Chapter 815: The City of Frozen People [4]

There was no time to think.

"Point at me in the direction of where we should go."

I stopped holding my mana back.

The ice statues themselves didn’t seem particularly threatening, but that wasn’t what worried me. My real concern was that I didn’t want to harm them. If they truly were still living people trapped in ice, then the best thing I could do was avoid them.

’Even though I already saw that nothing happened before, it’s best if I’m cautious.’

I also didn’t know if there was more to the statues.

Grabbing Ilyen by the waist, I had him point towards a certain direction before running with all my might.

"Hey, wait!"

Evelyn shouted, but was helpless as I grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her up on my shoulder.

"Kyaaak!"

She screamed, but I ignored her plight.

There was no time to waste.

"Let me go! I-I can... run myself!"

"Sure, you can."

"Julien!!!"

"I said, I believe you."

"Then let me go!"

I ignored her and looked at the boy.

"Where should we go?"

"Julie—Kyaaaak!"

The moment Ilyen pointed straight, I moved. Evelyn’s purple hair fluttered in front of my face, covering my vision, and forcing me to huff it out of my vision as I hurried ahead, avoiding all the ice sculptures along the way.

Avoiding them was easy; none posed any real threat, but the deeper I ventured into the city, the heavier the atmosphere became.

Along the way, I passed hundreds of those statues, scattered across the streets just like the ones before. It made me question more about the situation, but I didn’t have the time to figure it out.

The air grew colder, and my mana drained faster with each step, the sharp sting of the cold biting deeper into my skin.

Evelyn had long stopped shouting, her body curling over my shoulder as she tried her best to preserve herself as I looked at the young boy in my arms.

"How much longer?"

"....."

Ah, of course...

For a moment, I forgot he was mute. Looking around, and seeing that I was still surrounded by statues, a thought crossed my mind, and after a moment of hesitation, I took out a sword from my ring and tossed it on the ground, placing my foot over it and levitating over the ground with Evelyn and Ilyen.

The moment we hovered in the air, the statues stopped bothering us, but at the same time, the mana inside of my body started to drain at an even faster rate.

I was hesitant about doing this, but I had no choice as I turned to look at Evelyn.

"Evelyn, do you still have your bracelet?"

"H-huh?"

Evelyn turned her head, exposing her pale face as her mind struggled to comprehend my question, but after catching a glimpse of Ilyen, her mind sobered up as she immediately understood what I was trying to do, and she hurriedly reached for the bracelet on her wrist and gave it to me.

"It... might work."

"I know."

The boy was probably mute due to physical reasons.

In that case, it was possible that the bracelet would enable me to communicate with him more effectively.

’It’s a pity that I can’t get in contact with Leon and the others with it.’

I knew that they were statues, but I had hoped they had still retained their consciousness.

"Here, wear this."

I grabbed the boy’s hand and placed the bracelet on it. He was obviously hesitant, but under my grip, he couldn’t do anything at all.

I didn’t waste a second and tried to communicate with him.

’Can you hear me? Can you hear me...?’

"....."

The child gave no response, and for a moment, my brows furrowed. Did it not work? I pressed my lips together, glancing down. The sight that greeted me below nearly gave me the shock of a lifetime as the statues continued to move, climbing onto one another, eventually bridging the gap between us.

I didn’t waste a second and pushed the sword higher in the air.

’They’re... smart?’

It didn’t feel like this at first, but upon seeing their actions, it seemed they weren’t stupid, at least.

I was about to push the sword even higher when a certain voice made its way into my ears.

’Wha... what... this?’

My body went rigid, and I slowly turned toward the boy. He was staring at me with a puzzled expression, his large azure eyes blinking in confusion. Seeing him stare at me, I heard the voice echo inside my head once more.

’Weird... this.’

Hearing his voice again, I was certain of it now.

The bracelet worked!

I clenched my fist silently while staring at the young boy.

’The item that you’re wearing allows communication between the two of us. Since we’re communicating through our minds, there’s no need for you to use your vocal cords. You can speak freely to me.’

’.....!’

Seeing the child’s eyes widen in surprise, a grin almost tugged at my lips. One I managed to suppress as I lowered my gaze.

’There’s no time. Quickly lead the way. I don’t think I can hold for much longer.’

This was a half-truth. It was true that my mana was running fast, but I had quite a lot of it too. In fact, I could probably last for half a day. However, I still wanted to preserve as much of it as possible.

Thankfully, the child also appeared to notice my struggle, as he nodded his head, turned his head towards the right, and pointed.

