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

The conversation about white-feathered saurian puff balls larger than a house was surprisingly pleasant. Everlast got so engrossed in her descriptions, she wasn't even disappointed when she failed to find the core.

Once done with the butchery, a pulse of mana rippled over her like a glacial wave. The bloodstains froze into brittle reddish-brown dust and crumbled off her skin.

Newt kept working as Everlast stepped away from the body and continued describing the flora and fauna of frozen caves and wastelands within her order's lands close to the Wintersweald. While regular creatures looked majestic, more powerful manabeasts were not white and puffy. Some were terrifying behemoths, covered in layers of ice and never-melting snow, stalking each other or blending in with the surroundings, waiting for the inattentive passersby. Others seemed even scarier, such as avians wielding coldflame and parasites capable of possessing others and turning their bodies into frigid hives.

Everfrost Order's territory naturally had frostworms, but the elders discouraged their disciples from fighting above their realm, both because of the danger involved and because higher realm disciples needed the higher quality resources found in the stronger monsters' corpses.

"Does that mean second realm disciples would want the flesh from this frostworm?"

Everlast stared at Newt and opened her mouth to answer when Dandelion stopped right next to them.

"I baited another one. There's one more near the entrance to the lower level, then we can go down and hopefully find some ice jade marrow without moving down to the hatchery level."

Without further ado, the frenzied frostworm appeared, and Dandelion escaped, leaving Newt and Everlast to deal with the raging, butt-burned monster.

The battle started almost the same as the last. Newt and Everlast dispersed, and the crazed frostworm locked onto the fire it despised. Newt stopped right next to the cavern wall and took the frigid hailstorm without flinching before jumping out of the frostworm's way at the last possible moment.

Like in a rehearsed show, the frostworm crashed into the rock, sending a blast of ice, and Newt landed on its back. Unlike last time, Newt sent a surge of Magmin Flames along the weapon before thrusting, immolating the fang and stabbing the frostworm between its plates.

At least, that was the plan. Unlike last time, the space between carapace segments was contracted, offering even greater protection than a single plate would. Ice hissed and burst, but the sword's tip skidded along the chitin with a screech.

A stinger tentacle appeared out of the mist, bluish-white liquid coating its tip. Newt slashed at it with his flaming blade and realized he had made a mistake. The other tentacle came from the other side, but a thick icicle struck the stinger, deflecting it enough to give Newt a chance to jump away.

The blade severed the tentacle, and frostworm's pained grunt turned into a howl as Newt blasted scalding air straight at its carapace. Agonized, the giant serpent coiled its body while Newt soared above it.

"Move! Quickly!" Everlast shouted, and Newt realized what seemed like a pain-induced action was something else entirely.

The coiled snake leaped, using its entire body as a spring. Newt blasted three jets of hot air from his back, sliding forward, intending to slash the frostworm's soft belly. He planned to use the opportunity, only to discover that the heavily armored frostworms didn't have a soft belly. Or any discernible belly.

The leaping beast crashed behind Newt, and he dodged to the side, evading the heavy body before it crushed him.

"The tentacles! Sever the other tentacle, so she can draw closer, and you can have more time to find a weak spot." Supernatural wind carried Dandelion's shout, allowing the man to remain hidden.

Newt spun around and jumped back when he caught a glimpse of a stinger aiming for his face. As he fell back, he slashed with his sword, but the blade was too short, inflicting only a light gash on the soft, flexible limb.

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The battle fell into a steady rhythm of Newt drawing the frostworm's ire and mutilating its last remaining tentacle until it finally dropped to the ground. The frostworm pelted him with storms of ice at him, but failed to penetrate Newt's defenses.

"You should switch to your short-sword or just hug the worm to melt its defenses," Dandelion offered a helpful suggestion from somewhere, but in the echoing tunnels, it was impossible to pinpoint his position while avoiding a shrieking frostworm.

Newt hesitated, but opened some distance from the monster and sheathed his salamandra's fang before drawing his short-sword.

Dandelion was right. I should switch to a glaive. I could've severed the tentacle in a single sweep, while maintaining the reach advantage. Newt filed the thought for later, the enraged frostworm rumbling towards him while making a low keening noise which Newt heard with his vibrating molars rather than ears.

