I retraced my hoofsteps. Feral Frost Macaques gathered on the branches of the lofty mutated trees bordering the Peely plants. They formed pairs as before. But something was different—they had a coat of blue radiance over their flowy white fur, and their eyes glowed bright blue.

Magical ice projectiles hurtled through the air, stirring up a blizzard of wind and snow.

Okay, that’s new, I thought, raising my shields and casting [Greater Pyro Shell]. Balls connected. The pathetic hits couldn’t break my shell. Essence and Gli covered the trees before flowing to me. Strong winds swayed the Peely plants, and frost crept over their green leaves and orange fruits.

The banshee-like shriek assaulted my ears.

[ Status|Minor Diplopia: Double Vision for 10 Seconds ]

“This blasted effect again?” The trees and monkeys doubled and overlapped in my sight as if I had too many drinks at the corporate party. Swirling snow and incoming ice balls looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope.

I instinctively stretched my forelegs stiff and pedaled with my hindlegs, shoveling snow, earth, and Peely plants. I halted three meters from the tree border.

“Cleansing Flames, duh.” I should be quick to react each time a debilitating ailment affected me. My vision returned to normal.

Another screech and my [Greater Pyro Shell] disappeared. It didn’t explode or expire but was removed. Ice balls shattered on my spiked armor.

“Who did—?” I froze in my tracks. Literally.

My whole body was encased in ice. I couldn’t move, use skills, or talk. [Cleansing Flames] was useless against Freeze, same with Stun and Petrified statuses, because I couldn’t cast it. I heard its higher levels could counter those; I hoped that was true because CCs were the bane of tanks.

It was hard to notice with the barrage of attacks and my regeneration fighting back, but the monkeys seemed to hit harder, especially the Decisive Strikes bonking my head. Not that I was in any danger. I was hard as if frozen solid, which I was, and the Frost Macaques couldn’t reach a critical mass that could overwhelm my regeneration because they kept dying.

My ailments stacked the [Cleansing Flames] passive high. And since I was stuck in one spot, my Relic Quality rings—one dropped by the boss, Moa Manot, and the other traded by Chimichangaroo in exchange for precious materials—boosted my defenses.

Band of Loamy Renewal {1} | Item Level: 17

Relic | Ring

146 Magic Resilience

8% Physical and Magical Damage Reduction when not moving for the last 3 seconds

2% Health Regeneration per Second when not moving for the last 3 seconds

Requires: 62 Vigor, 25 Sense

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

+175 Health

+16% Water Resistance

+13% Earth Resistance

Band of Loamy Renewal | Item Level: 17

Relic | Ring

146 Magic Resilience

8% Physical and Magical Damage Reduction when not moving for the last 3 seconds

2% Health Regeneration per Second when not moving for the last 3 seconds

Requires: 62 Vigor, 25 Sense

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

+42 Armor

+9% Earth Resistance

+5% Stun Resistance

I had raised my shields before I got Frozen, so my [Reinforced Pavise] continued to Head-On Block part of the hailstorm, triggering its defensive bonus.

Reinforced Pavise {3} | Item Level: 12

Rare | Shield | Off-hand

127 Armor

21% Chance to Block 130 Damage

Head-On Block 225 Damage

10% Physical Damage Reduction for 3 seconds when you execute a Head-On Block

Requires: 25 Might, 45 Vigor

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

+20 Blocked Damage

+250 Health

+15 Vigor

So… I’ll stay like this forever?

Why wasn’t the ice breaking? When Nixigaunts froze me, their regular attacks could break the ice and set me free.

This must be why the fruit farmer advised me to ask the Hunter-Warriors for help looking for Peely fruits. I thought of messaging my online friends to save me—I added quite a number to my list—but I didn’t want them to see my helpless state.

What if I logged out of the game? Would that remove my Frozen status when I returned?

I didn’t get to test my theory. Eerie shrieks drowned the chatters of other monkeys. [Diplopia] added to [Shattering Ice] and [Minor Chill]. A posse of Frost Macaques, not hurling ice balls, parked on the tree in front of me. I could make them out despite the double vision and thick ice impeding my sight.

