With the path cleared, the six of us made a clean escape deeper into the third floor. It seems that making a large amount of noise has drawn the Cave Fiends to our battle. That or the smell of burned meat was enticing the monsters to investigate. We even managed to sneak by two Cave Fiends on our way here as they ignored us on their quest for an easier meal. I could only imagine the scene of those monstrous crabs feeding on the corpses of their fallen kin.

With Alce taking the map from Dem, the ranger successfully led us to the end of the second floor. The original goal of completing this floor in under four hours was completely shattered. I couldn’t be sure how long we had been down here but I was extremely tired and in desperate need of a break. My calf burned from running for so long and my mana pool had taken a sizable hit.

I was glad that I didn’t have to cast three or more of my white flame lances but casting two was still enough to make me feel weaker than normal. It was the action of consuming so much mana in a single spell that seemed to drain me more than usual.

“We should camp here for a few hours and let Voker and Anna recover their mana. I’ll take the first watch,” Alce suggested.

We all agreed without complaint. As far as I know, Alce was the only one of us that had been in a dungeon. She had taken over the lead role and Dem seemed more than happy to pass the baton. Dem was out of his depth and he wasn’t so full of himself to think that he could do a better job than Alce.

At the mention of rest, we set to work on laying our sleeping gear out at the entrance to the third floor. If worse came to worse and a Cave Fiend followed us we could always just head down a floor where they wouldn't be able to follow us.

It was always the plan that we were going to spend at least one or two nights in this dungeon. Well, the equivalent of two nights of sleeping that is. Clearing these dungeons took a toll on not only your body but your mental state. Being on edge for hours on end was enough to drain even the most skilled adventurer. We could have kept pushing deeper into the dungeon but there was no need to tackle the third floor if we were tired. Even us three Elves needed a break from time to time.

We set up camp and I was about to crawl into my sleep bag and get some well-deserved sleep when Anna offered to heal me. I gladly accepted her assistance. The familiar warmth of light magic spread from her hands and blanketed my body.

“I’m sorry that I can’t heal you more…” She said dejectedly.

I sighed. Anna was always so hard on herself. I wish she would stop worrying about it. There was nothing she could do to help me.

“It’s fine, Anna. This is enough,” I said, trying to reassure her.

Anna gave me a weak smile and went to offer her services to the others. Not being sore for the remaining two floors was the ideal situation for all of us.

I crawled into my Dragonkin-sized sleep bag and tied it shut. I had gotten this oversized sleeping bag for the express purpose of being able to move around in it. This thing could easily fit an Ilme and half so it completely dwarfed me in size. But it suited my needs perfectly.

I took my mask off and began devouring some jerky rations that I had in my pack. The meat was dry and salty but it filled my hungry belly all the same. I washed it down with some cold water and put my mask back on. With the day’s fatigue dragging me down and a little bit of Anna’s healing magic, I was already drifting off to sleep.

—

“Get up, Voker, we are heading out,” Dem said while giving me a slight nudge.

I woke up the second I felt Dem coming towards me. It was a bad habit but I doubt I would ever be able to break it nor did I want to.

I was still in my sleeping bag and lamented at the fact that my mouth was so dry. The salted meat I had before bed probably didn’t help all that much but I was about to eat some more right now. I downed another portion of my rations and rolled out of my sleeping bag once more. I was used to getting little sleep so I wasn’t sure how long we rested but judging by everybody else's motions we had probably gotten around four to six hours of rest.

We packed camp and gathered at the entrance to the third floor. Down this long dark tunnel was the third floor of this dungeon. There were two types of monsters down on the third floor and both of them were highly susceptible to fire. With my mana pool mostly refreshed I was ready to tackle these monsters head-on and hopefully make up for some lost time.

I peaked around the vanguard and looked down the steep descending tunnel that would lead us to the third floor. It looked familiar to the other two descending tunnels but this one was much steeper. I groaned internally at the pain I was about to go through.

I looked up and noticed Ilme was walking over towards me. The Dragonkin bent down and swept me off my legs so quickly I didn’t even have time to object. I felt my mind go numb for confusion as Ilme held me in her arms,

“W-what are you doing?” I squeaked.

“Carrying you?” she said matter of factly.

She was looking at me as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. That this was just the natural order of things. I haven’t been carried like this since I was a child.

“Ilme… I can walk…?” I said confused.

