"All we know about what's inside comes from a few NorCal folk," Walter continued. "They were rich or lucky enough to have C-ranked escape portals on them. They got out. Well, the Faction Leaders anyway. Those things only let one man through. They say the Bosses were so strong their whole teams got wiped."
The old man shrugged. "Who knows? Could be they just saved their own hides. Could be their people are still in there."
Zane took a sip of the tea. "How many teams went in?"
"At least… say… fifteen?" said Walter. "That we know of. But most are dead by now, I'd guess. More keep coming, though. Those NorCal folk had to go running their fat mouths. Now folk are getting stuck in there—they're inside, sending out Rescue Quests. They're pawning the house to save them. For some of them their whole Faction leadereship's stuck in there. It's a joke. No one's coughing up Escape Portals for parties that big, especially not C-ranked. Only way they're getting out is if someone clears the dungeon."
It made sense to Zane. Escape portals were incredibly rare, especially for higher-ranked dungeons. You couldn't buy them from the Beacon Store, only pick them up as drops. Even Zane didn't have one.
Something stuck out to him, though.
"Hold on," said Zane. "'Pawning the house'?"
"Yep," grunted Walter, "There's four or five Rescue Quests floating around that dungeon—rewards are something like five, six C-grade Essence Vials per quest. They want out, and bad."
"Hmm," said Zane.
"You thinking of taking them up on it?"
To Zane, it sounded like free money. And a lot of it.
"I'll say this," said the old man. "You're not the only Signed who's come round these parts. You're not even the only World Ranker. And so far, far as we know, the first floor hasn't even been cleared yet. Could be you're the one to do it. I don't know," he shrugged. "That's all I know, though. You decide if it's worth it."
***
When Zane went out he found Henry waiting outside, pretending to drill his moves in the square. Zane sighed and went up to the boy. He agreed to have a friendly spar.
It felt a little awkward talking to Henry. He was like… well, like a kid meeting his favorite NBA star, or something. He was stammering the whole time. His eyes were shining. He spoke as if Zane was far more important and interesting than he actually was. Zane wasn't sure how to handle it.
And when the spar came around, suddenly the square was alive with people. It felt like the whole Winter Warrior Faction crawled out to watch—there must've been a hundred-odd people in parkas standing in a loose circle, cheering.
Zane tried not to embarrass the kid. But it was weirdly hard. The power difference was just too big. Even without using most of his strength, the difference in fighting experience—in fight intuition—was also too big. Walter had it right, the boy had heart. But he was too predictable. When he rushed then, swinging wildly, all Zane saw were holes.
Eventually, Zane got out his Chains, which drew gasps all through the crowd. A chant came up: "Axes! Axes! Axes!"
… How did they know about his Axes? Zane thought, ducking another one of Henry's wild screaming blows and giving the boy a soft tap on the backside which sent him sprawling. It was always a little jarring realizing people talked about him. People he'd never met. Even somewhere as remote as these mountains.
He supposed they weren't that far apart, in the grand scheme…
They'd been nice enough to him, so Zane did get out his Axes—to wild cheering—and did a couple of twirls with them. He made sure never actually to hit Henry, though he did send the boy's spear flying.
In the end, he gently bound the boy with his Chains, made him yield, and that was the end of it.
Afterwards, Henry came up to him and asked for some tips. Zane didn't feel he had anything profound to say. He just gave some basic advice—don't swing so wildly, time your shots better, that kind of thing—and Henry listened a little too intently. Zane got the sense he'd take these words to heart forever.
Zane wasn't built for… whatever all this was. Too many eyes on him, he felt. He scratched his head; he just wanted to punch monsters. They were all stood around staring at him—He wasn't sure if he was meant to give them some kind of inspirational speech or something. In the end, he just left it there and wandered off. They seemed happy enough.
Before he left, Walter asked him to sub-Faction for protection. Zane put him through to Reina.
