Even while the huge lamprey was writhing in its death-throes, it started to dissolve into black mist, absorbed back into the dungeon. I saw that a few items remained behind, in addition to the windows that told me about the gains I had in the fight.

Mature Glacial Lamprey died You gain 5.500 EXP. For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent with the Dungeon Traveller-Bonus in effect, you gain Bonus EXP For killing a Floor-Boss without a full party, you gain Bonus EXP

Skill increased You increased your skill: Ice Rune-Mastery [63/100]

Skill increased You increased your skill: Blood Rune-Mastery [54/100]

So, the lamprey had counted as a floor-boss? That was interesting, it had been a lower level compared to the Elemental we had fought before and that had not counted as a floor-boss, for some reason.

Pondering why that might be the case, I walked up to the items, looking over the rewards we had gained. There was one necklace that looked just eerie, a black, equilateral triangle, set with nine dark gems, all looking very much like eyes. Two gems were set close to each side, with a third between them, forming equilateral triangles between the eyes close each other and a third triangle between the three eyes in the centre.

Three times Three Eyes Rarity Rare Type Pendant Special Effect Attribute Increase – While this piece of equipment is worn, Endurance +2 Special Effect Elemental Resistance: Ice - While this piece of equipment is worn, the effect that the cold has on the wearer is lessened. . This pendant carries within it the lifeforce of a being that thrived in one of the most hostile environments, the eternal ice of a glacier.

We looked it all over together and quickly decided that it would either go to Adra or Rai. Sigmir already had the pendant we had unearthed in the Barrow Den and I had no desire for a pendant that helped with Frost-resistance. Adra and Rai discussed for a moment, before Adra put it on, looking quite pleased.

“I would like to borrow the pendant later, is that alright with you? Just to experiment a little with the Eternal Ice we have found before, maybe the pendant will allow me to work with it.” I asked Adra after she had put it on. She just nodded, seeing no problem with lending it to me for some experiments.

The other items we found were nothing immediately useful. One was a segment of the carapace that had protected the lamprey that could be fashioned into a shield or armour, according to Inspect, and the others were three fangs that still dripped with the acid it used to dissolve ice. For some reason, the acid that dropped down did not attack the ice below us, or even the snow I had spread out, but looking up, I had a hunch what they were supposed to be used for.

The entrance was still sealed with ice so I carefully picked one of the fangs up, walking over to the barrier and first tried to manipulate it with my Ice Magic. Sadly, once again, there was no feedback, no sense of existence, it was as if the Ice was simply not there or as if it was not ice at all. With a frown, I pushed the fang into the top-part of the barrier and it sunk in easily, actually too easy. The next thing that happened made me smile, even with the great effort Pantheon had invested into making Mundus realistic, some things were just game-logic. The barrier dissolved into nothing, together with the fang I had used. Nothing else was affected, just the barrier that had sealed off the room.

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“Let's return to the room we have spent the night in, so we can rest in peace. I have no idea if any of those Querders lurk below the ice here.” Sigmir suggested when she saw what I had done. I just nodded, feeling the magical exhaustion catch up with me.

The way back was quiet, it seemed as if the querders were gone for now.

We rested in the main-chamber, having lunch and I meditated for a while, enjoying the crisp coolness that the Astral Power in the dungeon carried with it. In the dungeon, the Astral River was almost entirely composed out of Ice-flavoured Astral Power. Instead of the normal mix of flows, I was able to luxuriate within it, drinking it in deeply and marvelling in the feeling.

But I did not want to lose myself in the feeling, so I only stayed to soothe my exhaustion and fill my Astral Power completely up before forcing myself back awake.

Using a highly scientific method to choose our next path, we flipped a coin and went into the path almost opposite of the one we had explored before. As we walked, the querders started attacking again and we dispatched them quickly, thanks to the fact that their attack-patterns were incredibly simple. They just lunged from the ice, trying to get someone and if it failed, they were defenseless for a moment, allowing us to strike back without trouble.

But it was not only querders that attacked us, we were also attacked by something that might be troublesome for some groups but for us, it was easy. From time to time, small Ice-Elementals, called Ice Sprites, tried to attack us with sharp icicles. They were basically a tiny core of Eternal Ice, surrounded by normal Ice, shaped more or less random. Some had three legs, others four, some only two and so on, it seemed random. There was no rhyme or reason to their shapes but they all had one thing in common. Their power-level was lower than my own and if I managed to touch them and manifest a Shatter-Rune onto them, the ice that made up their body broke apart, assuming I pumped enough Astral Power into the rune. That interaction made fighting them a breeze and easy EXP for us, especially given that their levels were between fifty and fifty-five. I was quite happy about the slivers of Eternal Ice I was getting, certain that there was an applicable use for them.

After some time, we got to another chamber and here, the opponent was instantly obvious. It was an Ice-Elemental, similar to the sprites we had fought on the way in, only bigger. Much, much bigger. The sprites were about the size of a dog and this one was more like an elephant. A central body was held aloft by four massive legs and two club-like arms were sprouting from it. It looked crude and blocky, as if it was purposefully built for combat, without any features that I would expect in a natural creature.

Observing it informed me that it was a Glacial Elemental, level fifty-eight. For a short moment, I wondered if there was any way to make it shatter, like its lesser cousins but I doubted it. I might be able to interfere with it but outright destroying it would likely be impossible.

Once again, Sigmir charged our opponent, using her shield as a battering ram and drawing the elemental’s attention to herself. Her attack cleaved off some ice from one of the legs, showing that the elemental was not as durable as the Clast Elemental we had fought outside. But the its lower durability brought a major advantage with it, the elemental was faster, forcing Sigmir to block an attack from one of its arms and the force contained in the attack sent her staggering a few steps back. Rai, Adra and Ylva would certainly suffer broken bones from such a strike.

The fight turned into a strange game of keep-away, while the elemental had fast attacks and linear movement, its turning was slow and cumbersome and the arms were limited in their attack-range. That resulted in one of us being targeted by it, often with a charge that tried to run the target over and use its incredible weight to crush us underneath while the others went for the backside and hind-legs. The hind-legs were able to kick back, but it was obviously not what they were made for, making the attacks powerful but easy to dodge.

We played the game of keep-away, slowly whittling away at the elemental when I noticed that our progress was strangely slow, far slower than it should be. I looked through Lenore’s eyes and noticed the problem: The elemental was using the Astral Power in the area to slowly replenish itself, making me realise that the fight was one of endurance. Would we run out of steam before we managed to wear it down despite its regeneration?

I had a seriously bad feeling about that.