I Died and Received an SSS-Rank Unique Ability-Chapter 49: Ice Corridor

The body of the slain golem shattered into countless ice crystals, scattering across the snow like broken glass.

Vale lingered, his eyes fixed on his breath misting in the cold air as he deactivated the enchantment on his weapon. With it, his unique ability faded as well.

"Two strikes..." He replayed the brief battle in his mind. The surge of power from his ability had been far more significant than he had remembered from his fight with the Tower Keeper.

But why had his Unique Ability activated at all?

Confusion crept in.

Ravenous Flame seemed to act with a will of its own—something Vale wasn’t fond of. Worse yet, maintaining the ability for less than ten seconds had drained nearly a third of his mana essence, despite his core now being of a D-Rank.

He exhaled sharply, dismissing his weapon in a flicker of a fading light.

If he couldn’t learn to control his unique ability, he wouldn’t survive more than a few battles. The Demon Realm was more of a marathon than a sprint—preserving one’s essence was just as important as raw strength. Wasting more essence than absolutely necessary, especially on weaker foes, could prove fatal in the long run.

"That was fast," Klein said, snapping Vale away from his thoughts.

"Yeah..." Vale replied, glancing around their surroundings. "I think there was just one."

Ayla nodded in agreement, her weapon already dismissed.

"Next one’s mine," Dain grumbled, clearly annoyed that he hadn’t had a chance to fight. He dismissed his silver gauntlet with a loud huff.

Vale eyed the massive student, the understanding slowly dawning on him.

"It seems like he’s still carrying the weight of his last defeat", Vale thought, the image of Dain’s arm getting severed by the Tower Keeper still fresh in his mind.

He lingered for a moment, watching the massive student.

Then, shaking the thought away, Vale turned his focus to the pile of shattered ice, scanning through the debris in search of something far more valuable than ice—a mana crystal.

He brushed aside the smaller fragments, pushing them away from the larger pile. He mistook an unusually light pieces of ice for a mana crystal a couple of times, and just as the irritation started to build up inside of him, he finally saw it.

There it was, nestled among the broken shards of the golem. A single mana crystal laid, untouched by his strike and pulsing faintly with mana essence.

He reached out, and just as he anticipated, his ability responded. A dark flame materialised before his hand, tendrils of shadowy fire stretching toward the crystal. They coiled around it like a living smoke and devoured it in an instant. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

But unlike before, something felt different now.

As if an invisible thread of fate linked their existence, Vale felt the mana getting devoured by the flame. Energy surged into him, and within the exact moment, the third of the mana essence he had lost was replenished.

His eyes widened.

Then, slowly, the understanding dawned on him.

His ability could now restore his mana essence.

A surprised expression turned into a slow, satisfied grin.

There was far more to his ability than met the eye.

Before long, the group was back on the move, following the narrow, treacherous path. They clung to it with every step, wary of the steep drop to their right.

Vale walked in silence, his thoughts consumed by his unique ability—and how best to use it. There was potential now that he hadn’t seen before. The Ravenous Flame held capabilities far beyond his current understanding. The thought was both exciting and unsettling at the same time.

Time slipped by, and hours passed unnoticed.

The cold gnawed at them, and exhaustion began to take hold.

Klein was the first to feel its grip. His foot slipped on a patch of snow that concealed the edge of the path, and his body lurched toward the long drop to his right.

"Ahh—!"

But before he could fall, Dain’s hand shot out, grabbing his arm in a powerful grip and yanking him back to safety.

Klein’s breath came in short gasps, his face turned pale.

"Thanks," he said, his voice trembling as his heart pounded against his ribs.

"Stay sharp," Vale said, his eyes scanning the snowy trail ahead. "The path is starting to get wider now."

The group’s attention shifted ahead.

The winding path that once curved along the slope of a single mountain now cuts between two towering sibling peaks, forming a natural corridor. It resembled a half-tunnel—open to the sky above but hemmed in on both sides by immense, glacial walls. Ice-covered cliffs loomed like statues, enclosing the group in a cold, silent passage.

Everyone came to a halt, their eyes narrowing.

It was quiet—too quiet.

There were no signs of life within the corridor. Just endless snow and the stillness of frozen stone and ice. It looked lifeless, untouched by time or monsters.

Vale frowned.

The Demon Realm was said to overflow with monsters, and yet, in hours of travelling, they only encountered one Ice Golem. Why?

"At least there’s nowhere to fall this time," Dain muttered, grinning as he elbowed Klein.

Klein responded with an awkward chuckle, lowering his gaze at the reminder of his near fall.

"Any thoughts?" Ayla asked, her eyes fixed on Vale, who studied the corridor more intently than the rest.

"Feels... too empty," he replied, his voice low.

"Yeah," Ayla agreed, her gaze shifting to the path ahead. "I thought so too."

Despite their instincts running wild, there was no choice but to continue forward.

Vale summoned his weapon with a single thought—Hellfire materialised into his grip. The others followed suit—summoning their weapons. Together, they stepped into the icy corridor, each step crunching through the snow, its sound echoing against the frozen walls.

For twenty minutes, the silence was absolute.

Then—a sharp crack rang through the air.

The group froze in place.

Their heads turned toward the sound.

There, a long fracture crept along the left wall, jagged and unnatural, it spread like ink in the water.

The group stood motionless, watching as the crack widened—then shattered in an explosion of frost.

Four massive figures burst out from the wall, their jagged forms groaning as they stepped forward.

Ice Golems.

Before anyone could speak, more cracks formed—now racing across the right wall.

Vale’s grip tightened on his sword, his eyes narrowing at the sight.

His gut feeling had been right all along.

They weren’t alone.