"Mr. Ryder!" After regaining our composure, we sat in silence for a while. This time, it was Brian who broke the silence.

"What is it?"

"Your mask... what's the story behind it? Is it to cover a wound... were you injured?"

"Ah..." Indeed, when someone wears a mask like this, unless it's for a masquerade, it's usually to conceal scars. But honestly, I wish no one would ask about it.

"Something like that..." I brushed off the question, but Brian seemed intrigued and pressed further.

"Were you wounded in a magical battle? Typically, a sword wound leaves just a scar. Few would wear a mask like this unless the scars were extensive."

"Yes." I replied curtly, then stood up. My magic was ready; it was time to act. I knew that in our current condition, we couldn't survive until I completed my next spell. At least Brian wouldn't make it. If this attempt failed, we would likely share the fate of those sorcerers forever entombed here.

I told Brian to retreat to a safe distance. Now was not the time to hold back; I needed to go all out. I checked the ice wall I had damaged earlier; in just three or four hours, it had already half-repaired itself.

Eight fireballs slammed into the ice wall one after another, the searing heat threatening to melt the entire cavern. The shockwaves from the explosions reverberated through the icy chamber, turning the ice into water, which dripped from the stalactites like rain.

Eight fireballs, twelve fire sprays, and four flame arrows—I'd reached my limit. The ice wall had melted considerably, but the passage to the outside world remained sealed. The ice was much thicker than I'd anticipated, having melted six or seven meters, yet still seeming bottomless.

Exhausted, I collapsed onto the icy, waterlogged ground. The magic had drained me, but it was the frustration and despair that truly overwhelmed me. I knew I couldn't escape this icy tomb, at least not by my own power. Was I destined to join these corpses in eternal slumber?

"Mr. Ryder!" Brian's voice startled me. I turned to see him behind me, his face a mix of admiration and fear. He stared at the ice wall, where the corpses of the sorcerers had emerged from the melting ice, now lying in the water and shattered ice.

"Master..." Brian rushed forward, lifting his teacher's body from the pile of corpses. He looked around, searching for a place to lay the body to rest, but there was nowhere exposed in this ice cavern. Finally, he gently closed the sorcerer's eyes and set the body down.

"We're going to die here, aren't we?" Brian's voice trembled despite his efforts to sound calm.

"We won't die!" I grabbed his shoulders, staring into his eyes. "We won't die! Not unless you choose to!" He seemed shaken by my intensity, nodding silently.

The frustration that had consumed me moments ago was gone. Although fire magic couldn't open the exit, that didn't mean we were doomed. Suddenly, a thought struck me: Why was the ice so thick?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Unless there was a glacier outside, there was no reason for the ice to be this thick. And I was certain there were no glaciers near Martellin. If this thick ice wasn't natural, then there was only one explanation: this ice cave was created by magic.

Ordinary magic might temporarily freeze this cave, but it couldn't maintain such a thick ice layer against so many fire spells. The only explanation was that Raith had opened a portal to another world, using the temperature of that world to create this icy tomb. The unnatural connection between the two worlds caused interference, but a portal spell used elsewhere could lead here. I finally understood how Raith had defeated so many powerful sorcerers. I'd always wondered how his army could defeat them, but now I realized he didn't need to fight them. He simply used pre-arranged teleportation scrolls or some other method to trap them in this icy tomb, leaving them to die!

But how did he do it? Forcibly connecting two worlds was incredibly difficult. If I wanted to escape this place, I needed to know two things: how he did it, and where the connection point was in this cave.

I paced anxiously as the temperature rapidly dropped. The water on the ground had already refrozen into ice, and the water on my clothes and pants had turned to ice as well. If this continued, the magic I was using to maintain my body temperature wouldn't hold out much longer. The boy was in even worse shape, as this spell couldn't be cast on others.

Was that the only way? No, it was all over. Hadn't I vowed to forget all that? But...

Brian shivered as he approached me. I must have looked terribly anxious, making him hesitant to speak.

"Mr. Ryder..." he began, but I ignored him, locked in a fierce internal struggle.

A cloak was draped over my shoulders—it was my cloak. I'd placed it on the ground to sit on earlier, and when I stood up to use magic, I'd given it to Brian. I touched it; the boy had kept it dry, not a drop of water on it.

I turned to face him. His hair and eyebrows were covered in frost, his skin as pale as his blue lips, and his gaze was beginning to blur.

"Here you go... Mr. Ryder... I kept it dry, not a drop wet..." The boy collapsed in front of me, his body finally giving out. I caught him, trying desperately to rouse him, but it was no use. Unless we found warmth soon, he wouldn't wake up again!

...

"Wake up! Brian! Wake up!" I slapped his face, and as his body temperature rose, signs of life returned to his once frozen, blue body. His face regained its color, his lips turned from blue to pale, but his consciousness remained elusive; he was still unconscious.

At some point, I had begun to care about this boy's safety. Perhaps, deep down, I saw a reflection of my younger self in him—this boy was far too much like I once was. Foolishly seeking revenge against a necromancer with insignificant power, just as I had done—how foolish we were!

"Master!" Suddenly, the boy reacted, clutching me tightly, as if afraid I'd vanish. "You're still here, thank goodness! I had a dream—you were frozen in the ice by that necromancer! Isn't it funny? I dreamt you were dead!"

"Wait! Brian, it's me! Wake up, it's me, Ryder..." I didn't struggle, just gently patted his back. "We're safe now; we escaped the ice cave... you're okay now..."

He slowly released me, coming back to his senses. People often have trouble distinguishing dreams from reality as they wake, so this reaction was understandable—but how could he mistake a young, handsome me for his chubby teacher?

"Mr. Ryder... it's you!" He stepped back apologetically. "I'm sorry, I mistook you for my teacher... I'm really sorry... my teacher... he used to wake me up like this when I didn't want to get up..." His eyes began to redden.

"It's okay, it's okay..." I smiled, cutting him off. "It's good you're awake... don't be like this, your teacher wouldn't want you to cry! He'd want you to live happily..." I stopped speaking as Brian looked at me, determination in his eyes.

"Mr. Ryder, I have a request... could you... teach me magic?"

I hesitated, but I couldn't resist those eyes, filled with hope and burning with the fire of revenge.

"I accept..."