The 2 stone statues stood in front of us very intimidating holding their black and white spears respectively waiting for the question they would be asked to give me the clue or answer to the right path...

Our surroundings were very cold with heavy mist almost blocking our view,you could even see some ice cones on the ceiling of this room...yes it was cold very cold even hoboku couldn't help but feel a but uncomfortable standing here as she got closer to me hugging me from behin...she looked at my expression for a second.

At the moment i had already closed my eyes thinking about the answer to this question...I wouldn't really call it a riddle more like a play of words the meaning behind a word has to be literal for the statues to understand so i have to phrase it in a such way where they couldn't tell me a lie...huuh i could feel the warmth coming from hoboku's soft body which made me know that i had someone looking for my back regardless on how it was and it felt good too...i had promised i wouldn't disappoint so i will keep to my word.

And with that i opened my eyes again looking at the 2 stone status i opened my mouth with a slight grin as i pointed towards the left path with my finger as i asked the question.

-If I had asked you if this was the right path, would your answer have been "yes"?

As finished saying that the eyes of the stone statues started to glow brightly as they shined on me...the first to answer was the statue with the white spear which was followed by the black speared stone statue.

-NO

-YES

And with that said both of the statues once again shook for a bit as they retracted from their position into their original spot,their eyes also lost their shining light as they sat back into their original place.

I felt relieved it actually worked.As i thought so i sighed out of relieve i didn't know what would have happened if i was wrong but at same time i didn't really think it would be wrong.

-Lord sorron why did you ask them this question in particular ?

Hoboku stepped forward wanting to know the answer and why i asked them this it made me look smart for a second so i took the chance to show off and told her the reasoning for my question and the result from it.

-As you remember my question was "If I had asked you if this was the right path, would your answer have been "yes"?" then when asking either guards the honest guard would have said "yes" without a problem or "no" if it really was the wrong path but the liar soldier would have lied about what his original answer was and give himself away with that depending on the honest soldier meaning...the white speared stone statue lied to me while the black speared stone statue said the truth.

As i answered her my reasoning hoboku seemed a bit confused as she started looking at the ground left and right trying to understand what i just said...haha...it was amusing so see her like that sometimes so i got closer to her and held onto her hands which were starting to freeze as i told her.

-its okay you don't have to understand as a leader you have me around so trust me alright ?

Hoboku looked into my light blue eyes for a second nodding her head without hesitation...i could see her conviction in this and i knew that she trusted me 100% when came to it as i gave her delicate hands a small squeeze making he feel better.

I smiled and turned towards the left path which was the right path hoboku also held onto my right hand not letting go of it and as we were about to walk into it...

-AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Both Hoboku and i froze for a second as we turned towards our backs simultaneously.....without a doubt....that was someones scream...a person ? but who ? That can't be maybe they just found the entrance by randomly walking outside or...they followed us..

At that moment both hoboku and i turned towards each other looking into each others eyes...i could tell she was thinking the same thing but who would follow us ? How did they even do that without being noticed by us ? wait...

I pulled out the map that i got from the orc mage...yes...this must be it...they didn't follow us from the beginning but only noticed as when we started going into the tomb...and since then they were following our footsteps going through the right paths without being noticed but now...they messed up those ugly orcs really messed up huh...

-Lets go...

I quickly pulled hoboku by her sleeve let those swines come closer wasn't a good idea...man i didn't really believe they would have a copy of this i really underestimated the orcs and idiot would think of duplicating the location of a treasure in case they would lose it thats like basic knowledge about treasure hunting itself....i just didn't really expect the orcs to do it thinking about their intelligence only the mages would be probably capable of this so who am i complaining to !

While thinking like that i pulled hoboku towards the left path...the slimes and the 5 pups were following us step by step i also ordered 1 of the slimes to hide in the corner of the ceiling to act as a camera for me...i wasn't going to fight this battle without any information about my opponent it was a bit too risky to do so and my current fighting power was still insufficient on a 1 on 1 confrontation without a surprise attack on my side of course...

And like so we entered the left path without hesitation even pacing for a second...it would be really ironic if this was the wrong path wouldn't it ? with that thought in mind we all started running through the left path,i didn't get to see if the path would close but i also didn't really care and continued my running beside hoboku who kept up the speed barely.The little pups weren't able to keep up so i decided to carry them and let hoboku also take on 2 while i held on 3...she actually insisted on taking all of them but i knew that she wouldn't be able to keep up with me if she really did so and refused like that and by the way i still have my pride as a man...so there is that.

As we continued running i noticed that the temperature was continuing to fall every step we took,the ground also started to get more frozen like becoming smoother and colder in our wake...this isn't just because of the humidity it's too frozen...i thought for a second as we saw the end of the hallway which led towards a shining room !

-wow

-ehh ?

I was wide-eyed for a second and hoboku was also surprised as we entered the end of the tomb it seemed,it was sparkling and shining everywhere the room was cold no freezing even,you could see the pointy cones hanging from the ceiling and the ground frozen into ice...there was slight reflected from the ice giving the room a sparkling illusion it was really hard to see where the actually light came from because of this but that didn't matter as the most eye-catching thing was in the middle of the room...

