Icard pushed forward as well.
E rank garlyks were really strong. But the thing was, the people here were those who had survived the battles outside.
Some of them just had powerful abilities or really good control. Most especially Albert - something they had managed to build up since the mass awakening and the plague.
But then, the true test was just ahead.
Icard dashed forward. The garlyks that had ambushed them weren't much but they had caused quite the chaos, keeping everyone busy.
Seeing an opportunity to escape, he took it and forged ahead.
The cradle chamber wasn't separated by any doors and the chamber itself was a really big space with green luminous objects and substances on the walls and ceiling brightening up the place well enough.
So Icard simply entered, descending down a steep slope briefly before reaching the floor of the chamber. The vastness became clear then.
Icard stopped then and studied his surroundings immediately.
They were definitely here.
He looked around. Albert too seemed stuck farther away from him, unsure of what exit to take as there were numerous entrances leading to this chamber from all directions.
Icard calmed his breathing. The pain in his sides stung and bled, but he had to endure it as he couldn't use relegation now to repair his body since it would drain his mana.
The injury could be a bit of a disadvantage, but then he never planned on getting close to the D ranks like he did with the F and E ranks.
'I know they are here. They're camouflaged in this place, just where...?'
Icard looked closely - anything that moved or breathed among the luminescent rocks there. Anything...
Then he spotted something strange on the ground not far from him. His eyes remained fixed on it for some time.
Then a shard of ice appeared on his hand which he sent darting at the strange sight and it simply bounced off like it had hit rock.
Icard went again, hurling another shard at it.
Nothing. However, his eyes remained fixed on it.
Then, he created another shard, ready to try again before he would finally give up.
He threw it, and there...
In the blink of an eye, it emerged violently, screeching loudly with a fearful pitch that vibrated through the air.
As it did, one more emerged, near Albert's team.
[Second Floor Access Confirmed]
[Skill Activation: Blue Icicle]
He made this icicle much longer and swung at it as it rushed at him ferociously.
A part of it froze from that technique, giving Icard enough time to use another second floor technique.
Or not.
The eight foot garlyk broke the ice quite quickly and continued toward Icard. It lunged at him then before getting completely frozen again, this time, in a large ice crystal - Icard's frost tree skill.
'Damn it. This is too crazy. I had no choice but to use this'
He began wondering just how Albert managed to clear this place in his first turn. This was where Icard got taken out. He didn't even get to see the Chieftain of this gate.
'I've used a good portion of my mana already. I wanted to use [frost trap] from the second floor to manage my mana but it takes a second or two'.
He looked at it again.
This one was definitely a drone with four arms and a thick ravenous air about it.
They had even harder grey coloured exoskeletons unlike the smaller brown E and F ranks, with a pair of short antennas sticking upward from their forehead.
They were bulky as well, with claws that could rip a person apart in one swing.
He glanced at Albert's team then. He, Luna and the rest of them battled the savage creature as it tanked their combined attacks.
'I'll take care of this one and join them or move ahead probably'
But just before he could move, he sensed something looming behind him. His hair stood on end and on taking a glance backwards, he saw it.
A second...no, half a second later and his head would have been ripped off.
But at that moment, the whole area, four meter radius around Icard froze up instantly, including Icard himself.
[Fourth Floor Access Confirmed]
[Skill Activation: High Freeze]
A cold mist drifted around lazily.
Another chunk of his mana was gone.
Icard exhaled, as the frost on his body softened.
His completely white frozen form moved as though the ice was part of his body.
He took a step back, crouching a bit and breathing steady and cool.
Then the ice began breaking off his body.
'Can I do this?'
The fact that he had nearly died just now dawned fully on him. Memories flashed in his mind, memories that he didn't wish to dwell on.
Especially of her.
Icard clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in a bit of tension before exhaling deeply to calm himself.
But just then, he heard a crack behind him from the first drone he had frozen.
He looked behind him, wide-eyed.
'It's breaking out of a third floor skill?!'
The cracks continued and there Icard realised.
'It's not enough'
Knowing fully well that his mana was already insufficient for the Chieftain, he quickly decided to end things here.
[Third Floor Access Confirmed]
[Skill Activation: Ice Hammer]
A club of ice formed on his left hand with a horizontally placed large cylinder of ice on the forward end.
