I was shocked, in front of me was myself. From the face to every inch of the body, everything was exactly the same to me.
But the only difference was that the other "me" was the same color as ice. It seemed like his entire body was created from ice.
I was a little worried, not knowing if he was an enemy or a friend. But I had a feeling that I had to move forward. There was something radiating from him that seemed to be attracting me.
"H-Hey." I called out to him, but he remained still, not moving even an inch.
"What are you doing here? Are you my enemy? Or a comrade?" I carefully approached him.
When we were only about 2 meters apart, I automatically enhanced my entire body with 20% of my mana because of the bad feeling. My body instantly became stronger and the mana flow became clearly visible even to the naked eye.
"Why aren't you answering me?" I still forced a smile, trying to act friendly while carefully observing every little gesture and preparing myself to attack him at any moment.
However, he remained still, not moving even a single inches. Snowflakes began to gather on his shoulders and head.
The moment the distance between me and him was 1 meter, he immediately raised his left hand. Suddenly, many ice spikes sprouted right under my feet. I jumped up right after the ice spikes sprouted from the ground. However, they did not stop and continued to grow at a speed that tore through the wind.
"Damn it!"
I enhanced my legs and kicked away the ice spikes that were rushing towards me. Surprisingly, they were more fragile than I thought.
'That guy must have focused everything on speed and neglected improving the hardness of the ice.'
I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when suddenly dozens of sharp ice fragments the size of mice were launched at me in succession.
I tried to dodge but it was too late since some of the ice fragments had already pierced my skin. The stabs left a stinging pain like being slashed by a knife, making me shiver. I held my arm tightly, not because of the pain but because the scratches had turned icy, I could no longer feel my hand anymore. The attack just now had rendered my hand completely useless.
Seeing that I couldn't fight back, I strengthened my mana into my legs and jumped far away. Luckily, there was a hole that wasn't too deep near where I landed, a glimmer of hope flashed through my eyes. Without pausing, I jumped straight into the hole.
I landed on the cold snow, causing my butt to go numb because it had interacted with the cool snowfield. I forced myself to be as quiet as possible and tried to lower my heartbeat.
After a while, I didn't hear any footsteps or any presence near me. I made a bet and looked up to check the situation.
There, "I" was just wandering around aimlessly, without any signs that he would suddenly approach me.
'Phew.' I let out a sigh of relief and thought of a plan to counterattack.
It seemed like I wouldn't be able to escape from this place if I didn't defeat "me".
'Let's see, that guy has the ability to create ice spikes at a random place and shoot out ice fragments as small as a mouse. If a certain part of my body is hit, it will be completely disabled.' I stopped and looked at my right arm.
After pouring more mana into it, it seemed like my arm was gradually recovering.
'Hm, I must defeat him without being attacked?'
'Damn it!'
***
After a while…
"Alright, let's do it!"
I jumped out of the hole and stretched a bit. I rotated my right arm a few times to make sure it had fully recovered.
I smirked.
"Let's go." I crouched down and gained momentum while strengthening my legs with mana.
"Boom!" I charged forward like a bullet, the snow under my feet immediately get blown away due to my strong jump.
I charged close enough for "me" to notice but he still did nothing.
'It really only attacks within a meter. Looks like I bet right this time!'
I continued to charge towards him, the wind from the strong charge causing the snow on the ground to split in two, creating a shallow trench. I was now only 2 meters away from him.
Without making any unnecessary movements, I rotated around, strengthened my mana into my heel, and slammed it as hard as possible on the snowfield, causing the snow to blow everywhere. The purpose of the action is to obstruct his vision. As expected, I had entered the 1 meter range where he couldn't attack because the snow blocked his vision.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, I jumped behind him and threw a punch using mana enhancement.
But 'I' had already created a layer of ice shield from the ground at a speed that couldn't be followed by the naked eye.
"That's how it should be!" I laughed triumphantly.
My mana-enhanced punch easily broke through the ice shield because he had put all his ability into creating the shield as quickly as possible without having time to harden it.
His face still didn't show any expression, but he was slightly surprised since he had leaned back straight away.
I strengthened my mana in my right hand while clenching my fist.
"This is the revenge of my right hand!" I roared, the sound echoing in the quiet space as I punched him in the face.
"Crack!" A loud cracking sound echoed throughout the snow-covered ground as the punch landed on his face.
He moved slightly unsteadily as if he was stunned. The crack spread from his face to his entire body. Finally, he shattered into pieces.
As each part of his body made of ice touched the ground, it suddenly turned into sparkling dust and dissolved with the wind. Now, at the place where "I" had just fallen, a snow-white marble appeared.
I picked up the marble and put it in my mouth.
"Ugh!" I almost threw up.
"It tastes so bad."
'Wait…' Suddenly I noticed one thing, even though I had defeated "me" and absorbed the marble, I still couldn't get out of this place.
"Argh…" The pain started to reach me. It seemed that fighting him was tougher than I thought.
"Boom!" Suddenly, an explosion sounded from afar.
I attempted to turn my aching body towards the source of the explosion. There, the mountain ranges had collapsed.
"What's going on?" A flash of anxiety flashed across my eyes.
I swallowed and concentrated to see more clearly. The snowflakes started to fall faster and harder. It had completely turned into a snowstorm that blocked my vision. Even so, I could still see the silhouette of something, it had huge muscles and massive curved horns.
It then walked towards me with slow steps, but because of that majestic body, it was getting closer and closer to me in just a few seconds. Each step made the ground shake as if there was an earthquake.
It was now only about 100 meters away from me. Being this close allowed me to see how massive the monster was. It had to be at least as big as Mount Everest. It had pure white fur and some parts were covered in ice and snow.
I wanted to escape but couldn't. My body was completely numb from the pain from the previous battle and because of the temperature of the blizzard.
"DON'T COME HERE!" I shouted. A large and thick ice shield appeared from the ground right after I shouted. Perhaps I had been able to use the Ice element.
The monster lowered its body modestly. Now, I could see its face clearly. It was looking at me and smiling, a sinister and terrifying smile that sent a chill down my spine.
The monster let out a breath, causing my seemingly sturdy shield to shatter immediately.
It raised its arm, looking as if it was about to strike down.
Desperate, I looked up at its massive hand.
'What if I die in the domain?'
'Will I be able to return?'
Just like that, the monster swatted its hand down at me like smashing a fly.