Chapter 62: A Cold Kiss turned Warm
A day had passed since Chloe’s poison episode, and Silas, along with Gromda, had already reached the snowy lands. He had purchased new clothes from the system for both of them. He wore a black, tight turtleneck sweater, a heavy, brown hooded coat, white cargo pants, and black boots to help with trekking through the snowy land. Gromda wore similar clothes.
The snowy region was vastly different from the forests Silas and Gromda had crossed. The trees here were fewer, with harsher winds, and mountains that looked like giant white beasts sleeping beneath the sky. Every breath produced clouds of mist. Snow collapsed beneath their boots as they moved through the frozen wilderness.
Unlike before, Silas wasn’t wandering aimlessly anymore. He had a destination with a target: Chloe. His pink eyes glowed faintly beneath the hood of his coat. Thread Sight remained active. Countless threads stretched across the world around him. Most of them were useless. Some belonged to monsters and plants. Some belonged to the land itself. But among the countless invisible connections, one thread stood out.
It was thin and distant, and felt familiar. Silas focused on it, activating Thread Perception. The world seemed to shift as the thread brightened. Information flowed into his mind: distance, direction, movement, and location. He couldn’t help but be shocked at how the ability worked. He literally didn’t need GPS, and this was just the first level of the ability. Though it didn’t help him go offensive on enemies, just the two skills Sight and Perception made him almost untouchable.
His eyes widened as something entered his gaze.
"I found her."
"You find Chloe?" Gromda immediately looked over.
"Yeah." Silas nodded.
This time, there was no uncertainty, vague direction, or guesswork. He could feel exactly where she was. For some reason, the thread had become significantly clearer, almost as though Chloe herself had undergone some kind of change. Whatever the reason was, he wasn’t complaining. A mental map formed inside his head, an update of the first one.
The route unfolded naturally, showing mountains, frozen valleys, a large glacier, and beyond it... a cave. It was far away, but reachable. Silas immediately increased his pace.
"We’re moving."
"Okay." Gromda nodded.
The two accelerated. Hours passed, and the snowy landscape blurred around them. Naturally, the rift wasn’t willing to make things easy. The first group of monsters appeared around noon, six giant ice bears emerged from behind a ridge.
Each one stood over ten feet tall, their bodies radiated freezing mist, and their glowing blue eyes locked onto the intruders. The largest bear roared, but Silas didn’t stop walking. A giant pink circle appeared behind him, and several glowing arrows materialized.
The bears barely had time to react when the arrows vanished. Six explosions erupted simultaneously, and the bears disappeared into snow, blood, and ice. Everything behind them vanished in a straight line extending hundreds of meters.
Silas kept walking while Gromda glanced backward.
"..."
The bears no longer existed. She wisely decided not to comment.
An hour later, a flock of ice drakes descended from the sky. Silas shot them. Another hour, a pack of horned wolves appeared. Silas shot them, too.
By evening, Gromda had reached a conclusion. Her mate had absolutely no patience, especially today. Whenever a monster appeared, there were arrows and death. Immediate execution. Even the system seemed amused.
[You are becoming efficient.]
’I’m in a hurry.’
[Fair.]
The sun slowly descended. Its orange light painted the snowy mountains, and the temperature dropped further. They finally arrived at the location Silas had seen. A mountain stood before them, and near its base was a cave, the exact location shown by the thread.
Silas immediately felt it, and his expression changed. The playful attitude he always wore vanished. He felt it deep inside him. Something was wrong. The thread connected directly to the cave, yet Chloe wasn’t moving, not even slightly.
The thread felt... dormant. A terrible feeling settled in his chest. Without waiting, Silas broke into a sprint.
"Silas?" Gromda called, but he was already gone, snow exploding beneath his feet. His body shot forward as he reached the cave entrance, cold air pouring outward. It was far colder than the surrounding environment, but Silas didn’t care as he rushed inside.
The deeper he went, the colder it became. Soon, he reached the main chamber. There, he stopped, his eyes widening. The cave was covered in ice. Ancient snowflake-like patterns glowed faintly across the frozen surfaces, and at the center of the cavern stood something enormous. It was a crystal cocoon, pure white, and radiating terrifying cold. The thread connecting him to Chloe led directly inside it.
Silas stared in disbelief and something... fear. For the first time in a very long while, he didn’t know what to say, because somehow... Somehow, he could feel Chloe inside. She was alive, yet not entirely alive. She appeared to be sleeping, changing, and evolving. The cocoon pulsed softly, causing the entire cave to tremble. A faint crack appeared across the surface of the cocoon, and Silas’s eyes narrowed.
Something told him that whatever was happening... It was almost finished. So he waited. Along the way, Gromda joined him after going back and grabbing some meat from the monsters Silas had killed earlier. She broke some branches from the fruit tree Chloe massacred and made fire in the cave. If the monster were around and looking, it would feel a pang of pain in its soul.
The cocoon cracked further while Gromda prepared the meat, but Silas didn’t eat. His gaze was on the cocoon, unblinkingly. He seemed to be in a trance, but Gromda could tell that he was worried. She didn’t try to stop him or force him to eat. She just focused on preparing the meat and took a few bites. From how the cocoon was cracking, it would crash in a few minutes at the moment.
And it did. In about five minutes, the cocoon crashed, spilling ice and water everywhere, almost snuffing out the fire Gromda had made. Silas stood up abruptly and approached the thing that had appeared out of the cocoon. It was a beautiful pale-skinned girl or lady with long white hair that fell to her knees.
"Chloe..." Silas muttered and hastily knelt beside her. Her skin was very cold, and her breathing was shallow. Her lips looked almost blue. Instinctively, Silas bent down, and his mouth touched hers in a silent kiss. Gromda looked at him with an intense gaze, but she didn’t react, though she felt jealous.
The kiss felt cold and rigid, but Silas didn’t break it. He could feel it. She needed warmth. Soon enough, felt her lips move against his, while her hand clapped his neck. Her lips parted, letting his tongue in, and in no time, they were entangled in a deep kiss.
