Chapter 90 90 - Underground

Ryan's vision was somewhat surprising, on the other side of that mountain was another gigantic mountain range. The nearest part was a long pine forest, a dense region where the icy monkeys hid, and on a higher part of the region were a series of bipedal bear dens.

These creatures had a white fur that resembled that of an ordinary polar bear, however, they were a bit more intelligent and could walk on two legs. They were relatively peaceful animals, unless you were a fish.

'This dragon... do I need to defeat it to finish the challenge?'

<What is giving you this doubt?

'That portal, it looks a bit confusing. There are no nearby creatures to eliminate, and the challenges are not taking us to Crystaldrift'

Nyx emerged in front of her master, both were flying as they watched the chaos and destruction created by that dragon. 'Crystaldrif is on that side. The giant worm was down here... Something is out of place" She pointed to where the group members had moved to, "But the distance is still a bit far, it would take me half a day to get here by walking".

Crossing his arms, Ryan decided to finish off the Blue dragon and then follow the course towards the human village. Retrieving that green spear from his inventory, he positioned it and began aiming at that dragon's head.

'I hope I can sell that item after this...' He said, as he clenched his eyes.





Using all his strength, he fired that spear at an amazing speed. The metal went slicing through the air all over the valley of mountains, until it reached the center of that blue dragon's eye, even though he tried to dodge it, the speed was so intense that that monster was carried through the air until it stuck into a mountain range.

'I guess that's good enough'

Flying towards the dragon, Ryan found that creature stunned with a spear going from head to head. The monster was confused and could not move, its legs and arms were moving a little, as if the creature was having small spasms. The dragon had moved its head, so the spear didn't hit the eye, but the creature's brain.

Walking in front of the monster, Ryan realized that that creature had closed both eyes when it saw him. 'So it wants to die...' he concluded.

The dragon sighed one last time, before receiving a mercy strike, in an instant, that creature's neck was cut. But again, eliminating that dragon did not conclude the portal challenge.

'This is starting to make me worried...'

<A challenge stronger than a blue dragon...>

Before returning to try to find his group, Ryan removed the spear and the heart and core of that dragon. These two loots were too important to leave out, the heart of a dragon was a bit shiny and possessed a surprising heap of mana. In a way, it looked like some sort of living jewel of flesh.



Returning up to the sky, Ryan could spot shots from Roy's rifle. They were trying to signal the distance, the instant he saw those mana spheres being launched, his wings instinctively started flapping with maximum speed.

The group was in the middle of a forest on the other side of the mountain, they had advanced considerably in the almost forty minutes that had passed. With the view of the sky he could see Crystaldrift better, the village was really close, in a few minutes of flight he could get there.

Landing in front of the group, Ryan dropped to his knees on the ground, tired.

"I think I expended too much energy..." he said sighing.

"What good was calling that idiot if he would stay away from the group" Damian said as he warmed himself at a campfire. The group was in the middle of a pine forest, the woods were not that dense, having a clear view of the sky.

Aiming at the tanker's feet, Ryan used his 'Hyper Anthesis' skill. A root lashed out at the warrior's feet, launching him skyward. The shoulders of Damian's plate armor were thrown every which way, while the chestplate began to fall in front of his face. In the end, the tanker was stuck upside down in a tree, with only a rope of roots holding him up.

Approaching with a smile on his face, Kodiak said "I wonder if there's candy in that pinata?" the group began to laugh at the situation and everyone's spirits soared. Even Nivia had a small smile on her face.

With a snap of his fingers, Ryan lowered Damian to the dry forest floor. But the group needed to plan what to do, since everyone was feeling the same sense of confusion in that portal. Sitting around the campfire, Kodiak was the first to speak "The forest is giving me no direction, I can't hear my way around. Something strange is happening with this portal.

With his arms crossed and a tired look, Roy said "Snowy is not sniffing anything different, there are some monsters but the path doesn't seem continuous"

"I wanted to check that human village" Ryan said, pointing towards Crystaldrift, "But it is too far away to be part of the portal"

The brown haired Shaman was drawing on the ground, she was trying to make a map of the area "We got to the snow sea through the portal and then we found the snow crystal worm. Then we found the dragon that was on the other side of the mountain range, Ryan split off from the group while we dealt with those Lupis Kobolds. Maybe the challenge of the portal is inside the empty snow area." As she said this, with a piece of wood, she pointed to the area where the portal appeared.

Kodiak was thoughtful, staring at the ground, he was trying to remember the different types of portals he had seen in his few years as a traveler.

An idea then popped into Ryan's head "The fire elemental, can you still communicate with it?". Ruri nodded.

"Ask him to check the inside of that place by going down the wormhole"

The girl then closed both eyes, her features were changing, she was having trouble sending commands. But soon her features returned to normal, she was able to see through the eyes of the mask.

"Below the hole, there is a frozen dungeon. The crystal worm destroyed some, of the place, but it's definitely possible to scavenge."

Everyone in the group exchanged excited looks, Roy was jumping for joy at that news "I can't take this cold anymore!" he said excitedly.

* * *

A small red flame appeared below Ryan's feet, the sensation was a little strange. That fire was neither hot nor cold, and even if you touched it with your hand, you could only feel a strange sensation of having your fingers pushed by that energy.

This was one of the most important skills of a Shaman, Elemental Walking. Snowy the panther was the first to understand how those flames worked, running through the air a few meters above the snow. Then Ruri and Roy took off, leaving Ryan and Kodiak behind.

Still adjusting his shoulders, Damian questioned, "You're not going? You little shit. A snowball came flying in seconds in the middle of the warrior's forehead, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground like a turtle. "You need a little more manners, mister prodigy" The druid said, as he followed the group.

The elemental walking skill was extremely fast, still, it was not as fast as Ryan's flight. But somehow, the feeling of walking through the air was somewhat interesting. The group couldn't move too far apart, since they were all using Ruri's mana to keep themselves in the air. So, moving forward together for a few minutes, they soon reached the point where they had arrived.

Several clouds were appearing in the sky that was once as vast and immense as the sea. Falling in the distance you could see some of that snow returning from the heavens, a warning to everyone to hurry their journey even more.

The portal they entered through was a little smaller than before, this meant that his magic signature had diminished. "So it looks like eliminating those monsters was part of the challenge" Kodiak said as he watched the portal carefully.

"At least we got some monster cores" Roy said, as he moved forward to make the check of that place. The white panther followed in front, the two were taking slow steps. Heading towards the hole created by the crystal worm.

Ruri was checking the area below with the fire elemental, with a serious face she said "The spirit told me there are no monsters on the second floor"

Raising one of his hands, Roy was holding his thumb up "There are no creatures in the hole, let's go down"

The group used the remainder of Ruri's skill time to easily make their way through the hole that the worm had left. It was still possible to smell the putrid blood and guts of that creature, even though the body was on the other side, the monster had spewed blood all over that area.

When the group reached the end of the hole, they came across the rubble of a hidden dungeon. The crystal worm had fallen through the middle of one of the excavated tunnels leading to what looked like an old military installation. Following the dirt corridor, they came to an extremely bright crystal room. A strange light was flowing from all sides of that room.

"Did you guys hear that?" Kodiak said, as he looked everywhere, startled. A vibration was emerging from above and below. "Something is on top of us" Nivia said, as she looked down the hallway they passed through. The underground fortress was holding, but the tunnel collapsed.

"We're stuck..." Ryan said, clenching his fists.

//SleepyNotes//

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