[Vol. 9] Chapter 62: Assurance
“No matter if you want it or not, you are now standing at the very center of the conflict on this peninsula. You can’t protect everything, even with the divine weapon you just got. You should know this better than me. A divine weapon may be powerful, but the person using it is what truly matters.”
“So, will you work with us? I will guarantee the safety of you and the people you care about, but the price is that you must help us. I will only ask this once, think carefully before you answer. Moraya should have already explained the details to you clearly.”
“…”
Hearing the calm words of the girl in front of her, Veranica stayed silent for a while. Her eyes moved to the gem and the nameless book still inside the ice coffin. In her frost-colored eyes, the light grew deep as she quickly weighed the pros and cons.
When she glanced at Violet, her look held a bit of scrutiny and searching. The snow girl really had explained things very clearly, or maybe the conditions she offered were simply too generous. It almost seemed as if she had no hidden agenda, only pure interest. This, in fact, made Veranica even more suspicious.
“Miss Violet… right? I know the current situation leaves no time to waste, so I have only one question. You said you’re willing to give the [Scavenger Gang] a protector during the coming chaos, to help us survive the crisis and even return to the outside world. But such things cannot be done just by saying so.”
“We can pledge our loyalty to you, but we need an assurance, a proof. Do you really have the ability to fulfill this promise?”
Hearing this, Violet suddenly smiled.
She understood that Veranica had already accepted the offer in her heart. What she wanted now was simply peace of mind.
“What kind of assurance do you want?”
Her smile stayed calm, but there was an undercurrent of “this is only natural” in her tone. That hint of power made the leader of the [Scavenger Gang], who had just witnessed forces beyond human understanding, feel her heart tremble.
Thinking of all the strange events before this, and seeing how the girl in front of her showed no reverence at all to this divine hall left behind by the gods, Veranica suddenly felt a terrifying yet strangely reasonable possibility rise in her heart.
“You…”
She opened her mouth, trying to speak, but for some reason her lips felt as heavy as lead. The mark on her right wrist, the imprint of [World Burner], suddenly burned hot, as if the weapon’s spirit was warning her, foretelling something, maybe even fearing the mighty being before her.
The small, delicate figure in front of her now looked taller than a mountain in her eyes. Her right hand seemed like a blazing flame, and the sight made Veranica’s heart shake violently.
Suddenly, as if called, she lifted her head sharply. Those silver-blue eyes reappeared before her, now shining with dazzling red-golden light. Just looking at them for a moment stabbed her eyes with sharp pain.
“!?”
The light element in the air cheered, leapt, and screamed wildly. Every cell in her body trembled as it passed to Veranica an unspoken rule, a truth that needed no words but had already become an unbreakable law.
In this world, there are some beings that… Mortals must not look upon directly!
Shaken, she quickly lowered her head again, only to hear that melodious voice echo in her ears like a sacred decree.
“Is this kind of assurance enough for you?”
At that moment, Veranica finally understood what that trembling feeling inside her really was Reverence.
“Th-this is… my honor.”
……………………………………
As for how they left the underground temple, it was, of course, the same way they came in.
The temple was indeed located beneath Icefang Island, but it wasn’t actually under the hot spring Veranica had found before. It was some distance away.
The reason the spring water could neutralize the effects of Snow Spirit Grass was simply because one of the underground leyline branches passed near the temple. It carried traces of divine power left behind by the Fire God [Faer] into the underground water, which then gathered and settled in that spring.
That was only a very small trace of the true Law of Flame, not even the tip of the iceberg. But for mortals, anything that carries even the slightest touch of the word “divine” is already a blessing enough to benefit them for a lifetime.
Of course, if Veranica hadn’t gone to that hot spring and followed the leyline’s flow to trace its source, even Miss Violet would have had trouble finding the true origin. After all, she hadn’t known before that there was such a place under Icefang Island. It was hidden extremely well, even covered layer after layer by divine concealment.
If Violet guessed correctly, when the Snow God built this underground temple as a tomb for her old friend, she clearly didn’t want anyone disturbing that friend’s rest. That’s why the place was buried deep underground with no entrance connected to the surface. It could only be entered through something like a teleportation space.
And if anyone tried to force their way into the temple by that same method, even if they somehow broke through the protective barrier left by the Snow God herself, the defensive systems inside would definitely give the intruder a very painful lesson.
After all, the Snow God was one of the high rank gods, even someone like Minchen with all his “cheats” would probably go in standing and come out lying flat.
If it weren’t for the special weapon left by Hen, Violet probably wouldn’t have been able to enter the temple peacefully without using brute force. She really couldn’t understand what the Snow God was thinking, why leave something that seemed both welcoming and unwelcoming at the same time? If they hadn’t been there, could the “one destined by cause and effect” written on the monument even have entered alive to fulfill that fate?
But complaints aside, everything that exists has its reason. The workings of fate and cause and effect are never something ordinary logic can explain.
After the three uninvited guests reached an agreement, they didn’t stay in the temple for long. They only took a few items from the ice coffin. Violet then used a simulated version of the Void Scar Blade to cut open a path and quickly brought them back to where they started.
The hot spring was still the same hot spring. But this time, instead of Veranica sneaking around alone, the three of them left together.
After walking out of the underground river, they returned to the rocky valley on Icefang Island. For some reason, the sounds of explosions and clashes that had been attacking the temple’s barrier outside slowly quieted down, as if the attackers had suddenly stopped.
However, even though this was a peninsula in the frozen northern sea, waves of heat began to roll in from the distance like flowing springs. The snow maiden, who loved the cold, frowned and naturally released a blue aura to block the heat, her expression softening a little once the warmth was gone.
“Why is it suddenly so hot? Did something catch fire?”
Having lived on Icefang Island for almost ten years and knowing the place inside out, Veranica immediately shook her head.
“Impossible. This island is nothing but rocks and ice. There’s almost nothing here that can burn. Snow Spirit Grass might be a plant, but it’s so cold-natured that it can’t be set on fire. Rather than a natural blaze, I think this heat is being caused by some powerful magic user, or maybe a creature with strong fire attributes.”