Gray circled the Elder Louse at a distance, watching the way its violet light pulsed with each breath-like shift of its shell. The ice wall had reformed completely, a jagged barrier of black-frosted crystal that floated between them like a shield given form.
’It’s not just guarding,’ Gray said. ’That wall is tied to its mana. It’s part of the creature.’
Cindy’s voice came, tense but focused. "Then if you break it, you hurt the louse too?"
’Maybe, or maybe it just makes another one.... I need to test it.’
He fired Riptide Slash far to the left. The crescent blade curved wide, trying to flank. The Elder Louse shifted, and the ice wall moved with it, sliding through the water to intercept.
[RIPTIDE SLASH — BLOCKED]
’It can reposition the barrier,’ Gray muttered. ’What a pain.’
He tried again, this time from above. Gray rose high, his bell angling downward as he gathered water into a narrow crescent. He released it with a sharp pulse. The Riptide Slash struck dead center and stopped again.
[RIPTIDE SLASH — BLOCKED]
’And it tracks my position, It’s like a shield with a mind of its own.’
"Then aim where it can’t block," Cindy said. "Below you, under the ice."
’Subterranean Ambush... but that puts me right in its frost aura.’
"Not if you use your own barrier, I can layer one over you. It won’t stop the cold completely, but it’ll buy you a second or two."
’A second is plenty.’
Gray shot downward. He hit the sand and burrowed deep, his body cutting through the frozen sediment like a blade through old ice. The cold pressed in, biting at his bell, but the barrier Cindy had wrapped around him held, a thin shell of silver-blue warmth in the frozen dark.
[FLOW STATE — ACTIVATED]
[SUBTERRANEAN AMBUSH — ACTIVATED]
He erupted beneath the Elder Louse with all the force he could muster. The creature’s frost aura flared, and for one agonizing instant, the water around them turned solid. But the barrier held just long enough.
Gray’s serrated bell slammed into the Elder’s unarmored underside.
[SUBTERRANEAN AMBUSH — 78 DAMAGE]
[ELDER GLACIAL MOSS LOUSE — HP: 342 / 420]
[STUN — 2 SECONDS]
The Elder Louse shrieked, a sound like glaciers splitting. Its ice wall shattered, shards spinning into the dark. Its violet light flickered wildly, and its body convulsed, legs scrabbling against the empty water.
’Now!’
He wrapped his tentacles around the creature’s shell, ignoring the numbing cold that seeped through his barbs. Grip Jaw locked on, and he squeezed.
[GRIP JAW — 30 DAMAGE]
[GRIP JAW — 32 DAMAGE]
[ELDER GLACIAL MOSS LOUSE — HP: 280 / 420]
The Elder’s aura surged. Ice crystals formed along Gray’s tentacles, crawling up his limbs like living frost. His movements slowed and his grip weakening as the cold ate into his flesh.
[-24 HP]
[FROSTBITE — 5 damage over 4 seconds]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 938 / 980]
’It’s trying to freeze me to death.’
Cindy’s voice cut through. "You can’t stay close! It’s exactly what the creature wants!"
He knew she was right. Every second in that aura was a second of his body turning against him. But if he let go, the Elder would retreat behind another wall, and he’d be back to square one.
’Then I’ll just have to end it before it ends me.’
He charged Cavitation Pulse and fired point-blank into the creature’s side. The blast of superheated water struck the Elder’s frost-encrusted shell, and for a split second, steam exploded between them.
[CAVITATION PULSE — 62 DAMAGE]
[ELDER GLACIAL MOSS LOUSE — HP: 218 / 420]
The Elder screamed. Its violet light burst bright, and the water around it crystallized into a cage of jagged ice. Gray barely tore free, his tentacles snapping away just before the ice could seal around him.
But not before a shard caught him across the bell.
[-32 HP]
[LACERATION — 4 damage over 5 seconds]
[GRAY ASHFORD — HP: 906 / 980]
He tumbled back, trailing dark fluid into the frozen water. The Elder Louse floated in the center of its ice cage, its shell cracked, its violet light pulsing with wounded fury.
"What now?" Cindy asked, her voice strained.
Gray watched the creature, reading its movements through the shifting ice. The cage was thick, but it was also still, the Elder was focusing its mana on defense now, not offense. It was trying to recover.
And that gave Gray an idea.
’Cindy... can you bend your barrier? Curve it around the ice and trap the heat inside?’
"What do you mean?"
’I mean I want you to make a dome around that thing, seal it tight. Then I’ll pump it full of steam.’
Cindy didn’t answer right away. Then she murmured, "You want to cook it."
’Bingo!’
She let out a small, breathless laugh. "You’re insane... I’ll do it."
The locket flared. Silver-blue light poured from Gray’s side and surged through the water, wrapping around the Elder’s ice cage in a shimmering dome. The creature’s violet light faltered, its legs twitching.
’Now, let’s see how you like a sauna.’
Gray pressed his bell against the outer edge of the barrier and fired Cavitation Pulse directly into the enclosed space. The superheated jet struck the inner wall and flooded the dome with boiling steam. The ice cage cracked, then shattered in the sudden heat. The Elder thrashed inside the dome, its frost aura fighting the rising temperature.
[CAVITATION PULSE — 64 DAMAGE]
[CAVITATION PULSE — 60 DAMAGE]
The water inside the dome turned to scalding vapor, and the Elder’s shrieks grew thin and desperate.
Then Overcharge.
Gray pressed both tentacles against the barrier and released everything.
[OVERCHARGE — 94 DAMAGE]
[ELDER GLACIAL MOSS LOUSE — HP: 0 / 420]
[ELDER GLACIAL MOSS LOUSE DEFEATED — 880 EXP]
The Elder’s violet light died in an instant. Its body went still inside the dome, steam still curling from the cracks in its shell. Cindy let the barrier fall, and the creature drifted out, its once-proud shell scarred and blackened.
Gray hovered there, breathing hard, frost still clinging to his tentacles.
’You were tough,’ he said quietly. ’But heat beats ice.’
[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Frost-Touched Chitin" (5/5)]
[Trait Complete! Frost-Touched Chitin will be available as an evolution option at Level 40.]
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