774. Pink Puji's Crisis

Mist shrouded Inanna, so thick she could not see her hand in front of her face.

"Cave Four? Cave Four, can you hear me?" Inanna tried calling several times through the Mycelium Network, but received no response.

The sudden accident left her a little panicked.

Though Linden had warned her a short while in advance, she and Cave Four still had not managed to outrun the mist.

And this was Inanna's first time entering the mist. Her mind kept turning over what she might encounter.

After a while, a jumble of noise came from the distance.

Inanna felt her way toward the sound. The white mist slowly faded, revealing stone walls on either side and a flagstone road underfoot slick with stagnant sewage.

She seemed to be in an alley. What unsettled her was the smell of burning and blood that filled the air.

"Get out of the way, woman!"

A man charged over from the end of the alley, his robes disheveled, his collar hanging open, a bulging bundle tucked under one arm.

His face was flushed crimson, his eyes bulging wide. Seeing Inanna blocking the middle of the road, he swung out a hand and swept it toward her shoulder.

The Frost Gown appeared before his fingertips touched Inanna. The instant they made contact, frost spread from his fingers to his wrist, then climbed from his wrist up his forearm.

The man's feet were still moving forward, but his upper body was dragged off balance by that sudden weight. He pitched down at the mouth of the alley, and the bundle flew far away, spilling gold, silver, and jewels that clattered all over the ground.

The arm that had frozen into a lump of ice snapped clean off at the elbow as he fell. The ice smashed onto