71 WinterHord (10) - The monster in the storm.

Finally, the final battle! Well, I won't give spoilers, but I liked the outcome of the next chapter.

That said, in my (P)(A)(T), there are 3 chapters ahead of both my stories, Devas and Hunter. If you want to support me or just want to read ahead, it only costs 2 dollars.

If not, I still appreciate you reading my stories. Thank you very much!

Well, as always, good night to everyone and happy reading!

(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori

[...]---[...]

After the not-so-friendly warning, and by warning, I mean the Deerclops' roar, everyone sped things up, especially me.

I spent the next few hours focused on finishing my protective goggles and mask. I didn't try to make them perfect but rather focused on making them withstand the cold.

In the end, I was satisfied with the result, especially since I managed to merge the two items into one after finding a gas mask in my inventory that covered my entire face.

-//-

[Gas mask (Against the Cold)]

Runes: Cold Protection - Resistance

Type: Accessory/Armor

Prefix: None

Mystical Symbols (Human): Cold Protection (High - Low), Cold Resistance (High - Low), Weather Protection (Cold) (Medium - Medium),

Defense: 102

Durability: 280/281

Rarity: Orange

Ability (1): Filters air in toxic environments at the cost of mana.

Ability (2): Assists in breathing in cold environments at the cost of mana.

Ability (3): Protects the wearer's eyes, aiding visibility in "Blizzard/Snowstorm" environments at the cost of mana.

Ability (4): When worn by a (Sun Breathing) user, aids in breathing, increasing its effectiveness by 30%.

(If the breath used is a direct derivative of Sun Breathing, the effect is reduced to 10%)

(If the breath used is a non-direct derivative of Sun Breathing, the effect is reduced to 5%)

[..]

Artificial Sapphire Reservoir: 30/30 (MAX CAPACITY!)

[..]

Description: A modern gas mask, modified, engraved with Mystical Symbols and Runes by "The Streamer" to help breathe in freezing winds.

~ Would prefer a plague mask, but for now, this will do ~

-//-

I had used most, if not all, of my best materials I could think of on the mask.

Ink made from Aqua's hair, ink made from Scarlet Ore, I even used the gel from Giant Slimes to create the inks.

Overall, as armor, the mask fell short, at least for the enemy I was about to face. But as an accessory for protection against the cold and storms, the mask was excellent.

I also used part of the mask's filter to place the "Artificial Sapphires" so they could fuel the mask, and I wouldn't have to worry about spending my mana.

I had some trouble fitting the "Artificial Sapphires" in a way that I wouldn't end up breathing their impurities, but in the end, everything worked out.

Well… almost everything. As the mask description said, I would have preferred it to be a plague mask.

For efficiency, since I could put more "Artificial Sapphires" on the mask's beak? No.

It was purely for aesthetic reasons.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any genuinely useful plague masks in the inventory. The only ones I had were for cosplay, which I couldn't use since the materials used in creating those masks were quite poor.

The gas mask was a real mask, made of quality materials. I wasn't going to go out in that storm wearing a crappy plastic mask, no matter how stylish it was.

After that, I did something I should have done a long time ago. I used a prefix ticket on the Houtengeki.

I wanted to put Mystical Symbols on the weapon as well, as I had a certain confidence in doing so, even though I wasn't sure what effects it would have on the weapon. But in the end, I didn't do it.

As much as I was confident in not messing everything up, it wasn't a solid one hundred percent. Being without my best weapon in this situation wasn't a good idea, so I ended up doing two things.

The first one: I used the prefix ticket.

The moment I used the ticket, a small roulette appeared above the halberd, spinning for a few seconds, passing through various prefixes before finally stopping at one.

-//-

[Houtengeki (Prototype- HOTD)]

Type: Weapon

Prefix: Demonic +15% (Damage) +5% (Durability)

Damage: 35 (34.5) - 567 (566.95)

Recoil: 30 (High)

Durability: 1556/1673 (1672.65)

Rarity: Orange

Ability: Absorbs mana to increase its weight and blade sharpness:

Base weight: 44 kilograms (97 pounds) ~ Base damage: 35 (34.5)

Maximum weight: 444 kilograms (978 pounds) ~ Maximum damage: 567 (566.95)

Current weight: 444 kilograms (978 pounds) ~ Current damage: 567 (566.95)

[..]

-//-

Demonic… It's a good prefix, with no disadvantages, but still…

If I didn't know that this roulette was random, I might think the stream had a twisted sense of humor.

Actually, even though it was random, I was sure the stream had a really twisted sense of humor...

Well, anyway, the prefix was good. It wasn't the best, which I think was Legendary, but it was still good.

Fifteen percent damage and five percent durability were great. Even the rarity of the halberd had changed, from Green to Orange.