“Yes, but it will be a challenge for you to descend in this tunnel. We need you to be ready and since I no longer have my primary weapon I will carry you,” Ilme stated.

“Are you… sure?”

“Yes?” she just answered my question with another question.

Well, I am conflicted about being carried around like this but I had to agree. Going down that steep decline would be an unnecessary challenge for me. If she was willing to carry me down then so be it.

Dem shrugged his shoulders and took over the first position in Ilme’s stead. As a group, we descended into the depths of the dungeon once more.

We were shuffling down the steep path when Ilme held me just a little tighter to her chest. Her gray steel armor was cold and the temperature of the dungeon was getting noticeably colder as well.

“You have been doing well, Voker,” Ilme said casually.

“You think so?” I asked.

“I do. I doubt we would be as successful without you present. Your magic is both powerful and unique. I am glad to have you on this dungeon dive.”

“I see… well… Thank you. I’m glad to have you in front of me. Thanks for being there for me and the others,” I responded honestly.

Ilme looked at me and flashed what I imagined to be an attempt at a smile. At least I hope it was an attempt at a smile. Having a giant lizard bearing their sharp teeth right in front of you was a little different compared to a Human or Dwarf doing the same. And considering how Ilme normally doesn’t praise or thank me for anything this was probably the most I could ever expect out of the Dragonkin. Although I had heard she was praising me in the inns after she had a few drinks.

Once we got closer to the bottom of the tunnel the temperature took a nosedive. Ilme was noticeably uncomfortable and the grumbling and complaining she was doing under her breath was a dead giveaway. I wonder if it was because she was cold-blooded that the drastic temperature change was affecting her. Hopefully, it won't become a problem.

Just like the previous entrances to a new floor, the tunnel began to even out. Cold air seeped into the entrance and a light frost was attached to the walls of the tunnel. The more we moved forward the colder it became and the thicker the frost got until eventually, the frost became solid ice. The light blue ice had replaced the dull gray of the previous floors and upon exiting the tunnel we were greeted by a unique sight.

Dem whistled, “Now this is something else…”

“It’s so pretty,” Anna said as she sent her balls of light to illuminate the ice.

The light seemed to bounce around and through the ice. The light bathing the cave was a pale blue and I had to agree that it was nice to look at. It almost reminded me of Cerila’s ice magic but just a few notches below in beauty.

It seemed to be an ice cave but it was layered with multiple floors visible. It almost seemed like a bunch of small tunnels had been dug into the blue ice and led off to who knows where.

“It’s also dangerous,” Ilme snorted.

The fleeting moment of amazement had washed away quickly as Ilme’s words settled in. Sometimes it was easy to forget that we were stuck deep underground delving into the depths of a dangerous dungeon. But the trouble we had on the second floor was enough of a reminder.

“Now then… Ice Apparitions and Glacial Sentinels. You ready to melt those apparitions, Voker?” Dem asked while unsheathing his bastard sword.

“Yes, I will handle them,” I said.

Ice Apparitions were monsters made of well.. ice. However, some believed them to be the spirits of those who have died in the cold. But their origins mattered little. Ice Apparitions were relatively strong monsters and had the ability to launch a ball of ice at people. This ice blast by itself isn’t all that dangerous but it’s when the Ice Apparitions have time to gather more ice from their surroundings or even their comrades do they become truly terrifying.

At the start, the monsters are throwing nothing more than blocks of hard ice at you, hardly a danger for anyone capable of making it this far. But as the ice blast gathers more, it turns from a small block of ice into something that can mimic the effects of ice magic.

Ice Apparitions by themselves weren’t much of a threat. They lacked the physical strength to defend themselves and since they were just made of some kind of living ice a quick smash over the head would be enough to shatter the monster. That’s when the Glacial Sentinels come into play. If you see Ice Apparitions then Glacial Sentinels are close behind.

Glacial Sentinels are hulking entities made of ice. But unlike their Ice Apparition partner, they boast high defensive capabilities while also being incredibly strong and fast as well. These monsters walk upright on two large pillars of ice for their legs and their arms are made of razor-sharp ice blades. These Glacial Sentinels would act as the vanguard for Ice Apparitions, forming a union of living lethal ice. And it was up to me to kill those Ice Apparitions before they became too strong.

The ground of this floor was frozen over but thankfully we had prepared ahead of time thanks to Sylvia’s information. We all had the equivalent of snow boots or ice cleats to help us with the walk.

