With a flick of Vanessa’s slender finger, a surge of crimson flame burst to life in her palm. It twisted into a small fireball and roared forward, blazing toward the miniature snowmen.
The searing heat cut through the chilling fog, illuminating the ghostly mist with orange light.
But to her shock, the snowmen were faster than expected.
Despite their comical appearance, they moved with surprising agility, springing to the sides with uncanny grace. The fireball struck the ground, hissing against frost and dirt, but missed its targets entirely.
Then came the counterattack.
In a flash, icy spheres materialized in the snowmen’s stubby hands. With eerie synchrony, they raised their tiny arms.
The wind howled as the snowballs were launched at blinding speed, hissing through the fog like miniature comets.
"Elia, incoming!" Vanessa shouted.
Elia’s breath hitched in her throat. Her instincts screamed at her to move, to dodge, but there wasn’t enough time. Instead, she gritted her teeth and took a step forward, thrusting her hands out.
"[Earth Shield]!" she cried.
The ground rumbled in response.
With a loud crack, a thick slab of hardened earth erupted from the forest floor in front of them. It surged upward like a wall, intercepting the oncoming snowballs.
A muffled impact followed as the projectiles slammed into the barrier, sending bits of dirt and frost flying, but none broke through.
Xin didn’t need to be told twice.
In a blur, his figure vanished, darting through the fog like a ghost. His form shimmered with mana-enhanced speed, and in a heartbeat, he reappeared behind two of the snowmen.
He grinned, spinning his dagger in his grip. Then, in a single motion, he slashed out horizontally, leaving behind a faint arc of silver light in the air.
The snowmen didn’t react in time.
The blade cut cleanly through their round, snowy forms. Both split in half before dissolving into flurries of frost and scattered crystal shards, their giggling silenced forever.
But his moment of triumph was fleeting.
Without warning, the fog around them thickened—again.
It coiled tighter like a serpent, blotting out even the faintest light. Their visibility shrank from meters to mere centimeters.
Even holding a hand before their face became pointless. They couldn’t see past their own breath.
Xin froze mid-step, trying to sense movement, but everything was muted.
Vanessa and Elia stood frozen, back-to-back, their eyes wide as the mist consumed them.
Their surroundings had disappeared entirely, leaving only the sound of their own breathing—and the distant giggle of unseen snowmen.
"Guys?" Elia called out softly, her voice trembling. "Xin? Vanessa?"
Then, whoosh—a snowball zipped past her cheek, missing by a hair’s breadth. She gasped, feeling the icy wind of its passing.
Another projectile narrowly avoided Vanessa’s shoulder. Her flame flickered nervously in her hand, barely holding its form.
"Run!" Xin’s voice echoed through the fog, but its direction was distorted, almost like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Instinct took over. The three of them bolted blindly into the mist, feet crunching on frozen leaves and twigs. They had no sense of direction, no plan—just raw fear and the desperate need to survive.
A heavy, collective impact.
They collided with something solid—and alive. Bodies tumbled into each other like dominoes, hitting the ground with soft grunts and surprised yelps.
Groaning, they sat up, clutching their heads. Elia rubbed her forehead, Vanessa glared at whoever had flattened her, and Xin tried to steady himself.
Then the fog began to shift.
Not disperse entirely, but just enough for them to see. Like a curtain parting slightly, it revealed blurred outlines just a few feet ahead. Slowly, familiar faces came into view.
Heath stood there, arms crossed, lips curled into a half-scowl. His brown eyes scanned the group with a mixture of relief and annoyance.
"Ah, finally found you lot," he muttered, exhaling loudly. "Took me forever in this damn fog."
His voice carried a tone of irritation. As if blaming them for the separation.
Xin quickly staggered to his feet, brushing off frost from his sleeves. "I don’t think now’s the time to argue or stand around. We need to get out of here—now."
His voice, though firm, trembled with urgency.
Heath turned to him sharply, eyes narrowing. "And what exactly are you trying to insinuate now?"
Xin met his gaze without flinching. "You know what I mean... Heath."
The tension between the two snapped taut, crackling in the air like the moment before a storm. Their eyes locked, both unwilling to back down.
