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Chapter 337 - Chapter 337: Underground Lair

Two paths diverged. The left one was filled with white magical light, illuminating the area as bright as daylight wherever Wright passed. The right passage glowed with red light, and the sounds of ice wolves howling, bursts, and shattering ice crystals echoed constantly. Soon, the two reunited at the crossroads.

"Fortunately, these things turn into ice blocks when they die, or I would never have come in!" Wright set his body ablaze, evaporating the tiny shards of ice stuck in the seams of his armor.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Wright asked as he looked at Robb.

Under the magical light, Robb's pupils had shrunk to the smallest size, and his irises were yellow. When he turned his head, there was a reflection in his eyes, identical to the ice wolves beside him.

"Beast vision. This way, I can see objects clearly in the dark without using magical lighting." The nearby spiders were already dead, but Robb kept swinging his ice sword. He wasn't yet fully accustomed to using the long sword with both hands.

"Any side effects?" Wright asked.

Skingchangers could possess animals to gain their vision, but prolonged use of such magic could lead to behavior resembling that of the animals, eventually becoming mad. Robb, who had added animal abilities to himself, was using a new form of magic.

Robb replied, "I don't think there are any side effects. After the Thre-Eyed Raven taught me this magic through Bran, I studied it carefully before learning it. The only problem is that my eyes feel uncomfortable after using it for a long time."

Wright nodded. "It seems the Thre-Eyed Raven wasn't just waiting to die. He created something new with the magical theory I gave him. Once we're done with these monsters, write down how to use it, and I'll help you improve it."

"No need to write it down. The theory behind this magic should be easy for the teacher to understand. After we finish off these monsters, I'll explain it verbally," Robb said without hesitation.

When Wright gave his magical theories to the Thre-Eyed Raven, the Thre-Eyed Raven gave him a dark sister sword as a return gift. Then, through ravens, the Thre-Eyed Raven communicated with Wright, passing down everything except the bloodline magic like the Seer and prophecy. Wright taught the Thre-Eyed Raven's lineage, and he had even taught Robb and his siblings the Skin-changing magic.

Although Wright knew Skin-changing magic, he had never tried it with Odahviing. Between humans and animals, humans were more capable of commanding, but Odahviing wouldn't listen to Wright's instructions. It didn't accept magic from other systems, so Wright had abandoned the idea. Robb's new magic, which worked on humans, made Wright curious, and he planned to try it when he returned to see if he could experience the vision of a dragon.

The cave began to slope downward. Following the detection magic, the two walked and talked as they entered the next level.

The first level was a complex maze of tunnels, but the second level was made up of spacious chambers. A magical light shot to the ceiling, and Wright and Robb observed the room.

"What the hell are these things?" Robb exclaimed.

The chamber was round, about four to five meters high, with a width of nearly fifty meters. The walls and floor were packed tightly, with spider silk reinforcing the earth. The expansive chambers connected one after another.

The walls, ceiling, and floor were all covered with thick white spider silk, and the reflected light from the magical light was somewhat blinding.

On the floor, there were shells of unknown worms, stacked at least knee-high. From the ceiling, threads of spider silk hung, holding pumpkin-sized spherical objects. These spheres were made of spider silk, with holes on the surface, inside which were spider eggs the size of fingernails.

There were also white spiders the size of dogs, carrying cocoons wrapped in writhing yellow worms and placing them next to the hanging spheres. Instantly, numerous small spiders crawled out of the holes in the spheres and began feeding on the worms by biting into their bodies with venomous fangs.

These dog-sized white spiders were not very sensitive to their surroundings. Wright and Robb had been standing there for a while, and they were still busily transporting food and laying eggs.

"Spiders are one of the creatures most adaptable to changes in magical energy. When their environment changes, they are usually the first to adapt, turning into ice spiders, corrupted spiders, or flame spiders," Wright explained.

He grabbed the next egg sack with magic and began scanning it with detection magic. "Large ice spiders can't pass through the Wall's magical array. So, they lay these dog-sized spiders. These new species have much less magic in them. They don't hunt, they don't fight— their only purpose in life is to lay eggs. Before those normal-sized spiders, the ones that could pass through the Wall, they would use their webs to build magical arrays and destroy the Wall."

