Frozen Hell (Part 10)

'Seems like my spells are affected differently depending on their attributes and traits. Spells that can cause a direct influence on my surroundings will last for a few seconds. This applies to ones for offensive attacks as well.

'But comparatively, spells that create an object or any material made of mana (even light) will inevitably have to stay in close contact with my body, otherwise they will start dissipating immediately.

'The elemental affinity of the spells also don't seem to hold any significance in the Frozen Hell. Whether it is fire or ice, they all appear to be treated indiscriminately.

'Hmmm.... Based on what I've gathered, what will happen if I apply spells that affect my movement?'

For the sake of increasing his search time, Leo decided to attempt enhancing his speed.

[Wind Boost]!

The wind swirling around him was temporarily pushed away as Leo's body shifted almost instantly forward, leaving behind a shallow ditch in the snow on the ground beneath him.

"Good!" Leo exclaimed in satisfaction.

He can now swiftly increase his mobility to raise his chances of finding the chieftain's daughter.

'Hmm. But it's probably still best that I get rid of some unnecessary weight.'

In the aftermath of his experiment, Leo's fur coat became slightly disoriented around his body as a result of utilizing [Wind Boost]. Although one could say that the coat's presence can help provide some cover against the falling snow, the raging winds of the blizzard were constantly pushing against the loose sections of his garment, consistently dragging them back and hindering his movement.

"My regular clothes are also protected from the Frozen Hell,' Leo reasoned. 'I only really have to be concerned about being covered in too much snow. But since I can use spells, such a thing won't be a huge bother for me.'

After deciding that his coat wasn't really of much use, Leo took it off and threw it away without hesitation. In addition to wanting to get rid of it, he also desired to observe how long it could resist the unearthly chill that pervaded this location.

Without too much suspense, the coat froze instantly and shattered away into several icicle remains like the previous shard of metal he produced. But while this result wasn't entirely unexpected, it also caused Leo to feel a bit nervous.

'The chance of Namur's daughter surviving is practically zero... And considering the effect that this place has, will I even find anything related to her?

'But it's also pointless to ruminate over these matters. Since I'm here, I should fulfill my duty as an adventurer. At the very least, I should try to bring back even a remnant that could be found.'

'Alright, experiments are over now. Let's speed things along!'

Taking out his glass orb that can provide images of the surroundings, Leo cast [Wind Boost] on himself and started blitzing his way through the notorious terrain that had previously been forbidden to several outsiders!

For the next half hour, he tread across several miles of land. During this time, he only clung to a single direction, doing his best to scan for any signs of a body or garment using his magic orb. Occasionally, he would have to slow down after travelling a certain distance; due to the fact that his [Wind Boost] spells can only be maintained for brief moments of time, it is required for him to stop at regular intervals in order to re-cast the spell again.

There were also moments where he would have to cast one or two additional spells to repel some of the snow from his body so as to remain unobstructed in his travel.

While this routine may seem a bit tiring, since he wasn't using any other spells, and only needed to inject mana into his orb, this repetitive action wasn't much of a burden for him.

Strangely, as Leo continued going deeper into the Frozen Hell, he started noticing that the presence of the blizzard was steadily decreasing. After swiftly running over the land for half an hour, the winds could barely be felt anymore and the visibility in front of Leo started gradually becoming clearer.

'Huh? What's that?'

Leo slowed down his steps as he saw some light shine through the air in his direction. This prompted him to raise his guard, preparing to face off against anything unexpected.

'It has never been recorded that the Frozen Hell possesses any lights,' he reminded himself. 'Even the few individuals that have entered and survived here never saw anything beyond ice and snow.

'If I were to walk any further, I may find myself entering unfamiliar territory...

'Oh wait, that's not right. The moment I stepped foot in here, I was already destined to be in unfamiliar territory.'

He first tried using his orb to scan ahead, but all he uncovered was a blur of hazy colors. Feeling befuddled by what the images were showing him, Leo decided to draw his short sword for protection.

