The last half an hour was actually a pretty peaceful experience, much to the groups surprise.
When not hosting their gameshow, Frosty turned into a chill and funny spirit. Even though they were still a bit eccentric, it was like their personality had done a full 180.
They ended up summoning a table out of thin air, and along with it, a variety of different foods.
It was like a family reunion during a holiday, only the family in question was the most mismatched and random group one could imagine.
And yet, it was a nice moment.
Frosty done most of the speaking, going on about some of the beasts in their collection and their abilities. They almost sounded like a proud owner highlighting the tricks they had taught their pets.
And yet, Kai couldn't help but notice the sorrow hiding behind the feline spirit's expression.
Even though Frosty had been collecting beasts so that they would be able to attempt to evolve when they were relieved of their duties, they seemed to have grown attached to some of the creatures in their collection. Behind the grin that was plastered on their face, they were disappointed that they would have to say goodbye to the companions they would have spent so long in isolation with.
Kai hoped that they would be able to find peace after this whole ordeal was over.
And that was how they spent the remainder of their time, chatting and eating while surrounded by 20 cages of beasts that would probably be able to kill everyone except Frosty without much trouble.
It was a peaceful event, well, the end of it was, and even Kai felt a tad bit sad when it was over. After this, they were going to be sent back out into the cold and cruel embrace of the blizzard, who knew when they would get the chance to relax like this again?
Probably not for a while.
"Well, it was nice getting to know you all. I hope that you are all successful in your efforts to reach the peak, you'd be the first people in quite a while to do it."
Kai smiled softly, glancing up at the spirit, who was in the middle of drinking a cup of something.
"Thanks. Any advice you're willing to share for free? Anything would help."
Frosty sighed softly, their small shoulders sagging in the process.
"Be wary of the guardian of the third trial. They might just be the end of you if you're not careful."
Kai frowned, a little surprised by the spirit's words.
"The third trial? Not the fourth or fifth one?"
Shaking their head, Frosty descended a little and sat down on Kai's shoulder, leaning against his shaggy hair and using it as a sort of pillow.
"Yes, the third trial. They were bad before, so I don't even want to imagine what they would be like after being starved for millions of years."
Kai sighed.
"So they're a hungry beast, one that's going to be trying to feast on us... Great."
However, Kai was surprised when he saw Frosty looking at him weakly, a pitiful smile on their face.
"I don't mean that kind of starved."
Kai stared blankly at the spirit.
What-
However, before he got the chance to speak up, Frosty was talking once more.
"Anyways, your time here is up. In less than a minute, all of you are going to be banished from here and free to continue your ascent.
I wish you all the best of luck, and I hope that you'll wish me some luck too, I'll probably need it more than you lot."
Kai chuckled to himself and shook his head softly.
"Fine then, good luck on your evolution, Fro-"
The next moment, all four of them had vanished, leaving Frosty to begin levitating once more.
"Damn, I was wrong with the timing once more. Isn't it pitiful that I never got it right once despite being the best gameshow host in this entire Subdimension? Isn't it Tyxis?"
Frosty flew in between the bars of one of their many cages, taking a seat on top of the head of an Evolved Polar Hornbear, one of the ten higher level beasts that they had summoned for the final twenty questions.
The bear growled softly in response, smiling to itself as Frosty sat on its head.
Frosty laughed and relaxed a little.
"Yeah, maybe it isn't that sad, this is the first full group to make it the full three hours so you're right, I should give myself some leniency and celebrate this occasion.
With everybody, of course."
The next moment, the entire arena began to shift.
The twenty cages that were in it soon became thirty, and that thirty then became fifty, and that fifty became one hundred.
Slowly but surely, hundreds and hundreds of cages began to appear in the arena, slowly filling up its centre.
Until eventually, there was just shy of three thousand cages present in it.
Beasts of all shapes and sizes, levels and abilities, genders and minds, the creatures inside the cages were varied in nearly every way possible.
"You guys, it's been a wild ride, but I promise I will remember all of you. Even you two, Falinx and Fyodor, you two were a damn nightmare to catch!"
In a cage on the opposite side of the arena, Frosty heard two voices, a female and a male voice, start laughing.
Those two were pests for him to catch. He had just gone out and caught a nice beast, a Twilight Organism that had been roaming the Dead Forest, when all of a sudden they had gotten ambushed by those two idiots.
Frosty had only just ascended to S-Rank at that time, so they hadn't managed to learn how to control their Aura after their evolution, so those two brats had no idea who they were messing with when they attacked him.
And yet, while significantly weaker than the spirit, they actually managed to injure it.
And to add insult to injury, they managed to escape.
It took a whole four months before Frosty finally found them again and captured them.
All of the beasts in the cages had some sort of backstory like that, some funny or sad way that Frosty had found them.
And it's not like the cages were even a necessity, they were just for theatrics, to make the 'punishments' of Frostbitten look worse. After all, who would be scared if the beasts that they were meant to be terrified of were all cuddling up together rather than inside cages looking menacing.
Because that's what happened the next moment.
Frosty made all the cages vanish, freeing all of the beasts in their collection and allowed them to mingle for the last time.
In the wild, all of these creatures probably would have been killing each other, fighting for territory and food.
But in Frosty's domain, they had all of that, so what reason was there to fight?
Here, they all got along, all interacted well with each other, the only times they ever had to fight was when Frostbitten was taking place.
And even then, not every beast had to fight, they were given a choice. Some would rather remain safe, while some loved the thrill of the fight.
But sadly, all of them were going to suffer the same fate.
"Don't look at me like that..."
Frosty bit their lower lip softly as they patted Tyxis's head. The bear looked up at them sadly, but their eyes were filled with acceptance.
Every beast knew what their fate would be when they chose to stay with Frosty, each of them knew that their safety would not last forever.
So that's why none of them could blame the spirit for what was about to happen.
Frosty had fed them, cared for them, loved them like their own family would have. They basically were a family with how long they had spent together.
Slowly, Frosty got up off Tyxis's head. Even though they were a spirit made of ice, they couldn't help but feel like their heart was freezing over.
One by one, the spirit went around and said their goodbyes. Even when they reached the section of their arena that was being populated by close to a thousand Glacial Goblins, they still said each of the beasts names and said goodbye to each and every one of them.
Of course Frosty had named them all, every beast here had a name, how else would he be able to call them out?
Finally, after spending a few hours saying goodbye to everyone, Frosty reached the final beast he would be saying his farewells to.
"So this is it buddy... You've been here the longest. I- I'm sorry it had to be like this."
Angelica, the strange snowflake beast that Kai had seen, and the first beast that Frosty had added to their collection, made a strange chiming sound as they pushed themselves against the spirit's body.
Just like every other beast present, they had accepted their fate, and were more than happy to go.
Frosty smiled weakly as he petted his oldest companion.
A single tear of ice rolled down their cheek.
"Forgive me... dear friend."
The next moment, the entire arena was engulfed by a bright, blinding blue light.