Breathing hard.

  Panting.

  Blood trailed across the snow.

  Helga limped forward, teeth gritted, blood dripping from her torso and limbs.

  Her eyes were barely open, pupils dilated.

  After only a few strides, she collapsed.

  Unable to stand, she sat in the snow, gasping for air.

  Her vision grew hazy, darkness creeping in at the edges.

  “Ah… ah,” she sighed weakly. “I guess this is it.”

  Her eyes slowly closed.

  But just before darkness claimed her sight, she saw a brown stickman walking toward her.

  …

  Blink. Blink.

  Helga opened her eyes slowly.

  Above her was the cavern ceiling… and motion.

  As her senses returned, she realized she was being carried, piggybacked.

  Her body tensed.

  The ones she had been tracking were stickmen. She hadn’t met them yet, but she was certain they were still in the cavern. That made the one carrying her a suspect.

  “Whirlwind,” she muttered.

  A magic circle flared beneath them. A violent spiral of wind erupted, swallowing the man.

  Helga jumped off just in time, snatching her staff from his grip as she landed.

  Snow and debris exploded into the air, blinding her for a few seconds.

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  When it cleared,

  He was behind her.

  She turned slowly, stunned.

  She was certain her spell had caught him.

  But he had moved before the wind activated.

  Uneasy, she raised her guard.

  Yet the stickman showed no hostility. No killing intent. No aggression.

  If he was pretending, he was good at it—but he genuinely seemed unwilling to fight.

  “Who are you?” she demanded warily. “What are you doing here?”

  “…”

  No answer. Just an aloof, unreadable stare.

  “What? Cat got your tongue?” she taunted.

  “Are you a member of the squad we were ordered to rescue?” the man, James finally asked.

  Squad?!

  “Don’t answer a question with a question. Answer mine.”

  “…”

  Another silence.

  “Damn it. I found a dud.”

  “Say something, you bastard!” she snapped.

  “…”

  Crickets could have chirped in that silence.

  “Fine. If you won’t talk, I’ll make you.”

  Wind swirled violently around her as she aimed her staff.

  A blast surged toward him,

  But James vanished.

  He appeared behind her and struck for her neck.

  Helga barely reacted in time, ducking and redirecting his leg with wind, throwing him off balance.

  She thrust her staff forward.

  A compressed blast of air launched James into the cavern wall, his body imprinting into the rock.

  “I have a lot of questions for you,” Helga said coldly.

  “And I’ll squeeze every bit of information from you, even if—”

  Her foot struck something metallic.

  She picked it up.

  Her breath caught.

  A Cadet Academy badge.

  “You’re a student of the Cadet Academy?!”

  “…”

  Silence again.

  James stared at her, utterly unimpressed.

  “It feels like I’m talking to a brick wall,” she muttered.

  She turned and walked away.

  James dusted himself off and followed.

  After a few steps, Helga finally noticed something.

  Her wounds were bandaged.

  Deep gashes had been stitched.

  Her stamina was restored.

  Her mana was full.

  She stopped.

  It didn’t take a genius to understand.

  He had treated her when she was helpless.

  A soft smile appeared on her lips.

  “I’m sorry for attacking you earlier. I was on edge… considering where we are.”

  “I’m Helga. It’s a pleasure meeting you.”

  James remained silent.

  Her smile twitched.

  “It’d be nice to get a reply once in a while. If I hadn’t heard you speak earlier, I’d think you were dumb.”

  She sighed and kept walking.

  “Since you won’t tell me your name, I’ll give you one.”

  “Silent Knight.”

  Suddenly—

  The ground shook.

  Icicles shattered and rained down.

  Rocks and snow tumbled violently.

  The cavern floor cracked and collapsed inward, forming a massive black void that swallowed debris into oblivion.

  Then—

  A colossal frozen blue hand emerged.

  Claws stabbed into the ground, shaking the cavern again.

  A body followed.

  A forty-meter Wyvern rose from the abyss, forged entirely from living ice.

  Teeth.

  Claws.

  Wings.

  Tail.

  All sculpted like pristine blue crystal.

  Its eye sockets burned with iridescent blue light.

  Cold vapor poured from its breath as it roared, rattling the cavern.

  Helga’s eyes widened.

  “It followed me here?!”

  She gritted her teeth.

  “Stand back, kid,” she muttered.

  “Seems my debt still isn’t paid.”