Story Reader / Main Story / 23 Wintry Shackles / Story
Sensing a faint tremble beneath your feet, you see the snowstorm before you. You are walking on clouds.
Where am I? That is the first question in your mind.
Unlike the ice field of ARU, there is brown soil and green sprouts here. This is not the North Pole.
White mountain range casts a shadow in the valley. It looks like a wall built at the end of the world or the entrance to the dreamland.
Why are you here? You are bewildered by the unknown landscape.
Searching aimlessly, you see nothing but infinite white.
Perhaps you should head further down?
Right then, you step onto nothing. The sense of weightlessness overwhelms you, and your field of view drops.
You finally understand what you are seeing.
In the back, where the sun does not shine, are black cliffs standing above a field of snow.
They look like intersecting castles, watchtowers, or monsters hidden in the shadows.
Looking further ahead, there is a dark fort in the distance where the mountains are exposed.
That is where you need to go. You are certain of it.
You start heading toward it, but right before you take your first step, you raise a third question.
Who am I<//YOU>?
The question is like a slap in the face, pulling you out of the chaos.
You sit up abruptly, and the wet object on your forehead slides down.
Ah...
The person beside you is seemingly startled and lets out a muted scream.
Looking at the wet towel on you and recalling the voice you heard, you start to find your bearings.
How are you feeling, Commandant?
Sitting beside you, she hands you a glass of water. Only then do you realize you are feeling quite thirsty.
As the water goes down your throat, you begin to remember what happened last night.
After you took care of Lucia and sent your report to the General Staff through the encrypted channel, you took a painkiller and fell asleep.
Your roughly wrapped wound has now been professionally dressed. Seeing the open medical kit nearby, you are quite certain what has occurred.
That would be the side effects of the painkiller. You should take less in the future, Commandant.
Liv refills your empty glass with warm water. As the warmth enters your body, the pain also diminishes.
Lee is also here. He's guiding the medical transport craft to our location.
Yeah. I heard they're planning to perform a remote operation on it.
What happened, Commandant?
Liv closes and clutches her hands, resting them uneasily upon her knees and looking worried.
What happened to Lucia? When I cleaned your wounds, I found out that...
Liv bites her lips, seemingly unable to believe what she has verified over and over again.
Our mission just said Lucia was unable to operate at the moment, so Lee and I were sent to support you after our inspections.
Strangely, Celica implored us to trust your judgment once we arrived on the surface.
That is an oddly unnecessary reminder. Gray Raven is not a squad of rookies that lacks teamwork, and Lee and Liv are not troublemakers.
Those words seem to be meant for you instead of them.
Before you can finish, an alarm goes off in the temporary camp.
Incoming Corrupted... How can there be this many of them?!
Your terminal also marks out where most of the Corrupted are attacking from.
Lee pinpoints the location you were going to send him right as your comms connects.
I'm heading there, right?
Lee smiles noncommittally before donning his usual serious expression.
My composite armaments can hit enemies from an extremely long distance, so don't hesitate to ask for my help.
I'll go to my position.
Commandant...
Liv wants to dissuade you at first, but she decides to leave you a reminder in the end.
Stay safe. Don't overexert yourself.
