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Staring ever so deep in thought at the reflection of a small slime in front of him, Rustly sighed with tired breath as he lamented on his helplessness. "...sigh. What do I even do?"

With the passing hours by the clock that he was not aware of, Rustly had nothing better to do but to only just sit around and wait for the inevitable. What was it? To him, he too didn't know.

"..." Rustly frowned. It seemed as if he had been sitting within cold ice for hours upon hours. "Lier... Sanke..." The only thing that he could do was but to reflect on himself, he just wished for an answer for the constant questions within his heart.

From finally knowing what to do till having answers on whether he could cure the crystallized state that Lier was in—It had been far too long where he was left at a stumped.

"The cure to the Ice Witch's Curse..." he muttered out. "Just what is it?"

He had thought that the [Pendant of Purifying Flames] was the key to solving everything. However, till now, it had been locked safely away from the public's eyes—only known to the king himself and a few of his trustees of its whereabouts.

For the reason why Sanke had turned evil? He too didn't know. Cursing everyone to a weakened state and gaining control of one's mind, he had done much damage over the course of years. Yet, even at the end of his goals—It was all a vain dream.

"Was the pendant a fluke?" he didn't know of the situation that had happened within the throne room besides witnessing the death of Sanke personally. "Is that why the flames were that aggressive?"

Legends foretold among the people of the Sleras. 'A divine angel had passed down her flame into a form of an artefact,' was the message that was told. The pendant that held flames of purity and was said to bring about prosperity for those who are blessed seemed to be a pure lie in the face of true troubles.

"..." Rustly's eyes closed as he continued to be deep in thought. "...can someone just give me an answer already, please? Just staying to wonder on myself... I can't even do anything."

As if to reach out to his call, the area around him greatly shook as the icy reflections that he faced slightly cracked.

"...?" In front of him, from the small cracks of the glacial ice, a beautiful flower appeared before him. "...this is?" Curious by the sight, Rustly seemingly reached out towards the single white flower that appeared to be unbloomed. "...a flower? Here of all places?"

Glistering under the reflections of ice, at the touch of his body onto the petal—the area around him shook once again as the ice continued to crack and fall apart.

"U-Ugh...?" Rustly confusingly uttered out in question. "Why...? What's going on?"

With the area continuing to shake immensely, the slime soon heard small echoes of voices by the distance echoing through the cracks.

"Almost there...!" A female voice soon shouted out. "And...!"

"...Frey?" Rustly muttered out as he now moved over towards a sudden hand that entered into the domain. Grabbing onto it, he felt a heavy weight suddenly pulling at him—as if forcing him to squeeze through the cracks of the ice. "A-Argh..."

"Wait... Argh...!" Frey's voice resounded through the icy caverns. "I'm losing my balance...!"

"H-Hey...!" Reru cried out. "The hell?! Don't—" As a loud crash was heard from the other side, the area soon turned quiet.

"Ack...!" Feeling a much more powerful force suddenly dragging him with no hopes of fighting back, the ice within the domain soon protruded out forward, but, at that moment—the slime was no longer within the ice cavern.

...

Thuck!

Falling down to the ground without notice, Shinto and the rest of the group all turned towards Frey and the slimes in shock at the sight of them on the ground. However, what made their worries much prioritized was that the hole that they had made from their skills was quickly patched up in almost an instant.

"Hey, you guys alright?!" Hikari cried out as she rushed towards them, quickly preparing to cast out any healing skills if necessary.

"O-Ouch..." Frey muttered out. "That hurts..."

"Ugh... You stupid human!" Reru angrily clicked his tongue. "Did you really had to fall like that!? At such an important timing?!"

"U-Ugh... You can stop shouting you know..." Frey frowned. "The ice was slippery and well... Yeah..."

"Stop shouting?" Reru frowned as he got up as he pointed over to the area where the small hole had been at. "Look at that! The passage to get Reru is gone! And we've no time to do it again!"

"W-Well..." Frey mumbled out. "Rustly should be out with that final push and—"

"...calm down, Reru," Blake calmly stated as if he understood the slime perfectly. "Rustly's alright. He's on the other two slimes who are still down."

