Chapter 163 - 116: The Dead Frost Giant Dragon
After that, all the people from the Floating City were brought to the Ice and Snow Jungle. Far from the jungle’s center, Yuan Xiaobo and the others helped them build a simple camp and set up protective measures.
"Wait here for a few days," he instructed. "If this trip goes smoothly, we’ll be back soon to take you to a safe place."
"If it doesn’t go smoothly, other people from our territory will come to help you in a few days."
Aburara stayed behind as the camp’s temporary leader, while the others returned to the center of the jungle to explore the deep pit.
According to the records from the Floating City, the giant creature that first descended upon the world lived near this pit. Its battle with a later giant creature destroyed the geological strata, boring deep into the earth and forming the chasm. The world’s subsequent mutation also originated from within this very pit.
"We must’ve descended a few thousand meters by now!" Lin Kong shouted, grabbing onto the root of a plant in the chasm’s passage.
"About that! We won’t see much light if we go any further," Niu Armor said, looking up.
The walls of the deep central passage were overgrown with tall, icy plants. They served as a natural staircase for Lin Kong’s group, allowing them to descend step by step into the earth.
"Where did all the mutated creatures go?"
"Maybe we just haven’t gone deep enough yet."
...
The team continued their descent. Before long, the sunlight from above could no longer reach them.
"Is it getting colder?" Mirus asked curiously, perched on Lin Kong’s shoulder. Her senses told her the temperature was off.
At her prompting, the others noticed the change as well.
"Now that you mention it, I hadn’t even noticed," Lin Kong said in surprise, blinking.
"Isn’t it supposed to get warmer the deeper you go? Why is it getting colder?"
Dong Lin focused, using her outstanding talent for ice. "Deep underground," she said, "I can sense a large concentration of Ice Elements. There’s a massive Ice Element Energy Source down there. The further we descend, the more abundant the Ice Elements become, and the lower the temperature drops."
Yuan Xiaobo said, "Let’s push on. We must be close to our goal."
...
As the temperature continued to drop, the icy plants below paradoxically grew even denser, and mutated creatures slowly began to reappear.
Upon catching the scent of Lin Kong’s group, the creatures scurried far away. They snarled from the safety of the stone walls, not daring to approach.
Lin Kong’s team paid them no mind, silently continuing their rapid descent.
Below, the dark passage gradually began to brighten.
In addition to the ordinary ones, more numerous and stranger mutated creatures began to appear.
Strangely, however, the creatures seemed not to see Lin Kong’s team at all. They were all rushing downward, as if drawn by some unseen force.
Yuan Xiaobo shouted to Lin Kong, "Faster! Something must be happening down there. We need to pick up the pace!"
"I..." Lin Kong began, about to say he was already at his top speed, when Dong Lin grabbed him, pulled him into an embrace, and began to run even faster.
The team used the bodies of the creatures themselves as stepping stones to descend faster. The trampled creatures glared, but as soon as they saw who had stepped on them and caught their scent, they immediately tucked their tails and cowered.
VMMMMMM—
A sudden hum of energy vibrated up from below, coating every surface it passed with a layer of frost.
As if spurred on, the mutated creatures began to charge downward even faster.
Riding the tide of beasts, the team soon reached the bottom.
The bottom of the passage opened into a massive cavern. The cave floor was pockmarked with holes, and several other tunnels of varying sizes connected to it, each disgorging an endless stream of mutated creatures.
In the center of the cavern lay a colossal corpse, taking up more than half the available space.
On top of the corpse, a mutated creature roughly one-third its size was repeatedly striking it.
At one point, as it struck, the corpse erupted in a brilliant flash of light. A stream of incredibly potent, liquid-like Ice Energy flowed out from it.
The large mutated creature immediately lunged forward to lap it up, while the other creatures surrounding them scrambled to get a share.
ROAR—
The large mutated creature let out a furious roar, sending the comparatively smaller creatures around it flying. It glared at the runts who dared to steal its food, and any creature that met its gaze retreated in fear.
Behind it, an ordinary mutated creature crept up to the liquid and took a huge gulp.
It then immediately leaped away, hiding behind a rock.
The large creature soon noticed its food had been stolen. Ignoring the smaller creatures around it, it began to devour the energy greedily. It ate with wild abandon, splattering a good deal of the liquid into the surrounding horde. This immediately sparked a frantic scramble among the other creatures.
The creature that had stolen a mouthful of the liquid Ice Energy began to tremble violently as its body slowly started to change. Wings sprouted from its back, its body grew long and slender, and ice-blue scales appeared on its skin. Its tail also lengthened, and a barb grew from its tip...
Just a single mouthful of the liquid had caused it to undergo a world-shaking transformation, its power multiplying several times over.
"What is that?"
"No idea. Looks pretty powerful, though."
"So this is how these mutated creatures evolve? All it takes is a single bite?"