Chapter 211: [211] Icy Blue

Olivia got to the monster’s body and began inspecting it, but she was unsure of what she was seeing.

There was a large hole that seemed to have been burned right from one side through the other. Like a hot rod had gone right through the bear’s heart.

She got on its fur and climbed over to its back, continuing to inspect the monster when something suddenly scraped her leather armour.

Olivia reached for the object and tried to lift it, only to discover that it was lodged deep inside the monster’s body.

"Huh?" She repositioned herself and tugged harder on the object.

Pop!

Olivia fell backwards, rolling over the bear’s massive body, over to the side, landing onto something hard and sharp with a crack.

Thankfully, it was not sharp enough to pierce her armour, but when she realized what it was, Olivia felt her heart drop.

This portion of the cave was much larger than the others, so she got to her feet, only to stagger back to the cold wall.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Bones.

She was surrounded by bones in all directions, but that was not all. These bones were not the bones of monsters whose flesh had rotted off...

The bones were picked clean, likely with a knife. And judging by the large cauldron by the other side of the room, the person had eaten them...

So then why?

Olivia felt her stomach churn.

Why were there human bones as well?

Olivia stared at the object in her hand that had now been stained with blood, and then everything began to make sense.

An arrowhead.

The monster had not crawled here; it had been dragged here. And this mess, it was not the job of some monster. It was too organized to have been done by a beast. This was the work of humans!

"Cici!" Olivia scrambled up the bear’s hide in panic. "We have to get out of here!" But the moment she saw Cici, her mouth went dry.

There was a man standing right behind her, wrapped up in layers upon layers of beast hide.

His icy blue eyes were so devoid of humanity that he might as well have been a beast, and in his hand was a dagger carved from bone.

Cici cocked her head to the side. "Olivia? What is wrong—"

"BEHIND YOU!!"

[Threat detected! Winter Tribesman, Level 30 x 1!]

It was too late.

The man grabbed her by the throat, and with his other hand, he drove his weapon in, pulling her back simultaneously.

Stab!

The dagger sank into Cici’s back, just before bursting out of the other side.

"Huh~"

Blood pooled up in her mouth, her face a mask of confusion and fear as her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and her body went limp.

"CICI! Get your hands away from her, you animal!"

Olivia was about to rush out of the cave when she felt something hard slam into her head, dazing her. And then a dagger sank into her thigh.

It came in with a burning sensation, as though fire had been shut right up her bones. Olivia swallowed her scream and turned around to glare at her attacker, her chest boiling with rage.

’There were two?’

[Threat detected! Winter Tribesman, Level 30 x 1!]

There had been another man in the cave, one that had the same icy blue eyes as the person who had stabbed Cici. He was holding a war hammer stained with blood, her blood.

The room was cramped, so Olivia could not stand up, nor attack properly. And if she tried to use magic, she would bring down the entire cave on their heads.

"Get the fuck off m..." Olivia’s words slurred, and she felt her vision begin to dim.

’Huh?’

’No, no!’ Had she been poisoned in that little time? Olivia felt panic flood her.

This was all her fault. Why did she have to investigate the cave? She should have reported it to Ark instead of trying to act on her own.

But...

’I thought I could do this myself.’ The worst she expected was that the monster would still be alive. Never would she have imagined she would encounter natives in such a place.

’Cici...’

The thought of her, the thought of what those men would do to Cici... it ignited something within Olivia’s chest. A faint ember.

"G-give her... g-give her back!" Olivia screamed at the top of her voice.

Lightning coursed around her body, burning her nerves as she tried to fight through the haze, shifting between intermittent phases of consciousness and unconsciousness.

Her eyes dimmed. The poison was just too strong. Blood drifted down her nose as she electrocuted herself further.

’I can’t give up! Not here~’

Bang!

The man slammed his hammer into her head, causing more blood to spew out as Olivia’s head lulled to the side.

She could hear a sharp ringing in her ears, and her mind blurred with pain.

Strength fled her body, and with her last ounce of energy, she tilted her head to the side, blood dripping down the side of her face as she tried to find Cici.

Was she even still alive?

Olivia wished she hadn’t looked.

But at the same time, she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she had not.

So she watched in horror as the man pulled out the dagger, holding her limp with one arm and slicing off her right arm with the other.

He smiled, and his lips moved, but Olivia could not make out his words.

Her vision went dark as she was tugged back, the man dragging her deeper into the cave...

<•••>

Ark was roasting a piece of bone over the fire, watching as the orange flames caressed its surface.

"They have been gone for some time now. Shouldn’t she be back by now?" Ark felt a little unsettled.

Dark immediately got to his feet. "I can go and check on them... Uhum... if you want me to."

Ark gave him a blank stare. Why did he seem so enthusiastic to check up on them? He glanced at Ragnar, and Ragnar averted his gaze.

"There is no need to—" Ark immediately stood up as well, his eyes locked on a certain area in the distance.

Swish!

Ragnar unsheathed his weapon without knowing what was going on, already taking a battle stance.

Thalia was also up, her eyes searching the area.

"What is it?" She asked in a calm tone. "More monsters?"

"No." Ark shook his head. "Someone is coming."

After a few seconds, a man stepped out from behind a tree and began staggering forward, slowly trudging through the snow.

He was wrapped up in dirty old cloth and looked like any second, he would collapse and die, but despite all odds, he kept going, little by little.

When he arrived at their camp, Ark was able to get a good look at him. He was old, just as he had suspected. His skin was pale, wrinkled with age, and his hair stark white.

’Was this old man wandering in the snow by himself?’

Ark did not lower his guard. He would be a fool to judge based on appearance alone.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?!" Ragnar growled.

The old man slowly raised his head, fixing his intense, icy blue eyes on Ark and completely ignoring the feline.

"F... food." His voice came out as a dying croak, his entire body shaking as he uttered those words.

"H-heat..." He staggered forward, looking past Ark, at the fire.

"I—I beg you." Just as he uttered those words, he fell face first into the snow, his body as stiff as a frozen corpse.