Rimelion: The Exploiter

I picked the defensive skill.

[Sovereign’s Rime]

Type: 7-legendary

Effect: Conjure frost armor as light as falling snow and as unyielding as glacial ice. Movement remains unhindered. Incoming damage is reduced. Enemies who make contact with the armor feel winter’s bite, slowing on first strike.

Duration: 60 seconds.

Cooldown: 180 seconds

Info:Light enough to dance in. Strong enough to defy the gods.

I glanced around the chamber. “Give me a minute? I need to go over the attacking skills before I pick.”

Katherine was already sitting on a warrior’s torso, using its shield as a backrest. “Take time. Your mana is...” She waved vaguely. “Low?”

“Aye,” Lucy agreed, dropping to the ground with a clatter of dented armor. “Recharge sounds proper good right about now.”

So I pulled up the skill list and started scrolling.

There were a few strong contenders. A frost lance variant that hit harder but cost more. A battlefield-wide blizzard thing slowed that looked useful but situational. A skill that let me shatter my own ice constructs into shrapnel, which was creative but felt like it would backfire on me in the most literal way possible.

Two stood out.

[Winter’s Decree]

Type: 7-legendary

Effect: Release a burst of frost in all directions. Enemies caught in the nova take ice damage and are slowed. Enemies already chilled are frozen briefly instead.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Info: When the Queen of Frost speaks, winter answers.

That was good. Fantastic. A frost nova with a thirty-second cooldown meant I could use it multiple times per fight, and the chained freeze effect synergized with everything I already did. If I was already frosting the battlefield, which I always was, then every nova became a mass freeze. That was crowd control and damage rolled into one.

The second one made me pause.

[Sovereign’s Dominion]

Type: 7-legendary (Passive)

The frost does not merely obey you. It bends reality.

I stared at it. That was the entire description.

“Cloudy, is it broken? What’s offensive about it, and where’s the rest?”

A single line appeared beneath the poetic nonsense.

Effect: During battle, ice magic is stronger.

I blinked. “That’s... it? What’s offensive about this?”

The effect was deleted and replaced: Your will bends reality.

“That’s not much better, Cloudy, but I guess it’s because of Sovereign, so I won’t question it.”

Vague system descriptions usually meant one of two things: the skill was underwhelming and Cloudy was embarrassed about it, or it was so broadly powerful that a proper description would read like a thesis. Given that it was legendary and passive, I was betting on the second.

I chewed my lip, weighing them against each other.

Winter’s Decree was flashy, reliable. I could already picture it saving us in fights like the one we’d just survived, warriors closing in from all sides, a nova freezing half of them mid-swing while Katherine and Lucy carved through the rest.

But Sovereign’s Dominion was passive.

It didn’t cost mana.

It didn’t have a cooldown.

It didn’t require me to think about it, activate it, or time it. It just... made everything I already did better. Every ice wall, every frost lance, every frozen trap. All of it, stronger, all the time, in every fight, forever.

And my connection to Sovereign wasn’t something I took lightly. The class had chosen me as much as I’d chosen it. If the system said frost knew me, then maybe the smart move was to trust that and let whatever “stronger” meant reveal itself.

Winter’s Decree was the safe pick.

Sovereign’s Dominion was my pick.

I selected the passive.

[Skill Limit: 10/10]

…

[9. Sovereign’s Rime - 7-legendary]

[10. Sovereign’s Dominion - 7-legendary]

“Okay,” I said, looking at the scattered remains of the warrior golems, then at the dark tunnel that led deeper into the mine. “Those were the warriors. Level forty-one, exceptional tier, fought like they’d been designed by someone who actually knew what they were doing.”

“And we beat them,” Lucy said, grinning despite the new dent in her chestplate.

“We beat them,” I agreed. “But those weren’t the overseers. Those weren’t what we need.” I gestured toward the darkness. “We still need to go deeper.”

Katherine’s grin was back, undimmed by exhaustion. “Deeper is good. More fighting!”

“More treasure,” Lucy added.

“More work,” transformed Lucas muttered, but he didn’t sound unhappy about it.

Frozna checked her quiver, counted arrows, and nodded once. Her wolf pressed against her leg, and Lizzie landed on her shoulder with a chirp.

I looked at my team and felt something warm in my chest that had nothing to do with the level up.

“Alright,” I said. “Let’s go find those overseers.”

The tunnels grew wider as we descended, the rough-hewn passages giving way to support pillars, carved with the same skill as the entrance.

