Fate Online: Shadow

"F*ck! It's so freaking cold out here!"

Michael shivered in the cold as he tightly wrapped the fur coat around his body while traversing the snowy land around him.

"Why did I even decide to come here of all places?" Michael sighed helplessly, then he took his map out and check where he is right now.

"I just hope this is the right path" Michael mumbled to himself as he placed his map back at his storage space. After all, the map is currently useless because he can't determine where the heck he is right now seeing that everything looks the same...everything around him is freaking white!

Michael is currently at a land covered in snow all year round, which is most commonly known as the Land of Everwinter.

A couple of days ago, just before they were about to pass by Orlborg Mountain. Michael suddenly told Amanda and Viper to proceed with the original plan as he would part ways with them from there, telling them that he wanted to explore Everwinter.

At first, Amanda and Viper tried their best to dissuade him, telling him that the place is dangerous.

But in the end, they weren't able to as Michael had already made up his mind.

And when they were about to part ways, Michael saw that Amanda's eyes were filled with reluctance which made him really happy, as he could at least determine that Amanda is slowly taking an interest in him.

Of course, Michael wouldn't have dared venture in this dangerous land if he hadn't known anything about this place.

Everwinter, as Morgan had said before, this land was once a beautiful place filled with lush forest, fertile plains and rich in fauna, but according to what he had learned, this land located in the northwest of the western continent, neighboring the vast ocean on its western front was once a huge and prominent kingdom, but everything changed once disaster struck the land and covered the land in a never-ending winter in the past two hundred years and not around a hundred years ago as Morgan had told them before.

In fact, this place is even more dangerous than the Forest of Despair that separated the land of Nevareth Continent into two sections. Why?

It's because no one can beat climate change, that's why.

It was because no one could survive in this cold unless they are sufficiently prepared, like a continuous supply of wooden logs to keep the fire burning, a roof over their heads, or anything or something that could help someone survive the cold climate.

Even the animals and monsters here were forced to migrate to neighboring lands, leaving the only few creatures who could survive the cold, whoever they are.

"There won't be any Ice Trolls or Yeti's here, right?" Michael mumbled as his eyes continued to survey the land around him.

"Roar!"

"F*ck! So there are truly monsters here!" Michael cursed as he quickly jumped for cover as he buried his body on the snow, with only half of his face visible.

'Wow, there are really Ice Trolls here' Michael thought as he saw a group of three Ice Trolls appear from a thicket of trees covered in ice a hundred meters away in front of him.

The Ice Trolls stands around three meters tall, armed with a huge club covered in ice and multiple ice spikes protruding from their backs, and with deformed looks as calling them ugly isn't giving the word any justice, even Michael felt a bit disgusted looking at them, as he even thought that whoever created this monsters had gone mad.

And they are fat, with pot bellies so big that they looked similar to those drunkards that laze around all day drinking alcohol.

[Level ???] [Ice Trolls]

'I wonder where they are headed to' Michael thought while thinking of following them. Sadly, their levels are too high for him, even the spot he's currently hiding at is already a dangerous distance for this kind of high-level monsters, who are not only tall but also give them a wider view of their surroundings compared from smaller creatures.. like a human.

'Huh? Is that...smoke?'

Suddenly, Michael spotted something unbelievable in the distance. It was a small trail of smoke rising towards the skies, and it wasn't only one, but there are three of them.

'Are there people living here? In this godforsaken place?' Michael found it unbelievable at what he's looking at. After all, it was clearly indicated that only monsters and no humans inhabit this place.

Thud!

Michael turned his head towards the direction of the sound and probably saw the most annoying scene he had ever seen in his life.

It was because the three Ice Trolls took a seat not far from him, which would certainly render him immobile if they camp near him like that for how many hours!

And even though there is at least more or less a hundred meters in between them, those monsters would certainly notice any sound of movements behind them.

'Okay, let's try to move carefully and steadily'

Michael then started to slowly crawl sideways, producing as small noise as possible.

"Urk?"

One of the Ice Trolls suddenly turned around and looked towards Michael's direction, and the latter quickly stopped in his tracks and started controlling his breathing.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

'Shit! Shit! Shit!'

While peeking towards the group of Ice Trolls, Michael suddenly started cursing when he saw that one of the Ice Trolls stood up and started making its way over towards him while sniffing the air around it.

"Urk! Urk! Urk!"

Thud!

'Don't come over here~! Motherf*cker!' Michael quickly cursed when he saw that one of the Ice Troll's feet landed just a meter away from almost smashing his head.

'Don't see me'

Michael kept repeating those words inside his head, as it would certainly annoy the heck out of him if the Ice Troll spots him and kills him.

After all, he had already traveled deep inside Everwinter that he can't even see Orlborg Mountain anymore.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Then after a grueling twenty seconds later, the sound of heavy footsteps slowly faded away which made Michael sighed in relief after seeing that the troll had slowly made its way back towards his two best friends.

'Damn, I almost had a heart attack!'