Chapter 22
Boom!
The moment he kicked off the tree and instantly moved away, something massive slammed into the spot where Kain had been.
"There you are."
Thanks to its pure white fur, it wasn't easy to even distinguish a Snow Bear's form when it stayed still on snow or a snow-covered tree.
The only fortunate thing was that Snow Bears generally didn't travel in packs.
It was better to focus on a one-on-one situation rather than being overly distracted by the surroundings.
"Groooar...!"
As if it hadn't even considered the possibility of its ambush failing, the Snow Bear glared at Kain, looking slightly bewildered.
But Kain didn't waste even that moment and was already gathering mana.
As if using inhaled breath as fuel, the fire mana residing in his heart swirled even more fiercely with his breathing.
'Hot.'
A sensation completely opposite to the water mana, which became even colder and seemed to form thin ice even in urgent situations.
As if melting away the cold of the snowy mountains, the fire mana flowed through the mana circuits of his body, and a scorching heat warmed him.
"Fire Ball."
The mana that had been swirling as if it would burst out at any moment, appeared around Kain in droplets like boiling water bubbles, along with the incantation.
'There's no way a 2nd Circle Fire Arrow can pierce the Snow Bear's hide anyway.'
Fire magic, in particular, had a significant difference in physical power depending on the circle.
Even if he increased the density of the arrowhead with a 2nd Circle Fire Arrow, piercing that thick hide was close to impossible.
If he reached the 3rd Circle and could cast 'Flame Spear,' the situation would be a bit different, but for now, it was better to scorch it with a dense Fire Ball.
"Grooo!"
The moment the Snow Bear, its eyes gleaming, tried to lunge at Kain and took a step, over a dozen Fire Balls flew towards it as if to greet it.
"Groooaaaar!"
But the Snow Bear didn't seem to have any intention of dodging the Fire Balls.
It meant it was confident it could break through those small fireballs with its body.
But at that moment.
"Groo?"
Whoosh!
Before the Snow Bear could gain momentum, dozens of Fire Balls that had flown swiftly suddenly gathered and enveloped the Snow Bear's front all at once.
'Maintaining dozens of Fire Needles at maximum density isn't easy even for me... but Fire Balls are possible.'
Numerous fireballs with almost the maximum physical power they could possess as Fire Balls gathered, blocking the Snow Bear's movements like a thickly padded cushion.
"Groooack!"
The Snow Bear closed its eyes at the intense heat, stood on its hind legs, and swung its front paws to desperately swipe at the scorching areas covering its face.
But its bewilderment at the sudden attack was only momentary.
Realizing it could endure it more than it had thought, the Snow Bear soon extended its claws, as if hugging the Fire Ball mass, and tore at it, ripping it apart.
Hiss!
The white fur on the outside of the Snow Bear's hide was charred black in places, but its main body was still unharmed.
The Snow Bear was about to rush towards Kain, who had annoyed it.
But.
Wheeeeeeze!
Before the Snow Bear could even secure its vision, Kain's second spell had already flown.
And that magic was ice magic, which Kain had never used in front of Edward, Fohn, or Bolio until now.
"Ice Needle."
Kain's calm and clear incantation echoed.
Vision blurred and obscured by the remnants of the scattering Fire Balls.
It was nearly impossible to spot the very small ice needle flying through that.
Of course, the Snow Bear was also wildly swinging its arms and turning its head, so accurately hitting its eyes while adjusting the trajectory in real time was difficult.
'Coordinate change.'
For Kain, who was a master of ice magic, changing the coordinates of the Ice Needle in real time was as easy as moving his own fingers.
The flying Ice Needle bent at an extraordinary angle and accurately pierced the Snow Bear's eye.
Thwack.
"Groooaaaar!"
But Kain didn't stop.
He manipulated the water mana residing in the two Ice Needles he had been holding onto with his mental power until the end, melting them slightly to penetrate the Snow Bear's eyeball, and then froze them again.
"Ice."
Crackle!
"Gwoooaaack!"
The Snow Bear screamed in pain as its eyeball froze.
And it brought its claws to its eye to try and remove whatever was painfully lodged there.
As its hard claws lightly struck its eye.
The frozen eyeball shattered with a crisp sound.
"Gwoooooaaaar!!"
Pain, and the primal fear and rage of being deprived of its vision.
Having literally lost sight, the Snow Bear now had no choice but to rely on its sense of smell to find Kain.
The Snow Bear's mind was consumed by the singular thought of revenge on Kain, who had shattered its eyes by tracking its scent with a sharp sense of smell.
"Grooo...?"
But the Snow Bear couldn't help but stop.
The scent of humans was now coming from various directions.
'It'll be hard to find me at once.'
Immediately after the Ice Needle struck the Snow Bear's eye, Kain cast Ice and quickly shed the clothes and shoes he had been wearing.
He left his shoes in place and moved barefoot, throwing his outer garments in a crumpled heap in the opposite direction.
All Kain was wearing now were pants that were difficult to remove quickly.
'That's not all.'
Simply scattering his clothes wouldn't fool a Snow Bear with such a keen sense of smell.
He had imbued his clothes and shoes with as much mana as possible, while conversely trapping the mana from his body as much as he could to make it difficult to distinguish.
