Yarra’s Adventure Notes

Chapter 44 - 44 34 Frozen Hell_1

?44: Chapter 34 Frozen Hell_1 44: Chapter 34 Frozen Hell_1 (Here’s the second update for today.

We’ll be back to regular updates from tomorrow.)

This is a strange and peculiar world, constructed of ice and snow.

This is a cave that spans only a few hundred square miles.

The wind comes into the cave entrance, its warmth and humidity swirling within the cave.

The moisture in the air turned into drifting snowflakes under the cave’s low temperatures.

The wind, now bereft of warmth and humidity, carries the piercing cold and the ground’s accumulated snow from the cave’s exit.

“It’s so cold.” A frail Vivian rubs her red, frozen face, muttering a complaint.

“I wish we had brought tents.

At least they would block the wind.”

“There’s no way a tent would work here either.” Lina casually sits cross-legged on her bag, lifting her eyes from the book, “The ice is too rock-solid.

It would be quite challenging to set up a tent.

Besides, among us four, you’re the last one who should be complaining about the cold.

Your face is the only part you’re cold, but for me, it’s my entire body.

If anyone should be complaining, it’s me.”

“You’re wrapped up in such thick clothing, you won’t feel cold.” Vivian waves her small hands, emphasizing, “As for the face, you’ve got such thick skin, you wouldn’t feel the cold.”

“Vivian,” Catherine scolds, “I’ve said this before.

You are the exception here.

Unless absolutely necessary, don’t take your hands out of the range of the crystal cover.

Quickly, bring your hands back.”

“Why am I the only one?” Vivian protests dissatisfiedly.

Seeing Catherine’s stern gaze, she reluctantly brings her hands back to her side, “Alright, alright, I got it.”

Rachel watches the interaction of the three girls curiously, pondering the peculiar rule Catherine set for Vivian.

She wants to ask why but stops herself.

“It’s nothing really,” says Vivian.

Though she isn’t looking at Rachel, it’s like she knows what her curiosity, “I can’t feel the cold in my hands.

Catherine is worried I’ll unknowingly get frostbite, so she made this rule.

That’s nothing but an over-reaction.

Catherine is just worrying too much.

Okay, I won’t say anymore, don’t stare at me.”

Catherine shakes her head with a bitter smile, dipping the metal rod, normally used as a stand for the crystal energy lamp, into the icy hole that is a few meters deep.

She stirs the water at the entrance to prevent it from freezing again.

“Pannis has been underwater for over two hours.

He should be coming up soon.

After all, the underwater breathing potion can only last for two hours.”

“Catherine, don’t worry,” Lina waves her hand nonchalantly, “According to him, there are no magical creatures underwater.

Nothing will happen to him.”

“Forget it.

I’m not waiting here anymore.” Vivian stands up, saying “I’m going to rest in my sleeping bag for a while.

We haven’t been able to rest easy these last seven or eight days, it’s so tiring.

This place is safe at least, I can rest here for a while.”

Catherine waves her off, “Rest between us, we can still take care of you.

Don’t forget, cover your face to block the wind.”

“I kno~w~” Vivian drags out her sentence, “Naggy elder sister.”

Catherine huffs in annoyance, but her eyes follow Vivian’s retreating figure with affection.

Vivian, with her back to Catherine, perfectly understands what Catherine is thinking.

Leisurely, she says, “Sister, don’t be like this.

I’m fine, absolutely amazing.

I’m not forcing myself at all.

There’s no need to feel bad for me.”

“Only you would think that,” Catherine murmurs to herself under her breath and feels the resonance crystal in her pocket vibrating.

She hurriedly withdraws the metal rod, “Pannis is coming up.”

Before her words finished, there’s a sound of water gurgling as Pannis leaps like a fish from the water, jumping three to four meters high and landing lightly next to the crystal energy stove that was lit in the center of the girls.

He quickly wipes the water off his face, taking the activated Fire-attribute crystal from Lina and placing it near his face to gradually alleviate the numbness.

Then he starts speaking, “Is everyone alright?

Where’s Vivian?”

“Vivian is resting for a bit.

She can hear us, but she can’t be bothered to speak when she’s resting, so don’t mind her.” Catherine says, “Have you not frozen solid down there?”

Pannis feels his face warming up, then he picks up the hot water which had been heating on the fire.

He enjoys the warmth of the steam, “Actually, I’m fine.

The water is warmer than up here.”

“Have you found the entrance?” Hearing Pannis so nonchalantly claiming he’s fine, Catherine finally relaxes and starts asking about the situation underwater.

“No, I was duped,” Pannis grumbles discontentedly.

“What’s wrong?

Was the information incorrect?” Catherine frowned, slightly anxious.

“It’s not about the information.” Pannis shook his head and explained, “Legend has it that in the center of this cave there’s a small lake and indeed there is.

