much weaker level than the actual physical plant. The symbol itself was identical to the venation of that plant.
After collecting thousands of such symbols, he gathered them together and called them the universal language, since these patterns were what the universe used to express its design. Of course, just having the symbols was not good enough, he needed to understand the 'grammar' of the language to understand how the multiple symbols could be arranged.
So much fancy jargon, but to Lex, it meant something simple. An 'array master' was the programmer, the array itself was the software, and the universal language was the programming language, and the 'grammar' was the syntax.
No doubt, arrays were an extremely useful tool as the author had given many examples of scenarios where he had used them, but just thinking about the fact that Lex had to learn yet ANOTHER programming language made him facepalm.
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As daunting as it was, trying to learn another programming lang- no, uh, trying to learn arrays, Lex only paused temporarily to lament. Once he got it out of his system, he continued to read the book.
The first and most basic principle of arrays was that to use one, you needed to control spirit energy outside of your body. This was not something Qi training cultivators could do, but the author had stated a few ways around this drawback. To use any of them though, Lex would need certain tools which he did not currently have, so he skipped that part and continued onwards to how arrays worked.
It was… both very simple, and yet complex at the same time. Perhaps because Lex was used to writing code, he was used to thinking in a systematic manner which would allow him to create working software from scratch. In this scenario, he could understand the building blocks of a functioning array and could envision how to reach a certain effect from scratch.
It remained to be tested if things would be as simple as he assumed, but, in theory, it should be. What was hard for him was memorizing the thousands of symbols and their subsequent effects.
Actual programming language was easier for Lex to learn because it was written in English and the syntax was usually designed to make sense. These symbols, however, were not an actual language and did not have meanings but effects. Lex could already tell that it would take him a long, long time before he began to grasp the nature of the symbols well enough to make his own arrays rather than copy existing ones.
Of course, it must not be forgotten that even copying existing arrays was not a simple and easy task or else everyone would be doing it.
Lex lost himself in studying so deeply that he did not feel the time pass at all. He did not notice Drum pacing in the room, nor when a soft, constant buzzing sound started to creep into the room.
For Lex, it felt like one moment it was complete silence and he was engrossed in his studies, and the next second a loud, constant scraping sound filled the room, breaking his concentration.
"What's that?" Lex asked in alarm.
"It's the snowstorm," Drum answered. By now, he had calmed down and was meditating in a corner. "It's odd because only 18 hours have passed since I arrived. The snowstorm is early. Usually, the academy's information is accurate."
"Were the villagers able to finish their preparations?"
"Yes, though when they saw the storm on the horizon, even they were worried. It's larger and faster than usual, which could mean trouble. I asked about the Kalter Flug. They're an unusual species of spirits that live in snowstorms. They fuse with snowflakes or hail, and are extremely vicious. They have short lives, but are generally very strong and very violent, and will attack any living thing caught in the storm."
"Sounds excellent. Any idea on how one is supposed to fight them? Or at least, hide from them?"
"When they're born, they're very small, but the more time they spend in the storm, the bigger they get. Small ones are easy to deal with, if you are able to hit them. A simple bash of any kind will destroy them. But the bigger they get, the harder they are to deal with. Not only does their defense increase, the ones made from snowflakes have extremely sharp bodies that could cut you in half in a split second. Again, the only real way to fight them is to destroy their bodies."
Lex rubbed his eyes. This was excellent news. Who didn't love being stuck in a snowstorm surrounded by monsters that grew stronger the longer they spent in the storm?
"The assessment didn't state how long the storm would last, but I'm going to assume it'll last the entire time we're here. The Kalter Fluf may be weak in the beginning, but they'll grow stronger towards the end, which is why we should get as much rest as we can," Lex said, as he put the book away.
He ate most of the food he had managed to scavenge and then lay down to sleep. Despite the constant noise, it was not a problem for Lex to fall asleep. Drum continued to meditate, and the duo remained that way until a sharp, screeching sound abruptly woke up Lex. Before he could ask what happened, the building shook, as if something had struck it. It happened a few more times before the shaking finally stopped.
"They're here," Drum said as he looked Lex in the eye. Outside, the storm was still raging, and the Kalter Flug had finally shown up. Occasionally, they would hear more screeches, and the building would shake, but nothing more happened.
Just to be safe, the duo decided to go ask their host if this was normal. The village leader's house was only slightly bigger than the rest of the houses in the village, and so it was not hard at all for them to locate him. He was sitting in the dining hall, drinking tea while his wife read a story to his two children.
Seeing them so calm and peaceful, Lex was able to relax a bit and set his worries aside. He also pretended the village leader, whose name Lex could not remember for even a moment, did not raise any death flags when he laughed and told Lex that their houses were absolutely secure and there had never been an incident where the storm or the spirits were able break in.
Yes, no death flags were raised at all, even by Drum, who laughed and said this would be the easiest assessment he ever had. As for why Lex took out Heavy Harley and started counting his ammunition and checking up on all his defensive gear? No reason in particular.
Then, a few hours later, the Sol birds also left. Even though all the windows to the outside had been shut, Lex was easily able to tell the birds left because the temperature dropped sharply. Even with a heavily insulated house and central heating, Lex was able to see fog when he exhaled.
An hour later, the lights in the house shutdown and the heating stopped. Something had gone awry.
