Once the snow hit my staff and I was pushed back by the sheer force of the tsunami, I knew how heavy snow could truly be. During my childhood, there were a handful of times when a large clump of snow fell from a tree and landed directly on top of me during winter. But even then, it was more the surprise of being hit by something slightly heavy than the weight itself that made me fall to the ground.
This, however, was very different. It wasn’t just a sudden weight—the sheer force behind it made it nearly impossible not to fall to the ground. If my staff hadn’t caught on something in the ceiling, near where the cave began to curve into the floor, I wouldn’t have been able to hold on.
But that didn’t come without its cost. The ice slammed against my hands, making them so cold that I could have sworn they were frozen. There was barely any air around me, but without my staff, I would have already been buried alive.
It didn’t take long for me to hear something moving on the other side of the snow. Something truly massive. It could only be the Ice Devil. But I couldn’t do anything about that. If I tried to escape, I’d likely end up buried under the snow. And if I changed the size of my staff, everything would collapse on top of me.
That left me with only one option: waiting until the monster got closer. I had to be quick, but if things worked out, I might be able to survive.
[Skill {Mind of Possibility} is now available.]
I smiled. ‘Sys, if I could, I would kiss you right now.’
[Since System is part of user, if user kisses any part of her body, it will be the same as kissing System.]
‘Later,’ I replied, waiting for the moment to activate the skill.
Seconds passed slowly as I prepared to face the monster. But, just like when it had tried to attack me earlier, its movements were anything but fast. I wasn’t even sure if the creature would reach me before I ran out of air. Not that breathing had become an issue—it was more the fear of the possibility than anything else.
I started hearing more movement and saw some of the snow shifting, confirming that the massive creature was slowly approaching. Parts of the icy wall surrounding me fell, but I was still able to keep my head above the snow.
I had no idea if Astrid was okay or if she had perished under the weight of the attack. Actually, I wasn’t even sure if the snow had fallen on her side at all. The wall of white had blocked my view of everything the moment it was created.
That was a nasty skill, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it required a lot of Energy to cast. But I also had a feeling the attack was only this strong because of our location. Maybe the dungeon itself was helping its ruler, or perhaps they had some kind of symbiotic relationship.
Even then, I really wanted to know the type of skills the Ice Devil had. And despite how tough bear meat was, I would gladly eat this massive beast to get a few of them.
My wandering thoughts were quickly shut down as the sound of sniffing approached, pushing more and more snow away. The noise came first from above the mountain of snow. It shifted more and more until the location of the grunts changed. Now, they were directly in front of me.
The creature was getting closer and closer, but there was something else too. Another strange noise came from beyond this wall of snow. I tried to figure out what it was, but I couldn’t. There was too much going on, and my mind was too focused on my next set of actions.
I would only have one chance to make this work. No, actually, I would have as many chances as {Mind of Possibility} would give me. Even then, I wasn’t about to waste it. The sooner I could get out of the way, the sooner I could use the skill for something else. I heard the monster’s grunts as parts of the snow began to break away, revealing faint light from the other side.
It was almost time to move. My grip tightened around the staff, and I took a few short breaths to get my blood pumping faster. The Ice Devil’s snout was beginning to come into view, just the edges still hidden behind layers of snow.
Using my feet, I pushed the snow away to give myself a better grip on the ground—or as much of a grip as was possible on this ice-covered surface. The nose got closer and stopped about half a meter [1.6ft] away from me. More noise followed—the same strange one I had heard before—but I ignored it completely.
Seconds ticked by as I waited for the perfect moment to make my move. I couldn’t trigger the skill too soon, or the entire effect would go to waste. The tension kept building as I waited for the Ice Devil to act.
Finally, I heard a rumbling sound and saw some movement beyond the snow. I waited just half a beat longer before triggering {Mind of Possibility}.
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The Ice Devil broke through the snow, its mouth crashing against my staff, shattering it into pieces. Its lower jaw slammed into my stomach, sending me flying backward.
I stopped the skill to prevent that version of events and tried again. This time, I used {Compression} to save my staff and tried moving to the left. But the result was the same—its lower jaw slammed into my stomach, sending me flying backward.
In another attempt, I shifted my body to the right. This time, there was a slight difference, but only slight. Instead of being flung toward the wall behind me, I was tossed to the side, falling deeper into the snow.
Trying to jump over the creature’s mouth resulted in the worst possible outcome. Instead of just being tossed back, I landed inside the creature’s maw and died while being crushed by its teeth.
A different angle to the left—slam and fly backward. The same thing but to the right—the impact broke my shoulder as I collided with the Ice Devil’s bones.
