CHAPTER 43: WHO PISSED THE APE GRANDPA?!

We ran and made our way back to the wide expanse Kassie and I had come from. The heavy footsteps followed, shaking ice from the walls with each thunderous impact.

As we reached the clearing, we spread out, circling back to flank whatever was coming. The deadweight—Kael—had apparently woken up at some point. Now he just stood there, dumbfounded, staring at both of us like we’d sprouted a second head.

’Great timing, buddy.’

Before he could even open his mouth to ask whatever stupid question was forming, a gale of freezing wind exploded into the expanse with bone-rattling force.

Something followed the blizzard—or was wreathed in it, hard to tell. The spirit beast lumbered toward Kael as it entered the clearing, each footstep cracking the ice beneath it. But Kassie and Kai’s Emperor Rex were already moving. The golden summon held his oversized sword with both hands, the long, wide blade shimmering with light as he struck low. At the same moment, Kassie came from behind, her greatsword already angled upward for a brutal rising slash.

The blade fell immediately in one devastating arc.

A blast of wind erupted as both strikes collided with the creature shrouded in snow. The blizzard itself exploded outward, clearing in a wave of displaced air and ice crystals.

What I saw made my jaw drop.

’What... the fuck?’

The creature looked like the grandfather of every ice ape spirit beast we’d fought so far. It also looked pissed that we’d wandered into its home uninvited. Ice crystals coated its entire body like interlocking armor plates, gleaming with an almost metallic sheen. It towered over even the Maulers we’d barely survived. Its eyes burned with cold, calculating intelligence—not the mindless aggression of the others. And it had horns. Massive, twisting horns that curved up and around like some kind of frozen crown.

’Of course it has a crown. Why wouldn’t the murder ape have a crown?’

One of the spirit beast’s hands had caught Emperor Rex’s sword mid-swing. The other was raised overhead, gripping Kassie’s greatsword before it could connect. The scene froze Kai and me in place, shock rippling through my chest.

Its arms were long—freakishly long. The weapons hadn’t even come close to touching its body before it snatched them out of the air.

"I think we’re royally fucked, Cade..."

I swallowed hard. "I think so too, Kai. But let ’royally’ apply to you, please. I’m peasantly fucked."

Kai summoned a longsword into his hands, gripping it with both and shooting forward with a burst of speed that left me genuinely impressed.

’Okay, not completely useless.’

Kassie yanked at her sword, trying to wrench it free with minimal force. The blade didn’t budge. Not even a millimeter. Just as I registered that fact, I noticed frost spreading from the points of contact, creeping over both weapons like crystalline fingers.

’Shit. It’s freezing them solid.’

Kai reached the spirit beast and swept a low horizontal slash aimed at its legs. The impact rang out like metal on stone, and he bounced backward, staggering four steps before falling flat on his ass.

Meanwhile, Emperor Rex stubbornly kept trying to rip his sword free, but the ice was already crawling up the blade toward the hilt.

Kassie, however, had already abandoned her weapon. She swept one leg up—impossibly high, perfectly straight—while balancing on the other. Then, in one smooth motion, she brought it down in a devastating axe kick aimed at the creature’s skull. The blow connected with a sickening crack, forcing the beast’s head to dip slightly. It released its grip on her sword to grab for her neck instead.

But her helmet—that malicious, spike-horned monstrosity—flared with cold red light. She twisted out of reach at the last second, using the momentum to rake one of her helmet’s horns across the spirit beast’s pale, crystalline skin.

Sparks flew.

The horn scraped across its flesh like metal on metal, sending a shower of bright orange sparks cascading down.

’What the hell?!’

The creature’s skin was as hard as its ice armor. Maybe harder.

The spirit beast twisted its wrist, lunging for Kassie’s neck again with terrifying speed. She threw her elbow down, deflecting the grab and bending its arm at an awkward angle. Then she hooked her legs around one of its massive limbs, using her entire body weight as leverage to flip the beast over and slam it into the ground.

The entire cavern shook. Chunks of ice broke loose from the ceiling, raining down around us.

Emperor Rex rolled forward, seizing the opening to yank his sword free with a surge of brutal strength. The frozen contact shattered, fragments of ice scattering across the ground.

I glanced at Kai. I’d almost forgotten that he was the one controlling his summon—not the other way around.

’He’s not completely braindead, I guess.’

Compared to most of the others, Kai actually had decent control over his summon. He and Elena were definitely a cut above the rest in that department. Maybe Derek too, when he wasn’t busy being a reckless idiot.

But even so... Emperor Rex could’ve created an opening earlier. Could’ve taken advantage of the beast’s grip being occupied. Instead, he’d just kept tugging at his sword like a dog with a chew toy.

Kai moved the moment the beast slammed into the ground. So did I.

Emperor Rex raised his golden sword overhead, preparing to bring it down on the creature’s exposed skull. We all converged at once—a coordinated strike that should’ve ended this.

Instead, another blast of freezing wind exploded from the spirit beast’s body.

The snowstorm swallowed everything. It hit me like a physical wall, lifting me off my feet and hurling me backward. I crashed into something hard—ice, stone, didn’t matter—and the impact drove the air from my lungs.

Thick white fog rolled across the expanse in waves, wrapping the entire clearing in an impenetrable blanket of white. Everything disappeared. Kassie. Kai. Emperor Rex. The beast itself.

Gone.

My vision went completely white. Not just white—blinding. Like staring directly into a floodlight. My ears rang with a high-pitched screech that drowned out every other sound, and then—

Silence.

Complete, suffocating silence.

’What the—’

I couldn’t hear my own breathing. Couldn’t hear my heartbeat. Couldn’t hear anything.

My brain felt like it was screaming at maximum volume, but the world had gone mute. I tried to push myself upright, hands scrambling against frozen ground I couldn’t see. My sense of balance tilted sideways, and I nearly face-planted before catching myself.

’Get up. Get up, you idiot.’

Somewhere in the domain of white fog, hidden and moving, the creature—