Frostfire Legacy

Chapter 268 Dimension's Core (1)

Around the same time that Faeloria and Vanessa were busy fighting against the combined might of Selene's group and Chrona, Aster was also in the middle of something.

And no, it wasn't the maze that he was in the middle of.

Aster was running through the destroyed walls, moving as fast as he could, while trying to find the exit of the maze. However, while he was doing so, he passed through something invisible and activated it.

"Huh?!"

A magic circle appeared around his body, surprising him. He tried to move out of it but realized it was too late. The magic circle glowed brightly, making Aster close his eyes.

It didn't take him an instant to realize what it was—a teleportation trap! It happened so abruptly that he was shocked still for a few seconds right after his transition.

"This place is..."

After snapping out of his stupor, he started looking around, but the place was something unfamiliar to him. It wasn't anywhere within the maze that he destroyed, at least.

The place looked like a dimly lit cave, with the path being jagged, circular, and leading toward the deep darkness. Aster was standing in the middle of the path, unsure where to go from there.

Having no choice, he simply chose the right-hand path and walked carefully.

"Priodis Liora Consorie Sphar! Small Light Ball!"

Since it was too dark for comfort, he cast a simple light spell, pushing away the shadows. After letting it fly above his head, he continued walking forward, carefully watching where he stepped, to not fall for another trap if ever there was one.

"Master, there's something ahead... ????"

And just as he was wondering how long the path would be, Pyra's voice echoed in his ears. Turning to the side, she was actually out, floating beside his head, with Crysta a few inches behind her.

"Something?" Aster asked in wonder. "Can't you identify what it is from here?"

"I can't," she answered flatly. "All I could tell is that it's powerful. Way more powerful than your two escorts.????"

"..."

Aster stopped in his tracks and went silent. If whatever it was was more powerful than Vanessa or Faeloria, then meeting it would spell certain death—if not, it's still very risky.

But the problem was that he wasn't sure which side would lead to the exit.

"Should I go and check the other path first?" he wondered, looking back. "Huh?" but was flabbergasted.

The path behind him was now closed, as if there wasn't a path there right from the start. Aster frowned, confused as to what was happening. "Is this place a maze too?" That was the only explanation he could muster.

But just by moving its body and slamming it lightly against the ice, it quickly crumbled into a million shards. Crysta's eyes opened wide, unable to believe that her prided defense was broken so easily!

"Damn! This kind of monster should be something that appears right before reaching the demon lord in games! Someone like me, who's like just starting off from the beginner village, can't even fight it on even footing!"

Aster backed up but reached the wall the next instant, surprising him. He forgot; the path closed down as soon as he passed through it!

"Shit...!"

Just as he was thinking of what to do, the monster rushed toward Aster, rolling like a wheel. The many protrusions and the uneven surface of its body made it one disgusting sight, but he didn't have the time to even look away.

*BAM!*

The wheel-like enemy smashed against the wall shortly after. Thanfully, Aster had already jumped out of the way. If not, then he would've become just like the cave-like wall, smashed and caved in.

The power gap between them was too high, so fighting it wasn't an option. Thankfully, after dodging its attack, their positions got switched. "Let's run!" And without hesitation, he turned tail and ran away.

He had learned one important lesson while he was suffering from sparring with Ardra—if you can't beat the enemy, just run from it until you find a breakthrough! Of course, 9 out of 10 times, it still ends in a failure, but at least he could limit the damage he received in the end!

To add, the path he was running toward right now was the only path remaining. For sure, an exit exists somewhere around there. Aster prayed that he finds it without much trouble, allowing him to escape from his current predicament.

"...!"

But as soon as he got out of the first metallic passage, the sight ahead of him shocked him completely. The entire place was void of any paths. He was currently standing at the edge of his one and only path, looking down toward endless darkness. If he fell from that height, he'd die no doubt.

*GURGLE!*

Of course, he can't just stay in the same place forever. After all, a monster was hot on his tail! Aster looked around, searching for anywhere he could escape to. Without much trouble, he found a solid candidate for it—giant floating cubes!

Those cubes, each about three meters on each side, were floating randomly around, circulating the room. Aster could only say that it was magical how it was floating, given that it doesn't have any propulsion device—a plain, solid block of metal.

"Master, hurry!????"

As he was dallying, the monster was catching up. Pyra urged him with an urgent tone, causing his hesitation to disappear, overwritten by fear of death.

*THUMP!*

Aster kicked against the edge, jumping to the closest floating cube below him, about ten meters away. However, his fall was a bit too fast for comfort!

"Grab on, Master!❄"

Thankfully, Crysta was alert. She quickly made an ice pocket attached to the giant cube, where Aster landed safely. His heart was still beating rapidly from almost falling to his doom!

But with this, he was finally safe... Or so he thought.