Though the monster wasn't visible, its tracks remained which allowed us to easily follow it from a safe distance. At least I hope it was a safe distance.
As we continued walking, we finally saw just where the monster was heading. The three of us stared blankly at the giant fortress made of ice that stood before us. Its size was comparable to the department building located on floor fifty.
"The stories were real?!" Nizhoni shouted suddenly.
Akari and I jumped at Nizhoni's sudden outburst. We were far enough away to where I doubted any monster could hear us even if they had enhanced hearing. Regardless, I'd rather not test our luck like that.
"I suppose now we'd have to start forming a plan?" Akari asked, still staring at the fortress.
I nodded, "yeah. We need to find a way into the castle undetected."
"Undetected?" Akari asked.
I gave Akari a confused look, "yeah? I'd rather not storm the base head-on like John normally would. I don't think I have the mana for that so this way is safer."
"That's assuming there is another way in though." Nizhoni brought up.
"Better safe than sorry. Let's go look for one."
The three of us began moving towards the fortress again, though this time we were moving over to its left side. My plan was to circle the building a few times and see if there were any openings. Nizhoni made a good point questioning the chances of a fortress like this having a convenient opening but I had a gut feeling I was correct. Such a base probably never sees any intruders so if anything, I'm sure security was lax.
My eyes narrowed in on a spot located at the back wall of the fortress, "there's are in."
Nizhoni looked at where I had pointed, "all I see is a wall."
Akari sided with Nizhoni, "yeah I don't see what you're talking about, Alice."
I smirked, "for you see, tiny as it may be, that area over there is a blind spot for any of the guard towers. Which means as long as we're quiet enough we can probably break through. I just so happen to have an ice manipulation spell on standby so if we're lucky I can just make the wall shrink!"
"Talk about a convenient spell." Akari said.
"I specialize in ice magic so it makes sense that I would have a spell like that."
"Let's get moving then." Nizhoni said, taking the lead towards the wall.
The three of us swiftly moved into the spot and allowed me to stand in front of the wall. I took a deep breath before extending my hand out to touch the wall. As expected from a wall of literal ice, the thing was cold to the touch. The wall of ice split into two, allowing us a nice gap to squeeze through.
"Let's get going." I said, waiting for the two of them to enter before sealing the small gap shut.