It looked more like a large mallet actually.
Icard held it in position and just then, the drone broke out, weakened already but still very much alive.
Icard reached it before it would completely recover, raised his hammer high up before landing it downwards on the drone's head with an explosive force.
The skill instantaneously froze the drone completely and shattered it at once, killing it.
[You Have Killed A D Rank Garlyk!]
[You Have Gained 8 AP!]
Icard panted. His wound stung him but he had to manage.
He looked at the other one then.
'Nah. There's no way', he thought to himself.
In a second or two, another panel appeared.
[You Have Killed A D Rank Garlyk]
[You Have Gained 8 AP]
He breathed then. They were really persistent. The other one broke out of a third floor skill while this one hadn't died immediately with the High Freeze skill.
Meanwhile, Albert and Luna battled the remaining one and they were truly in a tight spot.
Albert blasted it with his swirling energy while Luna shot hotter beams at it but they failed to deal any serious damage.
The porcupine stood back, yelling instructions for them as though it was just a drill.
"Use that skill you made earlier, Albert!" Gremit yelled. "This garlyk is much tougher!"
Albert could see that much.
He gave the drone a little distance.
"Hold it for me, Luna!" He yelled. She alone going for a D rank would be too much to handle. But she had fluid and flexible movements, like that of a professional.
Indeed, knowing her profession before the apocalypse, it wouldn't be surprising. Although, she was barely able to keep up.
The drone swept, swung, and with two extra limbs, Luna couldn't hold on much longer.
After dodging a downward strike that shattered the earth where she stood, she spun and struck her laser beam down at the drone, putting all of her mana into it this time.
The beam sheared off one of the drone's arms but then, it reached her this time, slashing her with a strike that sent her flying.
That was the strike that put her out of commission. But by then, Albert had already prepared his final attack.
Compressing his energy, he directed it and swept toward the drone, destroying the earth as he did before finally hitting his target.
The swirls cut through the drone and its hard shell, destroying the spawn which finally fell to the ground, motionless.
After that, Albert fell to his knees, panting in exhaustion.
"You have done well" Gremit said.
Albert looked toward Luna. She struggled to stand and eventually collapsed.
"Take her back" he asked one of his men who was still in a relatively good condition.
Unable to do anything for them, Icard simply watched them. Although he was sure they would definitely deal with it.
He exhaled tiredly and cleaned his mouth. Issuing a command with his thoughts, a panel appeared before him again.
[STATUS]
[Mana: Low ]
[Strength: F]
[Agility: F]
[Endurance: E+]
[Mana Pool: F]
[Total AP: 66]
'I see, AP including the ones from the plague' Icard thought.
Then he studied it more.
'AP required from F to S class each are like powers of 2 up to the power 7 with zeroes behind them. So, to raise my attributes up to E class, I'll need 20 AP. To raise it past E class, I'll need 40 and so on'.
This meant he could raise three attributes to E class or one attribute up to D class. But judging from all this, what he really needed was mana.
'I wish I could convert AP to mana' he thought.
Then something occurred to him.
'Alyxara' he called in his thoughts but no response came.
'Alyxara!'
Seeing her being unresponsive when he needed her made him press his lips together in frustration.
'Just when I needed that minx...'
"Young man" he suddenly heard Albert call, walking toward him.
He too seemed to have been a bit roughed up in their fight.
'In my first turn, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. So he's really tough as he is'. Icard thought, recognizing Albert's potential.
Then, Albert asked,
"Did you... just kill two of those things?" he said with his eyes hiding the disbelief behind them.
'Oh shit' Icard thought to himself, realising a different consequence of his victory.
"You seem to have a clear grasp of your power" he heard another voice address him.
Looking down near where Albert stood was Gremit, of the Black Iron porcupine species.
Icard didn't need a panel to remind him since Gremit was quite familiar.
While Icard searched for the right words, as they would now be considering him to be a special case, a panel flickered before him.
[
'Alyxara!'
His face nearly reflected his emotions there. But it was also at that moment that they felt it.
A presence unlike anything they had come across so far, coming from a particular tunnel and instinctively, the three knew, that was just it - the Chieftain.