’There... Not far... Near Park. Five minutes. Others. There.’

That was all I needed to hear.

I tapped my foot against the sword, and it shot off in the direction he’d indicated. The speed was impressive. What should’ve taken five minutes took less than one as we soared toward the park he’d pointed out.

’Where?’

’There!’

The young child pointed at a tall building next to the park, and I didn’t hesitate to head there. Even though I was just blindly following a young boy I didn’t know, he was my only hope in better understanding the current situation.

This was the only way for me to find a way to free Leon and the others.

Thud!

Landing on the ground, I glanced around. The park was deserted, with none of the statues that had filled the city moments ago in sight.

"Strange..." I muttered, glancing toward Ilyen. I was about to ask why this area was different, but before I could speak, he began walking toward the large building at the far end of the park, stopping before a massive door.

I didn’t ask him anything this time.

I wanted to see what he’d do, and a moment later, he stopped right before the door before knocking a couple of times.

At the same time he did, I narrowed my eyes, staring at my surroundings.

’This area feels weird. I’m not sure how to put it.’

I was about to investigate when a sharp hissing sound drew my attention back to the door as it slowly creaked open.

A moment later, a twin-tailed girl stepped out. Her face was pale, her body frail-looking, but what struck me most were her closed eyes. A thought surfaced in my mind as I brought a hand to my forehead.

’Don’t tell me...’

"You must be the guests that has brought Ilyen back."

The girl’s voice was frail and soft. With her eyes closed, she stood by the door.

"I w-ould... like to thank the two of you for helping out my brother. If... not for your help, he would’ve struggled quite a bit getting back."

She stuttered with her words, her voice growing frailer by the second, but she still insisted on speaking, despite Ilyen’s strong tugs.

I looked at the two.

So they were related...

"...I know we don’t know each other... well, but... would you want to come in?"

I looked at Evelyn.

Her face was even paler than before, and as I saw her nod her head slowly, I also nodded.

"Yes, I’d like that."

Seeing how the two children managed to endure this weather, I figured they must have some way to keep themselves warm, perhaps even a means to fix the current situation. At the very least, I wanted to know what had truly happened.

In fact, maybe I could even find out more about her...

"C-come in."

The girl’s voice pulled me from my thoughts again. Evelyn and I exchanged a brief glance before stepping through the massive doors, which closed behind us with a heavy

bang

.

What greeted the two of us after entering was a long, dark corridor.

The quiet sound of our steps echoed within the corridor as I followed the two children before me, my [Mana Sense] allowing me to see within the darkness. I wanted to speak to Ilyen, but decided to stay quiet as I continued to follow them along.

At the same time, I nudged Evelyn to get ready.

One might never know what could happen.

We walked in silence for half a minute, moving forward through the dim corridor. Eventually, the two children came to a stop.

And that was when we heard the muffled voices coming from the distance.

—Hey, watch yourself! You stepped on my foot!

—Stepped over your foot, my ass! You can’t even feel your own foot.

—What nonsense are you speaking?! Of course I can feel it!

—Look! I just bashed your foot, and you didn’t even scream.

—Haaaaa!!!

—Fucking! That’s too late!

—Haaaa!! My foot!!

"...."

"...."

Making out the conversation that was happening in the distance, my lips twitched. What sort of conversation was this?

"Don’t... mind them."

The young girl’s voice reached me a moment later as she placed a hand against the wall, feeling along its surface until a faint

click

sounded. A moment after, the low grind of shifting stone echoed through the air.

Light spilled out a moment later, revealing a large room beyond. A gentle warmth flowed from within, washing over me and easing the chill that clung to my body.

But what truly caught my attention was something else.

"Come here, you old hoogar! I’ll bash your foot with this hammer!"

Holding onto a hammer with both hands, a bulky man with a buzz cut glared at an elderly man not far from him, standing behind a wooden table as he pointed towards the man.

"In the name of all goodness of Clora! You must’ve lost your mind!"

The old man stomped his foot on the table.

"Look! Look! It’s practically gone."

It looked pretty good to me...

Swoooosh!

A large object came hurtling towards the old man, who screamed, "Haya! Murder! I’m about to be murdered!"

He brought both his hands to cover his face.

But just as the hammer was about to make its way towards him, it suddenly stopped.

Not a moment later, a voice echoed, "The two of you, stop it."

A figure appeared before the old man a moment later, his hand reaching onto the frozen hammer before tossing it on the ground.

"There’s a time and place for everything."

And soon, his gaze fell on us, his smile warm.

"There are guests that we need to greet."