Belobog Underworld.
Boulder Town.
Cocolia sat inside the Goethe Grand Hotel. The longer she sat, the more uneasy her heart felt, causing her elegant brows to furrow slightly.
She murmured:
"At this time, Bronya and the others should have already reached the glacier, right?"
The noble lady lifted her head and looked outside the hotel.
Fine strands of falling snow drifted faintly through the air.
"???"
Petite, almost imperceptible snowflakes floated and danced in the air.
"Hey, what are you looking at?" Serval poked Cocolia's shoulder.
"If I remember correctly, this is the Underworld, right?" Cocolia couldn't help asking.
"Yeah, have you gone senile?"
"And if I remember correctly, this is Boulder Town, not the Mechanical Settlement they mentioned before."
"Yeah, have you even forgotten where you are?"
Cocolia extended her fair, slender hand and pointed toward the doorway: "Look carefully—can you see some falling snow?"
"Hah, how could th—"
Before Serval could finish her sentence, the scene before her eyes stunned her.
A few small snowflakes drifted past the doorframe and floated right in front of the two of them.
Serval reached out her fair jade hand and gently touched one.
It was ice-cold.
Her pupils instantly lost focus as she said in disbelief:
"Impossible… The Overworld only has light snow now. This is the Underworld—and given Boulder Town's location, how could there still be snow here?"
At this moment, other people also noticed.
"Daddy daddy daddy, it's snowing!"
"What? Snow?! Impossible—the Supreme Guardian said the snow in Belobog's Overworld has already become very light. The Underworld is close to the Geomarrow veins—how could there still be snow?!"
Several old men hurriedly set down their wine cups. The cups wobbled slightly on the tabletop, still half-full of the precious liquid.
These old fellows couldn't bear to drink too much of such good wine.
Now, seeing Boulder Town inexplicably starting to snow, they all panicked.
"Supreme Guardian, do—do you know why it's suddenly snowing here?"
"Yeah! Didn't they say the glaciers near the Overworld were all destroyed? And only light snow remains—why is the Underworld suddenly getting snow?!"
"Please investigate this thoroughly, Supreme Guardian."
Cocolia's expression grew increasingly grave. She quickly stood up.
When she stepped out of the Goethe Grand Hotel, Pela arrived just in time, leading a group of Silvermane Guards.
"Supreme Guardian, the cable cars have been fully repaired. Travel between the upper and lower districts is now possible again!" Pela said.
With Gepard and Bronya both at the front lines, she was the only one who could come to fetch Cocolia.
"Pela, when you came down, what was the scale of snowfall like in the Overworld?" Cocolia asked.
"Huh?" Pela scratched her head, recalling the earlier scene, and answered: "It was still manageable—just light snow. Sometimes it even stopped."
Cocolia stared at the inexplicably drifting small snowflakes in the sky and said in a deep voice:
"Maybe the Overworld has started getting heavy snow now too. After all, we only just noticed the snowflakes here in Boulder Town."
Not long after.
The temperature across the entire Underworld plummeted.
In Boulder Town, not only could snowflakes be seen, but they were growing more and more numerous. Even the edges of rooftops showed faint signs of frost.
Pela stood beside Cocolia, staring at the inexplicable streams of flying snow, completely baffled:
"Huh? Where is all this snow coming from? This scale is way too big!"
The overwhelming snowfall immediately put the entire population of Boulder Town on high alert.
"Bang bang bang—!!"
Soon, a large group of Automatons arrived here. Even while in motion, thick layers of snow had already accumulated on their bodies.
The vagrants and Wildfire members who had been out clearing Fragmentum creatures came running right behind them, panting heavily from exhaustion.
Svarog slowly stepped forward. The red glow in his pupils scanned Cocolia once before he spoke:
"Pleased to see you, Supreme Guardian of this generation."
Cocolia nodded, then looked at Svarog and Clara beside him, asking:
"You two… weren't in Boulder Town earlier, right? Can you tell me what happened outside?"
