Every step Ryan and Denzel took was like a battle. The blizzard storm made it even more unbearable to walk in the stacked up snow. The snow was so high that Denzel and Ryan were practically swimming their way to the cave entrance. By some miracle, they made it there without turning into snow popsicles. The entrance of the cave felt very warm despite the extreme cold temperatures outside the cave. "For the first time there actual rocks down here," Ryan said as his eyes glowed with joy. Denzel craned his neck to see what had Ryan yapping his ass out, and it turned out that unlike the previous caves that were made out of ice, this one was actually made of rocks. "I told you thus was the one." Denzel and Ryan unpacked their gear and removed their overall coats, revealing their new outfits.
Denzel was in an all black outfit with black gloves around both of his hands, which had blue gems embedded in them and steel-toed black boots.
•Black leather outfit (B-rank set)
- +40 AURA, +50 AGI, +30 ATA, and +30 DEF
- Passive; The set reduces noise and makes the user feel lighter.
Ryan was in a black and yellow outfit and had only a single white glove on his left hand. Ryan's boots had a yellow glowing sole that stored electricity.
•Storm Warden (B-rank set)
- +50 MP, +50 AURA, and +60 ATA
- Passive; The set increases the user's casting speed and increases the potency of strikes.
They both stared at their huge luggage and were wandering to keep it. "Soo.. where are we gonna keep the luggage this time?"Ryan asked Denzel with a look of ignorance. "I'll take care of this, System Inventory Open." All the bags got sucked into a black space that appeared after Denzel spoke. Ryan shook his head with a look of disdain in his eyes. He was pissed off by the sight he saw just a few moments ago. "Denzel, so what you're tryna tell me is that for the long time we carried those car-sized bags on our backs, we could've just done that! You're a beast with no heart. All the back pain and soared ankles were for nothing?". "Well... technically yes, but look on the bright side we were able to grow stronger just look at these muscles. " "Another word from you and I'll...."Ryan paused mid sentence to calm himself down because he wasn't ready yet for life imprisonment. "You wait, Denzel, I'll get you back for this," Ryan said as he clicked his tongue. They both stretched a bit because they were both soared from the useless job they had been doing. They started to make their way down the tunnel, engaging themselves in one of their useless arguments.
"Can you heat that?" Ryan said as he stopped walking. "It sounds like a waterfall," Denzel said as he moved closer to the walls. "How could something like that be down here?". "Ryan, I don't think we'll have time for that we've got company." Denzel and Ryan had not even been in the cave for long but were already about to have their first encounter.
"Huh.. more of these bunnies? Give me a break, "Ryan shook his head in disappointment. He was expecting something more as a welcome gift, but the white fluffy, friendly, sorry, not Soo friendly looking, red-eyed dog sized bunnies growling at them didn't meet his standards. "Let's get this over with quickly," Ryan said as his eyes glowed yellow.
[Monster Name: Ice Bunny]
[Rank: C]
[Level range: 35-38]
[Habitat: Icy Plains, 20th Floor]
[Weakness: magic or spells of any kind]
[Abilities: Ice balls & superspeed]
There were about 12 of these bunnies coming towards them, but Ryan and Denzel's cool and calm expressions didn't change. They weren't phased at all. Ryan raised his left hand, and lightning started conjuring lightning. This time, instead of shooting the lightning straight at the bunnies, he began concentrating the lightning into sharp rods in midair. This was the ability of his new gift, Plasma Manipulator. This ability helped him weild and manipulate all kinds of plasma as he pleased. Ryan condensed the lightning into solid rods and swung his hand down, releasing the rods towards the bunnies instantly piercing and killing them all. Denzel and Ryan had changed a lot over the past month. They had grown immensely. "Let's check out what's behind the wall", Ryan said as he pointed in the direction of what seemed to be a dead end.
"Okay, stand back and let me deal with this," Denzel said as some green energy began emanating from him, causing a huge gust of wing to blow. "Wind Break", Denzel said as he clenched his fist, releasing a large amount of the green energy towards the hallow wall, knocking it down to bits.
"The heck! Something's wrong. Denzel, are you seeing this?". "Of course, it's like a whole other ecosystem down here.... [This never happened back then.... how strange]". Indeed, what they saw in front of them wasn't making any sense to them
I mean, how was it even possible. A forest just like the done one on the first floor. "No, no, Denzel, things like this only call for trouble. Let's head back and.... Are you not listening to me!". "Chillax Ryan, what's the worst that can happen?" Ryan gulped as he remembered how many times he trusted Denzel and almost died.
The view before Denzel and Ryan, unlike the freezing wastelands, had trees and a waterfall, which, against all odds, was able to sustain itself in an environment like that. Something was off. Coincidentally and unfortunately too, Denzel didn't have any prior knowledge about this secret location, too. Once again, things weren't the same from his past life. "I prepared my will in advance so if I'm not able to make it out of this alive... So be it," Ryan said in a sarcastic tone that Denzel wasn't buying.
They walked and walked, and all they came across were trees with no forms of life anywhere in sight. "Denzel, we've been walking for a while now, and there still are no signs of life." No answer. "Denzel, Denzel!",Ryan turned and scanned his surroundings, but there was no Denzel in sight. Where? When? How did Denzel get lost without any prior notice or sign. Things were getting weirder.
MEANWHILE...
Denzel found himself at another side of the forest staring at an old overgrown ruin that gave off an eerie vibe....
END OF CHAPTER