Frozen Hell (Part 11)

With the realization that he needed a new approach, Leo hastily rushed to the side and ran towards a large pillar that was constructed beside the entrance of the mausoleum.

[Center of Balance]!

This new spell that he managed to learn in the few days before arriving at the Frozen Plains was finally put to use during a quest. It was just unfortunate that it had to be utilized in a combative situation.

Leo ran upwards, using the spell to travel as if he was on level ground. Below him, the golems were diligently sending more slashes near his direction.

[Wind Boost]!

Combined with [Center of Balance], Leo was able to quickly race right towards the mausoleum's tall ceiling, with the sounds of the golems' attacks echoing straight behind him. Afterwards, he managed to position himself upside down on the ceiling from an observer's perspective.

Thanks to the change in angle and the widened distance from the floor, the golems were forced to move their formation closer in order to bridge the gap and land their attacks.

Leo, however, decided not to give them much of a chance. Casting another [Wind Boost], he moved across the ceiling till he was directly overhead the marching golems. He quickly reached into his pouch and dropped a handful of metal shards that looked to be in the shape of arrowheads. These objects were actually enchanted with [Intermediate Flame Burst], an Intermediate level enhanced version of [Weak Flame Burst].

Thanks to his experience fighting against the intelligent goblins on his very first adventure, Leo became more prepared when it came to confronting enemies, and already started developing his own fighting style. Prior to when he left Bavalon on Walter's carriage, Leo had carefully applied a set of enchantments on these small metallic objects with the intended purpose for combat.

The destination of the majority of these 'arrowheads' seemed to be headed towards the center of the golems' formation. This triggered the group's defensive reactions, causing each member to lift their shields in the same coordinated manner as they did before, summoning a wall of mana.

'Interesting,' Leo commented. 'Seems like they were designed with a rigid set of actions depending on the situation. These arrowheads shouldn't appear too threatening, yet they still activated their shields anyway. Too bad that won't help in this case...'

The objects he dropped came into contact with the golems' defenses and bounced off harmlessly with several clanging sounds. Determining that there was nothing threatening, the golems deactivated their shields and prepared to strike at their target once more, disregarding the arrowheads scattered on the floor.

BOOM!

Almost immediately, explosions of fire resounded simultaneously throughout their formation, disturbing the coordination of these magical constructs and leaving behind a sea of flames.

The destruction caused just about nearly every golem to be either shattered apart or severely damaged. Only a few had made it out with minor injuries, appearing only disoriented. Leo fixed that for them.

[Lightning Chain]!

Having a clear field, Leo calmly chanted to release his advanced spell once again, destroying all the enemies who had initially driven him into a corner.

Once a bit of the smoke cleared away, Leo cautiously walked down from the ceiling and went to confirm the golems' demise before taking the time to study their fragments.

'These sets of armor are all still in pretty decent condition. I wonder how they were preserved in this mausoleum,' Leo contemplated as he studied some of the equipment that weren't too terribly damaged by his spells.

'Hm? This piece...' Leo stared down at an image carved on the surface of a breastplate.

"Is this... elven?"

Recalling his studies at Halo Academy, Leo felt unsure of his assumption. For one thing, whenever elves wanted to express their culture and traditions, they would never use dark plated armor or clothing as a template. As for another point, while the designs on this breastplate displayed similar traces of artistic flourishes and patterns to that of the elves he learned about, the images did not depict anything related to forests or wildlife, which were the centerpiece of elven heritage. On the contrary, the breastplate he was observing actually showed landmarks of numerous caves and burrows.

'Is the difference in depiction related to the changes of elven history? Or is there perhaps another race of creatures with similar artistic styles?'

As Leo continued to contemplate, he heard a faint creaking sound.

Because he was still on guard with the confrontation of the previous battle, his instincts were able to temporarily take over, allowing him to instantly react by turning to the source of the noise and activating [Mage Shield].

But this would unfortunately prove to be ineffective...

The squad of golems were merely the scouts, attempting to deal with the intruder while expending time for their true leader to emerge. Now that Leo's time for escape has been delayed in the mausoleum, the true threat of this ancient structure has now finally begun its debut.

A beam of red energy tore through the air, easily penetrating through Leo's barrier and grazing his left shoulder, leaving behind burns on the skin beneath. The brief impact of the attack also sent his whole body careening backwards nearly a dozen feet away.

"AACK!"

