"Hey, Black……what was with your lightning back there?"

  After a prolonged period where no one had said anything, Tuck had finally broken the silence as his curiosity took over. Well, I do hate repeating myself, and I've lost count of how many times I've had to explain Karma, but……he did answer when I asked him about his missing Anima ear, so I guess it's only fair……

  "When I was in Goldway……well, things happened, and long story short, I had Dark Magic injected into me, also known as Karma. And if I use it, it turns my lightning black, as well as strengthens it. Oh, and……don't call me by my last name, it's weird……just call me Kuro."

  "Isn't Dark Magic what monsters are fueled by? I thought it was incompatible with humans," Chimed in Niski curiously.

  "Incompatible is a bit inaccurate……it's technically just a really, really low level of compatibility……from what I know, I'm one of only seven people who have survived having Karma injected into them."

  To my annoyance, they continued to ask questions about it for a while, and didn't stop till I had pretty much explained everything about it. Lamasa was the only one who remained silent.

  I had come pretty close to getting irritated and snapping a few times, but I held myself back……things were already kinda tense after I lost it against Lamasa, if I scared them any more, it'd become really difficult to work with them. And things were only going to get harder, as it got colder the farther we walked, and more powerful monsters would begin to appear.

  Once they were finally done with their questions, the silence thankfully resumed, and we continued to make our way forward. We encountered a group of three Ice Imps, and dealt with them without any trouble, before continuing forward.

  "Oh, I just remembered……," Tuck suddenly spoke up again.

  Oh, God……what now?

  "When Lamasa blew flames at you……how did you get them to disappear like that? I saw you use the Spell Scroll holstered to your left, was it some kind of barrier?"

  Nope, he was way off……

  "Uh, sure……something like that."

  Nope, it was nothing like a barrier……

  Around 2 PM, we took a break to have lunch and rest up.

  We started a fire using Tonir's Fire Magic, as Tuck raised some short earth pillars around it to keep the icy wind from putting out the flames.

  "Eat till you just about no longer feel hungry, not till you're completely full……you'll be slowed down while fighting if you overeat," I advised them, as I took a bite of the canned chicken I'd bought……

  it was cold.

  I sighed, and moved the can over the fire to warm it up. After a few minutes, it was a lot less chilled, though not quite warm, but I was getting tired of holding it over the flames, so I just ate the half-cold meat.

  Once I was done, I looked around at the others carefully. The day was just getting started, but I doubted that any of them were used to spending this much time in such cold……

  might not be a bad idea to rest up a while longer.

  "Alright, rest up for the next half an hour. We'll continue after that. Try to recover as much energy and stamina as possible," I instructed after making my decision, as I lay down on the snow and stared up at the sky……

  Thirty minutes later, we were back on our feet.

  "Um, hey……maybe we should plan out the rest of the day instead of walking forward aimlessly……it's a little hard to stay focused with nothing to see but vast stretches of snow," Suggested Niski around 5 PM, after we had gone for the last two hours with no incident, minus a few stray Snow Imps.

  We didn't run into more than two at a time at any point since lunch, I was starting to get a bad feeling about how quiet it had been.

  "Sure, why not? It's pretty simple, we'll keep going till around 8 PM, with a couple of short breaks in the middle if necessary, and then set up camp for the night, while we take turns keeping watch. And then, around 6 or 7 AM tomorrow, we head back. We should reach the Rustlands by this time tomorrow, take or give a couple of hours. Ask me if you're unclear about anything……we need to all be on the same page," I responded, before stopping as I heard something, "Hold on……there's something around us……"

  I couldn't see anything, but……I could definitely hear the sound of movement.

  It sounded like……something was sliding along the snow, and at a pretty fast speed. The snow was a couple of inches above ankle-deep at this point, so I couldn't see whatever was moving around. There was only one of whatever it was……and it was circling us.

  "Quick, stand in a circle with our backs to each other!" I urged cautiously.

  This way, it can't sneak up behind any of us.

