Aclysia was walking along, Reysha was hungry and Apexus was famished. The metal fairy was largely resistant to the cold and therefore operated like normal. Reysha, because of her desert upbringing, was somewhat used to extreme cold and otherwise functioned as a normal person would. Her hunger was solely thanks to the lack of prey in the snowy landscape. Apexus’ famishment was sustained for the same reason, but the origin was slightly different. The way he heated his body, greater as it customizability may have been, also cost him more energy to sustain against the cold.

Humanoids, generally, had a way to retain heat where it mattered, their organs for the most part, while Apexus was the same temperature throughout his liquid innards. At the same time, his body heat was exclusively produced by a central source. Humanoids generally produced heat as a beneficial by-product of other activities, such as movement or metabolism. The human body producing heat for heat’s sake was rather rare and, usually, unwelcome. Humanoids created heat while running fast; Apexus created heat to run fast.

As long as the environment was moderately warm and there was enough food around, that difference was ignorable. Stomping through the snow for hours on end, however, left the slime feeling intense hunger. His entire body felt heavy and sluggish, despite his body temperature being up and his movements as fast before.

“How much further?” Apexus wanted to know.

“You’ve asked that fifteen times in the past two hours,” Reysha pointed out.

“You kept count of darling’s complaints?” Aclysia asked. She had done the same, which was why she was surprised that the tiger girl had gotten the number correct. Their reasons for counting differed immensely though.

“Not like there is anything else to fucking do, is there?” Reysha asked, stomping after Apexus. The snow was almost knee deep, but not dense enough to walk on. That Apexus, being the broadest and strongest of the lot, was the group's snowplough furthered his energy conservation issues. The two girls walked behind him. “There’s white everywhere, except for there,” she pointed at the mountains, peeking out of the snow in their dull grey, “and there,” she pointed at the ocean, about fifty metres to their right, a greyish blue expense sparkling under the sunlight. As for the morning star itself, it was progressively getting closer to the horizon. Soon, its rays would tint towards purple.

“I could freeze,” Apexus suggested and listened to Reysha laugh. “That was not a joke.”

“I know,” the still giggling redhead responded. “I am mocking our misery.”

“Is it an imminent threat?” Aclysia asked.

“No, I could continue for another day, if I had to,” Apexus told her. “I’d have to shrink in the process though.”

“No shrinking!” Reysha declared. “Shrinking means I have to look at a less muscular man and a less muscular man means that fine ass in front of me is getting diminished. Therefore, no shrinking!”

“You could switch positions with Aclysia, if you want to look at a fine ass,” Apexus suggested. “Anyway, can I get an answer?”

“It remains the same, darling,” the angel answered patiently. “We are in the correct area; we just need to locate the proper entrance.”

Apexus grumbled, a sound like stones rolling down a hill. “If we could at least fly there,” he complained, taking the next ploughing step with kicking intentions. The dungeon entrance was, according to description, located under an overhang at the mountainside. From above, such a landmark would be near invisible, covered by ice and snow, and the cold winds made flying low equally difficult.

“Flying in this weather sucks,” Reysha pushed back, “I’ve barely got feeling back in my face.”

“Everything in this weather sucks,” the slime remarked, straining his eyes for the dungeon or something, anything, he could eat. “What god would create a place where not even trees grow?”

“A sadistic one,” Reysha said.

“One with an understanding of the beauty of nature by itself,” Aclysia offered an alternative opinion.

“Pretty hard to appreciate any kind of beauty while I’m freezing my butt off.”

“…Is that an immediate danger?” Apexus asked, earnestly alarmed by the prospect of Reysha’s rump losing its squishier aspect.

“No,” Reysha giggled, only to then let out a long-frustrated sigh. “This is where I would usually tell you to warm me up by clapping those cheeks, but we’d probably die if we fucked out here.”

“Wouldn’t be a nice experience,” Apexus mimicked and they stomped on.

By the time they finally found the dungeon entrance, the sky had a fervent purple tint to it. That they didn’t have to march through the night was a relief, as it would only have gotten colder.

Even walking, the entrance had been difficult to see. Between the snow that covered the mountains and what covered the ground, it had been little more than a vertical gash in the white. That had been enough, however, for Apexus’ keen and prey-searching eyes to spot it. When they finally stepped into the cave and no longer needed to plough with every step, they already felt warmer.

