Mystery of life

The devastating effect of the mana crystal shocked Aiden. Aiden asked Mraz, as he went up to the frozen beast, 'What do you call this thing?'

He could see that in the gap between the shell, by the side of the beast's neck, an enormous chunk of ice crystal was still stuck. Most of the crystals fell directly onto the shell, yet what shocked Aiden most was that none of the crystals could crack the shell.

"How can I know?" The result of Aiden's action didn't please Mraz, and he didn't conceal his dissatisfaction.

'Don't you the name of all the monsters?' Aiden was a little puzzled.

"What do you think I am? There are so many trolls and dwarves on many planes. Naturally, I have seen them before. I'm seeing that thing for the first time. How can I know about it?"

"So it is not a common thing?" Aiden took a better look at the beast covered in a hard shell. "Don't the shell look similar to the Bixi?"

"Of course, it would look similar. After all, It is an offspring of the Bixi."

"If it is an offspring, then why is it tied up? It doesn't look like a simple guard to me."

"Why are you so curious about it?" Mraz frowned, "and it isn't dead, it's just frozen. You should move as soon as possible."

Aiden nodded and spoke through the helmet, "Robin, we're going in."

Only after he had obtained an assurance from Aiden, Robin dared to get out of the tunnel. Other than the giant beast frozen inside the thick layer of ice, the crash of the mana crystal also produced a thick layer of ice on the ground and closed half of the tunnel. Robin had to crawl his way out. When he did, it stunned him. "What the hell? Is that thing alive?"

Aiden didn't answer him, he just led the way, and Robin followed him into the tunnel, through which the dwarves had disappeared. Both of them were expecting an attack, yet to their surprise, nothing like that happened. They couldn't see any living beings.

But Aiden felt that something was wrong. It wasn't just the dwarves, there wasn't even a single mana crystal along the path. At first, he thought the dwarves had taken it away, but…

"Don't you feel hot?" Robin explained the reason for his discomfort.

Only then did he realize the existence of fire mana in the air. 'Can it be that there is a volcano in the vicinity?' As Aiden was contemplating the reason Robin shouted again, "There is light."

Following Robin's index finger, Aiden found the end of the tunnel. But he could not shake off his uneasiness. Aiden guided the flow of his essence mana and gathered in the shape of a blade in his hand.

The ice blade continued to release steam, along with the sound of water hitting hot oil. Ice mana and fire mana clashed with each other as Aiden struggled to preserve the shape of the ever-melting ice blade.

[The host has activated innate skill [Blink]]

"Stand back." He spoke through the helmet and disappeared. No dwarves or trolls were waiting for him when he reappeared in the bright cavern. There was no trap either.

Yet as soon as he appeared in the cavern, the ice blade in his hand disappeared without a trace. A disproportionate amount of fire mana devoured no matter how much mana he supplied. He couldn't maintain the shape of the blade.

"What the hell is this?" Aiden wasn't sure that simple ice mana could suppress Mraz's essence mana so easily. Yet before Aiden could tease Mraz or look for another weapon, Mraz's calm voice sounded in his mind, "This fire mana isn't simple."

Much like the last cavern, an enormous mana crystal that was hanging from the ceiling. However, unlike the blue ice crystal, the fire crystal was crimson. Which has been releasing an infinite amount of fire mana?

"So it is a prison," Aiden mumbled as he looked around to find a suitable weapon. An endless amount of caves had riddled the high walls of the cavern, and all the mouths were closed with prison bars.

"Looks like it," Mraz confirmed in his head. Moving to the cell near him, Aiden inspected what was inside. The prison bar was glowing in red because of heat, and Aiden didn't dare to touch it. But that didn't obstruct his view.

"It's dwarves." The first cell, Aiden peeked into, was packed with at least a dozen dwarves. The one inside, however, differed from the one he had fought against. Most of them weren't moving at all.

Apart from their malnourished bodies and their dead eyes, one of the most prominent features was that someone had cut their palms off.

A couple of them raised their heads to look at Aiden and opened their mouths, but no words came out. They had no strength to say a single word.

Aiden moved to the next cell. It was the same. Some have only skeletons left inside. Even the living ones are just a step away from the grave.

"Don't waste your energy on them. They will die soon." Mraz spoke like none of these had affected him at all. "Move to the top floor. There is the one I'm searching for."

There were six steps carved on the walls of the cavern. Each of the steps had between 30 and 40 cells. Aiden looked up and initiated [Blink] and appeared on the fourth step.

The top step was just 15 meters from the floor, but Aiden felt that someone just forcibly deactivated [Zone]. However, there was no such notification from ESS. Aiden failed to realize what had reversed the flow of mana inside his body.

"That isn't just some mana crystal." The insulating effect of the army suit had gone to waste, and Aiden could feel the heat on his skin. As if millions of ants were biting him at the same time.

