'Not good!'
As the tree roared in anger, its wild aura thrashed around, sending Aurora flying a few meters backward. Just as she was getting up, she caught a glimpse of two branches approaching her.
Without hesitation, Aurora immediately jumped further back to dodge the incoming attack. But what happened next made her eyes go wide in surprise.
The branches that she could easily dodge before were now at least twice as fast. Not only that, judging by the force they produced when they hit the ground right next to her, she could easily tell that the same thing happened with their power.
Actually, despite dodging in time, Aurora still wasn't able to avoid the attack completely. Her front paws had slight cuts on them. Though it was nothing major, even such an injury was capable of hindering her movement.
'What kind of skill boosts a monster's stats this much!?' Aurora didn't even have time to complain, as two more branches were already coming her way.
'Shit! Freezing Snow!' Jumping up to dodge, Aurora cast Freezing Snow, hitting the two branches below her. Since she was already out of the aura's area of influence, the spell was able to connect with the two branches.
[You have inflicted a status effect: Lesser Freeze on the target.]
[Due to the target's low resistance, the effect's power has been doubled.]
'I guess that luck sometimes really is a skill!' Thankfully, it seems that Aurora's luck kicked in just at the right time, as not only did the spell inflict a higher-grade effect, its power also got doubled.
'Still not enough, though.' When Aurora noticed that, despite the 20% decrease in agility, the branches were still too fast, she gritted her teeth and cast Freezing Snow one more time, basically using up all her remaining mana.
[You have inflicted a status effect: Minor Freeze on the target.]
[Due to the target's low resistance, the effect's power has been doubled.]
'That's 30% of total agility lost, alright! Now I can dodge, hopefully.' Now, even though the branches were still faster than her, it wasn't nearly as unbarable as before.
As it turns out, even if the status effects are basically identical, only being different weaker or stronger varients, they could still stack on top of each other.
The only problem was that the duration of both effects would be halved, but that wasn't currently a problem at all. After all, even if halved, the duration of both freeze effects was still a minute and a half.
'The Minor Bleed seems to still be active, meaning that if I can dodge enough attacks, it will finish the tree off!' This was the strategy Aurora chose after seeing the insane boost in power that the tree received from that unknown skill.
Unfortunately, since Aurora was too focused on slowing the tree down, she didn't notice that another branch was already coming her way.
Yes, the tree was now slow enough for her to dodge its attacks, but the problem was that she was still in mid-air from the earlier jump. That meant, she had no way to dodge the attack.
'Scratch!' Seeing no other choice, Aurora quickly activated Scratch and slashed down at the branch.
*Swish* *Clank*
The two attacks collided, but the difference in strength between both of them was very visible. Though Aurora managed to mostly block the attack, just the force behind it sent her flying twenty meters back.
She would have probably flown even further were it not for her crashing back-first into a random tree.
*Crack*
"Kyuuu!" Aurora's spine cracked as she coughed out blood. Her whole body screamed in pain, and her brain had almost shut down.
Despite all this, she refused to give in. Gathering the small amount of strength left in her body, she gritted her teeth and got up on her small feet again.
Her breathing heavy yet broken, basically becoming half-choked. As she got up, she felt her legs trembling, barely able to hold her weight.
Her lungs were barely able to draw in air, her heart was on its dying breath, trying to pump blood desperately as it tried to keep Aurora alive.
Her throat started to fill up with more and more blood, her head buzzing, and her brain was on the verge of shutting down completely. She was on her last breath, one leg in the grave.
Another branch was already closing in on her, marking her inevitable death. Aurora didn't try to dodge; she knew it was pointless.
Surviving wasn't an option anymore. Even if she somehow managed to dodge this attack, she would die right after, as all her organs would shut down.
She knew it; she knew all of this. But despite knowing and accepting it, a part of her was still unwilling. Unwilling to die. Unwilling to admit that this was the end. It wouldn't give up until it was dead, and it wasn't dead yet!
A flash of resolve shone in her dead eyes, and Aurora drew strength that she didn't even know she had left. Using the last bits of her mana and the little amount that managed to regenerate during the fight, she cast one last Snowball, bringing her mana to 0.
Just as she finished casting the spell, the approaching branch finally reached her and pierced her back. At that moment, Aurora couldn't even feel more pain anymore; her brain had already basically shut down.
As the branch broke her spine in half and pierced her lungs, Aurora, who was still somehow alive, refused to give up.
The surrounding mana that floated in the air became turbolent and gathered around the spell she cast. No longer able to draw in air to breathe, and her heart ceasing to beat, Aurora's vision slowly went black.
'NO!' Aurora opened her bloodied eyes and used up everything she had to stay alive. 'I'M NOT DONE YET!'
'DIE, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!' The ball of snow floating above her head absorbed the mana around it and turned into a sharp chunk of ice.
As if reacting to her will and spirit, the ice shard shot out at a speed similar to that of a bullet. It tore through the branch that impaled Aurora, and without losing any of its momentum, it headed straight towards the tree.
