Chapter 17: A Hint of Chill

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When the massive army of kodo beasts following White Day surged into the range of the fire’s glow, both Black Tea and I widened our eyes in disbelief at the spectacular sight of this monstrous horde.

Thirteen or fourteen fat kodo beasts were the first to emerge from the darkness beyond the candlelight, followed by a slower, smaller group of young kodos—at least thirty of them, densely packed.

This was insane!

I had no idea how White Day had managed it. There was no sign of the juvenile kodos in the group, and it was hard to imagine how, in the chaos, he had managed to single out the young ones and keep them away from the main herd.

As I marveled, White Day stopped five meters away, a look of unrestrained pride on his face.

After a month in the game, this was the most excited he had ever been! It wasn’t just the scavenger Qilin’s combat skills and adaptability that amazed him, but also the realization from the scars on the fat kodo beasts that there were entirely new ways to fight. The rewards from this night were far beyond expectations.

Never mind losing one night’s sleep—he would gladly trade ten for this!

“Qilin, get moving!”

As White Day’s emotions surged, the fat kodo beasts quickly formed a circle around us, and then the throng of smaller kodo beasts swarmed in, packing us tight.

The kodo beasts occupied nearly a quarter of the fire’s illuminated area, making my scalp tingle with a peculiar joy.

So be it! No matter what, I’d deal with the relatively easier young kodos first, then figure out how to handle the encircling fat ones. None of this precious experience would get away.

I grinned inwardly, then quickly calmed myself, gripping my short dagger as I began a one-on-one hunt.

Black Tea stood cautiously behind me, one hand holding the flickering magical candle, the other gripping a staff entwined with ancient gray vines, muttering incantations as she kept a vigilant watch on our surroundings.

...

My movements were not fast.

At least, not by White Day and Black Tea’s standards. They had seen plenty of higher-tier players—second, third tier—whose agility far surpassed mine. Even a random first-tier warrior would outpace me by a mile.

White Day, although a strength-based warrior, was still several times more agile than I was!

But when it came to flexibility and control of the battle’s rhythm, they had never seen anyone more adept.

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My actions were decisive and steady, attacks both cunning and swift, with not a trace of hesitation in either strike or withdrawal. From a technical perspective, this made me appear much faster.

As each young kodo fell under my dagger, the nearby team stopped luring monsters, staring blankly at my repeated, simple movements.

... Constantly on the move.

They all watched in silence.

The only sounds were the occasional, piercing wails of kodo beasts echoing through the canyon, reverberating endlessly.

Time passed slowly.

After several minutes, all thirty-something young kodos lay lifeless, their corpses eerily scattered around White Day and the fourteen fat kodo beasts, in a pattern devoid of any order.

I had finally leveled up again.

Having taken down so many young kodos in a row, I felt as if I’d just finished an intense workout. The instant the last one fell and that warm current enveloped me, a wave of exhaustion crashed over me.

I flopped down unceremoniously in the middle of the kodo corpses, image of a dashing hero completely forgotten.

Giving a helpless, wry smile to the stunned White Day and Black Tea, I simply leaned against the cold carcass to recover my strength.

For a moment, the only sounds were my own labored breaths and the fading echoes of those mournful cries.

“Damn this pitiful body—just a bit of action and I’m already wiped out.”

Eyes closed, I gasped for breath. In the real world, this amount of exercise wouldn’t even warm me up.

It was just unfortunate that the game limited players’ initial stats so severely, with only minuscule gains per level, and even stamina had a hard cap...

Truly, it was frustrating.

During this break, White Day was left in a tight spot.

He glanced gloomily at the fat kodos still restlessly scraping their armor, and sighed, “Man, watching you fight so fiercely, I forgot you’re still a newbie—couldn’t handle prolonged combat. Lasting this long with only three points in stamina is already impressive...”

“Then why’d you bring so many fat kodos? With such a huge circle, Qilin can barely keep up—you trying to run him into the ground?” Black Tea shot him a look.

“I just didn’t think about it...” White Day gave an embarrassed smile. To be honest, he hadn’t considered it when pulling the monsters.

Seeing that Black Tea was about to launch into another lecture, he quickly winked at Scavenger Qilin, signaling him to help out.

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I shook my head with a smile.

White Day was the very picture of a henpecked husband.

Still, with how much effort he put in, I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing as the “little brother.” Heh...

“By the way, sis-in-law, I’ve heard mage spells are incredibly powerful, but I’ve never actually seen anyone use one. Could you give us a live demonstration?”

At my suggestion, Black Tea glanced around, puzzled. “How should I demonstrate?”

I nodded toward White Day, who immediately caught on and pointed proudly at the fat kodos. “Aren’t those the perfect targets?”

Black Tea hesitated, then nodded, gently placing the magical candle on the ground.

She held the gray vine staff across her chest and closed her eyes.

In that moment, her beautiful face grew solemn—her mage robes stirred despite the still air.

A chill swept from the staff, quickly swelling and condensing in the air.

“That’s water magic... Closing her eyes helps her sense and gather elemental energy faster, but water spells always feel a bit cold during the casting process,” White Day explained, his eyes fixed on his wife, sharing these secrets with a rookie seeing real magic for the first time.

A bit cold? This was only a bit cold?

I shrank my neck, bracing against the biting chill that surged around us, my eyes glued to the white mist above Black Tea’s head.

That bone-chilling cold radiated from the swirling mist, menacing and intense.

“Chain Ice Spikes!”

Suddenly, Black Tea’s eyes snapped open. With a sharp command, three half-meter-long, twenty-centimeter-thick icicles, radiating terrifying cold, materialized from the white mist. In the next instant, as if guided by an invisible hand, they shot toward three fat kodo beasts, each targeting its mark with lethal precision.