"In the legends of the North, ice spiders are the mounts of the Others. The Others must be behind this. Otherwise, how would these ice spiders be so smart?" Robb gritted his teeth. The Stark family has always had the duty to guard the Wall, and anything that threatens the Wall must be destroyed.

Wright used Mage Hand to grab a handful of yellow worms and froze them into ice chunks the size of fists with ice magic. Then, he grabbed some spider eggs from the sack and froze them in the same way, stuffing the two ice chunks into his waist pouch.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Wright burned the egg sacks in his hands. The bursting spider eggs made a noise, and the busy spiders stopped their activities. They began to flee down the webbed tunnels.

"Robb, use underwater breathing magic. We'll burn all of them!" Wright said. One by one, fireballs shot from his hands toward the spider eggs.

Robb held his giant sword at his side, and with a flick of his hands, a circular burst of flame exploded from his body, instantly incinerating all creatures within a twenty-meter radius.

The two continued deeper into the cave, and everywhere they passed, the earth on the cave walls turned into glass-like crystals.

After passing through several caverns, they reached a narrow passageway filled with tree roots. Countless yellow worms clung to the roots, sucking the sap, while many pure white beetles were tethered by spider silk, surrounded by piles of yellow eggs.

"These ice spiders are breeding beetles here, using their larvae to feed the young spiders. Luckily, we discovered this in time, or their reproduction would be beyond our estimation. The Wall would truly be breached," Robb said with a shiver, feeling uneasy at the sight of the mass of yellow worms.

"Keep burning! There's a huge nest of giant ice spiders in the deepest part of the cave, along with a White Walker and a vampire!" Despite being undead, these two types of creatures had subtle differences, and Wright could tell the difference at once.

After Wright and Robb burned their way through and entered the innermost cave, they found over a hundred giant ice spiders crowded together. Some were frantically digging at the walls, preparing to escape, but they hadn't tunneled very far when Wright and Robb arrived.

In the center of the spiders stood a White Walker with eyes glowing an icy blue and a tall, stunningly beautiful female vampire in a white leopard-skin fur coat.

"Is this what a vampire looks like? They disguise themselves as extremely beautiful humans, but are actually horrifying monstrous creatures. This thing is truly..." Robb was about to say more but was interrupted.

"Robb, don't kill the White Walker or the vampire yet. I need to interrogate them. But you can practice your skills with them first, I'll handle the spiders," Wright said.

"Understood!" With Wright protecting him, Robb knew such an opportunity for training wouldn't come often after graduation. He raised his sword and charged, accompanied by Grey Wind.

Wright used ice magic to block the only exit and rushed into the spider horde, flames pouring from his body.

With the enhancement of Wright's magic, each sword strike not only sent out red sword energy but also sparked with fiery bursts. The fire was incredibly effective against the ice spiders, and it wasn't just any fire—magical fire clung to the spiders' bodies, burning them continuously until Wright's magic was exhausted.

For regular humans, ice spiders were difficult to deal with, but for Wright, they were no match. The spiders were soon wiped out, leaving behind a sea of ice shards. Their only contribution was their numbers, which wore Wright out.

Leaning on his massive sword to rest, Wright observed Robb's fight with the two monsters.

The female vampire was no match for Robb's skill. Her magic was either dodged or blocked by Robb, and despite her speed, she was barely managing to avoid being cut in half.

The Valyrian steel sword was far too strong for her to resist. After suffering several cuts, she retreated to the side and engaged in a back-and-forth fight with Grey Wind, the ice wolf enhanced by Robb's magic.

Her fur coat had also been cut by Robb's sword, leaving her exposed. Wright suspected Robb did this on purpose to see the vampire in full view, though it wasn't much to see—she was in her monstrous form, with green skin, a grotesque face, sharp teeth, and extra appendages on her back.

The White Walker, however, was a different story. Robb and the White Walker clashed fiercely.

The White Walker wielded a longsword made of ice, sharp enough that when it clashed with Valyrian steel, it shattered, only for the White Walker to quickly forge a new one. With its superior combat skills, physical strength, and occasional ice magic attacks, Robb's regular steel armor was cut open in several places.

Robb refrained from using fire magic and relied only on defensive and ice spells. He was adapting and learning the White Walker's fighting style, getting used to its speed and rhythm.

"Teacher!" After a fierce exchange, Robb quickly retreated, exhausted.

Wright cast a healing spell on Robb, then rushed forward. With four swift sword strikes, he severed the White Walker's limbs and grabbed its neck, lifting it in his left hand.

