[Arc 1] Holiday Special: Sandy Frost

-This story dates back to between chapters 20 and 21 of Arc 1...

You know, I've seen and appraised lots of monsters now in this dungeon, but the one who topped the strange-o-meter must be the guy I saw on my second trip to the river area after I had evolved into a Grey Demon. It was just before encountering the spider back then. The story goes like this...

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I've just left my home, intending to escape the dungeon. I was following the guide-thread back to the river area when I suddenly felt chills crawling down my spine. Just ignore that I lack the said spine.

The chills were coming from a sideway tunnel, going away from the river area. The dungeon usually has an agreeable temperature, not too cold, nor too hot, so this chill is striking me as odd to the t. 

I've already on full stealth mode, so let's take a little side trip and find out where this cold comes from. Maybe I can use whatever it is to freeze monsters that come after me. Monster Popsicle! ...Nah, that's not gonna be a hit.

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After walking through the sideway tunnel for a little while, I found a trio of raptors, sleeping like babies. Usually, I would have trapped them with my webs by now, but some stuff stopped me from doing so. 

Some of the 'some stuff', was three present boxes, one for each of the raptors. You know, like the ones good kids back on Earth get on Christmas. One of them has a navy-blue wrapping with dark purple witch-hat pictures on it and a dark green bow. The other one has yellow wrapping, with steel-colored shield pictures on it, and a brown bow. The last present has red wrapping, pictured with black swords, and a grey bow.

The problem isn't the presents, despite how strange they're looking, nor is it how strange that there are presents in the dungeon at all. The problem is the guy handing the raptor-trio the presents:

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Name: Sandy Frost

Race: [Holy Ice Gift Spirit]   | Level: 60

Karma Value: 200 "Virtuous"

Skills: 68

Main Class: Gift Deliver LV50

Sub Class: Rider LV50

Sub Class: Saint LV50

Sub Class: Snow Mage LV50

Sub Class: Vagabond LV50

HP: 665/665   | MP: 1650/1700   | SP: 1542/1650

STR: 752  | VIT: 788   | MAG: 1210

RES:  803  | SPD: 1804   | DEX: 1882

INT: 115   | LUC: 240

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There was something crazy handing out the gifts! Are the raptors so brave, or simply so stupid, to not have noticed it?!

The 'spirit', or whatever it is, has a humanoid form, a thin, long body, with matching long legs and arms. It was wearing a bright red jacket, pants of the same color, black winter boots, and what appears to be a Santa hat, with the tassel at the end of the hat being fashioned after a snow crystal, instead of the usual white bobble. 

That and all ain't so scary. but what I can see of the 'spirit's' body, the parts that stick out of the clothes, that's the problem! The 'spirit' hands are skeletal looking, made of blue-whitish colored ice, and the face is a skull made of the same stuff.

This ain't any spirit, it's a bonafide ice undead! There are even blue flares in its eye sockets, while its body emanates a cold so horrible, that it makes you think it's a temperature of absolute zero! And don't you think that beard made of powdered ice is gonna make me think any different!

IIIHHHK! It looked towards me! And, it ignored me. Phew, thank you again, [Stealth]. 

The ice undead left the red sword present it had in its hand, before leaving them. I did the same, going back the way I came from, which fortunately was the other way of the ice undead. 

---

Back to the present, I escaped so fast, that the memory of that ice undead disappeared by the time I reached the river area and saw the T-Rex battle. I mean, anyone would think they had a bad dream if they met something like that. It was just too unreal, both those stats and the situation.

And why I'm remembering all that now? Because, by my bedside, I've found a present, similar to the ones those three raptors were given.

This present has jet-black wrapping, decorated with pictures of purple spider webs, along with a golden colored ribbon.

There's no way this is anything suspicious, NOT! There are even frozen footprints right beside the present!

It had to be the ice undead from that time, but I can't understand how he managed to get this close without me noticing him. None of the webs are damaged at all, yet, the footprints are showing they went through the webs. 

After checking out the perimeter, I poked the present with the long monster bone I had used as a walking stick once, to make sure it wouldn't blow up on me. After a minute or so with that, I decided to open it. 

After removing the ribbon, the present dissolved into what looked like gold dust. Ooh, so pretty. A quick appraisal revealed it was holy-attributed aether, hey, ain't 'holy' bad for a demon like me?!

I jumped back a safe distance, despite not taking any harm from the dust, I waited till the dust had disappeared. What remained, was:

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Appraisal Result: Ralal fruit.

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?!?! A Ralal fruit?! Like the dried ones that I got from my Berry Box before?! And this one is fresh! Yahoo! 

[Appraisal] didn't detect any poison, so it's safe to eat! In that case, thanks for the grub!

*Chomp*

Sweet! It's so sweet! I don't know for what reason that ice undead gave me this fruit, nor do I know if he's like the guy he's cosplaying as, but anyway:

Merry Christmas! Oh, so sweet...

Greydra

And a Happy New Year!

Small quiz: Can you guess the identity of those three raptors?