Before the situation could boil over, Vanessa stepped between them with arms outstretched, her tone commanding. "Enough. Both of you. This really isn’t the time to fight amongst ourselves."
Xin scoffed and crossed his arms. "That’s what I’ve been saying."
Heath’s expression twisted into a scowl, his jaw clenched tight. But after a tense pause, he exhaled harshly through his nose and took a step back. "Fine. We’ll table this for now. But don’t think I’ve forgotten."
"I wouldn’t expect you to," Xin muttered under his breath.
Off to the side, Elia was shivering slightly—not from the cold, but from dread. Her voice was soft, hesitant. "Hey... did any of you see Leon? He was leading us, and then—he just vanished."
Heath let out a dry, bitter laugh. "Nope. Didn’t see a trace. Maybe he got taken out by those pint-sized snow demons before we could."
The group fell silent.
Though no one said it, they all felt the same weight pressing on them.
Vanessa broke the silence first, her expression unreadable. "It’s a pity. He seemed strong... probably even ★★-Rank, from how he carried himself."
Xin chuckled, but there was no humor in it.
"So what if he was? Strength doesn’t mean anything if you’re too naive to survive. He thought this would just be a trial to breeze through. Rose Academy doesn’t care about your dreams. It’s brutal. Cruel. You hesitate once—you’re done."
Heath nodded in agreement. "Exactly. I knew it from the beginning. If Leon’s dead, that’s just the reality. His optimism was a liability. We will just find another optimistic loser and kill them ourselves. Why should we take the hard route when we can just pick off the weaklings?"
He paused for a second, then continued. "People like Leon are stupid."
Elia laughed weakly, trying to lighten the mood, though her smile didn’t reach her eyes. "That’s why we’re still here, right? Because we think alike. We know what it takes."
"Yeah," Heath muttered. "That’s why we’re a team."
As if acknowledging their grim resolve, the fog around them began to shift again.
Only this time, it didn’t thicken—it thinned.
The suffocating white slowly peeled back, like curtains being drawn aside. Trees emerged from the mist, faint shapes became clearer, and for the first time in what felt like hours, they could see more than a few meters ahead.
Xin grinned and stretched his arms. "See? Even the fog agrees with me. About time it—"
But his laughter died mid-sentence.
The fading mist wasn’t dispersing randomly. It was converging—gathering in a single point directly in front of them, swirling inwards like a vortex, as if summoned by some unseen force.
Each of them tensed as the concentration of fog began to twist and compress, its density forming a solid outline.
Step by deliberate step, it began to take form—towering, massive, and terrifying.
Their breaths caught in unison as the creature completed its transformation.
What stood before them was a monstrous snowman—but it bore no resemblance to the cute ones from children’s stories. It stood at least twice their combined height, broad-shouldered and imposing.
Its form was humanoid, but grotesquely muscular, as though the snow composing it had been packed with unnatural strength.
Frost clung to every inch of its massive body, glistening like sharpened glass under what little sunlight filtered through the canopy.
Its face was almost featureless—two enormous black eyes like endless voids stared down at them, void of emotion or mercy.
No mouth. No nose. Just a smooth, pale surface that made it seem more like a mannequin than a living creature.
They could see the mist swirling around its chest, pulsing faintly with an icy rhythm.
Pale blue plating, hardened from compressed ice, covered its arms, legs, chest, and neck like natural armor.
Every piece shimmered with a frost-enchanted sheen, absorbing the light and giving off an eerie, magical glow.
A deep, guttural roar erupted from the creature—not from a mouth, but from somewhere deep within.
The sheer volume of it shook the air, rattled the moss-covered trees, and shattered the last remnants of the fog in an instant.
A gale-force wind blasted outward from the beast, forcing the group to shield their faces.
When the air stilled and the frost settled, the mist was gone.
Revealing the twisted jungle around them—silent, motionless, and bathed in the creature’s looming shadow.
Their team stood rooted in place, wide-eyed and paralyzed.
Xin’s voice was a whisper. "What... in the frozen hell is that?"
Vanessa’s flames flickered to life again. "A nightmare."