Mass panic set in as the temperature dipped drastically in mere seconds. Already, their breaths produced steam, and a sharp chill ran down each and every one of their spines.

Kayden struck first.

Like a rabid dog, he kicked off from the ground and lunged toward his first target. This was the only time where he could catch his opponents off guard, so he planned to capitalize on every moment.

[Appraisal complete!]

 

“DIE!”

Oda, immediately recognizing that he was being targeted, did not panic. His ability to teleport may not be working right now, but that doesn’t mean he was useless, for the buffs from the spell orbs were still working!

He flexed his borrowed muscles, trying to shake off the cold he felt as he braced for impact. He was planning to grapple Kayden once he got close.

And grapple he did.

Their hands met, gripping each other in a death grip as they tried crushing the other’s fingers. Naturally, Oda was far stronger, and Kayden screamed in pain as the sickening sounds of fingers popping out of their joints resounded through the air.

Oda quickly seized the opportunity.

“I’ve got him pinned! Quick! Get—”

“—Freeze.”

[User is using tier 2 spell: Frozen Touch.]

 

[-8!, -2!, -8!, -5!, -8!, -6!, -8!, -6!, -8!, -7!]

He wasn’t even given a chance to scream. Starting from Kayden’s fingers, frost began to spread, covering every inch of his fingers, then his arm, then his neck. It happened so fast that the bone-chilling cold didn’t even register in his brain until it was too late.

“H-help… help me…!”

Gently, like a cat tipping a fragile pottery off the table, Oda fell and scattered into a million pieces. There was no bloody mess, just sharp, icicle chunks filling up the space where the entire upper body should have been.

This was his first kill of the night.

[Critical hit!]

[-54!]

[B-ranked adventurer has been killed! You gain 11,920 EXP!]

[You level up! (Gain one stat point)]

“[Keep it up. Once you reach level 20, I’ll be able to make things easier for you.]”

He didn’t have the time to look at his stat page, but he was now level 19.

But there wasn’t much cause for celebration. Now that his opponents knew what he was capable of, the rest of the fight wasn’t going to be as easy.

“K-k-k… Kill him!” Zhang shouted in fury. He had just lost a teammate, one that had been with him for many years already, just like that! He didn’t have time for grief. The thief had to be put down! Now!

Brandon was the first to act. Materializing a large, plasma axe in his hand, he made a wide swing at Kayden.

“Just try your ice bullshit on me! My blades will cut through them easily!” He taunted with confidence.

Kayden easily sidestepped the blade and gripped the shaft with his bare hands. Although the weapon was searing hot, Kayden’s hands were covered by a layer of frost that acted like heat-insulating gloves.

“Just try it.”

Frost formed quickly on the surface of the blade, spreading rapidly until it reached the tips of Brandon’s fingers. He let go of his weapon with a yelp but found his fingers partially glued to the hilt, causing it to tear as bits of his skin remained stuck to his weapon.

Kayden then lashed out with his hand, catching him off guard and successfully gripping Brandon by the wrist.

The instant they made physical contact, his entire right arm froze into rigid crystal. The ice formed a tight seal that crawled all the way from Kayden’s fingertips to Brandon’s torso, rendering him immobile and screaming in pain.

And then, it all happened at once.

As if they were a single organism, the remaining members of their party began to attack in unison.

“Shit! Stop him!”

A deafening crescendo of battle cries echoed through the forest as their various magic spells and attacks all assaulted him at once.

Blood needles, magic arrows, large weapons, and acid spit. The projectiles drew near, and time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Kayden smiled.

“Too weak.”

The blood needles froze and shattered into dust mid-air. The acid landed squarely onto his body but couldn’t burn through the layer of regenerating ice on his skin. Using Brandon as a shield, Kayden stopped the sword and the arrows from hitting him, turning the man into a porcupine.

[Target is using ability: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!]

[Target is using ability: Final struggle!]

Brandon’s body suddenly swelled in size, the ice on his arm breaking from the sheer speed of his muscle growth. He flashed a confident grin.

“Don’t think for a second that you can kill me! It’s time to show you my true power! A measly C-rank like you can’t handle—”

“Shut up!”

His newly-freed arm was swiftly wrapping itself up with ice again, causing Brandon, in a moment of weakness, to jump back in fright and freak out.

