"Ice Solidification!"
Suspended in mid-air, Jenkins pressed himself against the cold body behind him. As they fell together, a constant stream of frigid energy poured from his hands, scattering toward the joints between the rails and the wheels like a shower of pale blue sparks.
The temperature plumted, and ice began to form between the tracks and the wheels with increasing frequency. The train's forward montum was repeatedly checked until, in less than two seconds, it lurched to a sudden halt, completely frozen to the rails.
By then, a third of the train cars had already plunged over the edge, the locomotive itself hanging less than twenty feet from the icy surface below.
The Ice Archer lowered its bow and vanished from behind Jenkins. With a clear, high-pitched cry, the unicorn-like beast burst from the fractured wall of space, provided Jenkins a new foothold, and then disappeared just as quickly.
Propelled by the unicorn's force, Jenkins leaped from the air and landed on the roof of a dangling train car.
Activating [Cat's Grace], he moved with feline agility across the nearly vertical surface of the car roof, leaping from one to the next. Seconds later, he slipped back into his own compartnt through a shattered wooden window and found Chocolate wrestling with the cotton from a torn pillow.
The cat seed perfectly healthy. Jenkins carefully picked it up and checked its four small legs several tis, confirming there were no fractures or internal injuries from the fall before he could finally relax.
This unscheduled train was not for passengers but a "troop transport" specifically arranged to carry the Ruen diocese's reinforcents to the northern front. Besides Jenkins, who had an entire car to himself, the other Benefactors from the various churches also had their own comfortable compartnts.
Because Jenkins had managed to slow and stop the train before it crashed, the accident miraculously resulted in no fatalities. However, many had taken a nasty fall, and by the ti everyone had been evacuated to the other side of the river bridge and a headcount was taken, most were injured.
After all, it was not yet morning, and most of them had been asleep monts before.
"Mr. Williams, we have you to thank for this."
Jenkins had gathered with the mbers of the Sage's Church at the left end of the bridge. Captain Uzziah watched him help treat the wounded as he spoke.
For this operation, the Sage's Church in Ruen had dispatched two full Scribe squads, along with so support staff from neighboring cities, forming a contingent of thirty in total. The one speaking was Captain Yela Uzziah, a man with a thick beard that looked quite warm. The other captain, Arianna Sidorov, was younger and currently coordinating with the leaders of the other churches a short distance away to assess the injuries.
"It was nothing," Jenkins replied.
"No, it was truly astounding. I happened to be at the window and saw everything you did before you fell further down. It was absolutely incredible..."
The bearded man's voice was filled with awe. Like everyone else, he had conveniently not seen the unicorn, but like Miss Sidorov, he was aware of Jenkins's identity as the Saint.
"It wasn't my own power. I was just using an item."
Jenkins casually patted the chest of a young man in a cotton felt hat. After a flash of green light, he moved on to the next patient.
He didn't know the specifics of their injuries. He simply instructed those with broken bones to set them as best they could and ignored the rest. His healing wasn't a matter of precision; it was a straightforward, brute-force infusion of life energy.
As they spoke, they both looked up at the train frozen on the bridge. Strangely, even after everyone had evacuated and Jenkins had stopped using [Ice Solidification] to maintain the low temperature, the train remained fixed in place. The ice was still thickening and spreading.
In just twenty minutes, the train's tal surface had turned a translucent, icy color, glinting dazzlingly in the faint light of the rising dawn.
The sunlight slanted down, striking the cars where tal and ice had rged in perfect proportion. The scene was worthy of an oil painting, but no one had the ti to appreciate it.
"So who, or what, froze the tracks?" Uzziah wondered aloud.
Jenkins glanced back at the frozen rails. The ice stretched from far away, engulfing the tracks so completely that they seed to be encased in a solid block. That had to be the reason for the derailnt.
This was no natural phenonon. Though the temperature was low, it was nowhere near cold enough for sothing this extre. Besides the tracks, the bridge's support cables, the signs along the side, and even the forest in the distance showed no signs of such severe icing.
This had to be a deliberate attack. That much was easy to figure out.
Despite the terrible circumstances, this was a well-organized and formidable combat unit. Thus, even though they had suffered an accident, there had been no loss of personnel.
Besides Jenkins, priests from the Church of All Things and Nature and the Church of Earth and Harvest also possessed effective healing thods. Aside from a few seriously injured crew mbers who were too ntally shaken to be healed imdiately, none of the other wounded had lost their ability to move.
Of course, these were minor concerns. The more critical issue, as Jenkins learned from Captains Uzziah and Sidorov after the group had reassembled, was that their supernatural communication device, used for temporary contact with the rear command in the Ruen diocese, was completely jamd, as if by so unseen force.
Their unit was a force of over two hundred Benefactors, comprised of fifteen combat squads from eight different churches and twenty-two freelance support personnel like Jenkins. Among them, so possessed rare long-range communication abilities.
But those abilities were failing, too. According to a woman whose left eye was a purplish-red magical orb, she could connect to distant locations, but the images and sounds she received were warped and grotesque, as if she were peering into a twisted abyss.
The group was now in an extrely awkward position. According to the map, the nearest town where they could rest was at least five miles away. The surrounding area was mountainous, and it was unclear if the roads were even passable. Even a temporary relocation to a town would be difficult.
Ultimately, after confirming they couldn't contact the city with their current ans, the church leaders conferred and decided to dispatch two Benefactors from the Church of Travelers to backtrack, scout the nearby towns, and deliver a ssage. If they could establish direct contact with Ruen, all the better.
The frozen train was now useless; its steam furnace had been damaged in the fall. Since the group couldn't move forward and couldn't solve the problem of the ice on the rails, they organized a small team to advance on foot and investigate the origin of the ice.
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