-Its...an pedestal ?

Yes in the middle of the room stood a single pedestal made out of ice and nothing else it felt ominous to me but what really pulled my interest was the item on the pedestal which looked like a...egg ?

I was confused...an egg ? we came here because of a dumb egg ?

-lord sorron someone came into the room !

The camera slime that i placed in the previous room reported to me using the transmission link...i quickly connected to it to see who it was and with no surprise the moment i linked with the slimes sense's i could see 18 ugly orcs running into the room...the one who was leading this group had a spartan helmet on his head and a meat giant cleaver on his right hand...the rest also looked very intimidating decked out with a lot of equipment and mean looks...

-Chief ! We have lost the sight on those people...

One of the orcs reported but the so-called "Chief" looked a bit angry as he pushed the orc away enraged.

-I KNOW YOU IDIOT ! huuhh we have to get them no matter what we have to avenge our brothers ! We also need to get the treasure before the humans invade us...DO YOU HEAR ME SOLDIERS MOVE YOUR UGLY ASSES

The chief turned towards his troops as he shouted at them making them move towards the 2 paths and as the leading one stepped onto the line the 2 stone soldiers awakened again for some reason giving them the same words like they did to me and hoboku...Seeing this happening in front of them the orcs stopped on their tracks and pulled out their weapons about to charge at the two statues until.

-HOLD YOU DUMB SWINES !

With a powerful force something like lightning shot out from the group halting the orc soldiers from attacking the 2 statues...the group split in 2 giving a path to a orc who wore blue robes and a willow staff...i couldn't see his face because of his hood but i didn't need to know that to see he was a mage too...he stopped in front of the chief and said with a loud roar.

-YOU IDIOT DO YOU WANT TO KILL ALL OF US BEFORE WE GET THE CHANCE TO DEFEND AGAINST THE HUMANS ! CAN"T YOU SEE THE SIGN ABOVE THE STONE GOLEMS YOU JABERMOUTH ?!

The orc mage sounded very old and you could see that the chief actually feared this blue robed mage a lot as he nodded his head without hesitation...no good from what i can see it won't take them long to get here if i think he is as smart as i am assume him to be...

I cut off my connection towards the slime and looked around the room again...is there really no exit ?!If they get here our chance of survival is zero...they over power us with their numbers and also because of the space in here escape is no use running isn't either...what do we do !

-Lord sorron...

Hoboku got close to me as she held onto my shaking hands...she gripped my chin and moved it towards her face forcing me to look at her eyes which were blood-red and beautiful to be honest...she kept holding onto my hand calming the shivering force which came with it...i was panicked and didn't know what to do but looking at her gives me peace for some reason...yes i have to calm down panicking won't help me it will get us all killed if even the leader starts panicking and hoboku knows that,thats why she tries to calm me down panicking isn't like me i always have a plan for something and if not i can always make one too..

I sighed for a second nodding towards her...she also smiled seeing me calm again....yeah this is all on me we need a way out and i know there must be a way out !

I took a deep breath and looked into the room again there were no signs of doors or any buttons or anything close to a lever...there was only this pedestal with the grey egg on top of it,the size of the egg was huge comparable to that of a basketball but 2 sizes bigger i guess.

Hoboku who was standing next to me starting walking towards the path we had come from channeling her spell she was getting ready for the worst outcome...she was calm and collected but i knew it was because of her skill but still i admired her for being able to keep calm nonetheless.

I also started doing my thing and approached the pedestal with the egg on it there wasn't anything else in the room so i didn't know where to start,i refrained from touching the egg itself and started thinking what it could be ? Maybe it was a monster egg but i couldn't understand what kind of monster egg would be able to survive in such cold and the egg itself wasn't giving me any clues the pedestal was also clean with nothing indicating there is a hidden button of some sort...

-Lord sorron they are coming your way !

The camera slime told me as i saw pictures of the orcs storming into the left passage...the orc mage was the last to go and as he was going into the path slowly he suddenly turned towards the camera slime with a huge grin on his ugly face as his winked at me and with that he raised his palm and shot out a lightning bolt towards the slime ending its life and the visual feed...i was scared for a second almost thinking that he was actually shooting at me...I was stupid to think like that and quickly reminded myself that could be arranged if we don't get out of here as fast as we can...

I had only 1 way now...i need to raise the egg and see if there is anything under it...there is a reason i didn't want to touch the egg it was because it was omitting a really ominous aura and touching it didn't seem to be a good idea but there was no choice now...

For a second i inspected the egg to see if there is anything weird on it,but i couldn't find anything weird until i saw a little black spot on the egg surface i wasn't sure what it was so i lightly blowed on the surface where the sightly black color was present and...the warm air that came from my blow heated the frozen surface and revealed to me something like a black sigil drawn on the egg...the visual was only for a few seconds as the cold air froze the surface again hiding the strange sigil in ice...

-THE END IS NEAR MY BROTHERS CHARGE FASTER !!

