The next morning.

Having woken up a little later than usual, Walfred left Harrisburg Junction with Elsa.

Today’s destination was Philadelphia Station.

It was over 18 miles from Harrisburg Junction, so if they walked at a brisk pace, they should be able to arrive by nightfall.

"Burst."

Walfred repeated Instant Burst every 15 seconds, sprinting along the snow-covered railroad tracks. By the time the sun was high in the sky, a question crossed his mind.

’Why aren’t there any monsters?’

Normally, he’d have encountered monsters every mile or two like clockwork.

But now he’d traveled over 6 miles without running into a single one. Not even a Snow Wolf, as common as they come.

’Not that I’m complaining, but...’

Was it just a coincidence?

Or a sign of something?

He couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling.

But dwelling on it here was a waste of time, so he kept pushing forward and picking up speed.

"Daddy! Look over there."

Elsa, riding piggyback on Walfred, pointed toward the frozen river stretching out alongside the tracks. Then she shouted excitedly,

"There’s a ton of those pretty birds we saw yesterday!"

At her words, Walfred turned to look and narrowed his eyes. Frost-attribute spirits were huddled together on top of the frozen river.

At least a dozen or more.

Then, suddenly, the spirits all jerked their heads up in unison. The instant they spotted Elsa, they scattered in every direction without hesitation.

"Ugh, they flew away again."

Elsa stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

Her voice was flat with disappointment.

"I wanted to pet one..."

Unlike Elsa, who was disappointed, Walfred was relieved.

Thanks to Elsa’s [Frost Resonance], he didn’t have to worry about fighting creatures with a bad type matchup. With that weight off his shoulders, he resumed their trek in lighter spirits.

But before long,

Walfred found himself puzzled.

’What’s going on?’

The closer they got to Philadelphia Station, the more frequently they spotted spirits. By now, they were everywhere he looked.

What was even stranger was that only spirits were visible. Other monsters were still nowhere to be seen, not even a shadow of one.

’Did the spirits take over all of Philadelphia or something?’

The thought seemed absurd, but there really were that many.

He’d know more once he arrived in Philadelphia. Walfred focused solely on moving forward.

Some time later.

Perhaps because there had been nothing in their way aside from the blizzard? Walfred managed to reach Philadelphia Station before sunset.

"Got here a lot earlier than I expected."

He’d left late and assumed he wouldn’t arrive until after dark. And it was all because he hadn’t run into a single monster besides the spirits.

On top of that, the spirits had cleared out of his path on their own, so it was practically a free pass.

Thud!

The moment he stepped onto the Philadelphia Station platform,

Walfred furrowed his brow.

Spirits were swarming everywhere: the platform, the tracks, the roof, even inside the station building itself. Most were clustered in groups of five or ten, roaming the area.

Then, just at that moment.

"Daddy! That spot has the most snow."

Elsa hopped off Walfred’s back and tugged him by the hand. Walfred let himself be led toward the Philadelphia Station plaza.

And as always, she picked out the cleanest snow and started eating. Though unlike usual, she wasn’t entirely focused on just eating.

Today, there was a lot to do.

’First, figure out where the shelters are.’

He had one purpose in Philadelphia.

During the single night he’d spend here, he needed to find the whereabouts of Erica, Lauren’s older sister.

To do that, he first had to find out where the survivor shelters in the Philadelphia area were located.

’Let me check the Local/News Board.’

That should give him a rough idea of each shelter’s size, location, and general situation.

Right after connecting to the Community,

Walfred scanned the top posts on the Local/News Board. At the very top, one post had an overwhelmingly high view count.

[Title]: WARNING! West Philadelphia Station Gate Liberated

[Author]: Dreamer

"...A gate liberation?"

Walfred’s expression hardened instantly.

West Philadelphia Station was barely 2 miles from where he was standing right now.

There was a real possibility that the monsters from the gate could reach Philadelphia Station. His eyes darkened as he checked when the post had been uploaded.

’The post was written yesterday.’

A gate liberated yesterday.

And the countless frost-attribute spirits that had started appearing since yesterday. He didn’t believe for a second that these two things were a coincidence.

Walfred tapped the post.

-----

WARNING! WARNING!

Witnessed the liberation of an unranked gate at the West Philadelphia Station plaza. Frost spirits are currently pouring out of the gate in massive numbers.

No idea when the gate was liberated, but there are an INSANE number of spirits!

They atttack relentlessly on sight, and as a result, we’re currently trapped in the shopping mall connected to West Philadelphia Station, cut off by the frost spirits.

The frost spirits are currently spreading across all of downtown Philadelphia. I’ve confirmed that significant numbers are heading toward the Philadelphia subway station shelter and the Central Avenue underground mall shelter in particular,,,,

Caution is needed,,,,

Everyone pleaseee be carefffffffffff

-----

The last sentence looked like it had been hastily submitted before the writer could even finish typing.

And judging by the sheer number of typos, it was clear just how desperate the writer’s situation had been.

Below it, a flood of comments followed.

[A gate liberation? You gotta be kidding me.]

[Wait, frost spirits? Aren’t we screwed? They get buffed by the surrounding environment, and unless you’ve got fire or light attributes, you can barely scratch them...]

[Time to ditch Philadelphia and run.]

[By the way, is OP even alive?]

[For real. No reply since yesterday.]

[Hey OP. If you’re still alive, drop us a comment. We’re worried.]

Comments asking about the author’s fate kept pouring in, but a full day later, the author still hadn’t replied to a single one.

Meanwhile, after reading through the entire post, Walfred had gleaned two pieces of information. First, the official name for the frost-attribute spirits.

[Frost spirits.]

The author and other hunters all used the same term, so it was likely the official designation.

And the second thing he learned was the locations of the major shelters in the Philadelphia area.

’The Philadelphia subway station and the Central Avenue underground mall.’

These two shelters, mentioned by the author, appeared to be the largest in Philadelphia. They came up frequently in other posts as well.

He’d been lucky enough to pinpoint the shelter locations, but Walfred didn’t log off the Community. Something else he needed to look into had come to mind.

’I need information on spirits.’

He had a gut feeling he was going to need it.