Kaiser of the New World

Descending into the dark and dreary staircase that was below where the main altar once stood, Kai couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

There was no source of light other than the small ember inside his necklace, so that was all they were able to see with.

Which also meant that Kai was the one leading the group, open and vulnerable to anything that could possibly attack them.

Kai sighed.

Obviously he would be going first, why wouldn't he be going first?

It wasn't like he was alone though, Esurient was comfortably sat in the palm of Kai's hand, his fingers clenched ever so slightly around the hilt of the blade.

But Kai still couldn't help but shiver subconsciously.

Was it just him, or did it feel like someone was watching him?

The group of them continued to make their way down the spiral staircase, the only sounds present being that of breathing and boots hitting the stone beneath them.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of walking down a staircase, they reached the end of them.

Kai emerged in a spacious stone hallway, still no light present to help them see. It was like all the flames that had once been here had been brought into the main chappel by the Winter Serpent, like it was obsessed with them.

One thing he noticed was that the tunnel seemed to be a different shade of black compared to the wall of the staircase, like this tunnel was somehow much older than the place they nearly ended up dying.

Another thing Kai noticed was the strange etchings in the walls. Lines were scrawled everywhere he looked, only they seemed to not draw anything and were there without a purpose. Some sections of the walls were so caked with dust that he couldn't even make out the lines beneath the extra layer.

The tunnel went as far as the eye could see, meaning they would have to walk for a while before actually getting anywhere.

Kai sighed before accepting his fate and beginning to move.

It wasn't all bad though, at least he had one more thing that he could use to entertain himself.

He could finally look over the item he got for killing the Winter Serpent.

Winter Serpent's Coat (Rare)

Created from the scales of an Evolved Winter Serpent, this coat has the innate feature of heating up anyone who wears it. It also increases the wearer's bloodflow and reflexes. Provides the user with +150 Constitution and +100 Stamina.

Eh, the item was good, but practically useless for Kai since he already had his Chrome Skin on and was already pretty resilient to the cold.

It would be useful for Cecilia though, considering that she could wear the coat over the bodysuit.

Kai sighed again before summoning the item.

A beautiful white coat materialised in his hands. Even though the system had said that it was created by the scales of the Serpent, it looked like it was created by some of the finest cloth known to man. The only reason Kai could tell that if really was made of the serpent's scales was because the texture of the coat was the same as the corpse of the large snake.

It also felt strangely warm to touch, but Kai was sure that was only because of the features of the coat.

... Probably.

Turning around, Kai saw that Cecilia was clutching her shoulders, her body shivering ever so slightly in response to the cold.

In contrast, Petunia was doing much better, but that was mainly because the tunic actually offered some resistance to the cold, meanwhile the bodysuit didn't, it was just very practical.

Kai dismissed the coat before speaking.

"You cold?"

Cecilia blinked in response. Her eyes widened, as if she had realised what was about to happen.

"... No?"

Kai snorted, knowing what she was playing at.

"Try again."

Letting out a soft sigh, Cecilia let her gaze drop to the floor before mumbling:

"Yes..."

Kai smiled as he grabbed her hand, transferring ownership of the item to his assistant.

"There, now you won't be cold."

Cecilia sighed glumly.

"Sir, you cannot just keep giving me your items, what if you end up needing them?"

Kai shrugged. It's not like he was in desparate need of a snakeskin coat, nor was he actually going to wear it anyway considering that it didn't actually boost his defences, the coats only function was to heat him up after all.

He also couldn't even wear it unless he dismissed his armour, why would he do that?

"It's fine. Plus, now if I ever need my bodysuit back if we get into a fight, you won't have to worry about having to get naked for a few seconds."

After that was said, it only took a few seconds for Cecilia to accept the coat with a blush on her face.

Kai grinned happily as she done so.

All things considered, things weren't actually going so badly. Sure they had been kidnapped by an oversized snake, and sure they had to scale an incredibly steep and scary mountain, but as long as they took their time it would all probably go well.

As they continued to walk down the tunnel, Kai continued to repair his soul.

By now, the majority of the cracks that had once plagued the strange organ were healed, leaving only the lesser ones. These ones only took him a minute or two to repair, but they all added up. It would be at least another day before his soul was fully healed, but that wasn't a problem.

And Kai couldn't wait until his soul was fully healed. Once it was, it meant he would finally be able to see the fruits of his labour and test out Soul Flame after he had spent a month practicing with it, and now that it had been boosted by a Divine rarity item the skill would be even better.

Kai grinned as he continued walking.

The group continued to trek down the tunnel, losing track of time in the process, which was actually a pretty easy thing to do.

However, the further down they got, Kai couldn't help but notice something changing about the walls.

The lines on them, which had been scattered and random at the beginning of the cave, slowly began to come together, like they were forming another image.

It took a bit more walking before Kai was finally able to make out the first image the lines formed.

On the left wall, countless lines came together, acting like two towers standing side by side and slowly closing in on each other until they finally connected at their tips.

Kai sucked in a shallow breath, realising what the lines on the wall were depicting.

It was an image of the Royal Peak.

Kai inwardly cursed to himself.

Why did there always have to be murals? After that whole ordeal back in the Dome with him actually being depicted in one of them, he had learned to be a little wary of the often crude drawings.

But that didn't mean these murals would also be bad, right?

The further down the tunnel they got, the more details got added to the Royal Peak.

There was a lot more murals than Kai thought there would be. The first five showcased someone climbing the Royal Peak. The first one was the figure at the very bottom, then at roughly an eight of the height, then a quarter, then half, then three quarters until the figure finally reached the peak of the mountain.

But one thing that Kai noticed, and he wasn't really sure if it was a coincidence or not, was the positioning of the figure.

There were five murals depicting the figure, since he wasn't counting the sixth where the figure was at the peak.

There was also five trials.

And one of the trials had happened to be at the very base of the mountain, exactly where the figure had been depicted for the first time.

Did that meant the position of the figure represented where the five trials were?

It seemed plausible, but it could have just been Kai overthinking. If he was right though, it meant they would have a bit of peace before the next trial considering that it was a bit higher than the base of the mountain.

More and more murals appeared on the walls, depicting the construction of the monastery that was apparently at its peak. It looked massive even in the murals, so Kai was curious to imagine what it would look like up close.

He also hadn't been able to spot it thus far, courtesy of the blizzard obscuring it, so he was even more curious to find out what had been up there in the first place.

The following murals depicted more figures taking the pilgramage to the peak, only these figures were much smaller and didn't have the same charm the first figure had, strangely.

Then, suddenly, there was a vast change in the murals.

The newest mural depicted the monastery at the peak, only there was a massive ball in the sky beside it, faintly resembling a sun.

Kai realised that it was the fireball.

Only there was something strange about the fireball, as in the very center of the ball, depicted clear as day...

Was the figure of a human.