Thud!
The moment Cain kicked off the tree and instantly moved away from his position, something massive struck down where he had been standing.
“So it’s come out.”
Due to its pure white hide, it was difficult to discern the snow bear’s form when it remained still among the snow-covered trees.
The one fortunate thing was that snow bears generally don’t travel in packs.
Rather than being overly distracted by the surroundings, it was better to focus on this one-on-one situation.
“Grroooar…!”
Not having expected its ambush to fail at all, the snow bear glared at Cain with what seemed like confusion.
But Cain didn’t waste even that time and was already gathering mana.
As if using his inhaled breath as fuel, the fire mana dwelling in his heart swirled more fiercely with his breathing.
‘Hot.’
A sensation completely opposite to water mana, which would become even colder and sink like thin ice forming even in urgent situations.
As if it would melt away the cold of the snowy mountains, the fire mana circulated through his body’s mana circuits, and scorching heat warmed his body.
“Fire Ball.”
The mana that had been swirling as if it would burst forth at any moment appeared around Cain like bubbles in boiling water, forming spheres with his incantation.
‘Anyway, 2nd Circle Fire Arrow would have difficulty penetrating the snow bear’s hide.’
Fire magic was particularly prone to significant differences in physical force depending on the circle.
Even if he increased the arrowhead’s density with 2nd Circle Fire Arrow, penetrating that thick hide would be nearly impossible.
If he could achieve 3rd Circle and cast ‘Flame Spear,’ the story would be a bit different, but for now, it was better to sear with high-density Fire Balls.
“Grroar!”
The moment the snow bear’s eyes flashed as it lifted its foot to charge toward Cain, dozens of Fire Balls flew out to meet it.
“Grroooar!”
But the snow bear showed no intention of dodging even after seeing the Fire Balls.
It meant it was confident it could break through such small fireballs with its body.
But at that moment.
“Grroa?”
Whoooosh!
Before the snow bear could build up momentum, dozens of Fire Balls that had shot forward like arrows suddenly converged, instantly covering the snow bear’s front like an enveloping blanket.
‘Maintaining dozens of Fire Needles at maximum density would be difficult even for me… but Fire Balls are possible.’
Numerous flame spheres with nearly the maximum physical force possible for current Fire Balls gathered together, blocking the snow bear’s movement like a cushion stuffed full of cotton.
“Grroaaaak!”
The snow bear had to close its eyes against the hot heat, stand on its hind legs, and swing its front paws to strike away the parts that persistently covered and seared its facial hide.
But its panic at the sudden attack was brief.
Realizing it could endure better than expected, the snow bear soon extended its claws, embraced the Fire Ball mass as if hugging it, inserted its claws behind it, and ripped it apart with force.
Then the Fire Ball cushion that had been organically connected as one was torn to shreds.
Sizzle.
The white fur on the outside of the snow bear’s hide was charred black in places, but the main body was still intact.
The snow bear tried to rush toward Cain, who had bothered it.
But.
Swiiiiish!
Before the snow bear could secure its vision, Cain’s second magic was already flying.
And that magic was ice-based magic that Cain had never once used in front of Ed, Fon nor Bolio.
“Ice Needle.”
Cain’s calm and clear incantation rang out.
With vision blurred and obscured by the scattered remains of Fire Balls, it was nearly impossible to catch sight of very small ice needles flying through.
Of course, since the snow bear was also frantically swinging its arms and turning its head, hitting its eyes accurately while adjusting trajectory in real-time was difficult.
‘Coordinate change.’
For Cain, who had been a master of ice magic, changing Ice Needle coordinates in real-time was as easy as moving his own fingers.
The flying Ice Needle bent at an incredible angle and pierced exactly into the snow bear’s eye.
Thunk.
“Grroaaaak!”
But Cain didn’t stop.
He manipulated the water mana dwelling in the two Ice Needles he had held onto with his mental strength until the end, slightly melting them to penetrate the snow bear’s eyeball, then froze them solid.
“Ice.”
Crack!
“Grroooaaaak!”
The snow bear screamed in pain as its eyeball froze.
And it brought its claws to its eyes to remove whatever was painfully affecting them.
When the hard claws struck its eye.
The frozen eyeball shattered with a crack.
“Grroooooaaaak!!”
Pain, and primal fear and rage at having its vision blocked.
In a literally blind state, the snow bear now had no choice but to rely on smell to find Cain.
Only one thought remained in the snow bear’s head: to track down Cain, who had shattered its eyes, using its sharp sense of smell and get revenge.
“Grroa…?”
But the snow bear had to hesitate.
Human scent was now coming from here and there.
‘It would be hard to find me at once.’
Right after the Ice Needle struck the snow bear’s eye, Cain quickly removed his outer clothing and shoes while casting Ice.
He left his shoes in place and moved barefoot while throwing his outer garments in the opposite direction.
What Cain was wearing now was only pants that were difficult to remove quickly.
‘That’s not all.’
Simply scattering clothing here and there wouldn’t be enough to fool a snow bear with keen senses.
