Chapter 326: Frozen
Soon, the trees landed on the ground.
"Are we here!"
"That was fast! We arrived in the blink of an eye!"
"Barf~~!"
Natsu turned pale and dry-heaved.
"Look, the surface of the rocks is frozen!"
Happy pointed at the nearby rocks; the ground and the rocks were covered in a thick layer of frost, and even the surrounding flowers, grass, and trees hadn't escaped.
"That must be the Village, it's huge!"
The group cautiously stepped into the Sun Village that Warrod had mentioned, where the buildings were all incredibly tall. The sheer scale of the architecture was enough to make anyone feel like a tiny insect wandering into a realm meant for gods.
"The buildings in this Village and everything else are completely frozen solid! It's exactly just like Mr. Warrod said!"
Lucy looked around, her teeth beginning to chatter slightly from the sudden drop in temperature. Sure enough, absolutely everything was covered in a thick, eerie layer of pale blue frost.
The ice didn't look natural. It gleamed with a sinister, almost magical luster that seemed to absorb the ambient light rather than reflect it.
"Strange! Didn't Mr. Warrod say the villagers were frozen too? He sent us all this way to rescue them, but why don't I see a single villager?" Lucy asked, wrapping her arms around herself to ward off the biting chill.
"Aye!"
Natsu and Happy immediately scattered, looking all around the massive, frozen courtyards. They squinted into the icy mists and peered behind the colossal stone walls, but they simply couldn't see anyone remotely human-sized.
Ren simply stood in place, his hands tucked casually into his pockets. He tapped a massive, frozen surface right next to them.
"What are you guys talking about?" Ren asked, his voice calm and unfazed. "Aren't the people right here?"
"Here?! Wait... isn't this just a giant statue...?"
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy slowly looked up, craning their necks further and further back until they almost fell over. Their eyes widened in absolute horror and awe as they saw a towering, muscular giant completely frozen in the unbreakable ice.
"So huge—!!!"
Several of them were utterly dumbfounded by the sight. The giant easily stood over fifty feet tall, its face frozen in a twisted expression of shock and defensive panic.
They quickly ran out into the open square and looked around again. Sure enough, there were massive, frozen giants everywhere in the Village. They were caught mid-stride, mid-shout, or desperately trying to protect their massive wooden homes from whatever had attacked them.
"Is this an entire Village of giants?!" Lucy shrieked, overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the disaster.
"I never expected we'd actually get to see real giants up close like this!" Happy exclaimed, flying up to eye-level with one of the frozen titan's kneecaps.
The group found the situation quite miraculous, despite the grim reality. They had seen Master Makarov's Giant Magic numerous times, but this was the very first time they had encountered a civilization of actual giants.
Ren wasn't particularly surprised by this revelation. He had already been to the Giant Kingdom during his past travels across the continent.
He knew that many giants lived in isolation across the world, and although their overall numbers were far fewer than a standard human city, their raw, physical combat power was absolutely not to be underestimated. For something to freeze an entire village of them in a single instant required terrifying magical output.
"Regardless of how big they are, we should rescue them as soon as possible. Step aside, guys! Let me melt all this annoying ice with my flames!!"
Natsu got immediately excited, slapping his cheeks to hype himself up. This was a straightforward, destructive job—the perfect kind of task for him.
Natsu marched forward and pressed both of his hands firmly against a giant's massive, frozen foot. A bright, scorching magical circle appeared, and intense flames erupted from his palms.
"Go get 'em, Natsu!!"
Happy cheered Natsu on from the sidelines, waving a small makeshift flag.
However, Natsu soon discovered a chilling reality. The strange, pale blue ice remained completely unmoved by his searing flames. Not a single drop of water trickled down the frozen surface.
Feeling his pride as a Dragon Slayer challenged, Natsu immediately increased the intensity of his magic.
"Whoaaaaaaa!!"
Natsu's entire body burst into a roaring pillar of crimson flames. The heat was so intense that the air around him began to warp and distort, forcing Lucy and Happy to take several steps back.
