The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 44
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 44
It was to cover Logan and Lian from a distance, at least.
Of course, looking at Logan, it seemed even that wasn’t necessary.
But still…….
I kept my sights fixed and focused.
Bang!
A shot rang out.
Crack!
The second shot came from beside me—Claire’s. Both hit their marks.
Claire turned to me with a startled expression.
“Did you study Marksmanship, ma’am?”
I shook my head.
“My brother just taught me Hunting, that’s all.”
“Was your brother a soldier?”
“No.”
Claire looked at me as if I were the strangest thing she’d ever seen. And she had a point. I thought the same about myself.
How was it that I seemed good at everything?
Logan stopped his leisurely stride and lifted his Greatsword with one hand.
He raised the massive blade so lightly, as though it had no weight at all.
As the sharp edge gleamed, reflecting the sunlight,
Howwwl—!
A wolf lunged at him first.
It went straight for Logan’s throat, but the attack failed.
Shhwick—
It was cleaved clean in two by Logan’s Greatsword.
The force with which he brought down the blade was so tremendous that the beast’s body split apart as easily as an axe splits firewood.
Watching the crimson blood spray like a fountain across the pristine snow, I narrowed my eyes.
‘Why does his sword cut so cleanly?’
Logan’s Greatsword swept horizontally.
It was a single stroke. And along its arc, the snowstorm parted, and the wolves nearby were flung into the air like dry twigs.
Then dozens of wolves rushed at him all at once, like a grey wave crashing down upon Logan.
Shhwick—
The Greatsword moved again. The motion seemed slow. But the wolves couldn’t evade it. A dark arc cut through the air.
The wolves’ bodies slid away in different directions.
Blood spouted like fountains as wolf corpses collapsed in heaps across the ice.
Howwwl—!
The wolves, sensing danger too late, scattered in all directions. But it was already too late.
Logan didn’t pursue the fleeing ones.
He simply raised his sword and brought it down slowly. The ponderous Greatsword plunged downward.
Boom!
A tremendous impact rippled across the ice sheet.
Crack-crack!
Fissures spread like a spider’s web.
As the ground shook, the wolves lost their footing and fell. And in that moment, Logan’s shadow engulfed them.
Shhwick— shhwick— shhwick—
With each movement of the blade, another corpse was added to the pile. Blood poured out everywhere, and I could almost believe the snowstorm itself was turning red.
At last, a single wolf that remained tried to tuck its tail and flee.
But Logan didn’t chase it.
He drew the Greatsword slowly backward. Then he threw it.
I don’t know how he could hurl such a heavy, massive blade so effortlessly, but he did.
Whoosh—!
The Greatsword flew like a colossal spear, piercing through the wolf’s body.
Crash!
The beast flew dozens of meters and crashed into an ice wall.
Everyone froze for a moment. Only the sound of the swirling blizzard filled the silence.
Even the woolly mammoths stood motionless, watching the scene.
Snort.
The alpha mammoth lowered its trunk.
Then the other mammoths followed suit, lowering their trunks toward Logan as if acknowledging a being stronger than themselves.
Logan pulled his Greatsword from the ice as though nothing had happened.
Then she pierced through the ice wall and shattered it, extracting Lian from where he’d been trapped inside.
I began to understand why Logan had turned into a villain. With that level of power, it seemed a waste for him to remain a supporting character in someone else’s story.
Whoooosh—
The fur-cloaked elephants seemed to assess the situation before they began to move. They turned from their path and headed toward Logan and Lian.
The elephants lifted Lian and Logan with their long trunks, placing them both atop their massive backs.
Then they turned again and continued on their way.
Crack-crack-crack—
Behind us, I heard the sound of ice fracturing. It seemed to be an aftereffect of the battle that had just taken place.
Boom-crash!
Soon the ice shattered completely, and the wolf corpses piled upon it tumbled straight into the sea below.
The herd of fur-cloaked elephants, who had narrowly escaped plunging into the water themselves, showed no sign of disturbance and trudged steadily onward.
Logan rode on the elephant in front of me. He glanced back at me briefly, then gave a casual nod.
As if to say that our survival was nothing worth making much of.
Thump—
I startled at the sound of my own heartbeat and placed a hand over my chest.
What was wrong with me, all of a sudden?
Thump-thump—
I rubbed the back of my neck absently.
I tried to convince myself it was just the cold wind, just the loosening of tension after everything we’d endured.
But my gaze kept drawn forward, as if pulled by an invisible force toward the broad expanse of Logan’s back.
The man who had just moments ago fought dozens of wolves alone now walked ahead as if nothing had happened, his Greatsword slung casually across his shoulder, his eyes fixed on the path before him.
That single nod he’d given was the briefest of gestures.
‘It’s fine.’
A wordless reassurance, conveyed through his body alone.
That was enough to calm my fears, and yet that same indifferent gesture made my foolish heart race all over again.
‘I wish this Ice Age would end.’
If I could have fallen in love with Logan in ordinary times, if I could have enjoyed an ordinary married life with him, then I wouldn’t have to pretend not to know his heart while struggling desperately just to survive.
With each passing day, the weight of my feelings for Logan grew heavier.
I would never be able to set this burden down unless I saved him from the hell of his past.
‘Can the protagonist really end the Ice Age?’
Scholars attributed the cause of the First Ice Age to volcanic eruption—though even this was merely historical conjecture.
As for the Second Ice Age—
[The cause of the Second Ice Age could not be determined. Unlike during the First Ice Age, no volcanic eruption had been confirmed.]
—from “Extreme Cold Survival Strategies”
That’s what the novel had said.
In the present situation, it seemed plausible that the Frost Heart, which Julian had supposedly stolen and fled with, was the likely cause of this Ice Age.
Though this too was mere speculation.
Could we only know the truth by gathering all the Winterstone?
That is, if the hypothesis that Winterstone is a Mana stone formed from shards of the Frost Heart was correct.
If Winterstone is a consumable mineral as claimed, then what becomes of the Winterstone that has been used up and disappeared?
‘This is complicated.’
In any case, Julian would know the most about this matter, so it would be best to investigate Julian’s disappearance first.
While I was resolving this, we had somehow arrived at a coastal town.
Sunhaven.
Sunhaven was a seaside city located relatively south of Rosebrook.
While Rosebrook was the center of trade and a major port city, Sunhaven was one of the most renowned resort towns in the Granden Kingdom.
During summer, villas opened along the coastline, and nobles came here to enjoy the sea breeze.
That’s why people called Sunhaven the Sun’s Sanctuary.
But now there was no sun.
Only villas buried in snow and frozen fountains remained to testify to its former glory.
The fur-cloaked elephants that had stopped at Sunhaven’s shore set us down there.
Had they truly regarded us as nothing more than small lives that needed protecting?
In any case, they turned without hesitation and resumed their walk across the frozen sea.
I had no idea where they were heading.
I only hoped they would survive in the end, holding their own against beasts like the wolf pack we’d encountered earlier.
Special Feature ∥ Ice Age Case Report
Three thousand years ago, according to historical records, the most widely accepted theory is that the First Ice Age was caused by large-scale volcanic activity.
Volcanic ash and aerosol particles released during eruptions blocked sunlight and caused prolonged temperature drops.
Particularly when multiple volcanoes erupted in succession, their effects were even more pronounced.
However, this remains merely a hypothesis.
Some scholars argue that the ancient humans relied on an energy source called Mana, and that widespread use of Mana triggered the catastrophic climate shifts of the Ice Ages—though no evidence has yet been uncovered to support this claim.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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