“What in god’s hairy buttcrack was that?”

Chilly stood on the ridge overlooking the Frozen Wastes as the wind shifted from hot to cold like it had split personality disorder. Beyond, the monsters of the Frozen Wastes battled it out for what he could only presume was control over the red crystals, but his attention was not on that. In the distance, a tall Wendigo loped away, ignoring the numerous battles taking place around it.

“Note to self,” Chilly muttered, “If you see a monster get stronger, you throw out any plan you think you have and you deal with it. Immediately. That thing you just created is an aberration.”

The Named Wendigo had left him shaken. This was the first time that a monster in the dungeon had avoided a direct engagement. Every enemy so far had charged him mindlessly and continued fighting to the death. That was both terrifying but oddly reassuring as it made the battles simple. There was no need to worry about complicated things like morality when the enemy had the brain capacity of a seven-day rotted zombie.

What would happen during the reset? He wondered.

All the other monsters he had encountered had essentially vanished and respawned at full health back in their spawn position. That was the primary reason why the Frozen Wastes still had any living denizens anywhere. After every reset, the population would reset to what it had been before, and the conflict would resume anew. It was literally an endless war. Any ground acquired would be lost at the end of the cycle, and all the effort would be wasted.

Except, the Wendigo had leveled. Did that mean that it would be level fifteen next time it respawned? Or would it reset to fourteen? How many of the benefits it acquired during the reset, did it retain for future cycles? In the worst case, he would be facing intelligent, leveling monsters with their own skills in the future. If that happened...well. It didn’t bear thinking about.

“I need to ask Chaeli about this.” Chilly surmised, pulling up his augment list. He popped his last two Regrets and unallocated Incendiary Expansion and Ember Proliferation. Immediately the consecrated ground at the edge of his range faded as he lost nearly half his range. The Wendigo encounter had shown that this was a stealth mission. Sure he would be able to run through the Frozen Wastes and kill most of the monsters, but he would be leaving a trail of bodies behind him that would fuel the rest of the Wendigos to untold heights. He kept Ceaseless Crusade so his consecrated ground would still spread, but it would only extend to about ten meters rather than the full twenty.

The two free skill points he immediately allocated into Fire Walker and Fire Forged. The latter would give him a flat 24% increased fire damage while the former would grant another 24% increased fire damage while standing on burning ground. Together it would put his damage high enough that he should be able to quickly overcome any low leveled Wendigos. Since he still had Incendiary Resurgence allocated his Flame Dash was on an extremely low cooldown. His plan was to dance out of range of any enemies he encountered as he let Star Fuel and Smoldering Embers whittle down his opponents.

If he had space and time, he would use Incinerate, but the way the skill locked him down was really dangerous.

Chilly descended down the slope and began moving towards the great mountain in the distance. Before he had made it a dozen paces a roving pack of Wendigos took note of him and charged.

The faint music pointing towards Teluria accelerated to a blood-pumping clip.

Chilly began to jog backward as they entered his range. Smoldering Embers began flaring brightly as the weaker of the Wendigos stumbled as their fur burned.

Idly, he noted that some of the Wendigos were injured. Pieces of flesh were hanging off their bodies, revealing rotten muscle underneath.

Chilly vanished in a flare of bright fire, leaving a trail of burning ground in his wake. The mindless Wendigos charged right over the burning ground and the Smoldering Embers in the air doubled their brightness.

Ahh, so it does double up, Chilly thought as he continued jogging back. If Smoldering Embers did damage for each ground effect under the enemy then that would be a great way of scaling his damage in the future.

With Smoldering Embers dealing 630 fire damage per second, and the burning ground dealing an additional 140 fire damage, the Wendigos flagged fast. The first fell, and the others immediately turned on it to recover their wounds, but Chilly didn’t let them.

The instant a Wendigo fell, he reversed his direction, sprinted towards the beasts, and used Flame Dash to appear—

—right amidst their numbers. Burning ground spread underneath him, as Star Fuel ripped out, dealing an additional 917 fire damage to the entire pack of Wendigos.

