Chapter 26: The Northern Wastelands

The cold hit me like a wall the second we crossed into the Northern Wastelands.

Not the bearable kind of cold you get in winter. This was the aggressive, bone-deep freeze that made you question whether hypothermia was really such a bad way to go. The landscape stretched out in endless white, broken only by jagged ice formations that looked like frozen screams.

Beatrice’s coat was doing its job, but even enchanted fabric had limits.

The carriage stopped abruptly. Our driver refused to go any further, which was honestly the smartest decision anyone had made on this entire trip.

“This is as far as I take you. No amount of coin is worth what’s beyond this point.”

I couldn’t blame him. The air itself felt wrong here, thick with magical energy that made my teeth ache.

Valeria was already out of the carriage, her hand on her sword hilt. She scanned the horizon with predatory focus.

“Something’s coming.”

I stepped down onto the frozen ground, hands in my pockets. The cold immediately started seeping through my boots. Fantastic. This coat might be enchanted but apparently waterproofing the soles of footwear was too much to ask.

The ground rumbled beneath us.

Three massive shapes emerged from the snow about fifty yards ahead. Ice Golems, each one easily twelve feet tall, their bodies composed of compressed glacial ice that reflected the pale sunlight. S-Rank monsters, the kind that could wipe out an entire merchant caravan without breaking a sweat.

Their cores glowed with blue light, visible through the translucent ice of their chests.

Valeria’s sword sang as she drew it.

“Stay behind me.”

I didn’t move, just stared at the approaching golems with the same energy I’d use watching paint dry.

“They’re noisy.”

The golems’ movements created this grinding, crystalline sound that echoed across the wasteland. Like nails on a chalkboard made of ice. Deeply annoying.

I pulled one hand out of my pocket long enough to gesture vaguely at them.

“Silence them, Valeria.”

She didn’t need to be told twice.

Valeria launched herself forward with terrifying speed, closing the distance in seconds. Her blade connected with the first golem’s arm, and ice shattered in a spray of frozen shrapnel.

I stayed where I was, watching with detached interest.

The golems were slow but devastating. Each swing of their massive fists could crater the ground. They relied on overwhelming force and durability, standard tactics for constructs without actual intelligence.

The cores were the obvious weak point. Hit the core, the golem falls apart. Basic monster anatomy.

Valeria was going for the limbs first though, probably trying to immobilize them before landing killing blows. Practical but inefficient.

She severed the first golem’s leg and it collapsed with a thunderous crash.

The second golem swung at her while she was recovering from the strike. She rolled clear, but the movement was sloppy, her footing uncertain on the ice.

“You’re overextending.”

My voice carried across the frozen wasteland, perfectly calm.

Valeria glanced back at me for a split second, and that’s when the third golem made its move. It ripped a massive chunk of ice from the ground and hurled it like a boulder.

At me.

I watched it arc through the air, calculating trajectory and velocity out of pure boredom.

The boulder was going to miss Valeria by about three feet and hit exactly where I was standing in approximately two seconds.

I took one casual step to the left, hands still in my pockets.

The ice boulder slammed into the ground where I’d been standing, exploding into a thousand fragments. Some of the shards hit my coat but the enchantments held.

“Sloppy.”

I brushed some ice dust off my shoulder, genuinely annoyed that it was getting the fabric wet.

Valeria’s eyes widened, and something shifted in her expression. That dangerous adoration mixed with awe.

She turned back to the golems with renewed focus.

“The cores. Aim for the centers of their chests.”

I shouldn’t have to explain basic weak point exploitation, but apparently I was playing instructor today.

Valeria adjusted her approach immediately. Instead of going for limbs, she went straight for the heart of the nearest golem. Her blade pierced through the ice protecting the core, and the entire construct shuddered before collapsing into inert chunks.

Better.

The remaining two golems seemed to recognize the threat. They moved to flank her, coordinating in that basic way constructs do when their control matrix identifies priority targets.

