The roar of the helicopter blades echoed across the northern skies.
WHRRRRRRRRR...
Far below, the world slowly began to change.
The endless green forests disappeared.
Barren rocky hills took their place.
Then—
Everything turned pale.
White.
Snow-covered valleys stretched endlessly beneath them.
Frozen lakes shimmered like gigantic sheets of glass.
Mountains of ice pierced the clouds.
It felt as though they were flying into a world that had never been meant for mankind.
The air inside the cabin grew colder.
Frost slowly crept across the windows.
Bimo pressed his face against the glass—
Then immediately pulled back.
"Whoa."
He rubbed his cheek.
"This window's colder than my ex."
Dika snorted.
"You've never even had an ex."
"Exactly."
"That's why I'm still alive."
No one laughed very hard.
They were simply too exhausted.
Farhan opened his laptop on his lap.
His fingers flew across the keyboard—
Then gradually slowed.
They were trembling from the cold.
"The Core's energy is still rising..."
he said quietly.
Lila pulled a pair of gloves from her backpack and tossed them onto his lap.
"Put them on."
Farhan looked as though he wanted to protest.
But he was shivering too badly to argue.
Without another word, he slipped them on.
Rani checked the bandage wrapped around Bimo's shoulder.
The wound he had suffered in the forest had begun bleeding again.
"The stitches have opened."
Bimo glanced at the blood staining his jacket.
"My body's just a little too enthusiastic."
"Your body's an idiot."
"Sometimes those are the same thing."
Rani replaced the bandage with absolutely no mercy.
Bimo grimaced.
"Okay, okay..."
"I apologize for every sin I've ever committed."
Arga sat silently beside the window.
The MBG Lunchbox rested in his hands.
He opened it just a little.
The sixteen glowing rice grains floated peacefully inside.
But this time...
Their light carried no warmth.
Only a faint chill that seeped from the box—
Straight into his bones.
He quickly closed it again.
His chest felt heavy.
Every awakened Core brought another war.
Every victory left behind another wound.
His eyes moved across his teammates.
One by one.
And for the first time since this journey had begun—
He was afraid.
Not of dying.
But of not bringing everyone home.
Kai stood beside the cabin door.
His eyes remained closed.
Silently sensing the flow of energy outside.
"This is different," he murmured.
Sinta looked at him.
"How?"
Kai slowly opened his eyes.
"The energy inside the forest was alive."
He stared at the endless white landscape below.
"But here..."
"...it feels like something that was buried by force."
Silence instantly filled the cabin.
Pak Rahmat had barely spoken the entire flight.
He sat motionless.
His gaze never left the distant frozen mountains.
His lips moved almost imperceptibly—
As though repeating an ancient name that should never awaken again.
Arga noticed.
But before he could ask—
The pilot's voice crackled through the headset.
"We're starting our descent!"
The helicopter lowered toward the frozen valley.
Outside—
The wind became savage.
WHOOOOOSH!
The entire cabin shook violently.
Lila grabbed her seat.
"The wind's insane!"
The pilot clenched his jaw.
"There's a strange air current coming from the valley ahead!"
Farhan checked the weather sensors.
"That doesn't make any sense..."
"A storm is forming from a single point."
Kai stared ahead.
"That's not weather."
"It's responding to something."
Finally—
The helicopter slammed onto a relatively flat stretch of ice.
THUD!
The engines continued roaring as the cabin doors opened.
A freezing blast of wind struck them like countless knives.
WHOOOOSH!
Bimo jumped out—
Then immediately wrapped his arms around himself.
"Okay..."
He shivered violently.
"I officially apologize for every time I complained about hot weather."
Dika climbed down beside him.
His boots immediately sank knee-deep into the snow.
"If you freeze to death..."
"I'm taking your food rations."
Everywhere they looked—
There was only white.
Gray skies.
Frozen mist.
Silent mountains.
No birds.
No flowing water.
No signs of life.
The land itself seemed to reject their existence.
Farhan reopened his laptop.
A brilliant blue light pulsed on the map.
"The Core is five kilometers from here."
Lila studied the readings.
"The temperature is still dropping."
"Minus twenty-three..."
"Minus twenty-seven..."
Rani exhaled a cloud of white breath.
"If this keeps up..."
"We'll lose before we even meet anything."
Sinta stepped forward first.
"Move."
No one argued.
They marched through the endless snow.
CRUNCH.
CRUNCH.
CRUNCH.
The icy wind lashed against their faces.
Their fingers slowly became numb.
Every breath burned inside their lungs.
Bimo tried to lighten the mood as they walked.
"If I collapse..."
"...please bury me somewhere with a nice view."
No one responded.
He looked around.
"Wow..."
"This team's colder than the weather."
Arga opened the MBG Lunchbox slightly.
The glow of the sixteen rice grains reflected across the snow.
But that wasn't what made him stop.
The snow ahead—
Was trembling.
Almost imperceptibly.
Kai immediately raised one hand.
"Stop."
Everyone froze.
Then they heard it.
BOOM.
Far away.
Deep beneath the earth.
Like the footsteps of something far too enormous to exist.
BOOM.
Bimo swallowed.
"Please tell me that's just an echo."
BOOM.
The snow-filled mist in the valley ahead began to move.
Farhan stared at the energy readings.
His eyes widened.
"A massive surge!"
Lila instinctively stepped back.
"It's coming toward us."
Sinta immediately took position.
"Formation!"
The blizzard split apart.
And something emerged from within.
Its very first step shattered the frozen ground.
CRAAAAACK!
The creature stood as tall as a three-story building.
Its massive body was covered in thick white fur coated with shards of ancient ice.
Broken frozen chains hung heavily from both shoulders.
One side of its body was scarred by ancient wounds, forever sealed beneath layers of ice.
It wasn't merely powerful.
It looked like a prisoner...
One that had torn its own way out of captivity.
Its eyes—
Burned with an intense sapphire blue.
Not wild.
Angry.
Filled with unimaginable fury.
Bimo slowly stepped backward.
"Okay..."
"...that's definitely not a bear."
Kai spoke almost in a whisper.
"No."
"It's a legend."
The colossal creature stopped.
Its breath rolled from its mouth like a living blizzard.
Then...
It looked directly at Arga.
The MBG Lunchbox immediately erupted with brilliant light.
The sixteen rice grains spun violently.
A piercing cold burst from within.
Arga clutched his chest.
Fragments of a vision flashed through his mind—
Chains.
Ice.
Thousands of years of darkness.
Endless solitude.
This wasn't merely a Guardian.
It had been imprisoned.
And now...
It was free.
Pak Rahmat slowly stepped forward.
His face turned pale.
For the very first time—
His voice trembled.
"...Astra Borealis."
Everyone turned toward him.
Farhan frowned.
"You know its name?"
Pak Rahmat didn't answer.
His eyes remained locked on the colossal being.
Like a man watching his own past rise from the grave.
The giant creature slowly lifted its head.
Then it roared.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!
The deafening cry shook the entire valley.
The surrounding mountains answered with thunderous echoes.
Snow high upon the cliffs began to collapse.
RUMBLE...
Lila looked upward.
Her face turned deathly pale.
"An avalanche!"
High above them—
An enormous wall of snow broke free.
Then came crashing down toward them.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!