As over one and a half thousand fire damage ripped into the pack, they turned from their fallen compatriot and swiped at Chilly. He bounced back, momentarily taken by the chilled ground, but recovered quickly and dodged out of range. He used Flame Dash to appear on their other side, confusing them further. The Wendigos realized his ruse quickly and spun around. They charged him, but he maintained his distance, abusing his higher mobility to keep them within his three degens until they all fell.

The rotten stink of the long-dead rose around him as the music faded to a more relaxed tempo.

“That’s actually kinda—”

The music suddenly started playing the Jaws theme.

“Wha—” Chilly started when every penguin in the vicinity turned towards the center of the tundra and hefted their weapons. He spun, and amidst the battling groups, he spotted a single crouched Wendigo outlined against the horizon. Waiting. Watching.

Its shoulders shook in the distance, then it turned and vanished amidst the battling groups. The Jaws theme faded and returned to the placid tune leading towards Teluria.

“Ah, hell no!” Chilly said, taking a step back. The Named Wendigo was following him. He Who Walks Behind indeed.

It’s going to eat the corpses I leave behind. He realized. He turned to the bodies at his feet and unleashed Incinerate. Black smoke billowed high into the sky as he reduced the meat to ash. It took several minutes and during the time he thought about the new information that he had gleaned. As far as he knew, even a small amount of regeneration should have repaired the Wendigos' injuries in minutes. The pack had not just exited a battle with the crustaceans when they had charged him, so all he could conclude was that the Wendigos didn’t have any regeneration.

Except that couldn’t be. They clearly showed signs of repairing their bodies naturally even when they weren’t eating their friends for an unnatural boost. The Named Wendigo had been able to withstand Chilly’s damage as if it didn’t exist. Either he had a way of reducing damage by a flat amount - something the Chilly had yet to encounter - or it was regenerating.

That led to the only other conclusion that he could draw. The Wendigos were undead. They must spawn with a perfect body during the beginning of the reset, but as the day progressed, the flesh that covered their body which was not technically part of their body grew more and more damaged, until their true form was revealed.

Chilly shot a glance at Inevitable Judgement and Divine Aegis. The two Pious Path augments had not received much love since he had acquired the ability. As soon as he had gotten the ability, he had moved to fight ‘living’ enemies. Perhaps he would get some use out of the two augments here.

Unfortunately, he was out of Regrets and would have to bum some off of Chaeli when he met her in Teluria. If she was still there, and if she still wanted to hang out after ghosting him.

Chilly shifted through the corpses of the Wendigos and collected a couple of essences. Several Steel, Arcanite, and Ruby essences slipped into his pocket as well as a couple of magic essences. Maybe he could bribe Chaeli with them.

He continued towards Teluria. Periodically, he encountered a pack of Wendigos but each time he took care of them with clinical efficiency. He never let the Wendigos hit him. With the Brittle status ailment inflicted on him from the wind, he didn’t feel like taking a hit that dealt 15% more damage. It likely wouldn't kill him - or even come close if he was being realistic - but he felt the need to prove to himself that he could kill the Wendigos with ease.

Every time the battle concluded, the music changed to the Jaws theme and he spotted a lone Wendigo watching from the distance. Naturally, he burned the bodies, until the ash had scattered in the harsh wind.

His essence hoard grew as he made his way closer to Teluria. He avoided the crabs and their pillars. Despite having a huge amount of fire resistance, Chilly was feeling drained and didn’t feel like delaying his journey even more just for a little more essences that he would likely have to fish out of boiling water if he did manage to kill the crustaceans.

At some point, he did approach a pool and pulled a particularly juicy-looking lobster out of the boiling water.

The little guy gave it his all, but Chilly slow-roasted the sucker on his cape and had seafood for dinner. The meat had a spicy flavor to it that was totally uncharacteristic for seafood, though it did much to brighten Chilly’s mood.

Eventually, after hours of walking and fighting, Chilly dragged his tired bones to the base of Teluria.

