Zay inhaled deeply once more before releasing the breath in a slow exhale. He lifted his right foot and placed it one step ahead, then raised his left and set it down in front of the right, continuing forward along the snow-covered path with trees arching overhead.
There were no patches of dirt, no visible traps, nothing at all. Only the trees hung over the path—or what he assumed was a path, as it was the clearest thing he could make out.
Rei Alvor and Naomi walked close behind, their boots crunching softly against the thick snow. Rei's eyes flicked toward Zay every so often, carefully observing him for any signs of weakness or distress—subtle cues he had come to recognize. The faint trembling of a hand, a shift in posture, or a sudden drop in pace—none of it showed, but he remained vigilant.
Minutes passed, and their silent march through the pale, frost-covered path brought them to an old iron gate. The metal bars stood crooked and coated in a thin sheen of frost, stained with streaks of orange from years of rust. Zay stepped forward, extending his hand, and pressed his gloved palm against the gate.
Even through the fabric, the cold bit into his skin. The chill was sharp, and it crept into his fingers like a slow-burning frost. His brow twitched slightly, and he muttered under his breath.
"Damn."
He pulled his hand back and stared at the gate, his eyes narrowing. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then, with a sharp inhale, violet aura flared to life around his hand, coiling and flickering like fire trapped in a storm. He struck the gate with a single decisive blow.
The wind surged violently, spiraling around them. The brittle iron shattered under the impact, fragments of rusted metal scattering across the snow. The pieces struck the ground with muffled thuds, cushioned by the thick layer of snow. Any sound the impact might have made was drowned by the howling wind.
The three stepped past the fallen gate, the snow swallowing their footprints behind them and swallowing the pieces of metal from the gate.
A harsh hiss tore through the loud wind, slicing the air with a sound that was neither wind nor creature they recognized. It echoed strangely in the open expanse, distorted by the snowstorm that cloaked the land in white.
The three of them instantly tensed. Rei's hand moved quickly, unsheathing his katana in one swift motion. The blade gleamed against the deep shadows of the snow-covered world, its edge catching what little moonlight filtered through the harsh weather.
A moment later, flames surged across the steel, blooming into a violent inferno that wrapped around the weapon entirely. The sudden warmth pushed against the bitter cold, casting a small radius of steam and flickering orange light. Snowflakes that drifted too close evaporated on contact with sharp crackles, leaving the air thick with heat and vapor.
Zay's grip tightened around Evershade.
Then the ground trembled beneath their feet. A low rumble, subtle at first, began to grow and without any warnings, a leg burst through the heavy snow ahead of them. A second leg followed, jerking free with a wet snap of compressed frost. The creature was still too distant to see clearly, but the jagged outlines of its limbs were unmistakable—tall, unnatural, bristling with movement that suggested too many joints.
Zay's eyes narrowed.
"Get ready!" Rei called out, his voice raised above the wind.
The snow erupted as six more legs broke through, throwing powder into the air like smoke. A towering arachnid creature emerged, dragging its enormous form free from the snowbank. Its mass unsettlingly silent as it approached. At its head, a warped figure protruded from the body—half-human in shape but wholly monstrous. Two eyes burned with an eerie crimson light, and arcs of electricity flickered along its limbs, casting pale flashes across the storm-darkened sky.
Then the figure roared.
The sound was unnatural—guttural and piercing—rippling outward with such force that it cracked the icy layer of snow beneath them. Chunks of frozen terrain fractured and lifted before settling again in broken shards.
Zay exhaled slowly. His pupils dilated, and a ghostly shimmer crossed his vision as he activated [Predator's Hunting Grounds].
Faint patterns bloomed across his sightline, shifting like constellations. He followed one thread, and his body dropping into motion a second before a lightning bolt lanced down from the sky. It struck the earth where he'd stood, a blinding yellow flash igniting the snow. A moment later, the ground exploded in a burst of charged fog, obscuring everything in a white haze before quickly settling.
To the side, Rei glanced up just in time to see a flicker of light above. Without hesitation, he sprinted left and dove into the snow. A bolt slammed down where he had been, vaporizing a shallow crater and turning the surrounding snow an electric yellow before it too erupted.
Rei emerged from the snowbank with urgency, shouting, "Look at the sky! That flash—it's the warning! That's when it's about to strike!"
Naomi's eyes snapped upward. She spotted the brief, golden flicker and reacted immediately—leaping backward just before a lightning bolt struck the spot she had occupied. The snow turned yellow, then detonated in another violent plume.
