"Hmm, it should be somewhere around here~?" Ivan spoke nonchalantly with one hand on the control of the aircraft, and the other waving around the compass. Thanks to its special property, locating the final dungeon was as easy as wishing for it to guide him.
"As expected of concept magic!" Traveling in the blizzard surrounding the Schnee Labyrinth would've been impossible if not for the aircraft Ivan had no doubt the environment was a part of the dungeon's trial as was the heat in the Gruen Volcano.
"It's amazing we were able to find the dungeon in the first place…" Canis muttered aloud, as easy as Ivan claimed it to be, locating what seemed like a crevasse in a sea of snow and storm of white was no easy feat.
"...Neith is landing in it either…" Ivan grunted listening to the hailing snow smack into the aircraft like rocks against a car.
Thankfully the aircraft entered the realm of alien-like technology otherwise the group would've been stricken out of the air hours ago.
"Despite how tough the ship is, I'd like to ask everyone to buckle in! For all, we know this dungeon has some sort of anti-air artillery to attack those who have any advantages!"
Though unlikely, Ivan decided he should take the precaution anyway. Descending into the crevice was what the compass had directed but expecting the dungeon to be right there when they descended was a bit naive.
Odds were they'd need to travel a bit through the crevasse before reaching the actual dungeon.
RATTLE RATTLE
It took 15 minutes before they finally landed safely. Before exiting the aircraft Ivan went ahead and had everyone line up.
"Here are your wristbands!" Ivan dangled a dozen silver wristbands engraved with snowflakes on them, using gravity magic he handed each of his partners a band.
It didn't matter what band each person received as each one automatically fitted to resizing specifically for the wearer.
"With this, we step foot on land that hasn't been stepped on before in— actually, Freid claimed this dungeon first so I guess this isn't exactly untouched land…" Ivan sighed before just hitting the button to open the hatch.
Sirens whirred and the steel hatch on the floor descended to make a ramp for those within to access the outside world. Immediately the group was hit with a gust of cold air, and they decided to at least experience some of the climates before activating the weather resistance.
They regretted their decision the moment they felt the atmosphere before holding the button on their wristbands.
A translucent blue film enveloped their bodies and counteracted the coldness of the air as if it had been a mere dream. Though there was still a psychological effect to looking at the land before them.
White as far as the eye could see, flakes flew down from the sky in packs making it hard to see farther than five meters in front of them. The sky was darkened gray and the sun's effects had diminished the world around them from vibrant colors to a grim gray.
MOOSH
Ivan's foot sunk to his ankle the moment he stepped foot onto the thick sheet of snow. "Hmm…" He hummed lightly before looking over at Yue worriedly.
She seemed to not notice his stare, as she rushed to his side taking steps onto the snow without any hesitation.
PHOOOM
Yue stood with a deadpan expression as she stood still with snow reaching up to her knees. She glared at the others snickering behind her before taking another step forward, stopping as she only sunk further.
"Mm… it would seem the dungeon's trials have begun…" Ivan would've found Yue's comments more believable if not for the veins threatening to pop out of her head.
"....."
Without a word he lifted her by the pits of her arms, setting her on his shoulders before marching forward. The others stared on before snickering when they felt Yue was far enough.
"So judging by the compass we should go this way!" Now that they stood at the bottom of the crevices many routes into the snowy mounts became visible to their eyes.
Thankfully they acquired the compass before attempting the Schnee dungeon otherwise they'd have to traverse each tunnel to find the true dungeon.
And so the group marched forward, traveling through the icy tunnels that seemed to stretch on forever. Every once and a while they'd be distracted by their reflections off the reflective ice walls.
"This is just about enough to screw over any warriors that use large weapons or god forbid, large weapons that require swinging…" The ceiling of the tunnels was so low that Ivan would only have to stand on his toes to rub against it, swordsmen would likely have their swords strike the ceiling before any enemy they met.
"Which means we should be running into something soon…" And yet as time passed the group didn't run into a single enemy, only a couple of cute pristine rabbits sitting at the end of the tunnel in a somewhat open field.