I only had my doubts about why it was durability and not critical, as I remembered those five percent being critical chance.

In fact, none of my weapons had a critical chance, probably because a "critical" would only happen if I hit a critical spot on an enemy.

In Terraria, the game, in this case, it wasn't like that, but this was real life; hitting an enemy's eye instead of the foot would cause more damage.

After checking the changes that occurred in the halberd, the next thing I did was attach two accessories, not to myself, but to the weapon.

They were two simple rings, made of slime gel, both on the weapon's handle.

They weren't anything fancy; they had a single purpose: to protect Houtengeki from the cold.

I made these rings instead of Mystical Symbols because they were much safer; I just had to put both on the handle, and they would energize themselves, using the mana already present in the weapon.

I only needed to add more mana to the halberd to supply both the mana spent by the rings and Houtengeki's own mana.

With these two rings, plus my own mana, spiritual energy, and nightmare energy, the chance of Houtengeki breaking due to the cold or being severely damaged was low.

There were still risks, and I was sure the halberd's durability would decrease, but much less than if I just went out with the weapon without any protection.

After that, I started the actual tests.

"Devas… What are you holding?" I heard Selina ask me with a slightly squeaky voice, looking at me as if I had brought some kind of wild animal into the house.

In a way, she wasn't wrong.

"An hallucination." I replied playfully as I swung the creature I was holding by the neck.

It was one of the longer hallucinations; this one, in particular, looked like a centipede.

"An hallucination… Sure…" She nodded slowly, as if absorbing the information.

Something similar was happening with Melissa and Robyn, who were looking at me from afar, Melissa sitting on the Humvee's hood and Robyn inside it, with a blanket over her body.

Woman, the temperature in the Humvee is adjustable, why the heck that blanket?

The only one who seemed unimpressed, or at least accustomed to strange situations, was Dylan.

He must have already accepted that strange things happen around me.

Either that, or the guy must have seen something.

With Melissa and Selina as his relatives, I wouldn't doubt it was the second option, although I'm sure it was a combination of both.

"Stab this guy for me." I said as I swung the hallucination, which strangely was frozen in my hand like prey awaiting death.

The hallucination even trembled slightly… Well, everything trembled when I used nightmare energy; it was a kind of weird sight, but in this case, the hallucination trembled more than the rest.

"Why?... Oh…" Dylan asked before nodding, realizing the reason for my request. "We created glasses that can see hallucinations, but it doesn't help much if we can't attack them," He stated.

Well, even without being able to attack them, the glasses were still useful, but yes, I wanted to see if someone besides me could attack the hallucinations.

Darnell had said before that he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried, only managing to attack his own hallucination, not someone else's.

But he couldn't see hallucinations from someone else; Dylan could, even if in an improvised way.

After putting on the new version of the glasses, Dylan didn't hesitate to draw his bow and shoot an arrow where I was holding the hallucination.

Two things happened: the first was that the moment the arrow passed where the hallucination was, the hallucination moved slightly, as if it had sensed the arrow.

The second was that the interaction ended there, with the arrow passing through the hallucination without causing any more damage.

"That was expected…" I murmured.

Hallucinations seemed to be affected only by those who could see them, as if only by someone being able to see them, that person gained the "right" to touch them.

Dylan could see the hallucination, but not entirely; he could see the "shadow," the "hole" that the hallucination left, where mana couldn't fill, but only that.

He couldn't see the hallucination itself, so the most he could do, or in this case, his arrow, was just to "almost touch" the hallucination.

"Try it with this." I said as I made Shichishitō appear in front of Dylan.

Again, the guide attacked the hallucination, this time with the wooden sword.

Unlike last time, where the hallucination just moved, as if it had felt a light touch, this time it writhed, its mouth opening in a silent scream, at the same time a cut appeared where Dylan attacked it.

Not only that, but the hallucination seemed more... "real" in a way.

I found out why when Dylan spoke.

"I can see it…" The guide made a disgusted face, taking a step back as the hallucination tried to attack him.

"With your 'I can see it.' You with your eyes without the glasses?" I asked as I slammed the hallucination on the ground, making it calm down and go silent again.

It was as if the hallucination had remembered it was still being held by me and just returned to being a statue.

"Yes…" The guide replied. "When I attacked it, it became visible." He explained. "Now it's more… transparent; before, it looked like a living shadow, deep black in color, now it's gray, but still visible." Interesting…

"And you two? Did you see the hallucination too?" I looked towards Melissa and Robyn, who were watching the tests that Dylan and I were conducting on our guinea pig, who, by the way, had completely agreed to be our lab rat.

"No… and yes." Melissa answered with a confused expression. "I didn't see it fully, but for a moment, I saw a silhouette, like a mirage." She shifted her gaze to Shichishitō in Dylan's hand. "What the hell is this sword?..."