"Go for it!! Take them down—!!" Happy yelled over the roaring fire.
Despite outputting enough thermal energy to melt solid steel, the ice didn't even lose its frosty sheen. The magical absolute zero easily devoured his dragon flames.
A moment later, Natsu abruptly stopped, the fire dying out completely. He slumped down on the freezing ground, panting heavily from the massive magical exertion.
"What the hell is going on with this stupid ice...?" Natsu wheezed, staring at his slightly scorched palms in disbelief.
"Aye~! It didn't work at all!" Happy cried out in dismay.
Lucy cautiously reached out and touched the frozen surface, flinching as the unnatural cold bit at her fingertips. "Mr. Warrod did warn us that this isn't ordinary ice. But still, I didn't expect that even Natsu's Dragon Slayer flames wouldn't be able to melt a single inch of it!"
She turned around, looking at the strongest mage among them with hopeful eyes. "Ren, can you melt this with your magic?"
"Well..."
Just as Ren was about to speak and analyze the specific magical signature of the ice, his sharp senses picked up on a disturbance. He casually turned his head toward a ruined stone archway.
"Oh? It seems someone beat us to this frozen wasteland," Ren said smoothly. "This might be a bit tricky."
The three of them instantly went on guard, looking in the direction Ren's gaze was fixed. Through the icy mist, they saw three uniquely dressed men standing arrogantly on a set of giant stairs.
"Who are you people?"
Lucy asked warily, her hand instinctively hovering over her celestial spirit keys.
The three men struck a highly choreographed, slightly ridiculous pose.
"Treasure Hunter Guild."
"Sylph Labyrinth."
"Boom—!"
[Akarin's Note: The raw translated the guild as "Labyrinth of the Wind Spirit." The official English Wiki translation for this Treasure Hunter Guild is "Sylph Labyrinth."]
Seeing that Ren and the others didn't react at all to their dramatic entrance, simply staring at them with deadpan expressions, the three men awkwardly cleared their throats. They decided to repeat themselves, louder this time.
"Treasure Hunter Guild."
"Sylph Labyrinth."
"Boom—!"
Ren sighed, massaging his temples. "We heard you perfectly the first time. There was absolutely no need to repeat it."
Lucy blinked, her confusion temporarily overriding her caution. "Treasure Hunter Guild... is that a specific type of guild meant just for finding lost treasures and stuff?"
The leader, a man wearing a sniper's goggles, smirked down at them. "Sorry to burst your bubble, Mages, but the super treasure buried in this frozen wasteland already belongs to us. I suggest you don't get in our way."
Natsu frowned, pushing himself up from the ground. "Treasure? We have zero interest in that kind of boring stuff. We're here on a job."
Natsu's blunt words immediately struck the three men as entirely unbelievable.
"You're honestly saying you're not here to claim the Eternal Flame?!" the sniper asked, his eyes wide behind his goggles.
"Then why else would a bunch of official Mages appear in this super isolated place?" the martial artist of the group demanded, crossing his arms aggressively.
Happy answered very honestly, raising his paw. "We just came here to melt the weird ice and rescue the giant villagers!"
The three men exchanged incredulous looks, bursting into mocking laughter. "How is that not direct interference with our job?!"
"Listen closely, amateurs. The Eternal Flame is a phantom, legendary flame that has supposedly been burning for hundreds of years without ever going out."
"Among us professional Treasure Hunters, it's officially designated as a super S-class, super rare treasure!"
"However, these annoyingly huge giants protecting the Village severely hindered our past attempts to access the treasure," the swordsman chimed in, grinning wickedly.
"But for some miraculous reason, didn't the giants all go 'boom' and get completely frozen solid?"
"Which naturally means that right now is the super optimal time for us to finally get our hands on the Eternal Flame."
Lucy frowned deeply, anger bubbling up in her chest. "But I heard that flame is essentially the guardian deity of this Village and is very important to their survival! Isn't just sneaking in and taking it away the exact same thing as being a lowly thief?!"
