"Haaaa!"

Kai yelled and leaped towards the Wolfen hoping to get the first strike. The iron sand in the area was attracted by the sword and used as a weapon.

"Lighten!"

The sword was slashed out, the feeling of swinging something with no weight was strange but Kai didn't hesitate and when it was only an inch away from the Wolfen, he spoke once more.

"Heaviness!"

The sword embedded itself into one of the Wolfen's side and blew it away using the impact of the sword. Soon after, Kai's hand that was holding Superbia dropped down and he switched to his other hand, the [Ice Blade].

Kai slashed down using his left hand which was holding the [Ice Blade] towards the leaping Wolfen and managed to catch it.

"Haaa!"

Kai's left arm had veins appearing with the pressure he was using and lifted the Wolfen and threw it at a nearby tree.

The Wolfen let out a single cry before dying with an [Ice Blade] inside it.

Kai lifted Superbia once more and charged towards the next Wolfen with both hands holding on it.

"Haaaaaa!"

Before Kai could slash out, two shadows appeared next to him; the Shadow Panthers. Kai clicked his tongue and his eyes turned pitch black.

"[Shadow Assimilation]."

Kai vanished into the ground and into the Shadow Panther's shadows. Naturally, the beasts had no idea of Kai's whereabouts.

Just when Kai was going to stab through one of the Shadow Panthers, the beast suddenly evaded which caused Kai to miss. The other beast didn't miss this chance and striked at Kai's chest.

"Wha-?! Gah!"

Blood splurted out of Kai's chest as scratches could be seen on it; though they were only superficial wounds, they still hurt.

"[Heal]."

Kai's chest illuminated a faint green and the wounds disappeared.

"Let's keep going!"

Kai yelled and created an [Ice Wall] to block one of the Shadow Panthers.

"Lightness! Sei!"

Kai let out a war cry and slashed at the remaining Shadow Panther but was forced to stop before the slice could connect because there were beams of water aiming at him.

"The Wolfen!"

Kai glared at the source of the beams of water and then raised his left arm.

"[Compact Ice Shield]."

Ice manifested itself on his arm forming a circular shield.

"OOOOOOOOH!"

Kai charged forward once more and deflected the incoming water beams with his shield.

Kai made a circular rotation and threw Superbia towards a Wolfen while it was still heavy and then aimed his index finger on the back of the hilt.

"[Dark Railgun]."

The [Dark Railgun] hit the back of the hilt perfectly and Superbia sliced through a Wolfen, embedding itself in its mouth.

"Wolfen of the water attribute, ice is their natural enemy."

Kai leaped towards the Shadow Panther.

"Shadow Panthers, quick and agile but lack firepower. They manipulate the shadows instead of the darkness."

The Shadow Panther slashed towards Kai but Kai leaped backwards and aimed his ice shield towards the direction of where the claw shot out.

The ice in the front of the ice shield got scraped as if it was scratched by a huge force.

"[Shadow Claw]."

Kai returned the move that they had used against them. Kai leaned down and touched his own shadow and clawed at the direction of the Shadow Panther.

The Shadow Panther merely dodged to the side and then leaped towards Kai. It was at the same time that the other Shadow Panther jumped above Kai's [Ice Wall] and the remaining Wolfen all aimed at Kai.

Kai didn't panic and merely looked at the shadows below the leaping Shadow Panthers until his eyes swam to the nearest Wolfen.

"[Shadow Assimilation]."

Kai once more vanished into the shadows and the two Shadow Panthers slashed at air. The Wolfen were stopped because of their target disappearing but in that second, Kai appeared from under the shadow of one of the Wolfen.

Kai punched the Wolfen in the face with his [Body Enhancement] focused on his leg and arm. The Wolfen let out its last breath as it crashed into a nearby tree.

The Wolfen that was beside it saw the event and leaped at Kai. The other Wolfen aimed towards Kai once more and fired.

Kai's right hand aimed at Superbia that was on the ground and it was attracted to Kai's hand. It was the mind skill that he had learned before, [Telekinesis].

The ice shield blocked the incoming water attacks and Superbia sliced the Wolfen.

Kai's left arm became unable to take the pressure of five water beams aiming at it and finally, his shield broke as his hand flung backwards.

"Ugh. Five Wolfen left."

The Wolfen and Shadow Panthers stopped attacking and surrounded Kai as if the prey was already in their hands.