They were nothing more than a makeshift sole of a shoe with iron spikes at the bottom but they made a significant difference when traversing this floor. We even brought some extra thick winter coats to help with the temperature as well. Ilme was wearing a large fur coat over her plate armor and seemed just a little more comfortable.

With all of us geared up to tackle the floor, we made our way deeper into the third floor of this hell hole.

—

“Upper right, Voker,” Alce said nonchalantly.

I launched another fireball at the encroaching Ice Apparition that had poked its head out of a cave. The monster looked like a floating block of ice that vaguely resembled a torso without legs. Its head was just a misshapen block of white ice with red gems for eyes. I was curious as to how the monsters were able to levitate but it was best not to think too hard about things regarding magic. But does that mean monsters can use magic?

The fireball impacted the ice monster and the creature exploded into a shower of fine white and blue powder. Silent deftly climbed the side of the cave using his iron spikes and swords to scale the side. He returned shortly with a pair of red gems that he was rolling in between his fingers.

The monsters on the first floor had little value and due to the nature of the second floor we didn’t have time to gather anything from the Cave Fiends but as of now, these Ice Apparitions had just been funneling towards us one at a time. And their eyes would fetch decent money with the guild. But I was under the impression that Ice Apparitions were guarded by the Glacial Sentinels…

I was just walking along with the group when a sudden uneasy feeling hit the pits of my stomach. It was the all too familiar feeling that something bad was about to happen. The sudden realization of our current position hit me like a truck. The path we were following was the same path the last adventurer team followed and right now we were in the middle of wide-open space with multiple cave entrances.

They learned. The earlier monsters were just sacrifices. We are walking into a trap.

“Ambush!” I yelled while firing off two fireballs down random cave entrances.

Everybody dropped into fighting stances and prepared for the enemies they couldn’t yet see. My fireballs flew into the mouth of caves and the familiar sound of an Ice Apparition shattering reverberated off the walls. But there must have been at least fifty cave entrances. I started firing off fireballs in hopes of caving in as many of the cave entrances as I could before the monsters could set up.

As the symphony of explosions continued I looked forward and groaned in frustration. I hadn’t been able to see the Ice Apparition in front of us charging with one of its ice blasts. The ball of ice had gathered in size and was now as big as a person. The monster released its attack and the ball of ice went swirling through the air. Wisps of white seemed to trail off the walls and gather around the ice blast making it even larger.

Ilme charged forward and with a mighty roar erected one of her red hexagonal dragon barriers. The gathering ball of white ice and mist smashed into the barrier. For a flying ball of ice, it shouldn’t have had so much power but the pressure wave it gave off was immense. If that had hit a person they would have been nothing more than a pink mist.

Her barrier was the one that allowed us to shoot through it from our side. Once the ice blast had connected I was already following up with multiple fireballs. But my fireballs didn’t go as far as they should have. The explosion seemed to be a lot closer than what I was aiming for.

As the mist and smoke cleared two giant figures stood tall. The figures were made of solid white and blue ice and walked on two large pillars of ice for legs. Their arms looked like wide blades formed out of the same material. The creatures rushed forward and began bashing on Ilme’s barrier. Wisps of white smokey ice rolled off the monsters’ arm blades as they continued to relentlessly attack the barrier.

Dem and Silent shot forward and met the monster’s attacks before Ilme gave out. The Dragonkin was struggling against the onslaught of such powerful attacks. I continued my barrage of fire. I couldn't let another apparition gather an ice blast that large again. Alce was attempting to assist me with her arrows, but even with the strength from her mana-enhanced body, she struggled to destroy the monsters with a single shot.

Dem’s bastard sword connected with each swing but the sentinel was keeping up. It was like a dance of ice and steel. Silent was dodging and sidestepping the blows of his opponent. It wasn’t until the monster overextended itself and found one of its arm blades stuck in the ice did Silent act. Using his superior agility and speed, Silent rushed the monster and scaled the creature using its arm.

Silent began chipping away at the ice around the head, but a slight scowl appeared on the man's face. Seeing that his quick attacks weren’t working, he stood on the shoulders of the monster and raised his twin short swords in the air.

The monster had freed itself from the ice and was flailing around wildly, trying to shake off the smaller Human. Silent brought both of his blades down into the monster’s head with a loud cracking sound. Silent flipped off the sentinel as it began to crumble from the top, falling into chunks.

