Apocalypse Harem System: Frozen Kingdom

Chapter 6: The Iron Valkyrie's Last Stand

The snowstorm raging over Northport had intensified into a blinding whiteout, wrapping the city’s frozen avenues in a dense, swirling shroud of ice. Three blocks east of the high-rise district, the Northport Military Supply Depot stood as a grim concrete fortress surrounded by twelve-foot security walls.

Inside the perimeter courtyard, the situation had deteriorated into a desperate slaughter.

Captain Victoria Vance of the military garrison leaned heavily against an overturned tactical armored vehicle, her breath coming in ragged, painful gasps. 

Her long silver-blonde hair was matted with sweat and frost, and her striking icy-blue eyes burned with fierce, unyielding defiance. Her heavy tactical body armor was cracked down the left shoulder, and a deep, crimson trail of blood stained the snow beneath her boots.

She raised her right hand, channeling the last dregs of her Awakened energy. A jagged wall of solid ice erupted from the concrete, forming a temporary barrier between her dwindling squad and the nightmare closing in on them.

CRASH!

The ice wall shattered into a thousand glittering shards under the massive weight of an eight-foot Alpha Frost Wolf. The mutated beast possessed a coat of translucent, crystalline fur, glowing yellow eyes, and massive jaws dripping with freezing saliva. Behind it, a pack of twelve lesser frost wolves circled the courtyard, their low, echoing growls vibrating through the frozen air.

Victoria’s three remaining soldiers fired their assault rifles frantically, but their bullets merely ricocheted off the Alpha's thick, armored hide with dull metallic sparks.

"Captain, our magazines are empty!" 

Shouted Corporal Miller, his voice cracking with pure terror as he dropped his dry weapon into the snow.

 "The ice shields are gone! We're not getting out of this!"

Victoria gripped her combat knife tighter, her knuckles turning white. She refused to show fear, even as despair clawed at her chest. She had sworn an oath to protect this depot's armory until her last breath.

"Fall back behind the secondary container!" 

Victoria ordered, her voice cutting through the wind like a steel blade.

 "I'll cover the retreat!"

"Captain, no! We can't leave you!" 

Miller screamed.

"That's an order, corporal! Go!" 

Victoria roared, stepping forward as she channeled a final, desperate burst of frost.

Suddenly, a massive surge of radiant heat swept through the frigid courtyard, making the air shimmer and warp like a summer desert highway.

From the snowy roof of the supply warehouse overhead, two figures dropped silently into the courtyard. A young man wearing a light vest and a young woman in medical gear landed right between Victoria and the wolf pack.

Victoria’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. She stared at the young man, her jaw dropping. He wasn't wearing a heavy parka, and his bare arms were completely exposed to the -60°C wind, yet he looked as relaxed as if he were standing on a sunny beach.

"Are you insane?!"

 Victoria shrieked, her voice frantic as she lunged forward, grabbing Ethan’s arm to pull him back.

 "Get out of here, you fools! Run for the administrative building! I can't hold this beast back anymore!"

Ethan didn't flinch. He gently shook her hand off his arm, stepping forward with absolute, unshakeable calm.

"You've done enough, Captain." 

Ethan said smoothly, his dark eyes fixed on the towering Alpha Frost Wolf. 

"Leave the rest to me. I can save everyone here."

Victoria stared at him as if he had lost his mind. 

"Save everyone? Are you suicidal? That’s an Alpha beast! Regular weapons can't even scratch its hide!"

"Good thing I don't use regular weapons.” 

Ethan replied with a faint smirk.

He reached down to his waist holster, pulling out a standard-issue 9mm pistol he had secured from Sarah's apartment. Aiming carefully, Ethan pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The bullet struck the Alpha Frost Wolf squarely between its glowing yellow eyes. True to Victoria's warning, the lead round flattened harmlessly against the beast's crystalline skull, falling uselessly into the snow without leaving a single scratch.

Corporal Miller sucked in a sharp breath of horror, backing away.

 "He's... he's just a fool with a popgun! We're dead!"

The Alpha Frost Wolf let out a deafening, mocking howl, interpreting Ethan's attack as a challenge. It lowered its massive head, bared its razor-sharp frost fangs, and launched itself through the air straight toward Ethan with terrifying speed, its jaws opening wide to crush his skull.

"LOOK OUT!"

 Victoria screamed, throwing her hands up in a desperate attempt to manifest a shield, but her energy reserves were completely empty. She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch the young man get torn apart.

Meanwhile, Corporal Miller’s eyes darted frantically toward the open gate behind them. Panic gripped his chest. The captain is out of energy! That stranger is about to die! If I run for the gate right now, the wolves will eat them first and I might make it to the main road...

Miller took half a step backward, his boots sliding on the ice, preparing to abandon his post and leave Ethan and Sarah as a living decoy.

"Miller! Stay where you are!"

 Victoria shouted over the howling wind, refusing to look away even in defeat, keeping her stance firm in front of her soldiers.

Just as the Alpha beast's snapping jaws were mere inches from Ethan’s face, one of Sarah's medical subordinates standing near the rear container suddenly gasped, her eyes widening to the size of saucers.

"Captain... look at his hand!" 

She whispered in a tone of absolute, paralyzing awe.Ethan didn't blink. He raised his right hand calmly, curling his fingers into a loose fist.

SNAP!

A blinding, roaring pillar of eight-hundred-degree crimson flame erupted upward from his palm, transforming the freezing courtyard into a miniature sun.