"How can I put it... this is a bit disappointing" - said Kaori while frowning.
"I think it's because we are much stronger than we thought after all the training we've done" - replied Shizuku as she started to think - "Although I still don't understand what the test we have to pass is."
"I don't remember what Meiru-san and Lyutillis-san said" - said Kaori with a frown - "But I don't understand, they said it before we entered the labyrinth, why can't we remember it now?"
"Maybe it's a defence mechanism of the maze itself, something like a method to prevent the challengers from having an advantage in the trials, I mean, if we know what the content is, it would be easier to prepare for what's coming" - replied Tio while Yue nodded because she had also come to this conclusion - "Putting that aside, I think this is a good place to train their levels, I mean, these monsters are of a high level, but their overall power is superior thanks to all the training they've done."
"It is useless for us because we have already reached the maximum level due to our age," Yue added as she shook her head.
That was one of the traditional ways to level up, living beings gained a level with each year of life, this happened so that they had the methods to survive in nature, although increasing the power this way had its drawbacks, such as, for example, that the Stats gained would be much lower than the level gained by effort and battles, although this was solved by killing monsters to "compensate" the missing experience.
"Back to the point, use this opportunity, especially for you, Remia-san" - said Tio as she crossed her arms - "Let's go!"
Cloud watched this seriously as he checked all corners of the long frozen corridor.
"I guess that entrance wasn't the real entrance to the labyrinth..." - Cloud said as he analysed the situation a little better - "The mana flow is still stable..."
"Now that you mention it, it's true" - Yue mused while frowning - "Maybe we overlooked it because we were more preoccupied with other matters?"
"Or is it possible that we did enter the labyrinth, we just aren't in the test zone yet" - Tio added as she looked around - "Because if it were the case that we hadn't entered the labyrinth yet, we wouldn't have suffered the partial loss of our memories related to the objective of this test."
Cloud nodded at these words because they made sense, though his expression changed when he saw a sign at the exit of this long corridor.
"A sign?" - Shea asked with a frown as she walked to him cautiously, after all, she still remembered the idiot signs that were in the Miledi Raisen maze.
"What does it say?" - Kaori asked curiously.
"Let's see... it says.... "Welcome to my labyrinth, filthy mortals who seek my power, what awaits you will be a path filled with desolation along with a high probability of death, that is why I offer you one last moment of compassion, I tell you to turn back, and do not return unless you are ready to face the worst of you..."..." - Shea replied as he frowned slightly - "For some strange reason I felt a shiver run down my spine..."
"Out of fear?" - Shizuku asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"No, out of embarrassment..." - Shea replied with a red face as she felt a new shiver run down her back - "It was as if I felt the emotions of the person who wrote this and it felt so... childish..."
"If I remember correctly, Lyutillis-san said that Vandre Schnee was a person who found it hard to express what he felt, that's why he spoke strangely, embroidering the embarrassing to hide his emotions..." - Tio said as she shook her head, only to notice how those present gave her a blank stare - "Did I say something wrong?"
"Yes, I think you have the least right to make fun of her way of talking, miss who spoke with old-fashioned language" - Yue said while giving her a cold look.
"It's a polite way to interact for the first time with other species or with creatures equal or stronger than us" - Tio replied while defending herself from the vampire girl's words - "I'm sure you have to understand me, after all, we have a relatively similar childhood".
"Well, I understand what you're trying to express, but you have to understand that times change, that's why I haven't been talking like I normally would with an aristocrat, besides, I'm not part of royalty anymore, I'm just a simple adventurer" - Yue answered honestly - "Putting that aside, I think we'd better get ready, after all, I have a bad feeling..."
The girls looked at each other before nodding and entering the cave.
* * * * *
The group kept walking in silence, carefully observing the snow covered surroundings and walls that seemed to turn this place into a cave full of mirrors.
"Thank goodness Cloud was able to create clothes to protect us from the cold" - Remia said as she let out a sigh.
"The problem is that it's starting to be difficult to walk" - Shizuku added with a frown - "The snow is starting to impede our progress, even though it doesn't seem to be dangerous per se..."
"Right, even though parts of our body are being exposed, this snow doesn't seem to cause freezer burn damage," said Kaori while touching the snow with a frown, "In fact, it looks as if it's being insulated by some foreign component, is it because of our equipment?"
"No, this equipment only blocks the external cold, if our body were to come into contact with sufficiently icy ice, we would still suffer damage from the contact" - Cloud replied while frowning - "Which means only one thing... this snow is different from the outside, possibly it was created by some strange technique.... What do you think, Yue?"
"I can't sense a flow of mana in this snow, so it's hard to answer, Cloud" - Yue said with a frown and used some of her mana to increase the temperature of it and notice some strange change, though it melted as it normally would - ".... . ."
"Could you explain a bit more about how the equipment we're using works, Cloud?" - Shizuku asked earnestly.
"It's simple, we can ignore the cold outside because our bodies are being covered by a small magic membrane, the thing is that it doesn't block the cold damage, only the temperature, in other words, if we come into contact with an icy source with an extreme temperature, our bodies would still suffer freezer burn damage" - Cloud replied seriously - "No equipment is completely effective".
"Cloud, I managed to notice a detail when I was investigating the snow..." - Yue said seriously - "I had to use a lot more mana than I thought to have a favourable result, so it's quite likely that this cave has the effect of mitigating the power of fire to prevent us from using it freely."
"Shouldn't be a surprise, being that fire is the natural enemy of ice" - Tio added with a frown - "I'd like to assume that this is also because this way we would be restricted a method of getting water naturally, though it's a pity that this doesn't apply to us thanks to us having the magic inventory."
The girls nodded with a small smile because they had everything they needed to survive for a good while, even when they had to leave half their supplies at the outer camp in case they were delayed longer than necessary.
The group continued trudging through the snow-covered field, until they reached an area with huge walls of ice.
"I feel that this place is much stranger than the snowfield..." - Cloud said with a frown - "I wouldn't be surprised if this is the start of the trials, or if there's a monster waiting for us..."
"It's possible, I feel a slight flow of mana around here, but I can't properly detect the source" - Yue replied while looking at Tio, who also shook her head.
Shea looked around curiously, until he saw something strange - "Look!"
The group looked in the direction where Shea had pointed, and saw a corpse with its eyes closed buried deep in a wall of ice.
"I have a bad feeling" - Cloud said with a frown - "It's as if the wall expanded to cover him, or someone managed to open the ice to get him in during his death."
"Yue-dono... Have you managed to detect anything unusual?" - Tio asked while squinting her eyes.
"I'm sorry, but I can't detect anything in the area, not even on the corpse, so it's quite possible that it's dead and not sealed" - said Yue as she started to think - "I can't shake this bad feeling though..."
-
NEW WORLD - FINAL FANTASY VII ( FINAL VOLUME )
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