She seemed curious, as well as Robyn and Dylan, who examined Shichishitō, turning the weapon from side to side in his hand.

"It's a gift from a friend of mine." I explained as I observed the hallucination, to see if the cut on its body would close or if it would at least start to heal. "It's an effective weapon against shadowy things, so to speak."

"The wood seems to be pine…" Dylan muttered as he observed the sword. "The Mystical Symbols are well-organized, a light matrix?… No… enhancing the light attribute?…" He continued murmuring, analyzing the sword.

"The ink is made with a special mineral." I spoke after Dylan started speeding up his murmurs. "It's basically iron, but a special kind, extracted from a mountain that has been bathed in direct sunlight for years." That and the spiritual energy from Kimetsu.

Dylan nodded slowly, as if starting to understand why Shichishitō worked.

"Try attacking the hallucination again. This time, with another arrow." Let's see if this works… "Can you still see it?"

"Yes, but as I said, it's more transparent, gray." The guide replied at the same time he placed Shichishitō on the hood of the Humvee, next to Melissa, and shot an arrow at the hallucination.

Unlike the last arrow, this arrow hit the hallucination, still passing through it but causing a slight cut, a scratch on the hallucination, which tried to attack the guide again, but this time, in a less aggressive manner.

"Curious…" I murmured again as I slammed the hallucination on the ground, making it calm down.

I could hit it with the other hand, but I was afraid of accidentally killing it; finding another one was relatively simple, but I didn't want to waste time.

"It got darker again." Dylan said, lowering the bow.

"I saw that 'mirage' again too." Melissa said, and Robyn nodded, agreeing with her.

"I did too, it was like the air took the form of a snake, or something like that, but with legs." Well, the hallucination was similar to a centipede, which was long like a snake.

After a few more tests, attacking the hallucination with both Dylan's arrows and Shichishitō, and finally, a regular iron sword, but coated in Scarlet Ore ink, we found out what we had to discover.

Basically, the hallucination became more "tangible" if someone looked at it with the glasses, and even more "tangible" when attacked by something that could really hurt it.

Of all the tests, Shichishitō was the weapon that damaged the hallucination the most, so much so that whenever Dylan attacked it with the weapon, the thing went into a frenzy, trying to kill the guide.

The second weapon, or in this case, weapons, that damaged the hallucination the most were the iron swords coated in Scarlet Ore ink, which even Melissa, who couldn't see the hallucination like Dylan, managed to damage.

When the nurse damaged the hallucination with the iron sword, even though it was a shallow cut, the hallucination also tried to attack her, becoming visible to the nurse.

Finally, after being "revealed" or in this case, after damaging the hallucination, making it visible to try to attack, any weapon could damage it, even if slightly.

Dylan's arrows, even though he could see the hallucination, only scratched the thing, even with the guide infusing the arrows with mana.

"It only exists if I can see it… I can only attack, be attacked when it is observable..." I hummed, letting my thoughts flow, while clenching my fist, killing the hallucination.

I didn't even look at the Nightmare Fuel, just threw it into the inventory.

The best scenario here would be to do something with the Nightmare Fuel so that the Terrarians could interact with hallucinations normally.

Well… it wasn't normal to interact with a hallucination, but in this case, yes.

Five strikes. That's how many strikes Robyn had to deliver to the hallucination with the iron sword coated in Scarlet Ore ink for the hallucination to become visible to the fox-woman, and Robyn finally managed to damage it for real.

Dylan needed only one with Shichishitō, maybe even less than that, a grazing blow.

"It's not efficient, but it's better than nothing." Melissa said, looking at my hand that killed the hallucination.

Actually, all three of them were looking.

"Did you squeeze it to death?" Robyn asked, her two tails moving slowly behind her.

How she moved the second one was a damn mystery to me.

"Yes. It was already almost dead." Euphemism of the century, our guinea pig was sliced after so many tests.

Funny that at no point did it try to attack me, the one holding it; it only tried to attack the other three.

"I see..." Robyn said slowly before shaking her head.

"I'll get another hallucination. Dylan, here." I made two buckets of Scarlet Ore ink appear. "Coat some swords and engrave some Mystical Symbols on them." The hallucination didn't last long enough for us to test the swords in conjunction with the symbols.

The guide didn't respond verbally, just nodded, indicating that he had heard.

Well, let's get a few more willing guinea pigs and see if we can get better results in the next tests.

[...]

POV: Melissa Oakwood.

"Uhm..." Selina practically purred as she sank into the bathtub in the mansion's bathroom.

Not that Annabel or I did any different. After a whole day of work, a good hot bath was always the best thing, especially here, in this damn popsicle they insisted on calling a city.

I never liked the cold, but WinterHord took the prize for the worst city I've ever visited.

