Chapter 56

“Kaaang! Kyang!”

As Dorara’s magic activated, a rough noise echoed through the air.

The magic was aimed at the ice wall.

“Huff, huff, what on earth is this made of? Why isn’t my magic working at all?”

Waving his staff wildly, Dorara gasped for breath.

The Iris team was currently trapped on the fourth floor.

And it was all thanks to the ice wall right in front of them.

The ice wall didn’t even crack from Dorara’s attack.

It had no intention of crumbling at all.

Of course.

Lower magic can’t defeat higher magic.

That ice wall was created by Nikita through the magic of the Ice Dragon.

It wasn’t something that could be dealt with by Dorara’s magic.

‘It’s not just Dorara’s magic.’

Sarhin’s magic wouldn’t be able to breach it either.

“Damn.”

Dorara spat a curse and bit down hard on his teeth.

His hands trembled with frustration.

He had been continuously using his magic to get this far.

Determined to create an exit somehow, he had poured all his magic, which had now hit its limit.

“Dorara, that’s enough.”

Upon hearing Iris’s words, Dorara slumped down.

He knew well that he could no longer break through the ice wall with his magic.

‘This ice wall really can only be overcome by the flame of will.’

So I found myself in the Iris team for this very reason.

Unlike Lucas, who might arrive safely in times of crisis,

I had no way to deal with this ice wall.

But since I couldn’t say that out loud, I remained silent.

To understand reality, I needed to confront it directly.

“Well, this is quite the predicament.”

“Could it be because of the dimensional transformation in Magung we heard about last time?”

Joachim and Valentina also showed signs of anxiety.

They couldn’t return to the surface until the ice wall was resolved.

Food supplies were limited.

Of course, anxiety began to take over.

“Dorara, please use your remaining magic to cast a thermal magic first.”

So, I decided to set tasks for everyone before their anxiety deepened.

“Valentina, you can cast a curse on the entire ice wall, right? Etch a distress signal into it. Joachim, please bless Iris and me. We will search for a safe place to stay for a while.”

As I quickly conveyed my instructions, everyone started moving, regaining their composure.

It was thanks to them recognizing that what I directed was the best course of action available.

“I have you doing my tasks, huh?”

“No. It’s because Iris is here that everyone’s anxiety has been moderated.”

Iris is the 3rd Princess.

She could effectively be seen as the most important figure in the empire.

Once it became known that she was in danger, the empire would mobilize its full forces to break through Magung.

Everyone understood this, allowing them to maintain hope.

“Let’s go. It might take a while.”

Nikita doesn’t just appear out of nowhere.

She would be waiting for the right moment on this fourth floor of Magung.

‘When everyone’s food runs out, and the cold saps away all fighting spirit.’

That would be the moment Nikita bares her teeth like a dragon.

After receiving Joachim’s blessing, Iris and I set off in search of a safe zone.

The fourth floor marked the beginning of the mid-section of Magung.

Unlike the previous floors, the enemies here are much tougher and more cunning.

There’s a lot to worry about, both physically and mentally, yet even here, safe zones exist.

‘In Dot RPG games like “Fire Butterfly,” there’s always a spot where you can check your character.’

Safety Zone.

These are places where enemies and monsters don’t infiltrate sneakily.

I remember every safety zone in all of Magung.

It’s a must to progress smoothly in the game; I can’t forget it even if I wanted to.

“Let’s make a safety zone here.”

“What? This is an open field!”

However, the safety zone doesn’t necessarily look safe to others.

As Dorara pointed out, this place is indeed an open field.

The ground, covered in a thick layer of snow, had broken ice sculptures scattered here and there.

There was absolutely no cover to be found.

“We can have the wall at our backs, and being in an open space means we can have a clear view of who’s coming from where.”

“B-but wouldn’t that make us easy targets?”

Valentina raised a slight opposing opinion and I shook my head.

