Several glacius vipers wrap themselves around the blizzyak. In response, the yak's fur thickens with snow, creating a dense barrier that prevents the vipers from sinking their fangs into it. Frustrated, the vipers slither backward, their sharp scales scraping against the yak’s body, slowly wearing down the protective layer of snow.

  The glacius viper is a long, sinuous creature, its body covered in jagged, razor-sharp ice scales. Around its neck, a crown of ice spikes juts out menacingly. The tip of its tail ends in a blunt, round ball, encased in thick, frozen ice, turning it into a club-like weapon when swung. Its head resembles that of a viper, with cold, dead eyes and gleaming blue fangs. When its mouth opens, there is no tongue, but instead, thick, gooey green poison oozes from the corners of its fangs.

  The blizzyak towers over the frozen terrain, slightly larger than a real adult elephant. Its massive body is covered in thick, white fur, though patches of it are matted with clumps of snow and dirt. Some parts of the fur are tinged with brown, remnants of the harsh conditions it endures as it roams the icy plains. Its horns, thick and earth brown, curve powerfully from the sides of its head. The most unsettling feature, however, is its hollow, empty eyes – black voids that seem to stare into nothingness.

  “Show us what you’ve got. I doubt the crow’s judgment. Take down the yak,” Charlotte commands Wyn’s team.

  “What’s a yak?” Yu asks.

  “Seriously, dude? It’s that big thing right there!” James says, pointing.

  “What about the snakes?” Wyn asks.

  “You’re responsible for the yak and whatever is on it. The rest of the vipers will be handled by the faction members,” Eugene replies.

  “And what about you, Miss Charlotte and Mister Eugene?” Lisa wonders.

  “These are nothing to us. But if you die, you die, and we’ll just collect your essence,” Charlotte says bluntly.

  “Charlotte...,” Eugene mutters, shaking his head.

  With the faction members taking their positions, Wyn’s team cautiously approaches the yak. Suddenly, the yak lets out a deep moo, followed by a snowy cyclone swirling around it. The radius is wide enough to create a buffer but doesn’t manage to catch any of the vipers yet. Then, with another powerful moo, the snow on its fur erupts, blasting off the vipers clinging to it and sending them into the swirling cyclone.

  While the team watches the yak’s impressive move, the sight of the swirling snowstorm fills Yu with a deep, unshakable sorrow.

  “Sigh...I miss snow,” he says wistfully.

  “I’ll turn the snow yellow if I have to! Get a grip, eh,” James quips.

  “Yellow snow?” Mira asks, confused.

  “It’s a type of syrup for snow cones,” Wyn replies nonchalantly, earning a light chuckle from James.

  The team carefully surrounds the yak, keeping enough distance in case another cyclone gets summoned. However, the yak remains unaware of their presence, its face tilted upward toward the sky. Just as Wyn’s team is preparing to unleash their attacks on the towering beast, a torrent of vipers comes pouring down from above.

  With precision, the yak chomps down on one of the falling vipers, the loud crunch of its powerful jaws on the ice scales echoing through the frozen air. The viper attempts to strike the yak with its tail, but it’s futile. Meanwhile, two more vipers drop down – one near Yu and James, and the other close to the sisters.

  Avoiding the viper's chomp, Lisa charges her weapon while Mira distracts it. She dodges a lunge, though the ice around the viper’s neck lightly scrapes her thighs. Mira follows the viper's head, and before it can turn back, she wraps her whip around the area just below the ice spikes around its neck. As the metal tip completes its wrap, it explodes, and the fire from the whip proves effective, slowly melting the ice scales.

  “Sister! I can’t take a shot with you there!” Lisa yells.

  The moment Mira jumps out of the way, Lisa blasts the viper’s head at full charge. To ensure she doesn’t accidentally hit other souls nearby, she angles her gun to shoot up into the air, just enough to catch the viper’s head. What remains afterward is a headless viper.

  Yu fires a stream from the tip of his blade into the open mouth of the lunging viper, slowing its advance. In response, James summons an ice pillar to strike the viper's chin, forcing its head upward. With the blade tip grounded, Yu grips his weapon tightly and extends the handle, propelling himself into the air. James then thrusts both rapiers into his ice pillar. Upon impact, the pillar shatters, sending sharp shards hurtling toward the viper.

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  As Yu descends, he strikes the viper's head with the water-fused blade tip, pressing it down into the ground. Quick to react, James freezes the downward stream coming from Yu's blade, encasing both it and Yu's weapon in ice.

  “Why would you do that? My blade didn’t even lodge, and now it’s stuck on the snake’s head!” Yu exclaims.

  “You can always recall your weapon if you don’t like it there, eh.” James shrugs.

  The viper now has a frozen stream of water on top of its head, with Yu's blade handle protruding from the front. Fortunately, the viper seems agitated by the handle, shaking its head violently in an attempt to dislodge it. As it thrashes, poisonous acid drips from its fangs, forcing Yu and James to maintain their distance. Suddenly, a precise shot pierces the back of the viper's head, causing it to evaporate instantly.

