Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls-Chapter 377: Hold on a little longer.

Kael remained motionless for a few moments, observing the lifeless landscape as if trying to absorb every detail—not to understand it, but to promise himself that he would never let something like this happen again. The biting wind swept through the frozen trees, emitting a strange sound, like distorted laments through the layer of black ice.

Sylphie finally stood up. Her face was more serious than anyone there had ever seen—not furious, not desperate… but determined. The green mana that enveloped her was soft and contained, like roots clinging to solid ground after a storm.

"I'm fine," she murmured, her voice still low, but steady. "Let's go. Let's not waste any more time."

Irelia nodded and approached to offer support, but Sylphie took a step back, breathing deeply.

"Thank you… but I can go on."

Amelia adjusted her staff, now holding it carefully, as if the atmosphere demanded respect.

"We can head towards the lake. The princess said the tunnel entrance was to the north, right?"

Sylphie pointed toward the frozen forest. "Yes. Crossing this area, we reach the shore of Helvorn. But… prepare yourselves. The path won't be easy."

Kael shrugged, subtly activating his energy. A crimson mist escaped from his feet, evaporating the snow immediately below.

"It's alright," he said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "Everything will be fine. We've been through worse."

Amelia narrowed her eyes, slightly offended. "What exactly could be worse than an entire forest petrified by demonic ice?"

Kael smiled slightly. "Things will be easier here. Let's just focus, okay?" He spoke and began to walk. "I'm curious to know what happened in this place, but first, let's kill all these dark witches and help the King."

Kael strode through the thick snow, the warm vapor of his aura carving a crimson trail across the frozen white. Irelia and Amelia exchanged glances—not exactly tranquil, but with that familiar feeling of "Kael being Kael" that always kept them grounded.

Sylphie, however, kept her gaze fixed on the horizon, each step calculated, light, silent. Her breath condensed into small crystals before her lips, and the tension around her seemed to lessen with each deep breath, as if her mana were reflexively trying to restore what remained of that dying place.

The forest soon showed signs that they were approaching the lake. The ice on the trees grew thicker, darker, as if something were moving within it—undefined outlines, dissolved shadows, almost human… but distorted, like memories frozen at the moment of death.

Amelia frowned.

"Are you seeing… that?"

Kael didn't need to look twice.

"Yes. And don't come any closer."

Irelia raised her hand, feeling the air. "These fragments… they seem like echoes of mana. As if something drained people before they could react."

Sylphie paused for a second.

"…It's not just trees."

Silence fell like a stone.

Kael clenched his fist, his crimson aura pulsing more intensely.

"Then keep walking. Let's get out of this damned forest before it decides to swallow us too."

They crossed a few more meters until the vegetation gave way to a completely flat region—vast, silent, and brilliant.

Lake Helvorn.

Or what was once a lake.

Now it was a white ocean, frozen as far as the eye could see. The ice reflected the diffuse light of the gray sky, forming a surface so smooth it looked like a huge, pale mirror. In the center, further away, rose pillars of black ice, growing like gigantic thorns pointing towards the sky—and beyond them, far beyond, a white shadow rose to the heavens.

The castle.

Or rather, the ice palace that had devoured the original castle.

Irelia let out a short sigh. "It's even worse than I imagined…"

Amelia, always more impulsive, murmured: "Okay… fine. I take it back. This… this is worse than anything we've ever seen."

Kael stared at the immense structure on the horizon. Each tower seemed alive, growing, pulsating, breathing. The energy emanating from it was cold, yet vibrant—almost as if it had its own consciousness.

He raised his face, the frozen wind whipping against his hair.

"It's okay. Everything will be alright."

Sylphie stared at him with an incredulous look.

"Kael… did you see that?" She gestured toward the lake, toward the castle, toward the dead forest. "How can you say—"

"Just focus. We'll invade soon." Kael spoke as he discreetly cast shadows wherever he went…

Kael walked ahead of the group with long, firm strides, but Irelia soon noticed something—he wasn't just walking.

With each step, the snow behind him shimmered for less than a second, as if his own shadow… didn't follow him. As if it stayed behind. As if it multiplied.

Thin, dark, silent shadows appeared and disappeared around him—clinging to the frozen ground like liquid stains spreading through the cracks in the ice.

There were many.

Far more than could be seen with the naked eye.

Irelia narrowed her eyes.

"…Kael. What exactly are you doing?"

He didn't even look back.

"Just getting ready."