That wasn’t to say that it was actually warm, though.

“I hope snow goes fucking extinct,” Apexus cursed, his rare use of a slur causing both of his women to look mildly surprised. He didn’t respond to the raised eyebrows, only pat the remaining powdery white from his pants and tried his best to get it unstuck from his soles.

“Should we perhaps take a break?” Aclysia suggested. Her companions looked exhausted and the overhang they were currently in provided satisfying protection from the elements. Between the start of the overhang and the entrance of a dungeon, an arch of bricks inlaid into the mountain, lay a ten-metre space that could be used to camp. Wrapping up in their blankets for a few hours would serve to gather some energy.

“I need food,” Apexus overruled the suggestion in an authoritative tone. “Desperately.”

“I could go either or, but I won’t complain about a meal,” Reysha agreed, and so the three headed into the dungeon proper.

A couple of metres past the entrance and the stone walls were steadily replaced by glowing cold ice. The substance created the light necessary for the underground expedition and gave the dungeon its name. Apexus brushed over the wall with his bare hand.

“Hnnngghhhh,” Reysha made a wanton sound, when she smelled the pheromones in the cold air. “Hellroots, I love that aroma.”

“I dislike that we have to resort to it,” Aclysia had a different take on the matter.

“Better than to get lost,” Apexus said. “I’ll stick to the right walls as we go on, as agreed.”

Aclysia just sighed and nodded. “I would still prefer to have a reliable map.”

“Dunno, I kinda prefer it that way,” Reysha let her know. “Kinda defeats the mystique of spelunking if ya already know where you’re going.”

White Ice was a dungeon that shifted in its form over time. The tunnels that cut through the magical ice wound here and there, became wider and narrower, and just generally shifted. A map made during one trip would be minorly inaccurate after a week and practically useless after a month. Since the dungeon was also remote, nobody bothered to keep up to date maps and the guide only laid out what enemies could be fought inside and what kind of environmental hazards to expect inside.

“What’re ya so afraid of anyway?” Reysha asked. “We know we’re not being followed.”

“For now,” Aclysia responded. “Times might change. I admit it's pathological, but I feel more comfortable when we leave the minimum necessary traces.”

“This is a minimum necessary trace,” Apexus asserted and took his hand off the ice. Some water stuck to his palm. “I don’t know how long the smell will stay on ice anyway.”

“The dungeon at least has an exit shortcut, so it won’t matter too much if it gets washed away,” Reysha said, while putting her weapons on. She was wearing her proper armour underneath her winter clothes, but the weapons had been kept stored in the bags until now. The daggers she strapped to her waist and the axe to her back. The warpick remained with Aclysia, who would pull it out only when necessary. It was too cumbersome to carry around all the time. “We just want the smell for orientation.”

“Might still mean we’re running in a circle,” Apexus pointed out.

“Supposedly, the dungeon is of moderate size, so let’s hope that won’t be an issue,” Aclysia said. She noticed both Reysha and Apexus suddenly raise their heads. Their furred ears turned and finally settled in the same direction. Their eyes soon followed. ‘They must hear something,’ the metal fairy thought. When the two predators looked at each other, the angel followed as quiet as she could.

They stopped in the sneaking attempts fairly quickly. The floor was made out of ice and rock in almost equal measure and trying to walk silently was near impossible. Apexus took the front, following down a side tunnel, deliberately slipped down a segment, and soon stepped into a chamber.

The chamber itself was largely unspectacular. A larger cavity between tunnel segments, with a milky white crystal growing out at the centre that seemed different from the surrounding ice in the tint of its colouration and the smoothness of its reflecting facets.

What was interesting, however, was the creature eating that crystal. It was a bear in practically every way, with blue, rocky spikes growing out of its spine and shoulder joints. It had already noticed the newcomers and growled at them, even as it continued its meal.

Despite its passive behaviour, for a dungeon monster, it did perfectly meet the description of a White Ice Bear. Like the dungeon itself, it was rather simply named. Its abilities were supposed to be minor ice magic and respectable physical power. That it didn’t attack outright was due to its current occupation. Dungeon monsters, despite their purpose of being stumbling blocks for adventurers, were also animals. These crystals were the dungeon’s way of nourishing what spawned inside it in the absence of ‘fresh meat’ and the White Ice Bear seemed more interested in finishing one meal than to try and hunt another.

