136 CHAPTER 136 (The Creeping Chill)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk

pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

---Babel Floor 30, Denatus...

"I, GANESHA! Would be most thankful if any of your children would assist my familia in gathering wood from the Great Tree Labyrinth," the god announced to the room of bored faces, many gods barely awake on the last day of the Denatus, simply waiting for the naming ceremony. "This winter has been growing increasingly harsh, the citizens would certainly appreciate the help to prepare for the coming storm!" the god decrees.

As the chairman of this meeting, Ganesh sat at the head of the table as he goes through topic after topic. Most of the other gods didn't seem to care, treating this meeting like any other get-together and preparing themselves for the upcoming chance to bully each other by giving adventurers terrible names.

Sitting at the far end of the room, hopefully away from the spotlight Hephaestus bides her time to bolt out of the room. To her right is her friend Takemikazuchi and to her left is Loki.

"Hey Hephaestus, can I ask a favor?" Takemikazuchi asks, keeping his voice low to avoid interrupting the meeting.

"Hmm, sure Take what is it?" she lazily glances over her shoulder at the man.

"Can you help me get a good name for my child, he's been with me from the beginning of my familia so it's really important to us, I'm aiming for Masuratakeo," the god asks.

"That's a bit boring, how long did level two take him anyway?"

"Ten years, but we only came to Orario when it was time for him to have an adventure remember, the far east doesn't have many monsters after all."

"Yeah I'll help you with the name thing, honestly I don't have anything to do when that stuff comes up," she shrugs and leans back in her seat, releasing a sigh. The woman wasn't sure if she should be upset at having to be in the spotlight for another naming ceremony or just jump right in and brag about her super-rooking then change Yang's alias... the latter would likely annoy him so she decided to sit this one out.

"You should take the chance to get him a good name ya know Phae-tan," Loki says, turning in her seat to completely and blatantly ignore the meeting and speak to her sister.

"Elementalist is fine, he prefers simple things like that anyway. And it's very...accurate," Hephaestus says.

"I dunno, you'll probably only get maybe one or two more chances, you can only change it after a level up after all," Loki reminds her. The trickster was obviously fishing for information and the nearby gods couldn't help but focus on the hushed conversation.

"Honestly I'm not worried, I think I'll have PLENTY of chances in the future," the nearby gods including Loki were surprised at such a bold claim. "And the last thing I'd want is for someone to try sticking him with a name he doesn't like, not like I can stop him from getting mad and doing something stupid after all," she says in her regular volume, ensuring all the nearby gods could hear her. A cold chill ran down their spines at the thought.

"Hmm, 'Elementalist' is just so...lame," Loki whines, "you should really spice it up ya know."

"Yeah well if a better name falls into my lap I'll ask him about it," Hephaestus bites back.

"King," Freya says from not far away, sitting opposite Loki and Hephaestus, not even trying to hide that she was listening in.

"Already had that conversation, he hates it," Hephaestus says.

"Mhm... he did say he was 'Allergic to responsibility'. Though he's somehow the foremost expedition team leader," Freya muses at the thought, a small smile on her lips at the memory.

At this point the entire room is silent, listing in as the three most powerful gods in Orario converse.

"Trust me, the crown doesn't suit someone like him, Kings can't leave their walls after all, and all he cares about is the dungeon," Hephaestus reminds Freya.

"Awe...that's too bad," Freya frowns slightly, "he'd look so good in a crown."

With an annoyed sigh Hephaestus can't help but roll her eye at her sister, "he's only been gone a month so when they get back talk to him about that."

"You sound way too relaxed about them going to those floors Phae-Tan," Loki points out.

"Yeah well, I'm sure they're fine..."

---Floor 66...

They were certainly not fine.

Walking atop the deep snow, Yang leads his team deeper into the dungeon.

The snow harmlessly passes around them as he heats the area surrounding his team, protecting them from the harsh climate.

They could see the snow blowing lightly around what was effectively a magic heat bubble.

They were currently walking through another massive chamber, that seemed to be all these floors were at this point. Almost as large as a football stadium with sharp massive spikes of ice jutting out of the walls all around.

