Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The updraft was so powerful that Simon felt like his wings and flight skill was useless here. His body was flipped up and down, left and right before being finally sucked into the centre.

At the same moment, Denzel who was fighting hordes of Red Killer Orcas dozens of miles away from where the snowstorm was, took hurried breaths of air. His body tattered by the numerous battles he had gone through and his left hand that was holding the rapier, was trembling ever so slightly.

If not for the fact that he had trained the way of the sword diligently as if his life depended on it under the guidance of his master, he would have long fallen prey to these monsters who suffered next to no damage when he used his intermediate tier Flame Magic.

Though his mastery of the sword had saved his life numerous times, it was still unable to beat the effects of this place that was slowly chipping away at his strength.

"Argh dammit, what is wrong with these guys? Why can they chase me even when I use [One Sword] to cover my presence" Denzel who was currently running away from a group of six red Killer Orcas, complained at the injustice.

When in the beginning only a single of these monsters appeared, he swiftly disposed of it thinking of it a quick exercise. However, after a few hours passed and there was no contact from his teammates nor any news of the mechanism, he had started to become a little impatient.

His frame of mind that was still a bit immature, started taking out the anger on these Red Killer Orcas and before long he found himself surrounded by dozens of them. His strength had decreased over time and he had also failed in his job to scout the areas.

Somehow the training that he had undergone through childhood, was able to snap him out of this trance before the situation went any more downhill. Realising that he had no chance if he simply wasted time fighting them, Denzel utilised his swiftness to open up a distance between him and his enemies and ran like mad.

Though he did not act like one, he was still a child and couldn't help the tears pooling around the corner of his eyes when he thought about how he might possibly die here where nobody could find him.

He did not know how long had passed since he only focused on running and after a while, he was out of breath. The fact that he couldn't see the two other people who had entered with him through that portal, weighed on his mind.

The transmission conch that he gave everyone, didn't ring which could only mean that just like him, they too failed to find the mechanism that is generating this snow.

Left with nowhere to go and enemies surrounding him from all directions, Denzel was just about to give up all hopes when he saw the terrible snowstorm at the centre of this white world that he was indirectly avoiding, show some faint disturbance.

The pillar of colossal snow that was rotating in the centre of this island at an insane speed started to show some disproportion in between and the thick arctic clouds on top of it, glowed with peculiar lights.

Denzel did not know what was happening, but he could tell that his enemies, the red killer orcas were clearly afraid of it. When they saw the huge snowstorm show some weird movements, they started cowering and dived back into the sea without even looking back.

The way they swiftly retreated back was as if… "Are they afraid?" Denzel asked glancing at the holes on the glaciers that connected with the sea below. He then looked back at the snowstorm at the centre before deciding to slowly walk towards it.

Although the terrible energy fluctuation coming from it was still too fearful; nevertheless, he gritted his teeth and walked towards the place. That area was the only place which the red Killer orcas were afraid of and hence did not approach it.

Thinking that he might get a moment of respite he slowly paced towards the distant snowstorm only to realise all of a sudden that his strength was no longer being sapped by the falling snowflakes.

"What is happening? Did someone deactivate the mechanism?" Denzel asked feeling the unknown sensation that was restricting his stats, dissipate away.

                                                                      -----

"W-what is with this place?".

Simon involuntarily uttered when he saw the scene that lay in front of him. He was currently inside a dark gloomy ruins filled with an aura of desolation and antiquity.

Recalling back to what had happened, he was pulled inside the colossal snowstorm and experienced a strong energy fling his body round and round. The next thing he knew he had lost consciousness and appeared inside the ruins when he opened his eyes back.

To be frank, after the centrifugal energy tossed him around inside the storm, he thought that the choice he made with his life on the line, was the wrong one and was regretting it internally.

"Did the storm at the centre of that snow world an entrance to some portal that threw anyone here who was sucked in?" Simon wondered as he observed his surroundings. As far as he could see the wall had cracks, filled with peculiar writing and weird paintings.

There was moss all over the walls indicating that the ruins he was in, was very old and had seen the vicissitude of time. The ceiling reached as high as twenty meters and water sometimes leaked out from some of the cracks.

He was currently standing in a wide hallway with a road leading straight forward, behind him was just a wall and not any gate or portal that he thought brought him here. With only a way forward and no path to go back, the decision was fairly simple for Simon.

He first tried to activate his skills and only then did he risk going forward. It was also at this moment that he realised that he was no longer under the effect of the peculiar phenomenon where his stats were gradually being suppressed.

Feeling power return back to his body, Simon felt his mood improve and he hurriedly took out the transmission conch from his space ring to call the two people on the other end.

Surprisingly, the transmission got through which told him that these ruins was somehow connected to the snowy world.

"Oh~ as I thought, you were the first one to discover the mechanism weren't you? So where are you right now?" the first one to pick up his call was Lucine. Her teasing voice rang out from the transmission conch and from her tone, he could perceive that she was not the slight bit surprised with him finding the mechanism first.

Simon told her about the snowstorm in the middle of the snowy world and how it was a portal leading to the ruins that he was currently in.

Surprisingly, the moment he mentioned the ruins, her tone became a notch serious and she hurriedly ended the call leaving only a message that she would be swiftly there.

Next, it was the boy who picked up the call and his high spirited voice came in through the other end of the transmission conch.

"Mister thank god you found the mechanism, I was so fed up fighting those fish monsters. It seemed that the mysterious effect of the snowflakes stopped, did you destroy the mechanism already?".

Simon tilted his head at that sudden question from the boy, his face showed that he was confused by those words. "Wait a minute, what do you mean by the mysterious effects of those snowflakes stopped? I did not find any mechanism but I did find a portal that led to a ruin".

Perhaps he expected too much critical thinking on the little boy's part, but the answer he got was fairly straightforward.

"Oh if it's not mister… then perhaps it is that lady who found it. Ah! Right, the snowstorm at the centre, made some bizarre movements before the mysterious effect of the snow disappeared. Anyways this place no longer suppresses our strength anymore".

Simon knitted his brows and digested the information; it seemed too much of a coincidence that the stats suppressing effects of the falling snow disappeared when he reached this place.

"It's like whoever created this place, designed it in a manner of a trial where you have to proceed with one hurdle to get to the next " Simon mumbled, the suspicions that he had about this place being some trial of a kind, was getting stronger and stronger.

"What??" the boy who was on the other end of the transmission conch, asked confoundedly.

"It's nothing. Anyways, if you don't want to get chased constantly by those fish monsters, you better run towards the snowstorm. It's a gate that leads to the ruins I'm currently at" he quickly told the boy about the existence of this place before ending the call.

Simon did not dislike the honest to a fault personality of the boy and although he held a minor grudge against her for leading her master towards him, Lucine never did anything directly to harm him.

In his previous life, when Simon had fully immersed himself in creating the game neglecting even his health, he had a friend who would always call and visit him. That friend of his would always try to persuade him not to overwork himself till he ruined his health and even go as far as to visit his house sometimes with homemade food that his family had prepared.

However, that was until Simon had shunned even him. He didn't pick up his call, stopped going home and even avoided him when he came in person.