Chapter 82 – Complacency

It had been a week since the team had entered the snowy plains and Anna had advanced to the Silver rank. In addition to learning how to work better with Kieran's abilities, their hunt had become much easier since then.

The team had grown complacent in these days after successfully clearing four nests of Ice Lions without encountering any problems. Even Holden, who was the most serious among them, couldn't help but become relaxed.

But this complacency threw them into their current situation when they attacked the fifth nest.

A shadow suddenly appeared in front of them, taking them by surprise as they faced the pack of Ice Lions.

"DODGE!!" Alexei's agitated voice echoed in their ears.

An Ice Cloud Lion's paw fell on Vagan, who couldn't react in time to the sudden attack, his ice armor shattered, and his body was thrown through the air like a broken doll, not stopping until he reached the cold walls of the cave with blood pouring from his body.

*roars*

*roars*

A dense white cloud filled the whole cave when two deep roars made it tremble. Spikes of ice rose from the ground until they reached about fifty meters in height, like thick walls of ice. They separated the cave and the team into two parts.

On each side of the thick wall of ice, a large head popped out of the thick cloud of smoke with their pure white fur and icy blue eyes, the two Ice Cloud Lions looking down on each of the team members.

"How is it possible?!"

"Why are there two Ice Cloud Lions here?"

"They come from this tunnel."

The team members were getting anxious at the sudden situation. A moment ago, they faced only a few ice lions while paying attention to a dark tunnel they had seen in the back of the cave.

At first, each of them thought that the leader of this pack of Ice Lions should be there, but none of them expected that suddenly two Ice Cloud Lions would rush at them from this tunnel.

Kieran looked around him. He, Danaë, Amber, and Vagan, who had lost consciousness, had been separated from the rest of the team by the ice wall and found themselves facing one of the two Ice Cloud Lions.

"Danaë, take care of healing Vagan. Meanwhile, Amber and I will take care of the Ice Cloud Lion."

"Okay! Be careful!"

Without waiting for any further instruction from him, Danaë ran towards Vagan, the blue mark on her hand appeared, and bubbles of water escaped from her, moving around Vagan's wounds.

Looking ahead again, Kieran saw the Ice Cloud Lion staring at him with a look of disdain in its eyes.

The Ice Cloud Lion tensed its legs muscles, causing its already imposing body to swell, with pressure on the freezing ground beneath its paws, it rushed towards Kieran, its mouth wide open as it roared.

"Amber, try to help me with your Ice Mist Hawk ability."

"Okay!"

Kieran pressed against the ground, circulating the crystal essence through his body. He threw himself towards the Ice Cloud Lion, holding Shard of the Broken World in his hands.

White clouds formed around the Ice Cloud Lion's body, and dozens of ice shards were quickly created before being thrown at Kieran.

Seeing these sharp ice shards heading towards him, Kieran did not try to face them head-on. He had already evaluated the Ice Cloud Lion in front of him with his crystal sense and knew that he did not currently have enough strength to be able to repel the ice shards with his weapon alone.

A platform of earth appeared to his left. Leaning on it, he dodged the shards of ice before creating another platform behind him to throw himself forward again.

Seeing him getting closer and closer to it, the Ice Clould Lion let out another roar.

Spikes of ice appeared in front of Kieran, who waved his left hand forward, causing a wall of fire to appear. A cloud of steam filled his vision as the ice spikes and the wall of fire collided.

Kieran suddenly felt a sense of crisis as a shadow moved through the cloud of steam. Rapidly twisting his body in the air, he tightened his grip on his double-bladed sword while forming a wall of earth around his body.

*roars*

The Ice Cloud Lion's huge paw slammed into the earth wall, destroying it in an instant before its claws slammed into Kieran with a cold glow upon them.

Crystal essence circulated inside his body, flooding both of his arms as he moved his giant transformation ability into them, his muscles bulging as the claws slammed into the blades of Shard of a Broken World.

"Ughh!!"

The weight behind the Ice Cloud Lion's claws pushed him back to the ground like a meteorite, his body hitting the ground hard, leaving deep cracks.

*cough*

Kieran spat several mouthfuls of blood as he tried to get up with his body shaking, his arms had returned to their original shape, but he couldn't feel them after blocking the blow.

"Fuck..."

*roars*

Before he could catch his breath, the ground beneath him began to shake as spikes of ice pierced the ground, trying to skewer him.

