Chapter 717 The Beast Beneath The Light

The trio continued walking through the tunnel, steadily approaching the distant light. Their footsteps echoed against the walls, and the deeper they ventured, the more oppressive the atmosphere became. The air was unusually warm, growing hotter with every step, yet none of them considered turning back. They had finally found the entrance to Eldric’s hidden underground structure, and whatever awaited them at the end of the tunnel might be the key to uncovering his greatest secret.

Irina walked ahead, her eyes fixed on the light. She could not explain why, but an unfamiliar nervousness had begun to settle inside her. It was not fear of whatever might be waiting for them. She had faced dangerous creatures and powerful enemies before, and the possibility of a fight did not usually trouble her. This feeling was different. It came from the uncertainty of what they would find when they reached their destination, from the possibility that they had spent all this time searching for Liam only to discover that they were too late.

She clenched her fists and pushed the thought away.

Liam had to be alive.

She remembered Eldric’s expression when he threatened to kill him, the confidence with which he had spoken, and the way he had seemed to enjoy watching her struggle with the decision to save Mira. That man had wanted to control her through Liam’s life, which meant he had believed Liam was still useful to him. At least, that was what Irina kept telling herself. She had no intention of accepting a different possibility until she saw it with her own eyes.

Behind her, Mira struggled to keep up, while Voss remained alert beneath his Cryovail Veil. The tunnel had become noticeably hotter, and even he was beginning to feel uncomfortable inside his suit. He occasionally glanced at the walls and the ground, looking for signs of hidden mechanisms or anything that might explain the strange conditions. However, the passage offered little information. The only clear indication that they were approaching something unusual was the light growing brighter ahead of them.

Finally, they reached the end of the tunnel.

The moment they stepped forward, the light erupted around them.

It was so sudden and intense that all three recoiled instinctively. Irina immediately raised an arm to shield her eyes, while Mira turned her face away with a startled cry. Even Voss, whose veil enhanced his perception, was forced to cover his eyes as the brightness flooded his vision. For several seconds, they could see nothing at all. The light swallowed the surrounding darkness, turning the entire space into a blinding expanse that made it impossible to distinguish the walls from the floor.

"What the hell is this?" Irina muttered, keeping her arm over her eyes.

Nobody answered.

They remained still until the brightness gradually became bearable. Irina blinked several times, allowing her eyes to adjust as the shapes around her slowly emerged from the glare. First, she noticed the broad stone floor beneath her feet. Then came the walls, the strange formations scattered across the chamber, and the faint movement of something near the far side.

Her gaze shifted.

And then she saw him.

"Liam!"

The name escaped her before she could stop herself.

He was there.

Liam was suspended against the wall, his body held in place by several thick, living tentacles that emerged from the ground. They wrapped around his arms, legs, and torso, pinning him so tightly that he could barely move. One of the appendages had pierced his stomach, its dark, fleshy surface embedded in his body as though it were drawing something directly from within him.

Irina’s heart lurched.

Liam’s head hung forward, and his dark brown hair fell across his forehead. His face was pale, his breathing shallow, and his eyes were barely open. He looked as though he had been struggling for a long time, his strength gradually drained by whatever creature was feeding on him. Even from a distance, Irina could sense that something was terribly wrong.

She immediately rushed toward him.

"Liam! I’m here!"

She barely registered the heat beneath her feet as she accelerated, desperate to reach him before the creature could do any more damage. Her entire attention was fixed on the man suspended against the wall. She wanted to tear the tentacles away with her bare hands, rip apart whatever was holding him, and carry him out of that miserable place.

But before she could take more than a few steps, someone seized her from behind and dragged her backward.

Irina’s expression changed instantly.

"What are you doing?" she snapped, twisting around.

Voss stood behind her, his grip firm around her arm. He pointed urgently toward the ground in front of them.

"Look down!"

Irina followed his gesture.

Her eyes widened.

Several tentacles were emerging from the ground exactly where she had been about to step. Their slick, dark surfaces writhed as they stretched toward her feet, moving with frightening speed. One had already risen high enough to curl around her ankle, while another was reaching for the other leg. Had Voss not pulled her backward at that exact moment, she would have stepped directly into their grasp.

The tentacles snapped at the empty space where she had been standing before withdrawing slightly into the ground.

Irina’s expression turned murderous.

She had been so focused on Liam that she had completely overlooked the danger beneath her feet. The creature had nearly captured her before she could even reach him.

"Stay back," Voss warned. "Don’t move carelessly."

Irina did not respond immediately. Instead, she studied the ground between them and Liam, searching for any indication of where the tentacles might emerge next. Now that she knew what to look for, she began noticing subtle differences in the surface. Certain patches appeared slightly darker than the surrounding stone, while others seemed to ripple faintly beneath the heat rising from below.

