Several days had passed since the battle against Bonestringer and his large force of Molten onyx infected. The dark cloud that had covered the icy plains near the Madu stronghold was now nowhere to be seen.

Klyn, along with his subordinate holy shaman, had been busy over the last few days helping the stronghold's healers work on hundreds of new patients who had wounds or illnesses from the hurried march to the city as well as those who had been wounded in the battle but not infected.

“That new skill of yours is such a cheat!” said Akira as he sat down and took off his helmet to wipe his brow that was covered in sweat from the hard workout.

Poof! One of the two identical Mileena's disappeared into a puff of white smoke.

“I'm still getting used to the [Phantom] skill. I think if I practice enough, I can have more than one copy appear,” said a smiling Mileena. She sat down next to Akira and gave him a quick peck on his scruffy cheek.

Fluffball was still in his miniature form and had been napping next to Akira. He stood up and pushed his way between the two separating them as he yawned and went back to sleep.

“When are we heading out?” asked Mileena, ignoring Fluffball's actions.

“Today, Klyn has helped them as much as he can with the limited supplies that we have,” said Akira. “Ah, here he is.”

“I could feel my ears itching so I knew someone was talking about me. I hope you weren't bad mouthing me,” said Klyn.

“No more than usual,” said Mileena.

“I just got a message from the Grand elders. They have found information on where to find one of the main ingredients for the experimental potion. It is supposed to be near the northern tip of the South mountains. Since we are the closest to the mountains, they asked if we could hurry and get it.”

“You know exactly where it is?” asked Akira.

“No, the future queen Yuki has been informed of our need. She has sent out a few guides to meet us on our way to the mountains.”

***

In a small secluded ice cave that was slightly hidden underground, 6 people with mismatched armor and weapons sat around a small fire warming up their hands and feet.

“Damn it! It's way too hard now to even try and get stronger!”

“Those damn Infected are killing off all of the monsters in our hunting grounds and making everything too hard to hunt!”

“When will this damn event end?”

“Hey don't say it like that. Some people are actually suffering from this.”

“I think our best hope of having this end quickly is if whoever that Blank guy or guild completes it.”

“Yes. Blank, please hurry up and finish the quest so we can get back to normal!”

Clack! Clatter!

The six people looked towards the entrance of the cave.

“What's that?”

“It's just some ice falling, don't get so jumpy. We have been using this safe zone for several months now and no monster, human, or even animals have ever come here.”

Swish!

Four quick blurs bolted through the cave entrance which had become pitch black with toxic purple smoke.

The blurs slammed into four of the demigods that had their backs to the entrance. Stony jaws clamped down on the necks of the demigods.

Crack!

With great force exerted the four demigods' necks were snapped in an instant!

The wolf-like Grunners shook the bodies of now immobilized demigods a few times before turning towards the remaining two. The two remaining demigods stood up and fumbled with their swords trying to hastily unsheathe them.

Two of the Grunners launched themselves at the two Demigods.

“Fuck!” shouted the first demigod as both of his arms were broken by the strong jaws of the Grunners who were now hanging off of his limp arms.

The second demigod was able to unsheathe his weapon and use a skill.

A red light flashed out as it slammed into the approaching Gunrunners causing a large wound to appear on their rocky skin. It was not a fatal wound and so...

...he was tackled to the ground and had his throat torn out. He disappeared into several specs of light seconds later.

The five other demigods were all still alive laying on the ground unable to speak or move their bodies. All they could do was move their eyes.

When they heard a sound of footsteps near the entrance of the cave their eyes all looked in that direction.

Out of the dark purple smoke, a dark-robed figure appeared.

“You did a good job,” said a male voice that escaped from the dark hood.

The dark-robed man reached down and patted the wolf-like gunners as if they were a household pet.

“So you are the fabled Demigods... You're all perfect specimens to help me relieve some of my stress and frustration,” said the dark-robed figure.

As he inspected the demigods he started to pull out several sharp tools from a leather pouch.

***

On a small island a short distance (by boat) away from the entrance of the unfreezing river, many skeletons were shambling about doing nothing in particular. A few of them were rummaging through a pile of bones trying out different ones to see how well they fit their body.

Captain Pegleg looked over his newly recovered forces and nodded his bald and shiny bony head.

“Those damned stony undead slaves are making us look bad!” said Captain Pegleg. He was frustrated thinking back to all he had experienced.

With a flick of his hand, his new spinal vertebrae sword let out a 'Crack!' as it snapped out like a whip with its sharp saw-like bones covering its entire length.

“Soon we will be strong enough to take them on once again! We need to go search for more old battlefields so I can grow my minions!”

Just then one of his subordinates ran up to him and saluted.

“Clack, Clack Clack Clack!”

“Where!?”

The skeleton pointed towards the distant south shore.

“Damn it! They have the guts to attack me on my own island!” roared an extremely angered Captain Pegleg. He shook his arm and made his bone whip sword snap loudly.

“Sound the alarm! To your battle stations! We'll intercept them and see if we can use their bodies in our army!”