abcnovels
Chapter 57: A Walk In The Park
Chapter 57: A Walk In The Park
Ryuji's axe tore from the neck of a dead lizardman with a wet snap as he pulled back. "It feels like these guys are getting weaker." Erika then brushed past him with a dagger and dismantled the corpse while Simon and Paul dispatched the last of the pack.
[Tattoo Upgraded]
Fire-Type Lizardman (Epic)
Increase All Attributes by 3
Attacks deal a bonus amount of fire damage.
Decreases all fire damage taken by half
Dark Vision - All lizard men can see in the dark (Free passive)
-
Lizardman Warrior (Epic)
Increase Grit by 5
Damage taken decreased by 40%
Dark Vision - All lizard men can see in the dark (Free passive)
***
He kept the Lizardman warrior tattoo despite the upgrade to his fire-type tattoo. It seemed difficult to go past the current level as they killed dozens of lizardmen over the past few hours. Little did they know, greater challenges awaited them, lurking in the shadows of the next level.
"Ahh, thank God there is no boss on this floor! I'm dying from the heat," Alicia complained while wiping the sweat from her brow. The prickly heat only grew worse as they pushed forward.
Most of their water canteens were almost emptied.
Thankfully, Alan, always prepared, gave Simon a chilled barrel of iced water, which would refill them on the next floor. "Deal with it. We're all hot. Look at Ryuji lugging that enormous axe and still not complaining!" The cool water was a minor comfort in the scorching heat but brought a slight relief to the team.
'It's hot though...' Ryuji thought while wondering if his body became strange, no matter how hard he worked in the heat.
He didn't sweat, and neither did the heat cause him to become irritated like in the past when he would fight his mother for the air conditioner remote.
'That was a nostalgic time when she suplexed me through the coffee table because I called her old and spent ten hours in the emergency room. Come to think about it, that was the first time I saw Mother crying.'
"Ryuji? Focus, we're going up the stairs. Be careful for a last-minute ambush." Paul's kind voice awoke Ryuji, returning his mind to the hot, sticky cavern filled with lava and arrow traps.
The group suffered because of the various traps on this floor, with Ryuji almost falling into a pit of spears and then Erika tripping over a wire, causing a hail of flaming arrows to shoot from the stone walls.
"Ah, thanks, Paul."
"Are you alright, Ryuji?" Yumiko's hand brushed against his; the slight fur around her wrist seemed to make her hand a little warmer, so she didn't grasp his hand.
"Oh? I see. As long as you're doing okay."
Ryuji felt relaxed when they reached the stairs. Instead of an oval room with an altar, it was just a small room the size of a corridor with a set of stone steps.
"Hm... so there really wasn't a boss this time," Paul said while surveying the empty room. "Let's not linger; go down the stairs."
Yumiko followed Ryuji down the stairs and placed her hand on the back of his shoulder. The moment they left the room, the cooling sensation of the rock walls with a slightly damp sheen felt amazing. Most of the women let out a sigh of relief while taking cloth from their storage and wiping their faces, arms, and chests.
Ryuji didn't need to, so he focused on watching their surroundings. The stone was unique in this cavern; instead of being warm and reddish, it was silvery-blue. "This is..." His fingers touched the wall, and suddenly, a biting sensation filled the tip of his finger, which started turning purple.
"It's freezing; this floor will be cold!"
He immediately took out his spare shirt and armour, wrapping his body in both. Though he didn't quite feel the effects of the cold, with his finger turning purple and not taking pain, it could cause danger because he didn't feel the damage from the cold properly.
The group prepared for the next floor. Each member was equipped with two layers of clothing and wrapped their bare hands and feet in furs to prevent frostbite.
Thankfully, Yumiko's armour prevented such damage and danger, so she just wore her gauntlets and usual maid outfit, much to Erika's jealousy, who wore a leather jacket on top of her cloth and fur-padded tunic, making it harder to move.
