Eternal Winter's Reign - Book 2 - Chapter 29 - The Infested Base (Patreon)

Alexander North

I find a rather large problem when I arrive at the place that I sense the last nest located at. One that I kind of wish the doctor would’ve told me about, even though she likely didn’t know I was going to attempt it right now.

It is rather close to the secondary nest near our base after all. There’s a chance she didn’t expect I would head out here thanks to that.

But I need to clear out the nest. And more importantly, I want the crystal inside of it.

Plus I can tell that it’s far enough away to be safe, so it’s fine.

What I wasn’t expecting was for the nest to be situated in an old, abandoned military base. A base not located on the map.

The base itself looks incredibly run-down, with some of the walls surrounding it caved in, and one of the towers completely destroyed. Left as nothing but a pile of rubble.

But that isn’t what bothers me.

What bothers me is that I can tell this base is just like the base I was assigned to.

It’s an underground base.

And my experience with underground bases isn’t exactly the greatest.

I frown at the base before eventually sighing and scoping the area.

From what I can tell, there seems to be a lot of wraiths in this base. Which is slightly odd, but maybe that’s because it’s a base that the nest is located in. Not some wild animal’s cave.

Most of the other nests I’ve seen up till now have just had wild animal frozen ones. Not human frozen ones.

Then again, could be that some people were near the abandoned base beforehand and got infected.

Regardless of the reason, the wraiths are mostly around Tier 1 in energy, with only a few Tier 2s. And amongst them, I also see a couple of those evolved wraiths. Or elite wraiths, as I’d previously dubbed them.

There also appear to be a few outliers amongst the bunch. Like some wraiths with glowing blades instead of their usual bladed limbs.

Interesting.

Terminal, is it possible for frozen ones to develop abilities without the use of a crystal? Or being born or created with it.

|There is not enough data to determine the answer to that question.|

Hmm. How do you propose I get the data needed for the answer?

|This unit believes the user would be unlikely to go through with the process necessary.|

Wait, what? Why wouldn’t I go through with it?

|The process requires the user, Alexander North, to eat a frozen one that has potentially developed an ability, and to eat one that hasn’t.|

Right. So I’m going to be stuck without my answer then.

I move back a little bit before going around through the trees towards a large cliff overlooking the base from several dozen meters away. Then I kneel down at the edge of the cliff and look through a pair of binoculars at the base itself for a better view than I had before.

Although I don’t see much different from here. Other than the insides of the buildings above ground that is. Most of which are all destroyed and have nothing in them to speak of.

Ignoring the frozen ones walking around the outside of the base, I focus on the location where the stairs are. And to my surprise, I actually find the stairs in near perfect shape. Except with ice coating them. Meanwhile a layer of frost is coating all of the walls and the ceiling going down from the stairs, with a very thick mist floating up out of the base’s underbelly.

Interesting.

I can sense the crystal coming from down within the base, but this ice… and the mist… there’s just something off here.

But I don’t sense anything strong enough to give me any trouble, so it should be safe to move into the base and check it out.

The wraiths will be annoying though. Or at least, the stronger wraiths. The weaker ones shouldn’t even be able to break through my armor. Not with the cold energy core powering it now.

I continue looking out over the base for a little while before eventually jumping down from the cliff and beginning my march over towards the base.

It’s too bad my thermal vision doesn’t do shit for me when it comes to other frozen ones. Since I can only see the lack of cold energy. Or rather, heat energy.

Then again, I can already sense the cold energy in the first place. So being able to see the monsters through the walls instead of just sense them might be asking for a bit much.

At least I can see living people through walls.

Once I reach the walls of the base, the wraiths quickly begin to notice me. And they all silently move to kill me. Which I’m not really used to.

At this point I’m more used to hearing screeches and loud roars from the frozen ones attempting to kill me.

Not a large wave of wraiths moving rather quickly for their energy level and without a single sound. Not even the sound of feet hitting the snow. Just nothing at all.

It’s rather disconcerting if I’m being honest.

The wraiths themselves are rather easy to deal with though. So it doesn’t take me long before I’m walking past a pile of wraith corpses into the above-ground part of the base, past the walls.

At which point more wraiths begin to attack me.

And some of these are the elites. But I deal with them easily as well, since they’re still only Tier 2.

Hmm. Guess my suspicions were unfounded after all.

These things are just too weak.

I continue slaughtering my way through the wraiths, draining their energy sources of cold energy along the way until I arrive at the stairs. And to my surprise, I actually find the place, ignoring its foreboding appearance, rather welcoming.

Probably because of the dense amounts of cold energy and the mist coming from inside.

Well, no reason to stand out here.

I begin walking down the stairs, ready for an attack from any direction at all times.

Let’s see what ability the crystal here will give me.

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