'On top of that, the residual mana from the dozens of Fire Balls I unleashed at once is now scattered throughout this space.'
With the dispersed body odor, the lingering scent of mana, and the smell of burnt fur from the Snow Bear taking the Fire Balls head-on, it wouldn't be easy to pinpoint Kain's location in this situation.
Of course, if it was lucky, it might hit one of the faintly sensed directions of his body odor.
But Kain 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.
A voiceless incantation spell.
An art that could only be used with a perfect understanding of the spell and sufficient experience to execute it flawlessly.
In that respect, it was similar to multi-casting, but voiceless incantation magic was a top-tier technique with even higher difficulty.
Even Kain, who had used multi-casting with fire magic, could currently only perform voiceless incantation with ice magic.
Crackle!
In the silence, dozens of Ice Needles instantly surrounded the Snow Bear.
And before the Snow Bear could react, Ice Needles generated from nearly random directions alternated in flying and piercing the Snow Bear.
Stab stab stab stab stab!
"Grooo! Grooack!"
This was the Snow Bear that had instantly torn through a barrage of Fire Balls that had covered its body.
Perhaps even if they had been Fire Needles, the result wouldn't have been much different.
After all, they were just 2nd Circle spells from a 2nd Circle mage.
But.
Kain's Ice Needles had already far surpassed the realm of ordinary 2nd Circle magic.
"Groooack...!"
Sharper than well-forged steel needles, the Ice Needles mercilessly dug into the Snow Bear's hide.
The Snow Bear swung its arms to try and swat away even one Ice Needle.
'Coordinate change.'
The Ice Needles curved and flew at unpredictable angles, unerringly hitting their target points, while its arms merely slashed through the air.
Of course, that didn't mean a small needle could completely pierce through the hide in one shot.
However.
'There are always vital spots, and even outside of those, there are areas where the hide is relatively thin.'
Those thin, precise points varied slightly from individual to individual, making it difficult to find them all at once.
'If it's hard to find them all at once, then I just have to stab every spot once.'
Stab stab stab!
Kain didn't miss the parts that had penetrated deeper among them, changing the target points of the remaining Ice Needles to concentrate his firepower.
"Grooack."
The rear of the torso where the lungs were located.
And the Ice Needles that consecutively pierced the side of its neck finally completely penetrated the Snow Bear's hide.
The Ice Needles that reached its lungs changed into water and were injected into the Snow Bear's lungs.
Soon, with even the airway passing through its neck damaged, the Snow Bear could no longer breathe properly.
"Gweck..."
Truthfully, it had been like this from the beginning, but afterwards, Kain's one-sided attack continued.
The Snow Bear soon stopped breathing and collapsed on the spot.
"......"
After confirming that the Snow Bear's breath had completely ceased, Kain cut off a part of its front paw and put it in his bag.
The best thing would have been to skin it entirely or cut it open and take its gallbladder, but he didn't have the time for that now.
'Finding the Snow Blossom Ice Crystal is the top priority.'
It would be better to collect the Snow Bear's carcass on the way back, even if he decided to take it.
Kain moved on without any lingering attachment.
The day had already fully dawned, and the sunlit snowy mountains were all white.
If it weren't for the sky, the world would have looked like a blank sheet of paper.
While pushing through the snow towards his destination, he encountered two more Snow Bears, but each time, Kain quickly ended the battle with ice magic and continued forward.
'Seeing them moving alone, it seems the Snow Rabbits aren't moving their habitat because of the Snow Bears after all.'
If it wasn't due to the Snow Bears acting collectively, it meant there was a monster stronger than a Snow Bear.
'I need to prepare myself.'
Fortunately, no monster stronger than a Snow Bear had appeared yet.
For Kain, who planned to train near the Snow Blossom Ice Crystal, it was the logical order of things to find any monsters near his destination for safety and eliminate them if possible.
However, even for Kain, it would be a waste of time to try and eliminate all the unknown monsters in this vast area beforehand.
'Moreover, it's hard to track mana signatures because of the Snow Blossom Ice Crystal's strong aura.'
The closer he got, the more vividly Kain could feel the energy emanating from the Snow Blossom Ice Crystal.
The existence of the Snow Blossom Ice Crystal, which had been closer to a conviction but was ultimately still a guess, had long since turned into a powerful certainty.
'An extremely pure yet intense flow of mana.'
The Snow Blossom Ice Crystal, possessing such immense power that it affected the ley lines of the snowy mountains, was now within reach.
Crunch, crunch!
"An ice cave, huh."
Even in the snowy mountains, it was rare for the inside of a cave to be completely covered in ice.
But the cave before him was frozen solid, truly deserving the name ice cave.
'This must also be the Snow Blossom Ice Crystal's influence.'
Kain melted some sections with fire magic to avoid slipping and proceeded inside.
There were several forks in the path along the way, but it wasn't too difficult to find his way by following the aura of the Snow Blossom Ice Crystal.
After walking straight along a wide passage, he finally arrived at a spacious area like an underground plaza.
And.
"Finally found it."
Kain discovered a small crystal shining brightly in the very center of the plaza.
