The mountain was covered in snow even at the base, so it was obvious that its peak would be snowy. Wherever you looked, there was only snow. Now, with a meat paste that had once belonged to an S-Rank adventurer, there was quite a contrast.
I said thoughtfully, "The monsters here will have a picnic today. I mean, finding food must be difficult here."
They looked at me and just shook their heads. Well, I felt I'd made a poor choice when hiring him, but Emma guessed right: I cared more about results than about the means. I knew in my heart there was a 99% chance I would have to kill him because of Omniscient. But for the sake of efficiency I was ready to do it. I can be merciful after I reach my goal. Until then, let's not harm anyone unnecessarily—but if it benefits us, let's not care about damage to others.
Sigh… what have I become?
Raven suddenly spoke, so I had to stop my internal monologue. "Sir, he deserved it. If anything, you gave justice. Just because you are not a judge doesn't mean you can't give justice."
Yeah. I have corrupted Raven.
Sigh…
I said to everyone, knowing thinking more was useless, "Let's move."
And like that, we all moved. But my Sixth Sense… something was up. I couldn't tell what. Is this mountain alive? No, but I definitely felt something. What is happening?
Night came and we stopped. This time we brought supplies for a fire. We warmed ourselves and the Sky Dogs. I also brought devices for heating. And like that, we slept. Two people remained awake to keep watch. I was their client so I didn't need to, but my Sixth Sense would tell me anyway.
Soon morning came and we resumed. After a couple of hours I found a cave—on this mountain finding a cave was easy, especially if one had Omniscient. I entered it with them and at the end found a hole.
I said to everyone, "Wait here. I'm going in. If I don't come back in a week… consider your mission complete and leave. Take Sky Dogs as gift. Also take care of Flash"
Their eyes went wide. Raven frowned and said, "Sir, we can also—"
I shook my head. "No. Something is not right. No matter what happens, don't come in. Seal the cave and leave."
Seeing me say this—someone who had used a very powerful blast of Apocalypse— they didn't know what to do. If there was something here that could harm me, then the city at the base was done for. But they knew they couldn't do anything either if there was something that could harm me, so they all nodded. Their expressions were grim.
My Sixth Sense was saying something, but I couldn't tell what. I jumped in. I floated using teleportation and started going down. And the end never came. I don't understand—previous owner found an ice slide. Where is the slide?
After maybe many kilometres, I reached the ground. "Am I at the base of the mountain? Just inside."
I started along the only path available. Just in case, I absorbed Nature Mana for ten minutes for Apocalypse. The previous owner had directly reached the Nature Force. Has someone else claimed the Nature Force?
I hoped not.
After walking, I felt this would take time, so I started teleporting 100 m per teleport. After an unknown number of teleports I reached a small opening—an opening twice my size. I entered it and my Sixth Sense started screaming. Soon I saw why.
I saw a being.
The being appeared as a colossus sculpted by the hands of gods in the age before fire. His flesh was not flesh at all, but ice fused with ancient stone, veins of frozen starlight pulsing faintly beneath translucent layers. Those veins glowed a dim cerulean hue, flowing like trapped lightning through his body and illuminating the vast frozen cavern that served as his resting place. The light breathed—slow, rhythmic—in tune with the Titan.
His face, half-buried beneath glaciers, carried an uncanny semblance of life: a chiseled visage framed by jagged shards of blue-white ice that resembled a crown. His eyes were sealed shut—maybe for eons.
His arms stretched outward beneath the ice fields like mountain ridges; each finger was the length of a castle tower, ending in claws that appeared carved from sapphire glaciers. When he stirred even slightly, entire valleys might quake. The movement sent cracks through the ice that echoed for miles—thunder that rolled not through the air, but through the earth itself.
His torso resembled the surface of an ancient glacier: ridged, fissured, and layered with centuries of snow and frozen sediment. Around his heart lay a cage of frozen roots and crystalline veins; each pulse created an audible hum, a song of the deep cold. His wings rippled like auroras. Each shroud carried runic scars. And yet, for all his might and terror, there was a certain majesty to him.
He is Zerathul, the Frostbound Titan.
Oh shit.
A powerhouse… and one of the strongest.
He is not even human. He is told of in tales.
