Shwaak!
With a blink of an eye, Suho came back to reality.
At that moment, the first thing that caught my eye was none other than a pure white lotus, or an ice flower made of frost.
A single ice flower rises above the steaming hot spring.
Inside came Sirkka's muffled voice.
"... It's a guardian. I think I just saw my grandfather."
"What?"
'Could it be that Sirkha was the granddaughter of the Lord of Frost...'
That's when Suho questioned.
!
Suddenly, the ice flowers that had surrounded Sirkka bloomed and scattered in all directions.
At the same time, the ice crystals swirled and condensed in Cirka's hands.
Strapping.
[The King of the Yetis, the Lord of the Frost, inherits "Item: Spear of the Ice Tree" to his successor "Cirka."]
Chop Duk!
At that moment, a long stretch of ice stretched out of Sirkka's hand.
and a trident made of the ice that was created.
[Kihak! Could it be this energy?!]
Ver, who had no idea what Suho had just gone through, quickly stood in his way to protect Suho.
"It's okay."
Suho took him in his arms and patted him.
"It's on our side."
[Kiek?]
Ver tilts his head in his arms and looks at Suho's face.
But when he saw the confident look in Suho's eyes, he knew what was going on.
Suddenly, Sirkka's gaze, which had been staring blankly into the air, came into focus.
She looked away and spoke.
"I can see it now."
Sirkka swung the spear of the Icewood in his hand and pointed beyond the blizzard that blocked his vision.
"... That's where the cha-cha is."
Shhhhh
At that moment, a blizzard swept through the forest toward the frigid trident.
The energy swirled around Sirka and Suho's bodies, lifting them up.
Sirkka's eyes sparkled, and he smiled confidently.
"Hold on tight. I'm going to fly right away."
Huu
A streak crossed the Echo Forest.
* * *
Kuwaaa
The Scavenger Hunters were floundering in fear and despair.
A natural disaster was happening right in front of me.
The frigid forest where the earth roars and the sky shakes as if it is about to fall.
The Scavenger Guild is arguably the strongest guild in the United States, having tackled infamous dungeons many times that no other guild dares to challenge.
But the scene before them could not be compared to any dungeon they had ever conquered.
I didn't think I'd make it back alive.
The despair they felt now was impossible to express.
"Dragons...!"
Suddenly, dragons appeared in the middle of the forest and were engaged in a fierce battle with each other.
Caught up in the aftermath, the Hunters were just desperately fleeing like shrimp in a whale fight.
"Ahhh
"Oh please! Guild Leader! Guild Leader! Where the hell are you?"
"If only Thomas Andre had been...!"
They waited for only one person, with a glimmer of hope.
Mankind's Strongest Hunter Thomas Andre!
If only he would come here, he would solve all of this.
There was nothing they could do but pray so fervently to God.
But the longed-for Thomas Andrew, no matter how long they waited, it seemed unlikely to come.
In spite of the fact that the whole forest is in turmoil.
If it were his senses as an S-class Hunter, he would have been aware of the current situation long ago.
"Ahh Thomas!"
But what they didn't know...
It's not that Thomas Andrew didn't come, but that he was here from the beginning.
They didn't even dare to guess.
And there was only one person here who noticed it from the beginning.
"Ugh!"
It's just Cha Hae-in.
"How could he be here...!"
Cha Hae-in had a perplexed look on his face throughout the battle.
Cha Hae-in, who had been exploring the incident in the Echo Forest with Caesel, suddenly felt a tremendous presence in the Echo Forest, and hurriedly turned around.
And what he found was that demonic ice dragon.
The enormous, horrible thing was, in fact, the same kind of ice golem created by the spirits.
Banning the Ice Elves.
Another name for the Echo Forest is 'Forest of Trials'.
The spirits who live here visit the beings who invade the forest and give them the trials they deserve.
Therefore, the more powerful a person enters the forest, the more spirits will come to the forest, balancing their power.
And those who could not overcome the ordeal were eventually possessed by the spirits and deprived of their bodies.
They will be frozen forever, unable to live or die.
Of course, that only applied to the ice elves.
The ice elves were a race with great affinity for spirits, so they simply dealt with them.
On the other hand, it was easy for the spirits to take their bodies.
But humans are different.
From Cha Hae-in's experience so far, humans basically lack spirit affinity.
So at least I didn't have to worry about losing my body because of the ordeal.
Of course, there were a number of spirits that matched its power.
'But why?'
That's why Cha Hae-in was a little confused from earlier.
Cha Hae-in, who was fighting the closest to the ice dragon, could notice something.
No, I was able to smell it exactly.
A smell that is different from what you feel from the Ice Dragon.
Cha Hae-in squinted at him and examined the ice dragon, and soon discovered something ridiculous.
The existence of a man frozen in the most intimate part of that ice dragon made of solid ice!