  I could now see the movement……it looked like whatever it was, was small enough to stay hidden inside the deep layer of snow as it zipped around……a snake, maybe? No, it's movements weren't slithery like a snake, they were too straight……and besides, Snow Serpents don't appear anywhere near here, it'd take at least another whole day or two of walking if we wanted to run into those. In which case, it must be a……

  The line of movement began rapidly shooting towards me, and as it neared me, something sprang out of the snow, its beak pointed at my chest.

  "……so this a Devilpenguin, huh?" I remarked, as I pulled out the scroll on my right from its holster and ran my Mana through it.

  Flames sprouted from it and shot towards the monster, burning it. I then drew out my dagger and stabbed it between the eyes, twisting the blade as it disappeared into dust.

  It was bigger than a regular penguin, much faster, had red eyes, sharp teeth in its beak, and its flippers were sharp too.

  Now, then……I suppose I ought to explain exactly what the spell that Elina had created for me was.

  I called it Store and Extract.

  It's pretty self-explanatory, but I'll explain it anyway.

  The scroll on my left activates the first function, which is Store. It can store anything from physical items to non-physical attacks, like the fireball Lamasa blew at me. And that includes any momentum and direction that it had.

  The scroll on my right activates the second function, Extract. It extracts whatever I stored using the Store scroll. In this case, I had Stored Lamasa's fireball with the first scroll, and then Extracted it just now with the second scroll.

  And what I meant by 'includes any momentum and direction' is……well, it's easier to explain with an example……

  Let's say I want to Store a spear. If the spear is flung at me and I Store it before it hits me, then it'll shoot out forward with the same speed and momentum when I Extract it. But if it's just lying around when I Store it, then it'll remain inanimate and still when I Extract it.

  I had made that specification, because otherwise, if I used Store on a fireball and the Extracted it, it would just burn me on the spot. But since it takes momentum into account, I can essentially absorb an enemy's attack with Store, and then fire it back at them with Extract.

  The biggest weakness was that I could only Store one thing at a time. Let's say I've stored a fireball, and then come across a large gem or something that'd be too heavy to carry by hand……if I wanted to Store it, I'd first have to Extract and get rid of the fireball. If I try to activate the Store scroll while it's already storing something, it simply won't react to my Mana, not until I use Extract to empty it.

  As for the limits of what I could store, it had a physical limit of a ton, which may as well be infinite as far as I'm concerned, and as for storing something non-physical like fire or lightning, the upper limit for those was also generously high.

  Hm, maybe I should figure out a way to strap them to my arms though, it'd be faster to activate them that way, having to draw them out from my waist each time costs me an extra half second or so……wait, but if they're on my arms, they're more likely to get damaged.

  I mean……let's face it, I had lost my arms SO MANY times since coming to this world……and meanwhile, I can't remember too many injuries around my waist area, so……

  "Th-that was……my fireball," Lamasa exclaimed, speaking up for the first time since I scared her.

  Wait, how did she know that was her fire?……

  oh, right……she's the only one here who can create a fireball of that magnitude.

  "……that wasn't a barrier, was it," Stated Tuck, raising an eyebrow.

  I can't do this……not another long explanation. Fuck it, I'll just be direct.

  "It's the original spell I had Elina Fenegus make for me……remember, the whole piano thing in the classroom? It'll take too long to explain, so……I'd rather not. You should be able to more or less guess what it does from what you saw anyway," I replied bluntly before adding, "Let's keep going. And I know that Devilpenguin moved pretty quickly, but it's nothing to be afraid of……once they spring out at you from under the snow, they can't change direction in mid-air……which means if you can predict and identify its line of attack and trajectory early, you can immediately dodge and counter the moment it strikes. If you keep that in mind, stay calm, and don't panic, you'll be just fine."

  It wasn't long before we ran into a large pack of Devilpenguins, about fifteen of them.

  We once again formed a circle facing outwards……it wouldn't be pretty if one of these things got behind you and managed to spear its beak through your back. We made sure it was a wide circle instead of huddled together, otherwise we'd definitely bump into each other.

  Two were approaching me, from my right and left……looks like I won't have to do anything but move……as they sprang up on either side of me, I took a casual step back as they crashed into each other, their beaks piercing the other's head, both disappearing as they killed each other and died.

  Lamasa was blasting out flames like crazy in front of herself, not letting them get anywhere near her. She really didn't want a repeat of the Snow Imp incident. She was being pretty wasteful though.

