"Wait, Ryu." Seraphina held Ryu\'s hand, halting him.

Ryu bared his teeth, but anything that he wanted to say stopped at Seraphina\'s following words.

"It\'s still asleep," she said in a whisper with an edge on her tone.

Amidst the heavy and oppressive silence, the Leviathan\'s snore rang loud.

"It. .. didn\'t wake up?" Ryu was in a daze. Of course, it didn\'t wake up. Why else were they alive?

The others found this to be the case as well as some flew back near the Serpent\'s body. The Leviathan\'s eyes were still close, and the foggy, icy breath was still emitting from its snout. It just changed its position.

Ryu and Seraphina looked at each other, and both released a silent, heavy sigh.

As they went nearer the Leviathan, they found a group flocking near its head.

Could it be the exit?

Ryu and Seraphina swam in that direction and found a small cave just beside the Leviathan\'s enormous head.

"So it was there all along," Ryu muttered. The exit was covered by the Leviathan a while ago, but now that it moved and changed the position of its head, it revealed a tiny cave next to its snout.

The only problem was, its freezing breath constantly blew towards the exit and enveloped the tiny cave with smoggy ice. Not only were they going to time their movement with the Leviathan\'s breath, but they also had to move past the small cave where its freezing breaths still circulated. One wrong move, they could turn into popsicles and crumble to tiny crystals before they could even cry for help.

"How. .. tricky. . ." and sinisterly evil. Ryu thought.

Seraphina sighed as well as she shook her head with a palm on her forehead. "This is troublesome. . .  For now, there are two options before us. Rely on our speed to get past that or. . ."

Seraphina\'s attention flickered into the other side of the mountains of corals. "Bore a hole on the other side and hope that it connects to that cave."

Ryu shook his head. "Drilling is out of the question. We can\'t afford to wake that thing up."

"Then should we wait for Kai and Jane? Having a wind mage to boost our speed is–"

Ryu shook his head again. "The Leviathan\'s breath grew denser by the minute inside that cave. If we dallied here much longer, then a thick layer of ice will close that cave."

Seraphina\'s shoulders slumped, and she groaned under her breath, "Right. . ."

Ryu wanted to wait for Kai and Jane as well. But at their current predicament, they\'d either be trapped in the first Islet or die from the Leviathan\'s jaws when it woke up. They were out of options, and Ryu could only hope that the Leviathan would change position again so by the time that Kai and Jane arrived, they wouldn\'t have much trouble like them.

They could wait for the Leviathan to change its position, but the fear of it waking up anytime soon prompted them to take their chances in the cave. Besides, there was a chance that its massive head would block the exit again if it moved.

But right now, Ryu didn\'t have the time to think about Kai and Jane as they were pressed out of time.

The others understood this as well. The more time they wasted, the less chance they would have to advance to the second Islet.

While Ryu and Seraphina were hesitating, a flash of light zoomed past them and towards the tunnel. It was so fast that all they saw were light distortions.

WhoOOOoosh!

Another followed and went past the tunnel just in time that the Leviathan exhaled a freezing breath. Though the cave was freezing, everyone had a unique set of skills, spells, and items to combat the cold. As long as they were not directly hit by the freezing breath that the Leviathan released, then they could make it out the first Islet alive.

Everyone\'s faces brightened with surging confidence at seeing that two had already exited the first Islet.

Another transformed into a blur and swam towards the exit as fast as he could. He was nearing the exit when the foggy air the Leviathan released suddenly came out of the exit in time with the beast\'s icy breath. He was pincer from all sides, and he couldn\'t do anything but close his eyes when both frosty breaths of air hit him. He instantly turned into ice and crumbled to dust.

Ryu\'s heart tightened, and the others\' faces turned pale. Though everyone knew that the Leviathan\'s breath was akin to a high-level spell, they didn\'t expect that with just the slightest touch, it would instantly turn a Rank-A merc into ice without any chance of recovery.

Silence descended, and the mood turned for the worse while the snoring breath of the Leviathan continued, unceasing.

Some turned tail, fearing for their lives as they swam to which they entered.

But that meant giving up Tethyt\'s treasure sand never to see the drylands above again. Ryu thought. Where they just going to wait for a better opportunity? But what if there was no better opportunity but now? They\'d be stuck in here forever.

Ryu refused to be trapped nor die here. He was confident with his speed, but. .. his eyes darted to Seraphina. "Will you be able to pass that thing?"

Seraphina shook her head, and she had the courage to smile at their current predicament. "There\'s no other way. You\'d have to carry me in your loving arms."

Ryu ignored Seraphina and focused all his attention on the tunnel while Seraphina puffed her cheeks, didn\'t know whether to laugh or cry.

With Seraphina in his hands, Ryu thought that it wouldn\'t be a problem. With his speed and strength, he could sprint past the Leviathan\'s icy breath. The only problem was the several waves of freezing smog joining together and blocking the exit. Its movement was erratic and unpredictable.

Another whoosh and a blur of shadow went past the exit, but the other one who followed had terrible luck and was caught by the Leviathan\'s icy breath that accumulated on the exit. He turned into ice and shattered into crystals before the Leviathan inhaled his fragments.

Everyone had a solemn look on their faces, but their eyes were determined. The more they dallied, the more the Leviathan\'s icy breath would block the exit. There was no pattern when its breath would bounce from the cave and cover the exit. It was no longer about speed. It was also about luck.