Frostfire Legacy

Aster was escorted back to his room in the Twister Hotel, with security heightened even more than before. While he was there, the entire police force, with the help of Private Military Companies (PMCs), worked to root out the other members of the Anti-Human Movement who managed to infiltrate the city.

Unable to even take a step outside, Aster decided to simply stay quietly inside his room, and read the data he got from the Monster Records and Control Division Public Archives.

It was not until midnight was approaching when an officer came to his door and told him that they had already weeded out all "enemies" in the entire city. With that out of the way, Aster was now able to walk around once more.

'Still, how did hundreds of those Anti-Human Movement guys slip into the city?' He wondered. 'And why did they send only one attacker if they already knew my location?'

Many questions were filling his head, but he decided to ignore them for now. He couldn't find answers to those, no matter how hard he pondered them, after all. He could try and ask one of those Anti-Human Movement guys themselves, but none of them survived the hunt.

It's not that the police were killing them on sight, but rather, like the one that attacked Aster, they were all equipped with powerful explosives that they could use to commit suicide while inflicting heavy damage to the surroundings.

Thankfully, since Mistelle already alerted them of the bombs, the damage was limited with the use of defensive spells and skills. As such, the movement's indiscriminate terrorist attack ended prematurely, without causing much chaos or damage.

The next day, Aster woke up early as usual. He managed to return to his natural circadian rhythm in just a single night!

After preparing breakfast himself, eating, and taking a shower, he walked out of his room and started on his way to the Adventurer's Guild. Along the way, he could see a lot of patrol cars zipping above his head or parked near the sidewalks, proof that although they weeded out the danger, the security alert was yet to be taken down.

Suddenly, while walking at a crossroads, about to cross the pedestrian lane, someone suddenly yanked his scarf, choking him a little.

"Akh!" He groaned as he turned around, seeing the grumpy cat behind him. "Ugh, Kali? What's the matter?" He asked while soothing his slightly hurting throat.

Her finger pointed to the pedestrian light, showing that it hadn't turned green yet.

"... Thanks." He muttered.

Although he wanted to say that there was a better way to stop him, he didn't bother to pick on his savior's methods.

"So? What's the plan for today?" Acting as if nothing happened, Kali asked, her silver ears twitching lightly.

"Well... Apparently, the level of monsters in the crypt was higher than average, so I suggest we level up a bit more before checking it out."

Aster didn't only spend his time researching the monsters that they would be encountering on their way up. He also checked out the forums, where other adventurers were grumbling about the difficulty of the crypt!

"I heard. The Crypt has Mummies at level 10, Skeleton Knights at level 12, and Ghouls at level 15." Kali explained. "If you said we're going straight to the crypt, then I'd smack your head right then to beat some sense into you."

All five of them were just level 7, far from the average level of monsters inside the crypt. As such, they first need to level up—at least reach level 10—before checking it out.

Just as Aster and Kali resumed walking, a faint voice, slowly getting louder, reached the two's ears.

"Daaarliiiiiiiing~!"

"Huh?"

Aster turned to the source of the sound, up in the sky, and saw a black cat falling toward him at great speeds. "Tina?!"

Seeing a car with a wide-open door, almost causing accidents in the sky, he could more or less guess what happened. "Wait, we gotta catch her!" Worried, Aster was poised to catch the falling cat, but Kali beside him quickly pulled him out of the way.

*BAM!* *ROLL!*

As she did, Tina landed on the ground, turning her falling speed into rotational energy as she did two barrel rolls, before jumping back toward Aster. Despite falling from over a hundred meters up in the air, she was uninjured!

Of course, this doesn't have any relation to her being a cat. Rather, it was due to the safety measures placed under the speedway. A spell that affects those who "fell" from their cars and limits their falling speed.

Even for Tina, falling from that height would be dangerous if not for the safety measure!

Tina rubbed her cheeks against Aster's as if marking him with her scent. "Darling~! I missed you!"

"Hiss! Let go of him, Vixen!" Kali quickly tried to pull her away.

"Ha?! I haven't been with my darling for a long time. I need to replenish my darlingnium! Don't disturb us, bitch!"

"Bullshit! It's barely been a day; what do you mean by a long time?!"

"A day IS a long time! In fact, even an hour is too long already!"

"..."

Aster could only stay quiet, stuck between two cats fighting. While trying to ignore the two of them, he continued walking forward, acting as if they didn't exist in his senses.

After a while, with their quarrel still not stopping, the trio reached the Adventurer's guild. As they entered, Aster quickly found Cassy and Liz sitting at a table, chatting amicably with smiles.

'I hope Kali and Tina could be like those two too... Even just a fraction of it is fine.' He wished. Find the next installment on m-vl-em|p-yr

"Oh! Good morning, Star, K, and Tinya~!"

"Good morning, everyone. So you three were already together?"

The two greeted them as they saw the three enter.

Aster quickly plucked Tina away from his body, keeping a hand over her forehead to stop her from sticking to him like usual. He then smiled as he greeted the two. "Good morning, Cassy, Liz. I've asked Kali before, and we decided to focus on leveling up first."

"Okay~! No problem!" Cassy smiled brightly, raising her hand energetically, with her ears flipping up in attention.

"I see." Liz nodded as if already predicting it. "I'm fine with your arrangements. Shall we go to the dungeon now? Or do we need to gather supplies first?"

"No need. We should have enough supplies remaining." Aster shook his head. "But let's redistribute them equally to everyone first."

When they first started on their path to clearing the second floor, the distribution of items was unbalanced. Aster only had a few potions, while the rest of his Spatial Fanny Pack was filled with ingredients and cooking utensils.

The others were also the same.

After that, they reorganized their supplies, giving everyone their fair share, then went to Zena and renewed the contracts for both Tina and Liz, before finally going on their way to the dungeon.