Dem was still trading blows with his adversary. I hadn’t seen Dem go all out before but it looks like he was enjoying himself. He wore a savage grin as he continued to pick up speed. His blade became nothing more than a gray blur in the blue and white icy cavern. Dem blocked the massive ice arm blade then dodged the second. He rolled to the side and brought his sword to bear. With a quick slash to the monster’s hulking leg, Dem separated it with a loud crack.

The Glacial Sentinel fell forward slowly. The monster’s body cracked the ice underneath it forcing a white mist of ice to flood the area. Dem was already in mid-air. With a wild thrust of his sword, he pierced the back of the sentinel’s head. It crumbled to pieces like the first.

Ilme was not idle during the fight either. The Dragonkin had been acting as a decoy for me by standing in the front, enticing the Ice Apparitions to fire at her. Fireball after fireball left my hand, ending apparition after apparition.

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Finally, the mist and smoke settled. Most of us were trying to catch our breaths. Stray shards of ice flying around from my explosions or the failed ice blasts had cut most of us on our exposed skin. We were bleeding and tired but alive. And none of us had suffered any more injuries. Anna quickly moved and began to heal our minor wounds.

Anna saved me for last since it always seemed to take more out of her when she tried to heal me. I think she was trying to heal my phantom pains but she failed every time.

While Anna was healing me, I felt my heart sink into my chest. I felt it before anyone heard it. Perhaps it was years of fighting to the death that allowed me to have this sixth sense. Soldiers often talked about it. Knowing the unexplainable just because we can. Some Xenos even believed that it was some kind of power that Humans had. I wasn’t sure what it was but I was thankful that I had it.

Two patches of ice on the ground to my left and right started to crack. Two Glacial Sentinels emerged from the ice. Ilme was standing guard in front of us while Dem and Silent were picking through the remains for loot. These monsters had been lying in wait for the entire fight just to ambush us. Our front line was out of place, and they were going for Anna and me.

I stuck my left hand out and formed a spell core for a white fire lance as quickly as possible. I formed the core faster than I ever had before and released it towards the monster. I didn’t even bother to look at what I had done to the sentinel as I felt the cold wind of death swinging toward me. I heard Alce’s arrow connect with the monster, but it accomplished nothing.

I wrapped myself around Anna and fell backward just in time to watch the sentinel’s hulking arm blade narrowly miss Anna’s head with a trail of white mist. It was so close that the monster had shaved a few locks of Anna’s blue hair on the way down. I rolled back onto my feet as quickly as I could and closed in on the sentinel.

I narrowly dodged its follow-up swing with its other arm and I could hear people yelling but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Blood was rushing to my head, and my vision narrowed as I placed my hand on the monster’s ice torso. It was so cold I felt my hand stick to it but I didn’t have time to worry about it. This thing was either going to crush me or it was going to be blasted into another dimension.

I cast a blast wave which was just a conical blast of fire. The orange fire spread from the palm of my hand and quickly engulfed the monster. With a loud boom, my eyes ring in pain. Smoke filled my face and ice shards pelted my skin and some even pierced my snow jacket. If it wasn’t for this goliath skin clothing Deguzman gave me I might have suffered a serious injury.

The sentinel that had been standing before me was gone. At least from the waist up, it was. Only the large hulking legs and a small portion of ice connecting them were left behind.

I turned around to see everyone running towards me. Alce grabbed me by the shoulders as was saying something but I couldn’t hear her.

“WHAT?!” I said.

Alce tilted her head at me then Anna pushed her out of the way. She gripped the side of my head with her hands. Her cold hands rubbed against my ears and I shuddered from the sensation.

Yeah, I don’t like that.

I felt the warmth of Anna’s magic spread out from her hands and my hearing gradually went back to normal. Well, my usual normal of being in pain. But at least I could hear again.

“Voker?! Voker?! Can you hear me?!” Anna shouted while looking into my masked face.

I took her cold hands off my ears,

“Yes… please don’t yell. You're hurting my ears,” I complained while giving them a quick rub.

Anna smiled brightly and hugged me so fast I couldn’t get away, “I’m so glad! Thank Amon-Ra you are safe!”

I felt more frozen in place than I did with an actual monster made of ice staring me down.

“Uh… yeah… Thank him for…yeah?” I questioned.

I don’t think he did anything. Amon-Ra sure didn’t help me dodge that ice blade. Ah, whatever, at least Anna’s body is warm.