“The tall one on your left has a crack along its shoulder joint. Hit it there first, the structural integrity is compromised.”

I’d noticed it when the thing first emerged. A hairline fracture probably from previous combat or just poor construction. Either way, exploitable.

Valeria followed my direction without question. She struck the weak point and the golem’s entire arm shattered, leaving it vulnerable.

She finished it off with a thrust to the core.

The last golem tried to retreat, probably some kind of survival protocol kicking in. Cute, but pointless.

“Don’t let it escape. These things can regenerate if they reach a source of ambient ice magic.”

Valeria was already moving. She closed the distance and drove her blade through the golem’s back, piercing the core from behind.

It collapsed in a heap of broken ice.

The wasteland fell silent except for the wind.

Valeria stood among the wreckage, breathing hard but grinning like she’d just won the lottery. Her armor was covered in ice fragments and frost, and there was a wild light in her eyes.

She looked at me with something approaching reverence.

I walked forward, stepping over the scattered remains of S-Rank monsters without glancing down. The corpses were already starting to melt from residual heat, creating puddles that were definitely going to ruin my boots.

“The cold is affecting the coat’s fabric. If this keeps up, the enchantments might start degrading.”

That was the real concern here. Not the legendary ice monsters. The possibility that Beatrice’s expensive gift might get damaged and I’d have to explain why.

Valeria hurried over to me, and I noticed she was dragging something.

The head of the largest golem. Well, not a head exactly, but the upper portion containing the now-shattered core.

She held it out like a cat presenting a dead mouse.

“For you.”

I stared at it. The thing was still dripping meltwater onto the snow.

“It’s dripping on my boots.”

She blushed. Actually blushed, her face going red despite the freezing temperature.

“You’re right. I apologize. I should have been more considerate.”

She dropped it immediately, looking genuinely embarrassed.

I kept walking toward where the magical energy felt strongest. That had to be where Seraphina’s construct was located. The Titan’s Heart, executing its mysterious Order 67.

Valeria fell into step beside me, practically vibrating with barely contained excitement.

“You didn’t even flinch when that boulder came at you.”

“It was going to miss.”

“By three inches.”

“That’s still missing.”

She made a sound that was half laugh, half something more concerning.

“Your confidence is incredible. Most people would have panicked facing S-Rank monsters.”

I wasn’t confident. I was just too annoyed by the cold to care about the golems. But explaining that would probably ruin whatever image she’d built up in her head.

The landscape around us was devastatingly empty. Just endless white broken by occasional ice formations. My breath came out in visible clouds, and even with the enchanted coat I could feel the cold trying to work its way deeper.

“How much further do you think?”

Valeria checked some kind of compass she’d been carrying.

“Based on the magical readings, maybe another mile. The energy signature is getting stronger.”

Great. Another mile of this frozen hell.

I pulled my coat tighter and kept walking, each step crunching through the surface layer of snow.

Behind us, the remains of the ice golems continued melting into the wasteland. S-Rank monsters reduced to puddles because I’d pointed out their obvious weak points and Valeria had followed instructions.

She kept glancing at me every few seconds, that starry-eyed expression fixed on her face.

“You’re incredible, you know that?”

“I’m cold and my feet are wet. That’s what I know.”

She interpreted my irritation as stoic badassery. I could see it in her eyes, the way she looked at me like I’d just descended from the heavens to grace her with my presence.

This was my life now. Being worshipped by dangerous women who misread my basic survival instincts as divine confidence.​

The wind picked up, carrying with it a sound that wasn’t quite natural. A deep thrumming that vibrated through the ground.

The Titan’s Heart.

I could feel it now, a pulse of magical energy that made my bones ache.

Valeria sensed it too, her expression shifting from adoration to combat readiness.

“We’re close.”

I nodded, eyes fixed on the horizon where something massive and wrong was waiting.

Whatever Order 67 actually meant, we were about to find out.