The trumpeting of the mammoths shattered the silence of Elbaf like a war horn from the ancient age.
The sound was so loud it felt as if my skull itself was splitting apart.
Ten of them emerged from between the frozen roots—each mammoth as large as a small fortress, their colossal bodies covered in shaggy brown fur stiffened by layers of ice and dried blood. With every step they took, the ground trembled, snow erupting into the air like dust from a collapsing mountain.
Then I noticed it.
Blood.
Red patches streaked down their massive legs, dripping steadily into the snow below. I narrowed my eyes and focused on their faces.
Their eyes were wrong.
Completely white.
No pupils.
No awareness.
Just hollow, empty gazes—like corpses being forced to walk.
"…They're being controlled," I muttered.
I glanced at Gaban. He was already watching them closely, his expression dark and sharp. The usual carefree grin he carried was gone—replaced by the terrifying calm of a man who had once sailed alongside the Pirate King.
"Are we both thinking the same thing?" I asked quietly, my voice barely audible over the mammoths' stomping.
Gaban didn't look at me. He simply nodded.
"Leave them to me," he said firmly.
Before I could reply—
I sensed something.
Something was coming straight for my head.
I reacted on instinct.
In a blur, I raised my left arm, sapphire scales rapidly forming over my skin as the power of the Azure Dragon surged forward.
CLANG!
A sharp metallic impact echoed through the forest as the bullet smashed against my scaled hand and ricocheted into the snow.
"Captain, what was that-resu?!" Spruce shrieked, grabbing onto my collar with both hands.
I didn't answer.
My eyes were locked on the vast expanse of snow-covered trees ahead. The forest stood unnaturally still—no movement, no sound, no presence.
Yet I knew.
Someone was there.
A sudden sting hit my face.
"…Tch."
I reached up and touched just beneath my right eye. My fingers came away red.
It wasn't deep—just a thin cut—but blood dripped freely, staining the untouched snow below. Against the white permafrost, the red looked almost… deliberate.
Spruce's voice trembled as he stared at my face.
"Captain… it's like that guy who shot me-resu…"
I didn't respond.
Because I felt it.
A pressure.
Heavy.
Oppressive.
Absolute.
It felt as if the air itself had thickened, as though breathing had become a battle.
"…Color of the Supreme King?" I whispered.
Before anyone could react, the mammoths didn't just stop.
They collapsed.
All ten of them dropped at once, their massive bodies crashing into the ground with earth-shaking force, snow exploding outward in every direction.
Standing atop the lead mammoth was Gaban.
His axes were lowered, his stance relaxed—but his gaze was sharp, aimed not at the herd… but somewhere else entirely.
The wind howled violently through the roots of the Great Tree Adam.
Skolldir looked up toward the darkened canopy.
"…A snowstorm?" he muttered.
Pandora drifted quietly, slipping into the thick fur behind Skolldir's neck, hiding herself instinctively.
But the chill I felt wasn't from the storm.
It was sharper.
Colder.
Like a needle being driven straight into my brain.
"Aghhh—!"
I dropped to my knees, clutching my head as the world spun violently around me.
"What happened, Captain-resu?! Captain?!" Spruce's voice echoed, distant and distorted.
My strength vanished.
The last thing I saw was the blizzard swallowing the forest whole… and Spruce's terrified face as he screamed. One more voice drifted in, barely a whisper before the dark.
"Captain?! Mother?! CAPTAINNNN—!"
Darkness took me.
And then—
A warmth.
A small, gentle light floated toward me through the void.
---
[After Some Hours]
A dull ache pulsed through my head as I slowly forced my eyes open.
Above me were massive frozen branches stretching endlessly, the underside of the Great Tree Adam looming like the ceiling of the world.
"…Tch."
I pushed myself up—and froze.
A soft, ancient voice brushed against my ear.
"Dear child… I'm glad you are alive."
I turned sharply.
Pandora hovered right beside my arm.
Not just floating.
Pressing against it.
As if she were trying to sink into my limb itself.
"WITCH!!" I shouted, scrambling backward.
Pandora recoiled slightly, then floated directly in front of my face, her flames flickering with irritation.
"Who are you calling a witch, kid?" she snapped.
"Uhh—nothing…" I rubbed my head and looked around the empty clearing. "Where are the others?"
Her glow softened slightly. "We were separated, my child."
"Hah… figures."
I exhaled slowly, eyes scanning the snow.
"They won't go down that easily."
I frowned. "You were with Skolldir. How did you and I end up together?"
She tilted her sun-like head.
"My child, I am a Goddess. Not your personal assistant."
"Huh?!" I shot back. "No, you're not."
I stood, brushing snow off my coat, and began walking forward.
Toward the center of Elbaf, toward the trunk of the Great Tree Adam.
"My child, where are you going?" Pandora called. "Leaving your Goddess behind?"
I ignored her.
Boots crunching through deep snow, I kept moving.
She caught up quickly, her heat warming the side of my face.
"Dear child, you should listen to your elders."
Still nothing.
"LISTEN TO ME!" she suddenly snapped, her divine calm breaking as her flames flared crimson. "Don't you listen, you lizard?!"
A smirk tugged at my lips.
I didn't stop walking—but I glanced at her from the corner of my eye.
"So," I said quietly, "our 'Goddess' finally dropped the act, huh?"
That's when—
Something sliced past my head.
FWIP—!
A bullet grazed through my hair, severing several strands mid-air.
I jumped aside just as the shot buried itself deep into the tree behind me.
From the shadows, a calm voice echoed through the blizzard.
"…Finally."
I slowly straightened.
"We're alone."