Oscar was shaking all over from the cold. He struggled to open his eyes and gazed at a world of ice and snow.
"Wh-where is this?!"
Just as confusion filled him, a crisp tinkling sound like ice crystals striking each other rang beside his ears.
Oscar looked up and discovered a swarm of ice silkworms, glowing with a faint green light, wriggling their bodies.
"Whoa, what kind of Soul Beasts are these?!"
Oscar looked at the pile of maggot-like Soul Beasts before him, and his heart sank into despair.
"Master, I'm afraid your disciple is going to send off the white-haired before the black-haired. Please don't miss me. I don't regret becoming your disciple either."
At that moment, Oscar resigned himself to his fate and closed his eyes, already silently giving his last words in his heart.
Those ice silkworms shaped like maggots—no, to be precise, they were just like maggots.
They only glanced indifferently at Oscar, this outsider, and after finding that he posed no threat, they went right back to lowering their heads and enjoying the strange food before them as if nothing had happened.
With his eyes closed, Oscar only heard the rustling sounds of chewing, yet he himself remained completely unharmed.
After waiting a while longer, he muttered inwardly, Are they not interested in me? Why isn't any of them coming to eat me?
In truth, it was no wonder Oscar thought that way.
After all, in the Frozen Forest, whenever those Soul Beasts encountered humans, they chased them relentlessly like starving wolves spotting prey.
Oscar felt as if each day were a year. At last, unable to restrain himself, he opened his eyes.
Yet what entered his sight was the ice silkworms enjoying indescribable food with relish, completely ignoring his existence.
All at once, Oscar