He left as much mana as possible thickly on the clothes and shoes, while conversely containing his body’s mana as much as possible to prevent it from spreading, making it difficult to distinguish.
‘Moreover, the mana resonance from dozens of Fire Balls poured out at once is now scattered throughout this space.’
With scattered scent, mana resonance, and the smell of the snow bear’s fur being singed as it took the Fire Balls with its whole body vibrating through the air, finding Cain’s location in this situation was no easy task.
Of course, if it was lucky, it might hit one of the faintly felt scent directions, but.
Cain had no intention of giving it that time.
And.
‘Ice Needle.’
He had even less intention of letting it hear his voice in this situation.
Silent casting.
A technique that could only be used with perfect understanding of the magic in question and sufficient experience to execute it properly.
In that respect, it was similar to multi-casting, but silent casting was an even more difficult, top-tier technique.
Even Cain, who had used multi-casting with fire magic, could currently only use silent casting with ice magic.
Swish.
In silence, dozens of Ice Needles instantly surrounded the snow bear.
And before the snow bear could do anything, Ice Needles generated from almost random directions flew alternately and pierced into the snow bear.
Pak pak pak pak pak!
“Grroar! Grraak!”
This was the snow bear that had torn through a barrage of Fire Balls covering its body in one go.
Probably Fire Needles wouldn’t have produced much different results either.
After all, they were just 2nd Circle spells from a 2nd Circle mage.
However.
Cain’s Ice Needles had already far exceeded the category of ordinary 2nd Circle magic.
“Grroaaak…!”
Ice Needles sharper than well-forged steel needles ruthlessly burrowed into the snow bear’s hide.
The snow bear swung its arms to strike down even one Ice Needle, but.
‘Coordinate change.’
The Ice Needles curved at unpredictable angles and unfailingly pierced their target points, while its arms only cut through empty air.
Of course, that didn’t mean small needles could completely pierce through the hide to the interior in one shot.
However.
‘There are vital points, and besides vital points, there are bound to be parts where the hide is relatively thin.’
Though the exact thin spots differed slightly by individual, making them hard to find at once.
‘If it’s hard to find at once, then I’ll just try stabbing everywhere once.’
Pak pak pak pak!
Cain didn’t miss the parts where Ice Needles had penetrated deeper, changing the target points of remaining Ice Needles to concentrate firepower.
“Grraak.”
The rear torso where the lungs were located.
And Ice Needles that struck the side of the neck in succession finally completely penetrated the snow bear’s hide.
The Ice Needle that reached the lungs changed to water form and was injected into the snow bear’s lungs.
Soon, with even its trachea through the neck damaged, the snow bear could no longer breathe smoothly.
“Grrf…”
Actually, it had been like this from the beginning, but afterward, Cain’s one-sided attack continued.
The snow bear soon breathed its last and collapsed in place.
“…”
After confirming the snow bear’s breathing had completely stopped, Cain cut off part of its front paw and put it in his bag.
The best would be to skin all the hide or cut open the belly to take the gallbladder, but he didn’t have that luxury now.
‘Finding the Snow Flower Ice Crystal is the urgent priority.’
Even if he took the snow bear’s carcass, it would be better to collect it on the way back.
Cain moved on without much regret.
The day had become completely bright, and the snowy mountains bathed in sunlight were entirely white.
If not for the sky, the world would have looked like blank paper.
While pushing through the snow toward his destination, he encountered snow bears two more times, but each time Cain swiftly ended the battles with ice magic and advanced.
‘Seeing them traveling one by one, it seems the snow rabbits’ habitat relocation isn’t because of snow bears after all.’
If it wasn’t due to snow bears’ group behavior, it meant there was likely a monster stronger than snow bears.
‘I should prepare myself.’
Fortunately, no monsters stronger than snow bears had appeared yet.
For Cain, who planned to train near the Snow Flower Ice Crystal, it would be proper to find and eliminate monsters near the destination as much as possible for safety’s sake.
But even for Cain, removing all monsters that might be anywhere in this vast area before entering would be a waste of time.
‘Moreover, it’s hard to find traces of mana because of the Snow Flower Ice Crystal’s strong energy.’
The closer he got, the more vividly Cain could feel the energy emanating from the Snow Flower Ice Crystal.
The existence of the Snow Flower Ice Crystal, which had been close to certainty but ultimately conjecture, had long since changed to strong conviction.
‘An extremely pure yet intense flow of mana.’
The Snow Flower Ice Crystal, containing tremendous power enough to affect the mountain’s energy lines, was now within reach.
Step, step.
“An ice cave, is it.”
Even on snowy mountains, it was rare for cave interiors to be covered with ice.
But the cave before his eyes was frozen solid enough to truly be called an ice cave.
‘This too must be the Snow Flower Ice Crystal’s influence.’
Cain entered the interior, melting some sections with Fire magic to avoid slipping.
There were several branching paths along the way, but following the Snow Flower Ice Crystal’s energy made finding the way not particularly difficult.
Following the wide passage all the way in, he finally came to a space as wide as an underground plaza.
And.
“Finally found it.”
Cain discovered a small crystal shining purely in the center of the plaza.
