While Butterbell worked on preparing some meat cuts from the Water Salamander they killed, a commotion was brewing in the depths of the lake. A group of Water Salamanders had detected the unfamiliar scent of blood, an aroma that proved irresistible to them. They surged toward the hole at breakneck speed, driven by an insatiable desire to sink their teeth into the source of that scent. One by one, they emerged from the lake: first one, then another, and soon there were over ten Water Salamanders standing on the island.
Even though the prey they were looking for was not there, they picked up the faint scent of Butterbell's blood lingering in the air. This enticing odor drew them toward the house's main entrance, One by one they slowly crawled their way to their target.
Meanwhile, everyone inside was unaware of the danger slowly closing in on them. Butterbell was cutting the catch with full dedication, Creambell was boiling water in the cauldron, and Moonlight was talking to Finn.
"It's truly unfortunate that you cannot taste Creambell's cooking," Moonlight sighed wistfully. Her eyes sparkled with fondness as she continued, "He's the best cook I've ever had the pleasure of meeting in my entire life."
Creambell, who was making the preparation for the meat, smiled as he fetched a small shaker from his coat and seasoned the boiling water. "I still have much to learn, your highness," he humbly declared, his voice carrying across the room.
"You're being too humble, Creambell," said Moonlight, her smile reflecting both warmth and admiration
"By the way, can you truly make the meat taste delicious? I mean, there's no seasoning here," Finn inquired, curiosity evident in his voice.
"That's not a problem. Creambell always carries seasonings in his coat. There's no doubt that he's a great mage, but he's an even better cook," Moonlight shared with a hint of pride in her tone.
"Yeah, you should open a tavern, Creambell," teased Butterbell as he was cutting meat.
Creambell shot back with a quick response, "And you can be the butcher of my tavern."
"It depends where you are going to open your tavern," said Butterbell.
Moonlight playfully chimed in, "How about here?" she suggested with a grin.
Butterbell paused for a moment, then delivered his punchline, "Well, I'm afraid my butchering skills are best left in the kitchen, not the haunted house business! We wouldn't want the spirits here to haunt me out of sheer envy."
Everyone in the group laughed at Butterbell's joke, even Finn, who couldn't help but chuckle at the friendly teasing.
But then, a sudden change overcame Finn. His laughter ceased, and his face turned serious. Witnessing this shift, Moonlight's laughter faded, and she asked with a concerned expression, "What's happened?"
"We have some visitors," replied Finn, his face taking on a grave expression.
Hearing that, Butterbell stopped cutting meat, and Creambell paused his cooking as they looked at Finn in seriousness, expecting a further explanation.
Meanwhile, Finn felt a sharp object near the door, and in an instant, he felt some more sharp objects on the outer walls of the house. They were not inflicting any damage on him, but he was concerned that he might soon receive damage. "I'll be right back," he said as he teleported himself outside the house, positioning himself about 15-20 feet above the ground.
What he saw outside was terrifying, to say the least. A horde of Water Salamandars had surrounded the house, and they were scratching each and every wall of the house. However, because of the high armor, the Salamandar's basic scratch wasn't effective against the house. Still, Finn was worried about their special abilities. He wasn't sure if he could withstand multiple water gun attacks.
Finn promptly teleported back to the house, retrieved a sword, and then returned to the hall. There, he found Butterbell and Creambell standing beside Moonlight, armed and vigilant, all facing the main door to protect their queen. As they noticed Finn with a sword and a serious expression, they couldn't help but ask, "What's going on?"
However, before Finn could respond, their attention was abruptly drawn to a piercing screech at the door. Moonlight's face twisted in fear as she asked, "What is that?"
Finn wasted no time in responding to her question. "We're surrounded by more than a dozen Water Salamandars," he revealed, his tone tinged with seriousness.
"What're we going to do now?" asked Moonlight, her voice filled with fear.
"I'm going outside to try and kill as many Salamandars as possible. However, if, by chance, they get inside, do your best to defend yourselves," Finn explained.
The pixies gulped in fear as Finn teleported outside the house. He positioned himself a little away from the house and taunted the creatures. "COME AND GET ME, YOU FILTHY MONSTERS," he shouted.
