Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix
Chapter 1323 - 1323: Just as planned

Rain was expecting to see some kind of trap or enemies waiting for him, but as he arrived at the border of the crater, he found nothing but the endless darkness of it.

"The hell is she thinking?" Elisabetha asked. "She should know by now that trying to play dumb won't work. Letting you get close to her sealed body is also a bad idea."

"If that is her true body," Rain said.

Elisabetha, though not possessing the same level of insight as Rain, understood the logical implications of his skepticism. She understood that Arel might be attempting to deceive them, deploying various tactics to obscure the true location of her body.

The idea of Arel's real body being sealed within the icy sphere raised suspicions in Rain's mind, prompting him to question the authenticity of the situation.

As they stood at the edge of the crater, Elisabetha observed Rain's intense focus on the abyss below. His intuition, honed through numerous battles, hinted at the presence of something significant at the bottom.

Elisabetha acknowledged that Rain's instincts had guided them well thus far, and she found herself inclined to share his suspicion that Arel's true body might indeed lie concealed within the depths of the crater. The lack of any immediate threats or traps only fueled their anticipation and caution.

"Well, no point in wasting time," Rain said and then jumped on the crater.

The fall didn't last that long. Only after thirty seconds or so was Rain able to find the entrance to Arel's base, and things hadn't changed that much since the last time he had been there. The ice sphere looked the same, and her presence was still around.

"It looks like you saw through my act from the very beginning," Arel said. "Let me introduce myself once more. My name is Areal, and I am the master of the prison.

I was put in charge of monitoring your group once you were captured, and I split you into groups because Esmeralda and the others were quite interesting, and they could develop faster than you all… I wasn't wrong about that, but I wasn't completely right either."

Rain ignored the enemy's words and then covered his wounded hands in ice. That had been enough for him to mimic the original movements of his fingers, so he was able to hold the ominous sword as well. Before long, he charged all his power into an attack that targeted the massive ice sphere.

The impact made the cave tremble, and several cracks appeared on the ice sphere… as expected, he couldn't show the true power of his current parameters with a pair of fake hands, but he couldn't afford to wait for them to heal either.

"It is very rude to attack someone while they are talking," Arel said. "At least the knowledge that I have says. If you are worried about your friends, you can rest easy. Esmeralda's group joined them and are fighting the monsters that I sent to attack your base. Despite not saying it clearly, your group sure can understand what each other is thinking."

Rain demonstrated his keen awareness of Esmeralda's intentions from their previous conversation. He had deciphered the subtleties in her words and Branden's as well, recognizing the concealed meaning beneath the surface.

"If you keep bothering us, we will destroy you right now," Esmeralda declared. "The recent actions of your entire group turned us into enemies. For the sake of the friendship that we once had, we will ignore you until we find the exit of this place, but that will change if you keep up with your nonsense."

Those were her words… and by their recent actions, she meant the interaction that they had with Arel. In any case, it seemed that they didn't change all that much in those twenty years… or maybe Rain was being too hopeful and trusting too much into Arel's words. Regardless, he ignored those words as well and soon began to prepare for the next attack.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Arel said. "It will be difficult for me to make the whole prison work the same way it was before. As long as you survive all the other prisoners' attacks, I will give you permission to live like before on this floor. You should know that I have access to all the malevolent energy produced in this prison for tens of thousands of years."

"Is that so? Congrats," Rain said and then charged in once more.

Rain surged forward with his sword, the blade sliced through the air with precision. The moment of impact with the massive ice sphere was accompanied by a resounding shatter, fragments of frozen substance scattering in all directions like crystalline confetti.

As the fractured remnants of the sphere dispersed, revealing the core within, Rain's eyes fixed on the ominous sight. A core unlike any encountered before, it pulsated with a sinister energy encircled by dark chains that seemed to writhe with malevolence. The danger emanating from this core surpassed even the cores of the other beast Rain had faced.

Despite the threat, Rain remained undeterred. His sword pierced through the chaos of broken ice and reached the heart of the malevolent core. The sensation of danger intensified as the sword penetrated the core, yet Rain pressed on. Unlike the cores he himself had created, this one held an inherently more dangerous essence, but Rain's focus made him destroy it…

In response to his attack, Rain felt the presence of Arel weakening in the area, and at the same time, the whole place began to shake violently… the crater was shaking like something within had awakened, just as Rain had predicted.

"Just as planned," Rain said.

"I hope that you also have planned a way to deal with the enemy… this presence here is beyond anything that I have felt before," Elisabetha said.

"No worries," Rain said. "If I can't overcome this, then we were doomed to begin with."