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Wake up," said Lex very seriously as took out a flashlight and attached it to his gun. Drum had been sleeping comfortably after stuffing himself. Lex had spent this time reading the array book and resting, making sure that he was ready in case anything happened.
While Drum woke up and tried to understand what was happening while still groggy, Lex went out and searched for the village leader.
"What happened?" Lex asked, his voice somber.
"Nothing, young man," the village leader replied while chucking. "There seems to be an issue with my house's internal wiring. We'll have to wait till the storm is over to fix it, so it'll be a little tough having to make do with the cold, but it's nothing too serious. I was just coming over to give you boys some blankets."
Since he was insisting that there was no issue, Lex did not press the matter, but he kept his guard up. The very next moment the village leader's house was hit once again, as it continuously had been for the past few hours, but this time, the whole house wobbled.
'Mr. Innkeeper,' the Lotus suddenly spoke in Lex's mind. 'There's a wave of very strong spiritual energy heading our way. It'll pass us by in around an hour.'
As soon as the Lotus spoke, Lex was sure that things would not go by smoothly. He could not tell if the wave of energy was the result of the snowstorm, or vice versa, but he was sure that this would not be 'just another storm' as the village leader kept insisting.
Unfortunately, Lex was right. The house suffered yet another attack, followed by a screech so loud it shook Lex to his core, accompanied by the sound of a collapsing wall. The temperature in the house dropped immediately as all the doors were banged open by a raging wind.
It was fortunate that the wall that collapsed was of their living room, which was empty at the moment. It didn't matter for much though, as the Kalter Flug were already swarming in the house. All Lex saw was the snow carried by the wind, but his protective treasure turned on and covered Lex in a blue light. It saved him from getting cut in half, but could not stop the momentum of the attack launching him back.
Whatever had attacked him was way stronger than him! What the hell kind of test was this? Lex picked himself up just in time to see the village leader get sliced into many pieces. Many ravenous, massive snowflakes piled up on the leader's body, ready to eat the corpse.
Horror and shock filled Lex's heart, but not panic. As if he had practiced a million times, Lex raised his gun and started shooting at the snowflakes.
Despite their incredible strength, their bodies were extremely fragile, and each bullet was able to easily kill them. Yet the sound only attracted the snowflakes, and more and more swarmed towards him.
In the Heavy Harley, Lex had loaded the spirit magazine, which could fire up to 100 bullets with one magazine. But while 100 was a lot, it was not infinite so Lex had to be mindful and not shoot endlessly.
Lex failed on his first try, but on his second try, Lex started using Falcon's relief to speed up his movements as he dodged the snowflakes as he tried to kill him. The raging winds chilled and slowed down Lex, and fought against him to slow him down, the Kalter Flug rushed him in swarms, moving faster than his eyes could track.
Lex was not dodging consciously, but moving around randomly to try to avoid as many as he could because they were just too fast. Suddenly, Drum was beside Lex and he fired a weapon that released some kind of pulse that shattered all the snowflakes in the room, giving them a much needed moment of respite.
"I went… the family… dead…" Drum stuttered between ragged breaths, his face as pale as the snow that was quickly filling up the house.
"We need to hide…" Lex had only begun to say, when more Kalter Flug, this time even larger than the previous ones, entered the room and rushed at them. It was too dark for Lex to have noticed them when they entered, and by the time he saw them, they were mere millimeters away from Drums neck.
A light flashed, and Drum disappeared, causing the clump of snowflakes to fly right past Lex. No longer wasting any time, Lex started running again, but could not dodge an attack that once again flung him across the room.
"Shit," Lex cursed as he hurried to pick himself up. His protective treasure managed to keep him from taking the worst damage, but it still hurt like hell every time he was flung around like a rag doll.
But this time, despite Lex's quick reflexes and endless resilience, the Kalter Flug were too strong, too many, and too fast! Smart enough to realize attacks didn't work on Lex, they latched onto him harmlessly and dragged him out of the house.
At this point, Lex could not even shoot because the snowflakes were hugging his body so tight he could not move and the hand holding the Harley was pressed against his chest, aiming directly at Lex's mouth. Yet while they restrained him, they made sure not to hurt him to avoid triggering his treasure.
Everything was happening too fast. Lex felt like he was on a rollercoaster that never stopped spinning.
Unexpectedly, once they brought him out of the house, they flung Lex into a pile of snow and backed off. Dizzy, groggy, beaten and in pain, Lex picked himself up, his will still raging to crush some snowflakes! Yet, when he got his bearings, he froze.
Hundreds, no thousands, no millions of Kalter Flug of all shapes and sizes surrounded him, looking at him even though they had no eyes. The village was already gone, the houses already reduced to rubble, with little proof left that humans had once lived here.
He felt their hunger, their cruelty, their desire to consume everything as they surrounded him. Yet none of them moved. Even Lex knew that his treasure could not possibly protect him from such a horde, so what were they waiting for?
Lex was not quite sure why but, slowly, he looked up. Above him, in the sky that should have been as dark as the deepest void, a snowflake as massive as a mountain, with a pattern that drew a face, looked down upon him. The snowflake gave off a light of its own, which is why Lex was able to see that its face was too large to even fit into this valley, yet for some reason, the actual mountains that formed this valley suddenly seemed fragile.
Lex looked at the face that could even terrify death. Then he pointed his gun at the sky and fired.
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