Now that Shel was not wearing any armor she felt as light as a feather, the finely crafted armor was nice but it was more of her style to get into the action unprotected.
Technically this feeling of speed was artificial since she hadn't actually increased in terms of leg power but feeling that she was faster was enough to make her get there with a little less effort.
But even with this extra boost in speed granted by the placebo... Shel was still too late.
"D- Dakgu!!!" Shel screamed after slamming open the metallic lab door. The young orc was an ice sculpture!
Shel immediately ran forward wanting to help but as soon as she stepped forward and placed her hands on his shoulders she instantly knew there was nothing she could do.
She subconsciously squeezed his shoulder and a small chunk of ice broke off from Dakgu alongside a piece of his skin.
'Thi- This is horrible!" Shel was instantly incensed by the actions of this twisted Vorgarag. Dying in such a way was perhaps not any worse than dying to a fire. Sure, Fire was guaranteed to be excruciatingly painful but the feeling of burning cold on one's skin followed by the suffocating lack of air was not any better. Remaining alive for even an extra minute almost seemed like a curse under such conditions. Though the chances of lasting even this long were already slim...
"No no no, he- he might still be alive" Dakgu's strength might not be much to talk about but his will had to be commended. He had left many things unfinished, how could he die like this?!
Shel did not interact much with Dakgu, she would only see him when going to grab something to eat at the boar farm. Her current worry was mainly caused by the thought of one of Ed's people dying once more due to their lack of ability.
Yes, this would be the second time. That orc was not Vorgarag and had she been strong enough to not be pushed off the wall she could have prevented this orc from ever coming into being.
"I need fire!" Shel was not a magician but she still carried a couple of crystals in case the others needed them. She quickly brought out a singular red crystal and placed it right onto Dakgu's frozen head.
"You aren't hot enough!" She shouted apparently angry at the crystal. The fire mana was hot so naturally, the crystal was hot but it wasn't hot enough to burn things.
Shel was left at her wit's end, she didn't have many wits to spare in the first place. How frustrating!
Shel thus fell to her knees perhaps asking for forgiveness from Dakgu and stayed like that for only a moment longer.
"...where did Vorgarag go?" She muttered to herself standing up and throwing the entirety of the room a cursory glance. Everything looked… cold. A cape of snowy ice covered up most surfaces and the small icicles even formed in the area.
The floor was also slippery and similarly covered in frost. Except for one part, there was only one place that did not have a soft layer of frost on top of it.
Shel hurried over to the out of place desk and looked under its dark space and hardly managed to catch a glimpse of something. She pushed the desk off of the thing and a hatch was thus revealed.
Shel instantly knew that this had to be the place towards which Vorgarag ran off to. Praising Dakgu's bravery in her mind, Shel noticed a ladder and started working her way down rapidly.
Vorgarag had to pay for his actions and whether or not she would be the one to make him pay had yet to be seen. Still, she would try, and hopefully… she would succeed.
After what felt like an eternity, Shel got down to the bottom of the ladder. The first thing to strike her as surprising was the extreme chill that seemed to pervade the cavern. This only served to remind her of Vorgarag's ice skills and she became wary.
She still pressed forward, however. With each step, the grip on her simple axe seemed to grow tighter and as her tension rose so did the temperature.
The cavern was dark and chilly yet after lots of walking Shel was finally able to see light. The light of a fire, though raging flames was more accurate.
A bizarre amalgamation of arrays seemed to float above the ground without a care for the laws of the world spun ferociously. These arrays seemed to be working overtime as they churned out as much fire mana from the crystals embedded in their centers.
The dazzling orange flames the array fired struck at a pure white wall. These flames seemed to have already dug into the walls significantly seeing how little steam permeated the immediate vicinity. It was like a fire drill digging to the center for a reason beyond Shel's understanding.
As Shel stepped out of the shadows she was of course noticed by the twisted Vorgarag. He who was originally hunched over drawing with blood on the ground stopped and turned around to see Shel.
The two saw each other eye to eye and this allowed Shel to reaffirm the obvious.