In his mind, Mraz continued to explain, "That is an essence crystal of a fire giant. Looks like they have come prepared."

"Who? About whom are you talking about?" Aiden continued to pump mana from his mana space, but it was very sluggish.

"I'm not sure." Mraz replied, "But whatever they are, they can kill a fire giant."

"Fire giant?" He knew the meaning of the term and could feel the impact of its mana crystal, yet what he didn't understand was how it came here. "There shouldn't be a fire beast where ice mana dominates everything."

"That might not be the case. There is a chance that it was essence crystal of the guardian of the plane's core." Mraz continued to explain, "This plane isn't rejecting fire mana released by the crystal, which means there is a possibility that this thing was born out of the plane's core."

"So this thing was born out of the planet's core! Could there be more like this?"

"That possibility is low. Don't worry about it. Just get to the top floor."

Aiden wanted to know more about it, but he didn't dare to waste any time with his skin burning like the grilled meat.

[The host has activated innate skill [Blink]]

From the fourth step to sixth, it was not even 7 meters, yet [Zone] struggled again, as he stumbled on the fifth step. Taste of blood stuck to the back of his throat.

"Don't waste your effort. You are not strong enough." Aiden frowned as Mraz added, "your essence mana isn't mature enough to negate the effect of the fire mana, neither your control is proficient enough." Aiden did as he was told. He walked along the step to find the best place to ascend.

Most of the cells here are empty. A few of them have some remains of the unknown beasts. In one cell, Aiden found that a pair of the boney wrist were still hanging from the chain, while there was a pile of bones right beneath it.

"Even on this level, they're all dead. Do you really think there will be anyone alive on the top one?"

"There are. There are at least a couple of signs of life on the top. These died because they were too weak." Mraz sneered in his mind before he put forward a question, "Do you think without my essence mana you would have survived in this place?"

Aiden stopped talking and moved to find a suitable place to climb to the upper step. Soon, he found one. At such proximity to the crystal, the mana suppression was especially strong. So he had to depend on his physical strength to climb.

But it wasn't that easy. As soon as he touched the stone wall, he felt that his skin was burning with the sizzling sound, even though he was wearing the protective suit.

'And they said that they designed these protective suits to withstand extreme temperature!' Aiden sneered. Yet all he could do was to grit his teeth and ascend as soon as possible.

By the time he reached the top floor, his senses of touch on his palm and knees had become numb from intense pain. Here, the heat was much heavier. Every breath, even inside his helmet, burned his lungs.

He gritted his teeth and looked for the mysterious being that Mraz was looking for. And there was one in the cave right in front of him.

Behind the glowing crimson prison bar, a pair of blue eyes met his vision. The moment he did, a pain that originated in his eyeballs shot back to the back of his brain, making him gasping for air in the already exhausting surroundings.

Yet the pain only lasted for a moment. It burned him from inside and vanished at the next moment. It vanished before he could comprehend what was going on.

For a moment, he felt that he had fainted. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the endless desert of snow. There was a tall creature in front of him, covered in white fur, with a pair of ram horns on its head. It was staring at him with a pair of blue eyes.

'What is that?' Aiden asked in his head, but there was no reaction. Aiden frowned, staring at the blue-eyed beast he mumbled, "it must be an illusion cast by that thing inside the cell."

"An ice phoenix? Oglith? What are you?"

"It doesn't matter. What do you want?"

"You're a strange creature." Long and lush white fur coated its face. Aiden couldn't see the outline of its face, yet it said, "Let's make a deal."

"No," Aiden said.

"Aren't you afraid that I will kill you?"

"Then why don't you try?" Recalling the terrifying time he had spent in the never-ending vacuum, Aiden thought the stare from the other side of the cell was rather welcoming. More than anything, he was confident of the ability of Mraz.

It wanted to say something more, but it could Aiden felt something was dragging him out, and…

"Idiot." Mraz cursed inside his head but no longer spoke. As Aiden looked at the one inside the cell, it shocked him. There was nothing of the majestic white-furred beast he had just seen, left in the cell.

The intense fire mana had charred the white fur, the body had deteriorated, and it left only a burned mass of once molten flesh and skin behind.

"I thought I saw its blue eyes when I first looked."

"That is the will of the beast. Its consciousness is hibernating inside its essence crystal."

Aiden shook his head and asked, "So? Is it the one you are looking for?"

"No, that one is in the second cell from the last." As Mraz directed, Aiden followed his direction and peered into the cell.

Covered in grey fur, it was gazing at Aiden with its clear silver eyes. There was no animosity, nor an ounce of friendliness in its eyes. As if Aiden didn't concern it at all.

What shocked Aiden was that there was no effect of the fire crystal on its body. Even with the four limbs impaled by red glowing metal hooks, it appeared majestic. Other than some wounds on its body, not a single hair on its body was burnt.

But after taking another look, Aiden couldn't help but wonder, "how can an offspring of an Avis be a mammal?"