As soon as the words were spoken, Lin Jie shivered. The cold here was abnormal.

The surrounding bushes were covered with a thick layer of frost.

Under the faint moonlight, the frost displayed a disturbing, ashen-gray color, like the embers left after a fire had burned out, or like some kind of mold, clinging stubbornly to every inch of skin on the plants, rocks, and this land.

"Cough, cough..."

Silas erupted into a violent coughing fit.

This "Shepherd" who had just been pulled back from the brink of death was now curled up on the ground in agony.

His tattered sheepskin coat offered no protection against this cold. Even more terrifying, the bone flute in his hand was undergoing a change.

A layer of gray frost was visibly spreading across the surface of the bone flute at a rapid pace.

As the gray frost covered it, the weak spiritual glow on the flute's body quickly dimmed and extinguished.

The last two spiritual hounds circling him whimpered a few times, then froze into two crystalline ice sculptures in the air before shattering into countless gray particles, dispersing in the cold wind.

"My sheep..."

Silas trembled, trying to grip the flute tighter, but his fingers were too stiff to bend.

"Don't move."

Lin Jie immediately reached out, placing a hand on Silas's shoulder. A thin layer of frost had already formed on his glove.

"This is a seal targeting Aether."

Lin Jie lowered his head to look at the short knife at his waist. The ghostly blue glow on the blade had also vanished.

He tried clenching his right fist, attempting to activate the Spiritual Guidance Trigger.

No response.

The intricate mechanical structure inside the ring seemed as if it had rusted. The probes couldn't extend, and the circuit connecting to the ancient divinity was severed by this invisible gray frost.

"This isn't weather."

Julian got up from the ground, his movements stiff and sluggish.

He reached to feel the alchemy potion pouch at his waist.

It contained several vials of highly reactive chemical reagents. But now, when he took out the glass vials, the churning liquid inside had turned into gray, lifeless clumps of sediment.

"This is Gray Frost."

Julian's voice carried a deep-seated fear.

"I've seen descriptions of this phenomenon in the Association's archives."

"It's the manifestation of 'Spiritual Heat Death'."

He raised his head, looking towards the dark sky in the distance.

Though unseen, everyone knew that above the thick cloud layer, the armed airship was hovering there.

That inverted pyramid device—the Earth Plough—could do more than just pulverize the ground.

It could also scatter this destructive frost.

"Ackerman."

Lin Jie exhaled a puff of white breath. The moment it left his lips, it condensed into tiny ice crystals in the air and fell.

"He's clearing the field."

William worked the lever of his Winchester rifle.

"Click."

The crisp sound of metal on metal was currently the only thing that still functioned normally.

Ordinary firearms, products of pure physical laws, were unaffected by the freeze.

"The guns still work."

William checked the magazine.

"But the alchemical bullets are useless."

"The runes on them have all become inert scribbles."

"We're no different from ordinary hunters now."

"Even worse."

Marcus moved his shoulders. His Unshakable Bedrock boots now felt as heavy as two actual boulders.

Without spiritual assistance, the sheer weight of the equipment itself became a massive burden.

"We need to find a place to hide."

Evelyn Marconi removed the Echo Goggles, which had completely blacked out.

Under the frost's coating, the liquid mithril had solidified. The crystals lost their resonance ability. Her structural imaging vision had become an ordinary, even somewhat obstructive, pair of glass frames.

She had to rely on her naked eyes to observe the world again.

"The temperature here is still dropping."

Evelyn tightened her thin trench coat, her teeth chattering.

"If we stay out in the open for another half hour, we'll die from hypothermia."

Lin Jie scanned the surroundings. This was a typical Cornwall moorland.

Rolling hills covered with low heather and brambles, exposed granite boulders everywhere.

No woods.

No caves.

Only endless wind and increasingly thick Gray Frost.

"Over there."

Lin Jie pointed southeast.

In that direction, several large black shadows stood on the ridgeline of the moor, starkly abrupt against the night sky.

They seemed to be a group of large man-made structures, or perhaps an ancient ruin.

"Is that... Stonehenge?"

Julian squinted, trying to make out the silhouettes.

"No, it's not the famous one at Salisbury."

"Cornwall is scattered with many similar prehistoric sites. Those megaliths were usually used by ancient Celts or even earlier peoples for rituals or astronomical observation."

"They typically form a circle, with a low altar in the center."

"The terrain there can block the wind."

Lin Jie made the decision.

"Head there. We need to build a fire first, restore our body temperature, then figure out a way to break through."

This team, now stripped of its fangs, began trudging across the moorland.

Every step was exceptionally difficult.

The frozen ground beneath their feet was hard as steel, the Gray Frost covering it like slippery grease.

Silas could no longer walk.

Marcus carried him on his back.