"H-Huh?" Reru uttered out as he turned towards where Yer and Erith had fallen, quickly noting that a small slime was on the bodies of the two. "R-Rustly?!"

With a relieved face, Reru instantly leapt forward as he reached out towards the small slime. "You dumbass! The hell were you thinking doing something as stupid as that?!"

"H-Huh..." Rustly muttered out in confusion. "R-Reru...? What happened?"

"You summoned Bareth!" he clicked his tongue. "All because you decided to believe in some half-ass words from some guy!"

"Some guy...?" he uttered out as his eyes soon widened in shock. Quickly ridding away his drowsiness. "He... He... He did that to Sanke as well! With those sweet words and..."

"I do not think he is the real person you're talking about," Blake shook his head. "It seems as if he was just acting the part the entire time."

"R-Really?" Rustly mumbled. "If that's so then..."

"—then... Can you please get off of us?" Erith tiredly stated. "I think I'm about to be crushed from you two..."

"Why are you using us as some sort of a platform..." Yer frowned.

"A-Ah...?" Rustly muttered out as he finally realized that he had been on Erith and Yer the entire time. In the next moment, he and Reru soon leapt off from the bodies. "M-My bad... I had thought I was on some cold icy grounds or something..."

"Hah... I blame the damn whether for that..." Yer clicked his tongue. With the cold atmosphere getting from bad to worst, staying out in the cold for any longer would be damaging. Especially for the slimes who had not gotten any winter clothing unlike the rest of the group which were provided by Crowelin and Hikari. "A-Anyway... W-We're done here, right? Can we hurry along now?!"

"Wait... Hurry along?" Rustly spoke out, still in a confused tone. "But what about Bareth? If I was the one who awakened him then..."

"What are you stupid? We're leaving!" Reru stated firmly as he grabbed onto Rustly. "And this time, we're not going to be taking any damn detours. We. Are. LEAVING."

"But... Bareth...!" Rustly cried out as the cocoon began to violently shake, in turn, causing something like an earthquake around the chapel. "U-Ugh...!"

"Damn..." Blake frowned as his eyes fixed onto the shaking chrysalis. "Bareth is awakening now. So, before we get swept up in the disaster, we're taking our leave. Now."

"R-Right..." Frey nodded her head as she attempted to get up, however, she failed to do so. "E-Eep! I'm stuck! This damn ice...!"

"Hah... How did you manage to do that?" Shinto raised his brow. "But whatever, grab onto to my hand, and I'll try to pull you out."

"U-Uh..." Frey blinked in helplessness as her hands grabbed onto Shinto's, and in turn, she and Shinto desperately tried to use all their strength to get Frey off the ice. "It's not working... Your strength is way too weak..."

"...cough," Shinto coughed as he turned to Ethaniel who had been muttering to himself in a dumbfounded tone. "Hey, mind helping?"

"...this guy can speak Arcos...?" Ethaniel twitched his eye. "THIS GUY CAN SPEAK ARCOS?!"

"Ethaniel! Now's not the time!" Shinto cried out.

"Huh? Oh," Ethaniek shook his head as he hurried towards Frey, soon grabbing onto her other hand and finally pulling her out. "Jeez... Stop falling on the ground, Frey. You've done that one too many times."

"Hey! When given the circumstance, I can't help it alright?!" Frey pouted. "Anyways, just get a move on already! I don't want to get swept up in this monster's coldness than I already am!"

"Yeah. Everyone else is leaving, let's head out too," Shinto's eyes turned towards the cocoon which is finally beginning to crack. "...and fast too."

"Then go! Hurry!" Frey cried out.

[ Bareth, The Air of Eternal Winter is awakening... ]

[ The 'Fire' element within the area has extinguished its flame! ]

[ Eternal Winter is coming... ]

With one step forward through the icy grounds, the three hurried along from behind the rest of the group, quickly wanting to exit out of the chapel. With the rise of notifications that were constantly appearing before everyone, the snowstorm began getting worst.

"Ugh... This winter is going to be a long one," Crowelin frowned.

"Move through the winter and we'll make it out in one piece!" Blake stated.