His loud scream acted as a catalyst, and all the salamanders charged at him. Finn engaged in a rapid one-on-one battle with them. Although the salamanders couldn't harm him, they managed to inflict damage on the sword, which was part of the house. Finn slew one salamander, then another, and a third, but when he confronted the fourth, the sword reached its limit. It shattered and transformed into stardust.
Finn quickly re-strategized his approach to the fight. He decided to employ magic, but it required him to use an object from the house since his astral form lacked mana. Similar to how damage to the house reduced its health points, mana was also one of the house's attributes. The house itself could harness mana for using magical abilities. To access and control these magical capabilities, Finn needed to engage his astral body to interact with an object from the house and channel magic through it.
Finn wasted no time and transformed a few kitchen utensils into the sword he just lost, resuming his battle against the monsters. To gain an upper hand, he began using his abilities to trap some of the salamanders with sticky threads and deadly slime. However, after defeating five of them and taking numerous blows from the others, his sword shattered once again. This time, instead of regenerating his sword, he teleported himself high into the air to get an aerial view of the island. What he witnessed filled him with terror: more and more salamanders were emerging from the hole in the frozen lake.
Finn promptly retreated to the hall where the pixies were present and urgently declared, "We must seal the hole, or you are not going to survive."
"The hole in the lake?" asked Butterbell.
"Yes," replied Finn, "more salamanders are emerging from there. Perhaps they've caught your scent, and now they're here to hunt all of you."
"And how are we going to do that?" asked Butterbell.
But in the meantime, the main door was flung open with a crash, leaving nothing to bar the salamandars from reaching the pixies. The first salamander, standing at the entrance, lunged at the pixies upon sight. Finn acted swiftly, transforming several other objects from the house into the sword he had used earlier. He jumped right in between the pixies and the salamandar, and inserted the sword into the salamandar's chest, killing it in an instant.
As Finn moved ahead, he replied, "I will make a way for you. Once you reach the hole, seal it as fast as you can."
"Understood," shouted the pixies, determination gleaming in their eyes.
Finn walked at the front and used his sonic blasts ability to briefly stun the salamandars, while Creambell tried to help by throwing fireballs, although they didn't seem to do much damage to the creatures.
After some time, everyone reached the hole safely. Then the second step of the plan was executed. To temporarily seal the hole, Finn used the sticky thread ability to cover the hole with Drag Spider thread. Then he stood between the pixies ,and the salamandars approaching them. He kept firing sonic blasts and water guns at the creatures, relying on Creambell to seal the hole. But surprisingly, Creambell joined the fight by launching fireballs at the salamandars.
Observing Creambell's unexpected actions, Finn looked at him with confusion as he continued to fire sonic blasts at the salamanders. In disbelief, he shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? SEAL THE HOLE!"
Creambell looked at Finn, and clarified, "I'm a fire mage. I cannot do anything to seal the hole."
"WHAT!" exclaimed Finn, his eyes widened in shock.
"Don't worry. Our queen can use ice magic. She'll close the hole in no time," informed Creambell.
Finn turned his head and saw that Moonlight was using ice magic to seal the hole. She had successfully sealed 80% of the hole in just a minute. However, as she worked on sealing the remaining 20%, she heard a thud on the ice a little distance away from the hole she was focused on. This startled both Moonlight and Butterbell, and they turned their attention to the portion of the ice where they heard the noise. A moment later, they heard another thud coming from the same location. This time, Creambell and Finn also grew curious. "What was that?" asked Finn.
"I don't know," replied Moonlight, her voice filled with fear as she kept her eyes fixed on the location of the thudding sound. Just a few seconds later, they heard the thud once more, and this time it was even louder. Whatever was striking the ice from beneath the lake had succeeded in shattering the ice in that specific part of the lake.
Whatever had shattered the 5-inch-thick ice sheet in just three blows had also managed to drive away all the salamanders from the area. Creambell and Finn let out sighs of relief. However, a profound terror gripped everyone due to the mysterious monster responsible for breaking the ice and scaring away the salamanders.
Everyone cautiously retreated a few steps from the cracked ice area, their eyes locked on the floating ice pieces in the lake. Fear gnawed at their hearts, causing them to beat rapidly.