Ryuji peeked back at Erika, who had thick gloves in her hands. "Can you even use your sword with those gloves?"
"Mm... It might be difficult to fight with my normal strength, so it's up to you and Paul."
"I see."
"Simon, can you see anything on this floor?" Paul asked while moving forward carefully.
Paul inspected the surroundings while remaining quiet. "Yeah, I can see something strange..." The surrounding caverns were strange because they were completely frozen. Even the stalactites were encased in ice, making the path very slick.
"Keep an eye out for monsters or traps. This place looks like a giant freezer, so take your time and stay on guard," Paul cautioned the group. It felt strange to go from extreme heat to such a frigid cold—there wasn't information about this, so it put Sheila and Simon on their guard.
The cavern was dark, but everyone could see, thanks to the reflection of the ice creating small parts of light guiding them. They all carried torches that did little to ease the cold. "Aren't you cold?" Simon asked while rubbing his shoulders.
"No, not at all, not a single cold sensation." Ryuji didn't shiver, though the others did, including Yumiko, whose fur was puffing out around her wrists and ankles and her tail wrapped around her body.
It made them feel Ryuji was even stranger than they thought.
The party trudged through the frozen cave, slowly following the single pathway; since entering, there wasn't another splitting path, and it guided them in a single direction until Simon finally spotted movement in the distance.
"We have enemies in front and behind."
"Everyone, stop!" Paul ordered, with his sword in one hand and a torch in the other. He felt the ground vibrate and quickly dodged to the right.
A burst of sharp ice shards shot towards them as a monster landed.
The creature looked like a deformed man in black fur armour; its body was hunched over as though it were a monster hiding from the light. However, they stood at roughly two metres tall and held a crude axe and shield in each hand.
They snarled and charged forward in a disjointed run, unlike that of a normal human. Paul stepped forward, flinging three of his wooden runes into the air, as huge shields of flame blacked the rear of the party. "I will hold them off! Take out the pack in front!"
Paul snapped his fingers, then he placed them together, like a prayer, with both index and little fingers elongated and pushed together, the rest curled. "Lady of flames, I seek your protection and guidance to allow your warming fires to permeate this bitter cold! Wall of Fire!"
'Paul is so damn cool!'
The spell required a lot of magic and energy to perform, but it worked.
A wall of fire separated Paul's side from the front and trapped the monsters at the rear in a sea of flames as his hands remained pushed together, and he muttered the spell continuously.
"Ugh..."
There was no chanting or channelling; the monster just swung its axe, and a sharp piece of ice tore through Ryuji's armour and flesh.
He slid back on the slippery floor, smacked his fists into the ground, and absorbed considerable strength to regain his balance.
Two of the black variants took advantage of this moment and swung down at his sides; he couldn't help but swirl his body, performing a whirlwind with his heavy axe to block their blows.
His axe shattered the other axes, and as he glanced at the metal chunks flying in the air, he couldn't help but grimace in disgust.
'That filthy monster tried another sneak attack!' Ryuji thought as he planted his axe firmly on the ground and launched forward with the cold iron tip breaking apart the ice.
His attack hit one, but the other monster activated some strange magic, creating a shield of ice that stopped Ryuji's axe and pulled him closer as it raised its axe to strike him down.
However, before it could complete the blow, a woman's voice echoed through the cavern.
"Filthy craven! Touching my mate!" The next moment, a sharp blade sliced its cheek while a claw-shaped hand tore off its ear and penetrated its eye.
With the monster blinded by the pain, Yumiko moved smoothly and slammed her hands against the ground, causing the broken ice shards to shoot out towards the other monsters, penetrating them like bullets.
"Thanks, Yumi!"
Ryuji wasn't ignorant and knew that the monster was about to pierce his body with another of those deadly ice shards, the one still lodged in his abdomen, causing a throbbing pain.
The monster reared back and covered its face with its shield as the battle reached a stalemate.