"Haaaaaaahhh!"
A knight-class player charged forward, jabbing their sword through one of the snowmen. The initial impact reduced the enemy's health to zero, killing it on the spot, but multiple others had spawned around him, surrounding the warrior.
"You have to be kidding me, they keep coming and coming! When will it end?!"
"Aaaaahhhh!! Help me! Help me!!"
"Huh??" Glancing to his side, he watched his own teammate being ripped to shreds by gnomes. Her limbs were being chopped off, and her thighs stabbed with daggers.
"Oh no, Alexa!!"
"Help me, Robert, make them stop!!"
"You bastards!!! I'll kill you!"
Robert was a brave warrior, standing his ground as a Knight. Holding his sword and shield in hand, he blocked the snowmen's assault, bashing them away and slicing them into two, "Get outta my way!!" He ran towards Alexa but grunted in pain, feeling something pierce his calf muscle, "Ghhh… what?!" Looking down, he could see an arrow stuck in his leg, causing him to fall forward, "Damn Gnomes!"
"God please, no! Noooooo!!" Alexa was reaching her last bit of health, lifting her hand into the sky for mercy.
"Alexaaaa!!"
Robert tried to run towards her but fell onto his knee, feeling himself being weakened.
"A confusion Debuff, those damn Gnomes!!"
"I don't wanna die! I don't wanna dieeee!!"
"Pain incision."
An unfamiliar voice echoed through their despair. It happened so quickly before they could realize the snowmen, and gnomes were decapitated on the ground, dead.
"The Gnomes… what happened?" Robert looked at Alexa and the dead bodies around her, confused as ever.
"Nnnnn, waaaaaa-haaaaa!" Alexa started crying on the snowy ground, covering her bloody face with both hands.
"Hold on, I'm coming!"
Robert stood up and ran towards her, limping on one leg.
"No, don't. It's too late."
Someone stepped in front of him, causing Robert to bump into their body, and fall flat on his ass.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Robert asked, wincing in pain.
"My name is Pocchi. You should be lucky, I saved your ass just now."
The knight lifted his brow in confusion, "What do you mean? Alexa is in pain, she needs a healing potion!"
"No, she doesn't. She's been affected with the Frost disease, so she won't make it." Pocchi crossed his arms, tilting his head down to sigh, "She's going to become one of them. Those monsters we just slayed."
Robert scowled at the man in front of him, standing on his two feet to shove them to the side, "I don't have time for your bullshit!"
"Suit yourself." Pocchi shrugged.
"Alexa, take this!" Opening his personal hub, he equipped a healing potion, popping the top off, "Drink it, restore your health!"
"R-Robert… is that you?"
The Knight crouched to his knee, holding her hand, "Yes, it is me. Can you see me at all?" He asked, teary in his eyes.
"No… I-I can't see anything, it's all blurry."
He gave her the healing potion, patting her forehead with his hand, "I'll get us out of this, just trust in me."
"She's transforming. It'll be wise to leave her alone, and finish her off before something bad happens."
"Finish her… off? Finish her off!?!" He stood up from the ground, pointing his blade at the man, "Give me a reason why I shouldn't slice your head off!?"
"Because I'm speaking facts." Pocchi walked towards Robert, standing in front of the blade, "And sadly, facts don't care about your opinions. That's the harsh reality of things."
"I-I can't lose her… I won't lose her. She's my only friend!" Robert gritted his teeth, glancing away, visibly shaken up from all of this.
Who wouldn't be?
This world was a nightmare.
How could something like this be Christmas? It contradicted the very nature of it.
"I know what it's like to lose friends, but survival is most important. Even if you have to flee, or leave them to die… they should understand. This world isn't so merciful."
"Your way of thinking is twisted, Assassin class!"
"Oh? How did you know?" Asked Pocchi.
"You carry two daggers with you, and you're silent on your feet when you killed those gnomes. From my experience, assassin-class players are known to deceive others to get what they want. So tell me, why're you really here?"
"Eh." Pocchi scratched the back of his head, "Maybe you're overthinking this entire situation. I'm just trying to help you."
"Hahahaha! Help me? We're going up against each other in a festival! What do you gain in helping me?!" Robert smirked, confident that he exposed the player in front of him.
"Nothing. I'm just making up for my sins."
