A brumal breath of wind made Einar’s bones clatter. The very conditions of this stage made it near impossible for an ill-prepared party to survive. The fjord howled with winds as well as beasts instilled an eerie vibe as clear as day, a fair warning to those who wish to proceed.

The red light this time was on the snow-covered mountains far away. There was no way I’d take my time to ride through the never-ending frozen lake towards the next part of the dungeon, so I had a look through my grimoire. There were undead warhorses that could fly, but they weren’t as fast or cool-looking as Dreadhoof. But I’d prefer a slower flight rather than a fast walk.

I made an amulet for Einar just like I did for Adam and his team. “Pass a little of your mana through it. It’s connected to your thoughts.” He fitted the amulet around his neck while I watched the red light with some form of hope.

I heard the neigh of his steed, and he rode it a bit to get used to the feel of it, then aligned his horse with mine. “My Lord, forgive me, but what is your name?”

His question punched me out of my daydreaming. Fuck. I worried about if to tell him I was Deidre. As my thrall, there was no need to worry about him leaking the news anywhere, but I still wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t have thoughts of being a free man after seeing the outside world for himself. “I’ll tell you after we find your descendants.”

A long pause filtered into the conversation then. “Understood,” he said. It was obvious he had his reservations about meeting his family, but I would only allow him to be my knight after he saw a compelling alternative.

After some hours of flight, we landed rather close to the red light, at least compared to how far we were before. There was a crude building, made of ice, in front of the light. I found it rather mysterious that compared to the desert, this place didn’t have nearly as many monsters.

The once flowing river atop the waterfall was totally frozen, just like most other water sources in this part of the dungeon. Suddenly, an arrow zoomed past me. Einar immediately rode in front of me. “My Lord, please take cover,” he advised, and pointed to some trees off to the side of the river.

What are you doing, dude? He was in more danger than I was. “Don’t worry about me. Instead, you should take cover.” I put a Mana Shield on him and myself then rode forth. Another arrow swirled into me and destroyed the shield in one hit, then grazed my cheekbone. Wow! Strong! But that’s so rude. I guess that power explains the lack of monsters on this level. If this level was anything like the desert level, then I knew the level boss was near to the red light.

I relied on a defensive master spell called Aether Shell. It was a simple but unbreakable barrier magic. Well, unbreakable depended on the strength of the opponent because it had the same weakness as Mana Shield, which meant if enough damage came through before it had time to refresh, it would crumble. But that damage threshold was another story entirely for Aether Shell. I cast it on Einar and continued on.

Another arrow hit me in the skull and even pierced it, so I checked my HP. Still N/A huh? My skull automatically reformed after I pulled the arrow from it. Mana’s unaffected too. Understanding my pure immortality was necessary at some point. Perhaps my main weakness was being unable to use my mana while my body was bound. I was to avoid a situation like that at all costs.

I exhaled after a few more arrows hit me and flew closer to the ice construct. There was someone in front of it with a bow. On closer inspection, I found that the skin was pale, almost bordering on blue, and also noticed pointed ears. This was the second boss I encountered that was not exactly a monster by definition. What was this dungeon up to?

Her marksmanship was amazing, and the arrows weren’t normal either. Some of them exploded in a large amount of frost that blinded and decreased temperature drastically, and some released spikes of ice on impact.

Unfortunately, just like Venomknight, a lich was just a bad matchup for them. I was a monster, after all, and I doubted this dungeon was made to repel monsters, especially Death List monsters.

I released an Electrostrike from my hand, but she just disappeared, like she wasn’t even there. Huh? It confused me, because something like that shouldn’t have been a skill, but a spell. When I thought about it, I palmed my face. This isn’t a skill-user! She was a damned wizard who just used a bow. Several other clones appeared, and I couldn’t know for sure if they were tangible or just illusions. Electrostrike rained down from the sky and dismissed all of them; they were illusions.

Suddenly, a familiar blizzard appeared. She cast Wintry Grave in my location, and I could feel the coldness, but a spell that depended on freezing its opponent wouldn’t work on me. However, I couldn’t say the same for the next spell in her arsenal.

A huge skeletal hand appeared and grabbed me. Ice spikes protruded out of it and stabbed through my bones, then dropped temperature to freeze me. Immediately after, it crushed me. My body, or what was left of it, felt weird, because I still felt which crushed parts was which, but they weren’t where they were supposed to be. In a few seconds, my body repaired itself.

Alright, that’s enough now. I brought forth Skywrath.