Chapter 302 - 302 A Date At The Crystal Caverns

Having left the arena without alerting either of Mrazivý's two guards, the two of them quickly found a carriage that would take them to the cities exit.

However, unbeknownst to them, someone had heard their entire conversation, and was now tailing them from afar to make sure they did not get into any trouble.

'I honestly cannot believe that Irene, or Marcus, or whatever their name really is was able to convince Mrazivý to sneak away like this. But I guess this will be my chance to see what their true intentions are.' 

Aria continued to follow the two of them all the way to the exit of the city, but as soon as they left and were only about a mile away, she watched as Marcus picked Mrazivý up in a princess carry and took off into the sky with his iron wings at an incredible speed.

'This is going to be more trouble than I thought.'

…

"Marcus are you sure you can last all the way there, is this spell not going to drain your mana long before we get there."

"Yeah, it would, but we are just trying to get some distance from the city first. Once we are a bit farther away, I will show you how we will get there the rest of the way even faster."

And after they had gotten around thirty miles away from the city after twenty minutes Marcus moved over into a gulley that obscured any view from the capital.

"Okay get ready and try not to be too shocked." 

After giving Mrazivý that warning Marcus soon took the form of a caladrius, and said to Mrazivý, "Hop on, and we can be there in around two hours."

Mrazivý stared stunned at the huge form Marcus had taken, but after a moment's hesitation jumped onto his back.

"Make sure to grab on tight, I am going to be going pretty fast, and if you fall of, well, you would probably be fine, but it would slow us down."

Marcus then began running forward and flapping his wings, before taking off into the sky.

Gaining altitude Marcus flew up to around fifteen thousand and feet before flying east towards their destination.

Quickly the hours went by, and Marcus was sure he was getting close to the right area, where the ravine Mrazivý had told him about was, but he could not find it.

However, neither he nor Mrazivý were going to give up easily and Marcus began flying closer to the ground and sweeping over the area.

Yet even after searching for around and hour, the hilly area that was sparsely forested seemed to be concealing the ravine quiet well.

But as Marcus was about to throw in the towel Mrazivý who was looking over the side said, "Wait go back, I saw it."

Frantically flapping his wings, Marcus turned around and passed back over the spot Mrazivý had seen, and sure enough there was a very narrow, but also incredibly long ravine snaking its way through the landscape.

Landing on the ground nearby Marcus let Mrazivý off his back before transforming back into his normal form.

"Wow it is actually real, and for a minute there I almost thought it might not exist." Marcus said as he stared down into the ravine that seemed to go on forever.

"Yeah, it is actually real. After hearing the stories my older brother told me I can finally go and see it in person."

Looking over, Marcus could see that Mrazivý had a big smile on her face as she looked down into the ravine, though it was far too narrow and deep to see the bottom.

"Though I have to say it really is narrow only being about eight feet at its widest in this area. Not to mention how steep it is, no wonder no one ever tries to go down there."

The two of them then continued to look around the ravine and see if they could find and area where the bottom was visible when they heard a loud roar.

Rushing towards them they could both see a large bull over ten feet tall and twenty feet long with spikes all over its body charging towards them.

Its eyes seemed to be fully of fury and was probably upset with the trespassers that were intruding on its territory.

'Level thirty-four. A pretty strong beast overall, but not any real threat to us.'

"I've got this." Mrazivý said as the bull closed in on them.

She quickly began the chant for a spell, and as the beast was only two hundred feet away from them finished and released it.

"Glacial Lance."

A nearly a hundred-foot-long massive chuck of ice formed in front of Mrazivý before firing forward and turning the changing magical beast into pulp, and then smashing into the ground and carving out a huge trench.

"Hm, I guess that a tier five spell, may have been a bit overboard." Mrazivý said as she looked out at the damage she had cause to the landscape.

Nodding his head Marcus could only agree with that statement as it looked like a natural disaster had just ravaged the area.

"Now how are we going to get down. I can just float down in my ghost form, but what about you."

With how narrow the ravine was using his iron wings would not work, and while he thought of a few other options, they would not be the most comfortable for Mrazivý.

However, she quickly revealed that she had her own way down, as she created a small floating platform out of her mercurial ice and stood on it.

"I may not be able to fly as fast as you, but I too have my ways to get around." Mrazivý said as she began descending into the ravine."

With a smile on his face Marcus went ghost and followed along floating down beside her, though she could not see him.

Down, and down, they continued to go, for what seemed like hours, and still neither Marcus nor Mrazivý could see the bottom.

Reappearing Marcus jammed his scythe into the side of the ravine and hung from it as he said, "Mraz we have been trying to get to the bottom of this thing for a while now. Give me a moment to light the place up brighter and see if we are anywhere near the bottom."

Nodding her head, even Mrazivý's wonder, and excitement had begun to wane as the end of this deep and narrow ravine seemed to go on to the depths of hell.

'Solar Flare.'

Casting his tier three light magic spell Marcus sent out a ball of condensed light straight towards the bottom of the ravine.

And when the spell reached the limit of its range, it exploded into a bright burst of light that completely illuminated the space they were in.

Unfortunately, even as they looked all around them, all that could be seen was the earthen walls of the ravine descending into infinity.

But as he looked around Marcus saw something reflecting the light from his spell just at the edge of its range. And looking closely he was able to make out a crystal jutting out of the side of the wall.

"Mraz, think we might be getting closer, look over there." Marcus said as he pointed towards the one small crystal at the edge of the light.

Looking carefully and squinting her eyes, Mrazivý let out a slight gasp when she saw it and said, "Looks like coming all the way down here may have been worth it after all. Oh, and now that we can see further, how about we speed this up."

Mrazivý then dissipated her unique skill and began plummeting, allowing gravity to carry her at an even faster rate.

Seeing her abruptly start falling into the abyss, Marcus stored his scythe away, and fell after her.

Soon the two of them were falling at an increasing pace, and Marcus had to use his tendrils of shadows to continually stabilize himself from slamming into the wall while Mrazivý used her unique skill to do the same.

"There it is." Mrazivý shouted as she was able to see the bottom of the ravine, which now had crystals jutting out from all over the place at this point.

Going ghost, Marcus was able to quickly slow his momentum, while Mrazivý extended her Mercurial ice into the walls and used them to come to a stop only a couple dozen of feet before the bottom.

Splash! Splash!

The two of them landed onto the bottom of the ravine which had a shallow stream of water flowing through it, that gave the air a cool and crisp taste.

And now that they were at the bottom, the ravine had widened quite a bit, and they could see the crystals that were the reason for their visit.

"Here let me lighten the place up a bit more." Marcus said as he cast another solar flare spell and sent it up above them.

The entire area was quickly engulfed by light almost as bright as the sun and the numerous crystals jutting out of the walls began to reflect and refract it, creating a beautiful light show that was dazzling to see.