The snow on the wind wasn't blinding but made seeing further off difficult, especially considering everything but them was either blue or white. Their guiding light was a large archway. A tunnel that gave a sense of progress, the dark entrance to the next chamber, not far beyond it would be the end of this floor.

Keeping a steady pace for the last week of walking, Yang could feel the heat shield he had up constantly chipping away at his magic. It kept his team safe and allowed them to walk longer each day but it was difficult to maintain over long periods of time, 16 hours of providing warmth while trying to keep the snow at their feet intact was a balancing act in itself, adding the constant swarms of monsters only made it that much tougher.

Over the steady winds, walking forward, the adventurers don't hear the approaching danger.

"AHHH!" Yang hear Welf cry out.

Whipping his head around he sees Thalie looking up and into the snow, looking at nothing as everything was a single screen of white. Welf was gone.

With her spear poised to throw she stares out into the distance waiting for any sign of movement," a bird took Welf, a big one, it was white like snow!"

"Alright just---" Yang paused, taking a breath to gather his thoughts. Months ago he would have been a panicked mess, but now he's the team leader. He can't afford to panic. "If he's awake we should see a flame, let's go!" Yang says as he rushes off, slowing his pace so she can run beside him and looking around for anything.

After a few seconds of running, a large crimson arc is seen in the distance, they both immediately accelerate over to it.

Multiple pillars of flame begin shooting out rapidly from the ground, the point of origin never moving as they can see the outline of birds against the flames.

As they approach they see almost a dozen Giant Owls, all white as snow constantly circling a spot on the floor. Pillars of flame shoot out to ward them off every time they swoop low to attack.

"Get him, I'll cover you!" Yang commands, launching himself into the air and calling lightning to his hands, opting to use more magic for the sake of faster projectiles. He wasn't sure what condition his friend was in so decided to take no chances.

'Be alright, c'mon Welf!' Thalie thinks to herself as she trudges through the snow. Now wading through thigh-high snow even on her 6ft2 figure. Pushing through it with ease as any level five could, now out of Yang's bubble she can feel the cold already biting her skin. The layers of salamander wool beneath her armor were working but the feeling made her almost shudder at the thought of being without it.

Arriving at Welf's position as the last of the birds are being slain, she sees Mosoka sticking out of the slow, a crater of melted ice around his body as he desperately tries to kill the birds.

Instinctively she withdraws an elixir, only to stop at the sight of his wounds. Seeing two snow-white talons, each almost nine inches long piercing his body through his armor and out the back. Within the cuts on his clothing, she notices the blackened frozen skin on his shoulder and left thigh where the talons are.

Frowning at the sight she isn't sure what to do, all she could do was lift him up out of the slow, carefully moving him to get out of the cold ice and water as he grits his teeth and continues to fire into the air.

Moments later Yang drops harshly beside them, brows furrowed and obviously not pleased with this turn of events.

Seeing Welf's state he doesn't even speak, wordlessly withdrawing a lamp and holding it out. With a stomp of his foot, the snow and water around them harden into multiple concentric layers of ice with gaps between them.

A wall of white ice forms above them as the roof, their lamp being the only source of light until a small hole is left at the top.

"I'll set up the tent," he says before getting to work.

Minutes later, Yang and Thalie find themselves beside Welf. The man lays on a warm futon in the tent bleeding out, the talons still in his body with black frostbite spreading out.

"Alright, let's do this," Yang says as he begins creating water above Welf with his magic.

"Do what?" Thalie asks.

"Remove those talons before the frostbite spreads too far, I'm gonna use warm water to loosen and remove them, I need you to use those on him immediately after," he nods to a small box of medicine beside him.

Reaching over, Thalie opens it to see some strange grey elixirs, "what are these?"

"Special order frostbite medicine, costs 2 million a piece so don't spill it," he says while gently moving the water toward the talons.

"You really did think of everything," she says while opening one bottle.

As he gently begins to seep the water into the wound around the talon, Welf groans. Already biting down on a belt to avoid screaming out and alerting any otherwise oblivious monsters.

