Chapter 376: Ice Dragon (1)

It’s more bearable than I expected?

I straightened my body and scanned the base.

A place lit by incandescent lamps. It was filled with far more everyday items than I had imagined.

Aside from my body creaking a little from the sudden temperature change, it didn’t really feel like I had arrived in Antarctica yet.

I pulled the fluffy hood down tighter and rolled my eyes.

“Black—.”

But the squad leader didn’t give me time to leisurely look around.

The squad leader for this mission was Yun.

He made eye contact with Kairos, then jerked his chin toward the corridor.

“We’re going to check the power generators, so follow me. Sordi, put the medical supplies away. Kalak, take the fuel with Ami. Hilde, you go with Kai—pull out a week’s worth of food ingredients, then go store the rest.”

The seniors answered in unison and immediately dispersed.

Except for me and Kairos, everyone already had the base map memorized. They hoisted the supplies without a second’s hesitation and headed straight into the corridor.

Kairos also obediently walked over to Yun.

As he left with the handler, I caught what he was saying.

The handler was answering enthusiastically to something Yun had said.

“Yes. That’s right. First of all, the scales themselves have excellent flame-retardant properties, so there’s little risk of being burned by its own fire. Inside the mouth, a fire-resistant mucus is secreted, and—.”

So that’s why he took Kairos away—to keep talking about Fire Dragons.

Ridiculous, but also very him.

I watched the men heading down the corridor with a dumbfounded look, then turned my head.

And started working with Kai.

The legendary Black Badger—said to be someone even Richard Green doesn’t nag.

Carl Dow was as capable as ever.

“How’s your condition?”

“I’m fine.”

He nodded and proceeded with the task.

We opened the boxes and pulled out the necessary food supplies. Carrying the remaining boxes, we headed into the corridor. I didn’t even know how many floors this place had, let alone the layout, but Carl walked without hesitation, so there was no problem at all.

“I’ll memorize it quickly.”

“No need. Just focus on recovering.”

When I muttered awkwardly, Carl replied gently.

“If your condition worsens, tell me right away.”

We went to the underground storage area.

There was no need to put the food in refrigerators. We just had to bring it to the underground warehouse. Nature would take care of keeping everything cold.

The moment we stepped outside the building, a biting cold slammed into us.

White breath poured from my mouth.

“Now it finally feels real.”

“First time in Antarctica?”

What a strange question.

I nodded reluctantly.

After finishing moving the boxes, Carl spoke.

“Best thing is to leave quickly. It’s beautiful, but not a place you can endure long with so few people. If things go bad, you freeze to death on the spot.”

“It looks that way. Have you been to Antarctica before?”

“I was lucky enough to spend one winter here.”

What an unbelievable person.

“If nothing goes wrong, we’ll eat dinner and head out right away. It hasn’t dropped below minus forty yet, so it’s still on the warmer side.”

When we got back, food preparation was in full swing.

Yun and Ricardo were gone. For this mission, the handler was worth a hundred men. There was hardly any machinery or communication equipment he couldn’t handle.

After finishing the heating system checks, Yun had gone with Ricardo to inspect the heavy equipment.

Meanwhile, Sophia and Ami had mostly cleaned up the cafeteria.

Kairos was cooking.

Surprisingly, the handler was quite good at it.

Since we had already decided on the dinner menu before crossing the portal, we ate well without any trouble. Salad, smoked salmon, steak, and bread were laid out.

After the meal, the men all gathered and moved to the sleeping quarters.

We wouldn’t be using a separate conference room, portal zone, or cafeteria for meetings. Yun intended to conserve power as much as possible.

Only one section of the sleeping quarters was used.

Yun mercilessly stuffed five men into a single room.

It seemed each room had originally been a single-occupancy unit, furnished with a dresser, humidifier, and computer.

The handler ordered the dressers and computers removed, then had two bunk beds brought in. After that, he shoved two bunk beds and one regular bed into the emptied space like a game of Tetris.

The room filled wall to wall with beds.

“Hilde sleeps in the middle bed.”

“Why?”

The question was ignored.

“Black, you sleep on the left, bottom bunk. Sordi and Kai, you two take the top bunks. I’ll sleep on the right bed, bottom. If there’s a power issue, I need to move immediately.”

“Yes.”

“Pick whichever’s comfortable for you~.”

No one even looked at me as I expressed my confusion.

While Carl and Ricardo were choosing beds, Yun gestured roughly for Sophia and Ami to grab spots.

Ami bolted straight for Yun’s bed, while Sophia crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

Kairos walked to his own bed.

I awkwardly went to the bed in the center of the room.

Ami, sitting on Yun’s bed, patted the spot next to her.

“Rick! Sophia! Sit here!”

“I’m good~.”

“I’m fine.”

They rejected Ami’s offer immediately.

As expected. Neither the green-eyed senior nor Sophia would sit on Yun’s bed, no matter how much Yun claimed he [N O V E L I G H T] didn’t care.

But maybe they’d sit more comfortably on my bed?

“Seniors. Please sit here.”

“It’s too cramped~.”

“Doesn’t look like there’s space to sit.”

That’s harsh.

Being wedged between bunk beds, it was admittedly an awkward place to sit.

In any case, Ricardo, Carl, and Sophia all refused.

Naturally, Yun didn’t care whether anyone sat or not.

He didn’t look like he planned to sit either.

Yun lifted his head from the pad and looked at the TF members.

“One thing to confirm before we head out.”

We listened quietly.

Yun cast a dry glance toward Kairos.

“Can you wake it?”

Kairos stared at Yun.

“Probably not.”

“Why ‘probably’.”

“I mean that I can try something. Contracting it is impossible, but if I strain to catch its presence with my sixth sense, the Ice Dragon might notice and open its eyes.”