When his body slammed into the ground, Leo gasped in great shock as he felt his whole world spinning. He struggled drawing breath as he desperately tried ignoring the wracking pain coursing through his nerves. Fortunately, this moment of incapacitation would not last long, as thanks to his instincts and will to survive, Leo successfully managed to force himself to hastily roll to the side before another beam of red energy came his way.

Boom!

Not a second later, a chunk of the floor where he had originally been was broken off, leaving a visible crater in its place.

Taking several rapid, hoarse breaths, Leo quickly stood up and looked around for his short sword; it had fallen from his grasp when he'd been grazed by that first attack.

[Wind Boost]!

Once he spotted where his weapon lay, Leo used a spell to quickly retrieve it from the ground. But when he turned his head to stare at his enemy afterwards, what met his gaze was another red beam.

"Ergh!"

Out of reflex, Leo grasped his fallen short sword while immediately ducking and crawling onto the floor to avoid the approaching laser.

[Wind Boost]!

Not taking any more chances, he decided to run in a specific direction as fast as he could to obtain a brief moment of safety. His destination was actually near the entrance of the mausoleum, behind the same pillar where he previously used to gain an advantage over the squad of golems.

Taking a few seconds to control his breathing, Leo took out the gem that Sarah lent him and successfully activated it to heal his injuries. With a moment of peace, he took a careful peek behind the pillar to get a proper look at his assailant.

In the somewhat dark interior of the mausoleum, a huge shadow with a shape resembling a giant boulder was steadily making its way towards the pillar Leo was hiding behind, causing slight tremors on the floor with each heavy step it took. When it saw the latter's head appearing out to scrutinize it, the huge shadow emitted another red beam towards him.

Leo hastily pulled his head back and felt the impact of the beam vibrating through the pillar.

'This thing is... intelligent...'

The first thought that came to Leo's mind was the attacker's actions. Despite apparently being large and heavy-looking, it hardly made a noise when it first approached him during the time when he had been examining those golems. Not only that, but this creature clearly knew to attack Leo when the latter tried reaching for his weapon. So far, each set of actions seemed to have been intentional and deliberate.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Leo muttered in frustration.

'First there was that damn Goblin King, and now this?! And why did the orb break when I used it inside? Just what could this mausoleum be hiding...

'Anyway, my current situation is disadvantageous. There is no way I can confront this new opponent head on. I must try getting away first!'

Deciding that things were too dangerous in his present situation, Leo quickly devised a plan of retreat.

[Immolation]!

[Freeze]!

Leo casted two spells in rapid succession: the first using his open left hand, and the second through the magic sword on his right hand.

A stream of fire sailed straight into the open air, being deliberately spread around by Leo in one swift motion of the arm to gain a wider coverage area. Immediately after the air became warm enough to hold increased amounts of moisture, the temperature of its surroundings dropped almost instantly due to [Freeze]. With the two spells interacting with each other through the environment, a large mist was formed and spread throughout the open space connected to the entrance.

Thanks to the magic barrier preventing Leo's escape, the size of the mist turned to envelop around the giant figure that was steadily approaching his cover spot. But after realizing that his first attempt wasn't able to provide a large enough quantity of mist, Leo chose to repeat the same process several times until the mist started to enter deeper into the mausoleum.

When the giant figure realized what was happening, it increased the speed of its movements, and started to constantly emit beams of energy non-stop.

Behind the pillar, Leo spotted the red beams coming into contact with the magic barrier at the entrance. But to his chagrin, instead of penetrating directly through, the red beam actually seemed to merge into it, appearing to strengthen the shield's durability.

'What a clever design. If a person wanted to break through the barrier, they wouldn't be able to use these attacks to their benefit.'

Nonetheless, with a cover successfully set up, Leo sneakily made his way to leave. Rather than leaving the side of the pillar, he instead chose to activate [Center of Balance] again, and travelled up upon it.

When he reached the top of the ceiling, rather than staying around to ambush his enemy, Leo instead continued to make his way of escape, hurrying in one direction as fast as he could while keeping as quiet as possible.

Down below, the giant was still blasting away. When it finally reached the pillar, and cautiously searched the surroundings, it immediately grew enraged at being unable to find the target. Stomping its foot with fury in a disturbingly reminiscent manner to that of a tantrum, the humongous being began emitting lasers at every inch of the mist till it eventually vanished. By then, however, Leo was already long gone.

----------

Down in the dark depths, Leo cautiously made his way across the ceiling of a large corridor. Due to a lack of light, Leo was forced to create a makeshift torch by using the Beginner spell [Tinder] to summon a candle of fire on top of his palm.