Of course, the city being trapped inside a massive storm, with living shadows trying to kill us, had also influenced my experience.

Still, I think I went from "Don't like" to "Hate" the cold.

"Your companion isn't coming?" Annabel asked Selina, both with only their heads out of the water.

Well, the three of us, since I was too.

Did I mention I don't like the cold?

"Robyn?" Selina said with a slow voice. "No, she's not coming. I asked her if she wanted to join us for a bath; she said she prefers to wait and take a bath alone."

"Shame, perhaps?" Annabel commented.

"I don't know." Selina shrugged. "She has a beautiful body; I don't see why she should be ashamed, but if she doesn't feel comfortable, I won't pressure her."

"A beautiful body?" I teased. "Planning something with her?" Selina never hid her sexuality, and even though I was straight, I could still see that Robyn was attractive.

"Nah, she's straight," Selina replied, still with her eyes closed. "But if she wants something, I'm not against it."

"Of course, you wouldn't be against it." I responded dryly.

"And you? Any progress with Darnell?" And here we go again...

"To say nothing is progressing at a snail's pace." A particularly chubby and lazy snail.

"It's funny how you two like each other, but neither of you has the courage to say it." She laughed. "Two chickens-GAH!" Selina shouted and opened her eyes.

"Did you pinch my nipple?" Yes.

"No." I whistled while looking up.

I still remember that letter, this is just the beginning; my revenge will be slow, cold, and cruel!

"You're lucky I'm comfortable..." She let the threat hang in the air before looking at Annabel. "And you, Countess, any suitor?"

"Call me Annabel, I've never been one for formalities, not among friends." Annabel replied.

"Friends?" Selina asked back.

"Anyone who has come here in this storm to help my city is my friend."

"Fair enough." Selina nodded before asking again. "As for the question, Annabel, any suitor?"

"None. I'm too busy keeping the city running, that is, before this disaster." A millennium demon, how wonderful it was to discover that.

"Sure, I plan to have children, need heirs to pass on this title-shaped trap and retire." Annabel laughed. "I just need the right husband."

"Anyone in mind?" I asked.

"If you want, I can set up a date with Dylan." Selina sang. "Or Devas, if you prefer. Of course, only if you let me participate." I don't remember giving permission to auction off my little brother, especially now that we had finally come to an understanding.

Interestingly, Annabel was fine with the first sentence, even considering the offer, until the leader of my little brother's group was mentioned.

The countess seemed to freeze.

"Something wrong?" I quickly asked.

A hallucination or something?

"Nothing, just..." Annabel hesitated, glancing sideways at Selina.

"What, is it some kind of secret? I promise I won't tell anyone." Selina raised her hand out of the water, showing her pinky finger. "Promise."

"No... just..." Annabel hesitated again before finally speaking. "He scares me."

Selina blinked slowly, clear confusion on her face.

"He... Devas?" She asked slowly. "Devas scares you?"

"Yes..." Annabel replied, looking away.

I could understand why. Even though Annabel was someone with a good physique, staying in shape, she was still a non-contractor, and WinterHord had few contractors, the strongest being only gold-ranked, with most being silver-ranked.

Since Darnell and I arrived here, we didn't have to fight much, and when we did, it was against crazed villagers or guards who had gone mad.

In none of those instances did we really have to go all out, so for Annabel, we should seem more approachable, in a way.

Devas, on the other hand... Ignoring that he managed to kill the hallucinations only last night, the speed he showed was something that would scare anyone not accustomed to high-level contractors.

I had grown up with my mother, the "Duchess of Symbols," the strongest contractor of her generation, and a cute monster one meter and forty centimeters tall named Alalia.

The Dryad was in a league of her own.

But Annabel didn't have those experiences; for her, the strongest Terrarian she probably saw was a gold-ranked one, not counting Darnell or me.

Seeing Devas dismantle a group of armed guards, even if they were mad, in less than a second without killing or hurting anyone would terrify anyone who hadn't encountered such a level of power.

Selina stayed silent for a few seconds before her shoulders started to shake, and she chuckled softly, then, without holding back, she began to laugh loudly.

Annabel blushed at my "cousin's" laughter. Whether it was out of anger or embarrassment, I didn't know, but it seemed more like shame than anything else.

"You're embarrassing her." My voice came out with the best imitation of reprimand I could muster from my mother.

"Sorry, sorry." She said between laughs before sighing. "I just found it funny, didn't mean any harm. You don't need to be afraid of Devas; he's a calm person."

"Selina... He killed a hallucination... Crushing it with one hand." I won't even comment on how fast he moved.

"Yeah... fair." Selina hesitated, accepting that this fact was somewhat absurd. "But still, Devas is a chill guy, there's no reason to be afraid of him."

"The hallucinations, you know, those horrible and cruel things, they don't come near him..." Annabel commented, having received one of the glasses we made today and seen something that all of us noticed.