“I don’t mean to break up this happy moment but… we need to get moving. There is no telling if another group is coming for us,” Alce said with a warm smile.

“Agreed. Let us gather the material and leave this frozen hellscape as soon as possible,” Ilme snorted.

Anna released me from her bear hug and began healing the small amount of damage I had taken on my exposed arms while the others rummaged through the fallen monsters.

Dem made his way towards the first sentinel I had killed with my white fire lance. The fire lance went straight through the monster’s chest leaving it mostly intact for some reason. Dem looked down at the monster and gave it a swift kick but it didn’t stir. Then he seemed to look closer at the monster and whistled.

With his sword in hand, he began hacking away at the monster and digging around the ice with the tip of his blade. He shoved his hand into the hole he cut out and pulled out a small pendant no bigger than his thumb. The silver pendant had a green gem embedded in it and shined in the light. Once the pendant was pulled from the monster it crumbled just like the others.

“Now that’s a magical item if I’ve ever seen one,” Dem said while holding the pendant high for everyone to see. “What do you think it does?”

“Who knows but don’t try anything. We should get it appraised in Nactus before even thinking about touching it,” Alce said sternly.

“I know… I was just wondering…” Dem sounded defeated as he put the pendant away in his breast pocket.

It was a wise choice. Dungeon items could do anything in theory and not everything was useful. It could even be outright dangerous.

We would get it appraised by an artificer and then sell it to whoever wanted it then split the profits. That’s what we agreed upon. And I was getting the lion’s share of all items sold with my 50% earnings, 40% from Sylvia, and 10% from my guaranteed split.

I was sitting on the ground and trying to recover as quickly as possible. Casting so many spells had left me drained once again and nearly having my head cut off by a surprise attack was enough to get anybody’s heart racing. Everyone finished the gathering of monster parts and Ilme strode over to help me up.

“Voker, how did you do it?” she asked while helping me up.

“Do what?”

I wasn’t sure what she was referring to. Every spell I had cast they had seen before.

“You moved so fast I couldn’t follow you for a second. I did not know you were capable of such speed. And to cast such a strong spell right after?” Ilme questioned.

Oh, that’s right. I used mana enhancement and cast a spell at the same time. That’s not normal. Most mages can only do one or the other and even then their mana enchantment is nowhere near the ability of a trained warrior.

“My body was moving on its own. I guess I just didn’t want Anna or me to die,” I said while shrugging my shoulders.

It was a convenient lie. I wasn’t sure if they would accept it but Ilme seemed pleased with it. The power of fight or flight adrenaline was well understood even in this world.

We continued on our trek through the third floor and encountered wandering pairs of sentinels and apparitions. There was no major trap waiting for us again. We reached the end of the floor after a few more hours of walking.

“Let’s set-”

“No,” Ilme interrupted Alce’s suggestion. “Staying on this floor for any longer may negatively affect my health.”

So the cold is getting to Ilme. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. But I remember somebody talking about an Ice Dragon Emperor. So magic? I guess…? Snow lizards? Who knows?

Not wanting Ilme to suffer unnecessarily we all agreed to descend to the fourth floor. From here on out we were in unknown territory.

Tensions were as high as ever as we descended the tunnel. Ilme was once again carrying me but she was holding me even closer than before. I could tell she was doing it because she was cold so I wasn’t going to stop her. Her metal armor wasn’t doing her or me any favors though.

The temperature began to normalize somewhat but it was still on the colder side. The frost slowly gave away to the usual gray stone that was present on the first two floors and left a sludge on the ground that made things all that much more difficult for everybody. I was once again thankful for my small body and the fact that everyone felt the need to protect me. I suppose looking like a child has its benefits. At least I think people want to protect me. Am I just projecting? Maybe.

At the bottom of the tunnel, a different sight awaited us. On the other side of the mouth of the cave was a wide pass. Anna once again sent her light balls to scout around but it was to no avail. The pass went straight into the darkness and on either side seemed to be an infinite black abyss. The ceiling was so high you couldn’t see anything but the darkness, and the walls on the sides were also absent. The only path was straight ahead.

“It might be a transition floor,” Alce said thoughtfully.

“A what floor?” Dem asked.

“I’ve been in five dungeons and two of them had what’s called transition floors. They are entire floors that have no monsters and just serve as some kind of arbitrary path. Some consider them to be rest floors. Of course, I don’t think any floor is a rest floor.”

