By the time Mason's boots hit the top ledge, his breath left little clouds of white in the frozen air. He looked back down, hand gripping the rope as the rest of the group climbed the last few meters.
The Frost Gate stretched before them like a wall meant for gods — three hundred meters of polished ice, carved with runes that faintly pulsed blue. The faint humming beneath the surface gave off an ancient rhythm, like something alive was breathing behind it.
"Finally," Sarah exhaled, landing beside him. "My fingers are ice cubes."
"Then keep moving," Mason said, steadying her by the arm. "Cold only wins when you stop."
Behind them, the princess climbed up last — hair disheveled, cheeks red, eyes sharp as ever. She didn't say a word, but her little glare promised trouble tonight.
Mason ignored it.
They stepped across the platform toward a frozen archway half-covered in snow. Beyond it, a wide corridor glowed faintly blue, the walls crystallized like glass. A strange warmth drifted from inside.
Marianne's voice broke the silence. "This should be the antechamber. After this… the Mother Spider."
Everyone tensed.
Sarah tightened her gloves. "She's really that big?"
Mason's tone stayed flat. "You'll see."
They moved inside. Every step echoed like a drumbeat. The corridor opened wider and wider until the walls vanished into shadow. The air turned thick, almost syrupy, and the faint click of claws echoed from somewhere deep ahead.
Marianne muttered a prayer under her breath, tracing a rune on her arm.
The princess clicked her tongue. "Scared?"
Marianne shot her a look. "Prepared."
Then the sound came — a slow, sticky creak above them. Everyone froze. Mason raised a hand silently. Threads of silver webbing descended from the ceiling like strands of hair, glinting in the blue light.
Sarah whispered, "That's not… normal web."
"It's mana-thread," Mason said. "She's close."
A low hiss answered him from the dark. The ground trembled.
And then she appeared — the Mother Spider.
Her body spilled out of the shadows, enormous, each leg like a frozen pillar, her eyes a field of dimly glowing blue. She moved with slow grace, her carapace glimmering with frost and crystal. When she breathed, the air shimmered around her.
Sarah instinctively drew her dagger.
Marianne flipped open her grimmoire.
Even the princess took a step forward, a cold smile flickering on her lips.
But Mason didn't move.
He just watched her — the sheer scale, the stillness of the air, the beauty of something meant only for death.
So this is the weakest being from that world, he thought, a strange calm spreading through him. Then what kind of monsters did the strong ones look like?
The spider let out a low, guttural growl — a sound that scraped the bones. One leg lifted, pressing down into the ice with a crack. She could've crushed them all in a heartbeat.
"Plan?" Sarah whispered, barely breathing.
Mason nodded once. "Standard formation. Keep your distance. Don't touch the webs — they drain mana."
Marianne raised a hand, murmuring a spell, her eyes glowing faintly gold. Fire rippled across her fingers. The princess followed, pulling out a pair of small crystalline orbs from her sleeve.
"Explosives?" Mason asked.
She smirked. "You're not the only one who prepares."
He almost smiled back.
Then — movement.
The spider lunged. The shockwave alone threw them apart. Mason rolled to the side, slicing through a web strand that came too close. Sarah vanished into the shadows, her daggers glowing faintly red. The princess hurled an orb, the explosion lighting up the cavern like sunrise.
The spider screamed.
Marianne's voice rang out: "Now, strike!"
Fire met ice, explosions clashed with webs, and the whole chamber became chaos. Mason charged forward, his blade cutting through frost, dodging a claw that shattered the floor beside him. He swung for the soft underbelly, sparks of blue and white colliding in bursts.
The creature roared, but something in its movement slowed — her steps faltered. The glowing threads along the ceiling flickered. Mason's eyes narrowed.
"She's weakening," he muttered.
Then, just like that, silence.
The spider's massive frame froze mid-lunge — the light in her eyes fading out like dying candles. The ground shook as her body slumped to the side, steam rising from the wounds.
Everyone exhaled at once. Sarah flopped down, panting. "I swear, I thought I'd die before thirty."
Marianne wiped her forehead. "Don't speak too soon. The gate's next."
Mason turned to face them — the group standing in a circle of mist and fading embers. For a moment, nobody spoke. Their eyes, one by one, lifted toward him.
And in that quiet, something subtle shifted.
Sarah's expression softened — admiration shading into something else.
Marianne's lips parted, eyes tracing his back as if seeing him for the first time.
Even the princess's usual bravado faded, replaced by a faint, almost dreamy stare.
The cold air felt warmer suddenly. Too warm.
Mason noticed, of course. He wasn't blind. He saw their looks, felt the strange pull in the silence. The way their weapons lowered, but their gazes sharpened.
The faint glow from the fallen spider reflected in their eyes — each a different shade, but all glinting the same way: hungry, intense, possessive.
Mason looked away first.
"...We move," he said, voice steady.
No one answered. They just followed him, quiet, watching his back like hunters shadowing prey.
From above, unseen behind a cracked wall of ice, Elaris watched everything — silent, fists trembling.
His whisper drifted down, barely audible.
"You all look at him like he's yours… but he's mine."
The group passed under the spider's webbed body, their boots crunching on frost. The Frost Gate loomed once more before them — massive, glimmering, breathing faint light like the heart of the world itself.
Mason's hand brushed against the cold surface. The rune patterns shifted faintly under his palm, responding to the warmth of his touch.
The others gathered behind him. No one spoke now. Not even the princess. The only sound left was their breathing — uneven, shallow — and the faint creak of frozen stone.
Behind them, Elaris's shadow moved.
Ahead of them, the gate began to glow.
And for one quiet moment, in that still blue light, every single one of them had the same thought.
He's mine.
Time to take him with me