62nd of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle
The conversation about white-feathered dinosaur puff balls was surprisingly pleasant. Everlast was so engrossed in her descriptions, that she was not overly disappointed when she failed to find the core.
Once done with the butchery, she sent a pulse of spiritual energy, which manifested as a ripple of glacial cold enveloping her body. The flakes of frozen stains, which marred her clothes and skin, burst from the sudden cold and fell off as fine brownish-red dust.
Newt kept working as Everlast stepped away from the body and kept describing the flora and fauna of frozen caves and wastelands within her sect’s domain. While regular creatures looked majestic, most spiritual beasts were not white and puffy. Some were terrifying behemoths, covered in layers of ice and never-melting snow, stalking each other or blending in with the surroundings, waiting for the inattentive passersby. Others seemed even scarier, yin flames, and parasites capable of possessing others and turning their bodies into frigid hives.
Everfrost Palace’s territory naturally had frostworms, but the elders discouraged their disciples from fighting above their realm, both because of the danger involved and because higher realm disciples needed the higher quality resources found in the stronger monsters’ corpses.
“Does that mean second realm disciples would want the flesh from this frostworm?”
Everfrost stared at Newt and opened her mouth to answer when Dandelion stopped right next to them.
“I baited another one. There’s one more near the entrance to the lower level, then we can go down and hopefully find some ice jade marrow without moving down to the hatchery level.”
With further ado, the frenzied frostworm appeared, and Dandelion escaped, leaving Newt and Everlast to deal with the raging, butt-burned monster.
The battle started almost the same as the last, Newt and Everlast dispersed, and the crazed frostworm locked onto the fire it despised. Newt stopped right next to the cavern wall and took the frigid hailstorm without flinching before jumping out of the frostworm’s way at the last possible moment.
Like in a rehearsed show, the frostworm crashed into the rock, sending a blast of ice, and Newt landed on its back. Unlike last time, Newt set a surge of Magmin Flames along the weapon before thrusting, immolating the spear and stabbing the frostworm between its plates.
At least, that was the plan. Unlike last time, the space between carapace segments was contracted, offering even greater protection than a single plate would. Ice hissed and burst, but the spear itself skidded along the chitin with a screech.
A stinger tentacle appeared out of the mist, bluish-white liquid coating its tip. Newt slashed at it with his flaming spear and realized he had made a mistake. The other tentacle came from the other side, but a thick icicle struck the stinger, deflecting it enough to give Newt a chance to jump away.
The frostworm hissed at the scalding air Newt blasted straight at its carapace, coiling its body.
“Move! Quickly!” Everlast shouted, and Newt realized what seemed like a pain-induced action was something else entirely.
The coiled worm leaped, using its entire body as a spring. Newt blasted three jets of hot air from his back, sliding forward, intending to slash the frostworm’s soft belly. He planned to use the opportunity, only to discover that the heavily armored frostworms did not have a soft belly. Or any discernible belly.
The leaping beast crashed behind him, and Newt dodged to the side, evading the heavy body before it crushed him.
“The tentacles! Sever the tentacles, so she can draw closer, and you can have more time to find a weak spot.” Supernatural wind carried Dandelion’s shout, allowing the man to remain hidden.
Newt spun around and jumped back when he caught a glimpse of a stinger aiming for his face. As he fell back, he slashed with his spear, but the spearhead was too short, inflicting only a light gash on the soft, flexible limb.
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The battle fell into a steady rhythm of Newt drawing the frostworm’s ire and mutilating its twin tentacles until they finally tore and dropped to the ground. The frostworm, sent hail after hail of ice at him, but failed to deal any damage.
“You should switch to your short-sword or just hug the worm to melt its defenses,” Dandelion offered a helpful suggestion from somewhere, but in the echoing tunnels, it was impossible to pinpoint his position while avoiding a shrieking frostworm.
Newt hesitated, but opened some distance from the monster and threw his spear into the distance before unsheathing his short-sword.
I should switch to a glaive, I could’ve severed the tentacles in a single sweep, while maintaining the reach advantage. Newt filed the thought for later, the enraged frostworm rumbling towards him while making a low keening noise which Newt heard with his vibrating molars rather than ears.
