After crossing the open area, the ground transitioned from soil to grayish-white stone. Its surface was marked with narrow cracks, their edges worn smooth as if something frequently walked over them.
Ahead lay a low, circular structure. The surface of its walls was covered in a layer of dark residue, upon which various crooked runes were carved, looking utterly bizarre.
Although Lovene could not understand the runes, a single glance at them stirred an inexplicable feeling of irritation deep within her.
The others felt the same way. Ivy stopped in front of the runes and said in a heavy voice:
“This is where the monster was born.”
Lovene looked around and asked, “This place... looks like an altar?”
“Yes,” Ivy nodded. “According to my investigation, the contaminated monster in Sido territory did not form naturally. It was man-made, and this must be the place where they created it.”
“Creating monsters?” Lovene murmured, sighing inwardly.
Human greed and arrogance truly far exceeded her expectations. Even knowing how terrifying divine contamination was, there were still those who sought to research such power in an attempt to control it.
That monster was likely the result of their research spinning out of control.
Behind the altar was a hollow cavity. Its surface was coated in shifting, pale blue light that faintly radiated a weak trace of mana.
Lovene stepped in front of it and said softly, “This is...”
“A magic seal,” Ivy said, her gaze landing on the same spot. “Quite a decent level, too.”
She walked up to the seal and reached out to sense the mana structure within it. Then, she couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.
“It seems the caster assumed we wouldn't be able to break it, so they didn't even bother dismantling the seal. Talk about arrogant.”
With that, she stood up and began to softly chant an incantation.
Beside them, Lailan quickly pushed Lovene and Mia three meters back, her face filled with pride.
“Hmph, Her Highness is highly skilled at breaking seal magic.”
Breaking seal magic?
Watching Ivy closely, Lovene felt a flicker of curiosity.
As the incantation was chanted, the pale blue light on the wall began to ripple bizarrely. Gradually, Ivy's breathing slowed, and the flowing light seeped into the wall like water, vanishing from sight.
Once the light dissipated, a passage was revealed behind it.
But just as the passage was about to open completely, an inexplicable force surged out from within. Ivy did not seem to have anticipated this sudden onslaught.
“A trap?!”
Sensing that power, her body tilted slightly for a brief moment. She quickly clutched her chest, her fingers beginning to glow with a pale blue mana as she tried to suppress something inside her.
Yet despite her efforts, her condition did not improve; instead, it rapidly worsened.
Pfft—!
She spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed weakly onto the ground. Along the edge of her collar, something began to spread outward through the fibers of the fabric...
It was a layer of white frost!
The temperature around her seemed to plummet drastically. Fine frost condensed in the air, dusting her hair and eyelashes white, and even the ground was not spared.
Seeing this, Lailan cried out in panic: “Your Highness!”
She wanted to rush forward and support Ivy, but after taking only two steps, a transparent wall blocked her path.
Lovene's gaze fell upon the white frost on Ivy. “What happened?!”
Lailan clenched her fists, her face contorting with worry. “It's mana backlash! The backlash is preventing Her Highness from using her mana to suppress the cold energy inside her body, causing it to run rampant. At this rate, Her Highness... Her Highness will die! Unless we can get in there and use our mana to help her suppress the cold energy, but... but this damn seal is blocking our way!”
Reaching out to touch the transparent seal before her, Lovene finally understood what Ivy had meant by a trap.
The seal was likely just a decoy, while the trap behind it was the real threat. However...
From the look of it, the so-called trap was merely a trigger for mana backlash. If an ordinary person suffered from mana backlash, it wouldn't be a fatal issue; at most, they would need to rest and recuperate in bed for a few days.
But the one suffering from the mana backlash was Ivy, the Saintess of the Church of Winter.
For her, the consequence of failing to suppress the cold energy was being frozen to death.
This was far too much of a coincidence.
Could it be that the person who set up the seal and the trap had been targeting Ivy from the very beginning?
This question surfaced in Lovene's mind, but before she could dwell on it, Lailan struck at the seal, shouting: “Attack the seal together! Force it open!”
Mia did not hesitate either, drawing her longsword and slashing down hard against the seal. Yet even with her and Lailan working together, the seal did not budge in the slightest.
“It's no use! This seal cannot be broken with brute force!”
Watching Ivy painfully close her eyes inside the sealed area, her body shivering violently from the cold, Lailan's face flushed red with anxiety, but she was completely powerless.
“Your Highness, Your Highness...”
Lovene blinked and asked, “Is there really no way to regain control of one's mana after a backlash?”
Kneeling before the seal, Lailan hung her head, unable to bear looking at Ivy's agony. “...Yes, but there is no time. The pain from the cold energy makes it impossible for Her Highness to concentrate on resolving the backlash. Furthermore, her life force will only grow weaker and weaker under the cold, until finally...”
It would take some time for the cold energy to completely freeze Ivy's body, but if she couldn't stabilize her internal mana during this window, she would truly freeze to death.
Yet the agonizing cold made it impossible for Ivy to focus on resolving the backlash.
It was virtually a dead end.
“I have a way to save her,” Lovene said softly, looking at Ivy.
Lailan shook her head weakly, seemingly consumed by despair. “Don't joke around. How could there possibly be a way to save Her Highness now? Besides, you don't even have mana. Healing magic is useless against this cold energy...”
“Who said I only know healing magic?” Lovene gave a light chuckle. Then, she closed her eyes and reached her hand out toward Ivy. “Ivy, let go of your mental defenses.”
As she spoke, she felt as though her outstretched hand was grasping a pair of incredibly cold hands.
Immediately afterward, the biting cold energy surged wildly from the other party's hands to her arms, and then from her arms into her own body.
Before long, frost dusted her long hair and eyelashes, and even her breath carried tiny ice crystals.
Sacrifice Transfer!
This was the new ability granted by the Heart of the Saintess. By using it, she could temporarily take Ivy's place and bear the agony of the cold energy.
On the other side...
So warm.
It felt like being held in her mother's arms by the fireplace on a cold winter day.
The layer of frost covering Ivy's body slowly began to thin. Her breathing returned to its normal rhythm, and her eyes gradually fluttered open.
“Lovene?”
She could feel a pair of hands gently wrapping around her soul from behind, absorbing the erosion and pain of the cold energy in her stead. And that person was none other than the Saintess, Lovene.
Rate on N.U.
