In the blood soaked ground, where the thick smell of metal lingered in the air, shadow slithered like a living serpent among the scattered bodies.
Broken limbs, decapitated skulls, and torn flesh scattered the ground, creating a horrible yet beautiful picture of savagery.
Each body was twisted beyond recognition. Skin stripped open. Bones jutting through the wounds, and the faces frozen in expression of agony and horror of death.
A symphony of muffled cries resonated nearby, escaping the cries from the few who are still alive, trembling in the grip of withering shadows that bound them.
The shadows digged deeper into their skin like hungry crawling insects, piercing into the already brutalized corpses, seeping through open wounds, and twisting deeper into bones and marrow, forcing into their organs like parasites feasting on decay.
Standing amidst the carnage was a girl. She has lavish raven black hair that shimmered in the moonlight, her face utterly devoid of any emotion.
Her cold black eyes looked at the scene with a detachment as her shadows moved with her will, tightening their grip, straining muscles, cracking bones, and making even the smallest twist of resistance impossible.
"I know they are criminals, but... you don't have to go this far, you know that, right?" A blue haired woman who just appeared behind asked.
She looked at the scene, her expression turning Into disgust and horror. Her brown eyes gazed at the dead bodies, every instinct of her body urging her to retreat.
"Huh!?" Suddenly the black haired girl's expression shifted to an unexpected surprise.
Her shadows wavered, pausing their endless torture on the criminals for a brief time.
"Is... is something wrong?" Sensing a shift in the atmosphere, the blue haired woman asked in tense, gripping her weapon tightly.
"Yeah." She replied, her voice turning even colder, "The binding I cast upon them, it broke."
The girl's eyes widened in surprise and a wave of mana erupted from her body as she began scanning their surroundings in vigilance.
"Where did those criminals go? I'll go chase them down immediately."
"They are not criminal."
"What!?" The girl turned, confusion etched in her face. "Then who?"
She remained silent for a few seconds, turning to face the criminals; she killed them one by one as she spoke, "They are variables that shouldn't have been born into this world."
'A potential threat to the family.'
***
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***
"Yay! I'm finally out!" Jadel's childish voice resonated as he got out of their territory.
Sniff! Sniff!
"Agh! Yuck! The smell is really bad. I need a bath." He grumbled, tugging at his dirty clothes, his face scrunching up in disgust.
He took in the sight of the cavern ahead, with tunnels splitting off in every direction like a maze. "So, bro, where should I go? There are so many paths."
°Feel it, try to sense which place is radiating more mana, and enter it.° the cold voice replied.
Jadel walked, standing in front of the tunnel, he expanded his senses.
The cave was already brimming with mana due to the mana stones. But the switch in mana properties can be sensed, just like the life energy that was in the Galecrust lizards' territory.
A grin spread across his face. "Found it!" he exclaimed, dashing toward the tunnel in the middle.
As he ran, blisters of scales started to form on his skin, indicating the presence of water. "Hehe. It's getting cold." He giggled, his breath visible now in the increasingly chilling air.
Frost crept along the ground beneath his feet, and icicles hung like pointed blades from the ceiling. The deeper he moved into the cavern, the colder it got. The solid rock wall shimmered with a thick layer of ice, reflecting the faint light of the mana stones.
His steps suddenly halted as he had no place to run. Walking, he stood at the edge of the cliff, the drop stretching into a wide expanse below. It looked like a frozen lake, but it wasn't the icy surface that caught Jadel's attention.
It was the creature moving across it.
Lizards.
But not like the Galecrust one he had fought before. They were bigger; their scales were pristine white. Lighting crackled across their bodies, the electricity dancing the spines on their backs.
Wherever their lightning touched ground, it froze instantly, and the frost spread like a wildfire.
Jadel's eyes widened in awe, a smile spreading across his face. "Brother!" He called out, his voice full of excitement, "What kind of monsters are these? They look so cool! And pretty too!"
