The Environment Is Also the Enemy

"This is supposed to be inside a tower, right?"

"It should be, but… achoo!"

Azu covered her mouth, and a cute little sneeze slipped out.

The tip of her nose was red.

No surprise there. We were trudging straight through a blizzard.

After defeating the Turtle Monster and Etoroki, we'd advanced to the next floor, and the environment changed completely.

Despite being indoors, the air had plunged into the depths of winter… no, colder than that, with a howling blizzard that defied all reason.

"Defies common sense, but this is the kind of place we're in now. Good thing we changed clothes."

"Still freezing. Fighting monsters warms you up a bit, but the heat fades fast."

Alexia and Finn huddled together, shivering.

We'd just finished off silver-furred Horned Rabbits and Wolf Monsters.

Monster strength didn't seem much different from before. Maybe the environment was balancing things out.

The military fatigues kept our skin covered, but they weren't designed for cold weather, so standing still made the temperature drop fast.

"In a blizzard like this, warming things up with magic doesn't have much effect."

Alexia was trying to heat the air around us, but the wind scattered it before it did any good.

It would only work in an enclosed space like a carriage or a room.

If only we had coats.

I'd packed some hot drinks in my item bag as a precaution, but split among everyone, the amount was too little, and the effect wore off partway through.

"I'm sorry…"

Orleans said apologetically.

Perhaps because the Fire Elemental itself resided within her, warmth radiated from around Orleans even in the middle of a raging blizzard.

Alexia apparently had a similar effect, but hers was little more than a comfort in comparison.

"Don't worry about it. Honestly, we're grateful."

"Exactly."

"Um. I appreciate the sentiment, but when everyone clings to me like this, I can't move…"

Every time the cold crept in, Alexia and Finn would embrace Orleans like a hot-water bottle.

Even Yohane couldn't really do the same, though, as that would be somewhat problematic.

Instead, he clasped hands with Azu and Elza, who ran warm, and shared body heat that way.

We'd hoped the floor-clear chests might drop something useful against the cold, but they only contained coins.

Frigid coins. One stuck to my hand the moment I grabbed it, nearly causing serious injury.

Alexia heated the coin with fire magic and peeled it off, averting disaster.

The silver lining was that they were all gold coins.

But no amount of gold could warm us here and now.

Right then, I'd have paid anything for a single cup of hot tea.

Just as I was getting worried that prolonged exposure would leave us unable to move, a giant Ice Golem and an Ice Lizard appeared.

They should have been formidable, but our members, stress levels maxed out from the cold, half took out their frustrations on them and subjugated them in short order.

Murderous might be more accurate.

Orleans held my hand as we watched the scene unfold. They were fighting with far more intensity than usual.

Even Elza had joined in to keep her body moving.

The treasure chest yielded a cloak and a magic item that looked like a Golem core.

The cloak seemed to have a magic-boosting effect, so I handed it to the cold-stricken Alexia. She wrapped herself in it with a blissful expression.

We advanced to the next floor, and the blizzard stopped dead.

In its place, we were greeted by searing thirst and a sandstorm.

"This tower is insane. If it wasn't a job, I'd never set foot here."

"This is… brutally dry. Not hot, exactly, but it feels like a desert."

I touched the sand on the ground. Fine grains sifted through my fingers.

Thoroughly desiccated sand without a drop of moisture.

We pitched a tent to recover from the cold's toll.

The sandstorm wasn't particularly fierce, fortunately, but the ground being loose sand was a problem.

No matter how deep we drove the stakes, it was like pushing a curtain.

In the end, Alexia created ice blocks with magic and we anchored the tent to those.

It should hold for one night.

"My mouth feels all dry."

"This water tastes so good."

Azu drained her canteen in one go.

Water wasn't a major concern for us, but the abnormal dryness still sapped stamina.

I was impressed that the place was designed so that being strong alone wouldn't be enough to clear it.

"Look at this."

Alexia flicked a piece of jerky before biting into it.

It had lost more moisture than usual and was rock-hard.

"Somehow the flavor feels more concentrated… It's tasty, but I wish I was eating it anywhere but here."

"I can't bite through this."

"It's too hard. It shouldn't have been sitting that long."

Orleans and Yohane physically couldn't eat it.

We tried boiling water and softening it, but the soup we made evaporated down to considerably less than expected.

Maybe it wasn't just ordinary dryness.

Stay here too long and we might end up mummified like that jerky.

The thought made me shudder.

"This might be bad for my skin. Let's get through this fast."

"Agreed. If every meal goes like this, our stamina won't hold."

The ecosystem was completely alien, so every monster we encountered was unfamiliar.

Sand Slimes. Rock Golems.

Emaciated Bird Monsters that ambushed through the sandstorm.

The worst part was that relying on sight alone, you couldn't tell them apart from the environment at all.

Sand Slimes hid buried until you got close. Rock Golems pretended to be boulders.

Bird Monsters blended into the sandstorm's noise until they were on top of you.

We had several close calls because of that.