"It's still not perfected but I guess I have to do it."

Kai embedded Superbia in the ground as his whole body became defenseless. He stretched out his arms to the side and separated his legs.

"[Armor of the Frost Giants]."

Kai's body suddenly glowed a pale blue and his eyes turned cyan once more. His entire body was coated with ice but it was molded into armor. There were openings here and there but they were necessary for the movement, like the armpits and the heels. His head had armor that showed only his eyes, he looked like a samurai with a demonic helmet.

The ice that coated him was rough and wasn't the smooth type of ice that he always uses.

"This armor should be able to handle their attacks."

Kai placed his hand upon Superbia once more and then swung it around.

"Perfect. Now, come at me."

Kai's cyan eyes became fierce, if one momentarily saw him; they would see faint trails of light among his eyes. If he dashed, his eyes would certainly leave a trail of cyan light. But the true reason that he became fierce was because he unrestrainedly used [Soul Aura].

The power of his soul was suppressing the surrounding beasts and caused them all to hesitate. Kai didn't miss the opening and focused [Body Enhancement] on his legs, now that he wore armor; he wouldn't need to channel [Body Enhancement] on his whole body and can just transfer it evenly between his arms and legs.

Kai leaped and slashed down using [Superbia] towards a Wolfen. Once that Wolfen was killed, he slashed to the side and hit the next Wolfen with the blunt side of the sword which caused it to fly and hit the other Wolfen. That left seven Wolfen dead and three subdued. The Wolfen who were hit and the one who was sent flying were limping and glaring at Kai.

Kai remained unfazed and showed his back to the nearby Shadow Panthers.

"So, are you coming at me or am I going to you?"

Kai made a scabbard of ice on his waist and attached it to his armor then sheathed Superbia while the iron sand fell to the ground.

The ground was certainly grass but when Kai turned around and took a step; the ground slowly turned ice. Each step he took created a layer of ice on the ground, the surroundings turned cold and the shadows of the trees became even more obvious.

The Shadow Panthers roared and retreated. They were unable to take the pressure.

Kai breathed a sigh of relief as the armor fell to the ground and Superbia was embedded on the ground. Kai leaned on the Superbia that was on the ground and aimed his hand towards the three Wolfen who were left alive.

"[Shadow Ball]."

A ball of darkness shot out and exploded on the bodies of the Wolfen, with that; there were no more threats in this area.

Kai went pale and breathed roughly. He was putting up a front, he had actually exhausted a lot of his mana and could be killed at any time by those two Shadow Panthers. His back was drenched in cold sweat but his soul was as strong as ever, it was proven when those two Shadow Panthers retreated when they saw his eyes.

"If the battle had continued, I wonder if I would have won."

Kai made a wry smile and began walking towards a random direction while storing Superbia in the pendant.

Since this was the inner circle, there were rarely any mountains aside from the ones that were ruled by beast kings. No mountains means that Kai can't create a safe place for himself like a cave. He chopped down some trees and created a fire. He had used his ice to create tiny strings of ice that were as tough as any piece of ice, if a beast were to unsuspectingly run into that at full speed; they'd be killed.

He also placed some platforms of ice above the trees to intentionally place shadows on the ground in case he needed to escape. The platform could also be used by him as he created shadows to go up. He made a fire and rested on the ground as he ate a piece of meat from the Wolfen that he killed.

"Reo told me that I had to kill twenty mob-class beasts or five fighter-class beasts. I just need to find ten more wolfen or chase those Shadow Panthers to their home, but the second part is of course, excluded. I had trouble trying to deal with only two, handling ten or more of those alone is suicide."

Kai checked his body for wounds and when he found that there wasn't any, he began meditating to recover his lost mana. [Armor of the Frost Giants] took up quite a bit of his mana. Just summoning the armor would require a lot of mana but maintaining the armor would take a lot more, if the armor wasn't damaged; Kai could save his mana. But if the armor was broken, he needed to use mana to repair it.

It was basically an armor made of ice but supplied by his mana. A normal person would need to be at least C-class to actually be able to use armor of that quality but Kai's extended mana reserves helped him conquer that boundary.

Kai rested for an hour, ate the remaining meat and then began to set off to complete his daily goal.

"Those mob-class beasts, I really hope they appear in a cluster like before."

Kai grinned and ran towards another random direction while avoiding his traps.