"What?" The knight widened his eyes after hearing those words. He didn't want to believe them, but they sounded so genuine… and truthful, "Make up for your sins?"
"Yeah, but it's not like you'll fucking understand. I was a sadistic son of a bitch, gaining pleasure from other peoples suffering, and I abandoned my guild, for the sake of my life, leaving my friends to die."
Robert couldn't muster a word but only stared, and lowered his blade.
"You monster, who in their right mind would leave their friends to die?! Is that why you tried making me kill Alexa?"
Pocchi turned away in shame, balling his fist.
His body shook with emotions that were bottled up in his heart, unable to break free from his willpower alone.
"I guess you could say that."
Robert went quiet at his shaky movements.
Those were the movements of a man in a great deal of pain.
"I just wanted to see… if another lousy fool like myself would have the cowardice to leave their friend to die, just like me…"
Robert frowned at his response, lifting his arm to punch Pocchi in the face and knock him on his ass
"Don't you dare bring your problems into another man's life! Show some decency, you imbecile! Someone like you should be dead."
The Mohawk Punk rubbed under his chin in pain, ashamed of his action, "Yeah… you're right, someone like me should be dead, shouldn't I?"
SWOOOOSHHHH!!!
"Hnghhh… Gyaaaaahhhhh!!"
Out of nowhere, a massive gust of wind had blown them back. The wind felt stronger than any hurricane and faster than any bullet. Its drastic acceleration came from thin air, until it slowly formed a miniature tornado, right behind them.
"What the hell..?! Alexa!!"
Robert called out to his friend, but there was no reply. Pocchi stood up from the snow, grasping the knight's arm, "Dumbass, we can't stick around here! RNG just fucking cucked us!"
"But… Alexa, I have to save her!"
"The thing that's causing this Ice-storm is fucking Alexa!!"
Robert hastily turned around, shocked in his bright blue eyes, "What do you mean?!"
"I already told you, she was affected by the Frost disease! It transforms you into one of the Frost monsters during the Primordial Verglas' event!"
"T-This is no ordinary monster… so something else must be at play!"
"Yeah, it's not ordinary… because she became a Frost Queen!"
"A what!?"
***
"That's a big storm up ahead."
"Yeah, you got that right. Could it be what I think it is?"
Angelica and Lucifer watched from afar.
The Yeti's, Zombie elves, Gingerbread Men, Snowmen, and Nutcrackers were all paralyzed from sheer fear.
Being in the presence of a Great King once they released their madness aura was utter suicide, thus, they experienced boundless dread.
The monsters would rather die than battle them
"Perhaps it is what we assume." Said Lucifer.
"Well, this just made things more difficult. A Frost Queen is dangerous, it would take the help of a Great King to even defeat one of them."
"I heard they were strong, but not that strong. Would it really take one of us to defeat just one, Angelica?"
"Yeah… considering they're strong, if not stronger than a Primordial fragment of Terra."
"…I see."
Throughout the Universe, Primordial Spirits like Terra have taken the form of planets, and stars. Each one has a purpose that they must fulfill. These Primordial spirits are meager in comparison to Terra. Think of Terra as the first primordial spirit, while the others are just there to serve her.
Primordial Planet Verglas was a planet that existed far away from Terra, however, during the Christmas holiday, it comes around each time a year.
Each Primordial spirit can create its own Primordial fragment. For example; Terra. She created Primordial Red, Carmine, Primordial Blue, Indigo, Primordial Green, Jade, and Primordial Yellow, Amber. These are fragments from the primordial spirit themselves, just broken apart into smaller pieces to fulfill a certain purpose.
The Primordial Fragment of Verglas is none other than the Frost Queen herself.
"Primordial Spirits can create Primordial Fragments, which are just parts of their souls broken apart into little pieces. The Frost Queen herself is half of Verglas' soul, which makes it stronger than the Primordial Fragments of Terra."
Lucifer crossed his arms, closing his eyes in thought.
"I'm assuming Carmine, Jade, Indigo, and Amber were 10% of Terra herself, correct?"
Angelica nodded her head, "Yup. Only 10% and they were so strong already, so imagine what a Primordial Fragment of 50% could do."
"Something like that… could destroy the entire world."
"Yeah, exactly."