“What were you guys thinking when you said you’d follow me?”
Inside Dongkwan’s warehouse.
Cain, who had been silently packing his things, asked Bolio, Ed, and Fon.
Fon, meeting Cain’s eyes, slightly averted his gaze and said.
“Th-that’s… why? Would it have been better if we didn’t volunteer?”
At those words, Ed said to Fon.
“He’s probably just asking literally what you were thinking. He always talks like that.”
Cain nodded.
“Ed’s right. I’m grateful that you volunteered.”
At those words, Fon’s expression brightened.
“If I had to give a reason, it seemed like you really wanted to go, Cain… And you looked confident too.”
“Right. And while Bederman might underestimate you, we’ve already clearly seen your skills.”
Ed grinned.
However, Cain shook his head.
“Even so, the snowy mountains aren’t a place to take lightly. You never know what variables might be lurking there. For you guys, not volunteering would have been the better judgment.”
If Ed and Fon had accurately assessed Cain’s true abilities and made their decision, it might have been the right judgment.
But if they had judged based only on what they’d seen him show so far, that would have been a careless decision.
And actually, even if they hadn’t volunteered, Cain wouldn’t have resented them at all. That would have been the natural decision.
But at Cain’s words, Ed grinned again.
“What, Cain. You’re worried about us?”
“I’m not worried, I’m just…”
“Thanks. But we didn’t come thinking we’d just be carried along. We practiced hard with what you taught us, and we’re pretty confident ourselves. Right, Fon?”
“R-right. We can do well too.”
Ed and Fon lightly bumped fists.
“Honestly, I was more surprised when Bolio volunteered. To think that Bolio would volunteer to help Cain!”
At those words, Bolio, who had been packing, whirled around.
“What are you talking about? Why would I help Cain?”
“Huh? Wasn’t that why you volunteered?”
“Of course not. If this mission succeeds, the support funds that were cut because of Cain will be restored. It seems like quite a large amount, and just getting that back would be a huge help to the family.”
Bolio put another sausage in his bag and continued.
“If I accompany them and achieve results, proving that my contribution was high, the family head and instructor’s evaluation of me will improve.”
“Ah!”
“And most importantly, if I want to surpass that guy Cain again, I need real combat experience right now. If I went with other guys and only Cain gained real combat experience and returned, it would be harder to narrow the gap. That’s why I volunteered.”
“I-I see, there was such a reason.”
At Ed and Fon’s response, Bolio looked incredulous.
“Didn’t you guys raise your hands after making at least this much calculation? Don’t tell me you really raised your hands just thinking you’d help Cain?”
“Yeah. But…”
“Mm-hmm. R-right.”
“…You guys are really something.”
“Th-thanks.”
“That wasn’t a compliment, you idiots!”
With everyone watching.
Cain, Ed, Fon, and Bolio said their farewells to Blake Sears, who had come to see them off at the north gate.
“We’ll be going, family head.”
“Yes. Always remember that life comes first. Sometimes you need to know when to retreat.”
“We’ll keep that in mind.”
Wayne Sears, who had been in the back, also came forward and shook Ed and Fon’s hands.
He was Ed and Fon’s father, and when Ed and Fon had raised their hands earlier, he had been so surprised he nearly collapsed.
-Ed and Fon, why… Ugh.
-Honey, pull yourself together! The kids are finally going out to gain real combat experience on their own!
If his wife Celine Sears hadn’t been beside him, he would have collapsed right there.
“Boys, please take care of yourselves. Okay?”
“Don’t worry, father. We practiced hard.”
“R-right. Nothing will happen.”
Ed and Fon reassured Wayne before bowing politely.
Bolio watched this scene while adjusting his pack.
Creeeeak.
As the north gate opened, they could see the high snowy mountains ahead, with blizzards and cutting winds raging.
The four who had finished their preparations began walking toward the snowy mountains.
Unlike the northwest where snow leopards mainly inhabited, the northeast area of the snowy mountains that Cain was now heading toward had quite irregular terrain with many highlands.
‘It’s a good environment for agile snow rabbits to run wild.’
Cain pushed through the pure white accumulated snow that sank with each step as he led the way forward.
“Cain, how far have we come now? It feels like we’ve been walking for a while, but I can’t see the end.”
At Ed’s question, Cain stopped for a moment and took out a map.
“Our current position is around here. The first destination is, as I mentioned earlier, a small cave located here. That way has a steep slope, so we’ll cross this way and move along the gentlest path possible.”
“Ooh… What, Cain. I thought you hadn’t been to the snowy mountains much, but you’re surprisingly knowledgeable?”
“As expected of Cain. So reliable.”
“…These are pieces of information you could easily deduce if you just knew how to read a map.”
The first destination was set as the highest among the nearby peaks.
The reason for deliberately setting it at a high altitude was partly for safety, but mainly because highlands were the most suitable places to accurately grasp the flow of mana through the snowy mountains – that is, the ley lines.
‘If the reason snow rabbits are running wild isn’t simply because of breeding season, I might be able to find clues in the flow of the ley lines.’
Cain planned to determine his next destination based on the results of checking the mana flow there.
‘No matter how I think about it, something feels off.’
Cain recalled Richter’s unpleasant smile that he had seen at the end.
‘He said they were attacked by snow rabbits on the way here.
