I don’t know what happened to my mind, but on a whim I hit the gym with my friends. And the first week- it was hell. Finally, I began to move like a regular human… somewhat.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter. Stay tuned.

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Adrian and Irene returned back to the entrance of the icy tunnel. Adrian finally jumped out of the bubble of ice. Just as he got out, Irene handed her two pouches. Adrian gladly accepted them and absorbed them inside his orb.

These were the belongings of the two beings inside the iced cavern. Although the two pouches contained only an iota of their total net worth, it was still valuable. And how could Adrian reject those gifts. As for the belongings of other personnel like the ones frozen at the tunnel, they were not worthy of his attention.

“Let’s go.” Adrian picked another tunnel and stepped in. He had already memorised the entire map of the catacombs, and knew exactly where his destination was at.

Though they had already gotten out of the frozen tunnel, it was still cold. To get to a warmer spot, they needed to go to a closer range to another hot spring or any other source of heat. But that would deviate them from their path.

But this little cold was nothing to Adrian, and as for Irene- it was her zone.

“How does it feel?” Adrian asked.

“Not much different.” Irene replied.

Adrian nodded. From her abilities, he had already gauged the power of Irene. She was already a level 9, and a top tier one at that. At such a level, increasing powers even by a bit was as difficult as reaching for the sky. But every bit of increase would give an edge against circler’s of the same level.

And Irene, being the inborn that she was, she was already destined to level 9- with, or without practice. Adding the practice she got and resources provided by the Royal family, she reached level 9 years ago. Now that she received the frozen powers from those gems, she got even stronger.

“How long do you think you can freeze time for?” He said.

Irene contemplated for a bit. “A bit more than a second.”

“We will test it out later.”

Irene nodded.

Death Zone Tin was the furthest away from the entrance they took to enter the catacombs. Not only the death zone was at the extreme and of the explored portion of the maze like tunnels, it was also surrounded by the most red zones.

Many at least entered death zone ek and dui to die an unfortunate death, but most were not even fortunate enough to break through the red zones and get into the vicinity of death zone tin.

After walking for more than an hour, crossing eight kilometres by foot, the duo got into their first red zone.

Adrian and Irene, who had their senses peaked, had already detected the danger before they even stepped into the zone.

There were tens of holes scattered all around the tunnel, each one having a diameter of at least one meter. The moment they stepped in, the tunnel began to vibrate, crunching noises came out from the holes.

Adrian and Irene stood at their spots nonchalantly, waiting for the ‘danger’ to come out.

A gigantic centipede drilled its head out from one of the holes from the ceiling and surfaced out. It’s blade-like mandibles were clanking against each other as its pairs of legs touched the surface of the ceiling one by one.

It dribbled against the holes of the wall and reached the floor. It circled on the floor as more of its long body came out from the hole in the ceiling.

After a few seconds, the end of the tail finally got out from the hole. The hundred and fifty meters long centipede lay on the ground. It had a red body and its compound black eyes were fixed on the duo.

“A level 9 beast.” Adrian muttered.

He knew that even his <Corrosion> would have a hard time sinking in through that armour. But he was not worried at all, because it was not necessary to physically hurt the target to win. There were other ways- better ways. He took a step back.

Irene’s eyes were fixed on the eyes of the monstrous centipede.

“Be careful.” Adrian said. “That poison is dangerous- even for me.”

“It’s pointless.” Irene said as she pointed her palm at the monster. An icy blue circle formed and began to rotate.

The Centipede, sensing the immense danger from the circle, charged at Irene. Despite its humongous body, it was fast- really fast. In a moment, it crossed a distance of thirty meters and it was already in front of Irene.

But unfortunately, it was too late. Its whole body was already frozen to a still, its poison covered eyes millimetres away from Irene’s palm. Not only the centipede, the whole tunnel was covered in ice.

“Your power output is better than before.” Adrian smiled.

Irene checked her own palms and nodded.

“But be careful when you use them now. Who knows? You might accidentally freeze me.” Adrian stepped on the iced floor, continuing his journey again.

Irene followed.

The next hour, they stepped into three more red zones. But all the level 9 monsters inside- be it insects or reptiles- all had the same fate. They were trapped in blocks of ice.

Soon, they found themselves in a fork, with three tunnels extending in three different directions.

“We are close.” Adrian looked around, his eyes squinting a bit. “Smart. It diluted and dispersed its aura, trying to hide its trail. Is it trying to hide… or…” He smirked, “trying to test us.”

Irene pointed at the right. “I am sensing heat signature from here.”

“Come, we are going through the centre.” Adrian stepped into the middle tunnel. Irene did not doubt his decision and stepped in as well.

The tunnel was ordinary. They walked for 15 minutes and found light at the end of the tunnel.

But as soon as they walked out-

“Welcome, fellow demon.” A grim but wise voice sounded out. “But young lady, why did you bring a human with you?”