My Cuckhold System-Chapter 121: Fresh Loot
The cold bit deeper the longer they stood there.
West exhaled slowly with blue mist escaping his lips as he surveyed the alien landscape stretching before him.
A third layer... hidden, undocumented and undiscovered for over a century.
And that realization hit him harder than the cold ever could.
If this place had remained untouched for a hundred years...
Then no awakened gang or faction had ever stepped foot here.
Which meant one thing... fresh territory... fresh loot..
West’s lips curved faintly.
He had come down here for Calvin, Emily, the missing guide and teacher... and for the woman’s son...
But he wasn’t stupid.
Survival in a world like this required resources and power...
And if this place held century-old sealed treasures, he would not walk past them empty-handed.
He still had significant space in his inventory... plenty of capacity.
He adjusted the pendant resting against his chest and stepped forward.
The crystalline ground beneath his boots emitted a faint chime-like crunch with every step.
All of a sudden, a hand phased out from a slanted rough wall over fifty feet eastward...
Elongated fingers shot toward his ankle but didn’t even get close...
A blast of emerald flame tore through it.
Gor’thala didn’t look in its direction... she simply flicked her wrist.
The limb splattered into dark residue before evaporating into blue vapor.
Another emerged from beneath the ground near his left foot.
This time, Seraphyra coiled slightly and snapped her tail through it.
The hand dissolved like mist pierced by light.
Seraphyra’s voice echoed in his mind, playful and rich.
"They are persistent... and quite rude."
Even now, her tone carried that mischievous lilt.
"You should allow one to grab you, just a little. I would enjoy tearing it apart properly."
West didn’t even glance at her.
"Focus."
She giggled softly.
"I am focused, master... but only on you..."
Gor’thala remained stoic as ever, watching silently and scanning the terrain for threats.
They advanced deeper into the cavern.
The blue hills grew larger as they approached with surfaces that shimmered faintly like frozen waves mid-motion.
Embedded within one of them... something glinted.
West’s eyes sharpened.
He changed direction immediately, heading towards the glint...
As he approached the hikl, the air temperature plummeted further.
Frost began creeping along his boots, his legs and soon a thin layer of ice formed across his coat...
With every step closer, the cold intensified exponentially.
By the time he was within three meters, his fingers had stiffened and breaths came out of his nostrils and mouth in heavy clouds as ice began forming along his shoulders.
If he moved any closer, there was no doubt that he would freeze solid. This was surprisingly effective for someone of his strength level... he couldn’t imagine how any regular human would survive this.
Gor’thala stepped forward.
"I will retrieve it, Master."
Without waiting for permission, she strode toward the hill.
Emerald flames ignited across her palms.
Without flickering, itburned steady and dense, resisting the frost aura pushing outward from the hill.
Ice formed briefly along her forearms, then evaporated as her flames burnt brighter.
She thrust her hand into the crystalline surface.
And although, the surface resisted briefly, it cracked under pressure, screaming faintly like breaking glass.
Then she ripped the object free and te frost aura vanished instantly.
She returned and placed it in West’s palm.
It was a shard-like crystal about the size of a dagger blade, deep blue in color with veined with silver lines.
The moment West touched it, atranslucent panel appeared before him.
---
[ ITEM ACQUIRED ]
Name: Cryoheart Shard
Rarity: High
Type: Elemental Core Fragment
Effect:
Grants +15% resistance to frost-based effects when equipped.
Can be used as crafting material for high-tier frost artifacts.
Origin: Unrecorded (Ancient Subterranean Source)
---
West smiled faintly. High in rarity... which meant, it would certainly be more expensive.
He already got such an item first... this place was already looking promising.
He slid it into his inventory and they began moving again.
The hands continued to phase from walls, ground, even the ceiling occasionally.
Some reached with more aggression while others tried to grab and retreat quickly...
None survived contact.
Seraphyra remained annoyingly cheerful.
"If this is what guards this place, I am disappointed," she teased.
"I expected something grander. Something that would at least bruise you a little."
Gor’thala did not respond as she incinerated another limb without comment.
West’s eyes remained forward.
The deeper they moved, the terrain grew more uneven.
Blue crystalline pathways twisted into elevated ridges.
Pits opened abruptly at random intervals with their depths emitting blue fire.
Occasionally, skeletal remains could be seen near the edges of those pits.
Some seemed humanoid and others seemed far too large to be human...
In one clearing between hills, West spotted another faint glimmer.
He approached cautiously this time, glad that this one wasn’t embedded in a frost hill.
It lay half-buried near the edge of a pit.
He knelt and brushed aside crystalline debris.
It was a black metallic ring that felt cold to touch.
---
[ ITEM ACQUIRED ]
Name: Ring of Eternity
Rarity: Rare
Effect: Stores a portion of time within
West was confused when he saw this. Stores a portion of time within? What did that mean?
Nonetheless, he kept it within his inventory. He could figure it out when this was all over.
Eventually, the terrain funneled into a narrower passage that widened again into a three-way intersection.
Three cave-like paths branched out towards the left, right and center... all equally dark. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
West paused.
"We don’t know which path leads to them."
A small tremor caused the surroundings to vibrate again and this time it was much more intense... It seemed to originate from somewhere ahead... but not clearly from one direction.
"Fork out," he said.
Seraphyra tilted her massive serpentine head slightly.
"Splitting up in a hidden third layer filled with hostile entities? Bold."
"Left," West instructed.
She smiled mischievously.
"How can I ever bear to part ways with master."
"Seraphyra... behave..." West rolled his eyes.
"Yes master. If I find something amusing, I will inform you."
She slithered into the left path with her luminous form casting pale light along the walls.
