The fierce cold wind tore at every inch of their skin, with the chill always finding unknown crevices to seep into their hearts.
"Where are we now?" Dr. Holloway pulled his cloak tightly around him, letting out a hissing sound as he breathed in, clearly feeling the cold wind rapidly drawing away the warmth from his body.
Su Ming felt the same; the thermal retention of the Holy Statue Armor was never great. However, his body was stronger, able to withstand it more than Holloway.
"If I'm not mistaken, we should be in Nepal, at the southern foot of the Himalayas."
Su Ming looked around, seeing vast snowy peaks surrounding them, with not even a building in sight.
"There's nothing here. That Young Mage might have deceived us."
Dr. Holloway wrapped his cloak tighter, crossing his arms over his chest. As a doctor, he knew rapid loss of body heat could be dangerous, so maintaining core warmth was essential.
"No, he wouldn't. I'm an acquaintance of The Ancient One, so he's unlikely to act so unwisely."
Su Ming fastened his helmet, blocking some wind and snow as snowflakes mixed with tiny ice particles pattered against his visor, creating a flowing sound.
Kaecilius is still learning from The Ancient One, and he seems confident in The Ancient One's ability to defeat adversaries, so he wouldn't mess with her acquaintances. Instead, he would go out of his way to help them to curry favor with The Ancient One.
He knew the New York Temple was safe, so he stayed under the pretense of being dutiful, although Su Ming saw through the pretense.
"But there's nothing around us."
"That's because we don't need to search." Su Ming tilted his head, indicating to Holloway to look behind him where the Magic Floating Cloak was hovering.
The cloak seemed unaffected by the wind and snow, with one corner tightly gripping Su Ming's Gemstone and another corner brushing off the snowflakes.
"Cloak, take us to Kama Taiji."
Su Ming instructed the cloak, and amidst the swirling wind and snow, the cloak lifted the two for another considerable flight.
Passing through an invisible barrier, they stood before a sprawling temple complex atop a mountain peak.
The temperature here was much higher, and frost on Holloway's beard began to melt, dripping down.
However, both of their gazes were fixed on the scene before them.
What was once a paradise of grand, ornately carved buildings now appeared desolate and decayed, which once might have been a vibrant place teeming with life.
A massive gray beam of light shot directly from deep within the temple into the sky.
"Are you feeling unwell anywhere?" Su Ming's first suspicion was of negative energy or toxic gas; he felt fine, but checked on Holloway.
"I'm okay, though my hands and feet are numb, they'll soon recover." The doctor flexed his fingers, the tingling sensation from the cold had turned into a burning sensation.
"That's good, let's proceed."
Su Ming drew out the Nightfall Greatsword, his most powerful weapon, knowing that whatever held The Ancient One required his full effort.
Withered black plants and animals lay dead on the road sides, as if they had been thrown into a fire, yet there were no signs of fire damage, only bodies.
Human bodies.
These bodies were charred beyond recognition, likely the apprentices of Kama Taiji.
In the distance, the pillar of light emitted a discomforting sensation, like a gray lighthouse burning against the sky.
The two moved swiftly forward when suddenly, from a corner of the ruined walls, a fully blackened creature leapt out with a loud bang, landing before them.
This grotesque entity stood four meters tall, weighing several tons, with glossy black skin covering massive, muscular frames.
With four legs and four sturdy arms, its face resembled a fanged gorilla, but its bloodshot eyes flashed with a ferocious glow.
Its fists, each as large as a basketball, smashed into where they just stood, the ground collapsing instantly, the rocky path below turning to dust.
Su Ming pulled Holloway into a roll to evade the attack, debris pattering against their armor.
This creature's strength was terrifying, and Su Ming recognized what it was.
A Symbiote, a parasitic liquid alien creature that needed a host on Earth to survive and move. It could amplify the host's abilities, granting an ordinary person extraordinary power and abilities instantly.
The current host was likely an experimental creature from Kama Taiji, possibly even used as an experiment itself that found a new host amidst the attack on Kama Taiji and escaped.
Su Ming didn't recognize this Symbiote, as in comics, Symbiote Venom arriving on Earth via meteorite was a late event.
It appears reality is indeed different, with Kama Taiji capturing one much earlier.
The most famous Symbiote aside from Venom, which once possessed Spider Hero, had various offspring and acquaintances.
They mostly reproduced like single-celled organisms through division.
Names like Carnage, Toxin, Contempt, Whiplash, Scream, Extreme, Devourer, Lai Xiu, and many more, alongside symbiote-like 'Serum' accidentally created from host white cells.
These were just the ones Su Ming knew; their entire planet was full of bizarre Symbiotes.
Only on that planet could Symbiotes survive independently without hosts.
Symbiotes were inherently neutral, their nature changed by the host's thoughts.
Venom's first host, a Kree warrior called Tikal, was a complete lunatic, a bloodthirsty killer, to the point Venom eventually killed him.
Venom later arrived on Earth via meteorite, captured by the government, and temporarily possessed by Deadpool during the Secret War before being discarded, leading to its madness.
Over the following years, it switched hosts around a thousand times before finding Peter Parker, becoming the well-known Venom.
Before them stood such a Symbiote. Its current host could be a magical gorilla or pet monkey, lacking advanced intellect, merely a Symbiote puppet.
The host's body just provided a framework for upright mobility.
The Symbiote society was simple: devouring and evolving were the irrevocable truths on their planet, with instincts and combat abilities serving these purposes, void of moral concepts. They only needed to evolve.
This unnamed Symbiote clearly saw Su Ming and Holloway as obstacles on its escape path.
Symbiotes had varied abilities, generally possessing great strength, extreme speed, and the ability to split and regenerate. Venom once lifted a 2000-ton ship; other Symbiotes weren't much weaker.
Such an attack must not be taken head-on, unsure if Su Ming's armor could withstand it.
However, having identified the Symbiote, Su Ming had many strategies to counter it with his current powers.
Though Symbiotes were powerful, they had numerous weaknesses: noise, fire, and strong radiation would turn them into fluid, unable to bond with hosts.
Su Ming nudged Holloway, indicating he should find a safe spot for assistance while he tangled with the Symbiote, hoping the people of Kama Taiji hadn't recklessly modified it with magic...