8th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd imperial era

"What lies have you told Lady Valiant to deceive her so completely?" Puresnow snapped at Dandelion. "She knows our abilities! Sister Everlast is a hair's breadth away from becoming a questor, she is a hundred and fifty years old, and has completed many missions—"

"Sister Puresnow." Everlast's words cut like knives as she addressed her fellow disciple. "That is enough. Lady Valiant's thoughts and decisions run deep, and she has seen something worthwhile in this man. Maybe she is returning the favor because he saved Flake."

Newt was stunned watching the women rant, but Dandelion remained unbothered by the outburst.

"I just need you to confirm that you will listen to my instructions once we enter the den of monsters, otherwise you present a liability."

Puresnow pressed her lips together into a thin line and clenched her fists at the insult. Everlast was more subtle, but Newt still noticed the tightness of her jaw.

"We will," the more senior mageknight said, and Dandelion nodded, flashing an oblivious smile. "You too, Newstar."

"Sure." Newt was nowhere nearly as emotional as the Everfrost Order's mageknights. Having someone more experienced tell him what to do sounded quite reasonable. He was sixteen, and probably everyone's junior by at least eighty years.

"In that case, take this." Dandelion gave Newt a pear-shaped vial filled with a green liquid, tied with a thin leather strap. "Hang it around your neck."

Newt put on the vial like an amulet, and in all the jolting, the liquid started shining. The green light was easy on the eyes, but bright enough to illuminate the darkness ahead. It was similar to the fungi Dandelion used in the cave, but more powerful.

"No need to worry about the vial. While not unbreakable, it is rather tough, heat and frost proof. The potion itself is harmless, so even if something, let us say a twenty-ton giant snake, strikes you hard enough to break it, you will merely end up sticky."

Dandelion noticed Newt's scrunched up brows. "Glowers. The same type of fungi I gave you before, but I developed a better medium to enhance their abilities. Now, once we head further into the caves, and our eyes adjust to the dark, that light should be sufficient to light our path without blinding us. Frostworms are blind, their vision heat-based, which makes these vials more special, as they produce no heat. Newstar is the vanguard both because of his mobility and the extreme heat he gives off, attracting the frostworms' attention."

Dandelion finished his speech and fished out another two vials from his pocket. "Dear ladies, please take these in case we get separated. You can keep them in your pockets or place them around your necks like Newstar."

The haughty women pocketed the vials without a word, and Dandelion gestured for Newt to lead the way.

Newt's skin crawled. It wasn't the chill, Magmin Scales prevented it from reaching his skin, but the first step into the giant gaping maw made of ice terrified him. At some point his hands drifted down to the hilts of his swords, and he gripped them tighter as he took the second step, but the third came easier, the fourth even more so. Others followed behind him, and fleeing was not an option.

I have allies; I am armed; I am skilled. I can handle this.

He wasn't sure he could handle the situation. Ten yards from the entrance, the darkness grew nearly absolute, but the green light hanging off Newt's neck illuminated it in a weird way. Everything around them was shadowy and dark, yet they could see. Somehow, the green light defined the objects without really illuminating them, bending and refracting through the ice stalagmites.

Whatever Dandelion had made, it was weird.

Newt closed his eyes and focused on his mindcore. The tunnel was more or less the same. Outlines of objects existed without light, but a vivid aurora danced through the center of the cave, gushing outward to balance the concentration of mana.

Sunlight was long gone, hidden behind the three bends they had taken in the sloped tunnel, when ground quaked beneath Newt's feet. The rumble was faint, but steadily growing stronger.

"They are coming," Newt said, unsheathing his swords, but his three companions were already prepared, each gripping their weapon. The tunnel shook, and pieces of ice started raining from the ceiling. They cracked when they struck the other three, but hissed and popped before hitting Newt.

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Frowning, the youth changed the flow of earth energy from supporting his body to Granite Crust and stopped the annoying ice chips from showering him.

Then the monster appeared. Newt immediately regretted not asking about the details on frostworms. He had expected giant snakes, ones evolved for burrowing through ice, but that idea had nothing to do with the truth.

The creature was gigantic. Much smaller than the cavern they stood in, but still fifteen feet tall, its tail nowhere in sight, making it over a hundred feet long. The serpent's maw was split in four sections, each lined with countless hooked teeth as long as Newt's new short-sword. A pair of massive curled horns flanked the giant maw. But as the monster advanced, its horns un-spooled into twenty-foot-long tentacles ending in massive stingers, tips glistening pale blue, shining brightly to Newt's mindcore.