The three men immediately bristled at Lucy's accusatory words, deeply offended by the label.
"You dare call proud Treasure Hunters simple thieves?!"
"Things like this only happen because the side getting robbed was super careless with their security, okay?!" the sniper argued, relying on completely twisted logic.
"Boom—boom—! They don't respect the hustle!"
"This won't do. Before these annoying Fairy Tail Mages decide to interfere with our grand heist, let's get our hands on the treasure first!!"
"Oh!! Let's go!!"
"Boom—!"
Without another word, the three of them immediately broke their formation and charged deeper into the frozen Village.
Happy hovered in the air, watching them run. "It's no use anyway. If everything here is frozen, it seems highly likely that their precious flame is also frozen solid."
"Don't underestimate the super treasure-hunting abilities of a top-tier Treasure Hunter Guild!" the sniper yelled back over his shoulder. "With this super secret, highly classified treasure known as 'Moon Drip,' melting this annoying ice is something we can super do!"
The man proudly took out a small, intricately carved glass bottle filled with a glowing, violet liquid and waved it in the air for them to see.
"What—!!"
"Moon Drip? Wait a minute, isn't that the exact same magic liquid from Galuna Island?!" Lucy gasped, her eyes widening in sudden realization.
The group still had a very deep, traumatic impression of the cursed island of demons. Years ago, Lyon Vastia and his followers had used a massive ritual to gather the moonlight, condensing it into Moon Drip in order to forcibly melt the absolute ice holding the demon Deliora.
Natsu suddenly thought of something, slamming his fist into his palm. "Wait a second! If that's the real deal, with that liquid thing, wouldn't we be able to completely restore the Village to normal?!"
"That's exactly right!! It can melt any magical ice!"
Lucy and Happy also realized the massive opportunity that had just presented itself. They didn't need to overpower the ice; they just needed to steal the solution.
"Quick, after them!! Catch the Treasure Hunters!!" Natsu roared, firing up his engines.
"Take the bottle from them!!"
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy immediately sprinted through the frozen archways, chasing frantically after the fleeing Sylph Labyrinth members.
Ren followed unhurriedly behind his guildmates, his footsteps completely silent on the frozen earth. He already had his own ideas on how to break the terrifying freeze, but letting Natsu burn off some energy wasn't a bad idea.
At that exact moment, miles above the frozen devastation, a giant, grotesque one-eyed monster was flying silently through the overcast sky. A man and a woman stood confidently on top of its fleshy back, looking down at the tiny figures running through the Village.
"Treasure Hunters and Fairy Tail Mages, huh? It's a massive pain, but we still have to deal with them. It's our job, after all."
"I advise you best not to act recklessly," the woman replied, her voice trembling slightly. "Those petty thieves are easy enough to handle, but those Mages—especially that man with the white hair—are simply not someone others can hope to defeat. It's best to retreat and report this to headquarters immediately."
"What? You actually know them?" the man asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at his companion's sudden cowardice.
"Not just me; almost everyone on the entire continent knows them," she said, clutching her arms. "Fairy Tail, the strongest Mage Guild in the Kingdom of Fiore—no, considering their overwhelming power, they should probably be considered the strongest on the entire continent of Ishgar now!"
"The strongest? Hmph! Just a mere Light Guild playing at being heroes. If you're that scared of them, you can go back to the guild yourself. I'll personally handle these arrogant guys."
"Since you say so, I'll gladly leave it to you! This lady absolutely won't be participating anyway."
The frightened woman was none other than Minerva Orland, who had completely abandoned Sabertooth after her humiliating defeat at the Grand Magic Games. She had deeply offended Fairy Tail, and Ren's incomprehensible power had left her utterly helpless and broken.
She felt that no Light Guild would ever want a failure like her, and later, by a twisted stroke of luck, she joined the Dark Guild Succubus Eye to seek refuge. She hadn't expected to encounter the very man who gave her relentless nightmares on her very first mission.
[Akarin Note:
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