"Awww~ They're so cute!" Felis charged forward with Canis following close behind, without hesitation she lifted one of the rabbits and nuzzled it against her face.
"Hey, Ivan… is that—?"
"Yeah… most likely they're enemies…" Ivan responded to Yue's inquiry with a wan smile. Watching as things played out with one of his wrists pointed to the distracted Felis.
"Hehehe~ It's so soft! So warm too!" Though she had no reference for what these creatures were, Felis felt attracted to their cuteness in the same way she was captivated by the allure of the rabbit men's fuzzy ears.
What she didn't notice was the approaching Canis, who curiously stretched her hand out to pet the rabbit's ears.
"!?" Her hand jolted as the rabbit made it into her weather defending barrier, without a second to waste her opened hand turned into a claw that hooked the rabbit by its nape.
"...Huh?" Felis voiced out with wide-opened eyes, turning to her sister before seeing her chuck it with all of her strength.
BOOM!
"....." The group stayed in silence before staring at the crater that had been created in the cliffside of the ice wall that had been opposite the tunnel.
"W-Why?!" Felis screamed aloud before shaking her sister's shoulders ferociously. Canis only shook off her sister's hands before picking up a nearby rabbit and throwing it toward Ivan.
He caught it without flinching before fondling it in his hands. He ignored it nuzzling up against his hand before sighing aloud. And then like Canis he chucked it far away.
BOOM!
"Everyone, refrain from allowing these rabbits to come in contact with your person. Just touching them will sap the heat from your bodies, even with the protective barrier they can take every bit of your heat and kill you."
Immediately after announcing those words, the gauntlets on his fists shot a flurry of silver needles toward the pack of cute rabbits.
They only let out a single squeak before being encompassed by an explosion and flames. It seemed that though they were dangerous they didn't have much of a danger instinct. And as such, they only stood there when being approached by super speeding needles.
Felis cried aloud for each rabbit slain, swiping her claws through tears despite her fondness for their cuteness.
While Canis took a bit of enjoyment from it, having her sister bawl in her ears about how much of a monster she was was a bit excessive even in her ears.
Tens of temperature sapping rabbits turned into hundreds.
"Ah shit, they're pouring in from the ceiling!" Like a tidal wave, a wall of white fluff came hurtling toward the group, threatening to crush them with their softness. As Ivan mentioned their method of approach came from the cracks in the ceiling that just barely allowed for their figures to pass through.
"As much as I wanna dive in there, I'm not very certain that the comfort of that wave will suffice for the life that's lost…" Ivan spoke with regret, yet his hands kept launching lethal device after lethal device.
Thankfully, Yue was the crowd control master. Elemental dragons swarmed the area and tore through hundreds of rabbits at a time.
Tio bellowed a wave of her own, consisting totally of flames. Though she expanded quite a bit of her mana as flames other than in the advanced magic class wouldn't be able to survive in the cold environment.
As for the others… They didn't have much of a choice and sat in the back whilst AOE attacks attacked discriminately, while Canis and Felis couldn't die they still experienced pain.
So for them, it was better to allow the veterans of the group to do the work, they felt they already took care of enough to be deemed a challenger by the labyrinth anyways.
By the time the group was done, all that remained was a mountain of charred and torn apart rabbit heads. Their numbers… likely in the thousands.
"D-Do you think this was part of the trial?" Claire voiced her concern, as the rabbits might have just been native creatures wandering the area.
"Either way they would have been a detriment to our team, I know for sure we have to pass through this area to challenge the labyrinth. Better deal with them now rather than having them jump on our backs in the middle of a fight… so yeah, there's a good chance they were a part of the trials~"
Ivan had no shame condemning the lives of the rabbits, he did however feel bad for Felis who looked as though she had seen some terrors.
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Humu, I'm finally done with this chapter~ This was more so a chapter made for me. I had some fun with it and kept it short. I'm hoping by doing stuff like this I could reduce some of the burn out I feel. But anyways, thanks for reading.
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