He also borrowed the Winter Warriors' essence began to check out those Rescue Quests. It was like Walter said.
𝕌ℝ𝔾𝔼ℕ𝕋: ℝ𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕦𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕒𝕥 𝔸𝕓𝕪𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕝 ℂ𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔻𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕟!
ℂ𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 ℝ𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕖𝕣𝕤, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 ℝ𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕙! 𝕎𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝕗𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕓𝕪𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕝 ℂ𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔻𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕟. ℝ𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕦𝕖, 𝕖𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕓𝕪 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕦𝕗𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕖 𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕤, 𝕠𝕣 𝕓𝕪 𝕔𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕟!
ℝ𝕖𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕:
𝔽𝕚𝕧𝕖 ℂ-𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕜𝕖𝕕 𝕍𝕚𝕒𝕝𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖
There were four quests like this, some offering three Vials, some offering seven. If it wasn't Vials it was other essence treasures. All of them had a prerequisite to accepting them—the System had to recognize them as a World Ranker.
Zane took them all.
If he cleared the dungeon, that was enough essence to boost him past Level 90, probably. He was feeling pretty pleased as he set off for the Abyssal Crater Dungeon.
***
He set off around noon. There was one last climb through a wintry forest. The trees, tall and solemn, had boughs heavy with fresh snows. His footsteps crunched as he went.
It took half an hour of climbing before he saw the peak coming up—a wide rocky lip. A few leaps took him to near the top of it.
𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕: 𝔻𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕠𝕟: 𝔸𝕓𝕪𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕝 ℂ𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕣 (ℂ+)
ℂ𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕆𝕓𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤:
𝕊𝕝𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕩 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕊𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕤 𝕏
𝕊𝕝𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕆𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕠𝕣𝕕 𝔹𝕒𝕤𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕜
𝕊𝕝𝕒𝕪 ℕ𝕪𝕞𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕒, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕫𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕎𝕠𝕝𝕗
𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕣
𝕊𝕝𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝔾𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕚𝕖𝕣 𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕝𝕖
𝕊𝕝𝕒𝕪 𝕁𝕠𝕥𝕦𝕟𝕟, 𝕃𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕣 𝕀𝕔𝕖 𝔾𝕚𝕒𝕟𝕥
𝕆𝕓𝕛𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕄𝕖𝕥: 𝟙/𝟝
Zane wondered at it for a moment.
Five bosses. It was the biggest dungeon he'd ever been in.
Nymeria? Jotunn? He'd never seen bosses with names before. Curious. He wondered how they were different.
At last, he crested the rocky ridge.
It went left and right for miles in a slow, long arc that made the lip of the crater. And below, sloping down hundreds of feet, was a sprawling landscape of snow and ice and stone, peppered with trees. There were frozen rivers and ice-covered rocky outcrops, and frozen waterfalls draped all over. Bitter winds swirled, drifting snow.
In the distance, on the far side, there were even little lakes hissing steam where flowing water gurgled—as though geothermal vents lay hidden beneath. A strange little micro-climate amid the cold.
The whole place glittered in the noonday sun, brilliantly white, brilliantly blue. Almost blinding.
But that was just the crater's rim.
The centerpiece lay in the middle. And it dominated Zane's sight. A frozen lake. A mind-bogglingly huge expanse of ice, so large it dwarfed the already-massive rim.
It was a blue so bright and pure it seemed unreal. It threw back the color of the sky, but even brighter. It was so clear Zane could see the tunnels stretching far underneath, crossing over one another in an infinite lattice, a hidden world under the ice. He saw schools of strange, monstrous, large fish frozen in between. He saw huge gray shapes even farther beneath—were those whales? Then below even them, he could make out the outlines of murky chasms where vague ghostly creatures shifted, scarcely seen…
The Second Floor.
Zane was not an easily awed man. But this… this was breathtaking.
His gaze shifted back to the surface.
