The iron doors behind me closed with a metallic creak. The walls of the cave were now covered with glacial ice, cold and glowing under the light that passed through cracks in the door.
[Did you really have to break his knuckles?] Dante sighed.
It was self-defence. He tried to kill me.
[Yeah, yeah, whatever...]
Ignoring Dante, I moved through the narrow passage. The maze was freezing cold, but I had my dark steel enchanted with frost resistance.
Gotta plan ahead.
My goal today was to finally get the Astral root that will help me make the cure for Aeris. But it was not that easy.
This goal. I was not able to accomplish it for three months straight.
I have been visiting this cave for the past three months, clearing each floor of the maze, but there was no sign of any Astral Root. Well, on the side, I also did some other requests from the board.
But mostly I searched for the Astral root. I wanted to give up my search here, but then I remembered that it had the highest chance of spawning on the middle floors.
I should've noted down every little detail about the game's mazes, other than just the cool gears.
For Frostcove Maze—It is a frozen maze, as the name suggests. No one knows where the Mazes emerged from, but I can assure one thing.
They definitely aren't normal occurrences.
A maze is like a dungeon, I guess the game developers or whoever created this world, wanted to be unique and give it some other name.
Each maze has a different number of floors with a boss on each 5 floor. The Frostcove Maze has 15 floors in total, with three bosses. One on the 5th floor, another on the 10th and the last one on the 15th floor.
Each maze has its unique types, like the Frostcove maze here, which has enemies with ice elements. Mana beasts like frostwolves or Draugrs with frost-enchanted weapons or undead frost mages are quite common in here.
It really depends on the nature of the maze.
As for me, I have cleared till the 4th floor but did not find any Astral roots. They are blue glowing roots found under a tree with frosted blue leaves.
These trees grow under very cold temperatures and are the reason why they have a higher spawn rate at the Frostcove Maze.
But I have to get past the 5th-floor boss.
As the narrow passage ended, I stepped into an open area with other people around. They were with their parties, killing mana beasts and collecting their cores. Which is later used to make mana stones.
I walked past them, my eyes drifting up towards the ceiling. The ice spikes could fall down at any moment if a single spell is fired.
I needed to go to the fourth floor today, then clear it. After that, the fifth-floor boss fight, which I am not sure about.
Should I gather a party?
[Maybe you could, it gives you experience dealing with people.]
You know what, no. I have beaten him in the game before; might as well beat him now.
Ghaugh!
Before I could decide further, a piercing sound echoed from my right side. I turned my head towards the direction, a smirk appearing on my lips.
My eyes met those of a rotten figure—Flesh, rotten and old, still clung to his bones. A small axe in its hand, which pulsed with a faint blue glow. Instead of eyes in its skull sockets, it had glowing blue orbs.
A Draugr.
Ghaugh!
It let out a sound, perhaps its war cry and dashed towards me. Its bones were making rattling noises as it touched the icy floor beneath us.
His axe arched forward, cutting through the air with a swift strike. But before it could land, I dodged to the side. My feet skidded on the ice with a scratching noise as I held my footing.
Reaching for the blade on my waist, I grabbed its now-cold hilt. Unsheathing it with a swift movement and pointing it towards the skeletal mess before.
What a fucking drag...
My eyes focus on the draugr, who moved like a drunk old man. It turned around, its glowing eyes staring me down before sprinting towards me with its enchanted axe.
I lunged towards him, my bastard sword held back in a thrusting position. Ready to end the wobbly menace in front of me.
My blade met its ribcage, breaking through the ribs before plunging itself into something. A huge outburst of mana occurred from the draugr. Its arms flailing and dropping the axe.
Its blue orb eyes darkened as its limbs fell one by one. The frame broke with a rattling noise that echoed throughout the whole floor.
"Well, what did I expect from a low-level Draugr?" I muttered, sheathing my blade into the scabbard and knelt beside the draugr, pulling out a pulsing blue orb from its broken ribs.
It was the Draugr's Mana core, which I can sell to the guild for money.
Croft, is it any good?
Croft is a really helpful system, other than just tracking my stats. Although I can see she was also hiding something from me, just like Dante, I can't just interrogate them.
I have no way of doing that.
But other than that, she is useful in narrowing down locations or keeping track of things I've just done or want to accomplish. I no longer have to scribble it down on a parchment.
Which is sure as hell convenient.
And also, she can tell the dates and times of future events, which I, albeit, find very suspicious, but at the same time, not. I mean, whoever gave her to me knows about the future just like I do.
Which scares me.
I don't want to be tangled in some prophecy that might've already started due to me being transmigrated into Noah's body.
Well, I can figure that out later.
I made my way down towards the second narrow hallway that leads to the second floor of the maze.
Entering the large vicinity of the second floor, the cold increased which slightly bit into my skin even with frost resistance on my armour.
[Noah, you have some friends here.] Dante alerted me.
And he was right.
Ghaugh!
Rattle!
Gurkhk!
My eyes narrowed at the sound—Few Draugrs, one with a bow rusted with time, and the other two carried a sword and shield.
I slightly stretched my arms and neck, then unsheathed the sword from its scabbard. My shadows danced around my feet before coiling and forming a small and sharp knife.
I grabbed the knife and threw it at the archer who stood behind the other two Draugrs. The dagger whistled through the air before hitting the archer right at its left arm, a black spot forming in the place.
The Draugr flinched, its eyes landed on me. And while pointing its finger towards me, it roared something to its two sword buddies. Definitely an order to attack.
[Shadow Mark] is successful. A slow, twisted grin played on my lips as I extended my arms forward. My shadows coiled around my hand, my feet—My whole being.
[Shadow Step]