Chapter 5: The Ice Queen’s Debt
The two remaining Kobolds didn’t charge. Their animalistic yellow eyes rolled back in primitive panic as they looked at the crumpled, rotted mess of their pack leader at Leon’s feet. They let out low, trembling whines, their heavy claws scraping backward against the blood-slicked asphalt.
"Too late to back out now," Leon said.
He stepped forward. His ten-foot circle of absolute blackness moved with him, a mobile dead zone slicing through the modern city. The nearest Kobold tried to scramble over the trunk of a stalled taxi to escape, but the moment the edge of Leon’s domain brushed its hind legs, the fur fell out in clumps. The flesh beneath turned a sickly, necrotic gray. The beast lost its footing, howling as its decaying joints gave out, sending it crashing heavily into the street.
Leon didn’t waste mana. He simply walked up and drove his heel into its spine. A sickening snap echoed across the block.
[Target destroyed.]
[You have gained 50 Experience Points.][Absolute Extraction Activated.]
Agility +1
Constitution +1
The last Kobold completely lost its mind. Abandoning all preying instincts, it turned tail and bolted down the avenue, knocked over a trash can in its desperation to get away from the human monster.
Leon didn’t chase it. He slowly raised his right hand, pointing his index finger at the fleeing creature’s back.
"Decay," he murmured, channeling a tiny thread of his dark mana.
A concentrated bolt of abyssal violet energy shot from his fingertip, tearing through the air with a low, whistling hiss. It struck the Kobold dead center in its shoulder blade. The effect was instantaneous. The dark energy spread across its torso like ink on wet paper, dissolving its muscles, ribs, and vital organs into gray dust in mid-stride. The monster collapsed into a heap of ash before it could even finish its final shriek.
[Target destroyed.]
[You have gained 50 Experience Points.][Absolute Extraction Activated.]
Strength +1
Mana +1
Leon lowered his hand, his expression flat. The entire skirmish had taken less than thirty seconds. Around him, the street was a graveyard of smashed cars and thick smoke, but the immediate threat on this specific corner had been erased.
A sharp, metallic clatter pulled his attention toward a nearby luxury clothing boutique. The store’s heavy glass display window had been shattered into thousands of glittering shards. Inside, slumped against a fallen clothing rack, was a young woman.
She wore a tailored navy blue blazer, now torn and covered in white drywall dust. Her long, platinum-blonde hair was matted with blood from a nasty gash near her hairline. She was clutching her ankle, her breath coming in ragged, terrified gasps as she stared at Leon.
Leon’s eyes narrowed. His Perception stat pulsed, recognizing her face instantly.
Elena Thorne.
In the future timeline, she wasn’t just some helpless girl hiding in a ruined shop. She was the "Ice Queen," America’s top S-rank elemental mage and the future commander of the Blizzard Guild. During the mid-stage of the apocalypse, her frost spells had held back entire legions of demon generals.
Right now, however, she hadn’t awakened her powers yet. She was just an ordinary twenty-two-year-old college student, shivering in the ruins of a mall, completely defenseless.
"Don’t... don’t come any closer," Elena whispered, her voice trembling violently as she saw the dark, suffocating aura swirling around Leon’s boots. She had seen what that darkness did to the monsters. To her, Leon looked far more dangerous than the dog-creatures that had chased her.
Leon stopped exactly at the shattered threshold of the shop, keeping his domain from touching her. He didn’t care about being a knight in shining armor, but he knew the value of a future powerhouse. Having the world’s strongest mage owe him a life debt before the game even properly started was too good an investment to pass up.
"The streets are going to get worse," Leon said, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "More gates are dropping three blocks north. If you stay here, you’ll be dead by sundown."
Elena swallowed hard, pressing her back against the wall. "Who... what are you? Are you with the government?"
Leon let out a dry, humorless chuckle. "The government is currently hiding in bunkers, trying to figure out why their radios don’t work. No one is coming to save you, Elena."
Elena’s eyes widened in shock. "How do you know my name?"
"I know a lot of things," Leon said, turning his back to her and looking out at the smoking skyline. "Like the fact that deep inside your chest, your mana core is currently burning. You feel cold, don’t you? Like your blood is turning to ice."
Elena froze. He was right. For the last five minutes, ever since that black tower fell from the sky, she had been shivering from the inside out, an unnatural, freezing energy clawing at her heart. She thought she was just dying of shock.
"That’s not death," Leon said, looking over his shoulder, his pitch-black eyes locking onto hers. "That’s your awakening. Trigger it. Force the cold out into your palms, or the latent mana will freeze your heart solid before you can even take another step."
Elena stared at him, her lips trembling. She didn’t understand the mechanics of what he was saying, but the absolute, cold certainty in his voice left no room for doubt. Closing her eyes, she stopped fighting the freezing sensation in her chest. She embraced it, pushing the numb, icy energy down her arms, straight into her hands.
CRACK.
A thick layer of solid, pristine frost instantly coated the floor around her, freezing the fallen metal racks and shattered glass into beautiful, deadly ice sculptures.
Elena snapped her eyes open, gasping as a brilliant, pale blue light flared in her pupils. The pain in her head was gone, replaced by a strange, sharp clarity.
[Notice: A nearby individual has successfully awakened a high-tier hidden class.]
[Your ’Perception’ has documented the birth of the S-Rank Mage: Frost Sovereign.]
Leon watched the notification fade with a small, satisfied smirk. The Ice Queen had officially entered the board, and she had done it under his watch.
Elena stood up slowly, her sprained ankle completely healed by the sudden influx of raw mana. She looked at her frost-covered hands, then up at Leon, her gaze a mixture of profound awe and deep wariness.
"Why did you help me?" she asked, her voice steadier now, carrying the faint, regal undertone of her future self.
Leon turned around, his dark coat billowing as he began to walk away into the smoke-filled street.
"Consider it a loan," Leon’s voice drifted back through the fog. "I’ll be back to collect the interest later."