Chapter 159: The Rondo of Scarlet Flame and Silver Ice (2)

[Our SS ranker was always mentally unstable. Before he entered the gate, he caused a huge incident. He murdered all key personnel of the government and top brass members of Guardian before he entered the gate.]

[He probably thought he could escape us forever by going inside the gate. It just shows how mentally unstable he is.]

[The team we created did not consist of 2 SS rankers and 50 S rankers as you may have heard, but France's 1 SS ranker and the 50 S rankers led by him. In other words, he was out of our control.]

[No matter how important SS rankers are, we can no longer tolerate his madness. He is a psychopath and a murderer. I beg you, please kill him. We will take care of the rest.]

I said that wasn't for me to do and refused. However, before I left the reception room, I told him that once I went inside the gate, I would act appropriately given the circumstances. When I came back to my companions, I told them what happened. Hearing that the government personally requested me to kill an ability user, they were extremely displeased.

"He killed all key personnel of the government, but the prime minister is alive?"

"Something stinks. Even if he's telling the truth, it's irritating. If he's not, it's more irritating."

"Mentally unstable person... Why would someone like him have such a power...?"

If the prime minister was telling the truth and Russia's SS ranker was alive, we may have to fight a human, not monsters, when we entered the dungeon. When I considered that the reason France's SS ranker and other 50 S rankers couldn't clear the dungeon was because of Russia's SS ranker, a chill went down my back. However, Hwaya and father came to a rather simple conclusion.

"There's no problem. We can just think of it as having one more SS ranked enemy."

"She's right, son. No matter who appears, can that person be stronger than me? Don't worry too much."

"No, father, what I'm worried about is... No, it's fine."

I couldn't spoil the mood when everyone sounded so confident. Plus, I had already killed a human before. I couldn't ask whether they could kill a human, even if he appeared as an enemy.

Before we entered the Event Dungeon, we inspected our equipment and condition. After seeing that that everything was perfect, we headed to the snowy mountains where the Event Dungeon was located. The prime minister also came with us. This person... didn't he have better things to do?

When we were about to enter the dungeon, Ludia tilted her head and asked.

"Shin, where's the wyvern?"

"Oh, Lotte? She left for training."

"... You're kidding, right?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?"

Lotte seemed to be extremely vexed that she couldn't enter America's SS ranked Event Dungeon with me, as she asked for my permission and left for training. I wanted to ask what training she was doing or if it was even effective, but I didn't. Since she wanted it so much, I couldn't say no. I let her go after telling her not to overdo it.

I didn't know what it was that she wanted. I just hoped she wouldn't return as something like Dark Destiny Wing... In any case, not having Lotte wasn't detrimental to our success. As such, we entered the dungeon.

[You entered the SS ranked Event Dungeon, 'Frozen Castle.']

The moment I stepped inside the Event Dungeon, a bone-chilling wind blew. Of course, with my contract to Ruyue and the effect of Red Dragon Felixes' Cape, it only felt like a light breeze. However, it seemed that wasn't the case for my companions.

"C-C-C-C-C-C-Cold."

"Father, I thought you were an undead."

"I-I-I-I-I-I'm c-c-cold t-too."

With that, Ye-Eun jumped in my embrace. Then, she cheered.

"Shin's cape is hot!"

"It's made out of a red dragon's leather."

The moment Ye-Eun yelled, few more people clung to my cape. Pushing them off forcefully, I shouted.

"Didn't you buy cold weather clothes in the dungeon? Wear that instead!"

"But it's hard to fight in it."

"If you're clinging onto me, neither of us can fight!"

In the end, everyone other than Hwaya and me wore thick cold weather clothes. Although I was fine thanks to my cape, it seemed Hwaya could protect herself with her flame ability.

"So, where are we?"

"It looks like the castle's underground corridor. Everything's made out of ice."

I looked around. We were in a corridor about 5 meters wide and 10 meters tall. The flat walls had no windows. It was the perfect underground corridor where you'd expect to hear the cries of captured criminals. However, for an underground corridor, the ceiling was too high. Not to mention, everything was made out of ice. The floor, walls, ceiling, everything!

Although we entered all sorts of dungeons, the surroundings were always wide open and we had a spacious area to explore. However, although the place we were standing in was fairly spacious, it was clearly limited since we were caged in. If we took account the freezing energy that was continuously pouring in, the penalty we were suffering from couldn't be said to be light.

We put Hwaya and Ludia, who were weak to close-ranged combat, in the middle, and quickly walked along the corridor. If the Event Dungeons we had entered so far all had the monsters attack us immediately, this dungeon was the complete opposite. Even after 30 minutes, we had not run into any monsters.

"Echoo!"

"Ludia, come here."

"Un!"

After we walked in this cold for a while, Ludia, who had a weak constitution, kept sneezing. Even though we prepared ourselves for any environment we might find ourselves in, it seemed it wasn't enough.

Feeling sorry, I brought Ludia to my side. I couldn't give her my cape because it was bound to me, but she would be able to share the warmth by being near it. After Ludia grabbed the edge of my cape, she stopped sneezing. Instead, Hwaya and Ye-Eun's cheeks were puffed up.

