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
Elyenora and co had been waiting for over an hour and a half already, closing in on two hours. Their worry had been way too apparent at this stage, for a fight to last two whole hours would be a miracle in any form of fighting between two individuals, and that worry only grew worse once a shock wave came from the sphere holding Mon’Ter’s pocket dimension together. Said shock wave had enough force to even knock them back a few steps."What the hell?!" Samuel said, widening his eyes at the sphere."Just what was that?" Namir questioned along, unsure whether to think of it as a good or a bad thing."Did this happen at all last time?" Lanos quizzed for his own experience from the first floor guardian he’d vanquished."No, this is surely new," Sereia stepped back once more, a cold sweat running down her face, she worried enough for her legs to start shaking in anxiety."We should all get back a bit," Elyenora cautioned. She clenched he
As the party neared the end of the staircase, a rocky surface greeted them at the bottom. The air felt thick, with a musty scent, almost like a fetid tomb. They could finally feel a sense of warmth down here. The humidity of the area was apparent, and there was a weak smell surfacing too, like mold and decay. Past the end of the staircase, a straight cavern with a pathway leading to what looked to be daylight on the outside had been revealed."Sunlight?" Elyenora quizzed."Doubt it," Lanos interjected, "probably some more artificial light sources, let's go check it out before our rest."The group ventured down the pathway, which was flanked by large crystalline stalagmites glowing with a faint white light. The path sloped downwards gradually, but upon reaching the bottom of a small descent, what greeted the group was a rather stunning sight."Is that..." Sereia mumbled, her lips slowly curling up into a smile."A jungle?" Samuel raised a brow. "Und
Everyone stood on edge as they made their way closer to the cave's exit, it had been their sole protector from the poisonous jungle ahead of them for the past ten hours or so. With their camp equipment all stored up back in the princess' ring, they were ready for an attempt. Elyenora turned to each of her companions, looking at them one at a time. She took a breath of the still fresh air sitting in the cave, then readied herself for the outside. "Alright then, here goes nothing..." With a wave of her rapier, she began gathering whatever wind there was in the surroundings, granted, not much, but a decent amount for an underground world. "Namir! Do your thing!" she shouted whilst spinning her hand in a circular motion, with the blade raised high and weaving air like thread. "Aye! Aye!" Namir nodded with his hands crossed in an X formation, he grinned widely as hurricane winds began to bubble up amidst the magical energy surrounding the environment. Each