  "Hey, bitch……I know you're traumatized or whatever, but don't use up all your Mana in one go!" I called out, as she wordlessly slowed down her output in response.

  Tuck waited till they got near him and then rapidly raised those earth columns to knock them away with ease. Hm, he was doing pretty well……he could afford to experiment a bit.

  "Hey, Lehosa……try using your Earth Levitation to fire off some rocky projectiles, this is a good opportunity to improve your control over it."

  "Don't tell me how to fight, Kuro! But……I suppose you do make a good point."

  Tonir had planted his back foot, watched carefully and waited for the Devilpenguins to jump out at him, took a step to get of out the way, and then swung his hammer straight at their faces.

  He nailed the first one, a loud thud echoing as his hammer slashed the beak and slammed into the face of one of the monsters, killing it instantly. He whiffed the next one, his swing flying too high, but he managed to recover and burn it to death with a few fireballs before it could jump at him again.

  Two of them shot towards Niski, she managed to evade the first one, as the second one's beak grazed her side. She zapped the first one with a lightning bolt and stabbed the second one through the head with her sword……the first one survived and sprang at her, its beak stabbing into her thigh.

  She let out a cry of pain before gritting her teeth and unleashing rapid thrusts at its head with her narrow blade.

  Hm……not bad, she's very rough around the edges, but she has potential and a good temperament.

  Just a few left……they were warily keeping their distance now that we had taken out most of their pack.

  "Lehosa……can you raise a pillar in the shape of a staircase? Even a couple of meters would be great……I want to get some height."

  "Tch, so demanding……fine, here."

  He raised it like I asked, I sprang onto it as he did, before activating Lightning Boost at x2.7 and extracting ten percent Karma, as I charged up lightning in my fingers and jumped up off of it as high as I could.

  Oh, how should I rename my attacks when I'm using black lightning?

  Should I add 'Black' to the start of their names, like Black Lightning Incineration Canon, or Black Lightning Web? No, too generic……oh, how about……

  "Alright, take this……!"

  I moved my hands out in front of me and spread out my fingers, before I blasted out powerful streaks of black lightning at the remaining Devilpenguins down below from my fingertips, eradicating them all in an instant.

  Lightning Reign……Noir!

  Heck yeah, that sounded cool!……

  still ain't gonna say it out loud though.

  I transferred the Karma back into the orb as I landed back down. After Niski used a scroll to heal her injuries, we continued our trek.

  We ran into a few Snow Imps, as well as another pack of Devilpenguins over the next hour or so. The more of them we faced and defeated, the more confident the others were when the next wave of monsters showed up.

  While they still could use a lot of work, and were still getting nicked and grazed every now and then, they were starting to show small signs of improvement as they dealt with each subsequent batch of monsters more efficiently than the last.

  I'm starting to see the merit in forming an unfamiliar group like this……you don't have the same teammates that you usually rely on, so you have to fend for yourself a lot more, which means that your major weaknesses are going to become more abundantly clear and easier to identify.

  Well, that goes for the others, not so much for me……while it is true that I wouldn't hesitate to rely on the other members of Group D, I could work alone fairly well too……I mean, I did walk all the way from Goldway to the Rustlands by myself and never got seriously injured even once on the way back. Huh, come to think of it……I didn't have to use my Healing Factor much during that journey, I mainly had to heal the injuries I got from overusing Karma, but no monster was able to significantly injure me……

  "Hey, what are those?" I was snapped out of my thoughts as Tonir cautiously spoke up, pointing ahead of us.

  I couldn't see anything, as I strained my eyes……the other three didn't seem to be seeing whatever he was pointing out.

  Wait……I think I see some figures approaching from a distance……he had been able to spot them from that far away? Do geckos have good eyesight? I have no idea, it's not like I ever took the time to research a common house pest of a lizard.

  "Hey, what do they look like?" I inquired at Tonir, as they were still too far away for me to see……at the current distance, they just looked like moving specks of white to me.

  "Uh……they seem to be……walking blocks of ice- oh, those must be Icemen!" He exclaimed, as he slightly strained his eyes to get a better look.

  This is where things get really tricky.

