Outside the caverns on the side of the mountain, snow slowly fell apart from the mound near the wall, revealing a crevice. The manta ray floated above the now snow-covered ground. The large shield of the Rosenkavalier detached from the back of the frame and reattached itself back on the frame’s arm. Coming out of the crevice, Anna pulled Justin out, “How are you feeling?” Justin comments, “Aside from being buried alive under a ton of snow, peachy. What happened anyway?” Anna looks around the snow-covered path, “It was the Frost Drake. The boss of this mission. At one point in this stage, it will harass players before setting off an avalanche.

Anna and Justin continue to trudge on, despite the intensifying storm reducing their vision. “Where to now?” Justin asks to which Anna answers, “Up. If we follow this path, we’ll eventually get to a clearing. From there, it’s just us and the snow-covered road and blizzard being blasted in our faces.” As they continue to make their way toward the clearing, Justin asks, “What kind of enemies can we expect?” Anna was having a hard time making her way through the snow. Their progress had been slow. She then activated her thrusters and hovered over it. “The usual, I think. I haven’t played this mission in a while, so forgive me if I can’t remember all the details.”

It did not take long for Justin and Anna to make it to the clearing. Before entering, Justin observes the area, “Will this be the situation where the enemy frames only appear when we enter the clearing or reach a certain part of the clearing?” Anna sighs, “Yeah, pretty much.” Justin then asks, “Is there anything else that you’re not telling me?” Anna shook her head, “Nope, can’t think of anything. How about we just go in and make our plans as we go?” Justin grumbled, “Fine.” The two frames dashed across the snow and into the clearing. And just as Justin had expected, blue lights began appearing all around them before enemy units started making an appearance.

The storm intensified the moment the enemy units appeared. Justin panicked when this happened, “What happened? What happened? My vision. I can barely see anything in this storm.” Anna then spoke softly to him, “Calm down, Justin. Relax. Breathe. This is all a part of the scenario. Our vision becomes very limited at this point and we have to be vigilant of our surroundings. I reacted the same way you did during my first run of this place. But I had someone help me through it. And now I'm helping you through it. So just calm down, and pay attention to your surroundings.”

Justin received an alert and he turned Mantaraia around to face this threat. He aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger. The resulting explosion caused by the tri shooter destroyed the enemy unit. But because of the close proximity between them, it was flung out of his hand. With his primary weapon gone, Justin takes out his spear and readies for a close-range battle. Anna also received an alert when the enemy unit was attacked but she did not help him. She was also caught by surprise.

Just when the enemy unit exploded and Rosenkavalier had its back turned, two more units were able to sneak up on her. Unlike what Vincent and Frank faced, these units were wolves. The wolves slashed their claws against the Rosenkavalier. The attack left claw marks on the back of Anna’s frame. Sparks flew from the damaged blue rose on her back, “Damnit. Unless I get this thing fixed by the time we reach the boss, I won’t be able to use my ultimate attack.” The Rosenkavalier tightened the grip on its sword rifle and easily dealt with the two wolves that attacked it.

Rosenkavalier and Mantaraia were back to back as they faced the enemies that had them surrounded, “What do we do here Anna?” Justin asks. Anna looks through her monitor at the field before her. All she could see was snow flying around over a dark background. “We take things slow. Try to avoid using long-range attacks. We don’t want another explosion in our faces.” Justin sighs and nodded, “I was careless. But I have to find that thing before we leave for the boss.” Justin and Anna heard a loud howl, “AAAAOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!” They then heard growls all around them. Anna once again observes her monitor, “They’re about to jump us. Get ready.”

Just as Anna said it, both of them received alerts of an impending attack. Justin thrusts his spear out to his right. The attack hits one of the wolves in the shoulder. The Savage-type struggled to break free but Justin pulled the spear downwards before slashing through its body. The wolf exploded after the second strike. When he was dealing with the enemy unit, Justin did not realize that another wolf had made its way to him and pounced. The alarms blared, “S***, I’m not going to be able to react in time.” Just as the attack was about to land, the wolf was struck in the neck by a flying blade. Two more blade bits struck the wolf before it exploded.

Anna was busy dealing with her own troubles. She was destroying wolves left and right. Each time she swung her sword rifle, one more wolf would be cut down. When she noticed that one of the wolves made it past her and aimed to attack Justin, she launched her blade bits to take care of it. “Don’t worry Justin. I’ve got your back.” Another wolf tried to attack Anna while she was distracted, but Anna noticed the attack and stabbed it with her sword rifle before pulling the trigger. A beam passed through its head before it collapsed to the ground and exploded.

Through this experience, Anna and Justin were improving their cooperation. It did not take them too long to dispose of all of the wolves that were attacking them. After getting rid of the wolves, both of their frames were significantly damaged. “We’re not really in a condition to face a boss here, Anna.” Anna nodded in agreement, “I concur. That’s why we’ll make a pit stop. There is a recovery point halfway up to the boss. We can stop there for some repairs. Once that’s done, we can continue to face the boss.” Just as Justin was about to continue forward, Anna stopped him, “Wait. If I recall, there should be two more units guarding the path forward. Keep your eyes peeled.”

Just as the two of them reached the end of the clearing, they were alerted to an attack, and Anna commented, “See. I told you there would be an attack.” Two wolves on either side of Mantaraia and Rosenkavalier leaped out of a mound of snow and pounced. Thanks to Anna’s warning, Justin was ready for the sneak attack. He thrusts his spear out at the attacking frame and bore through its head all the way to its rear. The frame explodes and Justin turns to Anna who had also easily dispatched her attacker. “Is that all of them?” He asked. Anna then nodded, “Pretty much. The way to the boss is cleared now. We won’t have to worry about any more sneak attacks till we get to him.”