He didn’t know how this battle would go, but ending it fast rose to the highest priority. His spirit contained a limited quantity of aura, and just beating the leopard would not end the greater situation. After wasting so much aura as well, he desperately needed to maintain a reserve.

And in just a few bouts, such a thing became obvious to his opponent, as his body now made small leaps out of the way of both the running figure and the occasional innate ability it used.

When it walked, mana gushed into its feet and created thin spikes of ice which threatened to spear him from multiple angles. It took immediate realisation and reactions to avoid them all, and this defence only worsened his position.

“What happened to all your energy? You were zipping about just a moment ago… and now you’re slower than these worms around us.” Its words directly offended some bronze tiers nearby, but who would dare raise a complaint?

On several occasions it slapped out with a claw or bit forward, each missing, but the resultant shockwave left gnashes or marks in the snow a short distance away.

If it was instantaneous damage he needed, then he finally grasped a chance. The past few seconds allowed for little spare thought, but some is better than none at all.

He began casting Sword wind, gathering distance from the leopard, which immediately forced it to chase, naturally it knew to never give a ranged beast any distance, but that worked perfectly. As the spell completed, he leapt sideways, while the casting process began, suddenly closing the distance and unmerging the spirit in mid-air.

Both obviously saw the yellow phantom race for the spell but the leopard had no idea what he’d done. Still it figured out that his situation was horribly weakened for a few moments, giving it the perfect time to strike. Unfortunately, with the help of several Jump seals he maintained some height over the leopard.

Just a few seconds in the air above it… But that alone was enough time for the Auric spirit to enhance the spell as it completely formed in mid-air.

The leopard simply couldn’t dodge the near-instant spell, not that it had the ability. The spirit did not race over to re-merge but rather blocked off the leopard and slapped it into the ground. Its recent attacks proved a few things. While fast and strong, its defences clearly lacked to the average steel tier and it was extraordinarily light.

Unable to overpower the spirit, it could only watch as the Sword wind slashed at its leg, growling as the strange spell sliced through its fur and bone in one fell swoop. In a single moment it lost both left legs and seemed unable to walk.

But he did not dare mock it, even with just two legs a single moment was enough for it to kill him.

The spirit rejoined with him and he prepared to hit the leopard with a Mental shock before going for the kill, but mana surged within and began flowing out its severed, bleeding leg. Where he expected it to merely staunch the bleeding, instead a thickening rod of ice extended out and transformed.

In less than a second, it had closed the wound and created a new foot of ice!

Merging with the spirit instantly, he rushed away as the leopard followed suit with ease. The new foot of ice did not seem to inconvenience it in the slightest. He ran for his life.

The two dodged one another for a few more swipes, on one occasion he saw it had closed the distance far too much, and instead of dodge, he swung with an aura-infused leg to kick the thing. Its light body was unable to resist and rolled backwards, but remained unharmed.

He no longer believed in the spirit’s reserve of aura.

“You seem weaker by the moment. Is it finally running dry? Maybe then I can figure out what that sickly sweet smell is. Just why do you smell of sugar constantly?” Of course, the rhetoric was laced with the leopard licking its lips… Perhaps it already guessed the exact reason and simply bided its time to eat him. He couldn’t allow for this to continue. But it spoke once more, saying something even worse for him, “I can’t believe a little thing like you is making me withdraw from this so soon.”

He thought the variety of ice-type spells shown prior was the leopard's limit. Creating spikes from the floor, or summoning homing shivs which almost stabbed him several times. On several occasions, a frosty mist coated its paws and teeth, which he also dodged with ease.

But this time… The mana was something else entirely.

An endless stream poured into its heart, quickly dissipating and raising a flurry of snow from beneath. It compressed into a long bar above the leopard’s head and focused its tip towards him. His merged senses went wild, immediately feeling unprecedented danger from the giant bar.

But as more snow rose up, and the leopard’s mana grew exponentially lower, he noticed a blade of snow begin to form, and slowly it transformed into a solid, cloudy ice.

A giant sword of ice with its tip pointing right for his head… And every sense told him that evasion was impossible.

“What even… This is a steel tier?” He didn’t ever believe the potential of simply a higher tier to be that wide. Was this ability not on par with Intermediate true spells? Not even a powerful Apprentice true spell… something he assumed only gold tiers normally used. He knew better than just standing around in awe though, and immediately casted Sky sight barrier followed by Frost shell. The dual barriers offered some protection but his senses still felt a strong chill from the blade.

As more snow rose up, the entirety compressed into ice and by now it neared completion. The leopard only seemed low on mana as well, not even weakened to a heavy degree. “Feel grateful for your quick death.”

No! He would not die here! Not here; not today; not to a mediocre steel tier beast!

He hadn’t been given time to test this ability… But in the face of death he needed something to survive. And with all the mana available to him, he gripped the small pinprick in his head and pulled.

With every ounce of willpower dragging the mana towards him, an incredible weight slowly lifted off the ground and slid out of his mental space. It was working!

However, as the weight connected to that mana began to lessen, a new one formed on his mind itself. A connection far beyond that of Pronounced telekinesis, and his legs trembled at the sheer pressure it applied. But unlike the spell, it felt like the load was shared between his physical and mental self.

Tugging revealed more and more of that weight, making standing even harder, before it suddenly slid all the way out and an unexpected scene encapsulated the battlefield.

The bronze tier beasts nearby collapsed, each falling unconscious without a moment to think.

