So he searched for the posts by ’SSS-rankProfessor’ that he hadn’t gotten to read yesterday while chatting with Jonah.

And before long.

[Title]: Everything You Need to Know About ’Spirits.’

[Author]: SSS-rankProfessor

He found the post he was looking for.

-----

Hey there, newbies. Nice to see ya again.

Today I’m gonna school you on a rare type of monster called ’spirits.’ You’ll probably never run into one in your entire life, but just in case you do, here’s the rundown.

First off, spirits look different depending on their attribute.

On the outside, they look just like ordinary animals or plants. But come on, what living thing is still walking around in a world that’s frozen solid?

So if you see an animal strolling around like everything’s fine, just assume it’s a spirit.

The main thing about spirits is that they’re the least aggressive of all regular monsters. Leave them alone and they just hang out amongst themselves. Peaceful little critters.

But what if spirits attack YOU first?

There are only two reasons.

First, you barged into their territory without knowing jack. From the spirit’s point of view, it’s self-defense, so either take your lumps or get the hell out of there.

Second, and this is where things get ugly... it means a ’greater spirit’ is about to be born.

If you spot hundreds of same-attribute spirits clustering together in a specific area?

That means their alpha, a greater spirit, is about to come into existence. Greater spirits vary by attribute, but on average, they’re classified as B-rank Elites.

They get extremely agitated guarding the birth of their leader and will try to attack every living thing within range. If you’re not strong enough, just run. Period.

But the REAL nightmare is something else entirely.

If a specific area has not hundreds, but at least THOUSANDS of spirits spawning en masse?

No matter the circumstances, that’s a sign that a spirit king of that attribute is about to be born.

"A spirit king?"

Walfred muttered to himself without realizing it.

-----

The post said greater spirits were B-rank Elites, so maybe a spirit king would be around A-rank Elite?

With that thought, he read on.

But his guess was dead wrong.

-----

Spirit kings are S-rank or higher Boss Monsters, on par with dragons. Of course, a freshly born spirit king is only a bit stronger than a greater spirit.

But don’t let that fool you.

Once a spirit king is born, the thousands of spirits surrounding it go absolutely berserk trying to protect their king. And you can bet there’ll be plenty of greater spirits in that crowd too.

At that point, even making eye contact from a distance will send them chasing you down like rabid animals, hell-bent on killing you. Your only shot at survival is to get the hell away from the entire area.

And lastly, how to fight spirits?

Same as golems. They’ve got 100% resistance to their own attribute, so hit them with the opposing one (fire vs. ice / light vs. dark) and the damage lands just fine.

But you’re almost never gonna run into a spirit king or greater spirit anyway, so just keep this in the back of your head.

-----

"...Boss Monster."

Walfred murmured, practically sighing.

He closed his eyes and mentally organized everything he’d just read.

Hundreds meant the birth of a greater spirit.

Thousands meant a spirit king was on its way.

’And right now, there are...’

Walfred raised his head and scanned his surroundings.

Even by a rough visual count, the spirits around Philadelphia Station numbered well over a hundred.

If groups of spirits this size filled the entire 2-mile stretch from here at Philadelphia Station all the way to West Philadelphia Station, where the gate had opened?

’This could be a sign that a spirit king is about to be born.’

Walfred’s expression hardened.

The first thought that followed was whether Elsa’s [Frost Resonance] would still hold up.

’The skill description doesn’t have any clause restricting it by the target’s rank, but...’

According to the Community intel he’d gathered so far, debuff skills were said to be largely ineffective against Boss Monsters of S-rank and above.

What if [Frost Resonance] didn’t work, and the thousands of frost spirits turned hostile all at once?

He didn’t even want to think about it.

"Hoo."

He let out a frustrated sigh.

Then Walfred shook his head hard, trying to purge every ominous thought from his mind.

’Let’s just make contact with the shelter first.’

He had to find Erica’s whereabouts.

Walfred dusted himself off and stood up.

As he turned to look in Elsa’s direction, his eyes went wide.

"...?"

Elsa was down on all fours, sniffing around and circling the area. Like a puppy tracking down its next meal.

Walfred tilted his head.

"Elsa? What are you doing over there?"

"Something around here smells yummy!"

The answer that came back made no sense.

Something smells yummy? Walfred sniffed the air himself, but he couldn’t detect a thing.

’Is it a scent only dragons can pick up?’

After arriving at that guess,

Walfred gave Elsa a pat on the head.

"Let’s come back after Daddy’s done and look for it together, okay? We’ve got somewhere to be right now."

"Okaaay!"

Elsa smacked her lips with a hint of regret.

But she took Walfred’s hand without complaint. Together, they crossed the snow-covered plaza and headed down into the underground level of Philadelphia Station.

---

Walfred’s first destination was the Central Avenue underground mall shelter, which connected to the Philadelphia Station underground mall.

After cross-referencing other posts on the Local/News Board, he’d confirmed that this was the largest shelter in all of Philadelphia.

If Erica was alive, there was a strong chance she’d be in a place like this. As he descended the darkened stairs toward the underground level,

’A barricade.’

He spotted a barricade at the junction between the surface and the underground, built from piles of assorted debris.

It looked unmistakably like a shelter entrance, so he surveyed the surroundings carefully. But no matter how hard he looked, there wasn’t a single sign of life.

So he went a little further down, and found another barricade similar to the one before.

’But...’

There was no one anywhere.

What? This clearly used to be a shelter, so had they all relocated somewhere else?

’There are still more stairs, so let me keep going down.’

Maybe they were at the very bottom.

Walfred quickened his pace.

That was when.

"Oh!"

Elsa suddenly let out a small gasp.

Then, eyes shining, she cried out,

"Pretty birds!"

Sure enough, several frost spirits appeared at the bottom of the stairwell. They were smaller and cuter-looking than the other spirits.

But the instant they locked eyes with Elsa, they bolted without so much as a backward glance.

"Don’t go! Let’s play together!"

Elsa sprinted after them, but she couldn’t match the spirits’ speed.

They continued running into groups of frost spirits all the way down the stairs. And every single time, the spirits fled from Elsa.

Was she getting fed up with the same thing happening over and over? Elsa stuck out her lip in a sulky pout.

"Hmph! Fine, I don’t wanna play with you guys either!"

Walfred managed an awkward smile at the sight.

How far down had they gone?

At the very bottom of the stairs, a barricade far more massive than any of the previous ones appeared.

A solid defensive wall built from every kind of debris and heavy furniture, piled high like a mountain.

As he stood there studying it,

"Gah!"

"Wh-what the?!"

"...A person?"

From beyond the barricade,

three men in winter gear spotted Walfred and recoiled in shock.

As if they’d just seen a ghost.

After a moment, the oldest-looking of the three, a middle-aged man, shouted with a stunned expression on his face.