Spirit Taming

Chapter 391: Ice Caves

As Clark realized that below them could be water and only water, his heart stopped. Everyone in the group sensed the danger with the loud cracking sound of ice that echoed through the plains.

Before a single person could say a word, the ice shattered around where Isa and Ella had their beasts digging. The sudden burst of cold that welcomed them was shocking enough. However, it was not the cold witness of water that greeted them. It was a cold gust of air. Still and harsh air.

As Clark jumped up looking around with his senses at full alert, he saw that the world around him was nearly clear all around. He could see through the ice to a large expanse of water. Distant shadows moving here and there through water.

'Crystal clear ice- rare

While this ice only forms in areas that have constant cold temperatures, it is very deceiving. It will come many feet thick but is so clear that many people can not understand how it is supportive. It will only form in areas with purer water energy within them and the beasts that swim around it will often bump in to it as well as beasts above it.

The ice can be used for ornate sculptures or to be used as supportive winter structures due to its strength. Many beasts will also adore it for the ice energy trapped within it. This ice…'

Clark's analysis brought his heart rate down while he looked around. The frosty entrance to the hole they had made under the snow was enough to tell that they had all fallen a decent distance. Climbing up would be very challenging.

"If you could not fall on me next time, that would be great." Reese had managed to be at the bottom of both Jerold and Brad. they had nearly crushed him.

"Are you safe?" Ralph had also acted in midair to catch Grace which was damn impressive in Clark's eyes since he himself had landed on his butt before jumping up. But with more looks around Clark found that Maria, Isa, and Ella had also jumped up in to battle positions with him. They had the best reaction out of everyone since they were ready to fight.

"In the future I will record that the ice tunnels underground may also be water. This dungeon is very deceptive. Next time I will research more with your help Isa. your flame sprite may be the key to this place." The sudden light that bloomed afterwards was from the flame sprite lighting the area better.

The snow from the surface blacked most sunlight. That didn't stop everyone from seeing the crystal clear environment they were in now though. "That's an ice piranha, a snow eel, and there is a frozen narwhal. How are there so many beasts around here but they are so far away?" Surprising them all was grace as she took in the sights.

"You studied those beast books with Illia to understand more about ice type beasts, right?" Ralph made a guess and saw Grace nod her head vigorously. She was seeing different ice type beasts where they would normally grow. Yes, they were dual water and ice type beasts, but that was fine. They were more beasts she knew about now.

"Besides that, we fell in to an ice tunnel. Should we stay here?" Maria snapped a little at the group who were still not fully back up and ready to move. She had a bad feeling that the cracking ice would attract trouble.

"We were talking about finding a crystal ice lizard before, this might have disturbed more than that without using that ice imp's body as bait. This isn't good. We should move." Clark looked at the tunnels he could make out with his sharper eyesight.

The tunnels had a different hue to the ice since some frost had formed around them after the sudden burst of warmer outside air. Some of the underwater beasts were also reacting and moving more to react. Since Clark couldn't see the depths below, he knew that it was sure to be home to larger beasts. Just because he couldn't see them didn't mean they weren't there.

Not to mention that an ice dragon couldn't just eat small beasts, it needed real food.

As the group pushed toward the tunnels that seemed to lead toward the ice castle and mountain, they noticed that the tunnels were becoming more and more frosty. They could no longer easily look ahead at the other tunnels. But before Clark realized this, he had been careful to grasp a feeling of just how complicated the tunnels were. He also could feel the air moving through them.

It proved that there were more than one entrance for them to escape these tunnels.

"I think this is definitely how some of the beasts around here travel." Ralph had stopped in front of the group with Brad. he was kneeling down and looking at something on the ground.

' snow rabbit fur- uncommon

Snow rabbit fur is left behind when a snow rabbit is running for its life. It does this to escape the jaws of predators or to leave false scent trails. The fur is very valuable when whole from an entire snow rabbit body. It has incredibly cold protection making multiple furs very valuable when it comes to exploring certain wilderness areas or dungeons.'

"Snow rabbit fur? That means that there are snow rabbits hunting and living here." Isa had her hand at her chin trying to think about the potentials this could bring them for business.

"Wait, rabbits hunting? Aren't rabbits herbivores? Like I know horned rabbits are both meat and plant eaters but…" Reese felt out of the loop. He was worried about the look that Isa was giving him.

"No, snow rabbits eat wherever they can. They have teeth made of ice and they are more or less living balls of ice and fur. They can gang up on larger beasts and eat them to the bone. That doesn't mean they like to be around others though. They often live alone until they need to breed. Little monsters more like it.

They have water as blood too. Very weird beasts. I don't really know how they make fur, bones, and muscles with the way they are." Isa knew this was a little too in depth but it struck home the dangers of snow rabbits.

"I really feel like merchants know more than we need to know now." Reese just looked at Isa with a lot of confusion. He would never find himself wondering just how a beast would work when it came to sales. He just wanted to know if they were actually going to hunt humans.

"Besides those points, the fur is good if we find them and hunt them. They can help us stay warm here in the tunnels. I don't know if anyone else noticed it, but it is much colder here." Clark stopped everyone from talking. He was keeping the group moving forward but their breath was shown in the air more and more.

It was just like being in an isolated place with nothing to do but become frozen tamers.

"No, their pints are good. Mostly because there are a lot of fur pieces up ahead." Jerold was in a battle ready stance again. He was pointing out with his dagger at the multiple pieces of fur that were too many in number for a snow rabbit to have shed in escape. It was what had been left over from a kill by another beast.

"Let's prepare then, Clark found that his spear would be useless in such a confined ice cave. He had to brandish the black needles that he had instead. Meanwhile, the girls pulled daggers while Reese took a stabbing stance for his abyssal sword. Ralph was able to use a single handed ax which was fine while Brad wielded a new shield made of basic iron.

It was smaller than the black iron shield but it was strong enough to work. He couldn't use a new sword here due to the space limitations. But he was their defender and took the lead.

The signs of a skirmish were clear to everyone. Pieces of snow rabbit body lay around here and there. They had clearly frozen so that meant it had been at least a few hours since something came through here. Isa made sure to grab what she could. Whatever was left could be used somehow or some way. It would be foolish to leave them behind.

"I don't see tracks. That's the issue with ice." Jerold was doing his best to spot as anything. But only a few gashes in the ice could prove that a battle had happened between predator and prey.

"Small drops of blood here. But I have no idea what beast they could be from." Clark spotted the slightly green hued blood. It wasn't from the snow rabbit but it wasn't enough to activate the system analysis. He was lost as to what beast had been here. However, there was an up side.

The beast had been injured which made it easier to defeat if they could use that against it if the group came in to contact with it.