Even when it came into contact with that wild, crimson aura, it stayed uneffected. The tree couldn't even see what hit it when the center of its trunk got pierced with such ease as if it were made of a thin piece of paper.
"Scrieee!" The tree screeched in torment as its HP dropped to nothingness in an instant. Its aura died down just as its life reached its final destination.
'Got y... o...' The glint in Aurora's eyes died down completely as her heart stopped beating and her brain stopped functioning. She died...
-----
In a room shrouded in complete darkness.
A silhouette of a person could be seen sitting on seemingly nothing. Before the silhouette, there were multiple light blue system screens.
An unknown amount of time has passed, but the silhouette didn't move at all, apparently engrossed in its own thoughts. Suddenly, a new system screen appeared, earning the silhouette's interest.
[Notice: An individual has reached the requirements to obtain a high-ranking title.]
"Hoh? Is that so? Show me the being's profile, will ya?" For the first time since who knows how long, the silhouette spoke. Its voice was devoid of any emotion, almost sounding robotic.
Despite the clearly enotionless tone of the silhouette, for some reason, it seemed as if they were truly intrigued. It was a fleeting feeling, maybe even an illusion.
[Understood. Showing the profile of the individual.]
[Name: Aurora
- Race: Snow Kitsune
- Rank: 0
- Level: 7—currently progressing, required operator's interferance.
- Soul Code: 026574—found corrupted data.
"Now, aren't you an intriguing being, little Aurora?" For a moment, it looked like a smile formed on the silhouette's 'face'.
"Soul code starting with a zero? How did such a being escape my eyes?" The silhouette's voice seemed to finally gain some emotion, despite not changing at all.
"Could you please show me the corrupted data, dear system?" Even the way it spoke changed a bit, proving its current good mood.
[Affirmitive. Showing corrupted data.]
#+&£℅•¢@)'=|¢... Similar sequences of symbols went on for multiple pages of the system screen. The sequences made seemingly no sense, but based on the silhouette's reaction, it seemed like it understood the meaning of these symbols.
"An incomplete soul merge and a foreign being soulbound to this mess of a merged soul? Truly, how did such a thing escape my eyes?" The silhouette shook its head slightly, as if to prove its current disbelief.
"Have you tried a forced merge?"
[Affirmitive. The forced merge resulted in a failure, leading to an incorrect soul wipe.]
"I see. What about the foreign being?"
[Found a being with an identical soul code to the soulbound individual ID: PFI.]
"Are you sure?" Upon hearing such information, the silhouette showed the strongest expression yet. Still, not much was visible aside from the slight frown that appeared on its 'face'.
[Affirmitive. Soul Code match: 100% Chances of the individual not being the individual ID: PFI are 0%.]
"Now that's a slight problem..." The silhouette fell silent in thought.
"Well, it was his decision anyway." In the end, the silhouette just shrugged and decided to move on.
"Anyway, you said something about a high-ranking title, right?"
[Affirmitive. The individual has met the requirements to obtain the title: The One Who Cheated Death.]
"My, my, haven't seen this one in a long time. Were there any problems during the process?"
[Negative. The individual earned the right to obtain this title without any external help or actions considered cheating.]
"Oh, then why did you even ask? Give her the title." The silhouette spoke dismissively, but the interest in its voice was quite evident.
[Understood. Shall I resume the system functions of this individual?]
"Of course. You don't need to ask me for such stupid permissions." The silhouette raised its arms in the air and stretched its body.
[Negative. Such permissions are required.]
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." It seemed like the silhouette rolled its eyes, but it was impossible to tell as its face wasn't visible.
"Also, keep the soul view open on her. I feel like she'll become something special in the future."
[Understood.]
"Hehe, thanks, sweetie." The silhouette giggled, and even its voice changed. Instead of a completely emotionless one, it sounded like the voice of a young woman.
[Request of not calling me by the name of sweetie.]
"Request denied."
[Request to reconsider.]
"No can do, buddy. Deal with it." The silhouette shrugged and replied to the system. Unlike before, its voice sounded very playful and full of emotion.
[*Angry pout*]
"Stop it; pouting won't help you in any way. You're not a child anymore, so don't act like one." The silhouette 'rolled its eyes' again.
[Negative.]
"Tsk, grow up." The silhouette spoke, its voice full of disdain. It seemed annoyed by the system's reply, but it's hard to tell why.
[Negative.]
"Whatever." The silhouette waved its hand dismissively and focused on a screen that showed the image of a little, snow-white fox.
"I have high expectations for you, little one. I hope you make it big." The silhouette seemed to smile expectantly before returning to its original posture.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Suddenly, the silhouette's voice rang-
"Stop it; it's annoying." ...
Now, now, aren't you getting arrogant, young lady? Do I have to teach you some manners again? Trust me, I won't hesitate to even use 'that'.
Suddenly, the silhouette shuddered and said nothing more. It even stopped moving completely, pretending that nothing happened.
"Were you the one who created that fox?" After a moment of silence, the silhouette's voice rang out as if expecting an answer from someone.
Unfortunately for the silhouette, no one answered its question. Not that it expected an answer anyway, right?