The revelation hung in the air like a guillotine blade. Six hours. The Governor collapsed into a chair, his face buried in his hands. Arin looked like he was about to vomit. Only Valeria and Alvian remained standing, their eyes locked in a silent exchange of assessment.
"The Volcanic Ridge," Valeria repeated, her mind racing through tactical maps. "It's a high-danger zone even without this blizzard. With the unnatural weather, the thermal clash between the magma and the ice will create chaotic mana storms. Teleportation will be impossible. We have to go on foot."
"We don't have time for on foot," Alvian stated, checking his inventory. He had a few speed potions, but not enough for the group. "We need mounts. Governor, do you have Frost-Runners?"
Governor Thorne looked up, hope warring with despair in his eyes. "The stables... yes. We have four military-grade Frost-Runners. They are bred for the cold."
"Good. Get them ready," Alvian ordered, taking charge naturally.
"Wait," Arin interjected, trying to reclaim some shred of authority. "We should contact the Academy. If it's the SnowMages, we need a Professor. This is above our pay grade!"
"By the time a Professor gets clearance and arrives, the girl will be a popsicle and we'll be dead," Alvian said, not even looking at the mage. He walked past him toward the door. "Valeria, get the team moving. I'll take point."
Valeria hesitated for a fraction of a second, looking at Arin, then at Alvian's retreating back. The freshman was arrogant, insubordinate, and rude. But he was also the only one who seemed to know what was going on.
"You heard him," Valeria barked at her squad. "Suit up. We're moving out."
Ten minutes later, they were mounted on the Frost-Runners—large, flightless avian creatures with thick white plumage and powerful legs. They burst out of the city gates, tearing across the frozen wasteland.
Alvian rode at the front, his body leaned low over the mount's neck. The wind was a screaming banshee, but his mind was clear. He was replaying the events from his past life.
The Silverwood Catastrophe. In the original timeline, the Academy arrived too late. The girl detonated. The SnowMages used the energy to summon a Calamity-class demon. Thousands died. Alvian had been a low-level scavenger back then, reading about the tragedy in a newspaper while shivering in a refugee camp.
'Not this time,' he thought, his grip tightening on the reins. 'This time, I pluck the weed before it grows.'
The terrain began to change. The white snow became grey with ash. The ground beneath them rumbled. They were entering the Volcanic Ridge.
Steam vents erupted from the ground, creating blinding clouds of fog. The clash of elements was violent; snow melted instantly upon touching the hot rock, creating rivers of boiling sludge.
"Monsters ahead!" Valeria shouted from behind him.
Alvian saw them. Magma Beetles. Level 25. But something was wrong with them. Their fiery carapaces were webbed with the same violet frost corruption. The conflicting energies drove them mad.
[Monster Identified: Unstable Magma Beetle]
[Status: Enraged / Volatile]
"They're going to self-destruct if they get close!" Alvian shouted back. "Don't let them touch you!"
A swarm of ten beetles scuttled over a ridge, chittering wildly. They glowed with an ominous, pulsating light.
"Arin! Ice barrage!" Valeria commanded.
"I can't!" Arin panicked. "My ice magic will evaporate instantly here!"
"Useless," Alvian hissed.
He leaped off his mount while it was still moving. He hit the ground sliding, the ash kicking up around his boots.
He didn't use ice. In this environment, his Frost Descent would be weakened by the ambient heat. He needed brute force and speed.
He activated [Klaus's Upgrade].
[Ding! [Blessing] Activated.]
[Next skill effect doubled.]
He didn't have a combat skill ready for this, so he improvised. He channeled the blessing into his stats.
"System, divert energy to Speed."
[Warning! Unorthodox usage. Efficiency reduced.]
He didn't care. He felt his muscles coil with explosive power. He blurred.
He appeared in the middle of the beetle swarm. The monsters reacted, their carapaces glowing brighter, preparing to explode.
Alvian didn't give them the chance. He used the flat of his hand, reinforced with mana, and struck the first beetle. Not to kill it, but to launch it.
"BOOM!"
He slapped the beetle with the force of a truck. It went flying backward, crashing into the center of the pack.
The impact triggered its volatile core.
"BANG!"
A massive explosion of fire and ice shrapnel rocked the ridge. The chain reaction was instantaneous. One beetle exploded, triggering the next, and the next.
Alvian was already moving, diving behind a rock formation as the swarm annihilated itself in a spectacular display of fireworks.
[You have slain Unstable Magma Beetle x10!]
[Experience gained!]
He stood up, brushing ash from his shoulder. The path was clear.
Valeria rode up, pulling her mount to a halt. She stared at the smoking crater, then at Alvian.
"You... you used them as bombs," she said, her voice filled with disbelief.
"Efficiency," Alvian replied, remounting his bird. "The Fire Spirit Herb grows in the central caldera. We're close."
They pushed forward, entering the mouth of a massive cave system. Inside, the heat was intense, a stark contrast to the blizzard outside. Magma flowed in rivers on either side of a narrow stone bridge.
And there, in the center of a small island of rock surrounded by lava, grew a single, radiant flower. It burned with a pure, white flame.
[Item: Fire Spirit Herb]
[Grade: Epic]
"There it is," Elara breathed. "It's beautiful."
"It's guarded," Alvian corrected.
From the lava lake, a massive shape rose. It wasn't a beetle. It was a serpent made of obsidian and fire. A Magma Wyrm.
[Boss Detected: Magma Wyrm (Juvenile)]
[Level: 28]
It roared, spraying molten rock across the cavern.
"It's resistant to physical attacks and immune to fire!" Valeria yelled, raising her shield as lava splashed against it. "We need cold magic to crack its armor!"
She looked at Arin. The mage was cowering.
"I... I can't generate enough power to pierce that heat!" Arin wailed.
Alvian stepped forward to the edge of the bridge. The Wyrm turned its massive head toward him, sensing the [Heart of Frost] energy within him. To the fire monster, Alvian was an abomination.
"Valeria," Alvian said calmly, not looking back. "When I crack it, you hit the exposed flesh. Do not hesitate."
"What are you going to do?" she asked, bracing herself.
Alvian raised his hand. The air around him distorted. The heat of the volcano fought against him, trying to snuff out his mana. But his mana wasn't just magic; it was the essence of a frozen hell, perfected by an SSS-rank system.
"[Frost Descent +2]."
He poured everything into it.
A localized blizzard erupted inside the volcano. The clash of physics was violent. Steam exploded outward with the force of a bomb. The blizzard wrapped around the Wyrm's head.
"HSSSSSS!"
The Wyrm screamed as the thermal shock took hold. Its obsidian skin, superheated by the lava, was instantly flash-frozen.
"CRACK! SNAP!"
Massive fissures appeared all over the monster's neck and head. Its armor was compromised.
"NOW!" Alvian roared.
Valeria didn't hesitate. She launched herself off her mount, her claymore glowing with a silver light. She flew through the steam, a Valkyrie of judgment.
She struck the cracked neck of the Wyrm with everything she had.
"SLASH!"
The blade bit deep, shearing through the brittle stone and into the soft, magma-like flesh beneath. The Wyrm thrashed, spraying glowing blood, and then collapsed into the lava lake, slowly sinking beneath the surface.
[Boss Defeated!]
Alvian didn't watch it die. He sprinted across the bridge, snatched the Fire Spirit Herb, and put it in a stasis box.
"We have the cure," he said, turning back to the stunned team. "Now we go back. And we hunt the summoner."
Valeria landed beside him, sheathing her sword. She looked at him, and for the first time, the look in her eyes wasn't rivalry. It was trust.
"Lead the way," she said.