Death... and me

Chapter 3391: What Keeps It Working?

Those same runes then attached to Kentucky and Rean's bodies. Looking from afar, one might even think there were some shining ants crawling around everyone's bodies. Only up close would one see the intricate yet simple runes that worked against the Freezing Energy and even the Glacial Decay Runes.

Rean walked to their side, then looked deep at Duleti and the runes working on her body. 'Hum... as expected, they still aren't as efficient as I wanted them to be,' Rean commented to Zangeshu inside the Celestial Soul Dimensional Realm.

Sure enough, Rean wasn't working alone. All this while, Zangeshu worked with the materials inside the Dimensional Realm to make prototypes of the runes. Then, with Zangeshu's help, the two of them figured out how to adapt the runes to the simple materials Rean had available to him.

'The best would have been for you to use the Vibraniti Cold Alloy together with the Warm Siyun Liquid we got back in Porgue City. Using them as the main materials would make the best combo against the Freezing Energy and the Glacial Decay Runes. Unfortunately, we can't send these materials outside to you,' Zangeshu said as he looked at the prototypes running around his body.

'It's fine,' Rean didn't mind it. 'Anyway, I know you probably want to work a little longer on these Glacial Decay Runes, and so do I. However, we need to keep going. Do something else for me instead. Try to work on the Waterdog Seal and see if you can find a way to get anything past it. Sister Orb can be of help if you need her.'

[I can't do anything to the Seal, but if it is inside the Dimensional Realm, then I can do miracles.] Sister Orb quickly joined the conversation.

Zangeshu accepted the request and turned in the direction of the Waterdog Seal. 'I'll give it a try.'

Duleti didn't know Rean was talking to Zangeshu and Sister Orb, so seeing him looking so intensely at her made the woman feel slightly uncomfortable. "Have you seen enough already, or should I take my clothes out as well?"

"Hum?" Rean took his eyes away from the runes and looked at Duleti. "Why? Is there anything wrong with the runes running behind your clothes? Weird, I can't see it with my Divine Sense. Anyway, go ahead and show me. Let me see what is wrong."

Duleti's mouth twitched. Seeing Rean's clueless expression was the same as saying that he had absolutely no interest in her appearance. She wasn't exactly a world beauty, but she wasn't ugly either. "That's not what I wanted to say..."

Rean laughed in response. "Hahaha! I'm just kidding. Little girl, just how old are we? Are naked bodies of any interest to us anymore? We can see countless of them with our Divine Senses, remember? Anyway, since the runes are working fine, let's keep going."

Duleti and the others nodded. "Sure... but where?"

"Where else?" Rean's finger pointed upwards. "I'm we continue confined in this place, I'm afraid I'm going to develop some claustrophobia later on. This place is too gloomy. Let's go up and see what we can find."

"Up?!" Gram's heart skipped a beat. "But the Glacial Decay Airstream should be at full force up there. I saw your runes working against the runes that made their way down here, but those are just a fraction. Will they be able to deal with the whole thing outside?"

Rean had no idea, though. "How will I know? That's why we should go up. Nothing better than a field test to ascertain the runes' capacity."

Gram's group wondered just where Rean's confidence came from...

Kentucky was already floating against the ceiling. "Marvin, we can tunnel our way out by removing the dirt upwards. However, the Glacial Decay Runes are still reinforcing the snow field above the dirt. Can we break through the snow as well?"

Rean nodded, turned around and joined Kentucky. Then, his Divine Energy gathered, and he used the little bit of Earth Element he could control to dig upwards. "My runes aren't just for show. They use the Freezing Energy in the surroundings to energize themselves, and then they expel the Glacial Decay Runes nearby. That said, they should force the Glacial Runes to leave the snow as well."

Gram, Farlo, and Duleti joined the two. Even if they had Rean's runes and didn't need their Sky Energy anymore, it was still better to stick to them in case those runes stopped working. "Let's hope Marvin's runes can truly deal with the Glacial Decay outside..."

Rean smiled and their group worked together to go up. As they did, they kept their Divine Senses spread to check further upwards. It was just like Rean said. The Glacial Decay Runes kept running away every time they approached. As for the Freezing Energy, the runes absorbed them to keep working. That made Farlo quite curious. "Marvin, just why are these runes of yours making the Glacial Decay Runes run away?"

"Actually, it is quite simple," Rean explained as he also dug up.

"The Glacial Decay Airstream is something that flows as a concentrated mass, a whole body, or something like that. You don't hear about the runes inside the Glacial Decay Airstream stranding away from its main body, do you?" Everyone nodded and waited for Rean to continue. "Well, that's what my runes are doing. They are creating a small area of just a few meters around everyone's bodies. That makes the Glacial Decay Runes feel like they are getting separated from the main body of the Glacial Decay Airstream. Thus, they automatically retreat to 'rejoin' the Airstream even though they really haven't left its side."

Farlo was impressed. Rean did indeed give a very simple explanation, but was something like that really so easy to make? Absolutely not! If it was, such runes would be all over the place during the Glacial Overflow Phenomenon years. Anyone with their hands on those runes was bound to make a huge profit, especially if they sold Rean's runes to those with Water Element Affinity, skills, or who needed to enter the corridor for any other reason.

Not long after, they arrived at the snow field, which was several hundreds of meters thick. Nonetheless, they were easily able to remove the snow this time as the Glacial Decay Runes were not there to reinforce it. Finally, after over a week of living underground, a hole opened in the middle of the snow, and Rean's group stepped outside. As for the Glacial Decay Airstream, it was blowing at full force on the surroundings, but the Glacial Decay Runes within simply didn't dare to approach their group at all.

"Well, it seems like my runes work just fine outside, too," Rean smiled. He then looked in a specific direction, his heart racing with expectation. "Now then, how about we go further into the Airstream and find out just what keeps this Airstream going?"