76. Winter Underworld (I)

He considered the Egg. Then he found a quiet spot in the woods, sat down, and started drawing out its essence.

Its essence was laced with Ice Law. If Vials of Essence felt like warm broth for the soul, this felt like a cold shake. It took a while to go down. He was a little overeager with it at first, and he got a strange shivering shock. Brain freeze? Soul freeze?

So he took it slow and just kept sipping.

Soon enough—

𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕌𝕡!

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟠𝟝 -> 𝟠𝟞

About half an hour later—

𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕌𝕡!

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟠𝟞 -> 𝟠𝟟

Then the Egg went dull.

Satisfied, he stood. Second floor time. But first…

He set out across the ice, heading for the island in the middle of the frozen lake. This time no one was there. As he got close, he made out frozen waterfalls pouring down little stone hills and a thicket of snow-laden trees.

ℂ𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕀𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥: 𝕀𝕔𝕚𝕔𝕝𝕖 𝕀𝕤𝕝𝕖 𝕊𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕒𝕣𝕪 (𝔹)

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝔸𝕣𝕖𝕒'𝕤 𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕟 𝕒𝕥 𝔼 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕪 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤. 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕒 𝕚𝕟 𝕒 𝕔𝕒𝕟𝕪𝕠𝕟, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕒𝕣𝕪 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕤𝕦𝕝𝕖. 𝕀𝕥 𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕤 𝕞𝕖𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕟𝕚𝕒. 𝔸𝕟 𝕚𝕟𝕧𝕒𝕝𝕦𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕕𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕀𝕔𝕖.

As he got close, the air grew thick with cold mist. Laws so dense they were nearly corporeal.

It felt like he'd crossed into some kind of icy wonderland. Thick blocks of ice rose at the Isle's center, a little Stonehenge of pure ice. Trapped in them were all kinds of odd fish. Some huge and gray, leather-skinned, with long flat noses. Some tiny and colorful, shimmering softly in the pale light. You'd never think they were from the same body of water.

They were, if you believed the description. Just from different times, different epochs. It was like time stopped here, frozen in ice. He was the only thing that moved.

He was sure this place was very valuable to the right person. But to him it was just a pretty stop. It was no use to him right now—and not just because he was exhausted.

Something about this place made him uncomfortable.

As he stepped, the mists wafted away from him as though repelled. The thought of taking them in made him faintly nauseated.

There was a dissonance. The Laws diverged. Fire and Ice did not agree with each other. Somehow Fire, Electricity, and Steel all felt friendly. But Darkness, Ice… they felt far away. Like Yin and Yang, or something.

He felt eventually, if he tried hard enough, he could probably grasp hold of a few Ice Laws. It'd just be grueling to use. It wouldn't work with the rest of him.

Right now, at least. One day, though.

These Laws… they felt to him like part of a bigger puzzle. A puzzle bigger than the puzzle he was trying to solve right now. He had to solve this one before he got to that one.

He took note of this Cavern of Insight, just like he'd done with that Sharpness one way back when. For now, he'd focus Fire, Electricity, and Steel.

The sun was setting. He walked back to shore, found a nice bed of snow, and sprawled on top of it. He was out in minutes.

***

He woke up hugging a fallen branch.

He frowned at it, then he realized what he was doing. He was just so used to Reina being there…

He sighed.

Second floor time.

The stairs icon was in the middle of the lake, not far from the Isle. It was a spiral staircase corkscrewing deep into the ice, far out of sight. He heard shouts as he neared the entrance. He looked up.

There was a wide arc of white dots splayed out against the far shore. Watching, some shouting, cheering, waving at him. The Factions he'd met yesterday.

He just gave them a thumbs-up. Could they even see from out there? Whatever. He started down the stairs.

A bunch of neatly cut, long, slippery ice slabs, one after another. The ice walls let in the morning sunlight in bent, abstract streaks. It was like going down some very inhumane aquarium exhibit. Fish crowded around the stairwell, staring sightlessly. It was kind of eerie—the stairs cut straight through a school of them. For a few yards, he was lost in glimmering red scales. He passed a narwhal-like thing with glossy yellow eyes as big as he was. He could swear they swiveled to watch as he went.

It wasn't long before the staircase opened into a craggy, wide tunnel, and he was in the second floor proper.

Up ahead, the tunnel split in two. One going left, one right.

The one going left had tunnels on tunnels on tunnels. It just kept branching, seemingly forever. He saw ghostly ape-like shapes drifting about, dragging their knuckles on the ground. Flashes of bright blue lit up a branch in the far distance. A fight?

It had to be Vanessa.

Then there was the tunnel going right. Instead of a bunch of narrow tunnels, it opened up to a huge cavern. Then another, and another still, going down one straight path, all linked.

One of these must be going to that Frost Giant. And the other the Leviathan Glacier Whale.

He scratched his head. Then he went right.

Not a hard choice. Vanessa seemed not to like him. And he just liked working alone.

The cavern was a giant underground—under-ice?—lake. Its walls were the same pure ice, lightly reflective, giving a blurry view of the world above. Ice floes drifted about from one end to the other, making a makeshift path across the water. There was a tunnel down the other end…

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕: 𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣 ℍ𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖 (ℂ+)

What?

𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣 ℍ𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕒𝕟 𝕦𝕟𝕦𝕤𝕦𝕒𝕝 𝕟𝕦𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝕦𝕟𝕦𝕤𝕦𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕙 𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔹𝕠𝕤𝕤. 𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕥𝕒𝕤𝕜 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕪 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖.

ℂ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕: 𝟙 𝔹-𝔾𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕖 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖, 𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕓𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕪𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕞.

