Chapter 245: The Fourth Key
Walking into the hall after opening the secret passage, Greg looked around with curiosity.
The whole space around him was so big, that several football fields could be easily fit in there.
However, even that huge space looked tiny with the massive jade sculpture in the middle of the hall.
Just like in the previous 3 Temples that Greg was in, here too a statue could be seen, but this time it was made out of jade.
The sculpture that obviously represented Alice, was standing calmly, while both of her hands were before her chest, with a jade key floating gently above the palms.
Seeing the key, Greg looked happy instantly, but just as he was about to start walking forward, Alice's voice sounded in his head.
"Maybe I said you don't need to use your Jade Skin, but this time use it. The closer you walk the colder the temperature will become, so you definitely need protection."
"So simply my Third Flow active is unable to keep me safe?", asked Greg.
"Yes. Unfortunately, your proficiency with my water element is still unpolished, so you need to be careful. But don't worry, with your Jade Skin there shouldn't be a problem at all."
"Maybe some of your organs will freeze, but after getting out of here you will be fine."
"..."
The moment Greg listened to this, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so simply activated his Third Flow fully.
Instantly, on his skin, jade-like ice started to form, and soon enough his whole body became like a jade sculpture.
As this happened, Greg felt like his mind calmed down, while he felt like he could easily smash a mountain into two just by a single punch.
"Perfect.", said Greg and without further hesitancy started to walk toward the statue.
One steady step after another, he strode forward, but after every stride, his expression became a level deeper with a frown.
It was because soon enough he started to walk, he started to feel as his body became colder and colder even though he had his Jade Skin, which should be protecting him no matter what.
And what was even more shocking that he only took 10 steps forward!
"This is truly not a joke.", thought Greg with a serious expression, but continued to walk forward.
Every step he took was like his whole body got showed with ice-cold water, but with the difference that the feeling didn't vanish after a bit of time but got worse.
When he was halfway to arrive before the statue, it was visible that Greg's body was trembling because of the insane chilliness.
"Will I truly be alright?", asked Greg a bit anxiously, not knowing if Alice truly said the truth or not.
"Yes, you will be."
Hearing this Greg nodded slightly and started to walk forward, but suddenly asked, "Should I try using my First Flow to make the environment hotter?"
"If you want to die, you can give it a try.", said Alice calmly, making Greg n surprised.
"Why?", asked Greg confusedly.
"First of all, you still didn't make all the connections between your Second and Third Flow, so you would be able to use your fire element only for a few seconds. Secondly, what do you think will happen when insane coldness meets with extremely hot temperatures?"
"..."
Naturally, Greg knew what would happen. If extreme cold suddenly collides with extreme heat, the result would be an eruption of gas and storm.
However, if those two temperatures are extremely beyond the point of natural, like Greg's flames and this place's coldness, the result would be... Explosion.
A huge explosion not only would detonate this Temple away in one go but would erase the whole lake out of Forbidden Land.
Thinking about that, Greg knew what he thought was extremely foolish, so nodded and decided to endure the cold temperature around him.
With slow but steady steps, Greg approached the statue, but every time he took a step forward, he felt like his whole would freeze up.
The feeling was awfully painful. If it weren't for his Jade Skin on his body, he knew he would have died a long time ago, and that was not a lie at all.
"But with pain, the gain comes too, right?", thought Greg as he felt his Jade Skin becoming stronger.
The colder the temperature around him dropped, the stronger his Jade Skin would become, while the jade-like cycle inside his body would shine brighter.
He also felt that as time passed, his resistance against the cold became better and better, which made him sigh with relief too.
"It seems this place is not so bad in the end.", thought Greg with a slight smile as he felt his body become more and more relaxed with each passing second.
Walking for almost a few hundred meters, Greg finally arrived before the statue and looked up.
Right above his head, he was able to see the Jade Key that floated gently above the statue's palm.
"Let's get the key, then get out of here as soon as possible.", thought Greg and without hesitation jumped.
*BAM!*
Surprised how easily and high he jumped up, Greg landed on the statue's palm and looked at his legs, which were covered with Jade ice.
"The stronger you make your ice element, the greater your physical output will become.", said Alice instantly.
"I see. So the reason I wasn't able to reproduce your Jade weapon, was because your proficiency with the ice element is on a completely another level."
"Yes.", replied Alice instantly, making Greg feel the pride in her voice.
Hearing this Greg nodded and without saying anything else he grabbed the key before him.
*Tremble!!!*
Just like the previous 3 moments, the moment the Jade key melted into Greg's body and vanished, the whole place started to tremble and was on the verge of collapsing.
"Let's get out of here!", said Greg and like a bullet, he flashed toward the entrance where he just came in.
Because the cold temperature vanished at the same moment Greg grabbed the key, he was finally able to move as freely as he could and it wasn't long when he arrived at the exit.
Running out, Greg watched as Wayne and Russ were still playing their card game, so he frowned slightly and said hurriedly, "Let's get out of here. This place will collapse."
As Russ listened to this, nodded slightly and waved his hand.
*Swish!*
Instantly, all three of them vanished from the Jade Cave and appeared outside, right next to the lake.
*Tremble!!*
And just as they did, the whole lake and the earth around it started to tremble, while the water's surface started to bubble crazily.
Watching as small and huge pieces of the Temple and the cave emerged to the surface, Russ looked happy and turned to look at Greg.
However, just as he was about to ask him, suddenly several shadows appeared around the three, trapping them in a tight and small circle.
"!"
Seeing these unexpected changes, the three raised their guards instantly and watched as a man calmly walked toward them with a slight smile etched on his face.
"Who are you?", asked Russ calmly as he looked at the man before him with keen interest.
Almost all the time when Russ looked at others, he looked unfazed, but this moment he wasn't. Right now, he was looking at the man with such intensity, that even Greg looked surprised by how serious did Russ suddenly become.
"He must be quite strong to make Russ act this careful.", thought Greg and looked at the man too.
If Russ acted this carefully, then that only meant one thing. The person before him has succeeded with Evolution Step and was above God rank.
So far, Greg only met with two people except Wayne and Russ who were above God rank.
The very first one was the moment way back when he obtained the fire key, while the second one was not long ago, back in Skyfall Mountain.
Both of them were extremely strong, but in the end both if they died. Naturally, not because he was strong because each time it was his luck.
The first time he was able to kill the man because of Russ's and Wayne's help, while the statue at that time and his special technique played a role too.
As for the second time against Ozron, well it was all thanks to Alice, Russ, and Wayne. He didn't do anything at all to kill him.
As he thought about this, the man finally arrived before them and with a wider smile, he started to talk.
"Just call me Nos, you don't need to know who I true am. That is completely irrelevant for you. As for the reason why we came, that is not insignificant at all."
As he said that, Nos put his hand out, while his expression turned deadly serious.
"Give me the key right now, or you will all die here."