Ed unconsciously held his breath. He didn't know what kind of magic or miracle he was expecting to see. Walking on the water? They're going to go underwater, so it's useless...... So, split the water, or summon a giant fish to mount it?...... The latter picture seems a bit silly......

But to his surprise - nothing happened.

He didn't even blink his eyes, lest he miss the moment when the miracle happened, but Sean just paced into the lake step by step, and the water rippled, not reaching his knees, his waist, his neck...... Eventually, the paladin disappeared into the water, and soon there wasn't even a single bubble coming out.

The surface of the lake returned to calm, even eerily calm.

“...... He won't ...... Drown, right?" Ed asked worriedly.

Running into the water in armor, I can't even float......

Filly laughed heartily with his arms crossed and crossed his legs for a while before he realized that Ed wasn't joking.

"We are the knights of the god of water!" he laughed, knocking heavily on the emblem carved into the armor on his chest, and strode into the lake with a little frustration.

"What's so good to be proud of, it's just a permanent underwater breathing technique. The ice dragon spewed out a cold white mist, opened its mouth disdainfully, waved its wings and flew to the west of the lake, and plunged headlong.

It wouldn't let those two paladins arrive before it!

The waves of ice floes rushed to the edge of the lake and slapped Ed's feet, and a chill made him shiver and shrink back.

“...... Hey. What are we going to do?" Naria exclaimed dissatisfied.

Alan threw her a small glass bottle.

"Drink it, just one sip. For a short time you can breathe in the water like a fish and you won't feel cold. ”

All sorts of strange magic potions will always be good companions for non-spellcasters. But as dangerous as magic is, it took Eren a lot of time to learn how to use it flexibly during his own adventures, and even to concoct a few simple potions.

"Short, how short?" asked Nalya as she gulped a gulp, the strange smell making her face wrinkle.

"Long enough. Alan glared at her, snatched the bottle, took a careful sip, and stuffed it to Ed.

He should have warned the two agitated young men in advance not to open their mouths in the water—the potion did not prevent the lake from pouring into their throats. But after fluttering in a panic for a while, rolling his eyes and spitting out a few mouthfuls of water. Ed and Narya learned their lesson and began to communicate with each other with hand gestures.

However, their excitement is understandable. Beneath the surface of the lake is another world altogether, when the stirred mud and sand disperse. In the clear water of the lake, disturbed swimming fish can be seen, and they shuttle rapidly, like silver arrows. Shimmers of light cast between the ice blocks floating overhead. It seems to be able to dance lightly with the current. The ever-changing waves have a certain wonderful rhythm that makes people immersed in it and unable to extricate themselves.

Ed trances recalling many of his dreams. Those dreams in the water...... He could almost clearly feel how the water gently lifted his body, how it wrapped its cool around his fingertips, how it whispered to him......

It has never felt so real.

For a moment he stood still, lazily floating in the water, like a free-stretching aquatic weed, and unconsciously closed his eyes.

For a moment he seemed to hear some distant call. Ethereal like a voice in a dream, with a strange attachment and tenderness.

――What do you want to tell me?

He asked in silence. But there was no answer.

Naria grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out of his dream...... Or dragged out of another world.

He didn't have time to discern the familiar anger or regret in his heart. The girl's hand pointed forward, and a huge amount of smoke rose from the bottom of the water—it was the mud and sand stirred up by the ice dragon, and occasionally a part of its body could be seen popping up and disappearing, as if it was fighting some person or monster, and the chaotic and powerful current of water crashed against them, and Nalya quickly grabbed Alan's crutches to keep them from being swept away.

Naria looked at Ed. Without gestures or words, they can see the worry in each other's eyes.

But a moment later, Fili staggered out of the mist, gesturing so that they didn't have to worry.

It took them a while to figure out that it was nothing more than Iss clearing the rocks in the passage and trying to get into the cave.

Isse remembered the cave, as clearly as if he had lived in it for hundreds of years.

Originally a large cavern that had formed naturally under the water, Iceman's lair was a near-perfect hiding place after sealing the passage with magic and ice, draining most of the water. There was plenty of clearing at the water's edge for a dragon to lie down, and a few small cracks in the rocks above would let in the sky and snow, and enough for the ice to detect uninvited guests on the ground, but the long sleep had dulled and weakened it......

