Frostfire Legacy

Around the same time that Faeloria and Vanessa were busy fighting against the combined might of Selene's group and Chrona, Aster was also in the middle of something.

And no, it wasn't the maze that he was in the middle of.

Aster was running through the destroyed walls, moving as fast as he could, while trying to find the exit of the maze. However, while he was doing so, he passed through something invisible and activated it.

"Huh?!"

A magic circle appeared around his body, surprising him. He tried to move out of it but realized it was too late. The magic circle glowed brightly, making Aster close his eyes.

It didn't take him an instant to realize what it was—a teleportation trap! It happened so abruptly that he was shocked still for a few seconds right after his transition.

"This place is..."

After snapping out of his stupor, he started looking around, but the place was something unfamiliar to him. It wasn't anywhere within the maze that he destroyed, at least.

The place looked like a dimly lit cave, with the path being jagged, circular, and leading toward the deep darkness. Aster was standing in the middle of the path, unsure where to go from there.

Having no choice, he simply chose the right-hand path and walked carefully.

"Priodis Liora Consorie Sphar! Small Light Ball!"

Since it was too dark for comfort, he cast a simple light spell, pushing away the shadows. After letting it fly above his head, he continued walking forward, carefully watching where he stepped, to not fall for another trap if ever there was one.

"Master, there's something ahead... 🔥"

And just as he was wondering how long the path would be, Pyra's voice echoed in his ears. Turning to the side, she was actually out, floating beside his head, with Crysta a few inches behind her.

"Something?" Aster asked in wonder. "Can't you identify what it is from here?"

"I can't," she answered flatly. "All I could tell is that it's powerful. Way more powerful than your two escorts.🔥"

"..."

Aster stopped in his tracks and went silent. If whatever it was was more powerful than Vanessa or Faeloria, then meeting it would spell certain death—if not, it's still very risky.

But the problem was that he wasn't sure which side would lead to the exit.

"Should I go and check the other path first?" he wondered, looking back. "Huh?" but was flabbergasted.

The path behind him was now closed, as if there wasn't a path there right from the start. Aster frowned, confused as to what was happening. "Is this place a maze too?" That was the only explanation he could muster.

However, now that he had nowhere else to go, he had no choice but to head toward the powerful being that Pyra detected. His feet felt heavier, reluctant to move, but he had to forge on and see what it was first.

The sound of his rubber soles crushing the stones underfoot echoed loudly. Without a doubt, whatever it was at the other end of the path had already noticed him from the sound of his footsteps alone.

Minutes passed, and finally, the view of the narrow cave started to change. The rocky surface, dull-gray and bland, started to transition into a shiny metallic surface. Aster raised a brow, curious.

"Master...!❄" At that moment, Crysta flew forward as if to protect Aster.

With a wave of her hand, a thick wall of transparent ice appeared, blocking the path completely. Aster took the time he gained to see for himself what his current enemy was, but was left in shock.

"What is that thing?!"

The thing ahead of him was, due to the lack of proper words to describe it, an abomination. It was a gigantic blob of everything mixed together. It had eyes of various sizes, probably from various races, with hands and fingers of different shapes and sizes. Its body oozed with a black smoke, which looked dangerous to Aster even though he had no idea what it was.

"Master, that black haze is its Miasma! Please avoid getting in contact with it!🔥" Pyra explained as she went to back up Crysta.

With her twin sister blocking the miasma from reaching them, Pyra pointed both palms forward and controlled the temperature ahead of them. Without holding back, she raised the temperature to the maximum that she could without having to consume Aster's life. In an instant, the air became hot enough to make the metallic walls and floor turn burning red!

*GURGLE~!*

But even under that intense heat, the monster remained nonchalant. It was as if it couldn't even feel the heat at all!

'The black smoke disappeared, at least.' Aster mused, thinking that Pyra's effort wasn't wasted.

"Looks like magic doesn't work on this thing!" He concluded after watching for a while before pulling out a sword. "I'll charge in! Crysta, open a path and cover me! Pyra, just maintain whatever you're doing!"

"Easier said than done...!🔥"

Despite her short grumble, Pyra didn't spare any effort and even tried to increase the temperature. Aster, protected by the two's blessing, charged through the hot space. With his passive, normalizing temperature around him to normal room temperature, he couldn't be damaged by Pyra's attack!

"Haap!"

With just three steps, he reached the monster's side and swung his blade. As usual, he was using Elemental Sword Slash along with it—cast almost reflexively, not needing much attention anymore.

His blade went through the monster, chopping off a large section of its body. Although his attack succeeded, Aster frowned. After all, the monster didn't show signs of being intimidated at all. Rather, all of its irregular eyes turned toward Aster, locking onto his figure.

"...!"

At that moment, he felt as if he fucked up. "Crysta!" He shouted, calling for backup.

Without delay, Crysta followed his command and cast another wall of ice, separating Aster from the monster at once.

*WOBBLE!* *BAM!*

But just by moving its body and slamming it lightly against the ice, it quickly crumbled into a million shards. Crysta's eyes opened wide, unable to believe that her prided defense was broken so easily!

"Damn! This kind of monster should be something that appears right before reaching the demon lord in games! Someone like me, who's like just starting off from the beginner village, can't even fight it on even footing!"

Aster backed up but reached the wall the next instant, surprising him. He forgot; the path closed down as soon as he passed through it!

"Shit...!"

Just as he was thinking of what to do, the monster rushed toward Aster, rolling like a wheel. The many protrusions and the uneven surface of its body made it one disgusting sight, but he didn't have the time to even look away.

*BAM!*

The wheel-like enemy smashed against the wall shortly after. Thanfully, Aster had already jumped out of the way. If not, then he would've become just like the cave-like wall, smashed and caved in.

The power gap between them was too high, so fighting it wasn't an option. Thankfully, after dodging its attack, their positions got switched. "Let's run!" And without hesitation, he turned tail and ran away.

He had learned one important lesson while he was suffering from sparring with Ardra—if you can't beat the enemy, just run from it until you find a breakthrough! Of course, 9 out of 10 times, it still ends in a failure, but at least he could limit the damage he received in the end!

To add, the path he was running toward right now was the only path remaining. For sure, an exit exists somewhere around there. Aster prayed that he finds it without much trouble, allowing him to escape from his current predicament.

"...!"

But as soon as he got out of the first metallic passage, the sight ahead of him shocked him completely. The entire place was void of any paths. He was currently standing at the edge of his one and only path, looking down toward endless darkness. If he fell from that height, he'd die no doubt.

*GURGLE!*

Of course, he can't just stay in the same place forever. After all, a monster was hot on his tail! Aster looked around, searching for anywhere he could escape to. Without much trouble, he found a solid candidate for it—giant floating cubes!

Those cubes, each about three meters on each side, were floating randomly around, circulating the room. Aster could only say that it was magical how it was floating, given that it doesn't have any propulsion device—a plain, solid block of metal.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Master, hurry!🔥"

As he was dallying, the monster was catching up. Pyra urged him with an urgent tone, causing his hesitation to disappear, overwritten by fear of death.

*THUMP!*

Aster kicked against the edge, jumping to the closest floating cube below him, about ten meters away. However, his fall was a bit too fast for comfort!

"Grab on, Master!❄"

Thankfully, Crysta was alert. She quickly made an ice pocket attached to the giant cube, where Aster landed safely. His heart was still beating rapidly from almost falling to his doom!

But with this, he was finally safe... Or so he thought.