"Man is this place cold or what?! You gotta' wonder where all this cold is coming from considering that it's summer." Rever rubbed himself, hoping to give warmth to his freezing body.
After another round of introduction, Rever's jaw dropped at knowing Arca and Alfonse's names. Rain and Ethan felt awkward and embarrassed, knowing they almost did the same, while Alfonse and Arca only felt annoyed.
Thus, after much praising and yelling and bantering and praising again, the group finally took their first step towards one of the archways.
They were walking for an hour, but still no sign of the exit whatsoever. The only good news from out of this was that they still hadn't encountered any beasts.
"D-d-do you think . . . t-there are . . . *gulp . . . g-g-ghost in here?" Ethan whispered as he roamed his eyes all over the damp mid-lit corridor with only the torches lighting the way. He moved closer towards Rain and gripped his clothes.
"N-no way . . . the Grandmaster didn't say anything about ghosts. And besides, real men ain't afraid of ghosts," Rever said with a laugh, voice shaking.
"That's right. So can you stop gripping my clothes? Your shuddering is rubbing on me." Rain mused as he didn't know whether to laugh or cry when Rever moved closer to him and grabbed his jacket.
"Shhh . . . I can hear something . . ." Alfonse stopped, face turning serious.
All of them paused in their tracks when they heard that faint, gurgling sound.
"W-what is that?" Ethan whimpered as his grip on Rain's clothes tightened.
"I-it must be the wind. Y-you know, it made weird noises upon entering small holes," Rever reassured, but with a stuttering voice, they only felt all the more nervous.
"Let's take a closer look."
Much to everyone's surprise, it was Arca who made the suggestion.
"I-I don't think that's a good idea." Ethan immediately countered, and his lips zipped tight when Arca glared at him.
"That's right. Why don't we turn back and chose another passageway instead?" Rever agreed with Ethan. His instincts told him that whatever it was that was waiting for them at the other end of the corridor was not a pleasant surprise.
"No. Arca is right. Let's continue. If we go back, chances are, we might find ourselves flanked from both sides with whatever is out there and other enemies that we don't know but are secretly following us." Rain explained which Alfonse nodded in agreement.
With a dimly lit passageway like this with only the torches as their light, there was a chance that they missed a spot that the shadows hid where enemies were lurking.
With three votes to continue, Ethan and Rever just let out a grunt of protest but still followed to move forward while occasionally glancing at their backs for fear of sudden attacks.
If it was other ordinary humans faced with this situation, they might have already gone insane. Stuck in an unfamiliar place with the constant fear of an attack on both sides and an idea that any moment they could lose their life, it was not just physically exhausting but mentally draining as well.
It was only their first day at school, and yet there was already a fear of dying!
This rite of passage is truly insane!
"I can see a light," Alfonse mumbled after walking a few meters more.
"Y-yeah. And I can hear that gurgling sound much clearer now as we are nearing that light." Arca pulled out her two guns at the ready.
"Everyone be prepared. Whatever is out there, I feel that it is not just an ordinary howling wind." Alfonse materialized his weapon, a lance, very fitting with his personality.
"W-why did you have to say that . . . ? T-that's the only thing that's been comforting me to continue," Rever grumbled as he materialized his weapon, a blowgun.
"Ethan, start gathering arcane energy. We need your spells at the ready," Rain instructed and materialized his weapon, a sword.
"Right . . ." Ethan materialized his staff and concentrated on gathering the energy around him.
Though you could start absorbing arcane energy early on, it was not advisable as your body would deteriorate over time if you constantly absorbed arcane energy more than your capacity. Thus, this absorbed energy needed to be quickly released as not to burden the body.
A person studying in the arts of spells had a completely different path than those studying in the arts of skills.
Skills didn't need any incantations to unleash. It purely relied on techniques combined with arcane energy for a more powerful attack.
Whereas spells required incantations to command arcane force to take shape in a full-blown attack or support.
Although both have a devastating attack power, both also have recovery time once used up. And the rate of absorption of arcane energy per second varied from person to person.
What was more, you had to be careful in gauging the amount of arcane energy left in your body. For once used up, your body would wither and die. That was why it became a number one rule just to use the arcane energy that was absorbed and never use your own body's energy.
It was complicated, balancing the arcane force. It shouldn't be too great to burden the body and not let it lower to the point of endangering your life.
But if you had gotten the hang of it, without much thought, you could gauge the amount of energy you needed without risking your life.
"Alright, let's go. Everyone be careful." Alfonse swept Rain and the others with one final glance.
After they nodded at each other, they stealthy made their advance towards that light.
Careful and cautious with each step, afraid to alert whatever was out there. With every step, the atmosphere turned colder and colder. Their skin tingled at the impending danger.
As they were nearing that light, Arca purposely walked behind Rain. She knew her place. She knew that her defense was among the weakest, and her weapon of choice wasn't made for close combat either.
As they took one final step towards that light, no one dared to blink nor squint their eyes at the sudden abrupt change in brightness.
All of them were stunned and paralyzed in place as no one believed what they were seeing.
Just a hundred meters away from them, in a spacious hall at the end of the corridor, stood a beast that was ten meters in height and twenty meters in width. Two-meter spikey horns protruded on each side of its head with an enormous mouth than its skull that oozed out a chill that could freeze even the air. Four eyes glowed blue and foreboding as its whole body emanated bone-chilling frosty air that was enough to freeze the entire place.
A Rank-A beast, Frost Titan (Pic)
----
"AH!"
"What is it?" asked the woman with red hair and an alluring physique.
The white-robed elder caressed his long white beard after he put down his teacup.
"I forgot to tell them that there is this Rank-A demon that loves to roam around the corridors. Ohohohohoho!"