At the sound, Seo Kangrim swiftly concealed himself.

Yoon Bom, quick on the uptake, took cover nearby as well.

Looking up, they saw a massive shadow bearing the weight of dusk.

‘It’s finally here.’

The demon beast stood at a towering three meters, its entire body covered in thick fur, bearing a vaguely humanoid appearance at first glance.

A Third Ghost Grade demon beast that revealed itself before humans only on snowy days.

It was a Snowman.

Just then, a dry cough echoed from the Snowman’s direction.

“Cough, cough…….”

The sound was coming not from the Snowman’s mouth, but from its hand.

The Snowman was gripping something tightly in its grasp.

Yoon Gyeoul was clutched in its grip, drenched in blood.

“……!”

Yoon Bom seemed to have noticed it as well.

She barely stifled a scream, but her eyes brimmed with unspeakable horror.

If left unchecked, Yoon Gyeoul would soon become the Snowman’s meal, returning to Yoon Bom’s side as nothing more than a severed head.

Rather than charging blindly at the Snowman, Seo Kangrim assessed the situation.

‘First, I need to make the Snowman put Yoon Gyeoul down.’

The Snowman was sniffing its prey, keeping it locked in a tight grip.

Engaging in combat while the beast held him like this would undoubtedly result in severe injuries for Yoon Gyeoul.

Moreover, Yoon Gyeoul appeared to be unconscious.

After sizing up the situation, Seo Kangrim whispered in a barely audible voice.

“First, we need to make the Snowman put Yoon Gyeoul down. I’ll lure it away, and then I’ll need you to do something for me.”

“Yes. I’ll do it.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“I’ll do it anyway.”

Yoon Bom spoke with desperate resolve in her eyes.

Her usual naive expression had vanished without a trace.

Judging by her expression alone, she looked like a seasoned hunter.

“Alright. I understand. Then you will…….”

Without further delay, Seo Kangrim leaned in and whispered his plan into Yoon Bom’s ear.

Confirming her instructions, Yoon Bom sprang into action.

Keeping her body lowered, she crawled stealthily toward the opposite cliff and took cover beneath it.

‘First, I’ll lure the Snowman without provoking it any more than necessary.’

Once he confirmed Yoon Bom was in position, Seo Kangrim retrieved an item from his Storage Pouch.

The metallic stench of blood seeped from the dimensional storage.

Beast meat he had hunted and butchered earlier, stored away for later use.

Since it had been stored inside the Storage Pouch, it still carried the fresh scent of blood.

‘This should make a fine snack for the Snowman.’

He dumped the chunks of meat at the base of the cliff and quickly relocated.

Moments later, catching the scent of blood, the Snowman raised its head.

-Kking, kking…….

To the Snowman, it must have been a mouthwatering scent.

After sniffing the air for a moment, the Snowman set Yoon Gyeoul down in its nest and headed outside.

Soon, it discovered the heaping pile of meat.

Wearing a satisfied grin, the Snowman plopped down on the spot.

‘That does it.’

As the sound of the Snowman crunching through bones reached his ears, Seo Kangrim crept deeper into the den, his footsteps utterly silent.

Up close, the Snowman’s nest looked even more like a scene from hell.

Dry straw and branches, countless animal bones and hides, and the rotting carcasses of half-eaten prey.

Amidst the carnage, Yoon Gyeoul lay groaning.

Seo Kangrim checked whether Yoon Gyeoul was conscious, but received no response whatsoever.

‘Are his arm and leg broken?’

Yoon Gyeoul’s left arm and left leg were broken and badly swollen.

In this state, getting him out would be no easy task.

A Medicine Pill would help him recover to some extent, but with his consciousness gone, there was no way to feed it to him.

‘I’ll stick to the plan for now.’

Seo Kangrim hoisted Yoon Gyeoul onto his back and fired ‘Ten-Foot Blaze’ into the sky.

A solitary flame soared upward through the falling snow.

‘To get out of here and back to the snowfield, we either have to climb up or take the narrow path between the cliffs.’

Currently, Seo Kangrim possessed no Special Abilities related to leaping or flight.

That left only one option: the narrow path.

However, taking that path meant walking right past the Snowman as it gorged itself.

There was no way the Snowman wouldn’t notice.

Which was why he needed to drive the Snowman outside.

-Tang!

A sharp gunshot echoed across the snowfield.

Startled by the sudden noise, the Snowman snapped its head up.

Yoon Bom had put distance between herself and the beast before firing a warning shot into the air.

After firing the warning shot, Yoon Bom sprinted off in the opposite direction.

Once she had widened the gap further, a second gunshot rang out.

-Tang!

At the sound, the Snowman rose to its feet and began to move.

Seo Kangrim listened to the gunfire with a rigid expression.

‘Did Yoon Bom manage to hide safely?’

Unable to visually confirm Yoon Bom’s position, anxiety gnawed at him.

Still, with the Snowman momentarily away from the den, he had to grab Yoon Gyeoul and make a swift escape.

Just as he hurriedly hoisted Yoon Gyeoul onto his back to escape the way he came—

Suddenly, the light above him dimmed.

Seo Kangrim looked up and let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

‘I knew there was no luck in my Eight Characters.’

The shadow looming overhead belonged to a Snowman.

Another Snowman that inhabited this den had returned and was glaring down at him.

-Keureureung……!

Discovering an intruder in its territory, the Snowman’s eyes gleamed with an unfathomable killing intent.