  The sun had nearly set at this point, the sky was crimson and rapidly darkening. Tonight was a full moon, so it wasn't going to be pitch dark, but it was still far from ideal lighting.

  I could now just about make out the shape of the Icemen walking towards us……there were three of them, and they were pretty slow moving.

  "Anyone got a barrier Spell Scroll? They'll likely start firing as soon as they're in range," I remarked, as Niski took out a scroll and handed it to me.

  Hm, looks like the standard, basic barrier you can readily buy at the Guild or in weapon stores.

  I stood in front and waited for them to get closer……

  I wanted to know how strong their ice projectiles were, the maximum range, and how fast they could fire them.

  I could now see them more clearly, they were about a hundred meters away now.

  They looked almost like training dummies, with their blank faces and the way their limbs were jointed.

  They got closer, and closer, and closer, before……

  Now!

  I activated the spell, as a wide, square wall barrier appeared in front of me, deflecting the fired ice needles that were shot from about fifty meters away. The barrage of icy projectiles ended after a few seconds.

  Those had slightly cracked the barrier.

  All three of them had fired……ranging from ten to fifteen projectiles each. I had a pretty good estimate of this type of barrier's durability, and I'd have to guess that……those projectiles had enough momentum to pierce bare human skin from about eighty meters away.

  A few seconds later, they fired again. The barrier cracked further, but didn't break. Looks like they have a sort of cooldown time……let's double check to make sure exactly how long it is.

  I deactivated the barrier before re-activating it again, so that its durability was restored. They fired again, having stopped moving forward, firing from about thirty meters away.

  "Hey, are we just going to stand here or-?" Tuck began impatiently.

  "Alright, it looks like they can each fire upto fifteen projectiles in one go……after that, they need at least ten seconds before they can fire again. I'll take out one of them. The rest of you, pair up……one will draw in the Iceman's fire, and as soon as its done firing and needs time to recover before firing again……the other person swoops in for the kill. Pair up however you like- oh, wait……you two are both from Group B, right? Alright, in that case……no pairing up with each other, that would defeat the purpose of this Quest."

  What……?

  While I didn't want to go on this Quest, let alone be in charge of it, I couldn't change the fact that I was, so……I wasn't going to half-ass it, it'd be a lot more troublesome if I got none or detrimental results instead of positive ones and had to explain what went wrong and whatnot.

  There were bound to be less questions and reporting afterwards if this whole thing just goes smoothly.

  Tonir paired up with Tuck, while Niski paired up with Lamasa.

  I shot towards the one in the middle using Lightning Boost, as it fired those ice needles at me. I swiftly jumped over the them, using my sword to deflect the ones I couldn't get over.

  It began to swing its icy arm across my head, but was way too slow. I slashed its head off before the arm could even get close to me. That felt weird……just like cutting a block of ice……

  that wasn't satisfying at all.

  As for how the others were doing……

  Tonir was drawing out the fire of the Iceman on the left, he managed to evade and deflect a few using his hammer, but two ice needles pierced his leg. Tuck then ran forward and as he neared the monster, he brought up two angled earth pillars on either side of it, crushing it between them.

  And to the right, Niski was running around to the monsters' right side, drawing out its ice projectiles in her direction. She managed to deflect almost all of them with her sword, as she missed one, but it only grazed her arm a bit. Lamasa then shot to its right, and without getting too close to it, blew out a large fireball at it, melting it into a puddle.

  She wasn't even trying to use her dagger anymore, making a clear effort to keep her distance from the monster.

  As Tonir pulled out the ice needles embedded in his leg with a grimace and healed himself, I glanced around at the others.

  Both Tonir and Niski had gotten minor injuries multiple times today, and the constant healing was starting to take its toll on their stamina. Lamasa was mentally drained for sure, and physically looked pretty exhausted too. Tuck appeared to be the least fatigued, but his breathing right now sounded a bit worn out too.

  I could keep going for a while still, but I suppose a chain is only as strong as its weakest links. Looks like we'd have to set up camp about an hour earlier than planned.

  We ran into a few more Icemen and a pack of Devilpenguins, and stopped after walking for a while longer, as we came across a small cave. It was about the size of a small room, and empty except for a few bugs. It was a bit cramped with five people, but it was good enough.

