He stood a little taller than I did.

His face was pale as snow, and his hair a deep azure, matching the color of his eyes. A faint pressure settled over my chest as I looked at him.

'He's... strong.'

I couldn't quite make out his strength, but it wasn't far off from mine.

"Huh? Who are these... people?"

It was the man's voice that finally caught the attention of the old man and the burly man. The two both turned in our direction, their bodies tensing with caution.

It was the little girl who explained, "They are people that Ilyen brought over. They apparently helped him get here. He also says that they have food. I think this is good. The more survivors, the better."

"Food?! Did you just say food?!"

The moment food was mentioned, the old man's eyes lit up.

The way he looked at me was also a lot more welcoming.

"If that's the case, what are you waiting for? Please come in. Come in."

He smiled, exposing his crooked teeth.

I felt a little hesitant, but the warm voice of the man from before echoed once more.

"Please enter. We can't expose this room to the cold for much longer."

"Oh, right."

I looked behind me and then to Evelyn. She appeared hesitant, but we didn't really have much of a choice. The two of us walked into the room, and not a moment after we stepped in, a certain warmth bathed our bodies.

".....!"

The sensation...

It was euphoric to some extent.

Although I had been able to withstand it somewhat, the cold still pierced past the small barrier of mana that I'd cast over my body.

'This feels so much better.'

Clank—

The door closed behind, and the warmth grew. It was also in that moment that I took a good look at my surroundings. We were in a decently sized room, about the size of a tennis court, filled with the basic necessities, from tall metal shelves to some sofas, and a dim light right above.

I wondered what this place was, but a pungent smell brought me out of my thoughts.

'The hell is this smell!?'

"Hehe."

The old man appeared before me, drool glistening at the corner of his mouth. Though well into his later years, he still had a full head of hair and a thick beard. His clothes were disheveled, and as I stared at him, I realized he was the source of the stench.

'He acts and looks like a hobo.'

I tried my best to keep my face composed, but his next actions nearly made my face crack.

"So..."

He hooked his arm over my shoulder, the intense stench making my stomach turn.

"You know... hehe, you mentioned something abou—"

"Fetch."

".....!"

Tossing whatever I could find from my ring, the old man dashed in the direction of the food as I took the chance to move away.

"Oh!!!"

By the time I looked at the old man again, he was devouring the snack bar that I had tossed away.

"So good!"

Seeing the looks the others were giving, I took out some other things and handed them over.

"There's more food if anybody wants."

I actually had a lot of rations. With all my previous experiences, I learned to bring a large stack with me before every trip, or during trips. This was to prevent unwanted situations from occurring.

'...Looks like I was right in doing so.'

"A... Are you sure we can... have this?"

The little girl hesitantly reached for the jerky in my hand. The same was for Ilyen, who swallowed quietly.

"Don't be shy. Take it. He's offering it to you."

It was the warm voice from the man that made the two finally muster up the courage to take the food. The little girl's eyes twitched as she brought the food to her nose, taking a small bite before eating it with her small hands.

Ilyen was a little less gentle, biting everything down at once.

'They must've been quite hungry.'

Seeing how small the children were, I could tell that they hadn't eaten in a while. This made me curious. What in the world was happening here?

Were these all of the survivors left?

"Thank you so much for your help. I was starting to worry about what we'd do if we couldn't find any food. You see... our supplies are running dangerously low."

Approaching me, the man didn't shy away from the snacks in my hand, grabbing one and handing it over to the burly man before taking one for his own. He extended his hand in my direction.

"I'm Velar, nice to meet you."

"...Nice to meet you."

I shook his hand, but paused after feeling just how cold it was. For a moment, it almost felt as though I was grabbing onto a cube of ice.

"Haha, don't mind that."

Velar brought his hand away, brushing his azure hair back.

"Although my hand is cold, that's mainly because I'm very well attuned with the 'Ice' element. I'm not particularly affected by the weather outside."

"Oh."

'That explains his hair and eyes...'

There were some people whose elemental affinity could dictate the appearance of their regular features. It wasn't exactly strange.

