After accepting the request from one of Fairy Tail's founding elders, Ankh led the strongest team on a journey that lasted several days before they finally found the village Warrod had described.
Before they even reached it, a bone-chilling wind swept toward them. The ground and stone walls ahead were gradually swallowed by solid purple ice.
Ankh stood before the enormous village gate and surveyed everything trapped beneath the frost.
Looking through the entrance, they could see that every building had been frozen.
When they raised their heads, they also spotted many towering giants with weapons in their hands.
"Something's strange," Lucy quickly noticed. "All these giants are facing the entrance."
Despite their enormous size, every giant had been caught in almost the exact same pose. They were armed and facing the same direction.
Erza frowned and glanced back toward the village gate. The scene quickly reconstructed itself in her mind.
An intruder had come to Sun Village, causing every giant to grab a weapon and rush to the entrance to confront them.
But the enemy had been far stronger than expected and froze the entire village in an instant.
The fighting spirit still visible on the giants' faces was proof of that.
Sun Village was built for giants, so its size was staggering.
Ankh's group walked for half a day and still had not reached the center.
Noticing Gray's troubled expression, Ankh asked, "Well? Was this done by that Tartaros officer?"
"…Judging from the magic, yes."
Gray was silent for a moment before nodding.
Happy immediately brightened. "Haven't you started learning his magic, Gray? Can you remove the ice?"
Everyone turned toward him.
They all knew Gray had gone through a fierce internal struggle over the past few days before finally deciding to learn the anti-demon magic used by his enemy.
Gray shook his head and quietly clenched his fist.
"With my current understanding of Devil Slayer Magic, clearing all the ice from Sun Village would take at least a week."
He was still only a beginner.
He had barely grasped the basics after shutting himself away for several days. There was no way he could compare to Silver, the creator of the magic.
"There's no need to rush. Having a way to solve it is enough."
Ankh briefly examined the smooth ground covered in frost. Sure enough, he found several faint scrape marks in less noticeable places.
Someone had clearly been passing through the village regularly.
"Let's deal with something else first. We aren't alone here."
Ankh stood and looked up at the frozen giants, all facing the same direction.
"They were confronting an enemy, so whatever they were protecting must be behind them. That should be the Eternal Flame. Let's find it first."
Erza walked beside Ankh and quietly analyzed the situation.
"Absolute Zero, the man who fought Gray, may have returned to the scene. Could he have sent Succubus Eye here?"
"Why send subordinates to a village only he can unfreeze? This is probably something Succubus Eye decided to do on their own."
Ankh walked against the direction the giants were facing and complained, "Don't try too hard to understand the thought process of a dark guild. They worship Tartaros and probably covet the power of its officers. Coming here to investigate isn't surprising."
While Ankh and Erza discussed the case, Natsu started causing trouble again behind them.
He hugged one of the giant men's legs and yelled enthusiastically, releasing intense flames from his body in an attempt to melt the ice directly.
After quite a while, however, his fire had accomplished absolutely nothing.
Wendy and Lucy watched helplessly as Natsu stubbornly poured in more strength like an irritated child.
Gray could not resist mocking him from the side.
"The ice created by Absolute Zero isn't something your half-baked flames can melt."
"What did you say?!"
Natsu immediately flared up and prepared to activate Dragon Force.
If that still failed, he would use Fire Dragon King Mode!
If he could melt ice that even Gray found difficult, it would prove he was stronger!
But before Natsu could release his power, a gunshot suddenly cracked through the distant sky.
Wendy's pupils tightened.
She reacted instantly and lunged forward, knocking Lucy to the ground beneath her.
A bullet struck the ice where Lucy had been standing, bouncing away with the sharp scent of gunpowder.
"Who's there?!"
Natsu and Gray quickly stepped in front of the girls, gathering Magic Power as they faced the direction the bullet had come from.
Under their angry stares, three unusually dressed men emerged from behind a large tree on the high cliff above.
"Mages, huh? Trying to get there before us?"
Flames burned around Natsu's fist as he frowned at the intruders.
"Who are you?"
"We are the treasure-hunting guild—Sylph Labyrinth!"
The swordsman at the front proudly shouted the name of his guild.
Natsu and the others showed no reaction whatsoever.
Natsu and Gray's faces clearly said they did not care.
Wendy tilted her head. "There are guilds like that?"
"A guild dedicated to finding treasure?" Lucy spread her hands in confusion. "But we aren't here for treasure. Why did you attack us?"
The swordsman named Hiro pointed angrily at Natsu and Gray.
"If you aren't after the Eternal Flame, then why were you trying to free these giants?!"
"The Eternal Flame has burned without interruption for hundreds of years! In the treasure-hunting world, it's considered a Super S-Class treasure!"
The sniper beside Hiro, Drake, continued with open resentment.
"But these giants have always guarded the Eternal Flame, so we could never get near it. Luckily for us, those troublesome bastards suddenly got frozen!"
"Now is our perfect chance to claim it!"
Seeing the greed on all three men's faces, Lucy could not help commenting, "Treasure hunters? Aren't you just thieves?"
The three members of Sylph Labyrinth fell silent for a moment.
Then they shouted in unison, "What's it to you?!"
"I don't care what you're after," Natsu said. "But you attacked someone from our guild, so you're not getting away with it."
He leapt toward the cliff where the three men stood, flames bursting from his hands and sweeping toward them.
Gray was about to follow and help when he suddenly realized Ankh and Erza were gone.
"Where did those two go?"
Carla gave him a flat look.
"You and Natsu fell behind because you were competing to see who could melt the ice."
...
Meanwhile, Ankh and Erza had followed the defensive formation of the frozen giants and reached the place where the Eternal Flame was supposed to be.
Erza looked up at the enormous mountain in front of them, then glanced back at the giants' defensive perimeter.
After confirming this was the center of everything they had been protecting, she said confidently, "The Eternal Flame should be somewhere on top of that mountain."
Ankh took several steps back and studied the "mountain" with a strange expression.
"No," he said.
"This is the Eternal Flame."
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