The ground remained layered with snow everywhere they went to, with thin ice acting as a gentle sheet, and trees here and there covered in snowy bundles. The fact there was any vegetation at all this far underground was already a miracle, although when you consider this whole sight that seemed like a winter fairyland, miracle was probably an understatement.
The party had been walking for about two hours now, with many more left to go. The snow had gotten deeper as they'd traveled forward, leaving behind a good amount of space between them and the plants from before. As they walked, the serene environment which looked like a wonderland receded and instead turned into a wasteland of white, like a desert of snow. Eventually, their path narrowed down more. A cliff or wall of sorts blocked their further inquiry, and it took quite a while before they found a small enough route to continue their frigid march.
It was a wide, narrow path, much like if someone had carved it or c
The gang stood silently watching the creature stand there, watching them without movement. It was menacing, frightening, chilling.Her skin was rigid, covered in crystals that reflected the light of their torches; reminding one of her cold nature. Upon closer look, her white hair was in fact made up of thorny, sharp reeds atop her head that just acted the part. She was thin and short, but twisted with a hunched posture as she stood on two jagged limbs that were almost like a spider's legs, only larger and more translucent. Her small tanned belly was slightly exposed from her loose-fitting garment, which looked like it had been birthed by nature rather than the work of a seamstress, as if made from shards of the many ice crystals stuck to her skin. Her blank eyes stared at them with solemn curiosity, the pupils a murky blue."A corrupted spirit?" Elyenora turned to Lanos."Yes, this is seriously bad news," Lanos grimaced, defending Elyenora with his hand as he pu
The pleading eyes grew higher and wider - a cornucopia of tears."Stay back," he warned her."Mon'Ter," Elyenora spoke, her voice deceptively scratchy. "Is everything... Okay?" she could see the corrupted spirit girl in front of her. Eyes burning away. Tearing at the soul trapped within her tiny frame as she struggled in between the spikes. Crying out."Anna," Mon'Ter said, his body shook, but he maintained his posture. "Child of snow, daughter of Livia, treasure of Orph."“What the...” Sereia mumbled at the chimera’s words.“What is he saying...?” Samuel looked on in astonishment.The light in Mon’Ter’s magenta eye grew in luminosity, as did the volume of the voice in his head, one of which he repeated word for word."Through the Guide of Spirits’ authority, I invoke thy purity," Mon'Ter's voice sounded monotone, his eyes softly closing as the murky tears of the spirit girl cleared to c
After a solid rest at the exit of the tunnel, the party began their trek through the snowy wasteland anew. Only this time, like through the tunnel, it had been filled to the brim with darkness, imperceptible to the normal eye. Here and there stood some small pockets of light, generated by the shining crystals that popped out of the ground, however, those tended to generate some minor threats to the party. Quite a few creatures basked in the light of these crystals, so it was safe to assume them as breeding grounds for the various species living down on the second floor. To these crystal formations, the party gave a wide curve every time, wary about the type of beasts which may emerge from these strange places.The endless wastes of snow may seem all too intimidating on the outside, however, they were not any more dangerous than the hallway which the party walked through earlier. As a result, not much happened for a long while after that. Mon'Ter and Lanos paved the way forwar
Mon'Ter ran up the stairs of the temple, passing by the enormous torches on each side and reaching the peak moments after. The five pillars holding the ceiling together were even more complexly drawn than first anticipated, with runes and glyphs etched into each corner. He stopped in front of a coffin-like structure; it stood upright and seemed like a stone door of sorts in this weird arrangement. The coffin towered over him at least twice over, and on it was a drawn shape of an upside down five-point star."This should be where we'd find the guardian," he mumbled whilst looking around.The rest of his group soon made their way up, torches still in hand, as the upper level was a tad dark. Still illuminated by the lower light, but more so a tinge rather than a proper light up."Hey, Mon'Ter!" Elyenora shouted his way. "How is it looking up here?""It seems safe enough," Mon'Ter replied with a wave. "Come check this out!"“Whoa! What’s th
"A Hydra?!" Sereia bellowed, slowly scurrying away from the coffin-like structure. "Oh, I'm not moving anywhere close to that thing!" "Oh, you mean those super dragon-like things we hear about in the legends?!" Namir hopped up and down on his toes. "Man! I so wanna duke it out with a legendary beast! Blow up its head and turn up the heat with some blaze!" "No, you can't do that," Lanos said, "and I'm immensely glad you didn't go in, Namir." "Eh? Why?" the child asked, his excitement waning a little. "I know now why I hear most people don't make it past the second floor guardian..." Samuel frowned. "Hydras' are practically immune to magic based attacks." "Ooohh!" Namir wowed, then huddled down. "Oooh.... Oh, I almost died, didn’t I? ...Huh?" "Yeah," Lanos affirmed, "almost." "So, who is going?" Sereia quizzed, with her hands crossed. "Me definitely no, no. I do fight primarily with the sword, but... Yeah... I'm not fighting a bl
Mon'Ter found himself within an expansive jungle, with plants dozing here and there. At the end of a wide path, filled with sunbeams reaching up to the canopy lit by the many stars in the sky, sat a gigantic structure.But Mon'Ter couldn't tell if it was a building or not. He could not walk up to see it clearly. It appeared as a black dome, shaped similar to a sphere. Invisible in the darkness, it excluded the surface, towering above everything.It was huge, very tall. Very wide.This sphere-shaped structure, Mon'Ter saw, was black like coal. It looked almost as if made of diamond like dark gems, with similar properties at the very least. It appeared so smooth, like water would slide off it instead of sticking to it. His eyes weren't able to distinguish its edges. There was nothing behind it, he could see that much. The dome was perfectly round.'Wasn't I supposed to be fighting that Hydra thing,' Mon'Ter wondered as he walked towards the dome, unsure of
Mon'Ter held the ten parchments engraved with runes, he knew not a single thing about them right now, however, that wasn't to say he couldn't figure it out soon.'Back then... There was a time when my thinking ability reached an all time high...' Mon'Ter thought to the moments right before he overpowered Cazimir Serafall, the blind vampire assassin with magical eyes bringing his will to reality. At that time, he'd figured out the ability of the man and how to perceive past it through some unknown enhancement of his capacity to think and solve problems. 'Could I not bring that out again?'Ever since his visit with the world spirit, Spiritus Mora, Mon'Ter has been feeling a deeper connection to his inner self. More so than usual.A lot more than usual.Before that visit, the power of the Were-lion soul had been the proud title-holder of strongest connected soul within him. Giving him his more, animalistic, sensibility. But now, he felt like he could bring o
Nine heads. The Hydra had nine of them, staring down at Mon'Ter from their towering length. It was almost disproportional to the rest of their body; they were terrifying. And yet, these exact same heads seemed to show horror on their own expressions, rather indulging it into their prey.Mon'Ter was too different from the usual creature roaming these lands.His left eye opened once more, revealing an orange-colored iris, the shape that which the hydra's own irises have.It was the dragon's eye.Within moments, Mon'Ter grew a left hand identical to his right, horns curved along the sides of his head, and a pair of bat-like wings protruded from his back, covering a large diameter. The draconic image manifested itself yet again, just like in the city of Breles.Mon'Ter roared, spitting out ruthless flames from his mouth, their intensity matching that of massive volcanoes erupting at the peak of a mountain. The hydra's heads slowly opened their own mout