But we didn’t anticipate that the entire cave is in fact a lake, covering the entire cavern and at least thirty meters deep.

The scope is vast and simply looking around would take a while.”

“That’s why I said I should join you in exploring.” Catherine was dissatisfied that she couldn’t do anything.

Pannis picked up another underwater breathing potion and put it in the pocket of his waterproof jacket, rejecting Catherine again, “Forget it, you’re not an explorer, you would be of no use underwater.

Besides, we don’t have much of this potion, we need to save it.”

“You’re going down again?” Catherine was somewhat worried about Pannis’s actions.

“Do you need to rest some more?”

“No need.

I have an idea and I need to verify it underwater.

With a bit of luck, I should find the entrance when I come up again.” Pannis walked to the hole in the ice, pierced the already frozen water, untouched for minutes, with a metal rod.

“Be careful up here; it’s not absolutely safe.”

“We’ll be careful.

You too…

alright, he’s already gone.” Seeing the splash in the ice cave, Catherine pressed her lips together helplessly and then glared at the giggling Lina, “Stop laughing.

You always have ideas.

Come, let’s discuss it.

Help me come up with a solution.”

“What kind of solution?” Lina moved closer and sat down next to Catherine, giving a casual glance to the ice cave and then realized what Catherine meant, “You’re referring to…”

“Yes, exactly that.” Catherine apologetically smiled at Rachel and leaned into Lina to whisper.

Rachel tactfully stepped away from the conferring pair.

——————————————

“Temperature, temperature.” As soon as Pannis plunged into the water, he destroyed the four fire-attribute crystals on his body through his waterproof jacket, allowing his body without any heat protection to completely immerse in the cold water.

Only when his body fully adjusted to the underwater temperature did he start swimming slowly, while his mind raced, “The research facility was set up here, surely to harness energy from the colder elements here.

So, it’s a given that the temperature nearer to the facility would be marginally higher than other places.

Therefore, just by feeling the subtle changes in temperature and following those changes, I should be able to find it.”

Pannis, having made up his mind, concentrated most of his attention on his skin, attempting to sense the temperature differences in the water as he cautiously moved around.

“There is a difference.” Pannis thought silently, “It’s getting clearer in this direction.

I guess at the edge of the lake, the temperature change would be noticeable to anyone, so it must be over this side.”

Turning over thoughts within his mind, Pannis swam faster and soon reached the edge of the lake.

He continued searching slowly along the rock wall.

“Just as expected.” When he reached closer to the bottom of the lake, Pannis briefly admired a dark cave opening on the wall, thinking, “Without a doubt, this must be the place.

But just to be certain, I should first take a look inside.”

When he cautiously swam into the cave, Pannis discovered that it was an upwards sloping tunnel.

Given the gentle slope, the end of the tunnel should be a few kilometers away.

After swimming for more than hundreds of meters, human-made markings could be seen on the walls.

Another few hundred meters ahead, the walls had been replaced with man-made stone blocks.

At the end of the tunnel, Pannis found a vertical shaft more than ten meters deep.

There were metal ladders for climbing mounted on one side of the shaft, but the under-maintained ladders had corroded over the centuries and could not be used anymore.

Above the shaft, he could surprisingly see soft light.

Pannis, now sure that he had found his target, dove back into water to quickly return but noticed that the resonance crystal inside his waterproof jacket began to vibrate.

“This is the signal that there is an issue above ground.” Pannis thought with a chill, but he slowed down his swimming speed as he approached the hole; he tried to displace as little water as possible, making little noise.

On reaching the entrance, he noticed that the metal rod hanging from above was still slowly stirring the water, preventing the ice from re-forming.

Seeing this, Pannis knew that Catherine still had it under control, indicating the situation wasn’t urgent yet.

He then tapped on the resonance crystal to signal to the team above.

It wasn’t until the metal rod was retracted that Pannis quietly resurfaced.

Out of the water, Pannis immediately noticed something strange, the Crystal Energy lamp overhead was out, and the ice surface was pitch dark.

Puzzled, Pannis tapped on the resonance crystal again, only to find that it vibrated intensely in response.

At the same time, he heard Catherine’s subdued voice from above, “Come up quickly.”

Only after hearing Catherine’s voice was Pannis reassured.

Silently destroying the two sources of light from his helmet, he plunged himself into darkness.

Using both his hands to lean on the sides of the ice hole, he quietly climbed out.

As he stepped out, he found Catherine’s hand stretched out towards him.

After hesitating for a moment, he took her hand and was pulled closer.

Catherine whispered into his ear, “Just now, I faintly saw a figure moving at the entrance of Frozen Hell.

I am sure it was a person.

But it’s strange that after we put out the Crystal Energy lamp, there’s no glow from a Light-attribute Crystal.

Apart from members of the Shadow Hand, I have never seen anyone able to move around in such an environment without any light.”