As all the frost settled down and created a thin layer of ice, Airora wasted no time and dashed towards the saber-toothed tiger once again.
The tiger wasn't planning on waiting around either. It wasn't unfamiliar with the concept of ice, so it knew how to move on it for its movements not to be hindered. Thanks to that, the tiger's speed didn't drop at all and remained the same as before.
The same couldn't be said for Aurora, though. Unlike the tiger, who only knew how to prevent slipping on the ice without having to move slower, she knew exactly how to use the ice to her advantage.
In the past, Aurora had done a lot of training on ice. Battles with various types of enemies, spars with Rejoke, or just simple movement training. All of that combined taught her how to properly move on ice. By doing small slides, performing movements different from running, and various other techniques, she was able to move much faster on ice compared to solid ground.
Her current speed was a proof of her efforts. Before, she was merely matching the tiger's speed, but now, she had no problems moving faster than the beast. By the time the tiger began to move on the ice, Aurora had already closed most of the distance between them.
Of course, this alone wouldn't be enough to win against the tiger. Although the speed at which the fox just moved surprised the beast greatly, it wasn't enough for it to lower its guard. Reacting to Aurora's speed, the tiger halted its movements and got ready for an attack.
Aurora wasn't surprised the tiger was able to react either. She had expected such an outcome. The ice helped her to move faster, but it wouldn't increase the speed of her attacks, only her movements. However, that didn't mean it was useless for attacking.
As the fox closed the distance between the two beasts completely, the tiger slashed forward. He didn't expect to hit the fox; she would either dodge his attack or block it. That always happened, and the ice wouldn't change that.
However, thinking that was a mistake on the tiger's part. Well, Aurora did indeed dodge his attack, but the ice definitely made a difference.
Using the slippery surface to her advantage, Aurora slid on the ice, dodging the tiger's claw at an absurd angle. Then, before the tiger could even understand what was happening, Aurora's claw was already just an inch away from the beast's eye.
"Rooooar!!!" The tiger let out an ear-piercing howl of pain as his eye splattered into a bloody mess.
The soft matter that made up the creature's eye stood no chance against Aurora's steel-like claw. Unfortunately, the claw failed to pierce all the way to the tiger's brain as it reacted incredibly fast and jumped back.
'Tsk, elusive bastard. Either way, this basically means my win. If I don't make some stupid mistake, then there's no way this guy can hit me half-blinded.' Aurora concluded as she dashed towards the writhing tiger.
Eyes are the weak spot of just about any creature. At least Aurora hadn't encountered any monster or beast with non-weak eyes. Not only were eyes very soft and basically defenseless, they were also closely connected to the creature's brain. And no matter how powerful a being was, if they got their brain turned into a bloody mess, they would die.
Besides, at the very least in the early stages, sight was the most important sense of most beings. While there were those with an incredibly strong sense of hearing or smell, sight was still the dominant sense for most living beings, at the very least of those that had eyes. Losing even half of that sense could be fatal in many situations.
Despite all this, Aurora still couldn't afford to underestimate the tiger. The tiger was still a second-rank magical beast, a large threat to the current her. Not to mention that when backed into a corner, even a mouse will bite. It's the basic instinct of every living being. The instinct of self-preservation, the fight-or-flight instinct.
It was when a being was at the end of its rope that it took the most desperate of measures. Now that the tiger lost half its sight, it was highly possible it wouldn't hesitate to unleash all of its mana. If that happened, all Aurora could do was run around and dodge all of the beast's attacks.
If the tiger truly unleashed the full capacity of its mana reserves, something like blocking or fighting back would become incredibly dangerous. The easiest and most logical thing to do would be to dodge all the incoming attacks and wait for the tiger to run out of mana. By that point, it would be a free victory for Aurora.
Be that as it may, for now, those things didn't matter. As the tiger thrashed around in pain, Aurora took the opportunity to close in on the beast once again. She hoped to land at least one more hit while the tiger was preoccupied with pain. Even then, she didn't get her hopes up.
Even if it wasn't really paying attention, the tiger's instincts would most probably kick in. It was highly likely the beast would simply evade the attack, which would also bring it back to reality.
Despite knowing all this, Aurora still did everything she could to increase her chances of landing a hit. Getting in the tiger's blind spot, the fox lunged towards the beast's neck, her claw engulfed in a ball of searing flames.
