MAZE - The Endless Quest

Nimbus took to the skies, but as he passed by the opening on top of the cave, the island started attacking him. Shards of ice and large chunks of frozen water flew at the Sentinel with deadly precision. If it wasn’t for his barriers, he would have a hard time flying around. Even then, he didn’t have that much time as the longer he stayed in the sky, the harder the attacks became. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for him to notice a path heading deeper into the island.

As he came back to the ground, Hera and the others were already running across the path, leaving the cave. For now, everything was just ice, but it was clear that snow would also be a problem, or maybe their saving grace. Running over ice wasn’t easy. Helena wasn’t really running, but using her shadow grabbers to carry her. Hera, Vulcan, and Yulan were all leaving small pieces of molten ice behind as the Fire Elemental Armor still burned. Even with that, it was still hard for them to run properly. The floor was too slippery. Hera almost fell to the ground a couple of times with her tail being the only thing that saved her. Yulan, on the other hand, tumbled three times, having to roll around on the ice to get back up. Vulcan didn’t have that kind of problem since he was just staying still as Sun, Glacia, and Clay worked together to pull him. Letting the kangaroo skate through the ice using his bare feet.

Before Nimbus even came back from the opening above, Hera asked everyone to stop near one large ice rock that could help them steady their footing.

“Give me a minute,” she quickly opened the [Explorer Blueprint] skill, searched for the simplest shoe she had saved and started tweaking a few details.

“What are you doing?” Helena glanced to Yuwei, who was currently breathing slowly while in Vulcan’s pouch. She was doing mostly ok, but that wouldn’t last long.

“Some snow shoes,” the Ophidianite glanced at Vulcan, “Or ice skates. For you, that might work better.”

“Oh. Can you do that? I thought it took a long time for you to get a blueprint yourself,” Helena asked.

“It does, but I can edit the ones I do have to some degree. Those are not going to be good snowshoes, and I would much rather make something different, but it’s what I can do for now. If it’s cheap enough, we can at least swap them as we need,” Hera explained as she started moving the details of a particular shoe in the skill. She wasn’t going to change the sole, but instead the decorations on the outside to transform them into spikes.

“Is this really the best option? Can’t you use a spell to make your boots better to walk on ice?” Helena asked.

“I don’t know one like that. Do you?” Hera asked.

The mage shook her head.

“Then… Viper, start trying to make a spell like that. An armor type spell and focus it on feet. Think you can handle it?” Hera asked the pair of floating daggers. The entire court was out, ready for anything that could show up.

Viper hesitated, ‘I don’t know if I can make it in time to help here, but I’ll try!’

“That’s all I’m asking. Don’t worry if it takes too long. We can always try something later. Worst case, we see about getting some ideas when we are back in civilization,” Hera smiled at the white dagger.

Viper nodded and flew to the Empress waist. It would be easier to work if he didn’t have to worry about moving around. It took Hera around 10 minutes to finish up the shoes. Most of that time was spent on her own pair and Vulcan’s, since the two had the largest changes. One of the disadvantages of having claws instead of nails. Yulan had surprisingly big feet, which made her pair of shoes cost a bit more mana than expected. Still, Hera was able to make them for everyone.

Nimbus had already returned, and they soon continued moving forward. Walking became easier, but it was still hard. In all honesty, Hera wasn’t sure if the delay was worth it, but she wasn’t going to bring that up. The path led them, seeped into the island, then up, towards an ice tunnel. Only after that, they were able to see the outside.

A snowy path led them to the left, going around the massive ice block in the center of the island. Outside, the ground became mostly snow, which made the shoes Hera created not very useful. Thankfully, all they had to do was take them off. Yuwei was no longer looking at all that comfortably, but she still put on a brave face.

‘Hera, I think her body is fighting back against the cold, that’s why her temperature keeps rising,’ Vulcan spoke in their minds, as he noticed Yuwei starting to struggle.’

‘Is she still awake?’ Hera asked.

‘Yeah. But it’s not looking good.’

‘Nimbus, can you fly again? See if there is any place where we might be protected from the cold. Maybe there is a house or something,’ Hera asked without stoning her movement. From the jagged pieces of ice on the left, a group of seals with sleek fur that shimmered in the light appearing almost crystalline emerged.

The seals growled at the group and jumped under the snow, vanishing from sight. It almost looked like they were small rodents digging through the ground as they approached.

‘Empress!’ Nimbus stepped between her and the incoming seals.

‘Go. We got this. Vulcan, you take care of Yuwei. That’s your priority, Clay and Sun, you cover Vulcan. Everyone else with me,’ Hera quickly gave her command and the group split off. Nimbus begrudgingly took to the skies once more before the seals made contact.

The monsters popped out almost like dolphins jumping from the water. A small trail of ice being created right after their bodies, showing that this was the effect of some sort of skill. One of the seals jumped right to Hera’s side, its mouth opening with a white glow before it tried to bite down. The Ophidianite evaded the attack, moving backwards, but the very air around the bit seemed to freeze and fall to the ground.

“Don’t let them bite you!” Hera called, but the rest of her group didn’t need that warning.