The chamber was not simply occupied by a creature.

The creature itself appeared to be beneath the ground, and the tentacles were only the parts of its body reaching into the space above. The area within its reach had become a deadly trap, one that could capture anyone who stepped into it without recognizing the danger. The surface gave little warning, and unless someone watched carefully, they could easily find themselves surrounded before realizing what was happening.

Irina looked toward Liam again.

"Liam!"

She raised her voice, hoping to provoke some response from him. His head shifted slightly, and a faint tremor passed through his shoulders, but he did not answer. His eyes remained barely open, and the tentacles continued to hold him against the wall.

Her chest tightened.

"Liam, can you hear me?"

There was no reply.

Only the faint movement of his body suggested that he had heard anything at all.

Irina’s hands began to tremble, and she immediately curled them into fists to hide it. She could not allow herself to lose control now. Liam was alive. That was what mattered. He was breathing, and if he was still alive, then there was a chance to save him. Panicking would accomplish nothing, especially when the creature had already demonstrated that it could attack anyone who approached carelessly.

She took a slow breath and turned toward Voss.

"How do we get him out of there?" she demanded, forcing herself to speak calmly. "And how do we do it fast?"

For the first time since they had entered the chamber, Voss appeared completely uncertain.

He looked at the tentacles holding Liam, then examined the ground around them. The creature’s range was difficult to determine, and he could not tell how far its body extended beneath the surface. He had no idea whether attacking the tentacles would harm the creature or merely provoke it into releasing more appendages. Even if he could reach Liam, the tentacles might seize him before he could free their prisoner.

Voss wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

Then another.

The heat in the chamber was becoming unbearable. Sweat had already begun gathering along his brow, and it had nothing to do with nervousness. The air felt thick and stifling, while the ground beneath them radiated an unnatural warmth. He could feel the heat even through the protective properties of his veil, and the longer he remained there, the more uncomfortable he became.

His eyes moved from the ground to the tentacles.

Then, suddenly, his expression changed.

"That’s it!"

His voice rang through the chamber.

Irina turned toward him in confusion. "That’s what?"

Voss stared at the ground, his mind working rapidly as the pieces finally came together. He had noticed the increasing temperature when they entered the tunnel, but at the time, he had assumed it was simply a characteristic of the underground structure. Now, standing before a creature that concealed itself beneath the earth while using living tentacles to attack anything that approached, he began to suspect that the heat was not incidental.

"The heat," he said, looking directly at Irina. "That’s what we need to use."

Irina frowned. "What about it?"

"Don’t you feel it?" Voss asked, gesturing toward the tentacles. "The ground around them is much hotter than the rest of the chamber. The heat is coming from beneath the surface, from wherever that creature is hiding."

Irina glanced at the ground. Now that he had pointed it out, she could clearly feel the difference. The closer they looked toward the tentacles, the more intense the heat became. It was not simply the warmth of the enclosed chamber. Something beneath them was generating it, and the creature’s movements seemed connected to the unusually high temperature.

She looked back at Voss, still uncertain where he was going with the observation.

"And what does that have to do with getting Liam out?"

Rather than answer immediately, Voss stepped cautiously toward one of the tentacles lying near the edge of the creature’s range. Irina watched him with a wary expression, ready to pull him away if another appendage emerged from the ground. He crouched carefully, ensuring that his feet remained on the safer section of the floor, and reached toward the nearest tentacle.

"Voss, what are you doing?" Irina asked sharply.

"Testing something."

His gloved hand closed around the appendage.

The instant he touched it, the blue surface of his Cryovail Veil began to change. A layer of frost spread over his fingers as he activated one of the suit’s cold-based properties, concentrating the chilling effect around the part of the tentacle he was holding.

A strange sound immediately filled the chamber.

Szzzzsssh!

The tentacle writhed violently in his grip. Its surface seemed to recoil from the cold, twisting as though it had touched something burning hot. A thin layer of vapor rose into the air, and before Voss could tighten his hold, the appendage slipped from his fingers and rapidly withdrew into the ground.

Irina stared.

The tentacle had retreated.

Not because Voss had torn it apart or injured it through brute force, but because of the cold.

Her eyes widened as she looked from the empty patch of ground to Voss’s frost-covered hand. The realization came quickly. The creature that had nearly trapped her, and that was currently draining Liam’s energy, had a weakness.

It was afraid of cold.

Voss straightened and turned toward her, his expression filled with urgency.

"Listen to me, Irina. I don’t have powers like yours. Everything I can do comes from the veil, and even that has its limits. I can use its cold properties to repel the tentacles, but I can’t produce enough cold to keep the creature away for long."

He pointed toward Liam, who remained suspended against the wall.

"But you can."

Irina’s gaze followed his finger.

Voss looked her directly in the eyes.

"You can release ice strong enough to scare it off Liam."