The smith's entire face is tomato red as his eyes bulge and veins raise from the excruciating pain.

"Almost there...and...now," Yang signals. Thalie immediately dumps the bottle of medicine into the wound. "Alright now use an elixir too," she immediately does as told.

Before their very eyes, the wound on his shoulder returns to its normal colour before healing itself.

"Wow, I didn't know this stuff exists..." Thalie says as she looks between the closing wound and the bottles.

"Preparing us for anything is my job, and it only works within an hour."

"Then let's do the next one," she looks toward Welf, the man already a sweaty mess from all the pain. His body burning up from the first signs of a fever. "Just one more," she says while giving him a small smile.

After a second painful extraction, Welf finds himself completely drenched in sweat. Having Yang control a bubble of water just a foot off the ground to cradle him in it like a warm bath as both his allies sit on the large futon.

"We might as well do our daily report now, we aren't going anywhere soon," Thalie says. Yang looks up from the maps to look at her.

"Yeah, anything you guys noticed?" he asks.

"Hmm, nothing much honestly," Thalie says. Welf nods in agreement.

"For me, it's the wind and snow..."

"The weather?" Thalie asks.

"Yeah, ever felt natural wind in the dungeon before?" Yang asks, earning a strange look from both of them.

"You're right, any ideas?" she asks.

"Too many to think of honestly, but the wind is carrying the snow and both are magic. I know because it's eating away at my magic quicker and quicker the closer we get. It's definitely coming from a monster deeper in, maybe even on another floor..."

"Wind...elemental?" Welf asks, taking a deep breath between words.

"That's possible, then we'd need to beat it with magic since physical attacks don't work. Well, non-magical ones at least."

"That's doable, anything else?" Thalie asks.

"Aside from the new monsters we encountered, nope." Taking a look at Welf, Yang frowns deeply and sighs before he speaks, "I think it's a problem for the next expedition, I'm ending this one here."

Thalie only glances between him and Welf as Yang lifts his message ring to his mouth.

"Hep---" his words are cut off as Welf places a hand on his ring, interrupting him.

"No, we can keep going," the smith insists.

"Welf, you're in no condition to go. Your body is still stiff from the cold and you have a fever. We should get you back to Babel to recover," Yang explains.

"I'll be fine...just need...some proper sleep."

"No, you need to get back to Babel."

"I'll be fine."

"Welf," Yang narrows his eyes dangerously at the man, "I'm not trading your life just to get one floor closer to home, we're going back to Babel."

"It's not just about you!" the redhead actually raises his voice, as exhausting as it is. "I just...I can't be the one ok, please," he begs. His face was a mask of self-pity and hurt.

"What? What're you talking about?"

"I-I can't be the reason we fail. I don't want to be dead weight in here..." the smith says, almost whispering, ashamed to voice his thoughts.

"Didn't we already tell you that you're here for a reason," Thalie cuts in, "Fighting isn't your main role so you're doing more than fine. You're beating level five monsters as a level four so just focus on recovering."

"You aren't the one who got hit by the owl," he bites back.

"None of us knew it was coming, that could have been anyone. This isn't your fault Welf," Yang says. "This isn't anyone's fault. Owls are literally evolved to be silent fliers."

"Then why does it feel like...like I just wasn't good enough... I don't want to be a weak link, I don't want to be dead weight in the dungeon..."

"Sigh... we're all gonna get hurt sometimes, it might even really be someone's fault one day. But if we start falling part we might as well just retire here, doing that on lower floors, or gods forbid in combat is gonna get us killed."

"Exactly," Thalie agrees.

"But..." Yang looks toward Thalie, receiving a shrug in response..." Fuck it, two days to be actually combat ready and we stay, Elixirs should speed up the fever recovery but you only get one," Yang finally decides.

"Thank you."

"Just be glad I'm not telling Hephaestus about this crap, she'd put you in the hospital herself if she knew you didn't wanna turn around," Yang says as he withdraws some cooking utensil.

Normally they'd only cook at safe zones and eat ration bars on combat floors, but a sick teammate needs warm food, preferably warm soup...

END CHAPTER---

Expedition ain't all that peachy it seems.