But that wasn't what I cared about.

"If you don't mind me asking, can you tell me exactly what is going on around here?"

I was dying to know.

From the moment I arrived, Leon and the others suddenly turned into ice. Thousands of frozen statues lined the streets, and after a while, they began attacking us. Did I forget to mention that the cold is slowly draining our mana?

This entire situation...

It was messed up.

I really wanted to understand what was going on.

"About that..."

The mood in the room turned strange, and everyone paused their actions. However, it was Velar who curbed the tension that suddenly rose.

"Seeing as to how you're not familiar with the situation, and how you still have fresh rations, I guess you must not be aware of what happened recently in our Domain."

"Do you mean Clora's..."

I didn't finish.

I knew that this could potentially be a sensitive topic. No one could ever know if they were fanatics or not.

"Ah, so you do know. In that case, it makes things a little easier for me to explain."

Velar smiled.

"...It all happened out of nowhere."

Velar's smile started to fade, his tone lowering at the same time.

"The world went on as it always had. Everyone carried on with their lives, and though life in the Mirror Dimension was never easy, we managed. Under Clora's protection, the harsh weather became bearable, and cities began to flourish. We thought it would last forever, until it appeared."

The tension within the room heightened.

My skin prickled as a certain chill permeated the room, and my breathing paused.

"The God Hunter."

A hidden hatred lay within those words as Velar's eyes narrowed.

"Black. Total Darkness. That's how I'd describe the 'God Hunter'. I... don't think that something like that can ever be considered human. One by one, it started to attack the Princes. None of them could put up a fight against it. The 'God Hunter' was simply too strong. Its goal was clear. It... wanted to hunt the Goddess."

The silence that stretched across the room a moment later felt tense as nobody spoke, Velar's eyes narrowing as he recalled everything that had happened.

"...In the end, the God Hunter succeeded. It ended up killing Clora. And..."

He stopped there, but he didn't need to continue.

I could more or less understand what he was trying to say.

'It's not much different from what I expected.'

This was more or less in line with everything that I had concluded in my mind.

'In the end, this entire situation is indeed because of Clora's 'death'. Her disappearance has made the entire place unstable, but that doesn't really explain the statues.'

I was just about to ask, but as though he could read my mind, Velar answered that question.

"The statues originate from the lingering power of the 'God Hunter.' Its power... it doesn't belong to this world. I've never seen anything like it before. It has cursed this domain, and the statues are merely the remnants of its wrath. It's... the God Hunter's way of suppressing all of us.'

Velar's expression scrunched up, a clear look of hatred marring his features.

But as I looked at him, I couldn't help but be confused.

'This is all because of Delilah?'

I...

I wanted to strongly deny this claim, but when I thought of certain moments in the past, I felt my heart growing heavier.

This...

If Delilah had truly let herself fall into that strange darkness that lingered within her body, it was certainly possible that she had done this. Very likely, she had done this to make the gods pay for their sins.

Still, a part of me hoped that wasn't the case.

Because if it was true...

'Then her mind has fallen into the control of the Outer Gods.'

The sense of heaviness in my heart grew as I looked at Velar. He was no longer frowning and instead appeared a lot calmer.

"We've been trapped here ever since. We've searched for survivors, hoping to unite and overcome this crisis, but there aren't many of us left. These are some of the people I've managed to find."

Velar pointed at the people around.

An old hobo. A blind girl. A mute boy.

The only one that appeared normal was the burly man, but I somehow struggled to believe there wasn't anything strange about him.

Still, there was something that I was curious about.

I thought back to all the people who had been frozen outside, including Leon and the others.

"How come only a select few aren't frozen? Is there some sort of reason for that?"

I glanced at Evelyn beside me. She hadn't been frozen either. I couldn't help but wonder why the two of us, and the people in this room, had been spared from turning into ice.

"Who said we're exempt from that?"

But the answer I received wasn't the one that I expected.

Velar alternated his gaze between the two of us, his smile returning.

"...None of us is an exception. We're all turning into ice blocks. There's no escaping the curse that 'God Hunter' has set."

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