The dragon's roar drifting in from afar made the two young men gaze toward the end of the ice and snow.
They were currently above a range of solid ice-built hills. Beyond lay an undulating glacier, where uneven ice-spire hanging valleys intertwined with sharp, jutting icebergs, making the terrain incomparably complex. Meanwhile, beneath the seemingly level glacial plain on the other side lay countless ice crevasses and caves, leading to unknown realms of extreme cold.
The blizzard raged on, driven by fierce winds from both ahead and behind. This place was clearly connected to the outside—or perhaps the ruins' air circulation system was still operating ceaselessly even a thousand years after the Calamity of Falling Skies.
Setting those sounds aside, dragon roars echoed from within the ruins' ice abyss.
Ian listened for a long while. When he finally withdrew his attention and slowly shook his head, Isengard was still straining to hear more clearly through the wind and snow.
"The Deepsea Crystal Dragon is injured, but not badly. It originally wanted to use the labyrinth's shifting spiritual energy field to advance to the Second Energy Level, but the changes in the ruins beneath the labyrinth interrupted it. It's very angry right now."
Ian analyzed the information he had heard, finding it matched what he had seen before point by point. "It seems the ruins' ice abyss is connected to the Crystal Dragon's nest—or perhaps the Crystal Dragon occasionally comes to the ice abyss to move about... That isn't too surprising. This place also counts as a large water-and-ice spiritual energy field."
"The question is... what exactly is this frozen abyss valley at the very bottom of the ruins?"
To be honest, Isengard could not answer that question. Even if Master Gose woke up and regained his senses, he would be