From the white fog ahead, the creature hissed again.
It lunged.
Rei turned just in time to see it barreling toward him, a blur of limbs and glinting fangs. His eyes widened, and he dove aside, barely avoiding the jagged mandibles that tore through the air where his chest had been. He landed hard in the snow, his boots sinking deep.
One of the creature's legs lifted high and slammed into the ground beside him. A pulse of electricity surged into the snow, crackling outward in a radius. Rei saw the light surge beneath the surface and knew he didn't have the time to dodge it.
From behind, Naomi raised her left hand. A dark pink aura flickered to life, forming a small sphere in her palm. She hurled it forward. It stopped mid-air in front of Rei and expanded instantly, forming a transparent shield just as the snow erupted in a lightning-infused blast. The shield trembled violently but held, its surface shimmering with each impact.
Rei coughed, forcing himself up and retreating farther back. "Thanks for the save," he called, eyes still scanning the creature through the fading haze.
Naomi didn't answer and simply nodded, her gaze never leaving the creature that stared at her.
The creature lunged toward her, its legs suddenly crackling with electricity. Sparks arced along its limbs, boosting its speed threefold as it surged through the snow—and in an instant, it was directly in front of her.
Naomi's eyes widened. A dark pink sphere of aura burst into existence around her body, forming a protective shell that shimmered like a translucent bubble against the white surroundings.
Rei, spotting the creature bearing down on her, hurled his flaming katana without hesitation. The blade tore clean through one of its legs, burning through chitin with ease, before embedding itself deep into the spider's side. A spray of green blood hissed into the cold air as the beast staggered back, limping and shrieking.
Zay moved the moment he saw an opening. He vanished into shadow, using the creature's own silhouette as a gateway through his ability, [Shadow Walk] and reappeared behind it.
Midnight-blue aura burst to life around Evershade as [Midnight] activated. The sword elongated with the aura of the passive, and Zay brought it down in one clean, brutal arc. The blade slammed into the creature's back and cut straight through its body, cleaving it in half before it had even registered what was happening.
The spider let out a high, warped scream before collapsing onto its side in the snow, twitching violently before falling still.
Zay stared down at Evershade. The midnight aura shimmered along its length, repelling the creature's blood before it could stain the blade. The green liquid slid off unnaturally clean, as though it had never touched the metal at all. With a low breath, he summoned the sheath from his Arbiter Vault, then slid the blade inside and clipped it to his waist once more.
He turned toward Naomi. "Are you alright? It looked like it might've gotten a bite off."
Naomi's shield of dark pink aura faded slowly. She glanced down at herself, checked her limbs, then gave a firm nod. "I'm fine. No bites," she answered quietly, then looked past him—eyes fixed on the motionless corpse in the snow. "What... is that?"
Zay followed her gaze. Rei approached the body, retrieving his katana, now dripping with green blood. With a sharp motion, he flicked the blade—and the blood whipped cleanly off, leaving it pristine.
"I don't know what the hell this thing is," Rei muttered, inspecting the corpse. "I was digging into information about the Fourth Sequence, but I haven't come across anything about spider-like creatures. Then again, I never finished reading through everything before we left so suddenly. All I know for sure is that we need to find a mirror after activating seven points."
Zay nodded, exhaling slowly. "Then we need to find those seven points, and also stay alert. If this thing was hiding beneath the snow—and if the villagers are cursed—then it's safe to say whatever turned them into this... might've mixed human and creature together."
Before he could finish his thought, Naomi interrupted, her voice cutting through the wind.
"Then... this creature. It was human?" she asked, her voice edged with unease. "If that's true, then anywhere we step... there could be more."
Zay met her eyes, then gave a slow, grim nod. "That's right."
Rei sighed heavily, his breath fogging in the air. "Let's just keep our eyes open. We can't afford to slip up again. I got careless, and I nearly died. Thanks for saving me back there, Naomi."
Naomi gave a faint nod, her lips parting hesitantly before she spoke, searching for the words. "You... are welcome," she said, and a fleeting, uncertain smile touched her face before it vanished just as quickly.
The three of them scanned their surroundings, each releasing a breath they hadn't realized they were holding.
Around them lay the remnants of a ruined town, massive structures crumbled into half-standing skeletons, stone houses weathered by time and frost. In the distance stood a large metal gate, just barely visible through the haze. Its form was lit by flames licking up its surface, distorting the air and slowly melting the metal. The heat carried with it a bitter stench and a somewhat metallic smell to it that was carried by the wind towards them.