“Hey.”

I looked at Kairos with a hard stare.

Is this bastard out of his mind.

I frowned deeply and said,

“Do you want to lose your remaining eye too? Don’t even think about trying.”

“I won’t lose an eye. I’m not using the Venom Meridian. And contracting it is impossible anyway. I’d just be... irritating it a bit, seeing if it wakes—.”

“Don’t do that either! Your nerves were completely fried last time!”

“That was because I overdid it contracting the Remnant Wraith—.”

“And you think probing an Ice Dragon’s presence will leave you fine?”

“Try it if you’re confident you won’t die.”

Yun cut off my shout with a cold voice.

I snapped my head toward him.

The squad leader pretended not to see my glare.

“If we could wake it that way, it would be ideal. If we wake it physically, we have to go out into the darkness without sunlight, plant bamboo poles in the blizzard to mark a safe route, trudge through the snow like worms, then reach a lifeform bigger than most buildings and either throw explosives at it or go stab it.”

“Yun.”

I called the handler.

“You saw him nearly die last time.”

“And you saved him.”

Yun replied without emotion.

“We’ll bring a whole pig. If something goes wrong, be ready to relocate. You probably don’t realize it yet since you haven’t really gone outside, but the moment we lose our way in the dark, we all freeze to death.”

“There’s nothing outside to relocate to anyway.”

Kairos chimed in immediately.

Seeing me scowling deeply, he flashed a grin.

“I won’t overdo it, so don’t worry. There’s a much higher chance it’ll be a complete miss.”

“Then don’t do it!”

“It’s the squad leader’s order.”

I had to exert considerable effort not to smash something over Kairos’s head.

“Like I said, don’t worry so much.”

Carl and Sophia actually brought in a whole pig.

I didn’t even glance at the pig they set down at the entrance.

I just sat on the bed, sulking. But no one was interested in hearing my silent protest.

I couldn’t believe that everyone except me agreed to this attempt.

Ignoring my irritated sighs, Kairos smiled pleasantly.

“Then I’ll give it a try.”

All eyes focused on the bottom bunk.

In silence, everyone watched the handler.

Kairos sat on the bed and lowered his eyelids halfway.

And didn’t move for a while.

About three minutes....

“Ah.”

“Hey!”

This is driving me insane.

“Gah! Jack!”

“I’ll get tissues~.”

I leaned toward Kairos and clamped his nose shut with my sleeve.

Even as my sleeve rapidly soaked red, Kairos curved his eyes in a smile.

With his nose blocked, the handler spoke in a muffled voice.

“No chance. It probably didn’t even notice what I was trying to do.”

“Great brag.”

I grumbled, sulking.

“Are you satisfied now?”

With that, one option vanished after thoroughly flipping my insides.

Now there was only one option left.

Go outside and approach the sleeping dragon.

Yun said we should be prepared to live in the base for at least four days.

Because the Antarctic base hadn’t been used for quite some time, and just figuring out the path to the sleeping Ice Dragon would take no less than three days.

We would have to walk through the darkness ourselves, planting bamboo poles as we went. Each pole would have a fluorescent flag attached. The poles would be connected with rope. Red flags would mark dangerous routes like cliffs, green flags safe paths.

Apparently, this work was usually completed during the summer—but since no one had been here in summer, we had to do it now.

Creating a safe path to the dragon.

“Can’t we use something like a tractor?”

“JP8 aviation fuel used in engines turns into a gel below minus twenty-seven degrees. Meaning it won’t run. There might be a snow vehicle, but it’s old—we can’t be sure it’ll work properly. It’s safer to assume it won’t.”

“How far is it to where the dragon is?”

Realizing belatedly that I had come here without even such basic information, I asked my second question.

Yun answered.

“No. But oxygen saturation is low here. Your blood oxygen level is probably around ninety percent right now. And with the low temperature on top of that, you can’t move as quickly as usual.”

“I’ve checked the route roughly. Let’s hope nothing’s changed.”

When Yun finished explaining, Carl calmly added,

“We’ll know once we go out.”

And so the preparations for going outside began.

I stood up to prepare with them.

But the preparations were blocked before they even began. The seniors turned toward me and said something outrageous.

They told me to stay inside the base.

I protested.

“What am I supposed to do here alone?”

“Here.”

Sophia replied.

“Read a book.”

“How am I supposed to sleep when all of you are outside? I won’t be able to read either!”

“How are we supposed to drag someone who collapses in a warm café along with us~?”

Ricardo let out a small laugh.

“If you collapse out there, you’ll just be dead weight. So stay here and guard the house....”

“A sound idea. You’ll be exhausted, so get some rest.”

“I’m not exhausted at all. I’m fine—no, then why did you bring me here in the first place?”

“To treat you.”

Yun said coldly, then pushed my shoulder with his palm as I tried to leave the room.

I gave him a look that clearly said, does that make any sense, but it was useless.

As the seniors shuffled out into the corridor, Yun stopped me when I tried to follow.

“It’s a squad leader’s order.”

“Yun.”

“I won’t accept insubordination on a mission.”

His face was as cold as the Antarctic air.

“Stay inside the base.”

And so, on my first day in Antarctica, I didn’t even get to step outside the base.

I just sat on the bed like an idiot and greeted the seniors when they returned, sulking.

Ricardo and Carl laughed when they saw my scowl. Ami came running in shouting, “It’s dark and cold!”

Sophia quietly entered the women’s room, while Yun and Kairos came in talking about dragon wings.

Checking on everyone’s safety in a gloomy mood, the day came to an end.

It was my first day in Antarctica.

***

I woke to a hand gently shaking me.

“Awake~?”

Four pairs of eyes were looking down at me.

“If you woke up from a dream, go back to sleep....”