In a field filled with snow and so vast, we came to our senses.

"Where are we now?!" said himari

"Are you all okay?" Since it was my first time entering a dungeon with other people, I was a little worried.

"The gate disappeared, so we can't go home!" Shushu said. "This is the red gate."

"Red Gate?" The three of them said at the same time. "It's basically a very dangerous gate." An arrow shot towards us, I caught the arrow aimed at Nei-chan. While Shushu immediately alerted Himari and turned her arm into a firearm. They're...targeting the weakest among us, huh.

[attention enemy emergence!]

[Ice Elves]

"Ice Elves?." I turned my head towards where the arrows came from, there were two figures that entered the forest. Even though I was quite far away, I could still feel them.

Sure enough, as soon as I found out about their existence the Ice Elves ran away. "What was that!" I glanced at Shushu. "Monsters."

"I know that, but...what was that monster?" Himari ran past me and approached nei "nei-chan are you okay?" While checking on nei's condition.

"I'm fine Himari-san, it's all thanks to souta-san." He looked surprised to hear that 'even though those monsters had decent strength, but...her.'

Nei looked confused "what's wrong, himari-san?" himari looked surprised at the call "ah, nothing." She glanced at me, sighing. Before finally approaching me

What does she want? "Your name is souta-kun, right?" "Yes, what's wrong?" The girl then bent her body, making me a little surprised "thank you for saving nei-chan"

"no problem." Shushu approached me again "hey, what's that red gate?" I sighed "Didn't I answer before?"

"That's no answer at all." She protested. "It's different from other gates. This is a special dungeon that when you enter, you will be cut off from the world outside the dungeon. We can't get out until we defeat the boss, or a dungeon break occurs. People outside can't help either."

She looked incredulous hearing that. "That's it, the enemies that appear will be stronger than expected." He looked confused. I don't know how to explain it, either. "Dungeon, dungeon break, and you just said gates in general. Does that mean there are many gates like this?"

I remained silent as I looked at the forest behind me. "Himari,Shushu. Save your energy."

"We're going to the forest." Himari immediately approached and protested. "Wait! The temperature in the forest must be colder. Moreover, Nei-chan's body isn't as strong as ours. You too, can you withstand the cold?"

I'm afraid she is. But, isn't she too chatty? Hah... "There's no need to worry about me. But you have a point. She won't be able to withstand this kind of temperature for a long time." I opened the inventory and looked through the items I needed.

"So, you can withstand this cold temperature?" He looked incredulous. "I lost it, there's no need to worry about me..." while continuing to look at my inventory. "What's wrong souta-san? You look like you've been daydreaming."

They can't see it, so that's good. Oh, I found it. I picked up a coat. How did you get that coat out?" Himari was very surprised by what I did. "I forgot to tell you not to ask me for anything." While signaling for silence. Himari looked a little annoyed at this while Shushu tried to calm her down.

"Sorry, I only have something like this. If you can manage it." I handed the coat to Nei. "No problem, thanks souta-san!" I then took out another coat from my inventory. "One person, one coat, yes."

Nei seemed to be struggling, trying to outsmart the oversized coat. Shushu who was observing her then got an idea. "Nei-chan, wouldn't it be better to share the coat?"

"How about that?" Shushu then explained "So, one person carries you on their back. Then that person wears a coat, covering Nei-chan like a baby." Nei seemed to understand and began to think about who the right person was.

They both then turned to me. "What are you looking at?"

We walked into the forest, Shushu and Himari leading the way while I...behind while carrying Nei on my back with a slightly annoyed face. Their reasoning was because my coat was big, and I was the tallest, so it would be a lie if I said I wasn't annoyed at the current situation. The exhausted Nei seemed to have fallen asleep on my back.

After entering the forest for a while, we stopped to look at the claw marks on the trees. This claw...was obvious. "It looks like it came from a wild beast." Himari said while touching one of the claw marks on the tree. "Are we entering their territory?" Asked shushu

"It seems so." Himari replied. "Are we going to continue into the forest?" Himari herself looked doubtful

'If it's just wild animals, we should be able to handle it. But, we don't know anything about this place.' Glancing at me. 'The only one who knows a lot about this place. Is him, I don't know who he is. But he's definitely not an ordinary person.

"What do you think? Should we continue to enter the forest?" I was surprised by Himari suddenly asking. "Yes, we should. It's better than entering the territory of the intelligent Ice Elves."

"Makes sense." Himari pondered before finally agreeing. "Alright, I agree. What about you, Shushu?"

Shushu who was convinced immediately agreed. "Just like you, I agree."

GRRRRRRROAAAAARRRR!

We all turned our heads in the same direction, Nei who had been asleep also woke up. Just as I expected.

"Ice Bear!?" said shushu

[An animal-type monster has appeared.]

[Name: Souta Hayashi]

[Level: 51]

[Class: Shadow Monarch]

[Title: One who overcomes adversity (bonus 1)]

Souta secretly summoned his Status window and switched his current Title from 'one who overcomes adversity' to 'Wolf Slayer'.

[title: Wolf Slayer (bonus 1)]

[A title given to hunters who are experts in hunting wolves. When facing animal-type monsters, all your Stats will increase by 40%.]

I lowered nei from my back. Then, I stopped himari and shushu who were already preparing, I slowly stepped forward.

The Ice Bear sniffed around the surrounding human odor, the Ice Bear finally found us.

GRRRRRRR... showed two sharp fangs ready to tear apart the intruders of their territory.

It resembles a polar Ice Bear. However, it was twice the size

The monster advanced, then swung its huge front paws at me. However...

Swish-!

Making it only strike empty air

This monster is very fast for its size. "Even so..."

Before the Ice Bear could raise its head, Souta punched with all his might right in the center of the monster's forehead.

BOOOOOOOM!

Its skull was completely crushed; with its limp tongue sticking out of its sagging mouth, the Ice Bear stopped moving completely.

[level up!]

I sat on top of the corpse. "Fuuuh..." Himari seemed surprised by my unexpected strength. "You-you, who are you!?"

Nightfall

Large pieces of Ice Bear meat were being grilled over the campfire.

"Ice Bear meat is good too, huh." Said Nei who then went back to eating the meat. "You're right, even with the seasonings. It makes me think of Yuuki." Shushu replied

"You're right." Nei replied with a smile.

"Where did that guy go?" "Hey, didn't the number of Ice Bears that appeared decrease drastically?" Asked Nei

"Of course. Don't you remember how many Ice Bears were killed from noon to evening by that man?" Turning to the forest. "And now he's disappeared. What did he say before he left?"

Nei replied "He said he wanted to go around"

hahhh...what a freak. Himari thought.

"finally found...the lair of the Ice Bears."