A white-haired old man.
Regardless of his age, he is the strongest man on the planet with an immensely muscular build.
Cha Hae-in immediately recognized his face.
'Thomas Andre! Why is he turning into an ice dragon in a place like this?!'
Oooo
Just in time, the ice dragon holding Thomas Andre near his heart roared and slammed into the Kaesel that Cha Hae-in was riding.
Boom!
[Uhh
A rather exhausted cry escaped Caesel's mouth against him.
"Caysel...!"
Cha Haein looked at Kaesel with a sad expression.
It's a big deal.
Caesel's power was waning.
Even if it weren't for today's battle, Kaisel had been weakening in real time for a long time.
Because he was so far away from Sung Jinwoo, there was no way to replenish his depleted strength.
However, as he began to fight an equal opponent like he did now, the speed at which he weakened was accelerating tremendously.
'If we wait any longer, Caesel's will be wiped out!'
Of course, if Sung Jin Woo was nearby now, it would be enough to be re-summoned back to Sung Jin Woo's shadow and try to recover in the shadow world, instead of returning to nothing.
But even that was not possible now.
'The only answer is speedy action. I have to do it.'
Cha Hae-in leapt off Caesel's back and slashed through the ice dragon's massive body with two daggers of sword qi.
Kaga ga gaga!
With a tremendous bursting sound, the ice dragon's body cracks and cracks.
But the wounds were repaired by a nearby blizzard.
New spirits inhabit the ice dragon's body and restore it.
"If we continue to fight like this, it's just a war of attrition! After all, the only way to do this is to attack Thomas Andre directly!'
The problem was that even that wasn't easy.
The body of the giant ice dragon is not made of ordinary ice, but of thick ice imbued with immense magical power.
The defense that came out of it was enormous.
No matter how much they smashed and destroyed, new spirits would appear and fill the gaps.
If it was a normal ice golem, it would have been enough to completely smash it before the new spirits arrived.
But it was so big that it didn't do any good to attack it partially.
While destroying the other side and attacking the other side, the other side is restored before you know it.
"That's why you have to put all your energy into the heart with a blow."
Climbing back onto Caesel's back, Cha Haein quickly crossed his two daggers.
Then he pulled up the mana he had.
Gooooooo
Skill "Sword of Light".
The magic power consumed is so great that it can only be used as a trick.
Two daggers began to shine brightly in Cha Haein's hands.
'You only get one chance!'
Cha Haein's eyes lit cold.
"Caysel! Make a gap!"
[Kaooooo!]
Caesel had been working hand in hand with Cha Hae-in for a long time, so he could understand her words immediately.
Chop Duk!
Caesel's damage was undeterred, clinging tightly to the body of the ice dragon, which was much larger than him.
The ice dragon unleashed a torrent of cold that wound Caesel's body, but he never backed down.
The only purpose is to make sure that the attack that Cha Hae-in has put all his energy into will not miss!
[Kyaaa
'Thank you Caesel.'
At the sound of Caesel's roar, Cha Haein's skills went straight to where the Ice Dragon's Heart Thomas Andre lay to rest.
Kuquaaang-
Around its power, a wave of immense magical power spread out in all directions.
'I'm sorry, Thomas Andre.'
At that moment, Cha Hae-in's mind was full of emotions.
Cha Hae-in, who had memories of a time period that disappeared thanks to Sung Jin-woo, knew very well who Thomas Andre was.
At one point, he was a hunter of American power.
One of the strongest humans in the world, he was a warrior who struggled to save the Earth from being invaded by otherworldly beings.
But that's just a story from a time gone gone era.
Now he had to be just an ordinary human being.
The fact that he suddenly appeared here.
and a group of heavily armed hunters nearby.
From this information alone, Cha Hae-in was able to deduce quite a lot of facts.
"People with magical powers. Could it be that the earth has changed again while I'm here?'
Then....
What happened to her husband, Sung Jin Woo?
Suddenly, Cha Hae-in's mind reminded her of the back of her husband, the last time she saw him before he landed here.
He's...
'Are they still fighting?'
Still.
Is he fighting there alone?
Kagagagagak!
Even at this moment, Cha Haein's sword of light was piercing through the giant ice dragon.
Now if we go a little further.
An attack will reach Thomas Andrew, who is frozen in his heart.
Little.
'Just a little bit more!'
But then.
With a flash!
Suddenly, Thomas Andrew's eyes, frozen in white frost, flashed open.
"...!"
The moment when Cha Hae-in's eyes widened as he faced the blue demon in his empty eyes.
Thomas Andre raised the corners of his mouth wickedly as he looked at Cha Hae-in's brilliant sword qi that had just come close to him.
[Itarim, guide me.]
―――――――!
At that moment.
The light burst with a tremendous tinnitus.
The light began to spread out like a wave at a rapid pace and encroach on the surroundings.