If they learned some information then but deliberately didn’t tell us…’
“Oh! Cain! Over there!”
While he was thinking such thoughts, Ed pointed ahead first.
“I think something just moved…”
“Good eye. Something’s moving over there too.”
“Huh!”
“Everyone prepare for battle. It looks like there are quite a lot of them.”
Thud-thud-thud.
No sooner had he spoken than the snow that had been piled up on the mountainside began tumbling down toward them.
‘No, it’s not snow tumbling down.’
It wasn’t snow, but large groups of snow rabbits rapidly rolling and sliding down toward them.
“Squeak!”
“Squeak!”
Ed, who belatedly realized it was a group of snow rabbits, shouted.
“Crazy! Those are all snow rabbits?”
“Wh-where should we attack from…”
Then Bolio shouted.
“You idiots! Instead of being surprised, think about casting one more spell!”
Bolio stretched his hand forward and explosively released the mana he had been gathering.
“Fire Ball!”
Whoooosh!
A full ten fireballs began expanding in the air all at once.
Though they were smaller than the Fire Balls he had summoned in his previous battle with Cain, not only had their number increased, but the density of each one had also improved.
‘Cain, I tried training the way you said.’
-For Fire Ball, even if you reduce the number slightly, focus on maintaining the overall mana flow to the end.
At first, following Cain’s advice, he had reduced the number and focused on each one individually, increasing their density.
‘At first, trying to change my habits was so frustrating I thought I’d die…’
Once he could maintain stable density, from then on it became easier to increase the number as long as he had sufficient mana.
‘Ten is honestly still a bit much.’
But when there were many enemies like now, it wasn’t time to be picky about such things.
“Haaaah!”
Ten fireballs flew toward the groups of snow rabbits pouring down like an avalanche.
BOOM!
“Squeeeak!”
“Squeak…!”
The muscular snow rabbits that took direct hits screamed and fell, burned black.
The snow rabbits caught in the explosion rolled around the snowy field with their bodies on fire, tangling with the surrounding snow rabbits.
“Nice, Bolio! I can’t lose either. Fire Needle!”
“Fire Needle…!”
Ed and Fon also summoned their confident Fire Needles.
‘Just like Cain taught us…’
‘Just do it like we practiced…’
Whoosh.
Ed and Fon, who had each summoned five Fire Needles, fired their magic toward the front.
‘While accelerating, maintain the axis and…’
‘Rotate in one direction…’
Whiiiiiir!
Tiny flame needles. They gained speed through rotation and pierced into the snow rabbits’ chests.
Thunk. Crack-crack.
They continued rotating, twisting through the pectoral muscles, piercing the heart and tearing it apart.
“Squeak…”
That wasn’t the end.
The Fire Needles, which had consumed and burned the mana gushing from the snow rabbit’s heart, completely pierced through to the snow rabbit’s back and then pierced through the head of the snow rabbit right behind it.
“G-good!”
Though piercing the head in one shot wasn’t intended, anyway, the Fire Needles shot by Ed and Fon were taking down two or more snow rabbits each.
“What, they’re better than I thought?”
Bolio poured out more Fire Balls as if he couldn’t lose.
His magic, combining the advantage of abundant mana with efficient training methods, smashed the snow rabbits indiscriminately.
BOOM!
‘How about that, Cain! At this level, I’m at least similar to you…!’
After unleashing one round and catching his breath for a moment, Bolio glanced at Cain and frowned with one eyebrow.
‘Huh?’
Cain wasn’t extending his hand toward the approaching snow rabbits, but was extending his hand diagonally toward the sky.
‘What is he doing?’
Moreover, the snow rabbits in the direction Cain was looking were in perfect condition and had already approached nearly halfway.
“Cain! What are you doing! Hurry…”
And at that moment.
Cain opened his eyes that had been closed.
Only then did Bolio raise his head to check the magic Cain was casting.
“Cr-crazy…”
Bolio doubted his own eyes.
Above Cain’s head, in the sky above the snowy mountains, there were dozens of red lines floating that looked to be at least dozens in number.
Cain looked at the snow rabbits charging toward him like mad with calm eyes.
‘Snow rabbits look like rabbits but are much larger and more muscular, so you need a certain level of firepower to pierce them head-on.’
Of course, with Cain’s level of skill, piercing them head-on wasn’t a problem at all.
However, when there were this many in number, piercing them one by one from the front would naturally require that much more effort.
But snow rabbits had one fatal weakness.
‘That’s their crown.’
Due to the snow rabbit’s body structure where the skull bones were slightly separated, if you could precisely hit the crown with magic, you could finish them in one shot with relatively little force.
‘You can pierce through with these very small and short Fire Needles alone.’
Cain’s eyes widened.
Like drops of rain, small and delicate, but…
The sharpness at their tips was sharper than a honed spear – dozens of Fire Needles.
Controlling all of these entities with mental power alone, like a musician handling a large instrument, he delicately set their landing points.
“Squeak!”
“Squeak!”
Tap-tap-tap.
The snow rabbits he had deliberately left untouched to avoid creating variables in their movement.
Above the heads of those honestly charging creatures.
“Coordinates fixed. Drop.”
With Cain’s gesture, brightly burning red raindrops fell all at once.
Thud-thud-thud.