"Don't kill me, I surrender!" The female vampire, clearly not skilled in combat, reverted to her human appearance and raised her hands in a military salute from some foreign nation.

Wright clipped his sword into its sheath on his back and used his mage's hand to seize the vampire's neck, pulling her close, holding one in each hand.

"I ask, you answer! What's your plan here?" he demanded.

The White Walker, now without limbs, screeched in agony, and Wright tightened his grip on its neck until it stopped.

"I'm a free folk from beyond the Wall. The tribal chief told me that becoming a vampire would protect me from the cold, so I joined them. We came here at the chiefs' orders. Only I know how to raise deer. The spiders are tasked with using webs to create a magical array, while the White Walker ensures my safety, and I take care of the young spiders. This is the only breach in the Wall, there are no others." The female vampire, seeing the condition of the White Walker, quickly spilled everything, even what Wright hadn't asked.

Wright raised an eyebrow, "So, just you two and the spiders?"

"Yes, it's too close to the Wall here. With the magic array expanding, it's easy to be discovered, so only the two of us remain here."

Wright: "How many White Walkerss and vampires are there outside the Wall?"

"I don't know about the White Walkerss. Our tribe has over a hundred people, and thirty young men and women turned into vampires. The rest are kept alive as food."

"Where are they now?" Wright asked. He had come all the way to the Wall and hoped to kill them while he was at it.

"We've been roaming the North, constantly searching for free folk tribes. I don't know where they are now."

Wright turned to Robb and said, "It was very wise of your ancestors to build the Wall to block them. These things are naturally suited for cold climates. It's very hard for humans to exterminate them."

Robb nodded and then, with some lingering concern, added, "If it weren't for you, teacher, I don't know how many would have died."

"And you?" Wright asked, holding up the White Walkers with his left hand.

Hiss~~~ Another hiss rang out as Wright squeezed its neck.

"Teacher Wright, White Walkers cannot understand Old Tongue." Robb walked and said.

Wright: "Who understands the White Walkers' language?"

"Seems no one." Robb thought for a moment. It seemed that no one in the North knew the White Walkers' language. In stories, any interactions with the White Walkers were communicated by other means.

Wright guessed that the Night King was probably watching them through the White Walkers' ice-blue eyes. He stared into the White Walkers' eyes, then activated a detection magic array beneath his feet, hoping to learn something, but found nothing. Perhaps the difference between the two magical systems was too great, and his method of detection was wrong.

Hiss~~~ Another hiss sounded, and the heated dragon bone gauntlet plunged into the White Walker's eye socket, causing it to twist in agony. Wright gouged out both of its eyes to prevent the Night King from spying.

"Should we kill them?" Robb asked, his previous tension gone now that the plot was exposed.

Wright raised the female vampire in front of him, staring at her for a while. "No, your father needs them."

"Father? Eddard?" Robb asked.

Wright began walking towards the exit, holding the creature. "There are many more White Walkers . I don't know when they'll gather, but the North needs to be prepared. With these two creatures, your father can easily convince the lords of the North."

"But doesn't the Wall have magic? Can they even get through?" Although Wright's suggestion seemed good, Robb wasn't hopeful.

"We'll try first. I'll also study the Wall's magic. If they can get through, that's best. If they die, they die." Wright spoke as he walked.

The female vampire's neck was being squeezed from behind. Wright's hand naturally dangled at his side as he walked, and the vampire had to grasp his wrist with both hands to maintain her balance, her body bent and struggling to follow him.

They exited the tunnel and entered a secret passage. They first took a few breaths of fresh air before continuing further into the Wall.

Not knowing where the magic array of the Wall was located, Wright lifted the White Walkers, covering its body with a layer of transformation magic for protection, then added a layer of magical shield and ice.

Wright and Robb observed the White Walkers closely. When they reached the center of the Wall, Wright felt the protective magic surrounding the White Walkers come under magical attack. The three layers of protection shattered in less than a second.

Wright quickly pulled the White Walkers back. "I used the strongest magic for all three layers of protection, and even that couldn't hold for a second. Without protection, if it touched the Wall directly, it would probably shatter into ice in an instant. No wonder they don't dare cross the Wall."

Robb asked, "So how do we get through?"

Wright replied, "Dragon Shout."

 

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