CHAPTER 249: OPERATION WOLF SLAYER. (PART 37)

The flames whipped through the woods, and though they didn’t shatter the trees like what one might expect, they ignited everything they touched, painting everything that’s green in a vivid red and orange.

Fire was a human’s worst enemy. Even more so for a Genome whose body is built to withstand extreme cold, with very little resistance to high temperatures. Because of that, Cryonis’s first reaction was to get out of the burning forest. Of course, that proved to be futile right away as the flame torrent followed him to the grass plain.

Cryonis activated his ability the instant his foot touched the ground. Small jagged icicles formed at the tip of his boot, their size increasing as a layer of frost spread through the surroundings. A second later, they turned into massive pillars that blocked the torrent of flames, splitting it apart before it could reach the cold hero.

Cryonis found himself forced to hide behind the ice pillar for the few seconds it took the raging red torrent to stop. He noticed that the flames weren’t powerful enough to instantly break or melt his ice, giving him confidence that he could stand his ground against whoever was getting in his way.

But that wasn’t his objective.

The purple-haired woman had already moved, saved from the cold he had encased them in by the heat from the burning forest, and the man to whom she gave the bag was no longer in sight, having disappeared behind the rising wall of flames. Time was running out, and so Cryonis was forced to take some drastic measures.

The air around him turned misty all of a sudden, sparkling white specs forming and falling to the ground. The grass at his feet had turned into a field of sharp blades, continuing to expand little by little before bursting with explosive speed, instantly reaching the forest.

The frost suffocated the flames and encased the trees, killing the light painting them orange and cutting out the source of the rising smoke. The trees turned into dangerous sculptures, each small protrusion becoming a sharp needle waiting to pierce the flesh of anyone foolish enough to get close.

Cryonis focused his mind, intending to freeze the entire thirty-seventh floor if it meant stopping the thieves from escaping. Things refused to go his way, however. The spreading frost crashed into an insurmountable wall when a wave of flames suddenly spread out from the forest. Something about it was different from the previous torrent, and Cryonis felt it soon enough when the force of an explosion slammed into.

The shockwave shattered the frozen forest first then the pillar behind which the cold hero hid. The stupidity of his actions struck him as his body hit the floor after being blasted by the rapidly expanding air he had just cooled himself.

A devastating explosion shook the floor, shattering every last window on the white mansion. It wasn’t on a level that could harm anyone who happens to be within its radius, but it was powerful enough to blast things away, even pushing against the winds

With his back on the floor, Cryonis stared at the bright ceiling and for a moment wondered why there was nothing had happened despite the forest catching fire just moments ago. Forcing himself up, he gazed at the devastated forest and sighed before reaching up and tapping his earpiece.

"Commissioner Evans, I think I know what that third party was-"

Before he could finish the sentence, a strange warmth touched his ears and a strong sense of horror suddenly overwhelmed him. He grasped the device and ripped it off along with his mask, tossing it away a second before he heard a faint pop. He then reached into the pouch on his belt, grasping the device it contained and tossing it away a second before it exploded.

Neither of the small bombs could have harmed a Level 4 like him, but that was the least of his troubles at the current moment. His connection to the operation command was severed, which means he couldn’t report what was happening any longer, drastically increasing the chances of the thieves escaping.

As the panic finally set in, Cryonis heard the crisp sound of shattered ice snapping under something heavy. His sight was drawn to the wrecked forest where he was a strange figure stepped out into the clearing.

They wore a power suit unlike any Cryonis had seen before. The whole thing was built like a furnace; large and bulky, with round red plating overlayed on a charred frame, its charcoal color visible through the gaps. Nevertheless, its most distinctive feature had to be the helmet, which took the shape of a horrific serpentine creature despite its mechanical makeup, and the curved horns extending from it on each side only helped accentuate that feeling by granting it a rather demonic image.

A large cylindrical container was attached diagonally on its back, and from its bottom, a single tube extended out, connecting with the right gauntlet, which had a peculiar shape of its own.

Cryonis didn’t understand what he was looking at until the stranger raised their right arm and pointed it in his direction. Only then did he realize that the gauntlet encasing it was shaped like the head of some vicious beast, and when that beast spread its jaws open, sparks lit up in the depths of its throat and a torrent of flame burst out.

A pillar of ice erupted from the ground just in time to block the stream of fire. Hiding behind it, Cryonis gritted his teeth and willed his powers to freeze his surroundings, desperately trying to stave away the rising temperature. Before it became too unbearable, he renewed the first pillar then created a few more, hoping to spread the flame and weaken their effect. At the same time he held a hand up and formed a single ice shard, putting so much of his focus on it that it slowly gained a blue tint.

The instant the torrent of flames halted, Cryonis jumped out from his hiding spot and whipped his arm, slinging the blue shard at the red furnace. He hadn’t bothered choosing a target, only hoping for the best, but against all odds, he somehow struck the pyromaniac in the head.

Just like a missile, the blue shard exploded, instantly enveloping the enemy in a large ice formation, sharp icicles spreading from it in every direction.

The chaos filling the thirty-seventh floor seemed to halt in that moment, a if frozen by the same ice coffin encasing the fiery demon threatening to burn everything in their path.

Cryonis refused to let his guard down. Even though the ice missile he had just used was enough to freeze the life out of someone, something told him it wouldn’t be enough to take out the red demon. As if to prove him right, the demon’s crimson plating began to glow, gradually turning a bright orange. At the same time, cracks spread through the ice formation, releasing streams of steam that quickly gathered to create a thin cloud of mist, gradually obscuring the frozen seal.

As he watched one of his best weapons fail to contain his enemy, the cold hero glared at the orange silhouette of the demon, waiting for the moment it would break out of its prison. At that moment, two red dots seemed to glow in the depths of its head, and though it only had a visor in that area, Cryonis felt as if it had just opened its eyes, glaring right back at him, its murderous intent conveyed through their ominous color.

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