The monster's mana was denser than anyone's in the party, and Newt recognized it as a fourth realm manabeast. A powerful enemy was upon them right from the start.

'Intruders?' it hissed with interest, stunning Newt.

"Draw its attention, Newstar," Dandelion shouted, and Newt snapped out of his daze, attributing the hissed word to his imagination.

He jumped towards the cavern's left wall, bursts of searing air melting the ice where he stood a split-second ago as fire-attributed mana flared around him.

'May the never-ending frost swallow all flames!' the frostworm hissed a whole sentence beyond a doubt, but Newt lacked the time to consider the implications. The low, rumbling sound shook the cave more than the serpent's frenzied slither to intercept the intruders. It changed course and headed for its natural enemy.

Newt watched mana flare beneath the behemoth, and it shot forward with an impossible speed of a diving terrorwing. It moved like a blur, spraying a cone of ice, and at the last possible moment Newt jumped twenty feet into the air, another blast of heat bursting beneath his feet.

The frostworm slid beneath him, smashing head-first into the cavern wall. Ice and rock exploded, sending a ripple which blew Newt away. He struck the far wall, Granite Crust negating the blow, and before he slid to the ground, Newt hopped back to his feet. As he spun, three-foot-long lances of ice struck the massive worm's flank, but shattered, failing to scratch its carapace.

The monster slowly withdrew its head from the pit it had made, rumbling hisses sounding like curses in Newt's ear, then Dandelion charged towards it. He leaped from ten yards away, his legs propelled by a gust of air-aligned mana, metal, earth, and fire mixing in his arms, consuming each other and growing more explosive.

The former townlord's timing was impeccable. Just as the frostworm freed its head, a blazing metal staff smashed into one of its tendrils, striking the poison sack. The organ burst, and the staff continued on its path slamming against the frostworm's armored snout. The icy shell cracked, and Dandelion jumped back, propelled by another blast of air.

"That was amazing," Newt said as Dandelion landed not five yards away.

"I failed." Dandelion observed the frostworm writhe in pain. "The idea was to shatter the toxin sack, break its armor, and poison the frostworm with its own venom, but its carapace is stronger than I expected."

You wanted to what?

Newt didn't get the chance to voice his question. The frostworm took two seconds to recover, but Everlast and Puresnow used the chance and aimed their ice javelins at the patch Dandelion had damaged.

The beast hissed in pain once more as a giant icicle struck true, lodging itself into its flesh and drawing vermilion blood.

"Not enough," Dandelion muttered and charged back towards the monster. "Newstar! Less sitting, more hopping!"

The frostworm went into a frenzy, charging towards the ladies, who slid on ice without moving their legs, deftly avoiding the brute strike. The last remaining stinger tendril shot out towards Everlast, but the experienced warrior summoned a wall of ice before herself.

Ice sprayed as the stinger struck the barrier, the wall burst as it pierced all the way through, but the obstacle had served its purpose, buying Everlast a split-second to escape.

Dandelion landed on the frostworms back and delivered another fiery strike against the carapace, aiming for the spot where two rib-plates met. The monster shrieked. The sound exploded all the stalactites above their heads, unleashing a deafening torrent of ice on their heads.

Mundane ice posed little danger, but the ice chips and dust reduced the visibility to zero. Newt closed his eyes, hoping his mindcore would give him an edge, but the ice was infused with so much mana that blue-tinted fog filled Newt's senses.

"Whoa, boy." Newt couldn't tell whether he had heard Dandelion's shout, or if the sound was a weird artifact of his ears ringing. Blind and deaf, he dared not move. The ground beneath his feet quaked, and he heard several booms, each weaker than the last, spraying even more frozen dust into the air, but at least Newt's ears were recovering.

Gradually, the trembling subsided, then the dust started settling.

Twenty yards away, a green dot appeared, revealing Everlast's face.

They took out the vials after they separated. Newt approached the women, waving them with his own vial.

"Are you all right?" he asked, and they nodded.

"We're fine. You?" Puresnow said, surprising Newt.

"A bit dusty." Newt patted his clothes for no reason other than emphasis. "Otherwise fine. Do you think Dandelion killed the snake?"

"That seems to be the only reasonable explanation." Doubt replaced the ice in Everlast's voice as she squinted, searching for Dandelion through the drifting dust.

Suddenly, another green dot waved at them from the distant dark, swiftly drawing closer.

"Is everyone unharmed? No broken necks or limbs?"

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