Unwittingly, Mira and Yanira were great partners. With their skills combined, there was little that could stop them.
They marched through the caves like they owned the place, taking everything that entered their eyes. Nothing escaped their greedy fingers.
It wasn't until Mystic and even Divine-Grade items started to appear in ice that they began to quarrel again.
"What do you need plants like that for?! You're just a kid! Give me that! I'll make sure it gets put to good use."
"Oh? And what're you going to do about it if I don't?"
"I'll rip off your limbs and boil you in a vat of oil!"
"Go ahead and try."
Such heated discussions happened nonstop. Hana, who was forced to listen to all this nonsense, felt her brain melting. She tried covering her ears, but eventually, she got so fed up with them that she couldn't help but burst out.
"Can you two shut up?!"
Mira and Yanira stopped and turned to the girl, bewildered.
"I can't take it anymore! You agreed to split the resources! So, please! Just shut up and stick with what you originally promised! Or are you two going to shamelessly take back your word?!"
"..."
"Good! Now, can we please hurry up? I'm getting bored!"
"..."
Needless to say, they continued their journey in silence after that point.
***
After what felt like a day later, Mira and Yanira were still walking down the ice cave. However, there were no more branching paths, no more plants or resources in the ice, and the cave itself was getting wider and wider.
Neither of them were idiots. The end of this labyrinthine cavern was near.
For the first time in hours, Yanira opened her mouth, "...Should we take a moment to rest?" She glanced at Mira and could tell in an instant that she wasn't in great shape.
Like Mira had guessed a few hours prior, that wasn't the only worm they'd seen, not by a longshot. At least every hour, one of those disgusting creatures crossed their path, chasing after them.
Each time, they were forced to take it down.
Mira hesitated for a moment. Her pride told her to say no, but now wasn't the time for that. The hair on the back of her neck tingled, thinking about what's inside the final lair.
She nodded and sat down, leaning up against the wall before she closed her eyes to focus on forcing the poison out of her body. She even grabbed a handful of herbs out of her Infinity Garden that promoted healing and shoved them in her mouth.
Yanira stared at Mira for a while before shaking her head. She sat down beside her to meditate.
"Hmph!"
The three eventually made it to the end of the tunnel, where a thick blockade of ice stood before them. They couldn't see clearly what was on the other side, but there was something.
"Let me handle this." Yanira stepped up and drew her odachi. Then, with a deep breath, she swung. A simple attack, but to Mira she could see her cutting hundreds of different times and directions.
BOOM!
The ice exploded into countless shards, evaporating as the flames engulfed them. The walls, floor, and everything around them were melting at a rapid rate before the heat eventually died down.
'So, that's the power of a Divine-grade weapon, huh?' Mira thought, full of expectation. However, she was interrupted by loud hissing noises coming from the other side.
Without wasting any more time, the two leaped through the entrance and finally caught sight of the final lair.
As Yanira and Mira emerged into the cavern, their eyes took a moment to adjust to the sudden shift from the narrow ice tunnel to the expansive chamber before them. The sheer scale of the lair was breathtaking, with the ceiling arching high above them, at least fifty meters up, and the length of the room stretching even further.
The walls and floor were adorned with dozens of clear, human-sized eggs, each stuck firmly in place. Surrounding these eggs were multiple cocoons, through which the outlines of the worms they had fought previously could be seen, hinting at their ongoing evolution.
Amidst this scene, the evolved protectors, who had most likely come from similar cocoons prior, moved with a fluidity that their previous forms lacked. These serpentine creatures had crystalline exoskeletons layered with ice and patrolled the chamber.
Their bodies emitted a soft, luminescent glow, casting the cave in light that helped them "see" while also highlighting the rich greenery nourished by the surprisingly vibrant Qi of the environment.
At the center of this surreal garden of ice and life sat one gigantic cocoon, its sheer size dwarfing the others. Attached to the walls, ceiling, and floor, it thumped with a power that shook the very air around it, sending shivers down the spines of the trio.
Yanira gripped her odachi hard and whispered to Mira, "Did you see this coming?"
Mira responded with a low growl, "No. But we'll handle it."
"I call dibs on the big one!"
"In your fucking dreams. That thing is mine."
"Whoever kills it gets it, then!"
"Fine."
"Good! Hahaha!"
The two chatted away carelessly as they examined their opponents. All the "Wardens" or the protectors surrounding the eggs were in Late-Stage Rank 9 beasts. If they had similar characteristics as the ones they fought before, they were in for a tough battle.
As for the thing in the middle, just its aura alone showed that before it entered this incubation stage, it was already as strong as Yanira, if not stronger. If it somehow finished its evolution and they were still here...
Hana could barely hide her fear, her eyes wide as she took in the sight of this... infestation.
Without warning, one of the Wardens turned toward them, its body coiling in preparation for an attack. Then, without warning, it flung itself into the air.
"Here it comes!" Yanira shouted as she dashed forward, flames licking the edge of her blade.