n

n

nAlex gritted his teeth.

nIf he had to take one of the two spears, he would take the one that hit a less vital area!

nSHING! SHING!

nThe two spears shot forward, and Alex’s sword blocked one of them.

nSHING!

nHowever, the other one punched through Alex’s left shoulder.

nBefore Alex’s left arm completely froze, he issued one last command to it.

nWhoosh!

nAlex’s coat was thrown up as his left arm lifted upward.

nThen, Alex’s left arm and a huge part of his torso froze over in nearly an instant.

n“Now!”

nAlex shouted.

nAs Alex’s coat was thrown upward, his torso was revealed, and something new with it.

nHow had Alex been able to stay warm in such insanely cold weather?

nAround Alex’s torso was a large, green lizard! It was curled around Alex’s torso, and it radiated a ton of heat!

nIt was the lizard that Alex had met on his first day!

nThe lizard had already prepared itself.

nBANG!

nThe lizard shot a fireball in the bear’s face.

nBOOM!

nThe fireball exploded on the bear’s head, making it scream in fear and pain.

nIts eyes were completely destroyed!

nIts fur was singed, and burns littered its face. However, it wasn’t dead yet.

nIn the chaos, the bear stood up.

nCRK! CRK!

nThe bear’s hind legs broke through the ice again, and the bear’s torso hit the front of the ice as it lost its balance.

nCRK!

nSuddenly, the ice in a rough circle around the bear broke.

nBack when Alex had slid around the bear, he had cut out the part of the ice where the bear was standing on. The bear’s fall broke the ice.

nCREEEAAK!

nSuddenly, the icecap started tilting towards one side. The bear’s hind legs were in the center of the icecap, while its torso was on one side.

nLike a human that leaned completely to one side while wearing a lifebuoy in the water, the icecap completely tilted.

nBANG!

nUntil it turned 180°!

nThe bear’s body was now below the ice as its hind legs stuck out from the ice.

nAlex gritted his teeth as the burning pain from his left side seared itself into his mind.

nAlex heard a muffled roar from below the ice as the icecap shook with power.

nWhen Alex landed, he used his sword to shoot himself towards the bear’s legs.

nCRACK!

nAlex swung his sword at one of the legs, and it cut to the middle of the leg, only being blocked by the bone.

nThis was the first creature that managed to resist Alex’s sword to some degree.

nAlex immediately swung a second time!

nCRACK!

nThe bone was broken, and with another swing, the bear’s left hind leg was cut off.

nA shower of blood shot out, coating Alex’s entire body.

nAlex could hear another terrifying roar beneath the ice, but he couldn’t get distracted now.

nBANG!

nAlex hit the bear’s other leg before it managed to free itself.

nBANG!

nHowever, suddenly, something shocking happened.

nThe bear’s other leg was pulled below the surface of the lake with terrifying speed!

nAlex’s eyes widened.

n‘This couldn’t have been the bear! That yank was too powerful!’

nSilence.

nOnly the blizzard roared.

nThe lake was completely silent.

nAlex slowly walked forward and looked through one of the two holes.

nRed!

nThe water beneath the hole was blood red!

nThis wasn’t right!

nFor Alex, the atmosphere on the lake changed.

nFrom a natural calm to a terrifying calm.

nAlex didn’t feel like he was on a lake but on the roof of a terrifying creature’s domain.

nThe way the bear had been pulled underwater had been unnatural.

nIt was like a giant hand had simply yanked the bear out.

nSuddenly, the silent sound of something small coming out of the water could be heard.

nAlex’s body shuddered, and he quickly jumped away from the two holes.

nWhat had he just seen?!

nA long and thin tentacle had silently come out of one of the holes!

nThe tentacle directly went to the middle of the lake, towards the ethereal ice spire in the middle.

nThe tentacle seemingly didn’t end as it extended for over 20 meters!

nWhen the tentacle arrived beside the ethereal spire, it moved around it, seemingly inspecting it.

nAfter some seconds, the tentacle pulled back into the water.

nCRRRR!

nThen, the two holes in the ice quickly got repaired.

nIt was like the ice hadn’t been damaged at all!

nAlex had completely stopped breathing as he watched all of this unfold.

nHe didn’t want to make any sound.

nAfter a bit, Alex noticed something else, and what he saw shook him to the core.

nThe ethereal spire in the middle of the lake.

nIt had grown bigger and more powerful!

nImmediately, Alex combined several clues into a terrifying picture.

n‘This is not some natural Mana phenomenon,’ Alex thought.

n‘This is bait!’

n‘This… thing created this ethereal spire to lure in a powerful creature! Then, it would consume the creature after a while!’

n‘This is a trap!’

nAlex took a deep breath.

nIf it were another creature like the bear, Alex wouldn’t feel so distraught.

nHowever, the power with which this thing had pulled the bear down had been too frightening.

nIt was like a grown man that had yanked on a mere piece of grass!

nThe yank had been so powerful that it was probably harder to not accidentally tear the bear apart than to pull it out of the ice!

nThe bear and this thing were not on the same level at all!

n‘Maybe the hedgehog actually isn’t the most powerful thing in this forest?’ Alex thought with terror.

n‘What if the hedgehog isn’t the reason why there are no powerful creatures here?’

n‘What if the reason is that thing in the lake?’

nSuddenly, Alex felt something pull on his coat, and Alex nearly jumped back.

nHowever, he realized that it was only the lizard that had climbed down.

nThe lizard seemingly wanted to pull Alex towards the ethereal spire in the middle of the lake.

nThe lizard looked at Alex’s frozen left arm, then at the spire, at Alex’s arm again, and at the spire again.

nAlex also looked at his arm and gritted his teeth.

n‘My arm is basically destroyed,’ he thought with pain.

nAlex’s entire arm had been frozen solid, and the cold even started to invade his torso.

nAlex knew that his left arm had already completely died.

nAlex looked at the ethereal spire.

nJust like before, ice formed around the spire continuously, and it danced around it in a calm manner.

nAlex’s instincts were telling him that there was a ton of Mana in there!

n‘However, this is that thing’s bait,’ Alex thought. ‘The lizard thinks that this spire can help me. Maybe its ice powers can heal my dead arm?’

nAlex looked at the calm lake, and he felt the overbearing pressure in the air.

n‘But if that thing notices me, I’m dead.’

nAlex looked at his left arm again.

n‘However, I already lost an arm. This will severely cripple my fighting ability,’ Alex thought.

nThen, he looked back at the spire.

n‘Should I try getting the spire or not?’

nSilence.

nA minute passed.

nAnd then, Alex made his decision.

nAlex turned around and left the lake.

n‘I can’t risk it. There is probably a way to heal my arm on the outside, but I can’t revive myself from the dead,’ Alex thought.

n‘It’s too risky!’

nCREEAAK!

nHowever, Alex suddenly heard the sounds of trees being bent from the shore of the lake.

nAlex knew that sound!

nSure enough, just a bit later, the hedgehog had appeared at the edge of the lake.

nAlex looked at the hedgehog, and the hedgehog looked at Alex.

nThen, the hedgehog looked at the spire in the middle.

nThen, it looked at Alex again.

nIt seemingly looked at Alex with expectation.

nAlex looked at the hedgehog’s actions, and he felt like he could understand its intentions.

n‘Does it want me to grab the spire?’

n