The boss finally shows itself.

Surrounded by its minion, the [Lvl 36 Frost King Macaque] was twice bigger than commoner monkeys and so much more muscular that it was apparent even under its thick fur. Nobility probably had gym privileges. The hair on its head, running down its shoulders and back, was frozen into spikes.

I had to kill this icicle porcupine primate to get free. Infernal intercourse! But how do I do that? I couldn’t do jack shit as a popsicle! How long was this going to last?

The Frost King Macaque wasn’t attacking. It only screeched like it stubbed its pinky toe against the corner of a cabinet. Seconds turned into minutes. Frost Macaques died wholesale. Their boss continued the concert, its mouth lined with fangs opened wide, its throat vibrating like a croaking toad. I didn’t want to log out, worried my potential royal fur coat would disappear when I returned.

After what seemed like millennia, probably closer to five minutes, the Frost King Macaque closed its mouth. Vocal cords tired?

Distinct pops punctuated the ruckus. Gunshots? The ice was breaking! It shattered into a bazillion pieces, refracting the sun’s rays before the gusts swept them.

As soon as I could move, I used [Cleansing Flames] and aimed a [Superior Replicant Totem] near the Frost King Macaque. The ghostly statue of the four-armed goblin rose sideways out of the trunk.

The Frost King Macaque opened its mouth.

The Totem cast [Enraging Call] to stop it. The king and his guards made short work of the Totem, but poison bottles came for them next. A gaseous cloud of [Morabodry] covered the crown of the tree. Time to find out if the Frost King Macaque was a boss monster with inherent resistance to poison or if it was just an upgraded version of its subjects.

I cast [Penitent Fortune Healing] before alternating [Healing Touch] and Totem to hold the monkeys for the poison cloud to do its work.

Lvl. 3 Penitent Fortune Healing: Concentrating on a penitent prayer to the ancestors slows your movement (-21% Movement Speed) and reaction speed (-50 Evasion Rating). But in return, good fortune showered upon you by the ancestors allows you to perform healing feats beyond your skills (+5% Healing Increase). When using [Healing Touch], there is a 60% chance to cast it twice on the same target. (Heal over Time buff does not stack for a target.) If it does, generate +1 additional Rejuvenation Charge.

Requires: Healing Touch Lvl. 3

Duration: 7 Seconds

Cooldown: 14 Seconds

[ Status | Penitence Misfortune: Reduce Movement Speed by 21%, Reduce Evasions Rating by 80 points for 7 seconds ]

[Penitent Fortune Healing] had leveled up yesterday and was doing wonders helping [Healing Touch] sustain my Totem Juggling, more commonly called Replicant Totem Spam, according to SpartanDonkey. When it ran out, I chugged health potions.

“Is it working?” I whispered, peering curtain of ice balls slapping me. “It’s working!” The health bar of the Frost King Macaque had a tiny notch to it, about five percent of life lost.

I used [Poison Bottle Cast] with a [Nam-Go Poison Bottle] to apply a second layer of poison to the king and its guards.

Nam-Go Poison Bottle | Item Level: 15

Epic | Consumable | No Requirement

A potent poison carefully extracted from the Nam-go serpent and distilled to its most concentrated form over a fortnight. This modestly difficult-to-prepare concoction reduces a poisoned unit’s Armor and Health Regeneration by 10% and causes a loss of 2% of Max Health per second. (If applied to equipment, it has a 12% (10.5%) chance of poisoning the enemy per damage instance. Poisoned Status lasts for 6(+5) seconds)

Duration: 10 Minutes

Uses: 5/5

Down the Frost King Macaque’s health went. Its guards were first to go, and it soon followed them into the afterlife. It didn’t leave a corpse with a timer, turning into sparkles of light to confirm that it wasn’t a boss or a mini-boss.

Poisoning a royal? Quite a fitting end to its reign.

