CHAPTER 47 - ICE CRYSTALS
The realization hit me like a truck, I was in the Dire Tombs that Arthur explored in the novel during his adventuring days. So why was the Elderwood Guardian on the other side…
I pushed myself away from the wall that I had used as support and faced where I had been thrown from. The hole on the other side was Alea and Aya. I have to go over there, I need to make sure they are okay before I make a move to change this course of history.
Once again, I tried igniting my power but it only flickered like a light bulb. Annoyed by it, I tried pulling the mana around me into my core, just like how Sylvia had told us. Mana Rotation was a skill or technique I needed to acquire now, not tomorrow or in two months, it was now.
Whether it was going to be easy or hard the only thing in my mind was confirming if the Lances were okay. Alea was in a bad shape before the elderwood guardian launched me through the wall.
My steps became lighter to the point where I had no idea if I was touching the floor or not, in that instance, a misstep brought me to a fall. Getting up again, this time ignoring the pain and the numbness of my feet, continuing until I had reached the breakthrough.
"Alea! Aya!" I yelled, the words barely coming out of my weak mouth. There needed to be a confirmation that they were okay and that my help wasn't needed now at least. "A-Answer me… Aya!"
It was dark throughout the cavern, light was the thing I needed. So I checked my mana core for any hopes, of just enough mana to conjure a light spell or even for my power to be on for a minute, but I was faced with the complete reality of what the limits of my capabilities were.
Dammit!
My injured arm striked the cavern wall, leaving a dent in the wall but also further injured my arm more.
Not getting an answer, I only continued to walk into the carven's path. No light. No signal. No correct way.
My head filled with regret and future guilt of having Elenoir's Lances die because of me was unimaginable. War could even happen because of that, potentially leading to the Elenoir's destruction.
With no Lances, the elves would lose against the other races. Perhaps even Arthur might join or consider becoming a Lance for the elven kingdom.
Either way he wouldn't stand a chance.
Bairon Wykes and Varay Aurae are the strongest in the whole continent.
Not only that but considering the upcoming war against Alacrya, things might just come to the end of Dicathen as a whole before we know it.
I must prevent that from ever happening.
While searching for the elfs, I took some meditation time here and there to increase the mana entering my body and into my core. My healing magic seemed to be at my disposal, while the other elements, water, earth, and wind struggled to keep their forms before dissipating into the void.
If the elemental affinities were struggling with keeping their forms, that must mean the same or worse for the deviants.
Instead of using mana like I would, I pushed it to my ring, pulling out one of the twin swords I was given. The kaleidoscopic sword brought a loud and sweet hum sound to my ears.
Looking away from my weapon, I spotted a trail of mist that led into disaster on the battlefield.
With hurry, I pursued the trail without a second thought. "Aya! Are you close by?! Answer me!"
No answer again. I gritted my teeth, hoping for anything to be better than just silence, that was until I had met eye to eye with the elderwood guardian that sent my flying to the Dire Tombs. The exact green overgrown tree that knocked Alea unconscious.
The elderwood guardian looked at me with its similar red eyes, no mouth but I knew it was smiling at my appearance. Almost like it was happy to get rid of the bug that survived the attack that was intended to kill.
Raising its arm, a multitude of chonky vines stood in command and headed towards me with enough speed to break the sound barrier when the arm lowered to a ninety degree angle.
With one arm not fully injured but pain still played a part, I dodged the ones I knew I couldn't handle and blocked the ones I could. Fire would be a great asset if I could still use it! I screamed internally in my mind, hoping that someway or somehow the affinity would come back to me. It didn't.
Three vines that stayed back and waited for me to be distracted–like they had their own will of thoughts–raced against each other trying to pierce me. The first one was aimed at my head. I stepped backwards, keeping in mind that my right arm was out of the fight, used the multi-colored sword as a stepping stone in jumping higher, evading the first vine's attack.
Not letting off the hook, the first came around, this time aiming at my leg, unfortunately it got a hit on my calf. I let out a moan of pain. The green chunky vine got a full hold of my leg and tossed me away–again–like I was some sort of ragdoll. Hitting the wall hard, the impact caused a smokescreen and a crater that went seven inches into the wall.