Frozna stopped us at a junction where three passages converged.

“Wait,” she said. Her wolf—Wolfie—pressed against her leg. She knelt beside him, one hand on his head, and something passed between them. A shimmer of light, barely visible.

“I leveled the bond,” she whispered. “Can strengthen him now. Make him faster, tougher. Wolfie’s IVs are amazing.” She looked up at us, and there was something vulnerable in her expression. “But he cannot respawn. Not yet. If he dies...”

She didn’t finish the sentence.

Katherine’s hand landed on Frozna’s shoulder. “We protect Wolfie. Ya?”

“Aye,” Lucy agreed, thumping her hammer against her palm. “No harm comes to the beastie on my watch.”

Lucas nodded, ribbons still flowing around his Windprincess form. “I can redirect attacks. Keep him clear of the worst.”

Frozna looked at me.

“I’ll heal him,” I promised. “Same as everyone else. He’s part of the team.”

She nodded once, something easing in her shoulders. Wolfie’s tail wagged.

We moved on.

The passage opened into a chamber that made the warrior staging area look like a closet. This was a command center, a proper one, with raised platforms connected by metal walkways and monitoring equipment lining the walls.

Control crystals—dead now, dark as the lighting channels above—jutted from consoles at regular intervals. Rail tracks converged from multiple tunnels, all leading to a central hub where ore carts would have been sorted and directed.

And in the center of it all, standing on the highest platform like a king surveying his domain, was the overseer.

It was bigger than the warriors.

Not just taller, maybe nine or ten feet, but broader. Its arms ended in manipulator appendages instead of weapons, multi-jointed fingers.

But what caught my attention was its head.

Where the warriors had simple amber strips, the overseer had an eye. A single large crystal set into its face, pulsing with light that seemed almost aware.

It was watching us.

Around it, warriors stood in formation. Six of them, shields raised, blades ready. And beyond them, in the shadows of the side tunnels, I caught the dim glow of miners. Dozens of them.

“Okay,” I whispered, not taking my eyes off the overseer. “This is different. That thing is commanding the others. See how the warriors are positioned? That’s not random. It’s tactical.”

“Miniboss,” Katherine observed, her hand already on her sword hilt.

[OverseerGolem Lv.43]

Type: 3-rare | HP: 2100/2100

“Yes. And somewhere inside it is a temporal shard that I need intact.” I turned to face my team, making sure I had everyone’s attention. “Which means we cannot just charge in and break everything. We need to—”

“Careful,” Katherine interrupted, nodding solemnly. “Ya. I remember. No breaking the shiny thing.”

“Exactly. So here’s the plan. We take out the warriors first, then the miners if they engage, and only then do we focus on the overseer. When we fight it, we need to disable it without destroying its chest cavity. That’s where the shard housing will be.”

Lucy stroked her chin. “Disable how?”

“Legs first. Immobilize it. Then arms. Once it can’t move or fight back, I can extract the shard safely.”

“Sounds boring,” Katherine muttered.

“Sounds like we get what we came for.” I met her eyes. “Katherine. I need you to hold back on this one. Let me coordinate.”

She huffed but nodded. “Fine. I wait for signal.”

I wasn’t entirely convinced, but it was the best I was going to get.

“Everyone ready?”

Nods all around. Frozna’s hand glowed briefly, and Wolfie’s form seemed to solidify, muscles tensing with borrowed strength. Lucy rolled her shoulders, armor clanking. Lucas… was hovering.

We stepped into the chamber.

The overseer’s eye fixed on us. It didn’t speak, it wasn’t built for that, but one of its manipulator arms rose, and the warriors shifted.

Repositioning, creating a formation that covered the approaches to its platform.

Then it gestured again, and the miners flooded out.

They poured from the side tunnels in a wave of dark metal, picks and drills raised not as weapons but as obstacles. They weren’t trying to kill us. They were trying to get in our way, to slow us down, to keep us from reaching the warriors while the overseer directed the real fight.

“Miners first!” I called, throwing up an ice wall to funnel the flood. The frost crystallized faster than before, thicker, more opaque. The Dominion passive at work. “Clear a path!”

Two of the warriors had crossbows, and they aimed for me. “Stupid golems!” I yelled at them and jumped to the side as the bolts sailed barely missing me.

Katherine was moving forward, greatsword sweeping in wide arcs that sent miners tumbling. She wasn’t using her fury yet, just raw strength and skill, carving through the chaff with mechanical efficiency.

