Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

"..."

Soon after, Hughes relayed the news that Principes had told Bilim and the others.

Upon discovering that the clues were related to the lair of the Cold Cave Worm King, Bilim and Jaeiro agreed to the other party's invitation to cooperate.

And so, the six wizards set off together, flying toward the direction that appeared to be the entrance to the lair.

Soon, they arrived at the location of the cave entrance. When the white mist on the ground dissipated, the scene below surprised the three of them who were seeing it for the first time.

It was a hole much larger than they had imagined; looking down from above, it almost filled their entire field of vision.

What's even more surprising is that this vast cave entrance was completely sealed off by a strange blue substance.

It was a blue crystal with a faint blue glow on its surface, constantly emitting a chilling energy fluctuation.

"This...this is—a hole made by a cold cave worm?!"

Bilim's eyes widened suddenly, his face filled with shock.

"This is bigger than I imagined... and—it must be beyond its normal size! Even if it's the Cold Cave Worm King!"

Not only Bilim, but also Hughes and Jaeiro beside him could not hide their shock.

However, the next moment, they suppressed their shock and slowly descended to the edge of the cave entrance.

The edges of the cave entrance were covered with grotesque marks, as if it had been gnawed and squeezed by some kind of giant mouthparts, and the marks covered the entire perimeter.

It was not only covered in disgusting slime, but also had many hairy pieces of corpse stuck to it, and emitted a strong fishy smell.

With a thought, Hughes picked up a drop of viscous liquid stuck to the edge of the hole.

"It's the slime of the cold cave worm."

Then he bent down and carefully examined the traces of the soil in the snow being crushed and gnawed.

"It was caused by the mouthparts of the cold cave worm."

Combined with the blood and flesh fragments covered in hair, it can be concluded that this is the hole that the Cold Cave Worm crawled out to hunt.

At the same time, Lapris and the others flew down from above.

Seeing that the three had stopped their inspection, Lapris asked:

"How did it go, Hughes?"

Hughes glanced at the other person and said calmly:

"Besides the astonishingly large opening, the slime and traces on the ground confirm that it was caused by the cold cave worm."

But as he spoke, he turned his gaze to the layer of blue crystal that sealed the entrance to the cave.

"But... there is something strange about these crystals."

The cold cave worms use a blue liquid that slowly solidifies and is extremely sticky to seal the entrance to the cave.

The purpose is to allow the snow and clods of earth swept in by the wind and snow to adhere firmly to these solidified liquids, thus slowly forming a new ground.

Ultimately, even if these liquids were frozen in the snow and ice, they wouldn't turn into crystals like these.

Not to mention, the crystal was also emitting a chilling energy fluctuation.

At this moment, Bilim carefully stepped onto the crystal layer, his fingertips lightly touching the blue crystals, his brow furrowing slightly:

"This doesn't seem like... the secretions of the Cold Cave Worm King itself... because—this is a naturally formed crystal, it has been a crystal from the beginning."

Meanwhile, Jaeiro added in a deep voice:

"Although it's strange, I'm certain that this fluctuation is emanating from the crystal itself."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

The fluctuations were emanating from the crystal itself, which puzzled them greatly.

Unless—this crystal is some kind of living organism.

"Sigh, why not just break it open? Now that we've confirmed this is the entrance we're looking for, we can't let it block the way forever."

Bilim gripped the short staff tightly, and in the blink of an eye, a streak of orange-red light flowed rapidly at the tip of the staff, radiating a fiery aura.

However, Xiu Si raised his hand to signal the other party to calm down, then turned his head and looked solemnly at the blue crystal at his feet.

"Don't rush. If the Cold Cave Worm King can use it to seal the cave entrance, then this crystal layer is definitely not simple. If we act rashly, we may directly alert the other party."

Bilim naturally understood the meaning behind the other party's words. He looked down at the seemingly calm blue crystal at his feet, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes.

He almost forgot that the Cold Cave Worm King had not yet been captured by them. In other words, it was very likely that the worm was still wriggling somewhere beneath their feet and could emerge from underground at any time!

"Anyway, this place is almost connected to the Cold Cave Worm King's lair, so we can just call Lord Clotilde over."

Lapris suggested.

Immediately, the six of them discussed it and used the communication crystal to inform Clotilde of the coordinates of the location.

"call out--"

The next moment, a streak of light flashed across the distant horizon.

Immediately, Clotilde appeared before everyone.

"Hmm...you did a good job, the Spire will remember your contribution."

Before even looking, Clotilde had already determined that this place was the entrance to the Cold Cave Worm King's lair.

But with just a casual glance, his originally calm expression suddenly tightened.

"Um……?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Clotilde flashed and quickly appeared above the crystal.

"This place... is much stranger than I expected."

Compared to the group of formal wizards around him, Clotilde, as a second-level wizard, could perceive more things.

However, even he... couldn't quite see through the blue crystal below.

Thinking of this, Clotilde hesitated for a moment, then slowly landed and bent down to gently touch the blue crystal beneath his feet.

"Click—"

However, just as his fingertips touched the crystal surface, a crisp sound came from inside without warning.

"Splash!!"

The next moment, the crystals shattered one after another, and the fragments, like a magnificent blue star shower, scattered into the bottomless depths of the earth below.

Those who were just standing on the crystal surface suddenly lost their footing and plummeted straight down.

Fortunately, they reacted instantly and activated their flight magic to hover in mid-air, thus avoiding falling into the abyss.

Unlike the panicked movements of the others, Clotilde only paused slightly before stopping steadily in mid-air, as if he were walking on thin air.

"Everyone, come on up first, wait for everyone else to come over."

Klotir stared at the bottomless abyss below, his face grim, whether from the inexplicable shattering of the crystals or from the sheer size of the entrance.

Following Clotilde's orders, everyone quickly flew back to the ground.