A loud roar could be heard as the sound of,dozens of footsteps could be heard coming towards us hoboku stiffed for a second as she shot her spell into the narrow passage followed by cries of agony and anger while she tried to cast another spell...time was running out so at that very moment i gripped the egg with both of my hands and as i did so i could feel the sensation of deathly cold air surrounding me in that instant...what was happening ?

I tried to raise the egg but it wouldn't budge one bit but that wasn't actually the problem the problem was that i couldn't part my hands with the egg...my hands seemed to be glued onto the egg as i felt the cold sensation spread on them hurting me a lot and like this i could also see that the icy surface of the egg started spreading towards my back almost covering it with ice as i tried to shake it off with no result...this was bad really bad it almost made want to cry FUCK i can't move away...

-HAHA I CAN SEE THE ENEMY ON THE OTHER SIDE MEN CHARGE WITH ALL YOU GOT WE ARE JUST ABOUT TO BUST THEIR ASSES !

As someone shouted that hoboku shot out her 8th spear killing that guy too the narrow space didn't give them any space to evade the spears and every shot was a kill...

But what now ? I didn't have any way out and the orcs were about to come i was also stuck to the egg and with the things that were going on i was most like turning into a ice figure then a corpse...no think sorron think you have seen more hopeless situations than this ! well maybe not but still close so think about it...yes i know ! why didn't think about that !

I quickly thought about the skill and concentrated at the egg activating the skill.

-...

Wait what ?...i can't appraise it ? My skill isn't enough ? i tried again.

You gotta be kidding me right ?...thats just...unfair.

My head was slowly falling down from my shoulders as i looked towards hoboku who was still shooting her spells at the orcs killing them one by one...you could see clear mental fatigue building up on her head as the spells were draining her from her mana which was giving her small spasm if she would reach her limit with the things that were going she would get knocked out before they even get the chance to get in here......as i looked at her i started thinking about the things she said to be in the hallway...that she would protect me no matter what...yeah i also needed to hold my word and not disappoint her.

I looked at the egg again...rage was building up in my eyes as i looked at it hateful but for now i forcefully shut of my anger and started thinking more rationally...i can't identify what else can i do then ?

As i was thinking like this i remembered the black sigil that was on this egg...maybe ?

I quickly got to work and searched the spot again and when i found it i started blowing gently as to not get any spit on it to give it a double layer and after another few seconds it work and the sigil was visible again...this is my last hope come on be helpful !

I activate on it.

The Dark Ice sigil is the mark of the black ice dragon it bestows the skill evolution replacing when acquired or possessed,the skill experience will be set onto zero again once the sigil is used to gain the skill.The user also gains and to the max level if the skill is acquired.The sigil is set onto a black ice dragon and the person you activate the sigil gets the owner ship of the black ice dragon egg. To activate the sigil the user has to touch it and pour mana into it.

Warning Only Works With Users If The User Possesses Any Other Magic Skill The Egg Will Reject Them Possibly Even Killing Them By Freezing Effect.

-...

Well i was dumb to have used my hands really...and without hesitation i moved my head towards the where the sigil was leaning onto it with my head i could feel the paining cold sensation burning skin under my right eye almost making me black out but i forced myself to keep conscious and poured mana through my head trying to activate the sigil....and after a few seconds a window popped up in front of my eyes.

I was astound by the 4th window and also confused as i parted my hands from the grey egg no longer feeling any sharp pain of cold coming from the surface !As i was thinking like that i noticed that in the end of the room was lighting up and as i looked at it i realized the wall was sliding to the left opening a path out of the room...and into the outside world...

-HOBOKU RUN !

I shouted at her as i told the other slimes and pups to run towards the exit i was smiling with triumph on my face but as soon as i turned towards hoboku that victory smiled turned into that of despair.As i watched hoboku falling down onto her knees...her eyes were closed and you could see a lot of sweat falling down her forehead she was drenched and exhausted from the drain of mana she endured while endlessly trying to defend us firing off her spells towards the orcs killing them one by one resulting in mana exhaustion...

I saw hoboku fall down helpless breathing hard and you could see she was enduring a heavy lot of pain while trying to force herself awake and channel one more spell towards her enemies to keep them at bay they distance between me and hoboku was only 5 meters the same as the door which was slowly closing up without me noticing for me to run up to her and get her up and then run towards the door was a matter of 25 to 40 seconds which may not be enough to get to the door before it closes i could also try to use the slimes,but no...they won't make it either...maybe i can...no that won't work too...

Haha...it was funny how i was thinking about all these ideas trying to think of how to get her and me out of here in one piece even thought the most obvious way out would be abandoning her and get out myself which i could do obviously hoboku herself would probably tell me to escape by myself too....but thinking about....no i rather die horribly.

With that final decision i turned towards hoboku in front of her i could see the orcs charging in holding their their weapons out,their eyes were blood shot and you could see pieces of meat and other body parts scattered on them as if they bathed in blood hehe that was hoboku's doing and she did very well the distance between them and hoboku was also 5 meters and as i was thinking like that i activate my skill.

My target was hobusaku the agility type.

=================================================

I edit and write other stories !

https://kakemonoko.wordpress.com/