The monsters that plagued WinterHord, creatures that seemed to have come out of a nightmare, made of pure darkness and seemingly soulless.

These same creatures kept their distance from the leader of my dear "cousin's" group, as if they were afraid of him.

The damn hallucinations we captured to use as guinea pigs didn't even try to attack him, even after we hurt them, the hallucinations only tried to attack us, not Devas.

"Yeah... fair, again, but still, try talking to him; you'll realize your fears are unfounded." Selina shrugged.

"I'll... try." Annabel replied hesitantly. "I didn't want to say anything because it's rude of me to act this way, being afraid of someone who came to save me and my town."

"Fears are usually irrational, don't worry." I comforted the countess. "Selina doesn't even like bees."

"Bees are evil creatures!" Selina didn't waste a second in dramatizing, drawing a laugh from Annabel and lightening the mood around the three of us.

After a few minutes of none of us saying anything, just enjoying the bath, Selina was the first to return to the conversation.

"How's the production of the prototypes for the glasses going?" My "cousin" asked. "And the weapons?"

"The glasses are relatively quick to produce, at least the Mystic Symbols. As for the weapons, well... The matrix is a bit more time-consuming, but the part of coating the weapons in paint is relatively fast." Annabel replied before asking.

"The Winterhord Symbol Masters were curious about the paint; in their words, 'I've never seen paint like this, it's as if it resonates against the darkness,'" she explained. "Do any of you know anything about it?"

"No idea," I replied. "Devas had explained that it was ore extracted from a mountain bathed in sunlight for years." I wasn't sure if I believed that, as I had never heard of such ore, but so far, Devas had no reason to lie.

Not because of paint, at least.

He still insisted he was just a "mere contractor," even after pinching a hallucination to death.

I'll have to ask Mom later if I look younger than my actual age, as, for some reason, Devas thought I was born yesterday.

"Hmm..." Annabel hummed, pondering. "Would he be willing to sell me that paint?" It wasn't surprising for her to ask that, even though she didn't mention the real reason, which I presumed was greenhouses.

Winterhord wasn't the best place for cultivation; practically all plantations were specialized greenhouses, and the little I knew about Mystic Symbols and paints, after living forever with Dylan and Mom, is that this paint would greatly facilitate greenhouse creation.

Of course, Annabel would never say that, not to give an advantage in a sale.

"From what I heard, Devas wanted to come to Winterhord originally for silk," Selina replied after thinking. "Talk to him and Gilbert; if you make a good enough offer, I don't see why he wouldn't sell." Gilbert?

"Gilbert?" Annabel asked confused.

"Yes, the old buff guy," Selina laughed.

"I know that's his name, but why talk to him and Devas?" That was the question I had too.

"The old man is the group's treasurer; he's a merchant," Selina replied, just before yawning. "It's late; I think I'll head out; I don't want to get wrinkled."

"What? Afraid of looking old?" I asked as I got up, with Annabel doing the same.

Selina was right; it was already late.

"It's a crime just to imagine me like that!" Selina said while slapping her own butt. "Can you imagine this getting old? Never!"

[...]

POV: Robyn Jheut.

"Are we doing the same as yesterday?" I asked.

It was almost ten in the morning. We were practically in the same place as yesterday, with the difference that everyone was here, except Darnell, who had gone on patrol with my father.

The two seemed to form a camaraderie, especially after my father found out that Darnell was an orphan, just like him.

Last night had been quiet; not a scream from that thing, which, interestingly, seemed to make Devas tense.

"Basically, Dylan and Selina have already finished the glasses; they're just fixing some things. I'll work on the Humvee, and then I want to go see the barrier around the city," Devas explained while looking at the walls of Winterhord.

"What do you want to see at the barrier?" Annabel asked, looking at the Humvee as if she had seen an alien.

The vehicle was strange, I won't lie; it was funny to see people's reactions whenever Devas took that thing out of the "VoidBag," as he called his Travel Space.

Why it had a name, I don't know.

"I want to make sure it won't pop like popcorn if the Deerclops shows up." He said as if he hadn't just said something horrible.

"E...explode?" Annabel's voice trembled slightly.

I could see that the others had the same doubts.

"The barrier is already under pressure because of the storm." It wasn't a question; it was a statement.

"Your fear is that the thing breaks the barrier with an attack?" Melissa was the one who asked, her face wrinkled with the possibility.

"Yes, but that's not the real problem." Devas raised his arm, pointing to the barrier, emphasizing the fact that he wasn't wearing cold-weather clothing.

The guy was crazy; I didn't know how he wasn't freezing. In fact, he didn't seem to care about the weather.

If I were doing that, my nipples would be like two nails; how he didn't react was a mystery.

If he started sweating and said it was hot, I wouldn't be so surprised.

