Colin stood silently in place.

The sounds of the slaughter around him seemed to fade away in an instant, and the entire world rapidly receded from his senses.

His vision narrowed until only the Druid remained.

The man wore primitive-looking furs. He clutched a Wooden Spear, its tip embedded with a chunk of ice. A faint chill seeped from the ice, flowing like a viscous liquid to the ground where it condensed into frost.

The Druid looked up. From beneath a wolf-head hood, his azure eyes met the human standing not far away.

"Weaklings who should have been culled," he sneered. "The biting cold wind will come here. For the sake of the world, you should all fall into a swift slumber."

Colin didn’t respond, his mind racing.

’I can’t just abandon Kase here and run. I have to fight.’

Having made his decision, he cast aside all other thoughts and focused solely on the enemy before him.

’A Frostland Druid.’

’They specialize in shapeshifting into beasts and using cold-related Magic attacks.’

’By the looks of it, his weapon is likely a Magic Weapon. Otherwise, Kase wouldn’t have gone down in one hit. Can my Chain Armor block a Magic Weapon?’

’And considering they can’t use weapons in their animal forms, the fact that he hasn’t transformed yet probably means he plans to finish me off with this Short Spear.’

’So this is a duel between two men.’

A few Adventurers ran past him, intercepting a Blight that was about to launch a sneak attack from the side.

At that moment, the two of them seemed to become the center of a vortex, drawing in the entire battlefield’s flow.

The area around the two of them instantly erupted into a series of clashes between Adventurers and monsters.

’So, what do I have to work with?’ Colin thought.

’A Magic Necklace that blocks one cold Damage attack, a Healing Potion, and my Refuse Death Specialty.’

’Predict his moves, I have to predict his moves...’

Colin chanted this over and over in his mind. Sweat trickled down his forehead and seeped into his eyebrows.

The Druid before him took a step forward.

’If you’re going to be useful, now’s the time to protect me from the next cold Damage.’

While thinking this, Colin took out the Healing Potion, emptied it into his mouth without swallowing, and charged forward, his grip tightening on his weapon without a moment’s hesitation.

The Druid muttered something under his breath, then extended his index finger and pointed at Colin.

A wisp of cold air, thin as a white silk thread, shot from his fingertip, snaking toward Colin’s wrist.

’It’s Magic!’ Colin’s heart sank.

However, in that split second, he could only watch helplessly as the ominous white mist coiled around his hands.

But in the next moment, the Winter Wolf Necklace on his chest trembled slightly. The cold mist entwined around his arms instantly shattered, having no effect.

The Druid’s eyes widened in an instant, and then he fiercely thrust his Short Spear.

As he charged, Colin lightly rose onto his toes.

A muffled grunt.

The seemingly fragile ice crystal directly pierced through his Chain Armor and the Cotton Armor underneath, stabbing deep into his upper abdomen—the blow had originally been aimed at his heart.

Broken links of Chain Armor fell to the ground. Waves of cold spread from the wound to his limbs. Colin felt his entire body go numb as if from frostbite, and even the wound itself slowly became painless due to the cold.

Colin let out a trembling breath and swallowed the Potion he’d been holding in his mouth.

His suddenly heavy body forced him down to one knee, unable to take another step. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

The Hand Half Sword in his grasp drooped, its tip touching the ground. Even mustering all his Qi, he couldn’t lift the blade.

Seeing his opponent’s condition, the Druid let out a sigh of relief.

’I thought he was immune to Magic because of some special power,’ he thought. ’It must be that the Goddess was angered by my poor performance.’

It was obvious.

The battle was already decided!

"The frail deserve to be culled. Warmth and attachment to life have made you so weak." The Druid chanted loudly in the ancient tongue of the Northern Lands: "Great Lady Rime, Goddess of Winter Ouluer, this is the offering for you!"

"That’s no damn offering, you bastard..."

A voice came from the side.

It was the Half-Orc who had fallen, now trembling as he struggled back to his feet.

"One abandoned by the Goddess, you cannot resist fate," the Druid sneered.

He could see the Half-Orc was wracked by a Curse and had dropped his weapon. It was hard to say which would be more difficult to kill now, this Half-Orc or the human.

As he thought this, he gripped the spear’s shaft and gave it a powerful tug.

’Hm? Why won’t the Short Spear come out?’

The Druid glanced down.

He could clearly see that the wound on the human was no longer bleeding. At the same time, those deep brown eyes were watching him calmly, as if looking at a corpse.

In an instant, a bone-chilling cold seized the Druid’s heart, making him feel as if he were back in the Northern Lands.

’I’m finished,’ was the last thought that flashed through the Druid’s mind.

The slight delay from trying to pull out his weapon had completely snuffed out his last chance of survival.

"That’s my fucking brother!!"

In that moment of hesitation, the Half-Orc’s furious roar came from behind him.

The Druid’s vision blurred, followed by a sharp pain and a wave of dizziness from the top of his head.

’Nice one, Kase.’

As he thought this, Colin tightened his grip on the Long Sword in his hand.

He could feel his heart pounding wildly, an endless will to survive squeezing out the last dregs of Qi from his body.

Without a doubt, his life was hanging by a thread!

A Spell was recited.

He raised his sword and swung.

The instant the Half-Orc smashed the Druid’s head, the flaming Long Sword in Colin’s hand became a searing arc of light, nearly cutting the enemy before him in two!

The remaining Flame coalesced into a ball, incinerating a nearby Twig Blight.

An empowered Emerald Flame Sword under the effects of Refuse Death—his strongest attack!

After unleashing that strike, Colin felt his eyelids grow heavy and close against his will.

Before his consciousness faded completely, he could vaguely hear Kase knocking the Druid to the ground and finishing him off. He could also feel a disturbance ripple through the surrounding Magic Net, and finally, Kase’s choked-up shouts.

"Over here! He’s not gonna make it!"

"Hurry, I’m begging you! Save my brother!"

-----------------

Colin opened his eyes to an unfamiliar thatched ceiling.

Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating motes of dust dancing in the air.

He subconsciously propped himself up on the edge of the bed and sat up.

’After all, the wound wasn’t that serious this time. The main issue was the mental drain from casting too much Magic.’

’Looks like we won,’ Colin thought, leaning back against the headboard.

’Once the Array was destroyed, the Gray Squad would be freed up. It’d be strange if those Druids *didn’t* get their asses handed to them.’

He smacked his dry lips.

’This Potion tastes awful.’

The sickly sweet taste still lingered in his throat, and his mouth was filled with the flavor of rust, as if he’d been sucking on a rusty nail.

It wasn’t any kind of Magic that had kept the Druid from pulling out the Short Spear.

The moment the Short Spear pierced his body, Colin had swallowed the Potion.

Under the effects of the Healing Potion, his rapidly regrowing flesh had completely tangled around the spearhead.

And the Druid’s Short Spear had no barbs or similar features, which meant that pulling it out was about as difficult as piercing flesh with the blunt end of the shaft.

’It’s a good thing I asked Edwin before we set out, otherwise I never would have known about that trick.’

Just then, the sound of footsteps approached from outside the door.