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"Yes, my lady. Focus on a solid shape, a ball if you wish. Then, focus your will on wanting it to be hotter." Ai patiently instructed Kryn who was trying to cast a fireball from atop the ice fortress.
"Hard…" She muttered while her forehead sweated. The fireball she was casting was a different one from the first time she did it.
On the first time, she only used her mana that transformed into flames to make a ball and launched it. Now, however, she is not only making it in the shape of a ball but also maintaining it stable and making it as hot as she can.
*SWISH*
Beheading a polar bear with his gloved hands, Hai kicked its head toward an incoming snow owl and stepped aside.
'She should be fine under that bird's tutelage for now.' He pondered while looking at Kryn and swinging his hand down, decapitating the owl.
Although it was for a short time, Hai observed that the phoenix didn't have any ill will or animosity toward Kryn and the latter is also surprisingly the same.
That phoenix's words also confirm some guesses that Hai had for some time now regarding Kryn.
So for now, he is going to wait and see how it goes as this development doesn't seem detrimental to her.
*ROOAR*
Tilting his head, Hai avoided a big clawed paw, raised his hand and pierced a polar bear's chest, and ripped its heart out.
'Let's see… Elena's side is doing well and she isn't having any difficulty with it. My aunt is also pretty much the same, this only leaves Bing Qing and Stella…' He looked at Bing Qing and Stella's side and saw that the two of them were barely holding on thanks to Jia's timely assistance.
Those two, even though relatively strong, were having problems with the sheer number of monsters as they didn't have much means of area attacks, so they frequently needed to reposition themselves to not be surrounded by the monsters who got closer to them.
Looking at them, Hai noticed that their teamwork was quite decent, which was a surprise considering that they didn't even train together for a week but they were already on such a level.
'Talking about training…' He looked at his gloves.
Before he clashed with the enemies on his side, Hai tried to use some of what he learned from Akame and Charlotte and tried to make his fingers pierce the enemy easier by coating the tip of his fingers in a "shard" of a simple spatial barrier.
In theory, this should give him some advantage over his enemies, but…
The result was subpar, at most.
While it did give him some more piercing power, the result was so negligible that he barely noticed it having an effect.
For example, he managed to pierce a polar bear's hide, but the "enchantment" he put would instantly break after it and then, it would be him using his strength.
It did give him a slight advantage, but the result wasn't satisfactory to him.
Stepping aside again, Hai jumped while doing a backflip, avoiding a snow fox's attack.
Spinning in the air, he thrust his arm at the fox's back, hitting its heart, then he took his hand out, landed on the ground lowering himself and avoiding an attack aiming at his head for a hairbreadth.
"Hai. Careful." As Kryn's voice sounded in the area, Hai slapped the snow owl that tried to attack him away and looked toward her just to see her throwing a small golden fireball toward some enemies a few meters away from him.
Curiously watching the fireball fall, he stepped back avoiding a crushing attack and beheaded another polar bear before watching the fireball do magic.
As it landed on the snow on the floor, the fireball exploded by throwing flames in all directions in a range of 1 meter.
The few monsters that were unfortunate enough to be in that range got caught in the flames and started to burn.
The burns weren't something that grave because the fire still lacked enough firepower to cause real damage, but its effects were something that Hai was surprised to see.
*ROOOAR*
*HOWL*
The golden fire didn't do much damage to the monsters, but it stuck to them and didn't go out by any means.
The monsters patted the area in flames but it did nothing as the flames kept burning and even increased in size by consuming more of the monster's fur.
Hai's thoughts brought the girls' attention to his direction and then they looked at where he was looking.
And they got surprised seeing that the beasts were on fire and seemingly in pain.
The surprise comes from the fact that although the monsters are mostly the previous fauna of this world, after the other races arrived on the world and mana awakened, those animals went through an evolutional process where they became "hunters" in their own right.
Even a bunny could theoretically take out a normal adult without cybernetics in a fight if they weren't careful.