He quickly jumped back to dodge, wiping the blood from his mouth with his left hand. He moved away from the Ice Cloud Lion while glancing toward the tunnel in the distance, an unknown feeling coming over him every time he looked in that direction.

"I can't use all my crystal essence against him. We still don't know if there are any other Ice Cloud Lions hiding there. It doesn't make sense that two of them appeared in the same nest, to begin with, but this feeling I get from this tunnel..."

He focused again on the Ice Cloud Lion in front of him. A potion appeared in his hand, which he swallowed quickly. He felt his senses slowly return to his numb arms, moving them slightly to dispel that feeling of discomfort he was feeling. He tightened his grip on Shard of a Broken World several times.

"His crystal essence should be around 2500, I couldn't beat him head-on without using Earth Shattering, but I need to save my crystal essence."

He looked up into the air above him, where a small hawk sang softly.

"Looks like Holden is too far away from us to affect Amber's Ice Mist Hawk with his ability."

*roars*

The cloud of steam was separated by the shape of the Ice Cloud Lion rushing at him.

Kieran closed his eyes and lowered himself. His left hand was resting on the cold ground, and his legs had doubled in size, but he didn't move. He focused on the earth's elemental particles around him. The sound of the ground cracking under the weight of the Ice Cloud Lion, who was getting closer to him, could be heard.

It only took a brief moment for the imposing body of the Ice Cloud Lion to be in front of Kieran. It raised its paw in the air, bringing it down upon him.

Kieran opened his eyes at this moment, a pale yellow tint covering them.

A dozen earthen platforms formed in the area around the Ice Cloud Lion while its claws were a few centimeters from tearing Kieran’s body.

*boom*

A loud explosion sounded as the Ice Clould Lion's claws left deep marks on the freezing ground. An almost human expression could be seen crossing the eyes of the Ice Clould Lion, who looked dumbfounded at Kieran's sudden disappearance.

The reflection of a blade appeared in the eyes of the Ice Cloud Lion, Kieran, who had appeared next to his head, thrust forward with Shard of a broken world. The blade easily pierced the Ice Cloud Lion's right eye, piercing a gaping hole through it.

*roars*

The Ice Cloud Lion howled in pain and rage, spikes of ice rising from the ground beneath its feet, surrounding its body for protection. Kieran quickly jumped from its body, dodging the ice spikes.

His right foot landed on a small platform of earth around the Ice Cloud Lion as his body twisted in the air to dodge another of its attacks.

He backed up quickly, glancing at the three behind him. Vagan begins to regain consciousness as Danaë's face pales slowly. Amber couldn't help him with her ability in this situation.

"None of them can help me right now. I'll have to find a way to finish him off quickly before he tries going at them."

He rushed towards the Ice Cloud Lion, not paying attention to the ice spikes that kept appearing around it. He leaped into the air, leaning on one earth platform after another to dodge the ice spikes until he reached the Ice Cloud Lion.

Shard of a Broken World moved through his hands, and another gash appeared on the Ice Cloud Lion's body.

The Ice Cloud Lion moved its body hurriedly while raising a paw in the air, which it covered with sharp ice, trying to reach Kieran, but he disappeared from its field of vision before it could touch him.

Kieran continued to circle around the Ice Cloud Lion to attack him, the earth elemental particles constantly being pulled towards him as he formed several earth platforms one after another to move while staying on the side of its missing eye.

Soon forty earth platforms had formed and surrounded the body of the Ice Cloud Lion. A pale yellow tint appeared in Kieran's eyes at that moment.

"Earth Storm!"

Each platform of earth around the Ice Cloud Lion fractured into dozens of separate pieces that took on a pointed shape before crashing down on the Ice Cloud Lion.

*roars*

The Ice Cloud Lion's roar of pain could be heard throughout the cave. Kieran took advantage of this moment to get closer to its right eye, which had become a gaping hole.

Crystal essence flowed into his arms, and with a thrust forward, Shard of a Broken World pierced the brain of the Ice Cloud Lion, ending his life.

Its body fell to the ground, followed by Kieran, who breathed heavily, he did not use much crystal essence during this fight, so he did not feel physically exhausted, but he felt intense mental fatigue from the immense control he had to exert on his earth element to succeed in controlling the attack.

He walked quickly to the other three.

"I'll carry Vagan. Let's go help the others."

"Okay."

The four of them moved quickly, using the earthen platforms created by Kieran to try to get over the wall of ice that separated them from the rest of the team.