Chapter 30: Cold of Ice and Shadow
Tian Heng stood before the silent water purification unit, studying its control panel and energy port. Lyra, the elven scout, kept a wary eye on the stagnant pool, while Lilith stood behind him, an ever-watchful sentinel.
Suddenly, Faela—one of the shadow elves—emerged from the darkness with deadly grace. Her obsidian skin, pale silver hair, and cold violet eyes swept across the cavern.
"Intruders..." she whispered, her voice sharp as a blade of ice. "This stagnant place is under my watch. What brings surface-dwellers and a stray demoness here?"
"Drow!" Lyra gasped in instinctive fear and shock, raising her bow in an instant. Lilith shifted into a battle stance, her dark aura flaring, crimson eyes sparking with fury at the newcomer.
But Faela didn't focus on them. Her violet gaze locked unsettlingly onto the calm human. She noted his complete lack of fear, the composed way he assessed her—as though she were a mere annoyance, or a tool to be used. That indifference, that cold confidence, was both an insult and a strange allure. He intrigued her as much as he infuriated her. How could a human bear such composure this deep underground?
"This place is mine now," Tian Heng said calmly, interrupting her silent assessment. His tone carried neither fear nor reverence. "Your surveillance is meaningless. State your purpose, or leave."
His cold, cutting words struck like flint against Faela's pride and temper. Curiosity flared into a desire to test this arrogant human.
"Leave? No, you will leave... in pieces!" she hissed, lunging toward him like a flicker of living shadow. Her hooked dagger gleamed with a poisonous violet glow. She ignored Lilith and Lyra for the moment, focusing her treacherous assault on Tian Heng himself.
Lilith moved instantly—black lightning seeking interception—but Faela had anticipated this. With inhuman agility, she twisted away from Lilith's initial strike, continuing her deadly charge toward Tian Heng.
But he did not dodge in the conventional sense. As Faela drew near, preparing her lethal strike, Tian Heng closed his eyes for a split second, focusing all his cold, refined aetheric energy—shaped by the Frozen Star Forging Style. He did not release it outward as a pulse, but instead directed it downward, into the rocky ground beneath him and around his immediate area.
Suddenly—with a violent cracking sound—sharp, needle-like ice pillars erupted from the cavern floor, directly in Faela's path and in a tight ring around Tian Heng. They weren't massive, but they were dense, fang-like, and appeared with blinding speed, radiating a wave of bone-chilling cold.
The attack was completely unexpected—especially from a human supposedly at "Aether Gatherer" level. Faela relied on her supernatural reflexes, honed by years in darkness. She twisted mid-air in an almost impossible motion, narrowly avoiding direct impalement. The cold burned her skin, and she heard a soft tearing sound.
She landed several meters away, breathing heavily, her violet eyes wide with restrained fury and shock. Looking down, she saw a long, thin scratch on her arm, bleeding a few drops of dark blood—one of the razor-sharp ice shards had grazed her despite her incredible evasive maneuver. She had been a moment away from serious injury—or worse.
Silence settled over the cavern, broken only by the faint cracking of melting ice pillars and the angry hiss of Lilith, who was already preparing to pounce again on the one who dared strike at her master.
Tian Heng looked calmly at the shocked, fuming Faela, then at the scratch on her arm, then at the slowly vanishing ice. His voice remained cold, flat, unchanged.
"As I said. Obstacles are removed."
Faela stared at him, a complex storm of emotions flashing in her eyes—rage, humiliation, disbelief... and a flicker of cold admiration for his unexpected power and quiet brutality. She had completely misjudged him. This human was not easy prey—not a typical intruder.
Slowly, she sheathed her dagger—or perhaps simply dispelled its venomous glow. With a sharp, sarcastic edge, she spoke, trying to recover her composure.
"Hmph. Primitive ice magic… but annoyingly fast, human." The "compliment" dripped with scorn, but it was also a grudging admission: she could not afford to underestimate him.
"Perhaps… there's some minor use for you after all. You seek to activate this ancient scrap?" she nodded toward the purification unit.
"I know something about the 'beating heart' buried within it—what you and your pet demoness are sensing." Her tone remained hostile and guarded, but the information was bait—and a test.
Tian Heng nodded slowly, ignoring her sarcasm, focusing on the useful thread.
"The beating heart. Speak."
Faela began sharing what she knew of the ancient amber core, its dangers, and the mysterious "Builders" who left it behind. Every word came laced with warning, hostility, and veiled mockery. Her agreement to cooperate wasn't born of goodwill—it was the result of being forced to acknowledge a strength she hadn't expected… and perhaps a faint hope of personal gain if the unit could be activated.
A fragile truce was formed—not through negotiation, but through a near-deadly display of power.