53 Chapter Fifty-Three

After Ikarus came back to the dungeon entrance and Brandon wiped away any tears coming from his eyes, the group was finally ready to begin their dungeon exploration. As they opened the dungeon entrance, the opening hallway was revealed to them. They were met with a long hallway with the interior of a frozen castle with black walls and black floors. A thin layer of frost covered every stone surface in sight, creating a chilly environment. The hallway was illuminated by chandeliers holding candles with blue flames, which further added to the gloomy environment before them.

As soon as they opened the door, a gust of freezing wind escaped the dungeon and blew past them. Their fur cloaks moved in the wind like flags and their heads of hair parted way for the wind. Edward immediately felt the cold air cover his body, so he quickly grabbed the edges of his coat and pulled them over his chest. Unfortunately, his new coat didn't have a hood- so his hair felt the full extent of the cold weather.

"This is freezing," Brandon muttered. The wind quickly faded away and the cold became less fierce, though it was still powerful enough to bother everybody in the group. As Edward looked at the hallway before him, he quickly realized that it was too small for the entire party of five to fight comfortably.

"Markus, you're in front. You're the only one here that has armor over your entire body. I and Leila will walk behind you to support you. Brandon, you're in the back," Edward ordered. Markus nodded and stepped forward, though Brandon pointed at himself in surprise.

"Why am I in the back?" He asked.

"You shoot guns, don't you? Your Endurance is too low for this dungeon, so you'll mainly be providing us passive luck," Edward explained. Brandon slowly nodded before stepping a few feet back. Edward looked at Ikarus and spoke in Draconic, "Hover over us and fire at anything that moves."

"Don't land on us if you end up falling," Leila replied in the same language. Ikarus scoffed and used his wings to lift himself into the air. Then, once the group was organized correctly, Markus took the first step and entered the dungeon.

Once Edward passed through the door, the cold air around him became even stronger. Luckily, there was no wind to make it worse. Edward quickly raised his hand and summoned a small ball of fire. Immediately, the cold air assaulting the group disappeared, replaced by a warmth similar to a warm summer day.

"That feels nice," Brandon whispered as he let his coat fall from his hands. Edward chuckled before looking back at the hallway before him.

'It's wide enough for our current formation, but battles will be tight,' Edward thought to himself. He looked up at Ikarus, then had an idea. He turned to Leila and asked her a simple question,

"Leila, how well can you fight if you're hovering in the air?" He asked.

"I won't be able to use Pyrokinesis well, but I can use Dragon Breath if I need to," Leila answered. She looked up at Ikarus as well, then back to Edward before giving a quick nod. Then, as thrusters appeared on the bottom of her feet, she rose into the air and stayed there just next to Ikarus. Once she was safely hovering below the chandeliers, she looked back at Edward, "Coming up?"

Edward shook his head and turned his head back to the hallway. Edward stayed on the ground, mainly because he couldn't fly with the same skill Leila could, but also because he could use his pyrokinesis properly. Edward wasn't nearly as talented as Leila when it came to manipulating flames.

While she moved like a martial artist- controlling even the direction a flame would travel, Edward could only move like a boxer. When he tried to make a kick attack, his legs lost balance. When he tried to create a tornado, only a gust of warm wind was summoned. The only reliable attacks Markus could use involved his fists to create fireballs and the soles of his feet to summon short bursts to move himself around. As such, he was a much more aggressive fighter while Leila was a much more elegant one.

I probably wouldn't be able to stay up there for long, anyways,' Edward thought to himself, 'I might just use too much power and smack my head on the ceiling.'

"Alright, now that we're inside let's make sure we stay alert at all times. I don't think any of us want enemies to sneak up on us while we're not prepared," Edward told the group. Markus looked back at Edward and nodded, then unsheathed his greatsword.

"I should get a shield," he muttered to himself. Edward smiled, then pulled out a small piece of parchment from his pack. The parchment was empty, but as the group walked ink magically appeared on its surface.

"Is that a map?" Brandon asked as he turned to Edward.

"Yes. The floor layout for dungeons will change every time a new party enters the dungeon, so a map like this is an essential purchase," Edward smiled, "It'll help us move around if we get lost, but I have to be holding it for the path to be recorded."

"Oh, give it to me, then. My passive luck will still work even if I don't have any weapons in my hand," Brandon smiled. Edward nodded and passed the map to Brandon. However, as soon as it touched Brandon's hand, a massive amount of ink suddenly appeared on the parchment.

In a moment, the entire floor's layout was recorded on the map. Each hallway, corner, and even every single dead end suddenly appeared once Brandon had a hold of the map. Even the boss room for the floor boss- what was considered a miniboss for most dungeons- had been marked.

"Is that-" Edward stammered as he gazed at the map. He looked at Brandon, who also appeared shocked. Then, Edward let his mind out of his mouth as he thought aloud, "Lucky bastard."