Unfortunately, as her attack was just a hair's length away from connecting, the tiger jumped back, resulting in nothing but having its white fur seared a bit. However, Aurora wasn't done yet.
Before the tiger could even fully back away, the ball of fire shot out from Aurora's claw, aiming towards the beast. Once again, the tiger managed to dodge, albeit barely.
But Aurora wasn't planning to give up. Now that she finally had a clear advantage, she wouldn't give it up. The tiger would either go all out and waste all of its mana, or it would die. She wouldn't accept any other result.
The fox's attacks were relentless. She gave the tiger no room to breathe, using everything she had to her advantage. She made full use of the ice covering the battlefield, as well as abusing the tiger's partial blindness as much as possible.
The constant chains of attack that swapped between physical and magical attacks, the use of the environment, as well as its weakness, worked wonders on the tiger. The beast had no time to do anything as it was struggling to even keep up.
By now, the beast was truly starting to consider letting loose. Unfortunately, even if it wanted to, Aurora gave the tiger no time to even properly release its mana.
It was then that it happened. The tiger made a mistake, and that mistake would mean its end. No matter how good they were, relying only on one's instincts was never a good idea.
As the tiger saw Aurora lunging towards it, the beast saw an opportunity. Its instincts were screaming at it that this was its chance. The fox was wide open, giving it a chance to finish it in one go. But, to the horror of the tiger, as it moved towards the fox to attack it, a sharp pain assaulted its neck.
Too blinded by its own instincts, the tiger failed to notice an ice spike sticking out of the ground. This would normally never happen; however, Aurora was a terrifying being to fight against. Her techniques might be crude; however, they were effective.
Only a few months ago did Aurora arrive in this world. And her arrival here turned her whole life upside down. Her memories were mostly gone, and she got suddenly thrown into a world where death was as normal as breathing. The change she had to go through was too abrupt.
She may not remember what she was like in her past life, but she was sure she wasn't a maniac who didn't flinch at all when killing countless living beings. By now, she was numb to death. After she had killed that sword-wielding man, she lost the last bit of humanity and human conscience she had left.
Even if it was just a few months, she was hardened by battle, forged in the blood that stained her claws. It may be crude, simple, even dirty by some, but none of that mattered. She wasn't fighting for some honor or something stupid like that. She was fighting to survive and grow stronger. Fighting dirty? You can worry about something like that when you know you will live long enough to care about that.
Even now, she didn't care about how she did it; all that mattered was the outcome of the battle. Targeting the opponent's eye? She would be a fool if she didn't do that. She would abuse anything and everything she had at her disposal just to survive.
Unable to stop its momentum, the tiger found itself incapable of saving itself from an impending demise. The spike easily pierced through the beast's flesh, only stopping upon reaching the bone. This much still wasn't enough to immediately kill the tiger, but it was clear the beast didn't have much time left.
Impaled on the ice spike, the tiger could only watch with its healthy eye as the blue ice of the spike turned red from its own blood. Realizing that this was the end, the tiger stopped its pointless struggle and accepted its fate. As the light dimmed from the tiger's eye, Aurora received the message she had been waiting for.
[You have defeated the Frost-Fanged Tiger level 8.]
Many more messages came right after, but Aurora paid them no mind. With all her energy back, as well as her stats increased, she dashed towards the other side of the battlefield from which the sounds of collisions still came out strong. Of course, she didn't forget to use some of her mana to talk to Elise.
"Elise, pick up the drops and then move to the other side. I'm heading ahead in case they need my help." She didn't even wait for a reply, running off into the distance.
"Y-yes!" Elise responded, though she didn't use her telepathic skill, so it's difficult to say whether or not Aurora heard her.
On the other hand, Aurora ignored everything and only prayed that Rejoke was fine. Yes, she didn't care at all what happened to the elves. She might feel a bit bad if Elijah died since he's Elise's brother, but she couldn't care less about the other elves. She only cared about Rejoke and sincerely hoped the wolf was still alive.
He could be injured, even missing a limb; anything would be fine as long as he wasn't dead. Even if it was just a few months, the black wolf has become too important to her. He was her only real friend in this world, her only companion.
Yuki didn't count. She was her sister, and their bond stemmed from being related. As for Elise, well, she liked the elf, but she has known her for far too short of a time to really form a strong bond with her.
Because of all that, Rejoke was basically the only one she thought of as precious. The wolf was simply too important.
'Don't die on me, you idiot.'