Author Romeru

[LSB] Chapter 123: The Snow B-bunny

Added 2025-04-09 18:08:51 +0000 UTC

“W… we’re going to die here.”

The vapor surrounding Julian and the party’s cart had thickened, suffocating the air, and it still showed no signs of clearing. When they first arrived in Dodona, the ground had at least held some grass beneath the frozen surface, but now? They couldn’t even tell if they were still on solid ground or crossing a vast river.

It wasn’t even white anymore. It was gray. No snow. Just endless ice stretching from one dark horizon to an even darker horizon.

If they hadn’t packed enough food to last them a month for all three of them, they would have turned back by now.

Cyrus’s snot, which had been dangling from his nose like a frozen icicle, was now so solid that Julian’s Shadow Vault actually registered it as a material.

Well, not exactly, but MEGAN was so proud she had thought of the joke and had been laughing so hard in Julian’s mind that the Avatar of Searadyn had to step in and stop her.

Julian had already created armor for both Juliet and Cyrus to protect them from the cold, even blessed by the Avatar of Searadyn to repel the frigid air. While the armor worked perfectly for Juliet, Cyrus looked like he was on the brink of death.

“Are… you alright?” Juliet’s gaze was fixed on Cyrus, almost like she was looking at a dying animal.

“I’m… not good with the cold, man…” he replied, teeth chattering violently as he turned to face her.

“Do… you want me to take the reins for a moment?” Juliet asked, not knowing whether to be worried or laugh at him.

“N… no,” Cyrus shook his head, or rather, it trembled, “I… I need to do something to get my body moving. Maybe… maybe I’ll just return to Earth, let this body sleep…”

“No!” Juliet immediately slapped him on the cheek when his head started to tilt and his eyes fluttered shut. She quickly turned back to Julian, who was standing there without any armor, seemingly enjoying the bleak, frozen landscape surrounding them.

“Boss, are we sure we’re on the right path? We’ve been traveling for half a day and haven’t seen a single sign of people actually living here!” Juliet’s voice was filled with panic.

“We are,” Julian hummed, glancing at her. She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, MEGAN flew out of Julian’s chest without hesitation, immediately pointing forward.

“We’re close, ladies and gentlemen,” MEGAN declared with confidence, zipping left and right in the air. “The arrow pointing us to the village is oscillating, which means we’re getting closer!”

“Osi… what?” Juliet raised an eyebrow. Cyrus, on the other hand, immediately let go of the zautoros' reins and lunged toward MEGAN, ripping off his gloves and rubbing his hands together in front of her.

“Ack! Get your snot-filled face away from me!” MEGAN shrieked as she flew backward, but Cyrus pursued her, crawling closer wherever she went.

“You know, Julian…” Cyrus shivered, words stammering in the cold vapor, “I’ve told you this before, but… but Silvie really reminds me of MEGAN. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard from her in a while. You even said something weird earlier… suspicious—Uagh!”

Before Cyrus could finish his words, MEGAN flew back before delivering a swift kick to his forehead. She hovered for a moment, arms crossed, glaring down at him, then flew back into Julian’s chest without saying another word.

“N-No!” Cyrus scrambled to his feet, crawling toward Julian and grabbing onto his clothes desperately. “Come back, my heat source!”

Meanwhile, Juliet held the zautoros’ reins, shaking her head in disappointment as she glanced at Cyrus.

He didn’t stop talking or moving at all until Julian pulled a thick blanket from seemingly nowhere and tossed it over him.

“This… is made from those goat monsters you killed?” Cyrus asked, clutching the blanket like his life depended on it. “That ability of yours is insanely convenient. You’re like… super OP.”

“Heh…” While Julian only responded with a hum, Juliet lit up with pride, her lips curling into a smug grin. “What did you expect, stupid? The Boss is the best blacksmith in all of Artemia.”

“Hush. Neither of you have even left this island,” Cyrus waved her off, but nodded in agreement. “Still… you might be right. Julian’s technically got a crafting class, but he’s more versatile—and straight-up just stronger than most combat mains. Pulling weapons and gear out of thin air?”

“It’s only strong because it’s him,” Juliet scoffed.

“That’s… fair,” Cyrus muttered, squinting at Julian. “My sense of scale’s all messed up now. I look at Rare-grade gear and think it’s trash. Even Epic-grade weapons look normal now. And wait… even this blanket is Epic-grade?!”

Cyrus checked the item with Guidance and immediately hugged the blanket tighter.

“Goodbye, common sense,” he sighed, collapsing onto the bed of the cart. “We should—Ack!”

The cart jolted to a stop, sending Cyrus rolling forward as the zautoros suddenly bellowed. Its roar sliced through the fog, and the thick mist rippled around them like water.

