Ding!
[You have entered the Ice Dragon Realm's: {Frozen Deep Caves Of Lament}: Recommended Rank: 9. Recommended Soul Ether: S+]
[Powerful Divine Soul Beasts and Divine Soul Treasures can be found in here, be careful! Additionally, there are several "Apex" Soul Beasts roaming through the deeper areas, who govern and control weaker ones, be extra careful!]
Apparently, the System was a bit worried. It seems that you need certain levels of Soul Ether to enter these dungeon-like areas safely. The higher your Soul Ether Stat is, the less damage Soul Beasts will deal directly to your soul. Thankfully I got my Soul Gear and all my Demonic Abilities to complement my Soul, so I should be safe.
The problem is my family though. I believe Benladann and Miranda are also fine, their souls are gigantic and very powerful. However, our kids are the problem. Between all three of them, Kate has the strongest Soul due to being a much better developed half-Spirit. However, Benladra and Drakda have weak souls right now. We have to protect them and make sure they don't take any damage. Soul Beasts can trespass most physical defenses, but I can make a barrier for them.
"Alright, first of all, I'll conjure some armor and barriers around the children. Benladann, Miranda, can you help me strengthen them with your Chaos?"
"Sure." "Alright~"
With a wave of our hands, the children were quickly encompassed by a hundred-layered barrier around their bodies, shaped as powerful golden and black armor. I used my Spirit Creation Divine Ability plus some Demonic Energy, and many other Skills to create it. Of course, my near impenetrable Primordial Divine Ice was added.
Ding!
[You have conjured a powerful Divine Technique in conjunction with Benladann and Miranda: {Hundred-layered Heavenly Demonic Primordial Chaos Ice Soul Armor}!]
[Due to the power of the Armor, their Holy Light, Chaos, Darkness, and Ice Attribute Power has increased by +500%, their Soul and Physical Defense by +300%, and they take -30% less damage from any Soul Attack.]
[This powerful Armor can withstand both Physical and Soul attacks. And its durability can be restored by absorbing Divine Power and Demonic Energy from the one that conjured it.]
[Armor's Durability: 10.000.000]
"Good, that'll do it." I nodded. "Make sure to stay close to us, alright? Rely on your grandpa too."
"Hey what about me, can't I get one of those armors as well?!" He complained.
"Father your soul is plenty strong, don't be a coward. Let's go. You'll stay behind to watch over the children's backs." I told him.
"A-Ahahaha! Of course, yeah!" He laughed a bit more. "I'll protect them! Ahem…"
"Then let's go!"
No more yapping, we moved forwards. It wasn't even a minute, and we were already surrounded by a dozen Divine Soul Beasts. They were perhaps as strong as Rank 8 Divine Monsters. They were called Draconic Frost Ghouls and were human-like draconic phantasmal monsters. I could already tell they were born out of leftover Soul Ether from my siblings' souls.
Their attack patterns were easy to predict, claw attacks, kicks, tail blow, and then usually a breath attack of freezing flames that could burn and freeze souls. I defended using my myriad of weapons and a combination of Heavenly Demon Flames and Marchosias Spirit Weapons to drain their essence as additional demonic energy.
Benladann and Miranda unleashed a storm of chaotic physical attacks, piercing their bodies with ease using their long tails and sharp claws. Meanwhile, Benladra and Kate continuously conjured their long-ranged magic to bombard them from behind. Drakda mostly blankly stated, sometimes roaring to pretend to be strong. But he was very clueless and had little fighting instinct due to being so young. Indeed, despite being a Rank 8 Divine Dragon, my baby was completely helpless! In fact, he was so clueless about everything that was going on that he was very adorable as he stared at things in surprise with his three heads.
My father, Fafnir, conjured his Sinful Flames to weaken foes and also create walls using them, easily defending my children from any damage. I ended conjuring the same armor on him just in case after I felt slightly worried, and he gained a lot more confidence after that.
"RAAAH!"
With a mighty roar, I slashed through the largest of the monsters, cutting it into two perfect halves as an explosion of demonic flames surged from Marchosias Spirit Weapon, turned into a sharp crimson axe.
SLAAASH!
The monster quickly fell apart, its body slowly turning into a mass of bright light. When Divine Soul Beasts die, their bodies slowly transform into Divine Soul Treasures, this process can be accelerated if I force it with Divine Power, but it is also possible to eat a corpse with their blood and guts inside, like I did back on Skadi's Trial.
"Done, twelve Ice-Attribute Divine Soul Beast Pelts and Scales secured. Some horns and bones as well." I nodded with a smile. "These could become excellent armor. But apparently we'll need many more to make something decent. Let's keep hunting."
We moved deeper into the mirror-like labyrinthian caves, quickly clashing against several other groups of the same monster a few times. Eventually, after gathering around fifty more corpses, we came across a change in the environment. The caves started changing colors, becoming green, yellow, orange, and blue. Crystals decorated the area; they were also Soul Treasures!
"Uwaah, this is pretty, daddy!" Benladra said. "So bright…"
"Hm! Pretty." Kate nodded.
"Raarr? Gaoh?" Drakda roared while looking around, pretending to ask a question.
"Fufu, are you having fun watching us fight, little Drakda?" Benladann giggled, giving him a head pat with her giant draconic claws.
"He's more curious than I imagined. Thankfully he hasn't gone running away somewhere else." Miranda sighed in relief. "Ahh, these crystals! Your mother eats them sometimes. They're called Rainbow Dragon Ether Crystals. Soul Treasures containing many elements despite being an ice realm." Fafnir said. "You can mine some if you want too- Ah."
CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!
"Hm? What did you say?" I wondered, as I was already mining them with my claws.
"N-Nevermind…" He sighed.
Eventually, by the end of the colorful corridor, the mirror-like labyrinth showed us some new variety of monsters. Spiderwebs made of icy threads spread everywhere, as Giant Frost Spiders greeted us.