Though this burly man had lost the enhancement of his armament, his heavily trained muscles could still bear the weight.

William and Lin Jie walked on either side, providing security.

Though their perception abilities were suppressed, the instincts honed on battlefields remained sharp.

The wind howled in their ears, as if countless invisible ghosts were screaming.

Half an hour later.

They finally reached the edge of the ruin. It was indeed a stone circle.

Over a dozen granite slabs, five to six meters high, were arranged in a specific pattern, forming a circle about fifty meters in diameter.

The surfaces of these stones were covered with the marks of time's erosion and overgrown with that grayish-white lichen.

In the center of the stone circle lay a massive, flat, fallen stone, looking like a natural stone bed.

"Get inside."

Lin Jie waved his hand. Everyone filed in, taking shelter in the lee of a large stone.

The wind was indeed much weaker here, and the Gray Frost was absent.

Marcus set Silas down and began clearing the surrounding dead grass and bushes to prepare for a fire.

Julian took out the last bit of solid alcohol from his backpack.

"This place feels... not good."

Evelyn hugged her knees, huddled in a corner.

She kept feeling that the megaliths standing around them were like silent giants, looking down upon these intruders from above.

"It's an ancient site. Feeling some oppression is normal."

William comforted her as he wiped the gun barrel with a cloth.

"As long as there are no pursuers from Ackerman, this place is safe."

"Not necessarily."

Lin Jie stood at the edge of the stone circle. His hand still habitually gripped his revolver. His gaze fell upon the arrangement of the stones.

These stones...

They didn't seem randomly placed. If it were an ordinary ritual circle, the stones should be evenly distributed.

But here, the stones showed a strange rhythm of density and sparseness.

Moreover, the shape of each stone vaguely hinted at... anatomical features.

That long, narrow stone resembled a leg bone.

That broad, flat stone resembled a shoulder blade.

And the most striking was the tallest stone tower located due north in the circle.

It wasn't a single, whole stone but a pile of rocks of varying sizes.

Its shape...

Uncannily resembled a giant standing tall, holding a large club.

"Cerne Abbas."

Julian suddenly let out a gasp of surprise.

He was flipping through the geological notebook bought in Port Said by the weak firelight.

"What did you say?" Lin Jie turned his head.

"This is a variant of the legendary Cerne Abbas Giant."

Julian's finger trembled on the page.

"In Dorset, it's a chalk hill figure of a giant, symbolizing fertility and strength."

"But in the ancient legends of Cornwall, that giant isn't drawn on the ground. It grows from the earth."

"Legend says it's the guardian of this moorland, or some kind of sealed ancient deity."

"Whenever the earth senses a threat, or when impure things intrude into its territory..."

"It awakens."

"Boom."

Before Julian's words even finished, a deep, heavy tremor suddenly came from the ground.

"No way, such a coincidence?!"

Lin Jie snapped his head around, looking towards the "stone tower" due north.

Just moments ago, that giant head made of piled rocks seemed to have turned slightly.

Its hollow eye sockets were now facing the direction where they were hiding.

"Put out the fire!"

Lin Jie shouted sharply.

Marcus reacted instantly, kicking apart the newly lit fire and smothering the embers with dirt.

Darkness once again enveloped the stone circle.

Everyone held their breath, pressing tightly against the rocks, not daring to make a sound.

"Thud."

Another tremor.

This time, the sound was closer. The stone giant moved.

Its right leg slowly lifted, then heavily came down.

The earth shook.

It was walking towards Lin Jie and the others' position, each step covering several meters.

The oppressive feeling brought by its massive size even surpassed the fear they felt earlier facing Ackerman's bombardment.

"It found us?"

Evelyn's voice was tearful.

"How? We didn't make a sound."

"It doesn't need sound," Julian spoke up.

"It's part of this land. We're in its belly."

The giant had already walked to the center of the stone circle.

It stopped, its huge rocky head lowering as if looking down upon these ants hiding behind the stones.

Its right hand slowly rose. That hand held a massive totem pole forged from some kind of black metal.

The totem pole was carved with spiral patterns, appearing ferocious and terrifying under the faint moonlight.

"Scatter!"

Lin Jie roared, launching himself to the left.

Almost simultaneously, the totem pole smashed down.

"Boom!"

A deafening roar.

The large stone they had been hiding behind shattered instantly under this blow.

Rubble flew like shrapnel in all directions. The ground was smashed into a crater five meters in diameter.

If they had run a second later, they would have been pulp by now.

"Open fire!"

William, rolling on the ground, knelt on one knee. His rifle instantly spat fire.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three bullets shot towards the giant's head in a triangular formation.

These were large-caliber deer slugs, capable of shattering a bison's skull.

The bullets struck the giant's face, sparks flying.

Several pieces of rubble chipped off its face. The attack was effective.

Though large, this thing was still essentially a rock structure, not indestructible.