"The storm started because of the Deerclops, or in this case, his seal breaking..." There was that too, I was avoiding thinking about it, but the "thing" out there was a demon with fifteen millennia...

Reassuring, very reassuring.

"… I wouldn't doubt if just his presence made the storm more aggressive and the weather colder." He concluded the explanation, not pleasant, by the way.

"And if it gets colder, or the snow hits the barrier harder, things will get bad..." Dylan muttered, expressing everyone's thoughts.

"Yep," Devas replied, popping the "P." "I'll see if I can do something about it. Nevertheless, as a precaution, I'll advise and say to start evacuating the inhabitants to shelters or something like that."

"We're already doing that," Annabel replied, biting the tip of her nail before continuing. "We've been doing it since the storm started, but we had to stop because of the hallucinations." I can imagine that crowding people in this tense situation probably didn't work out very well.

No one asked why the evacuation of the residents had stopped; the answer was obvious, the hallucinations.

Even though everyone remained relatively calm, the cursed presence emitted by the hallucinations would eventually make everyone start to panic, which would make things... Not pleasant.

"Well, continue the evacuation then, if possible. I don't want to see what will happen if the barrier breaks and people are still in the city." Neither do I, I've never been a big fan of statues, especially ice ones made from corpses.

No one also asked why Annabel had ordered the resumption of evacuating the city's residents; the answer was also obvious.

Devas. The guy had spent a good part of the morning literally running through Winterhord and killing dozens, maybe hundreds of hallucinations.

The morale of the residents was probably through the roof; since the storm started, the weather lightening up without the presence of those things, well, from what Devas said, there were still many hallucinations and many emerging even with all he killed.

Still, it was as if the air had become purer, even with him asserting that there were still various hallucinations.

"If it's just to check the state of the barrier, the control room is in the mansion. I can show it to you," Annabel offered, causing Devas's gaze to fall on her.

"Control room?" He seemed confused, surprised.

"Yes..." Annabel replied hesitantly, which, curiously, made Selina laugh, and Melissa hit her on the back of her neck. "It's the room that controls the barrier, in the middle of the mansion..."

"Right... I'll go check the barrier still, just to be on the safe side, but I appreciate it if you can show me that control room." He still seemed surprised, but with something.

I didn't understand Mystic Symbols, so I didn't know why he was so surprised. Didn't he have something like that on the Humvee's dashboard? Those matrices that controlled all the others in the vehicle?

The next few hours were, in a way, calm, with everyone doing minor tasks.

Melissa and Selina were helping in the production of glasses alongside Annabel.

Darnell and my father returned after a few minutes and joined in the creation of weapons, the same task I was doing, which basically involved dipping the weapons in the paint Devas had provided and handing them over to the Symbol Masters to finish the job.

As for Devas, after returning from the control room with Annabel, he and Dylan had left, roaming the inside of the city walls to see if they found anything strange with the barrier, both splitting up to cover more ground.

The calm continued until around early afternoon when the fish earring, which my father had obtained from his friend, started to shake... A lot.

I didn't even need to look to know what it was, but still, I looked.

The fish's eyes on the earring were glowing in a gray color, with small red dots here and there.

A horrible shiver ran down my spine when I saw this, even when I went to alert the others, my father and Darnell who were talking a few meters away from me, my voice seemed to fail.

Fortunately, or in this case, unfortunately, very, very unfortunately, I didn't need to alert them... Not when that thing screamed... Very loudly.

▄█▆▂▄▆▅▃▂▆▅▄▆▅▃▂▆▃▄▄█▆▂▇█▄▄▅▄▇█▄▃▄█▇

Everything shook; the world seemed to turn upside down.

This wasn't like the other two screams I had heard from that thing; no, this was worse.

It was as if this scream signaled that this thing knew where we were, and from the earring's tremor, which kept getting larger every second, it was approaching, fast...

At least, I thought it was from the earring; it could be my body too. I couldn't distinguish well from the ball I had become, crouching on the ground.

I could only move after my father helped me stand up; I could only breathe properly after he gave me one of those pills Devas had given everyone.

Purification Powder, if I'm not mistaken.

"Better?" My old man asked, concerned.

"Y-yes." It was true; I was better, even if only a little.

"Devas... We need to warn him. This thing..." This thing is coming, is what I wanted to say, but my voice failed.

It was fortunate that I had let Kiki and Lili sleep inside the Humvee, both tired after scouring the entire city with my father.

Before I could try to speak again, the atmosphere became lighter, the few shadows I could see in the corner of my eye, hallucinations, disappeared as if fleeing from a demon...

"No need; Dylan and I are back."

... Which Devas might very well be, at least for these things.

[…]

POV: Devas Asura.

I knew that this thing was getting close, but I hoped we had more time, at least to evacuate the entire city to shelters and to the mansion.