The battle was a chore, spending a considerable portion of Newt's mana, while Everlast seemed nonplussed, landing a few select hits whenever the opportunity presented itself. The frostworm lay dead, having wasted most of its mana before attempting to flee. Everlast had finished it off, and they all knew the odds of finding a core were next to none.

"Your skill with the short-sword is worse than your skill with the bastard-sword, which in and of itself is horrible." Dandelion glided over from someplace, hopping right next to Newt, his face suspiciously free of grins and smiles.

Newt didn't deny his words. Towards the end of the battle, he was tempted to just hug the frostworm until its carapace grew hot enough to shatter from a sudden burst of cold.

"Do you have any advice? And where were you hiding?" The youth asked. Dandelion seemed to be in a chatty, mentor mood, and Newt had no reason to kick him out of it.

Dandelin smiled.

"I observed you from the ceiling, men and beasts rarely look up. It requires an oddly long period of training to develop the habit. That or a horrible incident which will never leave your mind and haunts you whenever you are in enclosed spaces." Dandelion made a pause and lowered his gaze, letting the silence stretch until it became awkward. "I naturally belong to the former group. As for advice about your swordsmanship, I would suggest you learn how to use the weapon first."

A laugh escaped Everlast, who then covered her mouth. "Pardon me."

Newt didn't take her laugh to heart. He believed he was lucky the woman didn't curse him, Puresnow would have. He was painfully aware that he had hindered the Everfrost Order's mageknight the whole time after he had removed the frostworm's tentacles.

"It's—" Newt was about to say it was fine, when Dandelion frowned and stared deeper into the cavern system, motioning him to be quiet.

"We have made too much of a ruckus, let's go."

Newt could see Everlast's confusion as Dandelion abandoned the frostworm's body and turned towards the exit.

"Come on, that thing is bigger than the fourth realm worm we fought. It's either in the later layers, or it might have already reached the fifth realm."

Everlast sprinted immediately, and after glancing longingly at the dead frostworm's carapace plates, Newt bolted after them. As they approached the exit, the floor shook, and icicles rained from the ceiling.

"How big is that thing?" Newt asked.

"Big," Dandelion and Everlast said at the same time.

"Lady Everlast," Dandelion continued. "Once we are out, we climb up the mountain, and you will make a structure of ice which will block our mana signatures and meld into the surroundings. Can you do that?"

Everlast considered the proposal and nodded.

"Newstar, you will have to stop using your ability soon, unless you can fly, but even then, the trail of mana will be recognizable. Unfortunately, my realm is too low to carry you. I hope Lady Everlast will not mind giving you a hand."

Everlast nodded without hesitation and grabbed Newt just as the exit appeared before them.

"Puresnow," she shouted as they approached the daylight. "Run uphill!"

Newt watched Puresnow's eyes locked onto him, carried like a princess in distress. Then her expression shifted from confusion to an angry scowl back to confusion and finally it settled on realization, and then they were right next to her. In a blink of an eye, she was dead last, gliding on the snow up the steep mountain.

"The frostworm will stop to check what has happened to its spawn. It should buy us enough time for you to make the shelter." Dandelion explained. "I entrust everything to you."

Everlast nodded and stopped. She unceremoniously dropped Newt, then waved her hands at the ground as if splashing water. She drew snow towards her and sculpted it into a smooth, icy wall. Dandelion stopped before Everlast had gathered the snow, and Puresnow jumped over a knee-high wall, sticking to the icy ground left behind after Everlast's technique.

A small dome of ice took shape enough, the space inside cramped to the point that everyone needed to touch at least two people. When she saw what was happening, Puresnow changed places with Newt, so that she wouldn't be next to Dandelion.

"What happened?" she asked, glaring at Dandelion, who shrugged.

"We took too long to defeat a frostworm. It must have somehow signaled that it was in danger, or maybe the disturbance of the battle caused its ancestor to come up and check what was happening, but I doubt that. We are too high up, and no matter how much fire we unleashed, the ambient energy should have drowned it before it traveled too far down."

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