[Target is using ability: Surge of Lunacy]

Just as Kayden was about to put a swift end to Brandon’s shouts, he suddenly halted in his tracks and turned to face Zhang.

He was pointing a brightly lit finger at him, and it made him very, very angry. The surroundings only grew colder with his sudden change in mood.

“Quick! While he’s distracted!” Zhang dashed forward as he shouted at the rest of his allies,

“All of you! Don’t let him escape! Kill him now!”

Without a moment of hesitation, the four men nodded grimly and followed suit, jumping into action one after another.

Kayden had no idea what was happening, but it didn’t matter.

Zhang was his only target. No one else mattered. A strange force was influencing his thoughts, making him incapable of thinking rationally. Right now, the only thing in the world was Zhang.

The four of them closed in around him, forming a tight circle as they launched their various attacks. As soon as he saw this, Zhang laughed in victory.

“Hahaha! You really are weak! You—”

[User is using tier 2 spell: Frost titan arsenal]

 

Tiny fragments of ice swirled around in the middle of Kayden’s palm as they merged together to form the strongest weapon Kayden could think of. He didn’t know if this would work, and normally he wouldn’t take the risk, but he was feeling particularly bloodthirsty right now.

The weapon was something that had been used quite often on him, and something he knew was guaranteed to hurt.

A small contraption materialized into his hand. It looked like a crossbow, except much smaller and lacking the front limbs.

Bang!

Zhang didn’t know what hit him. The only thing he did know was that it managed to penetrate the powerful barrier that surrounded him, embedding itself deep into his stomach.

Coughing up copious amounts of blood, he collapsed onto the ground, gripping his stomach as he muttered incomprehensible words.

“F#ck! Stop underestimating him!” Ryan cried out in frustration as what felt like a blizzard blew all four of them and their attacks away.

This wasn’t a fight against a dumb monster. It was a war between B-ranks. Ryan wasn’t so conceited as to think that Kayden was still considered a C-rank anymore, not after all the abilities he had shown thus far

‘Damn it! How does this man keep pulling different blessings out of his ass every time we fight him? First illusions, then transformation, and now ice?’

This only helped solidify Kayden as a genius in his mind. As expected of the disciple of an A-ranked adventurer. There was no way someone so powerful would take some random weakling under their wing.

Just as Ryan thought this, the contraption in Kayden’s hand shattered into a million pieces, leaving him unarmed and defenseless. However, that wasn’t what drew his attention.

The battlefield was suddenly basked in a soft, red glow. A startling difference when compared to the dark crimson from before. A noticeably thick, white barrier began forming around Zhang, Brandon, Xue Hai, and Ronald.

“What... What is this?! Why do I feel so… powerful?!" Xue Hai yelled in surprise.

“Hoohooohooohahahaha!” Ronald laughed like a gorilla.

Zhang was surprised for a second too, but it soon turned into joyous laughter. With renewed vigor, he picked himself off the ground, any inkling of his past wounds seems to have disappeared without a trace.

“Ahahahaha! It seems the world has it out for you kid! The fight’s over!”

An intense aura began emanating from the four of them, and Kayden could feel an immense pressure weighing down upon his shoulders. It was so strong that it snapped Kayden out of the effects of Zhang’s spell, and Ryan wasn’t spared from this either. Both of them had trouble breathing in the vicinity of the four giants.

“It's time for you to say goodbye!” Zhang bellowed and shot his fist forward, sending a massive blast of pure, white energy that parted the ground from its sheer power.

Before the beam could make contact though, Kayden was already moving.

In a flash, he launched himself forward, turning into a whirlwind of pure speed as he raced across the battlefield. Thanks to the cold, their reaction speeds were delayed, and Kayden was able to create two daggers in both hands and smash them with incredible force onto Zhang’s body.

They shattered like fragile glass upon hitting the thick barrier, and Zhang was unfazed. He nonchalantly put his hand up and gave Kayden a mighty smack across his face.

The strength of the blow sent Kayden flying away in some unknown direction, but before he landed on the ground, ice began to emerge from the surface of his body and formed what looked like an ice cocoon.

This made him incredibly slippery, yet sturdy at the same time, as he began to bounce off from one tree to another like some kind of pinball. Eventually, as he bounced further and further away, the ice slammed into a tree one final time and cracked open, revealing a dazed and sick Kayden.

