Cannon Fodder To Villainess

🏮82. Ice Statue

Amber looked around in confusion, as she found herself in a cave, instead of at the Empress Tree. It was a large cave with the ceiling high above her head. An eerie sound of wind whistled through the tunnels from further in. There were echoes coming from a far away water source and moisture dripped down off of the spikes on the ceiling.

It was a typical cave, but Amber really disliked caves. The idea that she could get lost in them, buried alive, or stuck in a small tunnel utterly terrified her. Then there could be a random water source that she might accidentally flood and then she could drown.

"Hard pass," she said to herself and then inserted mana into the teleport ring, but nothing happened. She frowned and looked back towards her ring. Then she inserted more mana. Again, nothing happened. She looked around the cavernous space for any sign of a close exit, but she could only hear the sound of wind from deep inside.

Meanwhile, her little naughty red dragon egg was still leaking out puffs of green smoke. She certainly didn't want the little fire dragon filling up this cave with green fog. She groaned in annoyance while thinking about the process of contracting a baby dragon, but there was no helping it. This wasn't something she could put off while being trapped in a cave.

It wasn't more than an hour before she had managed to satisfy the smaller red fire dragon with her mana. She finally was able to place her hand on its shell. This time, a bright red and yellow light traveled up her left arm and settled on her earlobe, right above the yin-yang symbol. This one looked like a tiny yellow and red flame.

Amber added her blood pixie egg to the black bag containing her dragon eggs. Then she slipped that black bag into her space bag. Her space bag was originally supposed to be gifted to the First Prince with the fire dragon egg already inside it. She would take everything of importance from him, one after the other.

She pulled out her light magic knife, which had been donated after she generously performed an operation free of charge, and she poured some mana into it. The little knife glowed with light magic. Amber was finally able to see well enough to not trip over her own feet. She took a deep breath, really hating what she had to do now, and walked further into the cave.

With each step she took, she could feel little pricks of anxiety trying to surface in her mind. Her own shadow slipped along the walls of rocks and danced around the room. It made her feel on edge. It felt like something truly monstrous might come out from the shadows between the rocks to eat her at any moment. The sound of her steps bounced around the cave and came back to her from far away places, adding to the feeling of being watched by monsters.

Hidden between two spikes high up in the ceiling, a man perched while wearing all black. His eyes glittered at having finally captured his target and a slow smile spread across his lips. Then without a sound, he skittered around the spikes. Then hung upside-down from the ceiling. He walked across the ceiling just as easily as if he were walking on the ground. He came and went without any notice, apart from Amber getting the strange feeling that she was being watched. Amber paused and looked around again while feeling a slight amount of anxiety lifting. She took a deep and calming breath.

"Caves, I hate caves," she whispered. She heard the quiet sound of her voice bounce and twist strangely when it came back to her. A shiver traveled up her spine and she continued to walk further in. She wrapped her right arm around herself, and held out the Light Knife in her left hand.

She walked deeper and deeper into the cave, feeling her sense of anxiety increasing again. Then she suddenly found herself in a furnished and comfortable looking room. She blinked her eyes in surprise while looking around the room. The ceiling of the cave had a magical barrier over it and the walls were draped in golden fabric. In the center of the room was a large bed, a chest at the foot of the bed, and rugs on the floors. Sitting on the far left wall of the room was a stone fire box that had blue flames within it. The room was toasty, comfortable, and inviting, but she wasn't alone.

Laying in the center of the bed was an unconscious man. As she approached him, she saw that he was covered in frost, and beads of ice had frozen on top of his flesh. Amber frowned at him in confusion. This was like nothing she had ever seen before. The frost covering his skin was strangely beautiful in its curves and twists. His skin glistened with frozen drops dotting the surface. His long black hair glowed from within. His long black eyelashes fanned out on his cheekbones in his perfect bone structure. At first, she was convinced that he was actually a work of art made by a master sculptor, but then she saw his chest subtly rising, and falling while he slept.

"How could a living man be this beautiful?" Amber whispered. She reached her hand out towards the unconscious man. It was as if she had been put under a spell.

When her hand touched the man's arm, he didn't stir at all. His arm felt hard and cold, like it was made of ice. She pressed in a little, but his flesh remained firmly in place. Amber frowned while looking down at him. She wasn't sure what was wrong with him, since she hadn't seen anything remotely like this before. She didn't have any refined mana water left after those greedy little baby dragons sucked up her mana. She only had her Healing Imprint left and weaker mana water that wouldn't be strong enough.

It exhausted her to use her healing imprint. It was also something that she shouldn't easily reveal, but she found herself releasing the white light from both of her hands regardless. As soon as the white healing elvin magic touched the surface of the man's skin, the frost on his flesh glowed blue-gray and swirled, as if it were alive.

"Is it alive?" Amber said to herself.

She pressed both of her hands up against the man's chest and pushed out her healing magic harder. White light shot out from both of her palms and her imprint mark glowed from having been activated. The air around the cave quivered as if a large gong had been struck. Then purple light shot out of her palms too, mixing in with the white light. When the two magics mixed, they started swirling around the room. Faster and faster the air swirled with the force of her magic being released. It ripped the hanging clothes off of the walls, pulled the rugs off the floor, and blew her hair up. The force of Amber's magic swirled around her like a tornado and then closed in on the unconscious man in front of her.

Amber watched as her magic started touching the frost on the man. Where the purple and white light touched him, the frost melted.