“Monsters use different sensory organs than us, anyway. They won’t spot us visually, so if we hide in a place out of sight, we’ll get caught anyway. So, narrowing our visibility is actually disadvantageous for us.”

There’s nothing more dangerous than not knowing where the enemies are coming from.

“That makes sense. Plus, if I put a holy barrier up, this open field won’t be that dangerous either.”

Joachim strengthened my argument.

“Let’s do as Hania suggests.”

With Iris finally agreeing, no more opposing opinions were raised.

We quickly set up an improvised shelter.

Joachim laid down a holy barrier, and Dorara cast a warmth spell inside the barrier.

That definitely helped create a decent living area.

The open snowy field was quieter than expected.

True to being a safety zone, there were no monsters in sight, let alone any enemies.

Thanks to that, the team members settled down.

Having traveled through the third floor of Magung for an extended period,

the Iris team quickly moved into rest mode.

They had subconsciously agreed to take a break before tackling the ice wall problem.

“Iris, you should rest too.”

“Right, I should.”

Iris sat next to me, placing her sword nearby.

While gazing quietly at the snowy field.

“Hania.”

“Yes, Iris.”

“What kind of being is the 3rd Princess?”

This question came out of nowhere.

Iris usually didn’t express thoughts like this.

But after entering Magung and going without sleep, stress must have been piling up on her.

In such a situation, it wasn’t unusual for someone’s life to be threatened.

It’s not weird to feel a brief existential crisis.

“A noble being.”

“Noble, you say.”

“And it seems quite difficult.”

Unexpectedly, Iris looked back at me after hearing my words.

Everyone around Iris admired and envied her life.

The strongest of royalty, one of the next potential emperors, with a beauty that is decadent.

She possessed a great deal of things that others would envy greatly.

She never showed her struggles to others.

That’s why Iris appeared to be virtually perfect in the eyes of others.

It must have come as a surprise to her to hear the words “looked difficult.”

But that was my sincere opinion.

Iris had led a hard life since the moment she was born.

“Living in this world, I found there’s hardly anything that’s easy.”

“So, I think you also have your own struggles, Iris.”

“Struggles…”

Iris quietly mulled over my words, then folded her knees and rested her chin on them.

“…Would it be weird if I said I envy Hania?”

After quite a while of thought, Iris asked me.

She knows me as Hanon Irey.

I share several similar conditions with her, but I’m really in a totally different position.

It seems Iris had a lot on her mind regarding this.

“Anyone envies the life they have not lived.”

That’s how people are.

They often envy the things they do not have and admire the lives of others.

“However, my life might not be all that fun for you, Iris.”

At least if I were Hanon.

But I’m Bickamon, after all.

Unaware of that fact, Iris let out a brief chuckle.

“True, that’s how things go.”

With that remark, Iris lapsed into silence and quietly closed her eyes.

Even if she couldn’t sleep, she distanced herself mentally to ease her fatigue.

I stayed quietly by her side.

One day, she would become the final boss, Iris Haishirion.

Even she longed for someone else’s life.

＊ ＊ ＊

Huuuuuung-

Following the wind, snowflakes danced around.

Underneath the snowflakes, Iris’s team moved swiftly.

“Today, there’s not even a sign of monsters or enemies.”

Joachim looked bothered, mentioning it.

It has been four days since we were isolated in the fourth floor of Magung.

No matter how many times we walked through the fourth floor, only frozen art pieces appeared.

No sight of a monster or an enemy.

However, there was one thing we confirmed during this time.

“Damn it, the exit to the fifth floor is blocked too.”

Dorara expressed his irritation, lowering his staff.

Before him, there lay the ice wall, which only had a few signs of wind cutting through.

Similar to the entrance’s ice wall,

the exit was also fortified by a gigantic ice wall.

We were officially trapped on the fourth floor.

“D-did it get colder than the first day?”

Despite Dorara’s warmth magic, Valentina shivered from the cold.

