Published: July 4, 2025
As usual, I headed to the Eastern Forest to hunt for meat, when a figure appeared before Ryo.
“[Ice Shield]”
Ryo felt an invisible wind attribute attack coming from the front and intercepted it with an ice shield.
The opponent likely did not intend to kill him with that single strike.
It made its appearance.
His right eye was blocked...
“Is that the assassin hawk? No, it’s pitch black, and more importantly, isn’t it larger than when I saw it before...?”
Yes, this was the assassin hawk with whom Ryo had fought fiercely twice before.
The first time, he had crushed the assassin hawk's right eye.
The second time, he defeated what appeared to be its disciple.
For Ryo, this was the first opponent he had ever consciously faced death against.
Not just once, but twice.
They both felt they were fated rivals.
However, there was a different kind of pressure this time.
Along with the change in appearance, there was a presence—no, a dignity—that felt different from before.
It seemed to be cloaked in something unlike anything he had seen up to now.
“There’s no doubt it has become considerably stronger. Perhaps it has undergone some kind of evolution? Either way, it won’t let me escape, and I have no intention of fleeing either! [Ice Armor]”
Although invisible, something was flying towards Ryo from the single eye.
(Is that an enhanced air slash? [Ice Wall Level 5])
However, the ice wall level 5 shattered in a single strike.
Furthermore, a series of air slashes assaulted Ryo.
He dodged the invisible attacks.
And while dodging, he ensured he never took his focus off the single eye.
Over and over again, the relentless distant assaults from the single eye continued.
And Ryo avoided all of them.
That stalemate lasted for about three minutes.
At the same moment the single eye unleashed an air slash, its figure vanished.
( [Ice Wall Level 10] )
An even higher tier than the defensive-focused ice wall level 5.
There, along with the air slash, the single eye charged at him.
“Breakdown Charge! How enviable to possess such skills as a wind magic user!”
It was something only a monster could do... it seemed like a technique that a human wind attribute mage couldn't replicate.
As Ryo took the charge with the ice wall...
( [Icicle Lance 16] )
He shot icicle lances from the ground towards the single eye.
Ignoring the laws of aerodynamics, the single eye evaded it with a quick lateral movement.
Then, without hesitation, it slammed its right wing into the ice wall level 10 like a boxing right hook.
“Crap.”
Ryo instinctively crouched down.
With a sharp sound, the wing sliced through the ice wall and swept over Ryo's head as he crouched.
“You can also engage in close combat...”
Ryo felt cold sweat trickle down his back from the terrifying sharpness of the wing.
From close range, the single eye continued to bombard him with rapid air slashes.
Ryo defended himself with a continuous generation of ice walls.
Of course, he couldn’t just let himself be pushed back and end it there.
Unbeknownst to him, he had generated sixteen icicle lances in the air.
A vertical drop from directly above.
The fastest ice spear, combining the speed of a ranged attack with the acceleration of gravity.
Yet, even that was avoided by the single eye.
It lightly backstepped as if to say, “I’ve seen that technique before.”
Indeed, he had struck down the single eye’s disciple with icicle lances launched from the air.
But this was a spear that moved at a different speed than back then...
He needed to reset the situation.
At that moment, the atmosphere around the single eye changed.
Simultaneously, both the ice wall and the ice armor it was clad in disappeared.
“Damn. [Ice Armor].”
Even when he chanted it, the ice armor did not generate.
“Has my control been taken away?”
He hurriedly tried to regain control of his magic... but something felt off.
Yes, the usual sensation of being "deflected" that always returned in such cases was absent.
Recalling the times he had lost control to the bait ball or kraken, he was at least able to generate an ice wall back then.