Keeping his eyes on the beast, Seo Kangrim retreated backward, refusing to turn his back.

‘Switching to Plan B. First, I need to keep Yoon Gyeoul out of the crossfire.’

Seo Kangrim quickly scanned his surroundings to assess the terrain, then activated ‘Ten-Foot Blaze’.

-Keuaaak!

The flames shot straight toward the Snowman’s face.

Seizing the moment of confusion caused by the sudden attack, Seo Kangrim quickly tucked Yoon Gyeoul behind a boulder.

‘That takes care of him for now.’

Now, all that remained was to bring down the Snowman.

The moment he drew his sword, the Snowman leapt down to land right in front of him.

-Kung!

The ground shook beneath his feet as though an earthquake had struck.

Facing the beast head-on, the sheer mass of the Snowman was suffocating.

However, having already faced Baekyoung, a Divine Grade entity, Seo Kangrim felt no fear.

‘Aim for its blind spot.’

His goal was to circle behind and mount the Snowman’s back.

Seo Kangrim swiftly darted to the beast’s flank.

-Keureureureung!

The Snowman let out a furious roar as it twisted its body around.

An attack he would have easily dodged under normal circumstances.

But his legs, corroded by the water energy, had stiffened, refusing to move easily.

A massive hand swung down toward him.

-Kwaang!

He barely managed to raise his sword and block the blow, but he couldn’t fully absorb the impact.

The hand gripping the sword went numb from the force.

‘Bad luck.’

The snowfall grew heavier, and to make matters worse, darkness began to settle in alongside it.

As darkness closed in, his senses dulled, and following the principle of Water Overcomes Fire, the energy began to drain from his entire body.

‘I can’t stop the snow, but I need to deal with the darkness first.’

[Special Ability ‘Ten-Foot Blaze’ is activating!]

Its grade had increased, yet it still wasn’t bright enough.

The Snowman merely flinched for a moment; it certainly didn’t look frightened.

Seo Kangrim hurled the flames blazing in his hand with all his might.

-Keureureung!

The Snowman sidestepped with a mocking sneer.

However, Seo Kangrim hadn’t been aiming for the Snowman in the first place.

Behind the Snowman, its nest caught fire.

-Hwareureuk!

‘More than enough kindling.’

The nest was littered with branches, dry grass, and animal hides.

As the sparks began to spread outward in all directions, the surroundings brightened slightly.

A wave of warmth seemed to wash over his freezing body.

‘But this won’t last long.’

The snowfall was growing increasingly heavy.

With snow covering everything in sight, the fire was bound to be extinguished soon enough.

Which meant Seo Kangrim only had a sliver of time.

-Keuaaa!

Seeing its nest go up in flames, the Snowman roared in fury and began to stomp its feet.

With the fire at his back, Seo Kangrim sprinted in the opposite direction of the beast.

Simultaneously, he consumed Merit Points to boost his stats.

[Agility has grown to level 18!]

-Kung, kung!

The Snowman charged toward him, stomping the ground violently.

Like an acrobat, he narrowly dodged the Snowman’s attacks while slashing with his sword.

Wounds began to appear on the Snowman’s body, but they were merely superficial scratches.

‘The demon beasts in this region have absurdly high defense.’

Part of the issue was that his Fate Rank was lower than his ‘Sword Draw’, preventing him from performing at full capacity, but fundamentally, taking on a Snowman required a Strength stat of at least level 30.

‘Not yet?’

The Snowman’s fist slammed into the ground mere inches from Seo Kangrim.

It was a strike powerful enough to leave a deep imprint in the earth.

Seo Kangrim was biding his time, waiting for the right moment.

He was focusing entirely on evading the Snowman’s attacks to buy time, but his legs were growing heavier by the second.

Just as the flames began to gradually die down—

-Keuoooo!

The Snowman lured away by the gunshots reappeared.

It had chased the sound of gunfire only to find no prey waiting, so it had returned.

Two demon beasts were now targeting him.

Despite this, a smile crept across Seo Kangrim’s face as he watched the Snowman charging toward him.

‘It’s finally here.’

With the second Snowman’s appearance, he mustered the last of his strength and began to evade their attacks.

The Snowmen roared in fury, stamping their feet as they chased after him.

As Seo Kangrim dashed like lightning between the flames and the beasts—

-Eujik, eujik…….

The sound of something cracking echoed through the air.

As the Snowmen’s stomping intensified, the ground beneath them began to slowly fracture.

‘That’s it. It’s going to collapse……!’

The terrain in this area appeared solid at first glance, but was often composed of nothing more than compacted snow and ice.

The Snowman’s nest had been built upon precisely such terrain.

The fire Seo Kangrim started had melted the foundation, and with two Snowmen converging to rampage on top of it, the structural limit had finally been reached.

The moment he heard the cracking sound, Seo Kangrim sprinted toward the edge.

The instant the Snowmen stepped forward to pursue him, the ground gave way.

-Keuoooo!

Once one of them lost its footing, the cracks spread in an instant.

The Snowmen’s faces filled with sheer panic.

They flailed desperately, trying to grab onto something to break their fall, but their hands found only snow.

One of the Snowmen plummeted to the ground below.

-Kung!

A heavy thud echoed, followed by the sickening sound of something shattering.

It was the sound of the Snowman’s skull caving in.

And in that very moment, a notification window materialized before Seo Kangrim’s eyes.

[You have defeated the Third Ghost Grade Snowman!]

[A fixed destiny has changed!]

[A destiny shift is occurring!]