  It was only a little past 7 PM, but given how tired the others seemed to be, it might not be a bad idea to get a few extra hours of sleep before we head back in the morning.

  Hm, we definitely couldn't all go to sleep at the same time, so ideally, two of us would have to keep watch. Let's see……it'll be around 8 PM after we eat and whatnot, assuming we start sleeping from then till, say……6 AM, and divide those ten hours in two hour shifts……each person will have to keep watch twice, assuming we'd be keeping watch in pairs.

  I relayed the plan to the others, as we set up a fire outside the cave and ate our dinner.

  I then tore up a sheet of paper I got from Niski into five scraps and labeled them A, B, C, D and E. I then folded them up.

  "Alright, we'll keep watch in shifts of two people, for two hours per shift……it'll go AB, AC, CD, BE, and finally DE, for a total of ten hours. We'll randomly pick out the letters I folded up, and whichever letter you pick will determine which shift you'll be keeping watch it. For example, just to make it clear, whoever picks A will keep watch for the first four hours split with the two who picked B and C, and whoever picks E will have to keep watch for the last four hours split with the two who picked B and D."

  Since I folded the scraps, I picked last……and got A, meaning I'd be up for the first two shifts.

  I didn't really mind, and actually preferred it this way, since I still had plenty of stamina left, and besides, it meant that I'd be able to get six uninterrupted hours of sleep afterwards, assuming nothing major happens, fingers crossed……

  The person who picked out B and would be my partner during the first shift was……Lamasa.

  Fuck.

  C was Tonir, he'd be my partner during the second shift. Tuck was D and Niski was E.

  Ugh, whatever……let's just get this over with.

  As the others went to sleep, Lamasa and I positioned ourselves outside the cave, in front of the fire. I usually like to get a high vantage point when keeping watch, but the wind had picked up and it was freezing cold……I could bear the cold if I really needed to, but I really didn't want to.

  Tuck had raised a short wall of earth around the fire to keep the wind from putting it out, but I was barely feeling any heat from it with all this icy air blowing around.

  After a while, Lamasa started fidgeting uncomfortably.

  "I-I……I need to use the bathroom," She muttered irritably.

  O……kay? Why was she telling me? TMI, bitch.

  "And……? Just go behind that large rock or something," I replied in a bored tone, nodding towards a large, protruding rock several meters away.

  She didn't make any move though,

  continuing to fidget. Whatever, not my probl.

  "I, uh……don't want to be attacked by a monster or something while I'm……you know. I……could you……m-maybe stand guard or something?"

  Huh?

  Was she seriously asking me this right now?

  "Absolutely not. It's not even that far away……uh, just scream if something happens."

  "No, I……! I can't……please……," She mumbled desperately.

  Was she seriously so afraid that she was asking me, of all people, for help?

  Just the idea of helping her irritated me to my core, I know that I'm supposed to be responsible for keeping this group alive, but it was seriously infuriating to have to go out of my way to save and help this bitch.

  "God damn it……fine, but the next time I'm forced to help you, I'm just going to straight up kill you, got it!?" I growled, standing up reluctantly.

  I hated that I had to make an empty threat……I wasn't supposed to let her die, let alone kill her myself. Maybe once this is over, I'll get the loli to make me a spell that erases my memories of this painstaking day……

  She walked behind the rock, as I turned my back to it from about ten meters away and kept an eye out.

  About a minute later, she emerged from behind the rock.

  "Hmph……let's go back," She huffed, walking back to the cave.

  Not that I wanted one, but not even a 'thank you'? Bitch.

  Man, I hated her so much.

  As she walked past me and I began to take a step forward as well, I saw a hint of movement in front of her.

  Before I could say anything or warn her, something sprang out of the snow, its open jaw aiming for her neck……

  A fully white snake with icy blue eyes……a Snow Serpent? That can't be right……they weren't supposed to appear for several more dozens upon dozens of kilometers at least.

  No time to analyze……

  She let out a panicked shriek of pain as it sunk its fangs into her neck, before I slashed it in half, the monster disappearing as I killed it.