There was something in the middle of that vast frozen lake. From afar it looked like an island topped with trees so pale they seemed like ice sculptures. Even from out here, Zane could feel the Law flowing off it like heat—not any Law he knew.
That had to be the special treasure area. It was a little too far to make out even on his mini-map. But it was a Law treasure area—that much was clear. Something like a Cavern of Insight, he guessed? Which was a little disappointing— For now, at least, it was useless to him. He was still too fried from his last Law session—
Wait. Was that… a person? It was a little hard to see. Could be blonde hair, could be ice… no. Some woman stood there, hands on her hips. She was tall and slim. That was all he could make out.
He couldn't see her face from out here. But for some odd reason, he swore their eyes met.
She turned and vanished behind the trees.
Odd. Well. It seemed the Cavern—treasure area—whatever it was, it was in use. He scratched his head. If he was in there comprehending Law, he probably wouldn't want to be disturbed.
He'd clear the Bosses first, give her space for now. But he'd check it out before he went to the second floor, at least. Hopefully she'd be done by then.
He started his way down the slope, got into the thick of the crater rim. It was all rocky, snowy forest.
It wasn't long before he came across his first patch of X's. A team had died here, in the middle of this innocent-looking snowy clearing. He wondered what killed them.
He kept walking. Soon enough he found out.
Red dots popped up at the edges of his map—a clump of them, moving shockingly fast. Zane turned to face them, frowning. They burst into the clearing so fast they seemed one huge streak of white light, almost indistinguishable from the snow they padded on. They panted heavily, their thick breaths frosting the air. Low growls tickled their throats. Their eyes glowed red. Great fangs stuck out of their mouths like saber-tooth tigers.
ℙ𝕣𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕧𝕒𝕝 𝕊𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕎𝕠𝕝𝕗 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟞𝟟
𝕃𝕒𝕨: 𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔽𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕥𝕓𝕚𝕥𝕖 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕀𝕔𝕖)
𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:
𝔽𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕥 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕘 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [ℝ𝕒𝕣𝕖]
𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣'𝕤 𝕓𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕚𝕟𝕗𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕤 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕥𝕓𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕧𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕞'𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕞𝕓, 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕝𝕪.
ℙ𝕒𝕔𝕜 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕕 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [ℝ𝕒𝕣𝕖]
𝕎𝕠𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕥𝕙 𝕚𝕟 𝕡𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕦𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕓𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕡𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕪, 𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕠𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤 𝕤𝕦𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕝. ℙ𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕎𝕠𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕣𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕞𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕧𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕝𝕪 𝕠𝕦𝕥𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕡 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕚𝕟 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝.
Their weaknesses—belly and throat.
There must've been twenty or thirty of them, all in the 60s. Zane had hardly registered them—they were already on him, falling like an avalanche. His Axe was out in an instant. Too slow. The frothing mad beasts tore into him.
Before Spirit Steel Body, that might've been the end of him. Those fangs were wickedly sharp. So were those claws. They would've shredded even high-Level human skin.
Before Man of Steel, even if they hadn't instantly killed him, those fangs would've shot frostbite so deep he would've been immobilized. Easy pickings.
But now it felt like stepping into a fast-flowing stream and watching the water course around him. They left thick white scratches on his skin. They couldn't even break it—it kind of amused him, watching them scrabble and hack.
They were fast. He'd give them that. He had almost no time to react.
They crowded around, snapping, yowling. Two had lashed onto his thigh and were trying to gnaw it off. The rest were shredding his clothes fairly well. Not so much anything else.
He casually got out his Axes. Rising Sun Slash!
It was nice of them to put themselves in such a clean row for him.
A new color flooded this blue-white world. A furious yellow-red. It made a simple, almost lazy circle.
And many, many wolves found their top halves falling away from their bottom halves. They clawed at the air, had a moment of blinking shock.
Then there was a lot more red.
Zane kept walking. He imagined these things had something to do with that 'Blizzard Wolf' boss. He was in its territory.
Time to go hunting.