Frostfire Legacy

The third sacrifice was a normal-looking man. Unlike the first two, he was calm and collected and didn't even try to fight against the two pulling him forward. His gaze was sharp, a sign of his strong will, but Aster didn't care.

*Slash!*

His sword discriminated against no one. In one hit, he sent the man's head rolling on the floor, his expression still the same as before he died.

Now that it was his third time, Aster earned some leeway to think. After all, it was strange that he could injure the prisoners despite their level being hundreds above his. He kept wondering until the final sacrifice arrived.

It was another woman, making Aster flinch for a bit. But the reason wasn't her gender, but her appearance.

"Cassy...?"

Right, the woman looked just like Cassy right now!

'No.'

But after a good, long look, he quickly shook his head. Although she looked exactly like Cassy, from head to toe, her flirtatious gaze lacking sympathy and the confident grin as if everything in the world was under her control, were far from the expression of the real one.

"Unpleasant!"

Aster growled in a low voice before raising his hand.

"Freeze to death." He activated his Frostfire Legacy instead, calling for Crysta's help, and freezing her solid.

Her expression changed at the last moment, turning to a mix of panic and surprise, but it was already too late. She turned into an ice sculpture without being able to fight back at all!

Within the ice, the woman's face rapidly changed, from looking like Cassy to a thin, almost mummy-like creature. Her previous appearance was nothing but an illusion! It let the observer see her as the woman they wanted to see most, making them lower their guard!

Aster's body glowed once more, along with the faint feeling of vitality returning to him. Killing people over level 500 actually let his skill, Life Plunder, earn him about 10 minutes' worth of lifespan per kill!

"Huh?"

But just as he was reaching for his Spatial Fanny Pack, he noticed that it had disappeared. No, it wasn't just that either...

"Where is this place?"

He looked around and felt puzzled. He was no longer in the sweltering hot underground prison, but instead in the middle of an open field.

Red, cracked ground surrounded him in all directions, with a faint dark fog clinging tightly a few hundred meters away. It limited his view, making him feel even more unsettled.

He turned to look at the red sky, covered sparsely with pitch-black clouds. Rather than rain clouds, they looked like normal white clouds with their colors inverted!

"And the moon's too big!"

Usually, looking at the moon from Earth, it would be about the size of a coin. However, the moon looming above him was about as big as an entire stadium. It felt like it would smash against the planet if given a bit more time!

"... This is so unrealistic. What is this, a dream world?"

Aster scratched his head, confused. His senses were too real for it to be a dream, however.

The sound of winds howling, carrying the cold, black fog, and the faint smell of dry earth. He even tried pinching his thigh, but it hurt as it normally would. All his senses told him it wasn't a dream or illusion, but rather, another reality.

*Flap!*

"...!"

Suddenly, the sound of wings flapping reached his ears. Aster looked around, searching for the source, and quickly found a figure approaching him from above.

"Ugh!"

But soon after he turned his head toward her, he quickly turned it down, almost as if bowing. His eyes hurt from looking directly at her shining figure!

Soon enough, the sound of beating wings came closer, along with the wind pressure sending dust flying around, forcing Aster to squint uncomfortably.

[So, you're that one...?]

"...!"

Right then, a soothing female voice echoed inside his head. It didn't enter through his ears but kept ringing directly inside instead!

'The one? The one what?' He wondered, feeling slightly intimidated.

As the figure approached, Aster couldn't handle the wind pressure—added to her extremely overbearing presence—and fell to his knee.

[Did Rana pick the right guy? I think there's a mistake...]

'Rana!'

A keyword that Aster had heard before. Trying to recall, that was the original name of the Orinfeld Dungeon—Goddess Rana's Dungeon! 'Is this figure also connected to the dungeon?' Aster wondered. Such a question was natural, given the situation.

[But... A fragment... This is from... I see...]

She kept on talking to herself, ignoring Aster who was slowly growing weaker, his breathing becoming more difficult with each passing second under her unbearable pressure.

He forced himself, gathering the remaining strength in his body, and asked. "Y-You are...? And... where... am... I?"

[Oh! Right, I almost forgot.]

With her words, sounding a bit apologetic, the figure landed a few meters away from him. As before, her figure exuded light, as if she was light itself, making it extremely hard to see her face.

However, her wings, all eight pairs of them, were a pretty clear giveaway of her identity.

"An angel...?" Aster squeezed his voice out. "Don't tell me... Did I... die?"

Did his lifespan run out? Aster wondered, but quickly dismissed the idea. He had just killed four level 500s, so he should at least have 10 minutes left on his clock, even if it had run out after his last use of the Legacy.

[... No, you didn't die, little one.]

Although he couldn't see her face, Aster felt from her tone that she had just laughed at him. Whether it was ridicule or amusement, he couldn't tell.

[First, let me explain who I am, why you're here, and what we'll be doing.]

The figure spread her eight pairs of wings wide, sending a bright flash to the surroundings. Aster couldn't keep his eyes open and raised his arm to shield them. As the flash faded, he opened his eyes carefully and gasped at the scene before him.

The cracked, dry earth turned into a field of healthy green grass, filled with the refreshing smell of flowers. The dark fog that had been clinging to the area earlier had completely disappeared, revealing endless plains stretching beyond the horizon. But the moon remained the same, a looming giant against the now-blue sky and white clouds.

Not only had the surroundings transformed from dreary to full of life, but even the overbearing aura pressing down on Aster had vanished.

[My name is Michelle, a... well... Goddess? Yeah, let's go with that.]

"...!"

Aster gasped at her words, but she continued before he could interject.

[And you, as the one chosen as *BEEP*'s Avatar, were brought here to my domain after reaching level 100... Uh? That felt weird.]

"W-Wait..." Aster called, cradling his head from the information overload. "You know my class name? A goddess? Does my weird class have anything to do with you?!"
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He had dozens, if not hundreds, of questions for the angel—Michelle. However, the woman continued, ignoring his words completely.

[And as for why we're here... I'm here to train you.]

"... Huh?"

At that moment, Aster's mind stopped working.