"W-why did I t-think I could defeat this m-mana beast?" As I said that, a clot of blood was spit out from my mouth. I had internal injuries as well, I wasn't in any shape to fight this S-class mana beast.
I slowly pushed my empty hand forward, small motes of blue covered my hand and formed a line all around the crater like beacons of light. The sound of ice forming into reality filled the cavern and alerted the guardian.
[Ice Missiles]
Thirty-six icicles formed and began their task: piercing the elderwood guardian.
Thinking of defending, the elderwood guardian summoned more vines to protect himself.
Some of the icicles froze half of the vines conjured by the large tree.
I had used a little mana to conjure the Ice deviant and that was enough for me to realize that using the higher power of water was the answer to killing the elderwood guardian.
My concentration was solely on two things, one was forming more ice missiles to keep the big mana beast occupied, and the other was learning and getting a grip on Mana Rotation. Breaking here and there, it was difficult to understand the sole concept of mana entering your mana core without being refined… or was it already being refined the moment it entered one's body?
That was a question it didn't know, or perhaps I did and forgot about it during my stay in that realm of dreams or whatever that was. I had a life entirely different from Dicathen and Earth, in this world, technology was advanced, far advanced. Yet, the people relied on the old hierarchy. Using kids as experiments for assets and weapons, "Kings" was their only hope in that world.
It annoyed me and I felt angry when I found it out. Using kids, orphans, to initiate something they wanted to do for self-gratification was insane. No normal human being would do that, but not everyone thinks the same.
That is the reason for wars and discrimination all around the world I've been in. Earth, Dicathen, even this dream realm. They were not perfect, not everyone yet some tried to do the right thing and died in doing so. Being strayed from their path and some even become what they sore to destroy.
I felt an extent of every emotion I wasn't able to describe or felt before. I had this sadness that later became a void deep down. I had more but now acknowledging them would only disrupt my concentration in Mana Rotation, if I had gotten the grip on it.
Slowly, I felt my power come back to me instantly. My sights in the cavern would go from dark to bright in mere seconds. The atmosphere changed, and again, I felt that burning sensation I had earlier. Down both of my arms, I would feel a ton of shapes that were unknown to me. Glowing bright down from my shoulder to my elbow, the rest below the elbow were a dark color of purple.
Having felt all of this, I got off the wall I was in and walked to where a trail of mana fiber was. It was like I needed to follow this line, and so I did. The elderwood guardian noticed this and took its concentration off the spell and launched more vines in my direction.
The lance it wielded with pride and confidence shattered like glass before it even got close to me. Thinking nothing but a fluke, the elderwood guardian unleashed more vines below me, rising like hungry tentacles of green that engulfed me and closed itself like a dome.
I only looked around, no feeling of being overwhelmed hit me or even thought about it. No. This was nothing more than a mere weak tactic to make me its source of power, and I wasn't going to let that happen.
I waved my hand with little to no motion around me, creating a perfect coat of ice all around the sphere that enclosed me. I didn't feel arrogant, or like I was the strongest being here. It was a different feeling of comfort that it was decided the moment I stepped into this place with that power. It felt like I was in a safe zone where I could not worry about anything that tried to attack me.
"Your beast core will do me well in replenishing my mana." I nonchalantly said, watching the dome of the vine fall apart like small diamonds. My eyes locked with the giant vine tree as it showed no expression but I could feel the mistake it did. The fear and delusion that it was a mere mistake of using a little of its power to try and contain me.
I couldn't help but laugh hysterically.
"You felt almighty when you caught one of the strongest mages in Dicathen by surprise, and yet now that you see this power you think it's a mere fluke?" I pushed the ice that surrounded me into the ground as a base before it started to eat away at the feet of the Elderwood Guardian. "You were nothing more than a guinea pig in Agrona's hands."
The elderwood guardian let out a battle cry before launching yet another failed attack that couldn't reach me. Being covered by the absolute zero spell that overcame the limb of the vine tree and its body. Slowly I watched without a care in the world as I witnessed the last seconds of life it had before it broke down in small little ice crystals.
I grabbed the mana core that it dropped and stored it in my dimension ring before I continued to follow the bright line of white throughout the cave.
Leading me through multiple paths, I was finally able to meet up with the elven lances. Who in the moment were fighting more elderwood guardians.