“Well… is it safe?” Anna asked.

“As safe as any floor,” Alce shrugged. “At least if there are any monsters they can only come from a single direction. We should get some rest while we can. A few hours should be good.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Dem grumbled while sprawling out on the ground.

We made preparations for camp once more. I unrolled my sleeping bag and proceeded with my ritual of consuming some food and getting some sleep.

—

I awoke on my own what felt like a few hours later and repeated the process of getting some more calories and water. I wrapped my sleeping bag up and found Silent and Anna sitting on the ground around a small fire they had made. The others were still sleeping or trying to get some rest. Anna looked over at me and smiled,

“You're awake already?”

“Slept as much as I could,” I responded with a small yawn.

Anna nodded slowly while I felt Silent looking at me. I met his eyes and the man smiled while giving me a thumbs up.

“Huh?” I said out loud.

Anna giggled, “He is trying to say you’ve been doing a good job.”

“Really?” I asked while looking at Silent.

The man nodded and gave me a double thumbs up with a smile. I wanted to ask why Silent was mute but I figured that was a sore topic. No reason to put people into foul moods in such a dangerous place. We might be resting right now but we aren’t safe till we get out of this place.

And we just had one floor to go. If this was a transition floor like Alce said then our job was about to get a lot easier. At first, I was afraid that coming down here might not have been worth it since we got so little from the first two floors but after collecting sacks full of gems from the apparitions we should be making quite the profit. Not to mention the magical item we got.

Dem stirred in his sleeping bag and turned to look at us. The only thing visible was his sleepy face. His eyes slowly opened and he yawned.

“I don’t want to get up…”

Alce who was laying up against the mouth of the cave opened a single eye and groaned. Ilme who had been laying in a similar position said.

“If we are all awake we should continue. Over resting slows the body and the mind.”

Dem thrashed around in his sleeping bag but got out of it quickly.

“Alright, let’s get all of this walking over with so we can get out of here. I’m already missing warm beds and the sun.”

We packed up and readied ourselves to scout the fourth floor. Sylvia was the last to be ready but she walked in front of us and stared into the darkness. I could never tell what she was thinking behind her bronze mask. She had stayed mostly silent the entire dungeon expedition besides a few sly comments here and there. And she remained a complete mystery to me.

It seemed like this was a complete waste of time for her. She didn’t appear to be the adrenaline-junky type of person who got thrills from being in these kinds of situations. And she didn’t seem like a researcher of some type who was interested in dungeons and monsters. So why was she doing all of this? What is her goal I wonder?

“Alce, what do you think of this dungeon so far?” Sylvia asked while still staring out into the darkness.

“Mmm?” Alce said somewhat surprised. “Uh, well… so far it seems like a pretty normal dungeon. I’ve been on the uppermost floor of Dragons Rest but that's a completely different experience compared to the other four dungeons I’ve been in. I’d say this is probably a five or six-floor dungeon give or take. We map things out then another team comes down and maps out the rest. Then the guild sends in a big party to wipe everything out and crush the core. Pretty standard stuff. I mean as standard as a dungeon gets.”

“Okay,” Sylvia said quietly to herself.

“Everybody ready?” Alce asked.

We sauntered off in our usual formation and began walking down the long path.

—

I couldn’t be sure how long we had been walking but it felt even longer than on the other floors. There didn’t seem to be any monsters on this floor and the dark abyss felt endless. The path was wide enough for three carriages to cross so there was no fear of accidentally falling off into the darkness.

Anna would occasionally send out balls of light to try and illuminate the ceiling or walls but the balls just seemed to sail off into the void only to get swallowed. I even sent a fireball down into the abyss and nobody heard so much as a peep from it. It truly seemed as if it was bottomless.

Everyone was chatting quietly amongst themselves, talking about random things and how they were excited to get out of here. I kept quiet but while walking down the path my stomach lurched and I felt an insurmountable amount of dread. I tried to say something but the words caught in my throat momentarily. It wasn’t fear gripping me but anxiety. And it seemed I was the only one being affected.

I didn’t realize I stopped walking and somebody grabbed my shoulders. It was Alce.

“Are you okay, Voker?” she asked with genuine concern.

I turned to look at Alce but said nothing. I watched her blue eyes get bigger and bigger as she continued to stare at me. She looked up and my eyes followed her.

Something was coming. No… it was falling towards us.