"I'm cold, too... I'm so jealous."

"Your favoritism is too strong. I don't like it."

Ye-Eun, your condition is much better than Ludia's! And Hwaya, you're warmer than anyone else here! I wanted to argue, but since it would probably be a hassle, I didn't. I simply ignored them and firmly walked onward.

However, not long afterward, I hate to stop everyone. I had discovered blood splashed on the wall.

"There was a battle here."

"It's frozen."

I looked around, but there was nothing other than the trace of blood. I told everyone to be on guard, then we continued onward as I actively used Mana Detection. After about 30 minutes, I suddenly felt a presence in front of me. It came with an extremely cold energy.

"Ludia, get back!"

I pushed Ludia into our formation. I pulled out my spear and manifested my aura. At the same time, I called Ruyue and Peika. The moment they were summoned, they floated up over my shoulders and emitted elemental power. Soon, the enemy made its appearance. It was a golem about 7 meters tall, made out of dozens of boulder-like ice. I finally understood. The ceiling had to be this high for this golem to appear.

[Guooooooo!]

When the golem saw us, it roared and charged directly at us. However, it couldn't have picked a worse opponent.

[Don't touch Shin!]

[Guoooo...ooo!?]

Just three words from Ruyue made the golem freeze in place. Dozens of ice crystals also rose up and stormed the golem. Shockingly, the ice forming the castle broke off readily and followed Ruyue's command. Hmm, could this place be a stage for Ruyue to shine?

However, the golem looked fine even after being struck by Ruyue's frightening attack.

[Guoooooo!]

"Oh, I see."

The flaw was that Ruyue couldn't deal huge damage to the golem as they were both had ice attribute. Ruyue, who was looking proud, quickly became dejected.

[Uuu, I have to protect Shin.]

"That was enough. Focus on blocking the golem's movements, Ruyue. Hwaya!"

"Eit!"

Hwaya threw a white flame at the golem. Even after colliding with the ice, the flame was not extinguished and continued to burn until it completely swallowed the golem.

[Guoooooooo!]

In the end, the golem melted to a puddle of water, while Hwaya proudly puffed out her chests.

"Huhu, did you see that?"

"Yeah, good job."

'For someone who fainted just by seeing bugs...' It seemed she forgot all about what happened in America. In any case, it was true that defeating the golem was easier with Hwaya. I adequately lifted Hwaya up and surveyed my surroundings with Mana Detection again.

"Ah, wait, let me go back."

"It looks like we'll run into monsters from now, so stay with me, Ludia."

"Don't call me Ludia! I'm going to be with Shin!"

"Come, it's warm next to me, too, right?"

"... You big-breasted jealous witch."

"... Hmph, it's better than being a tiny-breasted jealous witch, right?"

"I, I'm still growing! The alphabet just changed, too!"

Please don't say what alphabet changed... Like B, C... Ah, no, I shouldn't be thinking about this!

After that, we fought giant bats, gargoyles, and golems all made out of ice. Ruyue immobilized them, and Hwaya's flames violently melted all enemies even in this environment filled with ice.

Unfortunately, because the monsters were all made out of ice, they didn't leave any corpses. However, we were happy because Mana Stones dropped with a higher chance. Mana Stones could be used as currency in both Earth and the dungeon.

We were most likely underground. After all, there were no windows anywhere. Almost to prove that I was right, the rooms along the corridor were all weapon storage rooms (full of golems), food storage rooms (full of golems), or prisons ( full of golems).

After three hours, we explored the entire corridor. It seemed that we were on the lowest floor. We found a staircase going up. I couldn't hide my excitement as things started looking more and more like an RPG game.

"Let's first eat before we continue!"

"I knew you'd say that!"

Because everyone other than Hway and me were freezing, we all agreed to eat to warm ourselves up. I cooked ramen, using the Floor Shop's special item, 'Burned to White Ashes....' With it, I had no reason to fear the Ice Castle, which even extinguished Hwaya's flame in a few minutes. After all, even without fire, this magical item could heat up its content at the desired temperature for a desired amount of time!

However, things didn't go the way I expected.

"Oh, no. The water won't boil."

"Damn it... Even though the pot is hot, the water won't boil because it's too cold outside!"

What kind of an absurd environment was this!? Even as I shook from this illogical situation, I refused to give up. If it the outside was too cold, I just had to make it warmer! I cleared some space around the pot and enveloped the area in chaos flame. Chaos flame wouldn't be extinguished unless I wished for it, and it wasn't just hot; it was scorching! Seeing the water boil, I became satisfied.

"You're using a flame that could kill an SS ranked dungeon's boss to boil water..."

"You shouldn't say that Walker when you're using that flame to warm your body."

With all the training expeditions I went with father, I had become a master of making ramen. Even while boiling 10 packs, I could maintain the noodles' springy texture. I considered it a marvelous talent! Soon, when we were gathered around the Ice Castle's underground corridor and eating ramen...

We sensed someone's presence.

"Are you... going to eat that?"

Hwaya and I turned around with noodles in our mouth.

There, we saw the Witch of Silver Ice.