And this is the result of mana or aura or some other energy strengthening their bodies. Monsters by default are stronger than most races to the point that they were one of the reasons as to why cybernetics came to be a thing.
By having stronger bodies and sometimes, intelligence, monsters are the reason why people frequently live in citadel-like cities and also why the slums are the worst place to live in.
Monsters attack are a frequent thing in most slums and are not even given much importance by the people of the cities, hence, when one lives in the slums, they are by themselves in the sense of finding food and not becoming it.
Another reason for the girls' surprise is that some monsters, including the one that Kryn attacked, have energy inside their bodies.
Some have mana, some aura, ki, or another one. And this allows some beasts to have more intelligence and be able to use magic, or skills as they are called.
And just so happens that some monsters also tried to freeze the part of which the flames were or simply ripped the part off, and yet, the flames still remained.
Looking at it, Elena's eyes glistered as an idea popped in her mind.
Focusing some purple miasma on her palm, she focused on imagining a flame.
Something like Kryn's golden flames.
Barely a few seconds later, the miasma started to behave like a small flame, swaying from side to side.
Elena then threw it toward one inconspicuous wolf that was trying to sneak up on her.
*HOWL*
The wolf howled in surprise and then in pain.
The flame-like miasma started to "burn" more of its body and no matter how much the wolf rolled on the ground, the thing didn't go out.
As the wolf started to run randomly in panic, it bumped into some other monsters, making them lit with that flame too.
"Marvelous." Elena whispered with a small smile as she watched them "burn".
She was happy that her technique worked, although she would still need to polish it for better use.
Her miasma was basically acting like a flame but instead of burning, it was only inflicting pain on an excruciating level.
Hence, the monsters would have to fight (if they would even) while worrying about the pain and Elena's attacks.
Raising her hand, Elena then swung it in a horizontal motion and sliced tens of monsters in half.
Meanwhile, Hai finally stopped admiring Kryn's flames and focused back on the hunt.
He noticed from the corner of his eyes that this magic seemed to have taken a toll on Kryn as she was visibly more tired after using it, more than she would with a simple fireball.
'As expected, it is still too early for her to efficiently use it in combat.' He concluded while grabbing a seal's head and crushing it.
Chang Hua stole a peek at Elena and saw a small smile on her face while she kept killing monsters.
"…" Silently looking back ahead, she started to increase her attacks and their strength.
Bing Qing who also heard it started to increase her pace.
"Oy, slow down woman." Stella demanded as she saw Bing Qing throwing herself at the closest enemy in sight.
"…" Kryn clenched her small fists and forced herself to get up.
Ai who saw determination in her eyes, nodded in approvement.
Closing her eyes, Kryn took a deep breath and started focusing on her mana.
She remembered the sensations earlier when she fired that fireball.
Every thought she put in to materialize that magic.
Every step.
Making a small golden fire on the top of her hand, she reduced its size to be no more than a wisp.
'Small.'
She focused and remembered the scene from earlier, how those monsters burned.
'Hot.'
Taking in a deep breath, she opened her eyes and the wisp went to the point of her index finger.
Turning it toward a more secluded area, she closed one eye.
'Hell.'
And fired.
As a small speck of light crossed the snowy fields of Antarctica, no monster noticed it as it was too small for them to bother with. The wisp flew unhurried and uninterruptedly before landing on the snow.
*FUSH*
The wisp exploded into flames in the small range of 20 cm in diameter.
However, its effect was outstanding.
The golden flames spread and caught the nearby monsters before it started to burn them.
The monsters, in panic, started to run around, trying to put the thing out. And when they bumped into another beast, the fire would spread.
The technique was very similar to Elena's.
Elena who was also paying some attention to the other fronts, turned toward the scene and blankly stared at the monsters on fire and then at the ones that her miasma was burning.
Then, she looked at Kryn who was atop the fortress with Jia and Hong Li-Wei.
Kryn, feeling a gaze on her, looked back, and when she saw that it was Elena…
She arced her lips into a small, proud smile.
"…" Elena blankly looked at the little girl, not knowing how to react.
'Did I get a rival?'
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