Lucy charged in the opposite direction, hammer crushing everything in her path. “Come on, ye tin toys! The Rimebreak Navy doesn’t fear a few buckets with shovels!”

Frozna’s arrows sang, each shot punching through a miner’s core and dropping it instantly. Wolfie darted through the chaos, disabling golems and dancing away before they could retaliate. He was faster than before, stronger… the buff was working.

Lucas rose above the melee, the wind carrying him over the heads of the miners. “Kiss of the wind!” His Heartcleave found warriors, not killing strikes, but harassment, forcing them to raise shields and defend instead of advancing.

“Go Luka!” Lucy yelled while deleting the head of the miner.

“Protect the world!” Katherine joined in with laughter.

He ignored them both.

I held the center, frost spreading from my position in a constant wave. Every miner who touched the frozen ground slowed. Every ice lance I threw hit harder, punched deeper. The passive was subtle but undeniable; my magic felt more responsive, like an instrument finally tuned to perfection.

The miners kept coming.

The overseer kept directing.

The crossbow warriors kept shooting.

It was smart. Every time we cleared a section, it sent reinforcements to fill the gap. Every time Katherine tried to push toward the warriors, miners flanked her. It was using them as expendable pieces, trading metal for time.

“This is taking too long!” Katherine roared, frustration bleeding into her voice.

“Stay focused!”

A warrior broke through the miners’ screen and charged directly at me; the overseer had identified the healer again. I raised an ice wall, thicker than any I’d made before, frost so dense it was nearly opaque, but the warrior didn’t slow. It punched through the barrier, blade already swinging for my throat.

I activated Sovereign’s Rime.

The armor wove itself around me like frozen moonlight.

It wasn’t plate or mail. It was gossamer, layers of ice so thin and delicate they should have shattered at a touch, but they bent light instead, refracting the chamber’s dim glow into prismatic patterns that danced across my skin.

I felt protected, weightless. And of course… regal.

The warrior’s blade connected.

And stopped.

The impact traveled through the gossamer layers, dispersing, spreading, transforming from lethal force into winter’s bite. Frost erupted outward from the point of contact, and the warrior... slowed.

Not just slowed. Crawled.

Its arm was still moving, still trying to complete the swing, but time had become honey around it. I watched the blade inch forward, watched frost crystals spread across the warrior’s joints, and stepped aside with all the urgency of someone avoiding a gentle breeze.

One second. Two. Three.

I formed a lance, the ice denser than before, almost crystalline in its perfection, and drove it through the warrior’s chest, aiming for the weak spot.

The golem collapsed in a heap of frozen metal.

Four seconds.

Five.

The frost effect faded, but the warrior was already dead.

Lucy’s whistle cut through the chaos. “Now that’s proper queenly, that is!”

I didn’t have time to appreciate the compliment. The overseer had noticed. Its eye burned brighter, and suddenly all six warriors were moving, attacking. They abandoned their formation and charged, splitting into pairs, each heading for a different target.

Katherine. Lucy. Me.

“Incoming!” I shouted, throwing up walls to buy time.

Katherine met her pair head-on, greatsword finally igniting with fury’s flames. The red aura erupted around her, and suddenly she wasn’t just fighting; she was dominating.

One warrior’s shield melted under her first strike. The second warrior’s blade shattered against her counter.

Lucy planted her feet and swung, hammer meeting shield with a crack that echoed through the chamber. The warrior staggered, and she was already following up, each blow driving it back toward the platform.

Frozna’s arrows found gaps in the third pair’s armor. Wolfie lunged, jaws closing on a warrior’s knee joint, and the golem toppled. Lucas’s wind blades carved through exposed mechanisms, and Frozna’s next arrow finished it.

We were winning.

And then Katherine reached the platform.

“Katherine, wait—!”

She didn’t wait.

She threw herself at the overseer with a roar of pure battle-joy, fury blazing so bright it hurt to look at. The overseer raised its manipulator arms in defense, but Katherine’s greatsword carved through them like paper.

Sparks flew.

Metal screamed.

The overseer stumbled back, and Katherine pressed her advantage. Every strike sent shockwaves through the platform. The metal buckled under the force. The overseer’s eye flickered, once, twice, and then her final blow landed.

The overseer’s chest plate caved inward.

The light in its eye died.

It collapsed.

And I felt something crack inside my chest that had nothing to do with combat.