Helena was swatting the seals away like flies, using a series of shadow and light whips that seemed to move on their own. In addition, she summoned her [Shadow Wasp Guard]. Or guards in this case. Two black wasp knights emerged. One of them had six legs, with two of them in the front and another two on the back, carrying the abdomen of the wasp. On its hand, there was what looked like a large broadsword. But instead of Yellow and Black, the wasp guard was mostly black, with a small line of white light coming out as if the shadows were struggling to contain the light inside. While the first guard was large enough to even carry Helena if she needed, the second one was smaller. It only had two legs and two arms, but also a pair of wings. The wasp guard carried a honeycomb shaped shield, and a lance. Its whole body kept the pattern black shadows trying to trap the light.

“That is incredible!” Yulan gasped.

“Since when can you make two?” Hera asked as she dodged an attack from a seal, letting Pyro cut the creature in half.

“I got the skill to rank 3 the day after the battle. That’s the first time I call the second one,” Helena replied as one of the wasp guards crushed a seal with the shield.

“You are going to need to start naming them,” Hera smirked.

“Probably, I’ll ask for help if no good idea comes to mind,” the mage chuckled, “We should keep moving, the seals don’t seem to be stopping.”

Hera glanced back to the part of the ice where the seals were coming from. Like Helena said, they still rushed out in waves of 5 or 6 at a time.

“Yeah, maybe it’s a proximity trigger. If not,” Hera paused, “Let’s just hope its proximity.”

They continued moving along the path, trying to run from the seals that still continued to attack as Nimbus flew up to see if there was any place where they could rest. He was barely five meters above the ground once the ice attacks started again. But this time, it wasn’t simply ice shards or blocks of ice. But weapons, swords, spears, staves, and glaives. Every single one of them is made out of pure ice. In a way, the Sentinel felt as if he was being attacked by another version of the court, but at least those blades didn’t have the same maneuverability. They just continued forward in a single direction. Once he blocked, dodged, or parried them, the weapons would continue flying off into the distance. Or so he thought. After reaching a certain height, Nimbus realized the missed attacks weren’t just continuing randomly. Instead, they were almost caught in a wide air current that went all the way around the island before going back to him.

Even with all his defenses, barrier and stats, if one of those weapons hit him after getting this much momentum, the Sentinel wouldn’t come out unscathed. And if all of them hit, it was likely he would be destroyed. Which means, he had to figure out whatever he needed to figure out soon, before the ice blades did a full lap around the island.

Quickly changing tactics, Nimbus changed to his griffon form and started flying as fast as he could. The eagle eyes helping him noticed anything that could be hidden in the area. At first, nothing came into view, but after a moment, when he was about to dive in order to return to Hera, he saw a small pagoda in the center of the ice formation in the middle of the island. Not just that, but there was grass and flowers near that building. The only area on the entire island that had anything of the sort. To get there, he could risk flying people over, but doing that with Yuwei would be a problem. Alternatively, there was a path directly north of the pagoda that stopped in an ice wall. Maybe that ice was thin and brittle enough to let them break through.

With that information in hand, the Sentinel dove, a few moments before the first group of ice weapons made a complete lap around the island. He landed on the ground and spun around, going back to where Hera and the others were. Nimbus arrived just in time to see Livy wrestling with a bear with blue fur that constantly created ice with its claws. Even so, they were no match for the Leviathan, who slammed the creature so hard on the ground that the ice underneath the snow cracked. Behind everyone was a swarm of monsters, the Frostling Seals, the Azure Polar Bears, and the Frostbound Apes, primate creatures with shaggy white fur and elongated limbs. There were some blue streaks all around their body, mixed between their hair and the skin. All monsters rushed towards them.

However, despite the number of creatures, no one seemed to be in danger. Hera and the court were all several meters away from the creatures and they were making sure to be at the end of the pack to stop any monster from trying anything. Vulcan was right after Helena, who was being carried by one of her [Shadow Wasp Guards]

‘I think I found something,’ the Sentinel told Hera as he returned to his blade form. He wouldn’t be able to run properly through all the snow.

“What did you find?” Hera asked.

‘About 200 meters ahead, there is a thin wall of ice to our left. That might take us to a house.’

“A house?” Hera frowned.

Hearing that, Yulan, who was also being carried by the Shadow Wasp Guard, spoke up, “If a cultivator is living here. They should be in a proper house. Not just in the wild.”

With a nod, everyone redoubled their efforts, making sure to gain some ground over the monsters so they could attempt to enter this passage or whatever it was before being caught by them. It didn’t take long for Nimbus to warn them they had arrived, but there was nothing there. No thin layer of ice, just the same clef going up to the top of this massive ice block in the middle of the island. Still, Hera trusted her blade.

The Empress told her court to spread around the wall and triggered Ariadne’s [Echolocation]. The mana from her relic bounced off the ice, unable to reveal anything, until a wave coming from Vulcan reached a small tunnel a few meters ahead. It was a tight fit, but it was clearly an illusion.

Hera had to dismiss Livy, while Vulcan passed Yuwei to the Empress. The tunnel was too tight for a kangaroo to jump around. Helena crossed first, with the rest of the ground right after her. Everyone hoping that the monsters wouldn’t be able to follow them. And to their luck, they were correct.

Just as they arrived on the other side of the tunnel, the temperature changed drastically. They were no longer shivering due to the biting cold, and now, just a bit chilly.

“What the-“ before Helena could continue her question, a voice rang in everyone’s head.

“Come to my house at the top of the hill. We have much to discuss.”

Yulan’s face lost all color the moment she heard that. Only after a long pause she was able to explain her reaction, “I… I think that was Lady Yu’s mother's voice.”