Apocalypse Harem System: Frozen Kingdom

Chapter 4: Scaling the Frozen Tower

The remaining two scavengers lay whimpering on the floor, clutching their burns and shattered knees. Ethan didn't give them a second glance. 

He stepped back into the bedroom, pulling two high-protein survival bars and another bottle of warm spring water from his spatial storage, placing them into Sarah’s hands.

"Can you stand?" 

Ethan asked, his voice softening.

Sarah nodded, taking a small bite of the protein bar. The divine nourishment of the System food was working rapidly through her system. Her cheeks had regained a healthy pink flush, and the weakness in her limbs had almost entirely faded.

"I'm fine, Ethan.”

 She said, looking down at the groaning thugs in the hallway. 

"Drake is going to run straight to the penthouse. Marcus has at least fifteen armed men up there, and they've barricaded the stairwells above Floor 30 with iron plates and heavy furniture."

Ethan walked over to the broken window, looking up at the towering shadow of the thirty-five-story building. Outside, the blizzard was howling at a terrifying sixty miles per hour, coating the concrete exterior in a treacherous sheet of black ice.

"If we try to push up the main stairwell, we'll be walking into an ambush."

 Ethan said thoughtfully.

 "Marcus expects me to charge up the stairs like a desperate fool."

"Then what are you going to do?"

 Sarah asked, stepping up beside him.

Ethan turned to her, a sharp, confident spark in his dark eyes.

 "I'm going to flank them from the outside."

Sarah’s eyes widened in horror. 

"Outside? Ethan, the wind chill out there is below minus sixty! You'll be blown right off the wall!"

"My heat immunity protects me from the cold, and my fire affinity gives me all the grip I need.”

Ethan explained calmly. He reached into his spatial storage, pulling out a light tactical vest and a heavy coil of climbing rope he had secured from a utility closet.

 "I'm climbing the exterior maintenance ladder from the twenty-eighth floor straight to the thirty-fifth floor balcony. Once I breach the penthouse from behind, I'll clear the barricade from the inside and come down to get you."

Sarah looked at him, her heart pounding. She knew how insane the plan sounded, but looking at the absolute stillness in Ethan's eyes, she felt an overwhelming sense of trust.

"Promise me you'll be careful." 

Sarah said, reaching out to touch his arm. 

"Don't underestimate Marcus. He's cruel, and his iron skin makes him almost immune to normal blades."

"I know his weakness now." 

Ethan replied, offering her a faint smile.

 "Stay in this room and keep the door locked. I won't be long."

Five minutes later, Ethan stood on the fire escape landing of the twenty-eighth floor. The storm screamed like an angry beast, hurling needles of white ice against his face. To any normal human, stepping out into this arctic hell dressed in a thin shirt would mean death within thirty seconds. But to Ethan, his Absolute Thermal Equilibrium converted the lethal gale into nothing more than a brisk autumn breeze.

He stepped over the railing, grabbing the icy steel rungs of the exterior maintenance ladder.

FLAME!

Ethan unleashed a subtle, steady current of heat through his hands. The thick ice coating the steel rungs melted instantly upon his touch, allowing his bare hands to grip the dry, warm metal with unbreakable traction. He began his rapid ascent up the side of the skyscraper, moving upward like an nimble shadow amidst the howling whiteout.

Floor twenty-nine... floor thirty... floor thirty-one…

As he passed the thirty-first floor, Ethan paused, clinging to the ladder as he glanced through a frosted window pane. Inside the stairwell landing, three of Marcus’s guards were sitting behind a heavy iron barricade, clutching rifles and thermal flasks as they stared nervously down the dark stairs.

"Do you think Drake was telling the truth?" one of the guards grumbled, shivering violently under his heavy coat. 

"Ethan Vance is alive? And he can throw fire?"

"Drake was hallucinating from the cold." 

Another guard sneered, adjusting his shotgun. 

"If that weakling tries to climb up here, we'll turn him into Swiss cheese before he reaches the landing."

Ethan chuckled softly under his breath, his voice swallowed by the roaring wind outside. He continued his climb, ascending past the thirty-third and thirty-fourth floors until he reached the private exterior terrace of Penthouse 3501.

He pulled himself over the marble balustrade, landing quietly on the snow-covered balcony tiles.

Through the thick glass patio doors, the interior of the penthouse was brightly lit by a crackling wood fire. Sitting on the plush leather sofa was Laura Sterling, sipping a cup of hot broth while her mother wrapped a thick mink coat around her shoulders. Standing near the center of the room was Marcus Vance, his iron skin activated, gleaming with a dull, metallic luster as he paced back and forth in rage.

"Find him!" 

Marcus barked at two of his lieutenants. 

"Take five men and search the middle floors! I don't care if you have to burn the whole building down, bring me Ethan Vance's corpse!"

"Marcus, please." 

Laura said, her voice dripping with artificial worry.

 "What if he really gained some strange power? He was so angry when you threw him out..."

"Shut up, Laura!" 

Marcus snapped, turning his hardened iron face toward her.

 "I'm an Awakened Iron-Skin warrior! A weak parasite like Ethan is nothing more than an insect under my boots! Even if he has fire, his little sparks can't scratch my metallic hide!"

On the balcony outside, Ethan raised his right hand, his eyes narrowing into cold slits of pure contempt. He didn't bother looking for a latch. He raised his hand, channeling his Basic Fire Affinity into a concentrated, needle-thin beam of pure white heat.

WHIRR!

An 800°C thermal lance shot from his palm, slicing through the reinforced double-pane glass and the iron security lock like a hot knife through butter.

BANG!

The heavy glass patio doors shattered inward, showering the plush living room with glittering ice shards and frozen rain. A howling wave of sub-zero wind rushed into the warm penthouse, instantly extinguishing the fireplace and plunging the room into chaotic darkness.

Mrs Sterling shrieked in terror, dropping her broth as she scrambled behind the sofa. Laura screamed, her face draining of all color as she backed away into the corner.

Through the swirling mist of ice and shattered glass, Ethan stepped casually into the room. His thin cotton shirt fluttered in the draft, his expression deadpan, his dark eyes glowing with a terrifying, golden-orange flame.

"Did you miss me, Marcus?" 

Ethan asked coldly.