Transmigrating as an Extra, But the Heroine Has Regressed?!-Chapter 325: In the Ice Chamber!

In the ice chamber.

The cold greeted him even before the door fully opened.

A wave of frost-heavy air blasted outward, biting through his already torn uniform.

Kael stood still for a moment, gripping the frame of the doorway as if steadying himself for a battlefield charge.

His ribs ached. His arms felt like lead. His jaw was still stained with dried blood.

But he stepped inside.

Whirrrr—clink...

The mechanical hum of the ancient cooling arrays echoed around the cylindrical chamber.

Pale blue crystals embedded in the walls pulsed weakly like the chamber had a heartbeat of its own.

Kael dragged the door shut behind him.

"...Just... one night," he whispered to himself. "One night... I have to be..."

He turned on the machine.

A sharp metallic click.

Then—

Fwoooosh—

Dense fog burst from the vents, spreading low across the ground until it reached his feet and coiled around him like a ghostly tide.

The temperature dropped instantly. His breath became white clouds.

He took off his uniform jacket, then his shirt—

The cold stabbed him like a thousand needles.

—then he began to untie his shoes.

His fingers shook. His breath hitched.

Sylvia’s words flickered faintly through his memory:

"You are NOT allowed to remove your clothes or shoes inside the Ice Chamber. Your body cannot withstand raw exposure. It is dangerous."

He stopped.

For a few seconds, he forgot why she said it.

He just wanted the pain to disappear. The bruises, the cuts, the humiliation, the fear—he wanted it all to freeze out of him.

His hands dropped the last shoe.

He stood there half-undressed, skin burning and turning red from the sudden cold.

He sat down on the ground.

The frost bit instantly into his skin. His breath seized in his throat.

His fingers curled involuntarily, and his back tensed like he’d been struck.

A choked sound escaped him.

"...haa... ah..."

For a few minutes, the chamber was silent except for his shaking breaths.

His eyes stared blankly at the floor. His mind drifted somewhere between exhaustion and unconsciousness.

That’s when it hit him—

He wasn’t supposed to survive this.

Sylvia’s warnings weren’t for convenience. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

They were for survival.

His vision snapped into focus. He jerked upright.

"No... no, no..."

He scrambled to his feet, grabbing his uniform with trembling hands. His nails scraped against the icy floor as he rushed to clothe himself again.

The moment the fabric touched his skin, he sighed in relief, but it didn’t stop the damage already done.

The cold seeped deeper.

He sat back down, fully clothed now, hugging his knees.

"Okay... I’ll do it right this time..."

His breath came out in uneven puffs.

Fog thickened around him as the machine reached a deeper cycle.

Then—

The ice started forming.

It crawled across the floor like living frost. It crept over his boots first, freezing the fabric stiff.

Then it climbed his ankles.

Kael clenched his teeth.

crk... crk...

The sound of ice climbing his body echoed inside the chamber.

"Ghh—"

His body jerked as the freezing pain shot up his legs. Tears slipped down his cheeks before he even realized it.

He wiped them with a shaking hand.

"Pain... is temporary... pain is temporary..."

He repeated it over and over, each word a fragile anchor against the crushing cold.

The frost climbed to his knees.

His muscles spasmed uncontrollably.

His fingers numbed.

The ice tightened around his legs like shackles.

He felt as if his bones were turning brittle.

But he didn’t stop.

He didn’t scream.

He didn’t move away.

He stayed.

Minutes stretched like hours.

He curled forward slightly, gripping the fabric over his chest as if afraid his heart would stop.

"Not yet... Not yet... I’m not dying like this..."

The ice crawled higher—Up his thighs... Across his waist... Reaching his stomach like a silent tide of knives.

Kael’s vision blurred again—

But still, he stayed.

His mind began drifting between reality and feverish memory.

Ethan’s voice.

The laughter.

The kicks.

Elysia falling.

His blood on the street.

His name spat out like trash.

Him lying there powerless—

"No..."

He clenched his jaw.

"No..."

He forced his back straight.

"I won’t stay weak."

The frost marched higher.

Up his chest.

Across his ribs— making every breath feel like broken glass.

"AHHH—!"

A raw cry ripped out of him.

He slammed a hand onto the icy ground.

"Not yet! Not... yet...!"

But the chamber did not care.

The cold continued to seep into him, hollowing him out.

The frost climbed to his shoulders.

His fingertips turned pale.

His lips turned blue.

His heartbeat slowed.