Chilly let out an exhausted sigh and fell to the ground to rest. It had been a long, loong day and he had spent almost every minute of it either traveling or actively fighting for his life. His pockets were laden with rare essences. At some point he had dumped the magic essences he had picked up, opting to keep the essences he believed to be most rare. That still meant that he had only collected around twenty of the shiny rocks by the end of the day. Many more had fallen, but without an Essence Vault, Chilly was stuck carrying the essences in his hands or finding nooks in his armor where he could cram them.

After a long rest, the dungeon reset around him. He watched with exhausted curiosity as the Frozen Wastes was inundated with waves of sparkling lights. Thousands of bodies vanished into motes of light as the carnage was cleaned up in moments. The red crystals likewise vanished, and the ice partially melted, leaving behind a wet marshland as far as the eye could see.

Then, thousands of fresh bodies spawned in, almost at random. There was no cohesion between the sides. Crabs appeared right next to wendigos, or even on top or underneath the large deer creatures. In seconds the battle resumed with far more ferocity.

It took about twenty minutes for the all-out melee to settle out, and the roving packs of Wendigos collected. Any places where the crabs won, they created a circle of boiling water where a tiny red crystal slowly grew out of the ground. The Wendigos ran around the periphery, and beneath their feet, the water cooled, and eventually, after enough Wendigos had passed, it froze.

Chilly laboriously got to his feet and resumed his journey. The music in the air led him to a set of stairs carved into the side of the mountain.

What followed was the most miserable two hours of Chilly’s existence. The steps were endless. Sapping his energy, and causing his thighs to burn with exhaustion, but the honeyed lure of a proper meal and bed kept him going.

He stepped.

Trudged.

And eventually, painfully, dragged himself to the top of the mountain.

He gawped at the mountaintop. It was flat, like a mesa. The ground beneath his feet was the icy, slate-gray rock that he had become accustomed to, however, several steps ahead, a shimmering barrier separated him from a verdant paradise. Grass grew and swayed in a gentle wind that was entirely at odds with the harsh buffeting that Chilly himself was experiencing. Further in, a veritable forest of healthy trees provided a canopy of shifting shade from an artificial sun that twinkled merrily high in the sky. Spring flowers bloomed amongst the plant life, as butterflies and bees buzzed around.

“Is it real?” Chilly hoarsely asked the penguins, not entirely believing what he was seeing. The penguins smiled cheerfully and nodded an affirmative.

Chilly stumbled to his feet and stepped past the barrier. It resisted his entrance for a brief moment, then let him in.

He was enveloped in the warmth of spring.

Chilly blinked blearily at the messages, as he hesitantly took his helmet off and reveled in the spring breeze. His hot, sweaty skin cooled under the breeze as pollen tickled his nose. The chirping of insects and the call of songbirds played melodiously over his ears.

He grinned wide.

“Should probably wait for someone to come get me,” He spoke conversationally to the penguins. He sat down in the lush grass and groaned in pleasure. It was as soft as a memory foam mattress from back home. He was about to shuck off his plate vest to fully appreciate the divine softness when a hint of paranoia niggled his consciousness.

Reluctantly, he kept his armor on and held his helmet close. The people of Teluria were probably nice.

Probably.

A single, grotesque, purple creature walked out of the verdant forest. It stood on Digitigrade legs with three sharp claws churning up the earth. It was huge, tall as a basketball player, but wide, and towered over Chilly, with two curled wands strapped to its waist. Its face was lopsided, with a smooth bald pate and an extra eye on its right side. Its eyes were slitted like a snake, a milky white sclera, a sharp contrast to its bright purple skin. An extra eye, larger than the rest, jutted out of his right shoulder. Its huge pupil was laser-focused on him.

Little purple worms wriggled all over the Yawm’s skin, like maggots. The worms were longer around the Yawm’s mouth. Like an especially gross beard. On its back, roughly where the right shoulder blade should have been, was an extra limb that ended in a sharp meter-long claw. It poked out of the Yawm’s back and curled around to face forwards.

The consecrated ground at its feet didn’t burn it, and neither did Chilly’s cape reach out with streamers of plasma. Whatever, or whoever, this creature was, it was technically part of his party.

Chilly suppressed a curl of his lip in disgust. There were likely many new races he would encounter in this world. No need to be racist right off the hop.

“Hiya, there.” he waved casually.