Making my staff smaller with {Compression} and then using another cast to launch myself upward resulted in my staff breaking, but I landed on top of the Ice Devil’s head. That meant I would survive, but my weapon would pay the price, which wasn’t a great idea.
Every attempt made it clear that going under the monster’s mouth wasn’t a good option. It seemed to be too close to the ground for that to work, and I wouldn’t have enough momentum to clear the snow in any meaningful way.
Another idea came to mind. When the loop started again, I crouched and shrank my staff. As soon as the Ice Devil broke through the layer of snow, I used the butt of my weapon to push off while lying flat on the frozen ground.
The plan worked, but at a cost. Parts of my skin entered the early stages of frostbite as I slid along the ice. Still, I managed to slip past the creature’s mouth and under its stomach. I could tell that {Mind of Possibility} still had some juice left, and I was determined to squeeze every last bit out of it.
Unfortunately, even after dozens of tries, nothing I did resulted in killing the Ice Devil. At most, I managed to severely damage its legs. For some reason, {Glacial Rend} was dealing a lot more damage, and after my last attempt, I confirmed why.
Understanding that I wouldn’t be able to finish the job with {Mind of Possibility}, I settled for the best path in front of me. The one where I survived and so did my weapon.
I crouched and waited for the Ice Devil to break through the layer of snow. Using my staff, I propelled myself forward, gliding along the ice while lying flat on the frozen ground. I passed under the creature’s neck and reached the underside of its belly. But there was something I hadn’t expected—Astrid was near the creature’s back legs.
She was striking repeatedly against the beast, yelling in a mad rage as she tried to get its attention.
She hadn’t appeared in any of my projections of the future. After all, I hadn’t been able to see her from my previous location. {Mind of Possibility} could only account for things I was already aware of.
As I rushed toward her, the Frosted Lumberjack prepared a powerful skill. I could sense the massive amount of particles being generated. She slammed her Frosted Axe against the monster’s leg, the edge of the weapon glowing faintly with a green light.
The impact caused the entire cave to rumble, more because of the sound than the physical force behind it. But it was still strong enough to make a clean cut all the way to the creature’s bone. Blood poured out profusely as the Ice Devil roared in pain. The sound was so loud it felt like the cave might collapse at any moment.
“Can you do that again?” I yelled as I crossed to the other side of the beast, getting closer to the woman who was fighting by my side.
She paused, staring at me with wide eyes. It was clear she wanted to say something, but instead, she just nodded. “One more.”
“Okay. I’m going to try to give you a chance to hit its neck,” I told Astrid.
The monster spun around faster than I had expected, but still sluggishly. Its pupil-less eyes searched for the one who had injured it. Thankfully, it wasn’t clever enough to figure out who. Just by covering my staff in its blood, I was able to hold its attention.
The beast roared once more and tried to swipe at me as I strafed a few meters [ft] away. I dodged the attacks, leading it farther from the snow. The last thing we needed was something interrupting Astrid during her next attack.
Thankfully, I was much better equipped to evade simple attacks like this. Even though its claws could grow, they didn’t come close to hitting me as I jumped and dodged around the creature. Quick, agile movement was always my focus in combat.
Once I saw an opening, I rushed under the Ice Devil. I had assumed the creature had some sort of effect that increased the power of ice-based skills when they occurred under it. Maybe that was what allowed it to create the avalanche earlier.
With one powerful swing, I triggered {Glacial Rend}, aiming the skill to hit both of its front legs. As the particles touched the floor and spread in a line, ice spikes shot out of the ground, creating a jagged valley of frozen shards. Each spike was about half my height.
More importantly, two of those frozen blades appeared directly under the Ice Devil’s front legs. The pain caused it to tumble forward with a yelp, its head slamming into the ground. Parts of its chest and belly were pierced by the spikes created by my skill.
“Now!” I yelled, though there was no need.
Astrid was already rushing toward the Ice Devil. She leapt toward the creature’s neck, holding her Frosted Axe high above her head.
Once more, the weapon was covered in particles, glowing faintly with a green light. Strangely enough, there were even more particles than before.
With a guttural yell, the Frosted Lumberjack brought down her axe at the base of the Ice Devil’s skull. I saw a massive spray of blood erupt from the point of impact, but it seemed the plan didn’t work. I felt no rush of particles entering my body. Yet Astrid didn’t stop.
The Frosted Lumberjack continued swinging her axe, over and over, without even using skills to enhance her strikes. Seeing that the Ice Devil wasn’t moving, I rushed to help her. But before I could get there, I heard celebratory music ringing in my mind.
[Congratulations, user Cassandra. You have reached level 9.]
Looking up, I saw Astrid stop. She stared at the body for a moment before bursting into laughter. It wasn’t long before I joined her.
After all, what else were we supposed to do now?