Chapter 50: Freezing Cave

"I'm not sure, Master Lucas, but according to the report I received, they have found the remains of something not human inside that cave, and Lord Hubert has already barricaded the area." Michael suddenly told me in a low voice as we both follow the trail towards the cave.

That cave was actually found by one of our soldiers who got lost in the fog a few days ago. He was separated from his group when he failed to dodge a tree and bumped into it, causing him to be disoriented. It was already too late when his captain noticed his disappearance during roll call, they immediately organized a search party, expecting to find his dead body

However, after searching for several hours and using several pairs of cotton masks, they still had not found him. So, one of his companions decided to loudly shout his name in the hopes that he would answer.

And that shout attracted his attention; he responded by banging his sword on his shield, creating a loud noise that echoed in the surrounding area. Following that noise led them to an area they had not yet explored, where they found the soldier taking shelter in a cave to escape the fog.

He only stayed at the cave's mouth, as it was too dark to go inside, but even that protected him from the effects of the fog, which did not seem to approach the cave. This strange phenomenon made our soldiers hesitant to explore the inside of the cave, fearing that giant snakes might be sleeping inside.

It took them a day before they decided to ask a knight for assistance in exploring the cave. When they did, they were astonished to find that it was much bigger than they had thought.

Although the cave only had a small opening, enough for four people to enter at the same time, the inside was like a small city underground. The cave had huge stalagmites and stalactites, and water continuously dripped and flowed in some areas. Some parts of the cave had ceilings as high as 50 meters, making it a huge empty space.

It took them two days before they found the area with the human remains. They had almost given up on inspecting this area, as it seemed to be just an empty cave, but they thought it was strange that the fog did not invade this place, as there was no magical formation outside the cave. So, they persisted and eventually found it

"Lord Hubert has already gone there with Sir Hugo, but I'm afraid we won't be able to explore the fog every day, as we are running out of cotton fabric to make more masks," Michael said worriedly as we increase our speed.

"It seems like we need to ration our remaining supplies of masks, or else we will run out of them soon," I said seriously as we continuously evaded the obstacles in front of us.

It has already been a week since the fog spread throughout the Beaufort territory, and the last time we received news from the outside world was when the family members of Callisto arrived here a day after the poisonous fog trapped us all. Although they were able to cross the fog, they did so by slowing down their breathing for several minutes before taking another breath.

By doing this continuously, they were able to slow down the effects of the poisonous fog. At the same time, they consumed an entire crate of healing potion in an attempt to alleviate the effects of fog poisoning. Now, we are running out of cotton fabric to use as masks, as we can't really wash them once they get soiled by the black smudges.

The cotton becomes brittle after a while, and even washing it can't prevent this from happening. Our material reserves are normal, as we managed to expand our warehouse when our economy was flourishing. The only material we currently need is cotton fabric, and we only have a few dozen rolls remaining in stock.

"Master Lucas we're almost there." Michael said suddenly as he goes Infront of me.

"It's right there." He added as we reach an open area without any fog which is near the mouth of the cave.

A torch could also be seen hanging on both sides of the walls lighting up the outside and inside of the cave.

A small number of soldiers could also be seen guarding the place together with sir Daniel.

"Ah! Master Lucas, you arrived. Your father is waiting for you inside, come quickly." Sir Daniel said as he immediately lead us inside the cave.

As described by our soldiers in their report this place could indeed be used as a bunker in a state of emergency. The only thing missing is a huge and thick metal door that would seal this entire place.

The inside of the cave is just the same as their report, there was nothing to be seen inside of it aside from rock formations and water dropping from the ceiling.

Some of the parts that we have passed by also have a huge open space that we can use to build buildings in the future, as even the ceiling of this place is very high.

"We didn't expect that we would find something like this in the depths of this cave, as we know this place as the den of the giant snakes." Sir Daniel said as we follow his tracks.

Some part of the cave was also lit up by a torch but not the entire place as it would make it impossible for us to spend a huge amount of resources and time to light it all up.

"This is such a huge place. We can even build a secret city inside of this cave if we want to." I said as I continuously turn my head scanning my entire surroundings.

"It's just a pity that we can't light up this entire place. I bet it would look amazing." I added before both of them stopped in their tracks.

"Master Lucas You want to light up this entire place because it would look amazing?" Ask by sir Daniel with an astonished expression on his face.

