Slow and Cold

The adventures kept asking why the dungeon hadn't broken, but none of their questions were answered as no one knew the answer.

Half an hour turned to hours and minutes turned to days, but during this time, there had been no changes to the dungeon. It stayed there, but nothing came out.

With no changes to the dungeon, the majority of the adventures left with the thought, It's been a few days, and nothing is going to come out. I'd rather spend my time training or raiding another dungeon than waste my time here.

As for the ten adventures that stayed, they either had nothing else to do or they had a strange feeling that told them if they stayed, something would change, but they weren't sure if the dungeon itself would change or something would come out. All they needed was to be patient.

"Kellian, why don't we head back? I'm getting bored." The violet-haired lady said this with her arms crossed beneath her chest.

Kellian turned his head away from the dungeon and faced the violet-haired woman. "I know you're bored, but you know my intuition is spot on most of the time."

"If nothing happens in fifteen minutes, then we can leave." He said this in complete seriousness.

The woman thought for a few seconds and said, "Fine. Fifteen minutes no more."

"Thanks."

"You owe me someth—"

Before she could finish her sentence, the gate of the dungeon started acting up. This signaled that someone or something was coming out.

"Everyone." Kellian shouted. "We don't know if the one coming out is a friend or foe, so be on guard and ready to battle."

They immediately pulled out their weapons and stood guard, ready to fight anything that came out of the dungeon.

Seconds passed, and everyone's heart rate increased as whoever was exiting the dungeon had to be strong enough to kill all the monsters inside. They were assuming it was a group of monsters or humans. Once this individual steps out of the gate, they will know if they should attack or not.

Suddenly, a mist started spreading around the gate. The mist had a cool feel to it, but it wasn't in any way threatening as it felt similar to how cool it would feel after entering your air-conditioned house when it was humid outside.

"Thank you, for whoever cast that spell. I was beginning to die from the heat." A chubby man said, expressing his gratitude.

Kellian, who was suspicious, looked at the other adventures. "Is there any ice mage here?"

He knew only the violet-haired woman and the muscle head that complained earlier. As for the others, they were complete strangers to him.

The three mages all said no, but this brought up the question: who was the one that cast this cool mist?

As they were asking about the mist, the mist hastily grew dense to the point where no matter where they looked, they could only see up to a foot in front of them.

The denser the mist got, the colder it got, but by the time they noticed this, it was too late. They couldn't see well and couldn't help themselves from shivering from the cold.

…

Time passed, but none of the ten adventures moved. It's not that they wanted to stay there, it was because they couldn't. Ice had formed around their feet, keeping them frozen in place. Normally, they could break the ice with their strength, but that was being drained rapidly with them struggling to fight the cold and from falling asleep, since they knew if they fell asleep, they were no better than dead.

Soon, the smallest of the ten. He was a fifteen year old boy, couldn't bear it anymore and fell asleep. After falling asleep, it didn't take long for him to die from hypothermia.

Minutes later, the first of the women fell asleep, ending up dead just like the first who fell. This happened like a domino effect. All those who were small in stature fell asleep and died, while those who were bigger survived as their bodies kept them warm longer.

Within only ten minutes, there was only one of the ten adventures remaining. He was the chubby man who thanked the one who had cast the cool mist.

"All the others are dead. Is this what I get for thanking the one who cast this, a slow and cold death?" The chubby man had a hard time keeping his eyes open, but he still held on, hoping for someone to come and save him.

"You're not dying like this because you said thank you to me, but on the quest of a goddess who wants revenge on the humans for what they did to her kin." A beautiful voice that seemed to be an eleven-year-old's was heard from behind him.

"I see. There's no way you...

He finally succumbed to the cold and fell asleep, dying shortly after like the rest.