Damn, at least the glasses and weapons were ready, not many, but enough.

I didn't ask Gilbert how far he thought the Deerclops was. It wasn't necessary; he hadn't appeared on my Minimap, and judging by the earring's tremor, which was something between five and ten kilometers.

"What's the plan?" Dylan asked with a grim face.

Before I could answer, Annabel appeared with Selina and Melissa in tow, all three with alarmed faces, the first, much more than the other two.

"T-the barrier." Annabel said between breaths, probably from running here.

"The barrier is under pressure, a lot, increased after the scream." Only incredibly good information! How wonderful.

"With me." I ordered, my voice echoing behind me as I accelerated, heading to the control room.

Frankly, I was surprised that this thing existed since I hadn't found anything about it in any Mystic Symbols book I had picked up to study.

I thought I had been the first to create something like a matrix control panel, spoiler, I wasn't.

Someone had done it before, and I knew that person, albeit briefly, as I had spoken to her for a few minutes.

When I entered the control room, even though I had been here before, I was still slightly amazed at the organization and efficiency of the place.

Dylan's mother was a monster, at least in matrix creation. The title "Duchess of Symbols" was well-deserved.

The moment I entered the room, I realized the mess that was happening. Parts of the barrier were crumbling, the mini model of the barrier showing the locations, few but still existing.

Worst of all, they were in distant locations from each other.

My only relief is that at least I knew it wasn't internal sabotage, or at least I was pretty sure it wasn't.

Before the scream, Dylan and I had gone through the entire barrier, circling the city, without finding any flaws in the barrier, just some wear and tear on the Mystic Symbols that were overloaded with the mana sustaining the barrier.

I had taken even greater care to see if there was any red point in the city, disabling the red points that represented hallucinations, leaving only the Terrarians.

There were none, which was good; not even the guards who tried to steal the Humvee on the first night were red.

Since I also found no kind of "bomb," using the VoidBag to search everything, the only remaining option was that these points were because the storm had intensified, the Mystic Symbols were overloading even more, and the snow hitting the barrier shouldn't be helping...

Of course, that or some incredibly smart hallucination was damaging the barrier, which was highly unlikely since, if it were intelligent enough to hide from me, the barrier would have already fallen before my group even arrived in the city.

"This is not good..." Melissa murmured behind me, being the first to arrive, followed by Dylan and Darnell, who arrived practically at the same time.

Then Selina, Gilbert; finally, Robyn and Annabel, who was the last, not looking well, her face pale, and she was sweating cold.

"No, not at all..." We need to fix these points; the problem was that they weren't the only ones; since I arrived here in the control room, two more points had appeared.

The barrier was being damaged rapidly.

"We need to split up to repair the damaged parts of the barrier," Dylan quickly muttered.

"Not possible," I affirmed.

We didn't have enough people. As good as the Symbol Masters of Winterhord were, they wouldn't fix things in time, I knew that.

They were good, but not as good as Dylan, Selina, or me.

The problem was that with only the three of us, we couldn't cover so much ground, not without the Humvee. The problem was that if I drove the Humvee, we had an even bigger problem.

No one would stop the damn boss that was approaching.

This also didn't take into account that the damn EcoMirror didn't work properly inside the city; we couldn't go repair the barrier and see where it had been damaged at the same time.

"The Humvee, with it, we can get there quickly," Dylan spoke with a rushed voice.

"And how will we know the places that have been damaged properly?" I asked back.

Gilbert was good, but not as good as Dylan, and even though he had somewhat recovered, the old merchant was still weakened from the months in Jille.

I didn't doubt that Gilbert could play this role, especially with everyone's lives, including Robyn's, at stake, but I also didn't doubt that he would die in the process, exhausted.

From his dark look and the resolution on his face, Gilbert knew this too; still, he took a step forward, opening his mouth to speak.

"I can! I can! I know!" The merchant's words got stuck in his throat, prevented from coming out when Millia jumped from my pocket to the table, next to the mini model of the city.

"I watched Devas drive! I know how!" The little slime wrote quickly. "I just need someone to follow my instructions. I'm small, and I can't drive alone! D:"

The (CHAT) had basically the same reaction as me; where before they were tense, with hurried messages about the bad situation, now they were literally electrified.

Millia was an angel, it was simple.

If anyone tried to touch this slime, I will kill them.

"I'll go!" Robyn took a step forward. "I'm the most useless in battle, I'll drive."

"I'll go with her, I'll fix the barrier." Selina spoke next, before Gilbert.

"I'll escort them." No one asked why they would need an escort; the city must be in chaos.

The Minimap didn't lie; the points representing the residents of Winterhord were moving quickly, as if people were in a panic, which they were.

The worst were the red points, hallucinations; they were multiplying fast.