"Aim for the joints!"

Lin Jie shouted.

He weaved through the rubble, using his revolver to provide covering fire while trying to find an opportunity to get close.

Marcus swung his battle-axe, roaring as he charged at the giant's ankle. He intended to chop this pillar down like a tree.

"Clang!"

The battle-axe struck the giant's lower leg hard.

Sparks flew.

The axe bit three inches deep. Large chunks of rock cracked off.

The giant seemed to feel pain, its body staggering slightly.

"It works!"

Marcus was overjoyed, readying for another swing.

But at that moment, his expression suddenly changed.

"Ugh..."

A pained grunt squeezed from Marcus's throat.

He clearly hadn't been attacked; the giant hadn't even looked at him.

Yet he reacted as if struck by a heavy blow, clutching his right lower leg.

Blood seeped from between his fingers.

It was... a deep wound.

The location, depth, even the shape of the cut surface were identical to the wound he had just inflicted on the giant's leg.

"Marcus?!"

Evelyn exclaimed.

"Don't mind me! Keep fighting!"

Marcus gritted his teeth, enduring the intense pain, and swung the axe again.

He thought it was just a coincidence, or maybe he'd been cut by flying rubble earlier.

"Clang!"

Another axe blow.

This time, a large chunk of rock was hacked off the giant's lower leg, revealing a black core inside.

Simultaneously.

"Thump!"

On Marcus's lower leg, at the exact same spot, a small piece of flesh and skin vanished into thin air without warning.

Blood gushed out.

This time, everyone saw it clearly.

"Stop!"

Lin Jie shouted sharply, halting his charge towards the giant.

Something was wrong. This was very wrong.

"William! Don't shoot!"

But it was too late.

William had just pulled the trigger.

He had aimed for the giant's elbow joint, wanting to break the arm swinging the totem pole.

"Bang!"

The bullet struck the rock joint, creating a deep crater.

The next second.

William's rifle clattered to the ground. He clutched his right arm's elbow joint, his face pale.

A round, bloody hole had appeared there.

"What... is happening?"

Julian, holding a bottle of strong acid he hadn't yet thrown, stood frozen in place, not daring to move.

The giant was still moving slowly and steadily.

Its chest—if that was a chest—was rising and falling slightly.

Accompanied by a dull sound.

"Hoo... haa..."

It was the sound of rock grinding, but it sounded eerily like human breathing.

Moreover, the rhythm of that breathing...

Lin Jie's heart skipped a beat.

He realized the breathing rhythm of the giant was slowly synchronizing with the breathing rhythm of everyone present.

Not just breathing.

But also heartbeat.

Lin Jie could feel the ground beneath his feet vibrating with a certain rhythm.

"Thump... thump... thump..."

The frequency of the vibration was basically identical to the beating of his own heart in his chest.

Even William's, Marcus's, Evelyn's... everyone's heartbeat was being forcibly pulled into the same frequency band by some force at this moment.

"It's mimicking us."

Lin Jie's voice carried a chill.

This was the true horror of this UMA named the Cerne Abbas Giant.

It didn't need to swing that totem pole to smash people.

That was just a feint.

It just needed to stand there and let you attack it.

You cut it, and you get the same wound.

You shoot it, and your body gets pierced by the same bullet.

It was a massive, living voodoo doll.

The damage was bidirectional.

But the problem was... it was made of stone.

It felt no pain, had no risk of bleeding to death, and could still move even if half its body was shattered.

Humans couldn't.

Humans were flesh and blood.

In this "damage exchange" game, humans were destined to lose.

"Don't attack it!"

Lin Jie slowly retreated, signaling his teammates to scatter.

"Any damage will be reflected! We can't fight it!"

But the giant clearly had no intention of letting them go.

Seeing the attacks stop, it raised that massive totem pole again.

"Whoosh!"

The totem pole swept horizontally.

Its coverage was vast, almost sealing off all avenues of evasion.

"Dodge!"

Everyone scrambled, rolling and throwing themselves to the ground.

But the moment they moved violently, their heartbeats accelerating, their breathing becoming rapid...

The "resonance" grew stronger.

The rock layers on the giant's body began to peel off, revealing dark red rock textures beneath.

It was like a boiler heating up.

Every synchronization allowed it to draw a portion of life force from the group, making it more agile, more frenzied.

"Damn it..."

Lin Jie hid behind a broken stone, panting heavily.

If they didn't attack, they'd be smashed to pulp. If they attacked, they'd be killed by their own actions.

It was a dead loop.

And in the sky.

That airship belonging to Ackerman still hovered in the distance.

Outside the stone circle, the white frost continued to fall, the temperature continued to drop.

On this frigid moorland, facing an unkillable giant and the large-scale attack outside...

They seemed to have reached a dead end.