Step by step, he slowly inched himself forward while pointing his sword in the direction of the light.

Minutes passed by as Leo found himself unexpectedly passing through the end of the blizzard and stepping into yet another new location. The light that he previously witnessed was now fully visible to him.

"Whoa!"

What awaited him wasn't some sort of trap or surprise ambush, but a beautiful scenery that appeared nearly ethereal.

The sky was completely covered by a pure-white translucent sheen, giving the impression that the whole area was encased in a smooth dome cut from glossy ice. Due to its semi-transparency, one could actually observe the whirling blizzard that was still raging on above this region. The appearance of the snow-colored dome with strong gales rippling beyond its outer hemisphere produced an enthralling picture to Leo's eyes.

The ground which he stood on was covered in a river of haze that looked nearly fluid. From time to time, the colors of red, orange, and yellow would randomly shine from different parts of the haze and spread to other areas. No doubt, this light must have been what had first caught his attention earlier, and the haze of colors must have also been what his magic orb had previously been capturing.

For a second, Leo compared the flowing colors below him to the ones he witnessed in the open sky of the Frozen Plains. It gave the impression that he was standing on solid clouds.

This new location makes a person feel that the whole world suddenly reversed, with the sky and earth taking each other's roles.

Leo cautiously probed his surroundings. He used spells to affect the surroundings and found that he was still residing within the Frozen Hell; he somehow just ended up in a different section of it.

Cautiously, Leo edged his way further into the new location, hoping not to come into contact with anything dangerous. He once again took out the orb to appraise the area, this time making sure that it was looking through the haze.

After some time, Leo gradually lessened his tension and began racing through the area using [Wind Boost] once again.

With no signs of any weather in this part of the Frozen Hell, it became comparatively easier to travel without casting other spells to deal with the snow. But in exchange for this, Leo found himself having to constantly deal with the glaring lights that would randomly shine through the mysterious haze.

"Hm?"

While scanning a different section of this location, he suddenly spotted a huge shadow within the magic orb. However, it did not appear to have been from a living creature.

"Is this... a building?!" Leo exclaimed in shock after studying the outline of the shadow reflected in the orb's surface.

'Should I go there, or not?' Leo started contemplating. 'I need to find the chieftain's daughter as soon as possible, so I should disregard any pointless explorations. However, the building could contain clues to her whereabouts. Who knows, she might even be inside.'

Eventually, Leo decided to take a quick look just to prevent any oversight. Afterwards, it took him less than two minutes before he arrived at where the shadow was spotted. What had greeted his presence was surprisingly an ancient mausoleum.

The structure was very large, estimated about fifteen meters in height, and looked spacious enough to fit about half a dozen of Chieftain Namur's manors. It appeared to be made of sturdy stone coated in faded black paint, and gave an eerie sensation that this mausoleum was a household for the deceased. But the most peculiar thing about this building was its nearly pristine condition; there were only a few scrapes and marks that could be found on the outside walls.

"Alright then, show me what's inside." Leo activated his orb.

But after waiting for several moments, the orb surprisingly displayed no images to him.

"It's completely blank?" Leo became thoroughly baffled.

'Could this structure possess spells that can ward off against methods of spying from the outside? But how could that be when it's in the Frozen Hell!'

After a while, his thoughts slowly started gravitating towards abandoning this exploration.

'This place gives me a suspicious vibe. Is it perhaps intended to hide anything that shouldn't be discovered?

'However, if Namur's daughter is actually in here, then I may lose my only chance to find a trace of her.'

He turned his head to look around the areas near the mausoleum. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary.

'Ah regardless, I promised Walter I would do my best. I can't just make excuses and waste valuable time. Every second here is precious!'

Rearing his sword, Leo pushed himself as close to the mausoleum as he dared and faced the open entrance that was filled with darkness. After a quick second, magical chanting could be heard in the surrounding space.

[Lightning Chain]!

