Elsa’s new skill, [Cold Absorption].

To test it, he first needed Elsa’s consent. Walfred looked at Elsa sitting on his lap and brought it up casually.

"Elsa."

"Yeah?"

"Want to try absorbing the cold around here?"

"How?"

Elsa tilted her head.

Uh, how should he explain it? After thinking it over, Walfred pointed at the snow piled up around them.

"You know that cold energy coming off that snow over there? Just imagine sucking it in as much as you can."

"Hmmm, I’ll give it a try!"

Elsa crouched down on the ground.

Then she stretched out both hands and ran them over the frozen ground, and the moment she drew in a big breath.

An astonishing thing happened.

Fwooooosh!

The invisible cold turned into something like white smoke and began being absorbed into Elsa.

Along with it, the surrounding temperature rose and the rock-solid frozen ground started to melt. So fast that a little puddle of water formed.

Of course, the outside temperature was so low that a thin layer of ice quickly formed again, but even so, the change in temperature was visible to the eye.

"Is this how you do it?"

"...Huh? Y-yeah. That’s right. Good job."

The performance exceeded his expectations.

Now it was time to test in earnest the thing he’d thought of earlier. Walfred asked in a tense voice.

"This time, you know that cold energy coming off my body? Do you think you can absorb that too?"

"I think I can!"

Maybe it was because she’d succeeded once already.

Elsa nodded confidently.

She dusted herself off, got up, and clung to Walfred’s leg like a koala.

And then, a little while later.

Shhhhhh!

Walfred’s [Cold Emission] activated.

Frigid cold spread out in a 65-foot radius.

In that instant, the cold turned into a hazy white smoke and was absorbed into Elsa, just like before.

Like a sponge soaking up water.

’It worked!’

His face flushed with elation.

With this, he’d be able to completely solve the penalty of [Cold Emission]. That was what Walfred believed.

But after testing it a few more times,

Walfred realized that Elsa’s [Cold Absorption] wasn’t all-powerful.

"I want to stop now. I’m tired."

Unlike [Cold Emission], which activated every 15 seconds, Elsa’s [Cold Absorption] was an active skill that had to be consciously triggered.

In other words, if Elsa got distracted or fell asleep, the cold wouldn’t be absorbed and would be emitted instead.

’That’s a bit of a letdown.’

Still, even this much was a blessing.

At the very least, he’d now be able to carve out enough time to step into another shelter to take care of quick business.

As he was thinking that.

"Daddyyy."

"Hmm?"

"My legs hurt. Carry me."

Elsa whined, stretching out both arms.

He couldn’t tell whether it was because her belly was full from eating a mountain of blue snow, or because she’d worn herself out using [Cold Absorption], but.

Walfred chuckled and offered her his back.

"Okay, okay."

Elsa hopped onto his back at once. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Feeling her pleasantly cool body temperature, Walfred turned around and headed for the Central Avenue underground arcade shelter where Margaret was waiting.

---

Philadelphia’s Central Avenue underground arcade.

Walfred soon arrived at the barricade in front of the shelter. The men standing guard immediately left to go fetch Margaret.

And so, a little while later.

"You’re back already?"

Margaret appeared.

With a somewhat surprised look on her face.

"It hasn’t even been two hours yet..."

"I have a skill that boosts my movement speed."

Walfred answered with a shrug.

At that, Margaret nodded as if she found it reasonable. Then she asked cautiously.

"So, how many ice pillars were there?"

"Nine in all."

"...!? N-nine?!"

Margaret’s eyes went wide.

Walfred took out the map he’d received from her earlier and handed it over. Nine circles drawn on the map. Margaret bit her lip lightly.

"This many already..."

Her expression darkened sharply.

Her unusual reaction set off a flicker of curiosity in him, but he didn’t bother asking. Right now there was a more important matter.

"Did you find Erica?"

"...We’re still searching."

It was a disappointing answer, but Walfred didn’t mind. He hadn’t expected her to be found in a mere two hours.

He was planning to stay here tonight anyway, so as long as they found her by tomorrow morning, that was fine. After adding this, Walfred looked at Margaret again.

"By the way, what exactly are those ice pillars downtown? When I got close, the frost spirits swarmed around them like crazy."

"That’s..."

Margaret trailed off.

After keeping silent for a while, she soon let out a heavy sigh and parted her lips.

"...Before that, I should probably explain the liberated gate at West Philadelphia Station first. It’ll be easier to understand that way."

And with that.

Margaret’s story began.

"The gate that was liberated at West Philadelphia Station has the name Permafrost."

Permafrost.

Rank unknown.

Of note: it was nothing but snow and ice in every direction, the interior was excessively vast, and it held more frost spirits than could be counted.

As her explanation continued, Walfred felt his questions multiplying.

’Why does she know this in such detail?’

Had she been inside the gate before?

The thought suddenly occurred to him, and Walfred carefully asked Margaret.

"Have you, by any chance, been inside...?"

"Yes. I have."

Had she anticipated his question?

She answered flatly.

"One year ago, as of now."

"A year ago, that would be..."

"...Before the world froze over, yes."

Margaret’s gaze sank.

"Back when I was still a B-rank hunter, ’Permafrost’ appeared in the West Philadelphia Station plaza."

The gate’s rank was unknown back then too.

In response, the Hunter Administration Bureau summoned the B-rank and above hunters operating in the Philadelphia region.

And as a result.

One S-rank hunter, three A-rank hunters, and twenty B-rank hunters were sent in for the raid.

But.

"We failed the raid."

"Even with an S-rank hunter?"

"Yes. The big problem was that the interior of the gate was so vast that we got lost. In the end, we retreated without even finding the gate boss."

She quietly let out a sigh.

"After that, we filed a report that the gate was expected to be liberated, and built a defensive line together with the Bureau’s hunters. But then..."

Margaret bit her lip.

"Contrary to our expectations, Permafrost wasn’t liberated. It vanished, as if it had never been there to begin with."

"It wasn’t liberated even though the raid failed?"

No, was that even possible?