Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 711 - 72: Crystal-like Cave_1

Chapter 711: Chapter 72: Crystal-like Cave_1

The constant "kara kara" sound was incessant. Under the joint control of the four frost spirits, the icy surface bizarrely cracked in all directions, revealing a pitch-dark ice cave. The patterns inside resembled layers of spirals that went deeper underground, all the way to the unseen depths of the earth. Bursts of bone-chillingly cold wind wafted from the dark cavern, causing uncontrollable shivering on people’s skin.

"I have a question." Vivian addressed the frost spirits, "This cave is sloping down, right? And it’s all made of ice. If we climb up, wouldn’t we slide all the way down to the bottom? Is there a way to prevent us from sliding?"

"There is a way. It’s not slippery inside." Pannis spoke up, "We have collaborated before. They know what to take care of when making a cave for human use. The ice surface was pre-treated, so don’t worry about slipping."

"Well, thank you very much." Vivian turned up the lantern and peered into the profound ice cave, "We just go down like this, won’t we encounter something? I have a feeling that the pitch-black interior hides many weird creatures."

"In theory, we shouldn’t." Pannis shook her head, "But we should still be careful. Stay alert. We can’t afford to have problems before reaching the target. After all, our physique isn’t suitable for the goblins’ healing machines."

Then, everyone’s eyes unanimously fell onto Freya’s face. They nodded significantly without saying anything and then looked away. This made Freya so angry that her eyebrows trembled. Grinding her teeth, she said resentfully, "You all wait! Once I lose weight, I’ll settle the score with you. I’m furious this time. You’d better be prepared."

"Here, rabbit ear candy." Catherine suddenly held out her hand to Freya, a piece of fruit-flavored soft candy appeared in it. Not thinking about it, Freya reached out to take it. Catherine quickly withdrew her hand and snorted, "Lost weight? Humph, I’m afraid we might have to wait till the end of time. It seems it’s you who needs to be prepared."

"Oh, I was tricked." Freya whined like a little animal, covered her face and self-hypnotized, "No no, I will definitely lose weight. My determination can overcome all difficulties. Nothing can stump me, absolutely nothing."

"Enough, no more jokes." Catherine clapped her hands to draw everyone’s attention and announced loudly, "We are ready to set off. By the way, four frost spirit friends, are you coming with us? Or are you going to wait here?"

"No, it’s not fun down there, and it’s not fun here either." The small iceberg firmly shook its body to show its hard refusal, "Anyway, this ice cave can last for at least a month, which should be long enough for you. Since we’re not needed, we’ll go somewhere else to play. Oh yeah, don’t forget your promise to bring me lots of wine and food for three days. Don’t cheat me this time. If you make me wait that long again, I won’t trust you."

"Don’t worry, I assure you we won’t cheat you." Catherine covered her mouth to stifle a giggle and nodded, "As soon as we leave the ice field, we’ll head to the nearest big city to buy wine and rush back. It’s a promise made as a knight."

"Good, then we’re off." Blue Hand issued a sequence of sounds resembling ice blocks colliding and the frost spirits gathered once again. Like when they arrived, they made rumbling footsteps and rolling sounds as they gradually moved away across the ice field.

"Finally, they’ve left. That was nerve-wracking." Only when the frost spirits were far away did Lina gather up the courage to wiggle out from behind Catherine. Her scared expression instantly faded as she scampered up to the boundary of the deep ice cave to take a look inside, "What a deep space this is...did they say how many meters deep we need to go again? Two hundred and seventy-something meters?"

"Yes, roughly." Catherine nodded, "It’s not too deep, around 300 meters, but for just four people to create such a deep and spacious cave in twenty minutes, one has to admire their power over ice. They are, after all, creatures of ice element."

Catherine was right. Earlier, Blue Hand had said that he could make a small hole for everyone to enter and exit. In the girls’ imagination, it would be a narrow, claustrophobic space. But the girls clearly forgot that when Blue Hand spoke of ’small’, he was talking in comparison to his own size. Relative to a ten-metre high and nearly ten-metre wide ice hill, it was a small hole. To humans, it was, in fact, a spacious tunnel. The cave within view was roughly three metres in diameter, not exactly circular but more like the archway of a city wall. The uneven icy surface made Pannis want to smooth it out. Standing outside the cave, a faint, eerie howling of the wind could be heard from within, like distant cries at midnight.

"Let’s get going as well," Catherine, with a shield in her right hand and a Crystal Energy lantern in her left, was the first to test the waters and venture into the ice cave. "Everyone, keep up. Don’t lag behind even if it is safe."

