A dense crowd of Silvermane Guards slowly advanced across the snow plains, leaving behind a continuous trail of footprints. Wherever they passed, only the corpses of monsters remained.
A long-haired girl carrying a scythe walked beside Gepard. She looked down on the Rift creatures in the snow plains with disdain.
"Hmph, how much longer do we have to walk? The monsters we've killed along the way could already rebuild Qlipoth Fort with their corpses." Seele complained.
To be safe, Seele had been invited as a special guest for this operation. Her performance along the way had left every Silvermane Guard in awe.
"Wow, seeing Miss Seele again still feels so strong!"
"She never received any formal training, yet she can do this much—no wonder she's Wildfire's combat pillar!"
Gepard walked while smiling:
"Miss Seele, do you remember the place where you and the Executive Officer built those statues last time? The flares were lit there."
"Statues?" Seele recalled for a moment and nodded slightly:
"Oh, that place. We're already near the glaciers. Don't those merchants have something wrong with them? Tired of living?"
Gepard said awkwardly:
"They're still guests on our planet—how can you say that? Maybe they're like the previous groups and came to survey the geology."
Seele snorted:
"I think they probably came specifically to take photos with the statues."
"Ha, how could they be that bored?"
…
"Boss, boss, stop taking photos! It's dangerous up there—what if you fall?!"
Somewhere on the snow plains.
A man was standing on the toilet behind the Dan Heng statue, holding his phone and taking endless selfies.
"What's the problem? Didn't you see the toilet base is flat? You guys are just cowards—you don't dare climb up yourselves and just sour-grape me!"
"…"
"Boss, this is still someone else's planet's statue. Who takes photos by standing directly on other people's artwork? In a normal exhibition area, if you even cross the barrier and touch something, you'd get hauled off to the station!"
"Nonsense—you said it yourself, 'normal' exhibition area. Does this look normal to you?!"
"…"
"Ugly people cause the most trouble, seriously!"
"…"
Suddenly.
The ground began to tremble.
In the distance, countless tiny silver dots formed a massive moving square, advancing toward this location.
The caravan member saw it and immediately shouted: "It's reinforcements! Boss, reinforcements are here!"
"Eh, boss?"
He looked up— the caravan leader was no longer on the toilet base. His gaze slowly lowered and found the man half-buried headfirst in the snow, legs still kicking desperately.
"Quick, quick—pull me out! I fucking fell!"
"…"
The others hurried over and yanked him out of the snow.
"Phew~ Damn it, none of you reminded me!" He patted the snow off his clothes, dissatisfied:
"When you saw me climb so high, didn't you think to warn me? Really disappointing!"
"…"
…
Soon, the army leader Gepard spotted the group under the statues and quickly raised his hand, signaling the Silvermane Guards to slow down. He and Seele went forward first.
Gepard walked up to the caravan leader and nodded politely:
"Hello, I am Gepard Landau, Belobog's Silvermane Guard Captain. Were the flares launched from here?"
The caravan leader wiped his hand on his pants and shook Gepard's:
"Yes yes, our caravan launched them. We ran into some trouble, right? Good thing you came in time—otherwise we'd still be on edge!"
"Mm? May I ask exactly what trouble you encountered? Could you explain in detail?"
While Gepard spoke with the caravan leader, Seele walked over to a white-haired girl sitting on a rock.
Why did she notice this girl? It was because of the great sword stuck beside Kiana.
That sword burned like flames, enchantingly beautiful.
"Huh, this sword looks so familiar. Friend, is this yours?" Seele asked directly.
Hearing the sudden question, Kiana—who had been playing a game on her phone—slowly looked up and answered:
"Oh, it used to be mine, and it still is now. But its owner has never really been me."
Seele thought about some rumors she'd heard yesterday and continued:
"So because you took this, a guy just died like that?"
"Ah!"
At that, Kiana suddenly stood up.
Her gaze went blank. In that instant, her mind seemed to enter unprecedented high-speed operation.
After taking a deep breath, she finally parted her lips lightly: "Oh no, I completely forgot about this—Otto died again… How am I supposed to explain this to the Captain?"
"???" Seele's eyes widened:
"That guy died, and what you're worried about isn't whether he's dead or alive—but how to explain it to Zeig?!"
"Uh… is that wrong?"
The white-haired girl scratched her head awkwardly:
"Let me tell you—whether Bishop Otto is liked by others, I don't know. But me… I really don't like him."
"Back then I sneaked out of the museum to slack off precisely because I didn't want to stay around him. It always felt uncomfortable."
Seele sat down beside Kiana:
"So that's how it is. I don't like those surface-perfect guys either—people like that definitely have a hidden side no one knows about."
"Eh?" Hearing this, Kiana curiously looked at the big sister beside her:
"Did you come to the museum yesterday too?"
Seele shook her head:
"Nope. Some glasses-wearing pervert sent a huge batch of that guy's photos and videos to everyone she knows. My phone was buzzing nonstop yesterday—super annoying."
"…I see."
"What else? I don't come to the Overworld often."
"Right—the Captain said the wealth gap between the Overworld and Underworld is huge. Is that really true?"
"Hmph, pretty much! So what if they're rich? Even without money, I live just fine in the Underworld."
"Then… can I ask your name? I'm Kiana."
"Oh, I'm Seele."
"…"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I kinda guessed."
Seele smiled and flicked the scythe beside her with one finger:
"Wanna spar with me? It's been forever since I met a decent opponent. I can't beat Zeig, but I think we could have a little friendly match."
"No." Kiana refused outright.
"Chatting with you already got me AFK for a while—now the enemy is almost pushing to the crystal."
"? Then why keep chatting? When Zeig plays games, his fingers never stop moving."
"Yeah, but this account isn't mine—I don't need to rush."
"Whose is it?"
"His."
"…"
Suddenly, several Silvermane Guard officers broke away from the distant formation and hurried toward them.
While running, they shouted loudly:
"Be careful, everyone be careful! Mr. Dan Heng says he's confirmed a Stellaron Hunter is here—and this person is extremely dangerous! He ordered us to retreat immediately!"
"!!!"
…