Ice Creatures

As we walk through the forest, nothing seems to catch our eye.

If we don't find the castle soon, we'll have to fly.

Miguel: "What if the castle is underground?"

Sun: "What makes you think that? I once saw a movie that did something similar, but maintaining an entire castle is another story."

Miguel: "The sky is clear, but we can't see anything ginormous in the distance."

Sun: "You suggest we blow up the ground to find it faster? I'm not joking, we can do that easily."

Nebula: "But it would cause unnecessary damage to the environment..."

Miguel: "Wait, you guys... don't you feel like we're being watched right now?"

I look around, trying to spot any curious glances. I spot something tiny in the sky, approaching us at an alarming speed. Nebula and Slinger also notice, but before we can warn Miguel, the thing pierces his shoulder, creating a hole. It flies between us and back into the sky. Then a sonic boom hits us, disrupting our balance. Nebula runs to Miguel and starts to heal him.

Miguel: "I tried to... control it, but it already has a master..."

Nebula: "It's a crow, I saw it! I'm glad you managed to divert its path from your heart, Miguel..."

Miguel: "So I did control if for a split second... I have to train my magic..."

Sun: "Rest here. I'll go after it."

Slinger: "With what speed? You're no faster than a bullet."

Nebula: "Why do you even suggest going after it? We must stay in position in case it attacks again! Slinger, can you hit it?"

Slinger: "It's too fast and small. If it comes after us, it will be easier to track its path."

Sun: "I might not be able to reach it, but my attacks have a large area. I'll just have to blow everything up and..."

Nebula: "You're not immune to your own explosions, Sun! You can't withstand an explosion as big as the landscape!"

Sun: "Then I'll just have to time it and..."

I feel something approaching through the trees. Before I can even shift position, my body is dragged by the rabbit that hit me. It's so fast that I have less than a second to realize it's a rabbit, until my body crashes through a mountain kilometers away.

As I struggle to get up, the rabbit flees. A tornado begins to form around me, a huge radius. Ice spikes fly and strike me, sticking to my skin. The crow reappears and takes aim at me. I let out a huge explosion as it hits me, dispersing the tornado.

The rabbit runs through the trees and punches me in the face, causing little damage due to its strength and size. But it's enough to disorient my spatial awareness. The crow summons ice spikes around its body and fires them at a speed faster than bullets.

They scratch my skin, but I manage to grab one with my glove and throw it back at the crow, which dodges easily. A green spike almost hits it, but the crow reacts faster. The thing lands beside me. It's Miguel's slime. It senses the rabbit's presence and goes after it.

Nebula flies in with the crew and fires jets of water at the crow, which easily dodges. Slinger fires rockets from her gun, exploding the missiles near the bird, which flies away. They land near me.

Nebula: "Brother! Are you okay?"

Sun: "I wouldn't die so easily. They're fast, but not that strong."

Miguel: "Sorry, my slime couldn't be of much use."

Sun: "It managed to scare the rabbit away."

I get up, feeling better because Nebula is healing me.

Sun: "Let's go. There's plenty of land to walk."

We walk through the forest until we spot a peculiar structure. It consists of four tall ice pillars arranged in a circle, similar to Stonehenge. The pillars are as tall as the trees we've seen so far. However, the area is devoid of vegetation, resembling a large open arena. We approach them to have a closer look.

Nebula: "They're ice golems..."

Sun: "How can you tell?"

Nebula: "They look human, but they're icy and much bigger. I think they're hibernating."

Sun: "How about a test?"

Nebula: "Are you planning on waking them up?"

Sun: "A little more than that. Let's destroy them. It's not like they have feelings or anything."

Slinger: "You're pretty destructive today, huh?"

Sun: "They might drop valuable materials! Come on, it's not a trap either. We can't even see the castle from here."

Miguel: "Seems like so."

Sun: "And I want to test the full potential of my gloves. There are some buttons inside that I want to test."

I point my glove at one of the golems. I glance at the others to see their reactions. Nebula seems fine, oddly enough.

I press the button. The glove detaches from the bracelet and flies toward the golem, striking it at high speed and shattering the surface. They all wake up and start walking towards us.

Sun: "Let the fun begin."

Slinger: "One golem each, does that sound reasonable?"

Miguel: "They don't seem that durable."

I run toward the golem I was aiming for and punch him hard enough to make him stumble and fall. Another golem punches me, sending me flying above the forest.

Nebula fires jets of water at the golem that struck me, piercing his body. Then she blasts him from the inside with water, shattering it into several pieces.

Slinger fires her pistol at another, destroying several points of the golem. Then she swaps her gun for a rocket launcher and fires missiles, blowing himup.

Miguel launches his slime at the last golem. The green creature enters his body and begins bouncing uncontrollably, until it cracks his insides and shatters.

The golem I was aiming for gets up and jumps toward me. I extend my gauntlet and pierce his body, burying it inside and heating it with my power until it releases a powerful blast and destroys the golem. The glove returns to me unharmed.

This metal is stronger than I thought... or maybe it's because of the law of unity. As long as I consider it part of my body, it'll have the same durability as me.

I land next to the others.

Nebula: "It was easier than I expected..."

Sun: "See? They were weaker than the crow and the rabbit."

I kneel down to grab an ice shard. It's cold, but my skin isn't fragile enough to be damaged by low temperatures. Well, not extremely low.

Sun: "After we finish this, I want to see if Barik can smith something with it."

Slinger: "I'm not sure if that's how blacksmithing works..."

Sun: "What, you've never seen ice used to forge weapons? Me neither, but anything is possible in this world."

Nebula: "It's probably true ice, the kind that doesn't melt. I've seen it in some books."

Miguel: "That means it's extra valuable, right? I've never seen one up close until now."

I collect many other shards and store them inside my Stocker. Since it's a material, it doesn't take up much space.