“W–woah!” Juliet yanked on the reins, trying to steady the beast, but it only thrashed harder, violently dragging the cart sideways. It wasn’t responding to her anymore.

Before anyone could ask what was happening, Julian rose silently and pulled Searadyn’s Veil from his palm.

Cyrus blinked at him, then flicked his fingers to bring up his AI interface, signaling it to stream. Instantly, his view was flooded with messages.

And immediately, his entire view was bombarded by their messages.

Before the chat could go longer, however, Cyrus asked gestured to his AI to turn it off so he could focus on what was about to happen, whatever it was.

And he didn’t have to wait long.

Hidden within the fog, something massive began to shift. At first, it was just more mist and glistening ice—but then it moved.

A towering figure rose, cloaked in frozen crystals that cracked and shattered as it stood. The ice around it exploded outward like glass, revealing thick, pale fur that rippled in the cold wind.

“What… even is that?” Juliet whispered, reaching for her waraxe—but her hand froze as the creature continued to rise, its sheer size now looming over them.

“Uh… should we run? Boss, we should—”

But before she could finish her words, everything around her twisted.

The zautoros looked like it was a mile away, but it wasn’t. Cyrus was also gone, but then he returned closer. The world shifted.

Juliet looked to where Julian had been—he was gone.

The cart shook violently beneath her, and yet it also felt... still. She gripped the side of the cart to balance herself even though the cart wasn’t moving at all, everything just seemed warped.

“It’s this again…” Cyrus muttered, bracing himself, his voice low. “I saw this during the rescue mission—but now? It’s covering even more… why does it feel so much bigger this time?”

“Uh… Cyrus, maybe we should move!?” Juliet’s eyes widened as the white ball of fluff in the distance started sprouting arms. Thick ones. And then—its head soon popped out from the top.

And it looked—

“Cute?” Cyrus blinked.

Its eyes were enormous and round, its triangular ears twitching like a cat’s—if a cat had the nose of a bunny. But unlike any of those cute creatures, it had hands the size of a small car… with claws longer and sharper than Juliet’s waraxe.

And from the way those claws whistled through the air as they swung toward the cart—

Yeah. Definitely not cute.

“Wait—!”

Cyrus threw off the blanket and, for the first time in his entire stint as Julian’s manager-slash-cameraman in Artemia, drew the twin daggers from his belt.

But before he could actually use them, Julian suddenly appeared right above the creature’s massive hand.

A breath escaped his lips in a thin stream of vapor.

And then with a single swing, he severed the creature’s fingers—each one thicker than a tree trunk.

“Ooh…” Cyrus’s jaw slackened.

Juliet reacted instantly, swinging her axe to knock one of the severed fingers away from the cart. She braced to strike again—only to realize…

The fingers were gone.

“What!?” she snapped her head back toward Julian.

And there he was—plunging Searadyn’s Veil into the shadow of his chest.

And then, all of a sudden—she didn’t even blink—but Julian was already wearing completely different clothing.

Now covered in thick hide and pale fur, he almost blended into the beast itself. At first, it looked like he was gripping the monster’s thrashing body—but no.

He wasn’t just holding on. He was hooked in.

In Julian’s hands was a pair of twin blades, or perhaps it was better to call them hooks. They had a long, sharp shaft, and at their ends were inward-curving blades—a hook. But the hook was jagged, ensuring it would latch on, tear, snag, or even disarm anything it wrapped around its claw. The hilts were also gilded and protected with three serrated blades that pointed in different directions.

And Julian was using every inch of them as he scaled the colossal creature’s arm.

It was brutal.

If the beast had blood, it would have painted the entire field red by now.

Julian climbed brutally, driving the hooks deep into the monster’s thick hide, using the serrated hilts for extra grip. Each movement was efficient, violent, clean.

“Hreee!” the monster howled, its shriek so piercing that the surrounding fog was blown away—revealing the sleek, crystal terrain they’d been traveling across all along.

It swung its free arm to swat Julian away—but the Shadow Festival was still active. Julian vanished before impact, and the beast only managed to rake its own flesh.

Another roar.

But it stopped—its eyes crossing slightly as it spotted Julian now standing squarely on its snout.

Before the creature could react, Julian sprinted toward its eye.

He crossed his weapons, hooking them together into a weird flail. He swung it back, preparing to strike and… stopped.

“Stop!”

He stopped because he heard a voice coming from afar.

The creature froze too.

Cyrus and Juliet turned toward the sound, eyes squinting through the thinning mist.

A group was approaching.

At first, the fog distorted their shapes, but soon, the figures came into focus—and what they saw made both of them blink.

Hyums. Granfolks. Eldazens.

Together.