"Annabel, you're used to using this room." It wasn't a question; she had affirmed it herself before. "You and Dylan stay, give him the information."

"Melissa, Darnell." I turned to the two. "One protects the mansion and the two." I pointed to Dylan and Annabel. "The other goes with the Humvee."

"I'll go." Melissa offered before Darnell could speak.

The man seemed to want to argue but ended up closing his mouth. "I'll stay; no one, no one, will enter here." He stated, pulling a shotgun from his VoidBag.

I had found out about it yesterday when I talked to the man; he was the creator of Terraria's first firearm, a prototype, using black powder, Mystic Symbols, and magic.

It was inferior to modern weapons, but for Terraria? This thing was a few centuries ahead.

I didn't expect anything less from the Arms Dealer; all NPCs seemed to be special.

Without wasting time, Dylan climbed onto the mansion's roof, with Annabel staying in the control room and Darnell, along with Annabel's most trusted guards, protecting them.

Selina, Melissa, Robyn, and Gilbert followed me outside the mansion, where the Humvee was parked, with Robyn's two animals sleeping inside it.

"Here." I tossed the key to the zoologist. "I trust you guys." At the same time, I handed her the Slime Staff, along with Millia, who jumped onto the woman's shoulder.

It sucked, frankly; I would love to fight using the Humvee, but if it meant thousands of deaths, I'd accept the disadvantage.

While the four were getting into the Humvee, I took another thing out of the inventory: Shichishitō.

"Take it, you'll need it more than I do." I threw the sword to Gilbert, who caught it and nodded with a determined look.

As useful as Shichishitō was, I had a substitute that was the toothpick created with Nightmare Fuel.

I was also sure that the sword would break in the cold outside the barrier; it was better for it to be useful here than shattered out there.

As a cue, an arrow shot from the mansion's roof, pointing to the south.

"Go." I ordered, glancing briefly as the Humvee started moving with Robyn following Millia's instructions.

Even in this crappy situation, a funny thought came to me.

Thank goodness there were no traffic laws in Terraria; the number of fines Robyn and Millia would assure me would bankrupt me.

Without hesitation, I ran to the city gate, accelerating at the same time as I manifested my cold-resistant clothing, then my armor over it, and finally, my mask.

Not the best fit, but it would do; the more protections against the cold I had, the better.

By the time I reached the gate and entered the small area where the smaller barrier existed, it activated, Dylan probably telling Annabel that I had arrived.

The guy's eye was good; with the glasses? He probably could see me as if I were right next to him.

I took advantage while the barrier was rising, separating me from the larger barrier surrounding the city, to pull something from my inventory.

A drink, alcohol with some other things; it was a drink that Annabel gave me as a gift the first time I went to the control room, saying it should help against the cold, an old family recipe. Something she didn't know how her ancestors had learned.

Well, now we knew since Cael, apparently, was a Fae.

Best of all, I recognized what Annabel gave me was a Warmth Potion, to be specific.

I've never been so grateful for someone hating the cold as much as Cael seemed to hate it. I drank the potion in one gulp, causing the "Warmth" buff to appear in the corner of my screen.

Basically, it reduced the effects of the cold "Moderately" for an hour, which in this situation, was excellent.

I doubted it would last an hour, if it was anything like Purification Powder, but it was already helpful.

By the time the second barrier fell, and I was exposed to the weather outside the barrier, I realized things were bad.

It wasn't just cold; it was fucking freezing.

Even with all the protections I had, with the Warmth Potion, with my mana protecting me, with my spiritual energy energizing my breath, which was from the damn SUN! Along with the nightmare energy mitigating the effects of the storm, still, I was cold.

I, who could stand in the damn cold of minus thirty degrees in a tank top and feel nothing but a light breeze, was cold.

I didn't know how many degrees below zero it was, but I was certain: if the barrier fell, everyone would die, that was for sure.

Forget minutes, seconds, no one outside the Humvee would last more than a few seconds before simply freezing and dying.

I looked at the (CHAT) quickly before tossing it aside, disappearing with it so as not to distract myself.

As a signal, the moment I did that, the Deerclops screamed again, a scream that I ignored, paying attention to the Minimap and the red dot that appeared on its edge, at the limit of five kilometers.

This point was larger than the others, practically double, and the biggest difference was that besides being bright red, it had a white skull in the center of it.

At the same time this point appeared on the Minimap, at the same time the scream occurred, a message appeared in front of me.

[Deerclops has Awoken!]

[...]

Finally, the beginning of the battle.

I'll refrain from commenting on anything; I'll try to convey everything I want to convey in the fight, as this is one of those battles that holds more significance than just a mere fight.

Well, as always, thank you for reading; this chapter is longer than usual, and the next one is likely to be the same.

That said, have a good night and happy reading!