Honestly, the distance wasn't much. For someone in the first class advancement, they could cross it in mere moments. But at this very moment… that short distance felt so far away. It was as if time was moving slower; he felt as if something as abstruse as time was against them. Damon had taken what little could be useful for the plan. He could sense the shadows under the water—well, actually, under the ice now. They had frozen solid. Some of them had gone stiff, while others writhed, suffering under the effects of the potions Damon had tossed into the water. The stronger ones though… they were doing just fine. A little stunned by the lightning, sure—but still able to move. Slower than normal, weaker, some even drowsy, but still able to move, able to hunt. These abominations were powerful… worst still, something deeper could appear. Which wasn't good news for Damon's party. However, it could have been worse. Way worse… At least most of the weaker ones weren't moving upwards to break the ice. Damon ran as the ice beneath him began to groan and crack all around. The monsters under the drowned corridor—or now that it was frozen, it was better to call it the Frozen Corridor—were starting to stir. Damon gritted his teeth. 'Why the hell am I thinking about something so stupid right now?' One wrong move and his half-baked plan would get them all killed. The ice in front of him shattered—bursting upwards with a massive splash. A pulsing, rotting mass of flesh surged out of the water, then sank back down with a greater splash, sending sharp slivers of ice and water everywhere. It was brief, but Damon felt its aura. Third rank. Its skin was like a toad's—bumpy, slick, and covered in strange, wart-like boils. It had large whiskers, like some abominable catfish. Damon didn't see its whole body—but the thing had just taken a huge chunk of ice out of their path toward the center. That's fine… They had alternatives. No need to risk facing that thing head-on. "To the side, now!" Damon barked—but truthfully, he didn't even need to say it. They were already sprinting toward the side of the corridor, near the wall. Matia raised her hand, slowing slightly. With a quick wave, she created a crude slide of ice that reached toward the side wall, where she'd formed jagged ledges. A shame, though—those things didn't look all that strong. Xander slapped each party member on the back, casting his spell. Their weights dropped, light as feathers. As they climbed up— Damon, with his parkour skill and at the top of his rank, ran straight up the wall like it was flat ground. He flipped and landed on the ice path above with a smooth thud. But of course, the monsters wouldn't make it easy. The creature—and a few others—lunged upward. Damon spotted hideous tentacles. Then something with long, needle-like limbs—it looked like a mosquito. Another looked like a bloated blowfish. 'Ranged types… damn it, I'm right again.' One of them opened its foul mouth. A stream of acidic water blasted out, targeting the section of ice they had just climbed from. Sylvia ducked, narrowly avoiding a faceful of acid. The ice beneath her buckled and cracked—shattering into jagged sheets—but she didn't look bothered. Instead, she drew her bow and fired mid-jump, loosing an arrow straight into the eye of one of the creatures as she landed atop a falling chunk of ice. Evangeline didn't hesitate. Deathly beams of light lanced from her hands, slamming into the monsters. The waters and ice erupted in a canopy of chaos and violence. Matia was already at work, but not aiming at the monsters—she was freezing the surrounding ice instead, reinforcing it with thick layers of frost. Damon caught a flash of white lightning as Leona staggered. She was low on mana. She couldn't waste it recklessly. He met her eyes and nodded once. She understood. Damon leapt from the wall—straight down toward the shattered water below. But contrary to the monsters' expectations… he didn't land on the ice. He landed on the water—standing atop it as if it were solid. Wave Walk. They rushed toward him, hoping to drag him under. But Damon didn't sink. He stood firm, like a phantom. He wasn't there to show off. He was the decoy. The support. Right above one of the monsters, Leona appeared in a flash of lightning, her armor teleporting her directly into range. She swung—her blade cleaving across the monster's head as blood sprayed in every direction. But she was falling toward the water— Damon dashed forward, kicking her midair and sending her flying toward solid ice in the distance. She landed in a roll and kept running, smiling. This was the plan. She could only teleport mid-swing, so Damon had to ensure she'd land safely. Matia leapt from the ice path back toward the center. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦 Her ascendant weapon was pinned there, the source of the freezing force that kept everything solid. She ran alongside the others, toward the end of the frozen corridor. She grabbed it without looking. Damon raised his hand. "Ashborn." The black flames erupted like living shadows. Damon screamed inside as his mind suffered the backlash—tenfold the pain of burning alive. But the monsters screeched louder. He gritted his teeth through the agony. Then, shifting into a shadow, Damon dove into the ice—Shadow Movement—gliding swiftly beneath the chaos. He slipped past the monsters in seconds. Then—he felt it. Something roared behind him. The ice exploded—shattered—ripped apart as something colossal rose from the water. Its presence made his blood freeze. Damon reformed at the corridor's end, just as his friends scrambled toward the shattered wall and wreckage leading out of the corridor. He fired his omnidirectional gear up at a wall, catching Evangeline by the waist and pulling her up just as the colossal creature burst from the water, smashing the walls around it. Damon hung by the wreckage, clutching Evangeline close, staring into the bleak, beady eyes of the abomination.