''I win.''

I raise my sword above my head.

As I clench my hand, preparing to strike down—

——————————!!!

''!!''

Accompanied by a screeching whistle that seems to be bashing against my eardrums, I can see in the corner of my eyes a giant beam of ice flying in my direction.

I immediately use [Blink] to retreat, getting out of the strike range.

BOOM—!!!

The beam squarely hits the snow-covered area below, blasting up dirt, soil, trees, and just about everything in a spectacular explosion. Then suddenly, the snow blows even harder. It is as if a blizzard has descended out of nowhere.

I turn my head to the side and witness another unbelievable sight—dozens of giant whales and sharks alike are heading toward us, led by a sparkling orca.

The orca itself is only half the size of others, but I can see its jaw is filled with terrifyingly sharp teeth, and the normally black part of its skin is instead replaced by a frosty blue, crystal-like layer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Orcinus Nova

Race: Blizzard Orca Title: Blizzard's Chosen One

Level: 55

HP: 330/330 MP: 367/375

STR: 6.9 INT: 7.2

AGI: 6.7 STA: 6.3

Skill: [Blizzard's Chosen One],

[Ice Magic Lv.9], [Lightning Magic Lv.8],

[Ice Resistance Lv.6], [Inspect Lv.8],

[Domination Lv.7], [Telepathy Lv.7],

[Status Condition Nullification Lv.6],

[Deadly Wail Lv.6], [Counter Lv.5],

[Auto Regeneration Lv.4], [Inventory Lv.4],

[Language Lv.4].

State: Normal.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

With my eyes glued onto the status screen, I shoot myself back to my party members with [Flight].

0.5 seconds. The next barrage of magic has already been initiated by the enemies.

[Blizzard's Chosen One: Champion of the Blizzard Fairy - Olwen. Enable the user to establish a territory and recruit followers. +0.7 for all stats when in established territory] [Unique]

1 second. The barrage is estimated to be completed soon.

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[Deadly Wail: Enable the user to let out a wail that can stun other entities. Cost: 5 MP, CD: 5 seconds] [Rare]

1.5 seconds. Release.

As hundreds of spells are coming toward us, I turn around to see everyone else has already grabbed each other's hand.

''Aurora!''

I grab Chloe's outstretched hand and activate [Teleportation].

The scene changes abruptly, and we're now back at Skely's cave.

''Phew...'' I sheathe my sword and let out a sigh. ''Everyone, let's hurry.''

We immediately go over to the table and write down every single thing that we can remember about the Blizzard Orca's status screen.

''...Well, mission success, I suppose.'' Chloe flops down the chair and lets out a tired sigh.

''Mhm.'' I nod in agreement.

To begin with, this conquest was not supposed to be done in one day. We decided to break it into a few trips, with the first one hopefully enabling us to acquire accurate information about the Blizzard Orca's strength. From then on, we would devise a suitable strategy to confront the orca and its subordinates.

And now that the first step has been completed, we need to come up with something.

''Well, let's get right into strategizing.'' I speak up.

''Alright.'' Chloe stretches out a bit. ''First of all, the orca's status screen matches quite well with what we know, except, it's a bit stronger.''

''Mhm.''

''Assuming that we will be ambushing it, we still have to worry about a lot of things, including its lackeys, hm...'' Chloe ponders.

''I have confidence in us taking care of the orca alone since there is Mister Slen here with his [Invincible].'' Skely speaks up. ''But the others...''

''I think I saw another giant whale behind the orca earlier as well.'' Ariel raises her hand. ''I don't think we can win against them all.''

'''' ... ''''

The meeting place falls into silence, and everybody starts to contemplate.

This is quite a problem. Not to mention the ridiculously strong skills of the orca, we have to consider the unfavorable environment as well, the snowstorm... Wait.

''Can't we just teleport the orca to somewhere else?'' I speak up.

''...!''

Chloe and Ariel have their eyes widen, even the light in Skely's eye sockets flickers.

''We can prepare a literal fire hell and then dump the orca into it!'' Chloe excitedly says. ''What a cheese!''

''Mister Slen, can you hold it down?'' I turn to the man. ''Its body is quite large.''

To my delight, Mister Slen quickly nods. To demonstrate that he can do it, he even extends his tentacles way out, covering the whole walls of the room.

Okay, this is definitely enough. But you should probably stop that, Chloe is on the verge of fainting already.

''So that's solved. But we still have to prepare a suitable battleground and a way to surprise the orca as well ideally.''

''Battleground, huh... I was thinking like, if we could grill it in a huge fire like grilling a normal fish, but the orca won't be staying still for sure, even if Slenderman could hold it in place.''

''Precisely.'' Skely nods. ''It still has magic.''

Now, I'm quite confident that the level 9 [Ice Magic] of the orca will be able to expel any kind of fire we might prepare, or actually, any kind of elements. And we can't drug it like we did with the ancient basilisk either...

''Argh...! This is so frustrating!'' Ariel exclaims before flying around aggressively, clipping herself into the wall.

...Clipping?

''...Hey, Chloe.'' I speak up.

''Hm?''

''Remember the Jellyman report?''

''...!''

Chloe's eyes widen once more, and soon after, an excited smile blooms on her face.

''Now we're gaming for real.'' She says.

----------------------------------------

The night quickly passes when we're focusing on strategizing.

It's now the morning of November 12th. Both Chloe and my main body have to rest, so I am now watching over Chloe with Nydia in Peln's body.

To summarize yesterday's finalized plan, we decided to defeat the Blizzard Orca by suffocating it.

Inspired by the Jellyman report and Ariel, we thought it was a good idea to teleport the Orca directly into the deep ground, where even with its incredible stats, it would still not be able to wiggle itself out of being crushed. I didn't think I would be using physics to defeat a flying orca here, but I digress.

To do that, two conditions must be achieved.

First, we need a space deep underground that is only large enough for one or two people to fit, so when we execute the plan of teleporting, there would be no space for the orca to go, thus forcing it into the wall. This can be achieved by simply digging, as Skely said. Sometimes I still forget that we have superhuman strength.

Second, we need a way to locate the orca. Once we do that, we can utilize the double teleport method to move it accordingly. This can be achieved by simply letting Ariel go scout with some precautions, or better if we could use the yetis the other day.

So tonight, we will be proceeding with the digging.

''Hm... I wonder if Claire is doing well.'' Nydia speaks quietly.

''She joined a club, right?'' I reply.

''Yeah, the Media Club.''

''If it's Claire, then I think she would be fine.''

''Mhm.''

I don't know why Claire joined that club, but she does she, I suppose.