  “What’s up, boys?” Mira says.

  “We were working on that!” Yu complains.

  “Guy, let’s go help Mister Wyn first,” Lisa adds.

  While his team is busy with the vipers, Wyn decides to take on the yak by himself. He begins by summoning a descending cyclone aimed at the creature. The yak drops the viper and thickens its fur once more. With its mouth agape, it unleashes a cyclone that attempts to suck Wyn in. In response, Wyn counters by dashing forward, summoning his own cyclone. However, his is more powerful than the yak’s, causing him to overshoot and plunge into the ocean.

  Wyn springs up from the water, quickly dashing back toward the yak, who has moved slightly into his direction. As he closes in, the creature opens its mouth again, trying to suck him in once more. This time, Wyn deftly steers his dash and jabs the beast with the blades on the side. When the yak thickens its fur again, Wyn dashes forward, using the cyclone’s force to sink the blades deeper. Realizing his blades aren’t making contact with the yak’s body, he begins to spin them as he circles around the creature, aiming to cut off as much fur as possible. The creature responds by creating a cyclone around itself, though, as expected, the radius is too wide to have any impact on Wyn.

  Just before the fur explodes, Wyn manages to make contact with the yak’s skin using his spinning blades, dissipating the cyclone and preventing the explosion entirely. Moments later, an icy wiener carrying the explosive whip crashes onto the yak’s rear, leaving part of the creature’s behind exposed. Following up, Lisa unleashes her electrifying laser beams, striking the same area and chipping away a significant chunk from the creature’s hindquarters. The yak moos in response, stomping the ground and creating snow pillars around itself.

  Meanwhile, Wyn, who has been cutting off the yak’s fur, makes his way to the rear and punches his blades into the wound, spinning them to inflict immense pain. Missing a chunk at the wound, the yak is unable to protect the area with its snow fur. For the finale, Wyn leaps back and launches a large rock into the wound. As his team catches up, he sends Mira’s whip through the rock and directly into the wound. The creature's rear appears more hollow than before, burning from within. Finally, the yak collapses, defeated.

  “The crow is never wrong,” Eugene remarks.

  “Shut up, Eugene!” Charlotte says.

  As the last viper falls, the whole group collects essence, sharing it equally, even with Charlotte and Eugene.

  “You did nothing, and yet…,” Wyn remarks.

  “And yet what? I fucking dare you to say it,” Charlotte retorts.

  “Let it go, Wyn. It’s not worth using your dong over this,” Eugene chimes in.

  “After all that work, we only get two thousand each? How are we gonna reach a hundred thousand?” Yu whines.

  Charlotte and Eugene count a total of four myniahs remaining.

  “What are they for, anyway?” Wyn asks.

  “For singing. The cats are trash at singing, so we use these guys instead,” Eugene answers.

  “Figures…Then why do you have to get them every time? Can’t you keep them at the square like the crow?” Wyn continues.

  “These birds burst after singing too much. One bird can sing for about ten hours.”

  “So we get a hundred hours with ten! That’s a lot!” Mira exclaims.

  “Good job on the math, finally, Mira,” Wyn replies.

  “Hell’s Day lasts for seven day-night cycles. We’ll have to use the birds wisely.”

  Charlotte welcomes a large group of cats who help plop the frozen birds into the portals. As they leave, she walks toward the group.

  “Good job on this special mission. As a reward, I’ll let you witness the great Cthulhu!” Charlotte says.

  Every soul in the group gasps. Beyond the mountains nearby, a vast unfrozen ocean stretches out. Charlotte makes a few selections on her screen before bringing up a black page filled with red text. She carefully reads the words aloud:

  “Shaquitaniqua, Airwrecka, Laquisha, La'Tanya, Toprameneesha, Rohondra, V'Lanta'La'Mana'Ma'Nisha, Ka'Likatirfrianiqua, Bufanaquishria, Elaphantisha, Sha Nay Nay.”

  After finishing, Charlotte quickly jumps behind the mountains with the group. Soon, a large, menacing figure rises from the ocean – it’s Cthulhu. The beast surveys its surroundings, growling before slipping back into the water. According to Eugene, Cthulhu is one of the strongest ultra champions, even more powerful than the gazillot. Leviathan also roams this area, but its location is harder to pinpoint as it moves deep beneath the ice sheets. None of the elites dare to challenge an ultra champion unless absolutely necessary.

  “Only the leaders of Freedom Faction and Imperial Order can take down an ultra on their own,” Eugene explains.

  Wyn is at a loss for words. For his team to reach this point, they spent possibly years training on the first floor and lost a friend along the way. The thought of obtaining a hundred thousand essence feels like a dream that can never come true.

  “How are we to defeat Heaven?” is the last thought that crosses his mind before Charlotte and Eugene instruct everyone to return to the square.