The far north lay shrouded in darkness beneath the endless night. Demon Hunter's Ice Fortress stood like a beacon in that darkness, guarding a lone thread of light across the frozen wasteland. For thousands of years, no matter how much the outsiders hated the Demon Hunters, and no matter whether those Demon Hunters truly deserved to be called "noble," one thing had to be acknowledged: those watchers had, in fact, protected human civilization and ensured that fragile humanity survived the darkest eras in history.
Even without considering that historical significance, Hao Ren could never allow the Ice Fortress to fall—not when he imagined what would happen if those mad Elder Council members ever broke out of Korperus.
Led by several Demon Hunter Masters, Hao Ren and the others made their way through the depths of the Ice Fortress. Beneath their feet lay ice that had remained frozen for a thousand years; above their heads stretched the clearest sky on the planet. The howl of the wind could be heard from time to time, while the black-clad, fully armed hunters stood silently at every post, keeping watch. A strange feeling welled up inside Hao Ren. He felt as though he were standing atop a watchtower—a tower driven into the North Pole, piercing the heavy ice cap, piercing thousands of years of history, piercing every race and culture on the planet. The Mythical Era had ended beneath its watch, as had the magical civilization. Human civilization had grown under its protection, while countless hunters of the night stood here in silence, gazing out over the entire world...
And yet ordinary people knew nothing about any of this.
Lily was still full of energy in the freezing wind. In fact, after arriving at the North Pole, she seemed more energetic than anyone else.