Amelia watched more closely—and her face lost some of its color as she noticed that some of the shadows rose from the ground for brief moments, taking on humanoid forms before dissolving like dark dust carried by the frozen wind.

"Wait a minute… are those…?"

Kael smiled, that carefree smile he only wore when he was doing something completely absurd. "It's something I got in Azalith, relax, it won't be a problem."

Sylphie finally caught up with him and quickened her pace beside him, looking down, then to the sides—where distorted, long, silent silhouettes moved alongside the group like a swarm.

"This… is scary." Her voice trembled slightly.

Kael raised one hand, letting a wisp of scarlet energy escape through his fingers.

"This will help us, I know it's a very strong and corrupted energy." He tilted his head. "But I guarantee it will be a great help when we start the battle."

Sylphie gave him a look that was a mixture of disbelief and concern—more concern than anything else.

"Kael… you've always had a somewhat suspicious affinity with chaos, but this…" She made a vague gesture toward the shadows that continued to emerge, gliding through the snow like dark serpents. "…this is different. This isn't just corrupted mana. This is alive."

"It's under control," he corrected calmly.

"You say that now," Amelia murmured, clutching her staff a little tighter. "But if this thing decides it doesn't want to be your friend anymore… we have a problem."

"A huge problem," Irelia finished, examining one of the shadows that crawled between her feet before disappearing into a fissure in the ice. "And everything here is already… too unstable. If this reacts with the Frozen Chaos—"

"It won't react." Kael stopped, turning to the three of them. The crimson aura around him shimmered, thick lines of energy enveloping his silhouette like tribal markings that moved on their own. "This is mine. It obeys me."

For an instant—just one—the shadows around him rose simultaneously, like soldiers lined up obeying a silent command.

And then they crashed back to the ground, scattering like spilled ink that immediately dissolved into the snow.

Sylphie took a step back.

Irelia placed her hand on the hilt of her sword—not out of threat, but reflex.

Amelia swallowed hard.

Kael merely pushed the air away with one hand, as if brushing away an inconvenient wind.

"It's all right, really." He even stretched, as if he weren't surrounded by a cursed forest and an impossible lake. "Everything will be alright. After all…"

He smiled. A wide smile. Dangerous. Strangely light.

"…now that I have an army, things get easier."

Silence.

The kind of heavy silence that falls like thick, suffocating snow.

Amelia blinked, confused.

"Army?"

Sylphie frowned.

"What army?"

Irelia stepped forward, her gaze sharp as a newly polished blade.

"Kael… what are you talking about?"

The young man merely raised an eyebrow, utterly unconcerned.

As if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"The shadows…" He turned to continue walking, his shadows spreading around him like a living cloak. "…it's necromancy."

…

Deep within the corrupted palace, where the ice was not merely cold, but alive—pulsating, hungry—the King of Skaldi remained imprisoned in a narrow cell carved directly into the frozen structure. The walls were semi-transparent, revealing shadows that moved within as if the ice had eyes… as if the ice had memories.

The king sat on the floor, his back against the jagged wall. His arms were marked by recent cuts, not deep enough to kill him, but calculated enough to cause pain and humiliation. The chains that bound his wrists were made of the same black ice that covered the castle—cold enough to burn.

He let out a hoarse sigh, the warm air turning to vapor before his split lips.

And then… he laughed.

A dry, deep laugh, absurdly out of place in that inert environment.

On the other side of the cell, perched on a piece of ice that looked like a purpose-grown stalactite, a raven watched him with gleaming eyes, as black and deep as the shadows of Lake Helvorn.

It was no ordinary creature.

Its feathers carried tiny scarlet glints—sparks of mana that spread through its plumage like embers under coals. Every movement of the creature caused the air to shift, as if it were filtering its own surrounding energy to conceal its presence.

When the raven tilted its head, the king smiled crookedly, still bleeding from a recent blow to the corner of his mouth.

"So it is you…" he murmured, his voice trailing off with surprising familiarity.

The raven cawed—a low, almost melodious sound, not belonging to any ordinary creature.

The king leaned against the wall and raised his chin just slightly.

"It's been so long since I heard that call… the signature of your magic."

He blinked, exhausted—but lucid.

"It's good to know we still had a good relationship, Eleanor Scarlet."

The bird responded with another short croak—but this time, words formed in the king's mind like distant, soft echoes, almost like a whisper traversing centuries of friendship.

The mental connection was tenuous, unstable because of the interference of the corrupted ice… but it was there.

"Don't waste energy. Hold on a little longer. Soon you'll see quite a show."