The passage grew narrower and narrower. From time to time they saw workers in Roxxon Energy Corporation uniforms lying on the ground, terror frozen on their faces. The instant the energy leaked, the high concentration of evil power had bewitched their minds. Many were controlled by hallucinations born from their own thoughts, turned on one another, and ultimately wiped each other out.
"I'll take the lead. Stay about one body length behind me." Considering herself a warrior, Daisy switched into her armor, drew Godslayer, and walked in front.
Wanda had lacked any sense of security since childhood, so she greatly enjoyed the feeling of being protected. She had originally planned to ask about her younger brother while the two of them were alone, but now even that slipped her mind...
Wanda followed Daisy cautiously. She was worried that some enemy might leap out along the way, so she held the flashlight in one hand while clenching the other tightly. After ten minutes, though, she discovered that the tunnel was perfectly safe. The raging energy could not affect either of them, and there was nothing else that could really be called a threat.
With nothing to do, she happened to notice the dusty ground. Daisy left a footprint every time she stepped forward, so Wanda began placing her own feet directly into Daisy's prints. She found it ridiculously fun and felt pleased with herself, as if she had accomplished something especially meaningful.
Daisy did not care about such childish behavior. She remained alert for any danger that might be lurking around them.
After playing for a while, Wanda wiped the sweat from her forehead. It was far too hot down here.
They had descended more than ten thousand meters (over six miles) underground. The tunnel was already completely sealed off from fresh air, and it only grew hotter the deeper they went. Roxxon claimed it had discovered a new energy source more efficient than petroleum, and judging by the tiny amount of gas leaking into the tunnel, which had already made the air feel roughly thirty percent more stifling, that claim, at least, was no lie.
Setting aside the Serpent Crown, purely from its outward effects, this energy really did seem more valuable than petroleum.
"Daisy, are we there yet? How much farther do we have to walk...?" After an hour on foot, Wanda did something rare and acted a little spoiled.
"Hang in there a bit longer." Daisy was beginning to feel warm herself, but it remained tolerable. Her constitution was already formidable, she was wearing the Fensalir Armor that protected her from heat and cold, and she had the Phoenix Force besides. Ordinary heat barely registered to her.
Another half hour passed. Wanda, whose physique as a sorcerer was only a little stronger than an ordinary person's, finally reached her limit.
She took off her outer layer. Her smooth golden hair was so soaked that water could practically be wrung from it, and a hint of pleading appeared in her large eyes. She wanted Daisy to stop and rest.
"Oh, all right. Let's take a break." Daisy found an open patch of ground and let the panting Wanda sit down. After making a quick circuit of the area, she sat beside her as well.
Wanda looked as though she had been dunked in water. She took off her shirt too, revealing the pink underwear beneath. As she breathed heavily and fanned herself with the discarded shirt, her breasts rose and fell with every breath.
She really is well-endowed! Daisy took two quick looks and reached a conclusion. This girl might have the largest pair she had ever seen...
Sorcerers really did seem to store more fat than warriors. Director Daisy looked once, realized Wanda did not care, and looked again.
Was it really that hot? She was not going to take off anything else, was she?
As it turned out, Wanda showed some restraint. She did not push a certain person's nerves too far.
"Don't you have any magic that can cool you down?" Seeing Wanda drenched in sweat, Daisy could not help reminding her.
At that, Wanda's face turned bitter. Dark magic and Chaos Magic simply did not have these kinds of everyday conveniences. They prioritized raw power, destructive force, and speed above all else. The more powerful the spell, the better. The more people it could kill, the better. The faster it worked, the better. When it came to fine control of magical power, they were far inferior to white magic.
Wanda was suffering badly from that limitation now. She usually wore black eye shadow to conceal the dark circles under her eyes. With sweat streaming down and mixing with tunnel dust and makeup, she looked like a panda from a distance.
Daisy turned her head and chuckled softly.
"I look awful, don't I?" Wanda asked in a small voice.
Of course Daisy was not going to laugh at her outright. With a thought, she dismissed her armor, took off her own outer layer, and used a corner of the cloth to wipe Wanda's sweat.
"Don't move. I'll wipe your face, your neck, and..." After only a few strokes, Daisy felt a little awkward as she looked at Wanda's blissful expression. She had started as a panda and now looked like a leopard, her whole face smeared into a mess. At this point, she could probably frighten Set to death without even attacking him.
Daisy was briefly at a loss. Without water, there was no way to clean her properly.
What should she do? Fall back on her old specialty and use vibrations? That seemed a little inappropriate.
In the past, she really would have had no solution. Fortunately, her Eternals genes had developed about halfway, giving her a few new abilities here and there.
Daisy inhaled sharply. Under the enormous pressure generated in her chest and abdomen, she compressed the air until it froze solid, then blasted it out to the side in one breath.
Without squeezing too much energy from her cells, she used less than a third of her strength and created a block of ice two meters (about six and a half feet) long and half a meter high.
"Wow! That's amazing! There wasn't even a trace of magic?!" Wanda was nearly delirious from the heat. The moment the ice appeared, she tried to throw herself onto it.
Daisy hurriedly pulled her back. Even the surrounding rock had frozen, and the chilled air around the ice was still extremely cold. Someone as physically fragile as Wanda would absolutely hurt herself if she jumped onto it.
"Sit still over there. I'll wipe you down some more."
She settled Wanda beside the ice block, chipped off a piece, melted it with flame, and used the resulting water to clean Wanda's face.
"So cool. That feels wonderful!" As the cold water slid over the skin of her face, Wanda felt refreshed from head to toe.
She caught the fragrance lingering on Daisy's clothes and became slightly intoxicated by it, unable to resist sniffing twice.
Watching the icy water run down Wanda's cheeks, over her neck, and toward certain unmentionable regions, Daisy couldn't help glancing downward out of the corner of her eye.
Whether it was the cold water or Daisy's somewhat aggressive stare, Wanda reacted despite keeping her eyes closed. Two small peaks stood out beneath the fabric, revealing that their owner was far from calm.
Fortunately, both of them still remembered the million people living in New Orleans. If they failed to seal the Serpent Crown quickly and more energy escaped, over a million residents were going to end up roasted like chicken wings.
The two quickly resumed their journey. Wanda's clothes were filthy and obviously unsuitable to put back on. Daisy at least had armor to cover herself, so she took off her own shirt and offered it to Wanda.
Compared with Wanda, who was covered in grime from head to toe, Daisy without her shirt still looked flawless, with smooth skin and barely a speck of dust. Any stray dust could be shaken off with ease.
Wanda compared their figures. In one particular department, Wanda had a slight edge. In every other respect—presence, skin, muscle lines, and everything else—she was completely defeated.
She secretly touched her stomach. The food at Daisy's villa was excellent, nothing like the days when Baron Wolfgang von Strucker kept her constantly hungry. She had been eating as much as she wanted every day. Looking at Daisy's defined abdominal lines, Wanda wondered whether she ought to lose some weight.
"What if I get dirty again in a minute? I'll just stay like this. There doesn't seem to be any danger down here anyway, right?" Wanda refused Daisy's shirt with a fairly reasonable explanation. She would probably get dirty again soon. It was not as though she could go outside in her underwear; she could put her clothes back on later.