The icy wind hit my face the moment we stepped out of the carriage.
Snow covered almost the entire road through the mountains north of Vailor. The sky was gray and heavy, as if a storm were watching everything from afar without yet deciding to fall upon us.
I took a slow breath as I looked at the massive frozen opening before the mountain.
The dungeon entrance.
Unlike the others we had visited recently, this one seemed far too quiet.
No sound.
No monsters.
Not even wind coming from inside.
Only that strange cold.
Scarlett crossed her arms as she looked at the cave.
"I hate cold places."
Rai'kanna let out a small laugh.
"You complain about everything."
"Because I'm smart enough to complain."
Vespera adjusted the bow on her back.
"The silence here feels wrong."
Lyannis immediately agreed.
"The mana too."
I looked at her.
"You noticed?"
"Yes. The mana is slowly freezing."
Elara approached the entrance and touched one of the walls covered in ice.
The frozen layer was thick. Much thicker than it should have been.
"This isn't natural."
Liriel carefully observed the wall.
"There's demonic energy mixed in here."
I closed my eyes for a few seconds.
She was right.
Very faint.
But it was there.
I opened my eyes again and gripped the hilt of my sword.
"Let's go in."
The group nodded.
We slowly entered the dungeon while the sound of our footsteps echoed through the frozen corridor.
The walls shimmered with bluish tones because of crystals trapped inside the ice. Some parts of the floor were so slippery that even Rai'kanna had to slow down.
The cold grew stronger the deeper we went.
My breath began to form mist.
Scarlett snapped her fingers and created small flames in her hands.
"Much better."
The warmth helped immediately.
Liriel looked around.
"This dungeon seems ancient."
Lyannis agreed.
"The walls were built. This isn't just a cave."
I looked more carefully.
She was right.
Tool marks.
Broken pillars.
Ancient structures buried beneath the ice.
This had probably been some kind of construction many years ago.
We kept moving forward.
After a few minutes, we encountered the first monster.
A humanoid creature made partially of ice appeared from behind a frozen pillar.
Its blue eyes glowed faintly.
It charged in silence.
Vespera fired first.
Her arrow pierced the creature's head, causing it to explode into frozen fragments.
But soon more appeared.
Ten.
Twenty.
More than thirty creatures began emerging from the shadows of the dungeon.
I gripped my sword.
"Formation."
Everyone moved immediately.
Scarlett stayed by my side.
Rai'kanna moved to the front.
Liriel remained behind preparing support.
Elara began circling around the flank, using wind to increase her speed.
Lyannis raised her hand.
"Be careful. There's concentrated mana beneath the ground."
The next instant, spikes of ice erupted from the floor.
Rai'kanna destroyed several of them with a punch coated in draconic mana.
Scarlett launched waves of fire at the advancing monsters.
The frozen creatures were fast.
Very fast.
One of them tried to attack me from behind.
I spun and slashed horizontally.
The creature was cut in half.
Another appeared immediately afterward.
Then another.
Elara passed between them using wind beneath her feet.
Blades of wind destroyed several creatures at once.
Vespera kept firing without stopping.
Every arrow found its target.
Liriel maintained barriers around the group while casting holy magic to reduce the demonic mana within the monsters.
Lyannis began drawing magic circles on the frozen ground.
"Takumi."
"I know."
I leaped forward before she finished.
A massive creature burst through part of the frozen wall.
Unlike the others, this one had four arms and natural armor made of black ice.
It roared violently.
The mana pressure increased.
Scarlett narrowed her eyes.
"This one looks fun."
The creature charged, crushing the ground beneath it.
I immediately activated physical enhancement.
My body shot forward.
My sword collided with one of the creature's arms.
The impact caused the surrounding ice to explode.
It was heavy.
Much stronger than the previous monsters.
The creature tried to strike me with all four arms at once.
I barely dodged.
Scarlett appeared from the side and launched a blast of fire directly into the monster's face.
The ice began to melt.
Rai'kanna took advantage of the opening and landed a brutal punch on the creature's chest.
The impact pushed the monster back several meters.
But it didn't fall.
Lyannis finished the magic circle.
Chains of mana emerged from the frozen ground, partially freezing the creature's legs.
"Now!"
I charged immediately.
My sword shone with golden light.
I severed the creature's left arm.
Scarlett destroyed another with explosive magic.
Elara created a current of wind that threw the monster off balance.
Vespera fired three arrows in succession into the creature's eyes.
The monster roared again.
Then Rai'kanna leaped.
She concentrated draconic mana into her right arm.
Her punch pierced completely through the creature's chest.
Silence.
The enormous body slowly collapsed onto the frozen ground.
I took a deep breath.
"Everyone alright?"
"Yes."
Liriel walked among us using light recovery magic.
Scarlett looked at the monster's body.
"And to think this was only the beginning."
Lyannis approached the defeated creature.
She analyzed the remaining mana.
"That confirms it."
"What?"
She looked at me.
"The monsters here are absorbing demonic energy."
I frowned.
"Again..."
Vespera crossed her arms.
"This is starting to happen everywhere."
I continued staring at the frozen corpse.
She was right.
The changes were accelerating far too quickly.
If even ordinary monsters were becoming like this...
Then the advance of the demonic army was truly affecting the entire continent.
We continued deeper into the dungeon.
The farther we descended, the lower the temperature became.
At one point even Scarlett's flames began to weaken.
The ice covering the walls glowed brighter and brighter.
We encountered several smaller creatures along the way.
Frozen spiders.
Crystal wolves.
Humanoid creatures twisted by mana.
But none of them truly managed to stop us.
The group worked better with every battle.
Our movements were more synchronized.
More natural.
I could clearly notice it now.
We no longer needed to speak much during combat.
Each of us already understood what the others were going to do.
After nearly an hour of advancing, we reached a gigantic area.
I stopped immediately.
The place looked like an ancient underground city completely frozen over.
Ruined houses.
Bridges covered in ice.
Broken statues.
Everything buried beneath frozen snow inside the dungeon itself.
Scarlett slowly looked around.
"This place is huge..."
Liriel seemed uneasy.
"There's something here."
Rai'kanna noticed it as well.
"The pressure changed."
I gripped my sword more tightly.
Then I heard it.
A heavy sound.
Slow.
As if something enormous were moving beneath the ice.
The ground began to tremble.
Small frozen fragments fell from the ancient structures around us.
Vespera immediately drew an arrow.
Elara created currents of wind around the group.
Lyannis began preparing defensive magic.
The tremors grew stronger.
Then a massive section of the ground exploded.
A colossal creature emerged from the ice.
Crystal-covered scales.
Brilliant blue eyes.
Enormous fangs.
Its gigantic body slithered throughout the entire underground area.
The mere appearance of that creature caused the temperature to drop even further.
My breathing immediately became heavier.
Rai'kanna stared at the creature seriously.
"This isn't normal."
Lyannis's eyes widened slightly.
"Rank S..."
The serpent opened its mouth.
A deafening roar echoed throughout the frozen dungeon.
I gripped my sword as I faced the creature.
Then I smiled faintly.
"So we finally found the true boss of this place."
The creature charged violently toward us.
And at that moment I understood.
The next battle would be far more difficult than all the previous ones inside that dungeon.