Spectral Wolves slowly disintegrated into black soot as their body returned to the spirit world. Silas walked behind Roland.
They continued walking into the pathway. For a while, there were no monsters attacking them but the cold was getting worse.
Which only meant, they were getting closer to the center of Thamior's domain.
Silas rolled down the sleeve and rubbed his hands, creating a friction. The warmth provided by that was nowhere enough. He didn't want to use mana or energy to face the cold.
'He is probably planning that.' Silas thought. The chance of killing the old sixth circle mage was getting better.
"Shall we run?" Roland suggested.
Silas shook his head. "That might be what he was counting."
Ice-pick tilted her head. "Explain."
"I don't sense any enemies ahead in this pathway. And the cold is getting stronger. He didn't expect the cold to kill us so he is doing this to lower our reserve." Silas said.
"And I suspect that from this on, there will be a trap to slow us down and expand more reserves. So we need to be extra careful moving forward."
"I see." Ice-pick said.
They began walking along the pathway.
Over time, the pathway got narrower and the ceiling dropped low. Silas disabled so many traps along the way. They were all low level traps but the chain reaction of the trap was immense.
One wrong step and they would be buried underground.
Soon, they reached the end of the pathway.
A massive ice door stood in front of them, towering over and releasing a wave of chill from it. Silas touched the door and noticed that the ice was much stronger than steel.
It was reinforced with mana and spells.
He turned to Roland and asked. "Can you cut it?"
Roland nodded.
Silas thought about something and added. "Can you cut the door without causing damage to the surrounding area? Especially inside."
"I can try. But I need your help." Roland said, drawing in his sword and measuring with the door.
Silas nodded.
"Did you sense something behind the door?" Ice-pick asked, looking over his shoulder. She was staying behind him, using him as a shield to block the cold wave.
Silas shook his head. "My mana sense was blocked by the door."
"Same." Roland added.
"But I trust my head more than logic." Silas said, smiling. "Come on. Let's start. My reserve is running low."
He spent about 30 percent of his mana and energy.
Roland nodded, lifting up his sword. He gathered energy and activated the third Circle from his heart.
The heart circle almost served the same function as the mana circle.
It was the opposite.
Inside the mana circle was a crest, an information about spells. To use, the nage just had to ingest mana into the circle and create the spell.
But the heart circle stored not information but energy. Pure energy which came from using the martial technique.
For example, Roland can use Wind Flow Footwork which he learned from Viremont's family. In normal mode, he could use the footwork well and could draw 80 percent of the potential behind the technique.
But if he used the energy inside his second circle, which he added to Wind Flow Footwork, he can perform the technique at 100 percent efficiency or higher based on his circles.
The technique which was recorded inside Roland's Third circle was called Energy control.
Usually, most knights put this technique at the second circle but Roland was different. At the start, he had more life energy than most martial arts.
Energy control had two functions.
Burst and Gather.
Raising the sword, Roland used the Burst. The energy on his sword exploded like a sun. Then he quickly used Gather to absorb the released energy into the tip of his blade.
"I am ready." He said.
Silas nodded, sensing a terrifying energy behind his sword.
"Go for it." He gave permission.
Roland swung down his sword, cutting through the ice door as if it was butter. He created a circle big enough for them to crawl into.
"Done."
Silas nodded, pushing the ice. Before the ice fell, he used his second circle spells to grab the ice and gently lowered it to the ground.
Looking at the entrance they made, Roland smiled. It was dark inside and there were faint movements inside.
Silas sent the light spell inside the dark room. Roland entered inside and guarded there.
Seeing that, there was no attack, he said to Silas.
"They are waiting, I think. Come in."
Silas nodded and entered as well. The difference in temperature between outside and inside was vast. It felt like he was walking around a snow storm naked.
But not wanting to use more mana to fight against the domain's effect, he decided to endure the cold.
He turned back to the entrance and saw Ice-pick entering. He grabbed her hand gently, supporting her.
"Careful." He said, looking at her feet. She wore high heels.
Ice-pick nodded.
Silas let go of her hand and looked around the dark room. He created another floating light and sent across the room, giving light in the shadow.
He paused.
Anger rose from his inside. A calm expression on his face vanished. He couldn't believe what he was looking at.
His expression turned grim.
It was worse than he thought. No, it was expected. Silas just wanted to deny that.
In front of him were cages of children. Their eyes were lifeless. In order to fight against the cold, they hugged each other.
Even with the light, they didn't even bother looking at them. Which meant, they had given up on hope.
Silas's hand trembled in anger.
'I will kill that bastard.'
Silas closed his eyes and calmed himself. "Let's take them. Roland, cut down the cages."
"Yeah." Roland said, his voice shaking.
He dashed and slashed at the metal cage.
Silas turned around to look at Ice-pick who was staring at the scene in boredom. As a monster, her feelings were alien to humans. Even at the horrific scene, her heart didn't shake.
"Charm the children and lead them to the surface. Regroup with others." Silas ordered flatly.
Ice-pick nodded, looking at him. She then tilted her head. "You know, right now, you look very similar to my father. And it is not a compliment."
Silas didn't react. It didn't give him a pleasant feeling that he was being compared to the Great Demon.
What kind of face was he making that reminded her of that Demon? He didn't know.
Ice-pick floated in the air and waved her hand. She covered the entire room with her scent and used her Charm to the max.
She charmed the mind of the children inside and put them inside their dreams. That way, she could control their bodies more easily.
Children began to leave the room one by one.
Silas glanced at their bodies. The clothes tattered and soaked in blood. At a glance, he saw about 50 children but only 15 walked out from the room. The rest were dead.
Silas looked at the dead bodies.
"We will come back and give them a proper place to rest." Silas muttered. "Let's move on. I saw another door."
Roland nodded, his expression was dark, clouded with anger. He nodded.
"At least the cold will preserve the bodies." Silas murmured to himself.
Roland quickly walked over to the next door. Just as he was about to open the door, he paused.
Immediately, Roland rolled to the side, taking out his sword and attacking. All the movements completed in under one second.
His sword attack was blocked by a weapon. Roland didn't see the weapon but he could gauge the shape. It was similar to a chain.
It tried to warp around his sword but he quickly withdrew the sword and activated the first circle.
His sword released an air slash. An explosion occurred when the slash met the door.
"Haha. Not bad. But you could use a bit more force." An aged voice echoed, laughing.
Roland came beside Silas. "Another enemy. He has the same strength as me."
Silas nodded. "I will support you but for now, you need to face him yourself. I will assist you after creating the barrier around the bodies."
"Got it." Roland said and dashed. He didn't want to face the Fourth circle martial artist here.