"Could it be a ship?"
Freyr suddenly felt a glimmer of hope and began to shout and wave vigorously.
Unfortunately, after shouting for a while, there was no response from the object, and it seemed to be drifting further away.
It wasn't a ship... Freyr confirmed, as he could now discern that it was a conical object.
Regardless, Freyr steeled his resolve to investigate.
On this island, they were desperately short of food and water, so any opportunity had to be pursued, in case it could save them.
Freyr immediately tightened the gourds he had tied around himself and plunged into the sea, paddling frantically towards the object.
He swam with all his might, though he was a poor swimmer in his previous life. His flailing limbs resembled a clumsy dog paddle.
Fortunately, the waves weren't too rough. Otherwise, swimming in the open sea would have been much harder, as a single wave could set him back more than he had swum forward.
Freyr struggled, but the gourds provided good buoyancy. After a long effort, he finally reached the object...
Freyr was stunned by what he saw, and a wave nearly made him choke on seawater.
"No... way!"
In front of him was a small iceberg! A floating iceberg! It wasn't a ship, nor anything useful to Freyr.
Even more astonishing, there was someone lying on the iceberg.
Wearing a white, intricately patterned light armor, a long white cloak, and with hair as white as snow...
Meanwhile, Lilith anxiously waited until dusk, almost dark. Her stomach was growling with hunger again. She had a few roots that Freyr had dug up earlier in the day, but she didn't eat them. Instead, she patted her stomach and sighed, keeping the roots in her pocket.
"He... he probably hasn't eaten either."
"Choo choo!"
The fear phantasm in the cage at her waist let out a sharp cry. This little creature was named Choo Choo, quite fitting given its name.
Lilith gently patted the cage, softly saying, "Choo Choo... don't cry. I-I know you're hungry too. But we can't eat these... we have to wait for him to come back."
Finally, just when Lilith was about to give up hope, Freyr returned.
Lilith saw Freyr struggling to walk, each step a laborious effort. His back was bent from the weight... because he was carrying someone!
Lilith's eyes widened. She was afraid she was seeing things, so she rubbed her eyes hard and confirmed that Freyr had indeed brought someone back!
Lilith let out a small cry and ran quickly towards him. Freyr was almost out of breath. Before Lilith could reach him, he collapsed to the ground, and the person on his back rolled off to the side.
"Water! Give me some water... my god, I'm exhausted." Freyr said with a bitter smile, panting heavily. "This person is much heavier than you! My god... I can't... I can't move..."
Lilith hurriedly brought over a shoe filled with water, but Freyr shook his head and pointed to the gourds on his body. Lilith picked up one and found it quite heavy. Shaking it, she heard the sound of water sloshing inside.
"I... I saw these on a tree... picked them, filled them with water from the pond on my way back... you can wear your shoes again."
Lilith felt a wave of gratitude. Indeed, her tender feet had suffered a lot throughout the day.
"And... you should check on this person I brought back. Decide if you want to save her." Freyr said, taking a big gulp of water from the gourd and lying back down, still panting.
Lilith then turned to look at the person Freyr had carried back.
It wasn't that Lilith had bad eyesight. It was just that when she saw Freyr return, she had been so focused on him that she ignored everything else.
Now that she was paying attention, she noticed the person's distinctive features: white light armor, a white cloak, and white hair... yet she hadn't noticed before.
Lilith's eyes widened in shock, and she covered her mouth with her hands!
Carefully, she approached and turned the person over, confirming she wasn't seeing things.
"S-sister?!"
Indeed, the person Freyr had rescued was the cold, icy beauty who had fought Lilith in Half-Corner City for the fear phantasm!
At the moment, this woman lay unconscious, her lips tightly pressed, her eyebrows furrowed in distress. Despite being unconscious, her face still bore traces of fear and terror.
That night, Freyr had witnessed this icy beauty's formidable strength. Seeing her now, unconscious and terrified, Freyr pondered what dreadful event she had encountered.
Recalling the mysterious roar and the earthquake from earlier...
Lilith carefully held a gourd of water beside her sister, then looked up and stammered, "How... how did you find her? W-what happened to her?"
Freyr shrugged and recounted his story briefly. Lilith was also puzzled. She checked her sister's body, finding no injuries, just short, weak breaths.