His eyes dimmed.

If anyone saw him now, they would think he was already dead— A frozen statue in a forgotten room.

But the one thing that did not freeze—was his focus.

He forced himself to breathe. In ragged, shallow bursts.

"I... refuse... to quit..."

His voice cracked.

"Not... like this..."

His thoughts grew slow.

Fog pooled in his lungs.

Darkness tugged at the corners of his vision.

But he wasn’t done.

Hours passed.

The ice reached his neck.

His pulse weakened.

He felt sleepy.

So sleepy.

It would be so easy to close his eyes.

Just—

"No."

His eyes snapped open.

He forced air into his lungs, even if the cold made each breath a knife.

"No..."

He strained to move his frozen fingers. They cracked painfully.

He moved his jaw, though it was stiff and numb.

"Not... yet..."

The ice covered him completely.

From his toes—

to his legs—

to his torso—

to his arms—

to his neck—

to the tips of his hair—

Even his eyelashes were coated in frost.

He looked like a corpse.

But inside that icy shell—

Something refused to die.

Hours passed.

The chamber hummed.

It was morning.

And Kael—

Kael was still alive.

MORNING BELL—GROUND ZERO

GONNNGGGG—!

The thunderous bell echoed throughout Arcadia Academy.

Students left their dorms, stretching, yawning, chatting.

Cecelia stood among them, scanning the crowd.

"Kael is absent today too?" she thought anxiously.

She bit her lip.

(He didn’t show up yesterday either.)

(Was he sick? Injured? Oversleeping? Or—)

Her chest tightened.

"Where are you, Kael...?"

Professor Sylvia walked up, clipboard in hand, expression stern as always.

"All first-years, line up—"

She paused.

Her eyes scanned the rows, her brows slowly narrowing.

Someone was missing again.

"Kael Ashford... absent."

Her jaw tightened slightly.

Elysia wasn’t among the first-years—she was still recovering in the infirmary.

She remembered flashes of last night—Ethan’s kick, the crushing blow, Kael falling—and she clenched the blanket around her.

Down at Ground Zero, Professor Sylvia finally appeared.

As always, her presence silenced the field instantly.

She took a deep breath.

Then spoke.

"Good morning, students."

Her calm voice cut through the murmurs.

A few sleepy students echoed,

"Good morning, Professor Sylvia..."

Sylvia crossed her arms behind her back.

"Today, we have guests coming from various academies."

At once, chatter burst among the students.

"What? Guests?"

"Why here?"

"Did something big happen?"

"Are they inspecting us?"

Sylvia cleared her throat, and the whispers died quickly.

"They are coming for a study tour," she continued. "So I expect all of you to behave properly. Assist them if needed, and do not—under any circumstances—cause trouble."

The students blinked.

Some nodded.

Some looked confused.

A few were clearly excited.

But some—those who were observant—noticed something else.

Sylvia’s calm expression was masking tension.

Her jaw was slightly set.

Her gaze flickered for a moment toward the infirmary building.

She was worried.

Deeply.

Cecelia raised her hand. "Madam Sylvia... which academies are visiting?"

Sylvia replied, " Beast Arts academy, Bighall academy, and Frostfall academy"

"Frostfall? They’re usually so busy."

"And Bighall’s students are prodigies—why would they come here?"

Sylvia nodded, acknowledging their surprise.

"It is rare, yes. But this is part of a new inter-academy cooperation. You will treat their students with respect."

Then her voice softened just a fraction.

"And I expect all of you to look after one another."

Something in her tone made one of them freeze.

"Madam... is something wrong?" she asked carefully.

Sylvia opened her mouth—

—but closed it again.

She could not tell them.

She could not say:

Last night, two first-years were brutally beaten in the city by upperclassmen from their own academy.

She could not say:

One of them—Kael—is missing right now.

She could not say:

I am terrified for both of my strongest and weakest students.

Instead, she inhaled deeply and replied in the safest tone she could manage.

"There is nothing wrong. Simply focus today."

But that slight tremor in her voice—

Cecelia noticed it.

So did a few others.

But before anyone could ask further—

SILENCE swept across the grounds.

Every student turned.

Because from the academy gate, three groups of students in different-colored uniforms entered—each representing the visiting academies.

Their steps were confident.

Their mana signatures strong enough to intimidate the younger students.

Sylvia straightened and raised her hand.

"Stand properly," she commanded softly.

The first-years stiffened and formed neat rows.

The guests approached.

The tour had begun.