The hungry duo of adventurers had other priorities.

Reysha grabbed her axe. ‘Big target makes for good practice,’ she thought. Against something that size and thickly furred, her daggers were better as a support weapon.

Before she could go on the offensive, Apexus raised a hand. “I want to try on my own,” he told her, rolling his shoulders.

Reysha couldn’t help but purr, watching that broad back. “Knock yourself out,” she said and retreated to Aclysia’s side.

If he had been a human, they wouldn’t have let him go ahead with this. Even less after he quickly got rid of his top, throwing it aside. As it was, Apexus was more afraid of damaging the barrier between himself and the cold, than he was of ripped skin or broken bones.

The bear continued to growl, as the shirtless giant came closer. Then when its instincts told it to, the mass of muscle and fur launched itself at the mountain of muscle and slime. Ready for the assault, Apexus swung his clenched fist.

Crashing into the side of the bear’s head, the impact made the head of the beast fly to the side. Its body still rammed into Apexus, but he dug his heels into rock and ice and withstood the momentum. The nails on his left extended quickly, the silver becoming sharp claws that aided him when he gripped the monster’s neck.

“GRrrroaaahhhrrrr,” the bear roared, his skin cut, and started to thrash. The brittle claws broke quickly, but the strong fingers dug into the holes created. Without remorse, Apexus kept deepening the blood-oozing holes. The muscles of his right arm were equally tense, having gripped the monster’s snout and keeping it from biting.

Soon realizing that it couldn’t overcome this adventurer that way, the bear swiped with its paws at Apexus’ legs. The slime had overestimated his physical ability, courtesy of the initial success, and toppled over. No sooner had he hit the ground, than the White Ice Bear was on top of him, trying to deliver the throat bite that traditionally would have ended life or death engagements like this.

Apexus didn’t fear such a strike, but neither did he feel like regenerating his head and all the Growths that were part of it. He caught the jaws coming for him with both hands. The bear tried to snap them shut, but the humanoid slime kept them pried open. During this struggle for physical superiority, the chimera thought quicker, pulled his leg back, and delivered a powerful kick to the bear’s chest.

The monster was actually forced off the slime, who quickly got up. Greeted by the rearing bear, Apexus ducked under two swipes. He dodged to the side of the monster. Both standing, it was taller than him, but not by much. Apexus didn’t care for the size difference outside of the practical applications. All he saw was a large target.

Laying into the beast’s side was a rush of violence. After seeing and subjecting himself to the physical force of other creatures, Apexus felt immense satisfaction of being able to assert himself in this manner. His punches broke ribs, sent the bear toppling over, and forced it to summon an ice breath to hurl at Apexus. The slime burned more of his energy reserves to counteract the temperature loss. His current famine would quickly come to an end.

Raising his fists as one conjoined unit, Apexus targeted the bear’s skull once more. It was like a hammer of membrane and bone. His entire weight, size and power was in the strike and he felt something crack. The bear let out a howl, its brain scrambled inside a broken skull. It wasn’t dead yet and could have recovered from the blunt trauma if nothing had threatened afterwards. As it was, the concussion left it too confused to resist what came next.

Apexus grabbed the monster's head and twisted. Twisted as hard as he could, to the struggling and desperation of the disoriented bear. Then the neck snapped with a crunching sound not unlike the snow they had marched through to get here. The large beast shuddered one last time and then collapsed, limp.

Kneeling down, Apexus looked at his hand. “This is a different way to kill,” he remarked. “Violence is… exciting.”

“Exhilarating, yessss,” Reysha hissed approvingly.

“I request you keep it to proper targets,” Aclysia reminded them.

It wasn’t the first time Apexus had killed something using his physical prowess. They had hunted on the way here, but nothing had put up a real fight for the slime’s newfound power. Unrefined as his techniques were, the slime knew enough about his physique to know how to swing his arms properly.

“Of course,” Apexus assured his beloved fairy. As rewarding as it was to use this power, he didn’t care to expend energy without a goal in mind. “What parts do you want, Reysha?”

“Don’t really care, just let me eat something,” the tiger girl said.