“RUN!” Alce shouted.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Alce tried to pick me up in a single swift motion but whatever was falling was coming towards us so fast it didn’t matter. From the way we came something impacted the ground with a violent shockwave, then sent all of us sprawling on the ground. Dust and debris filled our vision. I tried clearing out the air around me by waving my hands but before I knew it my body was moving on its own. I was already standing and preparing a white fire lance at maximum power. I couldn’t see what kind of monster was lurking in the dust but I knew it was unbelievably strong. Nearly as strong as a Leviathan… maybe even stronger.

As the dust cleared, the blinding white flame of my spell illuminated the darkness and what lay before us was a massive monster that dwarfed even the Cave Fiends. Its white scales were mixed with gold flakes and its serpent-like body coiled around and around. There were so many layers of coils I couldn't count all of them within my vision. It was so big that it was slipping off the side of the path.

The white and gold scales continued to climb as far as the eye could see until eventually there was a head peeking from the darkness. Even though the body was that of a large snake the head was not. Staring down at us with bright green eyes and rows of sharp teeth and fangs was a monster amongst monsters. Something that was so rare most didn’t think they even existed anymore. They were supposed to be highly competitive so they never got this big.

A pair of golden horns stood out from the top of its head. The horns pointed straight at us like the needle of a compass. While starting my fire lance I couldn’t help but look over at my shoulder at Dem. He was pale as snow and looked about ready to vomit.

With my spell complete I launched it at a section of the monster closer to the head in hopes of dealing with an instant kill. The spell impacted and instantly exploded. The explosion was deafening and the blast wave was big but it still paled in comparison to the monster’s entrance. Even the heat that rolled off from my spell was enough to make me turn away.

The smoke cleared and the monster stirred. My spell hadn’t even scratched the white and gold scales. With a bone-rattling roar that shook my core, the Wyrm made its first move.

I had thought the Cave Fiends or even Glacial Sentinels were fast for how big they were but I couldn’t have been more wrong. There was always something bigger and faster out there.

The Wyrm’s tail whipped so fast, it left after images in its wake. I was trying to prepare another spell but was forced to give up and tried to retreat. I don’t think even with my leg healed I would have been able to dodge that tail. The tail was just inches away from turning me into a paste when a red barrier appeared before me followed by a shout,

“DRAGON BARRIER!”

Ilme had erected the barrier just in time. The Wyrm's tail crashed into the barrier with a loud smack. It was my first time seeing something visibly change Ilme’s barrier. Her barrier had taken on all kinds of monsters and even my spells that had been reflected at it. The tail sent spider webs through the red barrier and it looked as if it was going to give out at any time.

I turned to run knowing that this was the only option I had. My magic was useless against this thing and preparing a more powerful spell would take too much time. And nobody in this party was able to withstand a direct hit from this monster.

It was run or die.

Alce, Anna, and Sylvia had managed to crawl away and were already running. Silent was running away and Dem was just standing still gazing up at the massive Wyrm. Ilme was on her knees most likely from the exhaustion of trying to withstand the Wyrm’s attack on her barrier. If her barrier ran on mana then that single tail slap was probably enough to drain her.

I forced all my mana into my legs and tried my absolute best to put as much distance as I could between me and this thing.

But I wasn’t fast enough.

I could hear the air whooshing and the guttural sound the Wyrm was making as it approached me. I looked over my shoulder in time to see its head coming straight towards me, fangs bared and ready to devour me in a single bite.

Before it reached me, another red barrier appeared in front of it but the Wyrm made short work of it. The head of the gigantic monster broke straight through and continued as if it wasn’t even there.

I have no choice. I have to fight it somehow. I can’t run.

I took out my cobalt gladius from my ring and prepared to meet the thing head-on, it was the only thing I could do with the mere seconds I had. The blue and gold blade materialized in my hand from thin air. The Wyrm crashed into me with so much force it broke my mana enhanced wrist and arm with a loud crunching noise. My entire body rattled and I felt my brain swish violently around in my head.

The measly blade or my small mana-enhanced body wasn’t enough to stop the monster’s onslaught. I felt its fangs rip into my chest and the familiar sensation of bones being crushed. My body was overwhelmed with pain and I felt weightless as my feet left the ground. I was soaring through the air, my consciousness already starting to fade. My back hit something but I couldn’t tell what. With the second impact, my vision darkened.

I’m going to die. Again.