The battle was a chore, spending a considerable portion of Newt’s spiritual energy, while Everlast seemed nonplussed, landing a few select hits whenever the opportunity presented itself. The frostworm lay dead, having wasted most of its spiritual energy before attempting to flee. Everlast had finished it off, and they all knew the odds of finding a core were next to none.
“Your skill with the sword is worse than your skill with the spear, which in and of itself is horrible.” Dandelion flew over from someplace, hopping right next to Newt, his face suspiciously free of grins and smiles.
Newt did not deny his words. Towards the end of the battle, he was tempted to just hug the frostworm until its carapace grew hot enough to shatter from a sudden burst of cold.
“Do you have any advice? And where were you hiding?” The youth asked. Dandelion seemed to be in a chatty, mentor mood, and Newt had no reason to kick him out of it.
Dandelin smiled.
“I observed you from the ceiling, men and beasts rarely look up. It requires an oddly long period of training to develop the habit. That or a horrible incident which will never leave your mind and haunts you whenever you are in enclosed spaces.” Dandelion made a pause and lowered his gaze, letting the silence stretch until it became awkward. “I naturally belong to the former group. As for advice about your swordsmanship, I would suggest you learn how to use the weapon first.”
A laugh escaped Everlast, who then covered her mouth. “Excuse me.”
Newt did not take her laugh to heart. He believed he was lucky the woman did not curse him. He was painfully aware that he had hindered the Everfrost Palace’s disciple the whole time after he had removed the frostworm’s tentacles.
“It’s—” Newt was about to say it was fine, when Dandelion frowned and stared deeper into the cavern system, motioning him to be quiet.
“We have made too much of a ruckus, let’s go.”
Newt could see Everlast’s confusion as Dandelion abandoned the frostworm’s body and turned towards the exit.
“Come on, that thing is bigger than the fourth realm worm we fought. It’s either in the later layers, or it might have already reached the fifth realm.”
Everlast followed immediately, and after glancing longingly at the dead frostworm’s carapace plates, Newt sprinted after them. As they approached the exit, the floor shook, and icicles rained from the ceiling.
“How big is that thing?” Newt asked.
“Big,” Dandelion and Everlast said at the same time.
“Senior Apprentice Sister Everlast,” Dandelion continued. “Once we get out, we will climb up the mountain and you will make a structure of ice which will block our aura and meld into the surroundings. Can you do that?”
Everlast considered the proposal and nodded.
“Newstar, you will have to stop using your ability soon, unless you can fly, but even then, the trail of spiritual energy will be recognizable. Unfortunately, my realm is too low to carry you. I hope Senior Apprentice Sister Everlast will not mind giving you a hand.”
Everlast nodded without hesitation and grabbed Newt just as the exit appeared before them.
“Puresnow,” she shouted as they approached the daylight. “Run uphill!”
Newt watched Puresnow’s eyes locked onto him, carried like a princess in distress. Then her expression shifted from confusion to an angry scowl back to confusion and finally it settled on realization, and then they were right next to her. In a blink of an eye, she was dead last, gliding on the snow up the steep mountain.
“The frostworm will stop to check what has happened to its spawn. It should buy us enough time for you to make the shelter.” Dandelion explained. “I entrust everything to you.”
Everlast nodded and stopped. She unceremoniously dropped Newt, then waved her hands on the ground as if splashing water. She drew snow towards her and sculpted it into a smooth, icy wall. Dandelion stopped before Everlast had gathered the snow, and Puresnow jumped over a knee-high wall, sticking to the icy ground left behind after Everlast’s technique.
A small dome of ice took shape enough, the space inside cramped to the point that everyone needed to touch at least two people. When she saw what was happening, Puresnow changed places with Newt, so that she would not be next to Dandelion.
“What happened?” she asked, glaring at Dandelion, who shrugged.
“We took too long to defeat a frostworm. It must have somehow signaled that it was in danger, or maybe the disturbance of the battle caused its senior to come up and check what was happening, but I doubt that. We are too high up, and no matter how much fire we unleashed, the ambient energy should have drowned it before it traveled too far.”