After reading through the threads, I set a filter-system for my messages and returned to the game and Sigmir’s embrace. Part of me was annoyed that my identity had been given away due to Pantheon-promotion but at the end of the day, that might just be the price for playing the game. But, I would have to think of something to drive home the point that I was not a cheater with the three stooges. I took pride in the fact that I beat people in the game with my skills and - especially in Road to Purgatory - my insight into the system, not by cheating. I posed the problem to Lenore and we both slumbered off with thoughts of cruel and unusual punishments.

The next morning might have dawned but deep under the moraine, there was just the steady glow of the ice around us when we awoke. But, we were awake, the UI told me it was morning and we had a dungeon to clear. And, thanks to the elemental, I was quite motivated to do so, if I could acquire more Eternal Ice, it might help me on my road forward.

After breakfast, we picked a tunnel and continued our way, vigilant against our surroundings as the dungeon had shown that danger could lurk everywhere. We killed a few more Querders and their level was growing, giving us some tasty EXP and getting me closer to the next level. It was still far away but the dungeon might be enough, depending on its size. Finally, after maybe an hour of following the winding tunnels through the moraine, we entered another large room, the floor mostly made out of ice.

We carefully entered, all of us wary what might await us here. When we reached the middle of the room, it became clear. The ice below us started shaking and a larger version of the Querders we had fought before burst from the ice below us, between us and the entrance. The increased size did not help with their looks, it only magnified the horror that they were. Instead of the easy-to-handle diameter of ten to twenty centimeters, the only important part of the monster we were facing, its maw, had a diameter of about a meter - almost enough to swallow me upright. And if I, or anyone for that matter, was swallowed, it would be a swift and rather messy death, of that I was certain. Sigmir must have realised that trying to block the twenty meter long behemoth we were facing was utterly impossible, this would be a fight of dodging, hitting and running, so she put her shield and axe away, taking her Lok’nar in hand.

I observed the monster and the system told me that it was a Mature Glacial Lamprey and level forty-five. The level-disparity gave me some hope, but even with it, I doubted we could fight head on, simply due to the massive bulk of our opponent. Looking closer, I noticed that there was a ring of nine eye-like protrusions around the maw and that the fangs were glinting with a strange liquid. In addition, I saw that during the emergence of the Lamprey, it had sealed off the entrance to the room with a solid wall of ice, similar to the ice that made up the dungeon. Not that it mattered, escaping the room we were in would be suicide, in the narrow passages, dodging he lamprey and its teeth would be impossible.

Sigmir gave a battle-cry and somehow, I knew that she would charge in the next moment, to draw the attention of the lamprey, so, to give her the best chance, I instantly projected the runes for magic, strength and haste. A dark glow mingled with her red aura, just as she smashed into the lamprey while it was rearing up, making me think of a snake getting ready to strike. Despite the buffs on her, she only managed to strike a flesh wound into the lamprey’s side, causing ichor to well up between two armoured segments before she had to jump away in an effort to dodge the bony tail-end of the creature.

But that attack set the tone, Adra and Sigmir struck singular, powerful blows, using the length of their weapons while I did my best to augment their attacks with my magic. Ylva, on the other hand quickly joined Sigmir, increasing their strength and Rai was doing his best to weaken the monster with his rudimentary darkness magic. Not because it really did something, just in an effort to do anything. His daggers were just unable to even cut the hide between the armoured segments, it was just not his fight. At the same time, the lamprey must have had some capability when it came to sensing magic, whenever I tried to draw out a full magic formation, it would attack me, forcing me to abandon my cast. I was limited to small spells that I could mostly create in an instant, limiting the impact I had.