[ Loot: 1,140 Artas, (3) Icicle Fur, (2) Frost King Macaque Fang, (2) Frost King Macaque Claw, (1) Kruos Ichor ]

The Frost Macaques stopped shooting after their leader died. They lost the blue sheen of their coats and glowing eyes. The winds also calmed, and the snow stopped falling. I stood in mild surprise as branches rustled while the monkeys scampered away, their chatters quickly fading into nothingness.

I waved at them. “Thanks for all the levels!” An uncanny feeling to stand in absolute silence in this part of the forest that was usually in total pandemonium.

I opened my inventory—the Frost King Macaque had dropped something with a peculiar name.

Kruos Ichor Sliver| Amount: 1

A minuscule shaving off a crystallized drop of the Mountain Guardian’s blood, shed in ancient battles long forgotten, it retains much of its power. It grants those who would survive ingesting it the authority to command hails and blizzards.

Price: 55,000 Artas

Fifty-five thousand Artas? This must be more valuable than golden meatballs from outer space if that was the price stingy NPC merchants were willing to pay for it! Loot usually didn’t go for more than a few hundred Artas when sold to NPCs.

How much would this fetch in the auction house? I peruse the listings a few times each day since the population of Mardukryon players exploded, looking for a good bargain. I hadn’t seen a hint of this [Kruos Ichor Sliver]. From the description alone, I shouldn’t sell it.

Who the hell managed to wound the Mountain Guardian? Should I ask Gibil about this or keep it to myself?

“Much gratitude for the Peely Fruit Wine, thoughtful lad!” Gibil laughed, raising the bottle in a toast. He winced, the magma lines on his face contorting. “I should rein in my excitement,” he groaned, slowly lowering the bottle. “But I greatly appreciate such a perfect gift.”

“I’m a lad now, am I?” As I leveled through my twenties, fewer NPCs called me a youngling, instead referring to me as a lad or young one. “You should appreciate that gift. The tribulations I suffered to get a bottle from the crimson goat, the blood and sweat in dancing make it very precious.”

Gone were the days of Kurghal Village being a ghost town at times. The bustling streets meant there’d always be players passing by the crimson goat’s hut. Once the goat strummed the string of the lute with its cloven hooves, players came, attracted to the music.

What else could I do other than dance?

Confidence was the key. It wasn’t fake confidence—I believe in myself!

I hadn’t seen a centaur dance before, so I had nothing to compare, but after doing it several times, I felt I had gotten pretty good. Herald Stone, the Hoof Tap Dancer, gave his first public show.

The players watching didn’t mock me, though they were curious and probably weirded out at first. Eventually, they got into the groove and clapped in rhythm with the beat. Several joined in the dancing. Drums and flutes layered in. The goat moved so fast that it became a red blur, almost multiplying to play several instruments simultaneously.

Pleased with my performance, the crimson goat gave me five bottles of [Peely Wine Fruit]—no dancing needed anytime soon.

“Again, my gratitude to you,” said Pathfinder Gibil. He took a deep swig from the bottle.

“I also thank you.” sliced the Peely Fruits I had given her. The reward for her quest was some food buffs, nothing special. The levels I gained were more than enough reward. “You stuck to your word, my hero,” she said, “and delivered what you promised.”

“I don’t think you should call me that.” I glanced at Gibil. “Anyway, I apologize for the delay. And wasn’t this supposed to be a surprise for Gibil that you’re making a fruit wine for him? I’m also sorry I ruined that.”

“Nothing is ruined,” Gibil said. “My heart flutters seeing my beloved Yusa make a gift of love for me.”

“The two of us will witness the fruit ferment into wine,” added Yusa, “as our love deepens.”

“This should be a romance novel,” I said.

“What did the Hunter-Warrior who helped you gather the fruits say?” asked Gibil. “Was he curious why you couldn’t wait for the harvest of our fruit farmers?”

“Hunter-Warrior?”

“Did you not have a Hunter-Warrior with you?”

“I went into the Frost Macaque territory alone,” I said. “I even killed the Frost King Macaque.”