°Icevolt drakes.° The voice responded, its tone devoid of any emotion. Another hybrid species. They use both ice and lightning, though their real strength lies in how those elements combine. Lighting hits, and the ice spreads with the same speed as lightning.°
Jadel's eyes sparkled even more. "Lighting and ice! Wow, that's so fun! I wanna play with it and see if the lightning can reach me."
He giggled at the thought, peering over the cliff to get a better look at the drakes as they slid across the ice below.
"I remember Icevolt Drake has the potential to become dragons, is it true?"
°Yes, but only one in a thousand might evolve, the chances of you meeting one here are none, so focus your task.°
Jadek puffed his cheeks in disappointment. "Aww, that's no fun, I would love to play with real dragons."
°Wait.°
"Hm, why?"
°I will take over. They are numbering far more than the monsters we faced earlier, and there are dozens of C- rank monsters too.°
"It's okay, I can do it," he replied, not showing any signs of fear.
He shrugged and straightened up, rubbing his hands together as if warming up. "If you think I can't handle it, you can take over the body. Now let's play!"
"I only have to decrease their number as quickly as possible, right?"
Without second thought, he took another step off the cliff, descending to the ground.
Swoosh!
"Sister did me dirty." He mumbled, feeling the wind brush his face, wiping the tears away. "All I wanted was to stay with her, play with her, and share some happy moments, but she locked me away."
He spun around into a standing position. "But it's okay. I can meet you now. I'm finally free."
「Perfect Clone」
As the clone meterialysized beside him, Jadel grabbed its shoulder, jumping on his back. With a powerful kick, Jadel pushed the clone, slowing his descent while pushing the clone faster to the ground.
Bam! Splash!
The clone crashed into the frozen ground with a sickening crunch, its body splintering under the impact. Somehow, it extended its broken hands toward Jadel.
「Innate Skill: Gyrokinesis」
The clone activated the innate skill, and a powerful force descended upon the area, dragging the Icevolt Drakes towards him. Sensing something amiss, the drakes dug their claws into the ground, resisting the pull.
Then the pull stopped. Everything became eerily silent…
"Hehe, it's fun! The new sub skill I just developed is so fun!." only to be broken by him.
"Do it. Galactic."
「Galactic」
"Overdriveee!"
「Overdrive」
A bright light flashed as the clone's body ripped apart, releasing a weave of power. The ice ground began to break and fly. Then a sudden massive sphere appeared, devouring everything in a 600 meter radius, followed by a large boom and shockwave.
Swoosh!
The shockwave was so massive that the surviving drake couldn't hold on, their bodies flung across the frozen expanse, helpless against the sheer force.
That's how destructive that skill was. By sacrificing himself, he exploded a still alive, power supplying core within him.
But what's more terrifying was the personality. After only a very short amount of time experiencing the body and never experiencing the skill, he created a destructive skill and inputted the information to the clone.
Thus resulting in the creation of this skill. Also avoiding the explosion range and falling damage.
The shock waves greatly slowed Jadel's falling speed, and he softly landed on the ground.
「Perfect Clone」
"My frienddd! That was ame– friend? " He expressed his confusion, still not seeing the copy materialize. He activated the skill multiple times but there were no results.
"What happened? Why is he not coming?."
°Don't act so dumb, you really know why is the reason. You just destroyed our chances of survival.°
A skill with no mana consumption and cast dozens of times. But there is no skill without limitation. And to this skill was the mana core that's inside the copy. By destroying the core, he used the copy's maximum casting time. Now Jadel has to wait hours, days, weeks, or even months to use the skill.
"Ah, don't get angry, I just greatly decreased their numbers, right?"
°There are still more monsters survived, powerful than us. Have you forgotten the reason why and how we got out ? Don't fail now. We're too weak to confront him.°
At the mention of him, Jadel's body tensed. A shiver ran down his spine, and tears welled in his eyes. "That big bro... is too scary…"