Even after the ice ray died, the magic applied to the rock kept its cavern intact for a long time, until Celebrian finally destroyed it.

According to Allen, he was still in a cave. He watched as the ground caved downward, the rocks on one side cracked and collapsed, and the lake quickly overflowed, gradually submerging the pale and massive skeleton of the ice.

The bottom of the water was still shaking as they were dragged to the surface by Celebrien, and the rising sand swooped down on them like some kind of living monster.

That led Alan to believe that the passage had been completely destroyed, that even the cave might have collapsed completely, and that the bones of the ice would be buried forever in the grave underneath, never to be seen again.

If that's the case, maybe that's a good thing...... As magical creatures, dragons' bodies are rare magical materials from head to toe, and scales and horns can be used to forge dragon-slaying weapons, but those ancient methods may have long been forgotten...... When Isis left this place, his mind was confused and dazed, otherwise it would not have left his mother's bones here-

It also left the body of the Silver Fang at the top of the nameless mountain.

What he saw made his mood even more upset. The rubble lay haphazardly on the bottom of the water, like the remains of some ancient civilization, as it had expected, but there was a black hole in the rubble...... The passage, which should have been completely destroyed, had apparently been reopened.

It watched as Sean's figure disappeared into the hole, and Filly gestured to it as if to "stay here".

- What a joke!

Anger was born. Before Fili could get into the hole, the ice dragon's sharp claws were already grasping at the uncleared rocks at the hole.

It had to make the hole a little bigger to get in......

It fluttered with anger for a long time before it suddenly realized its stupidity - it wasn't the only one it was.

Reason came back to mind. Returning to his human form, Iss calmed down, and waited until the mud and sand had cleared and Philip and Eren and the others swam to the entrance of the cave, before silently bowing his head and entering the passage.

There was a ripple of water behind him, and a hand grabbed his right hand precisely - it was Naria.

Iss clenched his backhand and didn't look back.

The passage is extremely narrow, but almost straight. The person who cleared the passage was clearly aware of the location of the cave, and the strange, melt-like traces left on the rock were apparently left by some kind of magic.

The bright white light pierced the water, and as it emerged from the hole, Iss caught a glimpse of Sean. The light in the paladin's hand was so bright that he almost felt a burning pain in his eyes...... The light illuminated the entire cavern underneath the water—the remnants of the cavern.

This place, which once looked crystal clear and crystal-carved like a palace surrounded by ice, is now only a patchwork of black rocks, hideous as a nightmare.

But Is's biggest nightmare is the clearing where Sean is.

That's where Bing Mang fell.

Countless images whizzed into his mind. He vividly recalled all the despair, anger, and pain—the ...... that he had tried so hard to hide in the corner, never daring to look at Belongs to Bingmang, the last memory.

He remembered the roar of the dwarves, the thunderous war cry mixed with the hearty laughter he was just as familiar with, he remembered the light and agile figure of Niah, the sharp dagger in his hand no longer sharpened for him but pierced between its joints, causing unbearable pain, he remembered the ghostly half-elf priest, and he remembered Alan, and he remembered the eyes of the warrior in the prime of life who remained calm in the excitement......

He remembered that it was Scott's longsword that delivered the fatal blow, in the face of a chest blackened by Lydia's magic.

The pain suddenly came, there was a black mist in front of him, and he shrank back sharply, as if a pair of sharp claws were tearing his soul in half and tearing it into countless pieces, and it was an indescribable feeling like he was also dead here......

A hint of warmth wrapped around his arm pulled him out of the deep black vortex.

Narya, apparently aware of something, hugged his right arm uneasily.

He let go of Naria's hand with a shudder, and almost rudely withdrew his arm, suddenly all he wanted to get away from this place - they were different, never the same, he shouldn't have come back......

But Naria stubbornly grabbed his wrist again.

Looking at the familiar stubbornness and wordless pleading in those brown eyes, he gave up resisting with just a slight struggle.

Then he realized that Bingmang's skeleton was not here. The dragon's bones are not heavy, and it is likely that the cave was washed somewhere else when it was filled with water again......

Iss looked around blankly, but it was clear in his heart that it was gone.

Someone stole it.

Anger swept over again, burning every drop of his blood.

It was the hottest and coldest flame.

(To be continued......)