Chapter 10: Frozen Flames
We closed in the gap between us and the Phoenix, as we dash we felt the scorching winds and the rumbles of the ground as we dash through the perilous terrain. Both my sword of light and Reinn's flames burned brighter than the Phoenix's flames
we hacked through the wings of the injured beast and the attacks of our Masters followed.
The phoenix let out its final screech before it lit up and imploded in to a condensed golden colored magical stone. Beside the magical stone is a stone with an engravement on it
the moment I got near it, it burst into flames with a bluish hue "What?!" I stumbled back and stared at it for a moment, Master then picked it up with her hands as it set ablaze "This is a hearth stone, it brings us back to the entrance of the dungeon if you wish to leave." She said as she stores it in her magical storage "I'll be holding onto this as we descend… we cannot rest in this place due to obvious reasons yes?"
Vincent-san nodded, Reinn was just staring at his sword silently
Vincent-san then picked up the sword and shot it with lightning, the stone seemingly stopped time for a moment as the golden glitters from the stone drifts away with the scorching hot wind. Then at that moment, I felt a chill came along with the wind.
The wind that was coming at us became so strong we had to take cover from it, but as the seconds passed the wind drifting towards us brought snowflakes and ice from where it was coming from
I peeked behind the boulder we were hiding from and there was a huge portal standing at where the stone was shattered, it bends the space around it and brings us a glimpse of what could possibly be in it, Reinn ran past me and gestured at me to follow him.
When I looked around our Masters were already gone.
Reinn and I walked inside the portal, and I felt my blood freeze. In front of us was a witch,
it's a "Demon witch?!" Master said as she stumbled back, while Vincent-san was staring daggers at it
The witch was wearing a mage���s robe and her hat that symbolized most witches, her pale white skin and black hair is so striking as it gets accentuated by her clothes' purple color
Vincent-san clicked his tongue, "That's not a demon…" he said as he dashed towards the Witch
the Witch raised her wand up in the air "Magic!!!" she shouted and the tip of her wand lit up, Vincent landed a punch on her face and the Witch stumbled back
she glared at Vincent-san who's standing in front of her with his eyes glaring at her.
The Witch stood up shakily "I may not be a demon but I can protect my position in this labyrinth!"
the Witch shot her spell at Vincent-san, but the moment Vincent flicked his fingers all the spells within his range got cancelled.
the Witch staring at Vincent with a terrified look, her eyes glowed with a faint greenish hue. But she immediately covered her eyes with her hand and she seemed to be in pain "G-get away!!!"
she pleaded
Master placed her hand over Vincent-san's shoulder "That's enough"
Vincent-san walked back and Master caressed the Witch's back "Hey Witch-sama, can you help us get to the bottom floor easier?"
the Witch glanced at Master with a terrified look, it was as if she saw death herself with her unexplainable expression. She crawled back a bit "I-if if… I-I were you I'm gonna leave this place immediately… the guardian of the labyrinth is nothing you can imagine. A golem capable of world destruction resides within these walls, this place is built not for people to venture in it, but to keep what's at the bottom to be contained" she said as he grabbed the collar of Master's clothes
Master gave her a gentle smile "It's fine… we'll be fine, we're more than capable"
the Witch looked down "I'm sorry, but I can't…. at the moment that is"
Reinn walked up to her and asked "What should we do?"
the Witch sighed "I need to recover my mana… let's continue talking at my hut" she whirled her wand around and the storm disappeared
Reinn and His master are lagging behind us
This Witch is odd… she's extremely cooperative in a way
I'm gonna be wary of her, I don't know her motives but I feel like it's not good.
A few hours of walking on snow made us sluggish but there we saw the trees seemingly sparkling over the cottage's flame in the fireplace through the windows of the huge cottage "Isn't this way too convenient for a labyrinth?"
the Witch shook her head "I've been guarding this level for several hundred years now, and you are the first ones that actually reached my level within the labyrinth" she said with a blank expression.
we all walked up to her cottage and the ambience of the place is… heartwarming? It's weird "This place wont kill us right?"
the Witch nodded, we all sat down on the chairs within the cottage and she began serving tea "It's not poisoned, and I just wanted to talk to all of you" she said as she sat with Master and Vincent-san
The Witch removed her hat and placed down a rock that glooms in darkness "This is the boss of the last floor's magical rock" she said with a sigh "I had to collect it since it died when the golem rampaged at his cage, since then, the floor next to the golem has no guardian for several decades now"
she stared at Master and Vincent-san "Will you take my request and end that monster's reign of terror throughout this labyrinth and set us all free?"
Vincent san grabbed her by her robe "Stop misleading us, where are you planning to take us after the collapse of the dungeon" she smirked "So you want the hearth stone too?"
she stared at Vincent dead in the eye "The whole last floor's center is a portal hub that can transport you anywhere" Vincent-san's expression softened "fine, we'll go" Vincent-san said as he grabbed the rock and walked outside
Master nodded "Please come with us Witch-sama" she declined "I don't need to risk my life over people like you anyways" she said with a huge smirk on her face.
Vincent-san tossed the rock upwards and shot it with a lightning bolt
the Witch's eyes widened "Lightning?!" the stone shattered and got sucked inside it's own distortion, everything around started getting sucked into the portal.
Vincent-san jumped into the portal with master, Reinn grabbed me by the wrist and jumped towards the portal
the Witch inevitably got sucked in as well into the portal
before we knew it we were falling into a thousand meter drop from the sky, the sky here is much more realistic when I looked around. As we fall there are lush forests and a wide ravine with trees and vegetations over its sides and its cliffs. There's a river down the ravine and a huge waterfall on the side, the lush forest overshadowing the ravine and the birds fluttered their wings as they left the forest
we were falling from such a high altitude but all we could see was the wide forest, and not even a hole through the tree to see the land. Witch-sama suspended our fall and dropped us inside the forest of the last floor
we stood up and looked around
the Witch jumped of of her broom and walked towards Master "My name's Hanabi, the 6th guardian of this place"
they all started introducing themselves
she then used her ice magic with the combination of fire to create a detailed illustration of the whole place "The ice is the land where we are at right now and the fire are the life forms…"
"But a golem doesn't have life?" Master asked
Hanabi-san nodded "But they do have their own mana pool"
Vincent-san stood up and glanced at the ravine "So, where is this golem at?" Hanabi-san shrugged
Vincent-san jumped over the ravine and Reinn followed
"Reinn!" I tried to stop him but he already left
"Akina-chan" Hanabi-san said with a smile "We'll count on you once the Golem appears"
I tilted my head and asked them "Why is this golem feared so much?"
Hanabi-san playing with her fingers glanced at me "It's one of the 5 golems that a God created… this golem is the golem of life, these golems are not the golems the alchemists and summoners can match with… these golems are on a league of their own…"
she said as she sighed "We'll be waiting here until the two return" Master nodded
Hanabi-san then made a campfire using her magic and I ventured out into the woods to get used to the place.
Waiting for the battle, in which winning is almost impossible.
[E/N: Learn to differentiate the difference between its and it's, final warning. Thx for this Akina focused POV chapter btw.]
A/N: I told you to teach me the difference! -w-]