  I took out some wire and tied it around her neck, both above and below the bite, tightening it.

  It was bleeding a bit, but that wasn't the main problem……Snow Serpent venom freezes you from the inside out over the course of five or six hours, and if you don't get rid of it within the first ten minutes, you were as good as dead.

  Antidotes for the poison are relatively cheap and easy to find, but……we hadn't brought any since we hadn't expected to run into any of them. Reaching their territory by foot would take two days at the very least, and according to the intel in the Guild, they never stray too far from that area.

  We shouldn't even be anywhere close to that area though……

  I guess that doesn't matter right now, it won't change what happened……I had used my wire to stop the poison from spreading, but we don't have any antidote.

  "Th-that hurts……you're ch-choking me," She strained, as her expression paled.

  "No, I'm not……you should be able to breathe if you just calm down. And yeah, it might hurt, but it'll hurt a lot more if I loosen it and the poison spreads. Your call……if you want me to take off the wire, I have absolutely no qualms about letting you suffer and die," I responded coldly, as I weighed my options……

  do I really have no other choice but to suck out the poison?

  I could try waking one of the others, but then if they accidentally swallowed the poison, they'd be the ones in danger……I knew how to manually extract poison, and even if I messed up, I still had my Healing Factor.

  There was no guarantee that it would eradicate this poison, but hey, it did keep me from becoming a Zombie, so I doubt it'll have any problems against a slow-acting poison……

  I don't have a choice, do I?

  I can't waste any more time. I tied the wire to keep it fastened around her neck, and then used my hands to move the blood in the area between the two wire knots near the bite mark……the blood oozed out slowly, looks like it had already begun to coagulate……I need to hurry.

  She let out hisses of pain as I squeezed out all the semi-coagulated blood. Okay, now I need to make sure that there's no more poison.

  Ugh……here goes……

  I reluctantly moved my mouth towards the bite mark, positioning my tongue back inside my mouth so that I wouldn't accidentally swallow any of it.

  She let out what sounded like a stifled moan as I began to extract any remaining poison with my mouth……

  I'll ignore that, it was probably just my imagination……

  I then sucked out the remaining poison, spitting it out onto the snow. As I did, she inadvertently let out another stifled moan.

  "……could you maybe not make this weird? I'll kill you."

  "I can't help it, you fucking asshole……my neck is really sensitive!"

  I quickly finished up, her neck was pale with the amount of blood I had squeezed and sucked out……ugh, that sounds awful out of context.

  I removed the wire around her neck, the color returning to it as her normal blood flow resumed without restraint. The bite mark was bleeding slightly, but it was nothing major.

  As we headed back to the cave……

  "Hey, bitch."

  "Yes, I know……"

  "This never happened," We both agreed in unison.

  For the first time ever, we had finally agreed on something.

  Thankfully, nothing of note happened for the rest of the shift, the second shift soon began with Tonir replacing Lamasa. Finally, I'm rid of her, for now anyway.

  Nothing happened for the first hour or so, before Tonir noticed something……

  "Hey, is that blood on the snow over there?" He squinted, while pointing at a spot ahead of us.

  I followed his gaze……and internally groaned, that was where I had spat out Lamasa's poisoned blood. I should have thrown some snow over it or something, the wind had considerably died down.

  But before I could think of something to say, I heard a faint yet deep sound……

  What was that?

  It sounded almost like an echo……

  "Do you hear that?" I inquired, as I activated Lightning Boost, focusing it on improving my hearing as much as possible.

  "Hm? I don't think I hear anyth-," He began to reply, before cutting off as the echo grew louder.

  Those sounded like……footsteps? No, they were way too heavy……

  But what else could they be?

  As it grew closer and closer……I finally got a glimpse of the source.

  It was a few hundred meters away, but I could make out a large, white shape……

  I drew out my blades as it got closer. No way……is that a……?

  "This isn't possible!" Cried Tonir in shock, "These things aren't supposed to appear until we near Silvland, and we're nowhere even remotely close to it right now!"

  "And yet, here's one right now," I replied with a grimace, bracing myself as it continued to walk towards us with its footsteps shaking the ground, less than a hundred meters away now, "An Abominable Snowman."

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism! Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.