Only a few with strong wills or psychic powers remained awake, shocked by the pressure wearing away at them nonstop. And they all turned to the source, the steel tier who’d started a fight with a powerful one from their level.

But it was not the leopard creating the force.

Above the dragon the fuzzy mirage of a large snowy mountain appeared, and for a moment it seemed to shimmer in and out of existence, growing fainter but solidifying moments later. No one knew which side it would stay on, but that thought died down as the battlefield around them quietened.

The mountain above his head grew firm and real, the suppression growing stronger and stronger to the point where only he and the leopard remained awake in the vicinity.

An inexplicable calmness filled him as he looked at the giant sword which threatened his existence moments ago, while the leopard’s face could not look uglier. Snarling with a maddened gaze, it refused to believe a mere ability could stop its strongest move.

One which harmed those steel tier lords!

It slashed down, intelligent enough to refuse the dragon more time to reveal more tricks, but by now it proved useless.

On the image of a mountain, a small building, barely even visible, released a bright, golden light. All across the battlefield it drew attention, few stopping to stare, but that did not matter. It pulsed out with a wave of golden air, instantly colliding with the giant sword but passing through moments later.

And just an instant later, the blade touched the barriers he placed.

It stopped in place.

Flakes of ice fell away from the blade dropping to the floor and collapsing back into snow. Then chunks fell off, a crack appeared down the blade of the sword to its hilt and it barely even seemed intact. The leopard feebly tried to raise it for another swing, but just as the blade reached its zenith, trying to smash down on the dragon’s barriers once more.

It crumbled into a flurry of snow, blown away from blade tip to hilt.

And now with low mana, the leopard looked in fear at the dragon. Or rather, it looked in fear to the mountain above, its oppressive might even clearer as the spell collapsed. And it could barely draw upon mana to resist the effect on his own mental space.

Stunned for several seconds, it only came to as the dragon’s voice appeared once more, and it thought for a few moments. How was the creature it believed to be a lizard, casting spells? Just what exactly was the language it spoke to do such a thing?

And it tried to run, but a dull yellow figure slapped it into the ground.

It literally couldn’t fight back in this state.

When it tried to escape the spirit, it used mana for holding back against the horrific suppressive forces for that mountain, But when it specifically held off the mountain, it lacked the mana required to escape the spirit!

It tried to attack the almost ghostly thing as well, and while it clearly weakened from attacks, there was simply not enough time! Smashed into the ground for the fifth or so time, it heard the words stop and simply did not know how to survive.

It turned to its allies over at the steel tiers’ fight, and while some tried to come to help, every attempt was thwarted by the opposing side literally body blocking them to ensure the leopard’s death.

This dragon was well known by all of them, a beast treated well by their leader, and right now it played an immense role. None were so childish to harm it on a battlefield of all places, and few even held a grudge against it in the first place!

The leopard simply could not do anything as the spell completed, and the sharpened tip of obsidian slammed right into its chest, cutting through fur and muscle, crushing and fragmenting bone… And eviscerating its insides in but a single move.

As it fell to the floor in agony, the almost dark yellow figure walked over to its replacement foot and crushed it, then meeting up with its master who now walked outside the barriers.

He cast Pronounced telekinesis, grabbing ahold of the broken Helix blast, and used all his strength to jam it into the heart of the immoble leopard, the thing bled out in less than a minute, finally ensuring its death.

[Killed Level 22 Iceborn leopard! Received 119% EXP]

As it moved into his dimensional storage, he also pulled out the soul lantern, and watched as hundreds of small motes of light flew over from all over the battlefield. The small object’s range was impeccable, and after absorbing just a few more souls, a small flame inside suddenly appeared, then growing greater by the moment. With each little mote, it continued to brighten as well, and simply by standing by it, his entire body felt nourished and energetic.

Once finished, the flame had grown from the small flicker of a tea candle to that of an energetic torch.

Furthermore, checking inside the green-tinted lantern showed the flame to be a pure white colour, and feeling its ‘warmth’ directly caused his entirety to ache. After just a second of looking, he already closed the little hatch and returned it to his storage.

Reversing the descended mental space was simple as well.

From the moment he began to use it, the string of mana had to constantly pull it away from the hole in his head. Of course he understood there was no way to utilise this ability for free, but the utter ease of use was surprising to him. In fact, so easy that he cast a spell like Helix blast for the kill.

With the leopard dead and his mental space now back within his head, he left before his body began to feel like lead.

On the way, he also found a few dead venomous snakes and stuffed their bodies into his belt. Being bronze tiers, their venoms should somewhat improve the power of his tongue’s innate ability.

* * *

“You seem rather surprised to see it too,” a large butterfly spoke out, referring to the wyvern with peeled eyes.

But seeing the dragon retreat, he only scoffed at the steel tier beast and replied, “It just means I have a more capable subordinate. I wonder how many of yours will remain in a few months.” Naturally, the wyvern did not place a lower tier beast on the same level as itself.

“Ah, but will he still be yours at that time?”

“He will. I will ensure it.” The butterfly rolled its head and glanced back down to where the leopard died. Such a scene naturally left a huge impression on the outside lords…

To descend a mental space, and Mind palace by implication, is no small feat. Of them all, only the wyvern and roc could achieve it, and they were at least a decade older than the other lords. But that could all be culminated into a single, frightening summary.

This dragon, this Ice-cream dragon, was very special.