Previously, after entering deeper into the mausoleum, he had found himself facing three separate passageways. After choosing to head into the middle passage on a whim, he began steadily increasing the frequency of his footsteps while travelling down through the dark corridor.

'I finally got away.' Leo sighed in relief. 'Seems like it hasn't picked up on where I went yet. But how the heck do I get out of here.'

Realizing that his chances of survival in this building were minimal so long as that 'thing' was still on his tail, Leo's only option was to make his way back out into the Frozen Hell.

He continued on his current path, carefully looking for a hidden compartment or door that could lead to another exit. But all he discovered were paintings and decorations depicting some kind of ancient worship.

'These features...' Leo studied one of the murals showing a single crowned individual being surrounded by bowing subjects. 'The drawings of each of these individuals have long, pointed ears.

'Could this place really be an elven structure? But what is something like this doing way out here in the Frozen Plains?

Based on the general knowledge that pertains to elves, Leo cannot fathom as to why this race would have built a civilization in such a desolate country. The Frozen Plains, much less the Frozen Hell, is not a land that the elven people would hope to be capable of thriving in.

'But perhaps this country wasn't always like this,' Leo reasoned. 'It has been theorized that, since the start of the Great Change, some landscapes were transformed beyond recognition, and certain places were once inhabited by different civilizations. Maybe a long time ago, the Frozen Plains might have been extremely fertile and lush with life.

'But if that's the case, why hasn't anyone heard of any records of elves once living here?'

Feeling that something wasn't quite right, Leo eventually found himself reaching a sectional room of the building that appeared to be devoid of murals. Instead, in their place, there was a tall elven shaped statue erected nearly ten feet high near the opposite end of the room, and surrounding it were several offerings of different instruments and tools arranged neatly in certain areas. The setup appeared to be for some sort of ritual, but Leo was unable to recognize it.

Alongside the right and left walls, there were two other independent passageways directly opposing each other. On the ceiling directly overhead the top of the statue, there was a small pan of glass that allowed dim light to shine into this area from the outside.

'Ah! Seems like there's an opening!'

After discovering a potential exit, Leo extinguished the flame in his hand and hurried over towards the window. Since he was already on the ceiling, the entire path was pretty convenient.

Along the way, out of sheer curiosity, Leo would consciously glance at the arranged setup on the floor and scrutinize its details. As he got closer, he noticed that there appeared to be a large looking necklace hanging around the elven statue. It was then that suddenly a faint rattling sound echoed throughout the room.

Leo raised his sword and prepared for an incoming attack but found that there was not an enemy in sight. Confused at where the noise came from he turned his head back to the elven statue and noticed that one of the links on its necklace was shaking slightly.

'No wait, that's not a necklace...'

Usually, any form of jewelry on a statue would be carved as a part of its structure. But the one hanging around the elven figure's neck was able to move on its own, becoming very suspicious.

Taking a more closer look, Leo's expression turned into shock as he slowly started to realize that the 'necklace' was actually a set of chains hoisting up a person's swaying body.

'Somebody else is here!' Leo nearly staggered backwards once this thought formed in his mind.

Based on the positions of the person's limbs, the chains seem to be holding them up by the wrists and letting everything else hang lifelessly on the statue. Their appearance wasn't discernable due to some white wrappings that were stuck to the surface of their body.

'If there is someone else in this mausoleum-- no, in the Frozen Hell, then it could only be that person...!'

Dread filled Leo's heart as he changed directions and edged forward to the swaying body. When he was directly overtop, he decided to jump onto the head of the elven statue.

[Center of Balance] was a spell that could remain in effect even as one changed their elevation or the surface they were standing on. The distance between the ceiling and the height of the statue was also only about one to two feet, so the jump wasn't difficult for him to reach.

Leo landed his body on the elven figure's smooth hair before making his way to the chained person. Thanks to the spell's ability of controlling his center of gravity, Leo was able to steadily walk down along the statue's head directly to the statue's ear, before eventually arriving to stand atop the right shoulder.

Leo observed the chains that were locked around the person's wrists, and found that it was actually one long, interlocked section that was looped around the statue's neck.

'This will make it easier for me,' Leo thought in relief.

With the predicament he was in, he didn't want to use any spells that were too loud in case it alerted the attention of the creature guarding this mausoleum. There was also the potential possibility that breaking this chain could also trigger another trap.