Chapter 16

There was no light, not even fire. All Elizabeth did was to amplify the heat around her own body as much as possible, melting the snow along with anything around it.

Initially, using the internal flames seemed like a good idea. However, as the failures persisted, Elizabeth realized it wouldn't work, no matter how hard she tried.

Internal injuries were accumulating; the blood on her lips was visible evidence of that. And the flames, no matter how powerful, couldn't stop the cold from penetrating her body.

So, even though the flames could prevent the spread of freezing, in the end, it would require great concentration from Elizabeth to control the flames inside her and prevent them from harming her during the standoff of opposing attributes.

The answer to this problematic question came when a part of the flames accidentally escaped from her body and enveloped one of her hands, forming a volatile layer of heat that prevented the approach of freezing cold and icy wind.

It was only a few moments, less than a second, but it had been enough time for her to find the resolution to what had been her main problem until then.

The flames within her were expelled outward, melting the snow around her. Concentrating deeply, Elizabeth began to mold the flames around her body so they would act like a "second skin," a heat armor that would ward off any approaching cold or wind.

Although some minor burns were made when an intense flame approached her skin, molding the flames themselves was easy, taking less than a minute for them to stabilize to the point where Elizabeth didn't need to concentrate as much to maintain them. But was there any other way to use this technique? A way to use it for attack?

The only way she could think of was to amplify the heat of the flames and expand it away from her body. After some time, it worked. However, despite being nothing compared to the amount of mana spent to create the mana barrier, that technique consumed several times more mana than creating the heat barrier itself.

"Although it works, this isn't something to use during just any fight... If I can't level up after using it or have some way to quickly recover my mana, if the opponent doesn't take enough damage to be incapacitated, I'll be at a big disadvantage."

Elizabeth looked around. Seeing them wasn't possible, but not feeling the approach of so many creatures would be impossible. The ground beneath her feet trembled with the constant approach of a large number of creatures under the moonlight.

"Alright, now..."

Smiling, she stretched her body slowly. The ground tremor kept increasing, and the beasts were getting closer.

"There's no comparison. Everything's much better now!"

Despite the pain from previous injuries slowly appearing in all her limbs, her arms, where several small cuts intersected and her blood flowed slowly. Her belly, with shallow cuts and little effect. Her shoulder, which for some reason hurt a lot, even though she hadn't been attacked there.

"Oh..! No, then again I don't remember if I fell on that shoulder, but was it that explosion in the air?"

Even her ankle, where a wendigo had grabbed before, was hurting; "Probably the claws of that damn thing made some cuts... At least they weren't deep enough to hinder my movement."

But despite all this, Elizabeth had never felt so grateful to be in pain; "This makes me feel strange... It's almost like I have some kind of fetish..." Her body felt lighter, and thanks to the disappearance of the limitation from the large mana expenditure, her movements were freer.

Now, two strikes were no longer her limit. Compared to the amount of mana she could use before, Elizabeth could now use nine to ten times more.

The stretching was over. Time was up. Looking around, Elizabeth saw; the creatures had arrived.

"With such a large number, using that heat wave wouldn't be a bad idea..."

The monsters ran, not in synchrony; only the strongest survived and reached her. Wolves killing wolves, and wolves, in groups, killing wendigos. Under the moonlight, a complete massacre was carried out on that mountain.

"No... it seems like maybe I won't even need to fight much."

Elizabeth couldn't see clearly due to the lack of light, but the echoing screams and murky shadows were more than enough for her to guess what was happening far away.

The creatures, fighting fiercely among themselves, were mutilating each other completely.

With their sharp teeth, acting in groups and organized, the wolves were lethal. Any being caught alone or outnumbered by one of the packs present would not see the light of dawn the next day.

Fast and precise, with their sharp claws, the wendigos slashed everything in their path. Snow was their weapon, as was the night. Taking advantage of the night darkness and the snow under their feet, their movements didn't seem to belong to mindless beings acting purely on instinct. In both strategy and intelligence, none of the other creatures in the area could compare.

However, intelligence doesn't solve everything during a confrontation. And the being that relied least on this attribute, yet stood out more in brute power, was in smaller numbers, but that didn't matter. Suddenly, both from behind Elizabeth and from other sides of the mountain, the yetis appeared, gathering air in their mouths and freezing everything slow enough to be caught by their icy breath.

The breaths converged where most creatures were and merged into a huge ball of freezing air that expanded over time. Everything inside or caught in its expansion was instantly frozen.

"Okay..." said Elizabeth, lying on the ground after quickly ducking to avoid the five freezing breaths that passed over her head. "That was close..."

Rolling to the side, Elizabeth left the area of attack. She rose. But immediately ducked and rolled again under the yetis' attacks.

"Damn it! Annoying bastards!"

It was very close. If she had delayed even a single second longer, her head would have rolled over the snow before she even realized it.

"When did they get so close to me? They were over a hundred meters away."

Now, due to the large number of enemies, the lack of light was a major problem. Without seeing properly, it was impossible to watch all the creatures at the same time.

Looking to the side, Elizabeth could see what seemed to be the shadow of a wolf's paws, probably the creature that had attacked her earlier. On the other side, there seemed to be nothing, but when she threw a small fireball in that direction, she could confirm that wasn't true.

When the ball exploded, a loud bark could be heard coming from that direction.

Elizabeth couldn't see a way out; creatures were waiting for her on both sides. However, staying under the yetis' freezing breath couldn't be a permanent solution. And obviously, it wasn't.

"Ha! ...Well, that's just wonderful. Really great... Perfect!"

The yetis stopped their attacks.

With the disappearance of the freezing breath that protected Elizabeth from the wolves' attacks around her, at the appearance of the smallest openings, the creatures leaped toward her quickly.

Slamming her hands on the ground, Elizabeth pushed her body skyward and escaped the wolves' onslaught.

"Back off, you idiots!"

Immediately, two more creatures approaching rapidly from different directions jumped at her. They aimed their sharp claws, reflecting the moonlight.

Grabbing one claw of each creature with her bare hands, along with the beasts, Elizabeth spun her body in mid-air. She lifted her head, looking backward, and saw, upside down, the yetis preparing their next strike as they began to absorb the air.

With her feet, Elizabeth pushed the wendigos upward, taking advantage of the momentum to return to the ground. Meanwhile, with her hands, she unleashed two fireballs that hit the creatures in mid-air and disintegrated them completely.

As she turned her body during the fall, the fireballs were close to colliding with the wendigos. Elizabeth saw, as she turned, the wolves leaping ferociously toward her.

"Damned, I've already told you! Back off!"

Pushing the snout of one of the creatures with one hand, Elizabeth altered the course of one of the wolves' attacks while slightly changing the course of her own fall. The creature's body was consumed by intense flames the moment her hand was removed from its nose.

As she fell, the second wolf struggled to try to bite her mid-air. It didn't work. It couldn't turn its large body in that situation.

But passing by the creature's side, Elizabeth grabbed its tail and threw it toward the nearest yeti. A fireball followed the creature closely, and the moment the wolf collided with the yeti, it exploded.

"Hmm..."

As the wendigos in the sky were finally hit by the fireballs chasing them, Elizabeth could see not only the various creatures surrounding her but also a possible solution to her lack of visibility problem.

"Is there a factory around here? These numbers don't make sense..."

[Congratulations]

[You leveled up]

[Name: Elizabeth Berseba

Status

Level: 141

Mana: 695

Strength: 540

Resistance: 537

Agility: 544]