To get to the dungeon where the ice worms dwell, we need to go through three portals. One to the capital, another to the marquisate where the Blue Mountains are located, and a third that will take us to a remote village that has thrived thanks to the nearby dungeon.

We grab our backpacks with gear and provisions. Tom joins Ronan as soon as he enters his room. We regroup and, without delay, using the mission note as proof to gain access to the teleporters, we begin our journey through the academy's portal. In just under twenty minutes—most of it spent waiting for clearance to use the other two portals—we arrive in the Blue Mountains.

The first thing I notice is the cold, an icy breeze that hits my face and seeps into my clothes. This is not the same mountain range where the goblin cave was, but another area of the kingdom. These mountains are taller, and the temperatures much lower. In fact, what feels like it's scraping against my skin is sleet. I quickly put on the coat I bought in the city, along with my hat and gloves. I see Ronan doing the same.

Here, the portal is not inside a building, but in a village square, similar to the portal in the village where I take my private lessons.

People barely glance our way—probably used to academy students arriving around this time of year to dive into the dungeon. I approach one of the villagers to ask for directions out of the village. He gives me the instructions, and we head that way.

With the wind and snow, we cannot see much beyond the white walls and rooftops. I imagine they regularly clear the snow from the streets, since we can walk without sinking into it. Smoke rises from the chimneys of many buildings, creating a scene that, to me, nostalgically resembles a Christmas postcard.

After walking straight and making a couple of right turns, we reach the village walls. There, guards stationed under shelter greet us and ask if we are heading to the dungeon. I show them the note, and they let us through, a bit surprised that our party is so small: only three people.

Tom is not wearing a coat, but like Joe and Bob when they left with Mary, he is well-covered in clothes and a hooded cloak, hiding every inch of his bare bones.

"Is the dungeon far?" I ask before leaving the village.

"Just follow the path—it leads straight to the entrance, you can't miss it," one of the guards replies.

"Thanks."

I imagine that, since this village's economy revolves around the dungeon, it makes sense for there to be a direct path from the village gate to the dungeon entrance. In fact, the village is nestled in a valley high up in the mountains. If you look around, you see them almost completely encircling you. They have a bluish tint, likely caused by the light reflecting off the accumulated snow. Maybe that is where the name comes from.

We follow the path, wide and fairly clear of snow. It's obvious that it's regularly maintained. After about two hundred meters, we reach one of the steep rock walls that border the valley on three sides. There's a hole in the wall—completely black—which confirms it's a dungeon, since daylight doesn't pass through it.

There are no soldiers guarding the entrance, but since the only way to get here is through the village, we already passed the checkpoint—both at the teleporter and with the guards at the gate in the wall.

"I would've liked to see a rabbit or something along the way to shoot at," I mutter more to myself than to my two companions.

"There will be creatures inside. You will be able to practice."

"Yeah, thanks. Will you do the honors?"

I gesture toward the entrance.

"As you wish. Tom," he adds with a nod toward the entrance.

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The one addressed approaches the entrance and bumps into it, unable to pass through.

"Is it locked?" I ask, confused.

"No, my lady. My apologies, I wanted to test something."

"A test?"

"I had read that undead with a master cannot enter a dungeon until that master has entered first. With your permission."

He gives me a slight bow of the head and steps into the dungeon. Tom follows him, this time without bouncing off it. I go in right behind them. The puppy lets out a small bark as we enter. I carry him in a side pocket of my backpack, well away from the food. Our plan is to stay overnight in here if needed.

In the otome game, I never came here. Still, at the academy, we had no trouble gathering all the available information about this dungeon, so we know what to expect. In fact, they had guides prepared for the different mission areas.

To start with, the dungeon opens into a tunnel carved directly into the rock. The ice worms whose eggs we're after can be found on the second level. This dungeon has three levels in total. The first one is inhabited by ice golems—slow, magically inclined creatures with strong defense. They can cast levitate and maintain it for hours. In fact, they use it to ambush adventurers from the ceiling. There are also ice bats, which use impact and disorientation attacks.

On the second level, aside from the worms, you might also run into trolls, snow wolves, and, if you're not careful, the occasional snow wraith. Only the last ones would actually raise the dungeon's difficulty level, but since they're easy to avoid, they aren't taken into account.

The third level is home to ice elementals—and a yeti as the final boss.

"See anything?" I ask Ronan.

Both he and I have lit torches, since the tunnel is in complete darkness. No glowing moss, no shafts of light from surface openings—nothing. We haven't moved far from the entrance, aware that this is where the golems usually spring their ambushes. They're like icy spheres, a bit larger than a basketball. No limbs, no mouth, no eyes. They roll to move, but despite their shape, they're extremely slow—unless they have time to build momentum downhill.

For now, the tunnel is flat.

"There," Ronan whispers, pointing to a spot on the ceiling about a meter ahead of us.

It's hard to see—the creature is semi-translucent and blends in with the stone under such dim light—but yes, there it is: one of the golems, lying in wait for us to walk beneath it so it can launch its ice shard attack.

Not happening.

I narrow my eyes to trigger the display of its name and level.

Ice Golem, Level 3.

"Thanks," I whisper back to Ronan, reaching for my bow, which is slung over my shoulder.

(I asked at the shop where I bought it, because on Earth, bows are usually detachable for easier transport. But not this one. At most, you can remove the string. Good thing it's not one of those two-meter-long longbows.)

I channel magic into the bow. I have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen, but I want to be sure. The bow is surrounded by a red aura. I draw an arrow and shoot.

I hit the golem, but the arrow bounces off and falls to the ground. The creature starts rolling—very slowly—across the ceiling toward us.

Just as I suspected.

Channeling fire into the bow alone only adds damage if I use it like a blunt weapon. Too bad. It would've been great if the fire had affected the arrows automatically.

I reach back with my left hand to touch the quiver slung across my back and channel magic into it. If this doesn't work, I'll have to do it arrow by arrow, and that would make using a bow a huge mana drain.

The golem has closed a third of the short distance between us. I can't step back—I'm standing right at the dungeon entrance. I pull out an arrow, nock it, and draw. I can see that signature red glow of fire channeling now coming from the arrow itself.

I smile.

I shoot.

Direct hit, nearly point-blank.

The arrow, empowered by the fire's penetration, sinks into the golem. The creature drops to the ground, lifeless. I'm not sure if it was overkill, but it's definitely dead. Whatever mechanism it used to cling to the ceiling—levitate, probably—stopped working the moment I slew it.

Hmm... quick mental math:

With high spirit affinity and intelligence at 7, that's 2 points of fire damage added to the 1 point from the arrow itself. Plus, the fire element bypassed the creature's defenses.

Nice.

The magic sword at my waist gives me a +1 bonus for each type of damage. I understand that fire channeling counts as fire damage. That is, it's not both fire and spirit damage—that would be insanely overpowered. In fact, I doubt both damages are counted, since spirit is just the attribute used to apply fire damage. So, the sword gives me a +2 to this shot: one point added to the fire damage and one to the physical damage of the arrow.

And that's assuming I didn't hit a weak spot or land a crit on the arrow's physical damage.

So, total damage: 5 points.

The creature is dead—its HP bar dropped to zero.

Which means it either had 5 HP or less, or I landed a critical hit that bumped up the damage.

Good.

Let's find another one.

Ronan, always watching me closely, points to another spot a bit farther ahead, also on the ceiling. I nod and grab another arrow. This one also glows with that fiery red aura.

Perfect.

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