Chapter 182 Frost Letting Serpent.
Alchemy Recipe Anti Frost [Rare]
Crafting material: 20 Poisonous bulbs.
20 GOLD
"Is this worth anything?" he asked, handing Lone the recipe.
"Not really. You can get them at auction for cheap."
The trolls were still recuperating from the poison effects and regenerating their HP. Dave didn't want to be get too far behind Drahma so they went ahead.
The three walked past the rows of frozen soldiers and down a long hallway. In the room at the end of the corridor was a round pit. There was a rusty lever set in the stone floor at the edge of the pit.
Dave walked over to the lever and pulled it. Loud clanking and the sounds of winding chains came from the dark hole. The sounds grew louder until a wooden platform rose into sight.
Complex runic symbols ran around the edge of the platform. At the center a square tile rose a few inches above the rest of the platform.
"Huh, an elevator. The lever there is to pull it up, and the square tile is to bring it down. I saw one before in another dungeon." Lone said.
Dave moved onto the circular platform and pushed down on the tile with his foot. It clicked and the platform shook and started sinking. Lone and Jura hurriedly jumped on and the elevator's descent into the darkness accelerated. The elevator shaft became pitch dark.
Dave looked around, "Whoa, scary!"
"The height bothering you again?" Lone teased.
"No, the walls- ah I forgot you can't see in the dark."
Jura lit his Ice-Flame lantern and Lone saw what Dave was talking about. Hundreds of frozen corpses of monsters and humans were fused together to make the walls of the elevator shaft. It looked like the passage to a frozen hell. The elevator descended for several minutes before slowing. When it finally stopped, a doorway opened and blinding light shone into the elevator shaft.
Dave walked away from the platform to see what was beyond the door.
Behind the door was a large room that was easily the size of a football stadium. The room had innumerable fist sized holes randomly scattered across the floor. They periodically released white steam. Drahma's roar echoed through the room followed by the sound of metal scraping across the ground.
"Let's hurry," Dave said.
When Lone and Jura left the platform and into the room, the platform shuddered and the sound of chains and clanking started again, the platform started going back up. They exited and the door slowly closed behind them.
"The trolls probably pulled the lever. Never mind, Drahma's fighting something here," Dave said.
The three walked through the room, in the distance, a vast cloud churned covering the ground and all the way to the ceiling. Echoes sounded from the mist. Earth quaking impacts shook the room, it sounded like two titans brawling.
"Damn!" Jura cursed.
Dave turned to see one of Jura's legs encased in ice.
"How did that happen, old man?!" Dave asked as he approached Jura.
"The holes, that isn't fog or vapor. It's magic imbued Cryo-Mist. Don't let it touch you, it will freeze any part of you instantly."
The old man grabbed his lantern and poured the Ice-Flame on his foot.
"Jura! You you're going to burn your leg!" Dave remembered Jura using Ice-Flame to burn the sabertooth corpse to ash.
"Don't worry, the flame is sentient. It will not harm me. Look," the old man said.
The flame from the lantern spread across his leg, a viscous fiery liquid that consumed the frost and ice.
"Ah, good as new," Jura said with a rueful smile. "Be wary of those holes, you don't want to get frostbite."
Lone looked toward the sounds of conflict, "Frostbite causes Flat Damage, If the cloud does that kind of damage, then Drahma could be in a terrible condition."
Lone used [Bombarda], the fiery arrow shot toward the cloud and detonated, dispersing a good portion of the cloud. The explosion revealed Drahma, he was fighting a Jade Horned-Serpent variant. But this version gave Dave the creeps. The serpent was as large as a train, two crystal horns grew from its head. It wasn't made of flesh, but the same substance as in the cloud. The only corporeal part of its physic was its crystalline skeleton.
Drahma was fighting the snake but was clearly losing. There were patches of frost all over him. 'Paste Maker' was encased in a block of ice, frozen solid to his hands and making it difficult to wield properly. Blood poured from his torn body, and large parts of him were covered in frozen, crystalized blood. This dungeon shouldn't have monsters strong enough to challenge Drahma. But the Flat damage from the cold was powerful enough that it ignored the level difference. If Drahma didn't get rid of the snake fast he would be turned into an ice sculpture.
"If this keeps up for much longer, your friend will die," the old man said solemnly, "That is a Frost Letting Snake. The frost from those horns is cold enough to freeze troll blood. Thankfully it hasn't grown a third horn yet. If it had it would be a True-Ice horn. The same substance needed to release the queen."
Dave frowned. "True ice? Could the Black Skull Order be raising this thing like a pet to harvest the third horn from it?"
"Yes. I've searched for a Frost Letting Serpent, to get the third horn, for centuries. But the Black Order had one all along."
Dave moved toward the cloud of mist and activated [Aura].
"Dave, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to help Drahma. [Aura] should take care of the frost that's on him."
A surge of fire erupted outward from Dave's avatar. The fire reached into the holes and on contact with the gas exploded, fire burst up from holes all around him.
The snake smashed its tail into Drahma's chest sending him sprawling across the ground, digging a long trench. .
Dave ran in close to the downed giant, "Are you alright, buddy?"
Drahma's wrathful and bloodshot eyes turned to him and Dave froze. Then the madness receded and the giant's eyes cleared.
Drahma coughed and said, "I am alright." The giant grit his teeth, he pulled himself up with his "Past-Maker" it was awkward as it was encased in ice. He faced the approaching serpent again, pain clearly etched into his expression.
"Let me help you with that," Dave said and jumped up toward Drahma. He grasped Paste Maker with his gauntlets. The ice melted away rapidly, the giant regained his full ability to wield the massive weapon.
Dave climbed up to Drahma's shoulder, "We fight together, friend! I will use my [Aura] to remove the snake's frost, and you kick its ass. Ok?"
"Good, fighting with friends is much better than fighting alone!"
Frost Letting Serpent
Level: 300
HP: 153,000
Tier: Epic
MA: 35,000
DN 25:000
Skills:
[Frost Aura] passively releases freezing bursts that Slows enemies. It reduces stamina regeneration and does 1000 flat Damage per second.
[Serpent Breath] Shoots out a cone of icy breath, freezing enemies and doing 10% of their current HP in Flat damage.
[Adapt] transform its body to an ethereal form to gain immunity of all physical damage or transforms into a dense solid to gain a 200% increase in base defensive values.
Bestiary:
The Frost Letting Serpent is a snake that grows in the coldest regions of the world. It is the form of its last evolution before becoming a true dragon.
'That's one nasty snake.'
"Alright Drahma, I have a powerful fire Skill. If you can get us close to it I can make an opening for you to deal some serious damage to it."
"Good! Hold on tightly young draugr!" Drahma burst forward like a bulldozer.
Drahma barrelled into the serpent, sending them both rolling across the ground.
"Grab its neck!" Dave yelled.
Drahma released his weapon and squeezed both hands around the serpent's lower jaw. Drahma's hands turned to ice, pain clearly showing on his face. The snake hissed and opened its mouth. It was preparing to use a Skill. Dave jumped from Drahma's shoulder and grabbed onto the snake's lower jaw.
The snake used [Serpents' Breath], a wave of arctic wind burst out, threatening to freeze everything to a sculpture. Dave pulled his upper body up so he was facing the snake's open jaws. He opened his mouth inhumanly wide and [Ray of Flames] burst its concentrated fire down the snake's gullet.