What the hell—was the previous owner blind? How could he miss Zerathul, the Frostbound Titan? Alright, let's retreat a little and think first, then I will see what to do.
STEP.
STEP.
After I took two steps back, a voice echoed. It felt like ice cracking—like a glacier breaking.
"Human… leaving so soon?"
I replied quickly, "Nope… just giving you a little space."
Zerathul answered, "My size does require a little space… thanks for the consideration."
I replied instantly, "It's my honor."
Zerathul asked, "You know me?"
I nodded quickly and said, "I do. I do. Your might is known by all."
He spoke with mixed emotions. "Might, hahahaha." I felt that through the Sixth Sense too.
Then I noticed things I might have missed before.
Zerathul's body—if one could still call it whole—was a ruin of frost and shattered crystal. Long fractures ran along his chest, pale lines glowing faintly blue beneath layers of frozen skin. Some fissures reached deep, where sluggish, dim light pulsed weakly like a fading heart. Parts of his right arm were missing entirely, replaced by jagged ice that had frozen mid-regeneration. The left shoulder hung loose, torn at the joint and sealed roughly with frost, as though it had been forced back into place without proper healing.
His torso bore deep gouges, each rimed with frozen blood that had hardened into translucent sheets. Segments of his ribs were visible beneath cracked layers of ice, bent and uneven. Across his abdomen, one could see where immense pressure had crushed through his outer shell—shards of his own armor embedded within the wound, glittering faintly.
His legs were no better: the right leg was encased completely in ice up to the thigh; the left was marked by splintered frost and blackened scars. The joints looked stiff and unnatural, frozen at awkward angles as if he had fallen and never moved again.
The face was the most haunting. One eye remained intact—its pale light dim but still alive. The other socket was covered in rough frost, cracked and uneven, leaking faint vapor from within. The jawline was chipped; the mouth was slightly open, revealing teeth of ice worn blunt from strain.
Around him, the ice still wept slowly, freezing again where it touched his wounds.
His once-majestic body now looked pitiful.
Zerathul, the Frostbound Titan, smiled and asked, "Feeling pity?"
I replied without thinking, "No!!"
What the—? I corrected myself, "Yes!!"
What the hell—there are no right answers.
Zerathul the Frostbound Titan, amused, said, "I am alive. Those who can move, those who can see, those who can respond to external stimuli—are not pitiful, human."
I was shocked.
Zerathul asked, "Looking for this ,human?"
The Titan moved a little. Behind him was a safe made of transparent ice with no way to move it except by breaking it or by the Titan removing his spell. Inside it was a haze rotating so fast it looked almost solid, with frequent blurs showing it wasn't truly solid.
He looked at me and said, "I was right… however, I was first to come here. So it belongs to me."
I was ready to use Apocalypse even if the mountain collapsed, even if the city got destroyed, even if Claw members died. But he paused and said, "But I can give it to you. Bring me an everfrost flower."
"What's that?" I asked.
I started recalling memories of Adrian and finally I found it.
Everfrost flower— a flower that grows in places where the environment has not seen warmth in a thousand years. It grows from snow itself. They are rare—maybe only four or five across all four continents are blooming at any time. Since they need only snow and not sunlight, they might be inside some ruin.
That's simply impossible to find. Wait a minute—the previous owner didn't meet Zerathul. Maybe in this mountain, which only had winter, an everfrost flower bloomed. Zerathul took it and left without claiming the Nature Force. Then that means he doesn't really want the Nature Force; he is just trying to get that flower. But why?
Thinking so, I asked, "Why do you want the flower?"
He thought and replied, "No reason to tell you, but no reason to hide it either, so I will tell. I need the flower to cover a wound in my back caused by a dying attack. I have recovered power in thousands of years but I can't concentrate where that attack is present. With the flower I can increase the coldness and remove it."
When he said that, I finally felt a warmth in this cold—however only because of Omniscient. I teleported and looked at his back and saw a column of fire. Now it was only magma, but inside it still carried heat.
I thought and suggested, "What if I destroy it?"
Zerathul laughed. "It was done by Pyrothar ,the infernal Sovereign and Pyrothar, the Infernal Sovereign, was not a pushover."
I still asked, "But still—just in case."
He laughed and replied, "Well then… this thing you want… it's yours."