"You are not Vorgarag" She said without uncertainty before brandishing her axe.
"Hahaha, are we doing this again?" Vorgarag tilted his head and asked holding an angry grin. It sounded impossible but Vorgarag pulled it off.
Shel no longer said any words, she only charged forward withstanding intense heat radiated by the flames. Her footsteps remained unheard over the loud sound of the fire.
Nonetheless, Vorgarag didn't need to hear anything to know to deal with the new pest.
"You are not worthy! You are not worthy-" He yelled like a broken record preparing to cast an offensive spell before widening his eyes at an unexpected sight.
The orc iron axe Shel brought with her was hurled towards him with impressive momentum. Vorgarag abandoned any thoughts of attack and didn't spare a second in casting a wall of water to safeguard himself.
Just as the axe entered, the water started to suddenly freeze and with the lost momentum, the axe was left like a decorative ship inside of a glass bottle.
"Are you stupid?" Vorgarag mocked. What type of moronic warrior would throw their only or main weapon of attack?
Shel didn't mind this at all however as she continued running on unimpeded. Once near enough to the wall of ice between herself and Vorgarag she unexpectedly lunged out.
The sound of shattering ice reverberated inside the ears of Vorgarag, he was more impacted by the astounding display of raw strength, however.
"Are you dumb?" Shel asked back with her bloody fist retrieving her axe from the ice it had been encased in.
She might not be the brightest but even she knew that fighting with ice in a place being heated by such strong flames was not smart!
Vorgarag who was initially surprised now had a change of expression.
"Yes, maybe so" He replied simply noticing the predicament he placed himself in.
***
Things progressed pretty quickly outside of the sanctuary walls. It was especially so after all of the scouts were permitted to scale the large walls and inspect the layout with relative scrutiny.
Maps were passed around between the scouts filling in all of the blanks and the only thing left to do was to mark down orc patrols as well as evident traps yet…
"There are no orcs?" Balin asked seeing that the symbols clearly defined on a corner of the map were nowhere to be seen in the map itself. There were no lines, no orc heads, nada.
"Commander, how will we proceed?" Under the intense gazes of his squad captains, Balin was left on the spot. He furrowed his brow and only considered the matter briefly.
"Ray, you are at the front. Scout out the area, I'll follow behind. You all pick up after us" Balin said not minding the surprised expression of some of the newer squad captains like Siar. To the senior ones like Ray himself, this wasn't a new tactic.
Balin tended to prioritize safety by putting himself and others at A-class strength at the forefront of danger. For Ray this was inevitable. he was the best archer Balin knew and that automatically meant he knew a thing or two about scouting. It was a basic skill that with his current skill set was not a requirement but as he hadn't always been a great archer it was something he learned when it was a necessity.
With him at the front bringing him information Balin could feel safe pressing forward and dealing with any real threats. It wasn't that Ray couldn't try and handle things himself but more often than not Balin would only implement this strategy when holding home-field advantage.
With grass and trees in the surrounding the fresh air that everyone equally breathed in felt especially invigorating to Balin. It was as if his entire body knew that he was in a way, at home.
"Let's set out immediately" The original intent was to capture Eon but evidently Eon was not present in this settlement. Still, they had to check it out now that they were there. There were orcs, the question was then quality and quantity.
""""Understood""" The squad captains all said in unison as Balin stood up from his seat of command.
Balin then grabbed his nearby helmet, it shone a radiant silver. He equipped it without another word and grabbed his sword which rested beside the table. The long blade which at times seemed to garner signs of life glued itself to his hand as he gripped it.
Without saying a word more, the squad captains made way for Balin to exit the tent first before following after him. This was a show of respect.
The usually rowdy royal company was still a royal company and they knew when to say and or do certain things. The solemn expression of Balin which had become a staple of his being while in this dungeon held a special trace of distance.
It was as if Balin was looking ahead at the things to come. Did he find them to be in trouble? No one would know, but he had the foresight of a leader that was certain.
As such, they would trust him and he would in return prove himself worthy of this trust.