Infinite Classes in the Apocalypse

Chapter 72: B-Rank Rift & Castle of Black Ice

Damon gritted his teeth as the invisible weight pressed against him. The rift’s evolution came faster than he had anticipated. It was no longer a familiar C-Rank rift but his first-ever B-Rank rift.

’This is bad,’ he thought, moving his gaze toward his group, who remained clueless about what was happening.

"Wh-What is going on?" one of the twins exclaimed, his voice cracking with panic. The other twin breathed raggedly beside him, fighting against the sudden change in atmosphere, his knees buckling under the pressure.

Elias frowned deeply, while Nyla shifted closer to Damon, as if he could offer refuge.

The only person who seemed to deal with it calmly was Amber, who sat quietly, as she always did.

Then, the weight suddenly vanished.

The absence of pressure felt almost as disorienting as its presence. Damon straightened his back, rolling his shoulders as he processed what had just happened.

’It’s done... we’re officially in a B-Rank rift.’

"Mmm, this is interesting," Kitsune’s voice purred inside his head.

She spent most of her time refining mana. The sudden influx from the new tail took a lot of effort to contain, but now, feeling the sudden change, a sudden intrigue ignited inside of her.

Damon ignored the remark and focused on their current situation.

He debated whether he should tell them to stay here while he goes and destroys the rift core, but then he quickly shook the thought away. A single monster from the now-evolved rift would be enough to slaughter all of them, and he didn’t want to take that gamble.

Suddenly, Damon’s attention was stolen by a loud shivering beside him.

He turned to see Nyla, with her arms wrapped around her torso, shaking against the cold. Higher vitality helped against the cold, perhaps that’s why Damon, compared to his team, who were all trembling against it, was managing fine.

He took off his coat and handed it to the girl. "Wear this."

Nyla’s eyes lit up as she accepted it, her fingers brushing against his for just a moment. "Thank you, boss," she said in a low whisper, her voice barely audible over the wind howling outside.

She quickly put on his coat, the garment hanging loose on her smaller frame. She looked down at it with a smile that seemed almost too happy for a simple coat, pulling it tighter around herself as warmth began to seep back into her limbs.

***

As night arrived, the blizzard outside finally came to a stop.

The terrifying howl outside turned into a moderate breeze. Still windy, still cold, but a lot more manageable and most importantly a lot safer when it came to avalanches.

The group almost recognised the change in weather in unison, and so soon after, they were already out of the crevice and pushing through the thick snow along the mountain passage.

It was a long ascent.

Pushing through the black snow was a lot more time-consuming than anyone would’ve expected, but worse of all, each of them lost their footing numerous times. The snow from the avalanche clung to the side of the mountain, giving an impression of a passage which wasn’t there. As if nature itself had laid out a trap for them to step into.

But even so, they continued to climb until the passage finally began to widen, and soon they arrived at a large plateau, if one could call it that, as it wasn’t empty.

Massive pillars of what looked like black ice rose into the sky, forming a gate that was already open, and inside was something resembling a small castle, made from the very same ice.

The precision was otherworldly.

Even the best human architects would’ve taken years upon years to build something this precise, and somehow, it was made entirely with ice.

Damon’s eyes followed the jagged lines along the sky, which led directly toward the castle.

Its double doors were already open, which only deepened his caution. Nothing about this place felt right.

’Castle of this size and no monsters nearby?’

Damon felt a bad premonition, and as if to confirm it, Kitsune spoke in his head.

"I can’t detect any presence."

"As in there’s nobody in there?"

"No. Not even you or your group, as if something is clouding my mana sense."

Damon’s expression hardened.

"Stay alert," he whispered toward his group, though they already looked as if they were walking on broken glass.

When they entered inside, they froze midstep.

Massive pillars lined the interior, their surfaces smooth like silk, reflecting their distorted images back at them. The pillars supported a tall, dome-like ceiling that stretched at least sixty feet above their heads. Beside the ceiling floated the rift core, pulsing with an eerie dark shadow that cast everything in an otherworldly darkness.

But the group took merely a glance at it before their gazes turned toward the back of the chamber, where a large throne stood. It was carved of black ice, just like everything else and dominated the entire space with its sheer presence.

On it sat a statue-like figure, completely unmoving, as if frozen still for centuries.

"Is it... alive?" one of the twins asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Damon narrowed his eyes.

He didn’t know the answer, but if he had to guess-

CRACK!

A deafening crack cut through the throne room like thunder, echoing off the ice walls and multiplying into a cacophony of sound. A moment later, the figure rose, ice falling from its joints like snow.

It looked like a knight made of ice, completely armoured head to toe with plates that seemed to grow from its very body. A massive longsword rested at its side, the blade easily six feet in length. Frost emanated from the weapon in visible waves.

Its greathelm moved toward each member of the group, the empty eye sockets somehow conveying a sense of ancient intelligence. Finally, it settled on Damon, and the temperature in the room dropped another ten degrees.

"At last..."

The figure spoke, its voice booming through the entire throne room like an avalanche given speech. The sound caught everyone, including Damon, completely off guard. The words seemed to resonate in their very bones.

"Its bearer walks these halls once more..."

A sharp chill ran down everyone’s spine, one that had nothing to do with the temperature.

"His will lives on... But first..."

The ice knight unsheathed his longsword with a sound of glaciers grinding together. The blade gleamed with an inner light, runes carved along its length beginning to glow. Then it raised the weapon toward Damon, pointing directly at him.

"Prove your worthiness."