71 - Kawama vs. Man No. 1

On a riverbank covered with red and black stones, chunks of ice suddenly appeared.

On closer inspection, they were made up of countless small pillars of frost.

Covered in a dense, needle-like frost, the monsters are frozen white and have completely stopped moving.

Thor had heard of the "frost formation," which was supposed to be a magic technique that cools the ground in advance, and when someone steps on it, it freezes their feet and slows their movement.

It is not something that would create such a huge sculpture of ice flowers.

The magician, who had iced the five deformed monsters in one breath, noticed that no one was speaking, and turned around stealthily to see what was going on.

Then, noticing the look of surprise in everyone's eyes, he smiled and stuck out his tongue.

The air loosened up with relief as the cold, horrified expressions on their faces suddenly softened.

Then Moo sneezed cutely.

The sudden appearance of the source of a large amount of cold air seems to have rapidly cooled her body, which had been wet from the rain.

"Oh, I think I made it a little too cool..."

"Are you all right?　You look so pale!"

It was Yuril, not Mu, that Sola had panicked.

Yuril's tone of voice was the same as usual, but he seemed to be even more bloodthirsty than usual.

Thor rushed to her, put his hand around her slender waist, and carried her to the back of the tent in a side hug.

He sat her down in a chair and Ulille let out a thin breath.

"I seem to go overboard with this wand," he says. I am sorry for the trouble I have caused you.

No, we'll take care of the cleanup. You can rest here.

"That's the thing, though, he's probably not dead yet, so be careful."

While ordinary creatures would have died once they were immersed in ice, this does not seem to be the case with monsters that boast extraordinary vitality.

Furthermore, the ratio of surface area to volume is small for such a huge creature, so it would be able to store more heat and be more resistant to the cold.

"I understand. Then I'll go put a quick stop to it while it can't move."

"Yes, and it's raining, so you'd better hurry as much as possible."

Indeed, each time the light rain that pours down on them, the frost columns are gradually losing their shape.

Thor nodded his head and gave instructions in rapid succession.

"Dialgo and the others, you go first to the left hand side. Tapa and Tali, please cooperate with us.

"Yes, sir!"

"...... agreed."

"I don't know what's going on here, but we're going to take him down, right?"

"I hear that, brother."

"You'll have to watch me, Mr. Yuril!

The three brothers return from their roundabout way along the bank, and the six of them attack the icy river horse.

We'll take the right side. Moe, you stay with Mr. Yuril.

I'll take care of it, Tor. I'll protect you!

"Wait, wait, first the usual!"

Thor grabbed Moe by the neck just as he was about to jump into Ulil's lap.

The child, perhaps amused at being suspended in midair, burst into laughter and covered himself with purple snakes and blue-glowing needles.

Thor leaps out of the tent and, with Thora in tow behind him, approaches the frost statue.

If we don't have much time left, we'll have to hit it as hard as we can.

He steps forward strongly with his body lifted to maximum speed, and swings his sword, held in both hands, diagonally upward.

The monster's right front leg is sliced off with the ice, and it loses its balance and leans forward.

The returning blade bites into the jaw of the rampaging river horse, severing the bone and creating a deep cut.

The sword shows no sign of stopping as it slices off the other foreleg and continues on to sever the remaining part of the mandible.

Finally, the monster's huge body falls to the ground, leaving its head exposed and unprotected.

The monster fell to the ground, leaving its head unprotected, though only for less than three seconds.

Thor jumped onto the nose and swung his iron sword at the head of the rampaging river horse, which was protected by the hard skull.

The blade entered the monster's head without a sound, though the movement did not seem to be very forceful.

The rounded and indented skull of the creature made the attack surprisingly slippery.

However, Thor's sword accurately caught the hollow in the top of the head and sliced clean through to the brain marrow underneath.

Quickly dodging the gushing blood, Thor mutters to himself as he his exhausted body.

"--First, one..."

On the other side of the river, Roloff and his men were working hard to chip away at the icy, rampaging river horse.

The weapons used by the three were not sharp enough to cut down a tree with a spear.

Dialgo joined in with his club and beat the frozen legs hard, which added to the strange atmosphere.

"It's kind of new to hit a monster that's stopped, isn't it?" he said.

"The attacks are sure to hit me, but I can hardly gather enough fighting spirit. Is it because these guys are almost dead?"

"Let's hurry. Mr. Thor, it looks like he's already finished the first one.

"That stupid sharpness, every time I wonder how they do it.　It's just a steel sword."

"Frankly, there's no point in even thinking about it, brother. It's okay to think about it because you're Thor's brother.

That's true, too.

"...... wastes a lot of words."

"...... be serious."

The twins scolded the three brothers, but their attacks were also a little subdued.

The layer of fat that would normally bounce back blows was lightly frozen, making it easier for Roloff and the others to get through their attacks, but they also caught the arrows with a nice touch.

The monster's head was like a needle pile with arrows stuck in it, but since the arrows were not fatal, it was quite a strange sight as well.

But even though the effect was weak, it took several people to do the job.

The monster, with its legs cut off, slowly tilted and finally fell over on its side.

With a yell of triumph, the warriors slammed their axes into its head and torso and drove their spear points into it.

When Rorolf and his men had managed to kill the first one, Thor was about to finish the second one and start on a new prey.

But then the freezing time comes to an end.

The two remaining creatures, now free from the icy spell, turn their murderous gazes upon the humans.

Their angry roars echoed through the cloudy sky, which was pouring persistent rain.