𝔸𝕔𝕔𝕖𝕡𝕥?

This was new. He squinted down at the water and saw massive dark shapes swirling far beneath…

𝔾𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝 𝕆𝕣𝕔𝕒 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟟𝟠

𝕃𝕒𝕨: 𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔻𝕖𝕖𝕡 𝔽𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕫𝕖

𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:

𝔹𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕫𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝔹𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕥 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝕌𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕠𝕟]

𝕌𝕟𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕤 𝕒 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕦𝕝 𝕓𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕚𝕔𝕪 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕪 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖, 𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒 𝕝𝕠𝕔𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕫𝕒𝕣𝕕.

𝕀𝕔𝕖𝕓𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕣 𝔹𝕚𝕥𝕖 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝔼𝕡𝕚𝕔]

𝔹𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕤 𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕚𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕔𝕖, 𝕖𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕥𝕠 𝕣𝕦𝕡𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕒 𝕘𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕣.

These sounded pretty fun. He accepted. Ethereal blue light walled off the tunnel behind him and the tunnel ahead.

𝕃𝕒𝕚𝕣 𝕃𝕠𝕔𝕜: 𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣 ℍ𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖

He'd just beaten a Level 90 World Ranker. He figured he could drub a few whales pretty easily.

Only, how was he meant to actually fight these things?

Something was odd about this water… Zane stuck a finger in it. Frost instantly started creeping up the digit, and he jerked it out.

He hadn't really thought about the logistics of fighting underwater. It'd seemed pretty fun, but now that he was here… hmm.

His new body was great for a lot of things. Swimming was very much not one of them.

Eh.

He didn't need to go to them. He figured if he just stood there long enough, they'd come to him. The rest… he'd figure it out. He was pretty good at that.

So he took a couple hops down the ice floats until he landed at one just about in the middle.

Already the shapes took notice. They were swirling up to the surface. And fast. The floes began to teeter as the lake grew turbulent, shaking with waves…

He grinned. Then he reached out with his soul just to see, and felt the whirlpool of minds rushing up to meet him.

He recoiled.

He could instantly tell these things were different. There was something there, but it wasn't a soul like a human soul—it felt tainted somehow, stained with a deeply dark energy. At its core, there was this incredible lust for destruction. For violence. The moment the Orcas sensed him, he felt hatred spiking in them.

They hated everything that lived.

The water began to tremble all around him. He saw fins big as sails rising to the surface. He got out a Chain—and almost flipped his ice barge wholesale. He had to de-summon it to right the float.

He was stable for all of a second.

Then he felt a hateful mind rushing up right under him. He leaped straight up.

A sleek torpedo of a head blasted straight through the barge, rising fast out of the water, glistening with frost. Inky jaws unhinged, lined with rows of knifelike teeth.

He fed the Monster his Axe.

It was like dropping an anchor right through the beast's body. It carved through the throat, down its intestines, and it choked on tons upon tons of flaming steel. An explosion rocked its insides. It fell away, tiny eyes rolling back.

Then Zane was falling. And he had nowhere to land. And no less than three of the beasts were rising out of the water now, trying to crunch up a piece of him.

Shit.

He whacked one out of the air, got his Axe deep into the fin of another.

The third clamped its jaws around his waist and dragged him under.

He felt a shock of freezing water, water that sank its cold fingers deep under his skin, prying for his muscles, for his organs. And his Steel didn't protect him. He tried flailing for the surface—it was no use. He couldn't lift off. He was just too dense.

All the while those massive jaws tore into him with a huge force. Enough to chew through the hull of a tanker ship, probably. But not his body. It sank an inch into his arms and belly. Still deep enough to draw blood. And the others swarmed in…

Rising Sun Slash!

His arm moved so slow down here. And something about this water smothered his Laws. It took a huge effort to get it going—it was a sputter of a slash. It went half as far as normal, and took him almost three times as long to get off. Still enough to rip an Orca clean in two, and slice a flipper off another.

Then he felt his body smash into a hard wall. He'd hit lake bottom.

The Orcas swarmed around him, screeching so loud it felt like his head might explode, battering furiously at him. A huge one had him by the waist, just burying him down here. They kept pummeling him, spinning him, drive-by blasting him as he tried to right himself. He forgot which way was up. He realized what they were trying to do.

His Steel Body made himself stupidly heavy. Then there were the whales weighing on him, sinking their teeth into his ankles, bullying him into the ice…

They were trying to drown him.

He stopped trying to kick for the surface. Just wasn't working, not with so many of them pummeling him down. He just got out his Axe and buried it deep into the skull of the Orca holding him. Its jaw slackened.

Then he swept out in a slow, inevitable arc, and huge gobs of blood spurted into the water.

They started rushing him at once, trying to bully him, and he hacked into them, slicing through mouths, ripping up blubber and skin with ease. They couldn't hurt him. And one slice of his Axe could cave those huge skulls in. The only thing was, down here, in this cold, everything was so slow. He had to go one, by one, by one…

He was getting lightheaded.

He needed air. He had to get through them, then kick for the surface—he looked at his mini-map.

Shit.

There must've been dozens of dots swarming him. All at once. At this rate he'd run out of breath. Then it wouldn't matter how much power he had. He was done.

He was getting a little frustrated. It felt like the story of his life lately. He had all the power he needed. He just couldn't use it! Not in time, at least. If only there was some way he could get them all at once. If only his Electric Laws were strong enough... but two Minor Laws, against all that Major Ice Law in the water--and he didn't even have a Skill to apply them. What could he do?

…Wait.

Could you start a firestorm underwater? ...Logically, the answer was no.

Fuck it.

He got out his Axes.