Atlas made quite a contribution in fighting against the snowman. Cutting off that trunk is one big move that is good enough to reduce the danger the snowman possess to us. To ensure that the snowman does not reattach that troublesome trunk back to its body, I launched a fireball at it and burned it to ashes. With Lucia's flames that I am using, the fireball is more than enough to burn the trunk to ashes in split seconds just like how a paper got caught in a fire.
There is still a possibility the snowman can find another way to restore the arm but in the meantime, it seems the monster is not doing anything that would do that, allowing us to continue the battle.
Due to the recent attack, the snowman wanted to switch target which is Atlas but as always, the snowman seems to have no chance of breaking off from Guts as he punched the snowman again, taking off the regenerated part of its head again.
I already burned one of its eyes and one of the buttons but so far, all of my guesses are wrong. The snowman is still on guard against its head and even with one hand, it is still quite capable of blocking any attacks that are always headed on its head, well, except for the attacks that are from Guts since it seems the snowman is not even able to block it and even if it blocks it, it has the biggest possibility of the trunk from being busted to pieces by the punch.
The sword seems inefficient at the moment and since I am doing punch and kick attacks, for now, I changed the Versatile Weapon's form and made it into the Knuckles form. This will also help gain a bit of some SP for the Fighter class, especially with the sudden reset.
With the perfect fit knuckles on my hands, I ignited them to flames again. I am not worried the Versatile Weapon will burn and melt, it is a literal item that cannot be destroyed in any way and I doubt these flames are even enough to make a scratch on it.
My target is the button that is the only one left after burning up the rest. I can tell that it wasn't the core too but who knows? Maybe I will get really lucky and I managed to get a stroke of luck in finding the real core.
The snowman slammed the trunk on the ground while trying to slam down Guts to smithereens but missed. I took the opportunity to use that trunk and run using it as a way to get higher up to the snowman.
Of course, the snowman didn't like that and opened its mouth and shot out multiple icicles in my direction. I don't have the buffs that increase the ability to run faster after the reset so the only thing I can do is dodge them and fend off the icicles I can't dodge. But I am not that fast in fending everything, they are just too small and fast for me to block all of them unless I am a legendary gamer.
However, that didn't stop me from running. If I can't block all of them, then I have to continue getting away from there. As soon as I reached the highest part of the trunk arm where I can reach either the eye, the nose, or the button, I took a leap from that trunk. But then, I noticed the incoming trunk sweeping past me while I am mid-air.
Since being in mid-air also means limited movement, there is no way to dodge it unless I do something to avoid the big trunk or mitigate the attack to my advantage. Due to the sudden situation, I quickly changed my weapon to a Hook and Chain before throwing the hook into the carrot-looking nose. Unless the snowman has two hands, it cannot remove the hook from the nose before it attacks me, allowing me to get off and escape.
But who said I will give up the attack? Now that the nose of the snowman is within my weapon's grip, I don't want to waste the opportunity. I yank out the nose as hard as I can using my Versatile Weapon's Hook and Chain form. And to loosen the nose a lot faster, I also activated the flames of Lucia and fired them around the nose part, melting the snow and turning it into the water.
In a single yank, I removed the carrot-looking nose easily. The snowman roared in pain despite the fact that it was just a nose that seems to be just there to act as the nose but that is enough for the snowman to be in big pain. But even if it is in pain, it was clear it wasn't the core, the snowman still hasn't got any kind of damage to its big pool of HP.
Firing a few more fireballs, I burned the carrot-looking thing that was removed into ashes with Lucia's flames. I know I should have left it alone since it doesn't do anything on purpose and it wasn't like it will be used in fighting in any way but I would rather remove any parts of its body completely rather than leave it. I learned many lessons like that in the past timeline and I don't want to repeat any of them.
The snowman is now getting too angry but I also noticed that the snowman is also melting... yeah, it was indeed melting, the snowman is melting like the usual snowmen made by the children in winter then melts the moment the first day of spring rolls in.
And to my surprise, the Hp of the snowman is slowly reducing. However, that is not what I am worried about right now. Beneath our feet, I noticed that every step I make is now making water splashes, causing me to look down and soon realized that the snowman has been turned into the water as it is melting. It wasn't a problem if we are in an open area and we can just forget the water from falling because we are in an enclosed area, the water slowly rises and even though the snowman has yet to melt fully, the water has already climbed up to our knees and it is still rising.
"Master! What should we do? The water is slowly rising and there is no exit!"
p "Are there any changes in the walls that have blocked our way?"
"It's unfortunate, Master, but I don't see any exit on sight and I don't even think the walls are going to go down anytime soon."
It was clear that I didn't destroy the core but for some unknown reason, the snowman started melting the moment the nose was destroyed. Does that mean that was the main core? But that should be impossible. Instead of melting and turning into a pool of water, the snowman should have crumbled to pieces instead of forming a big puddle of water that seems to have the intent of drowning players...
...
...
WAIT... drowning players?
That's when I realized it, the main reason for the blockage was not to block us and stop our escape to the top, it was there to be used to stop the water from escaping once the snow has melted. And seeing the water is already closing to our chest while the melting snowman is still half melted means only one thing...
Nove l B(in).C OM
If we don't know how to swim, we are too dead.
For me, it wasn't a problem since I know how to swim, and if Atlas cannot swim, I can just recall him back. Looking at Guts, it seems he has no problem with being submerged in the water so I guess he is also fine. But then something else occurred to me.
If we are submerged under the water while we are in a frozen region, what is the most likely thing that would happen to you if you remain underwater for several hours? Knowing that I decided to stop staying still and waiting for the water to continue rising. I went into the door and pulled out my Versatile Weapon and transformed it into a cannon.
I aimed, and I fired.
BOOOM!
The water shook and a huge explosion occurred but that alone did not do anything to the wall. Not even a scratch to it.
"F*ck, is the wall invulnerable or something?! The heck is this?"
"Master, let me try!"
Atlas then charged up his greatsword's aura. The same technique he did earlier to cut off one of the snowman's hands. It took a few minutes to charge up and the water is already up to our shoulders now. Atlas didn't stop and continue to charge up the sword.
At long last, the sword is now fully charged up, one thing needed is to use it to smash a target.
"BREAK IT!"
SWISH!
BOOOM!
A huge explosion stirred up the water and made quite a ruckus.
But...
The wall did not fall nor it even makes a single crack after the strike. Atlas's attack did not destroy anything and we are stuck in an enclosed space of cold, freezing water with a melting snowman that is causing all the water to continue rising.