Leo decided to cast his strongest spell right at the start to stave off any dangers near the front of the mausoleum. But to his surprise, his opening attack actually travelled further than he initially anticipated. The tendrils of lightning sparked and illuminated along the surface of the mausoleum, lasting quite some time before dispersing in a cloud of smoke.

'It actually didn't dissipate after going several meters inside! Could it be that this building can somehow resist the effect of the Frozen Hell like my phoenix feather?'

Inspired by this thought, Leo then casted [Light Orb] before stepping through the entrance. When he had the ball of light floating a certain distance away, it didn't disappear into nothing.

'I knew it!' Leo grew ecstatic. 'If the daughter ended up in here, then doesn't that mean she has a chance of surviving?'

If it weren't for the fear of dying, Leo would have tested this idea by taking the phoenix feather away from his person and exposing himself to the environment inside.

Although he couldn't do anything extremely reckless, he still had other options available.

"Alright, let's try this thing a second time," Leo spoke into his magic orb.

Confident that it will work this time, he injected mana into the glass ball and patiently waited for a response, not knowing of the mistake it would lead to...

Alas, adventurers are still a profession that has yet to be fully realized within Bavalon. There were several reasons for this, but a particular one that could be used to refer to this situation would be a lack of guidelines on how to properly investigate unfamiliar territory. Perhaps if some guidelines had been previously developed, Leo would have reconsidered attempting to use magical means to directly peer into the depths of this mausoleum.

While subtle, the fact that this place possessed some kind of protection against his orb's divination should've already given him a hint. But unfortunately, he was still inexperienced with adventuring.

The result of his careless prying summoned something horrifying within the ancient structure. Leo's attempt would trigger an unforeseen threat...

Elsewhere in the mausoleum, a looming figure that seemed to be devoid of life suddenly awoke at the detection of observation magic, prompting it to instantly lift its heavy body with hostile intentions. Immediately after, a barrier was raised around the mausoleum's entrance, barring anyone inside from leaving.

The next second, the magic orb in Leo's hands instantly split in half through the center, as if a sharp knife had quickly sliced through it. The two halves of glass slipped from his hands and fell pitifully onto the floor, shattering into a dozen more pieces.

"What?!" Leo shouted in surprise at the sudden destruction of his orb, but it would be the least of his worries from here on.

Waves of mana spread out behind him, prompting Leo to turn around and find an erected wall of red light blocking his exit through the entrance. He was now trapped.

A sense of foreboding welled up at a frightening speed within him. Not too long after, he heard sounds of footsteps coming from within the darkness.

A squad of golems emerged with a set of long swords and tower shields gripped in their hands. Almost every inch of their bodies were clad in black armor containing decorative designs carved onto their surfaces.

Without even giving Leo a chance to fully ready himself, one of the golems slashed downwards with its sword, sending a wave of energy towards him.

[Mage Shield]!

Leo instinctively summoned a wall of mana to block the blow and provide a solid defense for his body. However, this move wouldn't prove to be too effective, as soon after the first golem attacked, the others also followed up by launching the same wave of slashes.

Barely a moment later, cracks started spreading all over his magic shield.

"Damnit!" Leo cursed before quickly chanting a spell to prepare a counterattack.

[Lightning Chain]!

Just when the [Mage Shield] got broken through, a storm of lightning burst out of Leo's sword and coursed towards the group of golems. But out of expectations, this attack would not leave much of an impression.

As soon as the first tendril of lightning was about to come into contact with its target, all the golems quickly drew back their swords in perfect coordination while simultaneously lifting their tower shields in front of them, combining together to form a temporary blockade.

Beams of energy emitted from the shields and immediately enveloped all the armored golems, creating what looked like an enormous magic barrier similar to the one at the entrance, causing the [Lightning Chain] to glance futilely off its surface.

"No way..." Leo opened his mouth in shock upon witnessing his strongest attack being negated so easily.

Aware that the situation was spiraling out of his control, his mind raced to find a solution to his predicament.

'I have to gain some ground! It won't do staying in one place like this!'