“Shut! F#ck! What is it now?” he uttered, rubbing his head as he tried to get his bearings. Just when things started to look up for him, he was mercilessly beaten down to the ground, reminding him of his place. He wasn’t his master. There was just no plausible way for him to defeat multiple B-ranks at the same time.

“[…This is bad.]”

Hel’s voice came out as a silent whisper.

“How so?”

“[You won’t like what you'll hear, but Zhang just received a blessing from a Goddess. More specifically, the Goddess of the Moon. Since the other three are also under the effects of Zhang’s spell, they got a huge power up too, but thankfully nowhere near as strong as Zhang’s. However, a Goddess is a Goddess, the chances of beating them were already slim... but now…]”

Kayden fell silent. He didn’t know what to do. He was already giving it his all, ignoring all the screaming that his body was making. It wasn’t obvious, but Kayden was struggling to even use his magic.

Mana poisoning. All those times he drank mana potions like it was orange juice was coming back to bite him in the ass. His only tier 3 spell, Sub-Zero Dominion, should have been far more powerful than this. At the very least, he should have been able to take out Brandon just now.

“… Is there no chance?”

Hel hesitated to give an answer.

“[I could bring you to the realm of consciousness. It could give us more time to think… ]”

There wasn’t a shred of confidence in that answer. Kayden’s anger reached a boiling point.

Slam!

He hit the tree beside him with a balled-up fist.

“This.. this is your fault, isn’t it? Why on Eden would a goddess intervene in a fight like this? When you think about it, it’s obvious! The only anomaly here… IS YOU!”

“[I-I’m sorry, okay?! And that’s not a given! M-maybe the Goddess took a liking to him and didn’t want Zhang to lose! Their abilities are related after all!]”

“Y-you!” Kayden stopped himself and sighed. It sounded like a pitiful excuse but getting angry at the System won’t save him now. There has to be some other way out of this. “Can you do anything about this situation?”

“[I’m sorry… The only thing I can say is to try and get to level 20…]”

“But how can I manage that…? I would need to kill another—”

“AH!!!”

“—person…”

Kayden turned to the source of the noise. It was a girl with short, brown hair, and she seemed to have slipped on a patch of thin ice. Her entire body was trembling, either from fear or from being in close proximity to Kayden. His body was still turning his surroundings into a winter wonderland after all.

“W-wait!” The girl put her arms up in surrender. “I’m not a part of the fight! You can go back to fighting with the boys! Just leave me out of this! Please!”

If Kayden wasn’t wrong, this girl was part of Zhang’s party. And that meant…

“[She’s an enemy! This is a miracle! Kill her!]”

“Argggh!!!” Kayden nearly tore out his hair in frustration. He should have been happy or relieved, but he really, really didn’t want to kill innocents. “I’m f#cking sick of this!!!”

He lunged for her neck and was easily able to overpower her. Without much effort, he got on top of her and was gripping her neck in a choke hold.

“W-wait! Please! Spare me! I didn’t even fight any of your teammates! L-look! I can fight together with you!”

“[Her abilities aren’t very powerful. I know that killing innocents must be very difficult for you, but trust me! Nothing is more important than your own life!]”

A single tear dripped onto her forehead, and Kayden let out a tiny whisper.

“I’m sorry.”

[-8!, -2!]

“P-please! I’m not useless!”

[-4!, -7!]

“I’ll be able to help! I—”

With an elbow across the temple, Kayden knocked the girl out. It finally put a stop to her incessant begging.

‘Finally, some peace and quiet.’

Then, sighing deeply, he released his grip around the girl’s neck. The frost that had begun to spread on her neck dissipated quickly as well.

[B-ranked adventurer has been defeated! You gain 5,200 EXP!]

“[Kayden…?]”

Kayden bit his lip and resolved himself.

“I won’t kill innocents.”

Hel was speechless.

“[…Are you seriously—]”

“SHUT UP!!! I will not steal the lives of innocents! Only the heads of my enemies!!!” He declared loudly.

“[…Y-you’re joking, right?]”

Kayden ignored her.

“I will not run! I cannot be defeated! And I shall not use cowardly methods—!”

“[Oh f#ck off…]”

“—For I am… the future God of Thieves!”