Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"This is quite the experience…" Rain thought while he was trembling. "I didn't think that I could train my willpower like this, but I guess I should come here more often."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Even though he was fully clothed, the fact that Rain took out his guards made him feel like he was naked and rolling around on the snow.

Things only got colder when the first few enemies appeared on the fifth floor, and Rain was surprised to see that they merged from the frozen floor… three of them at once. A skeleton Knight, and skeleton archer and a skeleton wizard.

The frozen skeleton knight was a chilling and eerie figure encased in ice. Its frame was that of a once formidable warrior, and it was adorned in the remnants of tattered, icy-blue armor. The bones of its hands held a frozen, spectral sword and shield, both bearing a frigid, translucent radiance. The knight's eye sockets glowed with an eerie, bluish light, casting a haunting and malevolent presence. Discover hidden tales at empire

On the side, the frozen skeleton archer was equally eerie. It wielded an ethereal bow, the string made of an otherworldly frost, and a quiver of spectral, ice-tipped arrows at its back. Its bony fingers clutched the bow with an undead grace. The skull of the archer bore an empty, hollow expression, and icy wisps seemed to emanate from jaws.

The frozen skeleton mage also exuded an ominous aura, with the cold permeating from its very being. Its form was shrouded in tattered, frost-covered robes that seemed to be perpetually emanating an icy mist. The cold aura radiating from this mage was palpable, sending shivers through anyone who approached.

These frozen skeletons were not only haunting in appearance but also seemed to embody the very essence of ice and death, creating an eerie and unsettling presence in the icy surroundings.

"Well, this is certainly interesting," Rain said while he made his ice hammer spin toward the enemies.

Without hesitation, the skeleton knight jumped in and then blocked the ice hammer with it's shield. The creature was pushed away and almost collided with the other skeletons, but they jumped to the side and avoided them with ease and grace.

At the same time, the monster fired a barrage of ice arrows toward Rain. He flew from one side to the other and avoided them until he felt a shiver coming from behind. Rain didn't even have to turn around to see what was happening, he just froze the air behind him and created an ice wall that blocked the attacks… the arrows that were returning.

The sound of ice colliding against ice echoed in the dungeon, but Rain ignored that as he kept pushing the skeleton knight with his ice Hammer while he also summoned two others. While the weapons were being formed, Rain used them to block the next attacks coming from the monsters.

Once they realized that attacks of that level wouldn't work in Rain, the monsters began to summon larger projectiles that took more time to fire, but they had a lot more power on them, to the point that the ice hammers began to crack before they were complete.

"All right, you win," Rain said and then engulfed the skeletons into a fire blast. The fire slowed down the monsters, and Rain was able to finish his weapons before smashing them on the ground alongside the skellies.

The Skill Ice Seal received 200 experience points.

The Skill Ice Seal received 200 experience points.

The Skill Ice Seal received 200 experience points.

…

"This is good, but… why do I feel like there is something odd about this?" Rain thought while looking around as the skeletons fell.

First, their bones started to crystallize, their once frames turning into shimmering, translucent crystal shards. Gradually, the crystalline transformation continued until the skeletons' entire bodies had been replaced by these glistening, ethereal crystal shards. Each shard sparkled with an inner luminance, like a myriad of miniature prisms.

And then, in a breathtaking finale, the crystal shards began to disintegrate, breaking apart into countless smaller fragments. Like a cascade of twinkling stardust, the crystal shards dispersed into the air, creating a breathtaking and surreal display.

They seemed to catch the light, producing a mesmerizing dance of sparkling particles that soon faded into the icy surroundings, leaving no trace of the skeletal warriors that had once stood there.

While Rain watched that process, he couldn't help but think of something… a certain possibility that fit all the marks of the usual behaviors and strategies of the enemies With that in mind, he left the dungeon immediately… he didn't even try to reach the end of it.

The warriors frowned since Rain left a lot sooner than they had expected, but at least it seemed that he was unscathed. Still, the look on his face revealed a lot of tension.

"I want you guys to keep going and cleaning the dungeon until the fourth floor," Rain said. "Write down how many monsters you killed and only go as many times as you do usually."

Rain didn't explain why he told them, it seemed obvious, but they knew that eventually Rain would explain everything to them. After leaving the area, Rain returned home and tried to stay calm not to alarm anyone at home, but his wives knew him better than that. They also knew that Rain would explain things in detail when he had all the information necessary.

In the end, Rain only confirmed things one day later when he received the reports of the activities of the other dungeons… his friends and family looked pretty proud of themselves considering the number of monsters that they killed. The number of monsters on the first few floors that had been killed was basically the same over those two days.

However, the other groups killed a lot more skeletons on the final floor. While Rain's dungeon, only three died.

At the same time… more monsters began to spawn on their dungeons on the next day after their work… twenty more monsters…