"This doesn't seem like a normal cave...It's way colder than it should be..." Yomite murmured as he tried to warm himself up with his martial arts robe, leading his party deeper into the cave.
"Well, at least now we know it's definitely the cave we are searching for, the Cryo Regisvine, as its name suggests, should be of Cryo element." He pointed out.
"Yeah...cold..." Lumine affirmed, rubbing her hands in the hope to make them at least a bit warmer.
Yomite's body didn't seem to be immune or particularly resistant to cold, but asking for any more benefits or any other superpowers would be quite petty of him.
He had already gotten so many gifts and power-ups from Sia that he had no right to complain about stuff like cold.
"Assistant-kun! If you come closer, I can warm you up~," Hu Tao spread her arms open, grinning. "After all, my Vision is Pyro~! A hug will bring your temperature back to normal~, and maybe...even higher than that~."
"No thanks. I could end up burned. My clothes were already in danger earlier today, no point in risking my life too. Sorry, maybe later," he replied, feeling rather annoyed remembering her stunt from this morning.
Seriously, one needed extreme precision to use Pyro element without it burning anything in its path.
Warming stuff up without turning it to a crisp was hard enough, and yet she had the audacity to do it while performing handstands, she was simply crazy.
"Tch, you are no fun!" Hu Tao pouted, looking away.
The moment she did, she was met with a pleading gaze of Lumine who extended her hands toward her way, in hopes to warm herself up in her fiery Vision aura.
Hu Tao chuckled and helped her with what she wanted, earning herself a gaze of gratitude from Lumine and a nod of approval from Yomite, who seemed relieved that she extended a helping hand to others in his party.
Knowing her now, her weird personality made him a bit afraid of what to expect once more people joined them on their adventures, but so far everything was alright and surprisingly, she seemed companionate enough.
He also noticed that Fischl was fidgeting and was probably having a much harder time than Lumine, as she only had a single stocking on her legs and the rest of her clothes were a simple dress, not designed for cold places, but warm and sunny outside world.
Her dress consisted of multiple small holes for ventilation, which didn't quite help in this situation.
Her pride, however, or made-up persona rather, made it impossible for her to approach anyone, nor to ask for help from others.
Hu Tao locked gaze with Yomite and he signaled towards Fischl with his eyes.
She followed his eyes and quickly understood.
She grasped Fischl's hands and started warming Fischl up as well.
"W-What ist thou doing!?"
"Warming you up!"
Seeing her innocent grin, Fischl shyly murmured, "I-Is that so...T-Then I-I shall allow thou to do as thou...wish..."
It seemed like Fischl was finally at her limit of withstanding the cold and accepted her help. This area truly wasn't to her liking, but as the proud Prinzessin, she had to endure the everlasting cold of eternal night. Even if it meant stepping into the hell of ice.
Yomite had to admit Hu Tao was a really good addition to his party after ignoring all the demerits she possessed.
After a short while, they arrived in the center of the cave.
A huge Ice flower monster stood in the middle of it.
It was indeed the Cryo Regisvine and it's shape was monstrous.
The flower was currently facing the ground, but the group could clearly see it was moving, or at least, its vines were moving.
So it was obviously alive, most likely resting at the moment or forcing itself into cryo sleep to gain more strength.
The creature didn't appear to move from its original spot though, as if rooted in there.
Its cold aura filled the cave and froze everything from the ceiling to the ground.
Yomite took out the quest paper and read the rest of the instructions for his party.
"The Cryo Regisvine is a giant Regisvine of absolute zero temperatures sure to freeze any unwary traveler to pure ice for ages. Weak points are a Jewel at the base of its stem and the "Eye" in the middle of its leaves.
If struck carefully, the monster flower will fall down, deactivating it's frozen shield that's enveloping its body, making it easier for you to slay. Use Pyro user for effective damage. That should be pretty easy to deal with. Let's do this then."
The party nodded, and upon his command, entered its lair.
When they were only a few feet away from the Cryo Regisvine, it unfurled from its resting position and stood up outright, blooming with crystal sapphire light that began scanning the surrounding area.
It moved its vines abruptly the moment it spotted something move.
Giant ice lasers shot from the Cryo Regisvine's Eye while its two vine-like hands held a machine gun of frozen bullets, ready to freeze the intruders for all eternity to feel its pain.
"Alright, let me have a try first." Yomite rushed forward and slashed at the weak spot of the monster within its stem, unfortunately, he was rebounded back with an equal force and barely stabilized himself on his feet next to his party.
The so-called "Weak Spot" wasn't in any way weak...It felt as if he hit a huge metallic door.
That core was probably the toughest thing Yomite had encountered since coming to this world, right next to the scales of the Stormterror Dragon.
It made him baffled that a core of ice could be this hard to penetrate.
He would say his strength was insufficient but in this case, he could feel that his claymore wasn't good enough to cut through it.
He had to get himself a stronger weapon or else it might break apart with his strength and recklessness later on down the road.
"It's hella tough." he commented and took a deep breath. He wanted to test it's durability and indeed, it was high.
'I might have to use that technique again, but there is too many people around me...'
"Mhm...Tough..." Lumine nodded as she cut off the incoming vines with her one-handed sword.
Grasping the wind's might, she then formed a vortex of vacuum in her palm, scattering away the icy projectiles flying towards her.
"Oz! Reveal thyself." Fischl summoned Oz and provided support fire whenever the Cryo Regisvine was about to shoot icy bullets.
The Cryo Regisvine was interrupted and confused, frantically switching between moving targets.
It was weak against multiple opponents as it only had one eyeball that was watching over one part of the battlefield, but that didn't necessarily mean it was weak.
Its body stood firmly in the middle of the arena further proving Yomite's hypothesis about it being rooted.