"Ah yeah, at the same time, I can also use that as a reference for building future establishments inside of this cave. I mean, how would I design this place if there's not enough light for me to see the entirety of it." I answered as both of them give me a weird look.

Even though I have an enhanced sense of sight as a knight it was still limited by the pure darkness around this place. Unlike outside where the shining light of the two bright moons illuminates the night, in this place it's just pure black that even my sight can't penetrate it at all.

"This place doesn't give me any warmth at all and if we developed this place I doubt that people would choose to stay inside of this." Michael said as he knock his hands off the walls of the cave creating a small echo.

Since there was a continuous drop of water from the ceiling this also makes the entire surroundings colder than usual, and the deeper we go the colder it gets. It even comes to a point that smoke can be seen coming out of our mouths every time we take our breath.

"This place is huge! We've been walking for so long and yet we still haven't reached that place." I said as we submerged our feet in knee-deep freezing water.

"Woah, this is too cold." Michael said as he started to cover his body with a thin layer of his coppery aura.

"Yes, I agree with you. I can't also stand this cold for too long." I said as I also actively operate my aura to cover my body.

"I'm astonished that both of you have lasted this long without even using your aura. Many of our soldiers need to stop at this point as the temperature in this place can freeze anyone immediately." Said Sir Daniel as his body glowed with golden light signifying his strength as a senior Knight.

After I cover my body with my knight aura, it immediately stops the cold from spreading within me and it also acts like a heater making me feel comfortable as we now walk on waist-deep water.

"So, even with this freezing temperature, you all still decided to proceed with investigating this place?" I ask with a puzzled face.

"Who wouldn't." Sir Daniel exclaimed as he turn his head to look at me.

"Master Lucas, this phenomenon alone is very unusual. How can a cave like this create such a very cold temperature, even enough to freeze anyone to death." He added as we continued walking.

"So we immediately know that something is not right over this place, that's why we found it." He said as we now walk towards the dry ground.

"Woah! what is this?"  Michael exclaimed as we saw the scene in front of us.

In front of us is a wide-open space shaped like a giant dome, and above us is a giant crystal that emits a blue light, illuminating everything around us. The entire place is freezing, as ice covers everything.

But even in this extreme cold temperature, some life can still be found as weird trees made of pure ice can still be seen thriving here, gently waving their branches with their glittering leaves.

Grass and flowers-like things can also be seen growing here, making it an ethereal sight.

The grass gave off a blue color-like shine as it dance around the wind, which I don't know where it came from, but it sure is very windy inside of this place.

"What the heck?" I said in a loud voice as I tilted my head upwards.

In addition to the giant light crystal glowing with a weird blue light in the center of this cave, there are also other things twinkling in the ceiling. Upon focusing my sight on the nearest twinkling light, I found out that it was just a shiny rock that gives off a glow every once in a while.

"It's such a wonderful view, isn't it?" Sir Daniel said with a smug smile.

"What are those things twinkling in the ceiling? Are those rocks or crystals?" I ask as I stare at one of the twinkling lights giving off a different color of glow.

"We are not sure. We don't have enough time yet to investigate it, as Hugo found those remains in one of the rooms." Daniel said as we started walking towards a giant crystal tree at the center of this opening.

I estimate that the highest point of this ceiling is around 500 meters, and the lowest part of the dome-like ceiling is around 100 meters. At the very center of the ceiling is a giant light crystal, and below that is the biggest crystal tree.

"Are we still underneath the ground?" Michael ask mindlessly as he couldn't stop himself from turning his head left and right.

"It does look like we are already outside, if not for that giant crystal." I said to him as sir Daniel lead us into a room that is underneath the roots of the giant crystal tree.

"Why is there a door here?" I ask in shock as I looked at sir Daniel.

"We also don't know, but our guess is that this place was a relic of the distant past," Daniel said as he pushed the giant door made out of unknown metal with a very smooth surface.

"What the? This door didn't even feel cold to the touch." I said with surprise evident in my voice.

"Indeed, all of us are trying to figure out what kind of material was used to make this door, but we can't think of any metal that has the same property as this." Sir Daniel said as all of us enters the door.

"Wait, are those magic formations?" Michael ask as he pointed his fingers toward the back of the metal door, that has a lot of runes written on it.

"Yes it is, but none of them works anymore. The magic formation on this door broke down a long long time ago." Said by Sir Daniel as he lead us inside the long hallway.