Svarog said in a deep voice:
"The Stellaron… has begun to act. Currently, the Great Mining Area, Rivet Town, and the Mechanical Settlement have all been heavily blanketed by the blizzard it summoned. According to the data analysis, Boulder Town will be the last to fall. Thus, we immediately abandoned the other areas and rushed here to rendezvous with you."
"What?! The other areas are already buried in heavy snow?!" Pela exclaimed in shock.
Clara nodded:
"At first… we tried to clear the snow, but it kept getting heavier and heavier. Mr. Svarog immediately ordered us to evacuate the Mechanical Settlement. We ran to the Great Mining Area to gather the others who were still there, and then we all hurried toward Boulder Town together."
After hearing this, Cocolia's brows knitted tightly.
The Stellaron probably realized that if it didn't do something soon, it would only be a matter of time before the Astral Express crew tracked it down.
But Cocolia hadn't expected it to suddenly turn its aggression toward the Underworld.
"Supreme Guardian, the phone… the phone has no signal again, just like before!" Pela pulled out her phone to call for help but found no signal, immediately growing anxious.
Svarog said in a deep voice:
"My network is still functioning normally. Earlier, I successfully connected with 'Heavenly Father.' The expedition force is now aware of our situation."
Hearing Svarog's words, Cocolia couldn't help giving him an appreciative glance.
As expected of a product from that era—its efficiency was truly exceptional.
"Then, Svarog, can you connect to the Overworld and ask about their current situation?" Cocolia asked.
"I have linked to an Automaton in the Overworld. The footage transmitted shows that the light snow in the Overworld has been influenced into moderate snowfall. It is not as terrifying as the blizzard in the Underworld."
Cocolia nodded, her gaze heavy.
Clearly, the Stellaron was targeting the Underworld this time.
Under Cocolia's instructions, Svarog reconnected to Heavenly Father's communication system and linked to the Automaton in the Overworld to request aid.
"What did the Executor say?" Cocolia asked.
Svarog replied:
"Mr. Zeig's exact words were: 'Heh, this punk's got some tricks, but that's about it!'"
Cocolia: "…"
"Immediately after, Heavenly Father suffered heavy damage, and my communication with Heavenly Father was cut off from that point."
"Then what about the Guards in the Overworld? Your link to that Automaton up there isn't broken, right?" Cocolia inquired.
"The Silvermane Guards in the Overworld received the distress signal and have already prepared themselves. But when they attempted to come down to the Underworld, they found the cable car tracks had been frozen over. The core furnace exit in the Overworld is also buried under solid ice. They are currently working hard to clear it," Svarog answered.
This response immediately weighed heavily on everyone's hearts.
This was clearly a targeted assault on the Underworld.
Cocolia said in a deep voice:
"Since the Stellaron has the ability to freeze, yet Boulder Town is still experiencing a full blizzard, this means it has some reservations. It may be unable to freeze indiscriminately, or it may be waiting for an opportunity. As long as it hasn't directly frozen us, there's still a chance!"
Under the leadership of Cocolia and Svarog, all combat-capable forces in Boulder Town armed themselves.
They braced themselves against the arrival of this calamity.
…
Meanwhile, on the other side.
In the snowfield battlefield.
Heavenly Father was being trampled repeatedly by a full three Doomsday Beasts!
The Creation Engine was also pinned down by one Doomsday Beast and locked in fierce combat with it.
Bang bang bang bang bang—!!
March 7th endured the violent shaking of Heavenly Father's frame, her eyes nearly splitting with rage as she gritted her teeth and looked at Zeig rolling on the floor beside her:
"We're done for! We played dirty and now karma's hitting us back—Heavenly Father's energy is dropping sharply! What do we do now?!"
A certain someone named Zeig had already fallen off his seat. His entire body lay sprawled on the black-purple mechanical floor, shaking along with it.
"Cough… They sure hold grudges."
Zeig propped himself up on the control console and slowly climbed back to his feet, cursing: "Three against one—they're even more shameless than us!"
Suddenly, a certain someone's eyes lit up.
"!"
The long-awaited sound finally rang out.
…
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the phased reward for slacking off.]
…