Following the usual order, Pannis, also armed with a lantern, occupied the end of the line. The six of them, maintaining a vigilant formation, entered the cave slowly. One would have to admit that the ice cave was quite a fascinating place. It was not as dark inside as everybody had imagined, or rather — it was not so dark while holding a lantern. In the cave, where ice glistened all around, the smooth icy surface reflected the lantern’s light allowing a single lantern to illuminate far and wide. To everyone, the shimmering light on the ice walls imparted a dreamlike beauty to the cave, akin to a crystal palace.

Progressing slowly within the ice cave was an incredible experience. Contrary to what the girls had imagined, the light blue ice was semi-transparent, casting not only blurry shadows of the girls but also revealing all sorts of strange things inside the ice. After walking about a hundred meters, a large creature appeared within the ice on the right side. Only a part of the creature was visible, with its legs alone indicating a total height of over twenty meters and a body length of thirty meters. While the creature’s mouth and teeth were not visible, based on its claws, it appeared to be an herbivore. It was frozen in the ice layer for reasons unknown, and it had been there for countless thousands, if not tens of thousands of years until it coincidentally appeared in front of the girls’ eyes now.

"What kind of creature is this?" The sudden appearance of the giant creature had given everyone a start, especially since there was no indication beforehand, and the fact that the creature was exceedingly well-preserved, gave an impression of it merely slumbering. However, Catherine immediately discerned the truth, ran over while keeping her guard up, touched the surface of the ice, and exclaimed in surprise, "This creature bears some resemblance to those we saw at Earth’s Scar in the Mountain Country. Could they be of the same type?"

"Very likely," Vivian also squeezed over, sketching the shape of the creature in the ice onto her notebook by lantern light, "Perhaps there were normal creatures living on the Perpetual Icefield a very long time ago. Given its size, I don’t think it could survive on moss and lichen alone. This means that there might have been plants growing on the icefield back then. But that’s unlikely. The overpowering ice element beneath the surface alone is enough to freeze most plants, so how could it support such large creatures?"

"No, your earlier guess was correct," Ava tapped the ice surface covering the creature, stating mournfully, "According to the goblin’s records, based on the Triclops’ account, during the First Epoch, far earlier than the Mythical Age, the Triclops said that various magical beasts had existed on the surface of the earth when they had just emerged from the ground due to Lord Yarra’s will. At that time, there was no Perpetual Icefield, just a single solid Butte Plateau. The Perpetual Icefield was formed during the initial stages of the First Epoch due to a huge Elemental Burst. That Elemental Burst took just a few days to completely freeze the northern part of the Butte Plateau. It’s suspected that during that time, many creatures that weren’t able to escape in time were frozen on the icefield and then their bodies were preserved by the cold temperature and eventually enveloped in layers of thickening ice over time, leading to the current state."

"Novels usually describe frozen people looking peaceful, as if they were just sleeping," Lina, curiously observing the creature, stated, "It appears that they weren’t just making up stories. If you look at this creature, if it had died from other causes, there would be signs of struggle on its body. But there are none, it actually seems like a lot of things in novels are true."

"I don’t believe freezing to death would be peaceful," Freya instinctively tightened her clothes. Her past experiences had made her particularly sensitive to the word ’cold’. Every time she heard the word, it seemed as if icy knifes sliced through the gaps in her clothes, cutting her flesh, and she couldn’t help but want to put on more clothes, "I think freezing to death must be the most painful way to die in the world. Wait, no, the second most painful, just after starving to death."

"Hasn’t anyone of you thought about the crucial point?" sighed Pannis who was at the end of the line. He was quite exasperated at the divergent thinking of the girls and said, "Hasn’t anyone considered what this creature’s presence signifies?"

"Of course, it signifies that we are nearing the frozen ground layer." Catherine rolled her eyes and replied somewhat annoyed, "We are not fools, obviously if a creature frozen from the time the icefield was formed is here, it means that the ground is beneath it. Nothing much to talk about. We were just curious about it. By the way, do you recognise any resemblance between this creature and any current species? You mentioned at Earth’s Scar earlier that most modern creatures have common ancestors with those from prehistoric times."

"Take this," Pannis glanced at the part of the creature that was visible—a hind leg and most of a tail, plucked a hair, and handed it to Catherine, "You tell me the gender, age, appearance, and characteristics of the person this hair belongs to. Seriously, just from one leg how can I possibly tell."