The Yawm appraised him, “You must be Gregory Morhuil.”

Chilly winced, “call me Chilly. All my friends do.”

“I will not even consider such a rude, impolite, and discourteous manner of address, Gregory Morhuil.” the Yawm replied stiffly.

Chilly blinked. That had never happened before. He was, however, too tired to argue, and decided to move the conversation along. “Alright, fair enough. Could I have your name?”

“I am Gar-Khan, Mayor of Teluria.”

“Chaeli’s told me so much about you. All good things.” Chilly chuckled. “Say, do you know where she is? She just disappeared on me one day.”

Gar-Khan turned to look out over the mountainside, though his large shoulder-mounted eye still stared unerringly at Chilly. “How did you enter, materialize or otherwise attain entrance to this dungeon, little one?”

“Uh, I just appeared. In the Annex if you know where that is.”

“At what level were you upon manifestation in the Annex?”

“Level one. Why?”

The purple worms over Gar-Khan’s skin rippled, and the large shoulder-eye partially closed. “Where are your parents, little one?”

Chilly rubbed the back of his head. Something felt off about this whole conversation. “Back home, I think. You know you don’t have to treat me like a kid. I’m an adu—”

“Come,” Gar-Khan turned and gestured. “You look tired, exhausted, and weary to the bone. There are showers, beds, and other conveniences for relaxation within the village. You prefer water as a cleansing solvent, yes? Good, we have plenty of tubs for you to use. After you rest, we may continue this conversation.”

Chilly frowned but followed the large Yawm. Whatever the Yawm’s misconceptions, they could be remedied tomorrow. After a long shower and a good night's sleep. Several of each, if possible.

He followed the Yawm along the path of the penguins’ song. As he walked he heard a second song in the distance. He paused curiously, but Gar-Khan hurried him along.

“That is Ria, one of the Desecrator’s foul Guardians. You would be wise to not be tempted by a pretty voice for they are often full of poison.”

“Looks like we are walking straight for her,” Chilly noted.

“I shall deal with the unsavory wretch. Be calm, little one. I shall get you to the village proper safely.”

Chilly suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

A beautiful humanoid woman appeared through the undergrowth.

She was wearing a pretty, green sundress, and had two dainty little horns poking out from her temples. Her voice rang out in a calming lullaby

[Wohorm rdinia ietry hyrslaso ioirec mcidfie oypigo anya esiadh ptayusa wtimha tiapes nateus dwrd saslelf tsnmmmrn oho tineh sath telhh]

Gar-Khan stepped forwards and pulled his wands from his belt. He pointed it at the beautiful woman and unleashed a bolt of malevolent, purple magic. The bolt splashed over her, and seeped into her skin, tinting it a sickly violet.

With a quick gesture, the Spring Guardian released a wave of shimmering butterflies that obscured her form for a fraction of a second. When the butterflies dispersed, the sickly tint had vanished from her skin.

[Fbtsullp ddovehg talm neolescae oreetes rdigon taehrg tfreig cid nywh muaey rnsonih tioen hioo] she hissed angrily at Gar-Khan.

“Begone foul wench. Leave this place!” Gar-Khan roared, brandishing his wands as another purple bolt splashed over the Guardian, which she cleared with another wave of her hand.

[Ilzuuier rauqn ctsatn baooie onhmn hpdoa oeecfl cuitne uaaiws omato epgy gaofm pea aablt net.] The guardian backed away warily. Her arms raised defensively. She looked kindly at Chilly and beckoned. [Cskeym sbaeut heeoye oepatma afoti brain hnogth cacigtl nluhrme owrha rwyeen tsepe]

“Steady, young one. Do not follow the vile witch.” Gar-Khan placed a heavy hand over Chilly’s shoulder. Chilly idly noted that it only had three fingers.

“Don’t worry, your baldyness, I’m not an idiot.” He shot the purple man a sour look and shrugged off the hand. “And you need to stop calling me young one.”

The Guardian vanished among the trees.

Gar-Khan’s shoulder-mounted eye turned to him. “Very well, Gregory Morhuil.”

Chilly sighed, but let the large alien man lead him to the village.