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At first, the lamprey just tried to either swallow its target or smash it with its tail, pretty much ignoring Rai and me unless I tried to cast. That changed after about two minutes of fighting, it had just forced Sigmir and Adra to dodge, when it reared back up, like at the start and suddenly, a deluge of liquid shot from its maw, towards me. I felt time slow around me as Bullet Time went into effect and for a moment I despaired, knowing that I would not be physically fast enough to dodge, I had started moving too late. But that moment lasted less than the blink of an eye and in desperation, I let the vines of my Eisblumen grow out, smashing into the ice below me and, in turn, augmenting the movement I had started.

It was just enough, but barely. The vines were just gone, along with a chunk of my Astral Power, even my cloak and boots had suffered a little due to tiny droplets of the liquid splashing away from the impact-area. My mind was still racing with the near miss when I noticed the gigantic body of the lamprey moving towards me.

Closing my eyes, I wondered where I would respawn - and then I impacted the ground, jolting me out of my despair. The lamprey had missed me, or rather, it had never targeted me in the first place. I just saw the end of its body vanish into the ice below us, the opening vanishing in the wake of its passing.

Relieved to have escaped death, I jumped back on my feet. Sigmir called out to me, to make sure I was alright. I assured her that I was, while trying to find out where the monster would come back from, that moment might give us a valuable chance to strike. In a semi-desperate measure, I used my magic to create a few seconds of snowfall within the cave, letting the loose snow cover the ground and giving us an easy, visual indicator where the lamprey would reemerge. When the loose snow was disturbed by the vibrations given off by the lamprey, it was far easier to see, compared to the solid ice.

Once the snow was settled, I could even feel it with my magic and I had an idea that might allow me to strike a devastating blow against it. My eyes closed and I tuned myself to my magic, feeling the snow on the ground lightly vibrating. The vibration told me where the lamprey was and I started drawing glyphs into the air, creating a massive icicle, not a small, knife-like shard like normal or even one of the larger spears I used from time to time. No, it was a massive lance of hard ice, containing a huge amount of my Astral Power. If it worked, it might end the fight with a single strike, Even as the lance manifested while I was pouring power into the magic formation, I used my Ice Magic to draw small symbols into it, adding the runes for shattering in small magic formations to the lance.

I felt the lamprey take aim to reemerge, targeting Sigmir. While holding onto my magic with all my will, I called out a warning, seeing her jump to the side and a second later, the lamprey burst out of the ice. But, now it was limited in its moves, it had to fully leave the hole before it could get its body anywhere else and I had more than enough time to prepare some serious magic.

With a smile, and my eyes undoubtedly glowing with silver light, the Ice Lance shot out, my Ice Magic adding to the force it had thanks to my Rune Magic. I had been unable to target the weak points between the armoured plates but I was trusting my magic to have enough power. And it had, with a great cracking noise, the lance broke through the armoured plates, penetrating deeply into the body of the lamprey. Just as the lamprey started screeching in pain, I triggered the runes I had inscribed all over the lance, reducing the lance to razors harp shards, shredding the things innards.

The screeching continued and I noticed that its eyes flashed with a dark glow that I knew quite well. Darkness Magic. Purple-ish beams of darkness, what I recognised as Dark Radiance came from its eyes, striking almost randomly around it. If it wanted to play with Darkness, two could play that game. I was still in a strange state, hyper-aware of my magic and the area around me, allowing me to feel the beams before they actually struck. And once I knew where they would strike it was quite possible to make sure that they did not hit anyone. The short bursts of magical contact even allowed me to understand what they were, it was a relatively simple curse made to weaken magic.

As fast as the attack had begun it ended, when Sigmir, Rai and Adra all did their very best to dismantle the lamprey, using the plate I had shattered as starting point. With its armour broken, their attacks dealt massive damage, it tried to spit its strange ice-dissolving acid once again but even as it tried to rear up, Sigmir used her berserk-ability and finished the job my Ice Lance had started, separating the front-part of the lamprey from the back, causing its maw to smash heavily back to the ground and its acid-attack was interrupted.

We all stood back, as it wiggled back and forth, unable to get any traction. The lamprey was dead, it had just not stopped moving yet.