As she pointed out, the temperature on the fourth floor had continued to drop over the past few days.

Thanks to that, the frequency of Dorara casting warmth magic had increased.

“At this rate, I’ll run out of magic first.”

Dorara swallowed hard, trembling as he clutched his staff.

The falling cold had frozen the snow beneath into a solid sheet of ice.

At this point, moving around was becoming increasingly difficult.

As a result, we decided to not waste our warmth and spend more time resting in the safety zone.

After four days of searching, not gaining anything, everyone showed signs of fatigue.

“Are we going to be okay with food?”

Valentina checked the remaining food with a troubled expression.

The food we had brought was slowly dwindling.

“…God, why have you cast such a trial upon us?”

Joachim quietly prayed, seeking the divine for support.

Unable to find any alternative, he sought a place to lean on.

“Damn, I’d rather rain down magic onto that ice wall!”

Dorara shouted that he couldn’t just die like this.

However, without his warmth magic, we would freeze to death instantly.

Using our power where it couldn’t be effective was not a good choice.

Eventually, Dorara was persuaded by everyone else and sat back down.

“…Hania.”

Iris softly called me.

It had been more than a week since she had stayed up all night.

Iris’s condition was, without a doubt, the most critical.

“Yes, Iris.”

“You have a way to get out, don’t you?”

Iris quietly asked, ensuring no one else would hear.

If I do, then yes, I wouldn’t be attempting this without any safety measures.

“…If things get dangerous, take everyone and escape.”

Before I could answer, Iris spoke like that.

It implied that if dying became inevitable, she’d rather die alone.

“Iris.”

I tidied up Iris’s disheveled hair.

“There’s no way I’d leave you behind, Iris.”

Upon hearing my words, Iris let out a faint smile.

As for whether it was something Hania had said or me, Iris probably wouldn’t distinguish.

Time flowed again.

By the time a week had passed,

the cold could no longer be halted even by Dorara’s magic.

Ultimately, unable to bear it any longer, Dorara attempted a few spells against the ice wall several times,

but they all failed, leading to him being the first to collapse.

Valentina cast a self-imposed curse, drifting into a hibernation state.

She deemed it better than consuming more food.

While she offered to cast it for anyone who wished, everyone declined, leaving her to choose alone.

Joachim’s prayers began to diminish in frequency.

It seemed he had come to some realization about the situation.

He sat up straight, quietly closing his eyes, lost in deep thought.

To allow Joachim to focus, I didn’t say anything to him.

Iris, however,

eventually succumbed to sleep.

She likely found more torment in her nightmares.

Yet perhaps the inability to sleep had been worse, as she leaned against me and drifted off.

She breathed heavily in her sleep.

Every now and then, she grimaced, yet there was no sign of waking up.

Her body must have reached its limit.

Thud-

And at that moment.

Thud-

Finally, footsteps we’ve been longing for began to echo.

My head gradually lifted up.

Through the frozen eyelashes, I saw someone walking through the dark space.

In her hand was a long sword dragging along the ground.

The cold radiating from the sword felt chillier than anything I had ever experienced.

From her mouth, white fog of frost escaped.

Her silver hair flowed as two white horns protruded from her forehead.

The most dangerous magic sealed within the House of Cynthia, the Ice Dragon’s magic.

Two eyes reminiscent of lizards beneath the horns glimmered bright blue.

With her movements, the temperature around intensified further.

The Disaster Dragon Maiden Nikita Cynthia

She, the boss of Act 3, finally revealed herself.

I carefully laid Iris down without waking her and gradually raised my body.

The frozen snowflakes around me fell off.

“You’ve come.”

Nikita’s gaze fell upon me.

It seemed she thought that everyone had lost their strength by now.

“Senpai Nikita.”

So I decided to welcome her alone.

“My dear junior’s punch might sting a bit.”

It’s time to get my act together.