Supreme Monarch

Dohel was stunned the moment he felt his body temperature being lowered at a rapid pace. The only reason he had not taken any actual damage was because of the cold resistance gear he had on him at the moment. However, his body had still stiffened up slightly which had distracted him for a brief moment, and in a battle against wild beasts like these, one could not afford any lapses in their concentration.

The frost salamander in front of him took the opportunity and charged at him with its jaws wide open, aiming to rip Dohel's outstretched arm off.

As Dohel prepared to face the beast, his peripheral vision caught sight of the two other frost salamanders by either side of him, as they broke free from both the dark vines that bound it and the other was able to escape the barrage of arrows that had pinned it down.

They both ignored their attackers and launched at him simultaneously. Their movements— albeit a tad slower than the one in front of him— still matched the monster's bite attack and he was now almost surrounded by three frost salamanders.

With the length and weight of his greatsword, he would be at a disadvantage if the monsters get too close, and without the help of his party members behind him, he would be unable to face all three monsters at once.

°Vokan's Smash.°

Taking a huge step back, Dohel immediately activated a skill and slammed his greatsword into the snow covered earth. Instantly, the snow around him melted away. The powerful impact sent the frost salamander in front of him tumbling back and created a large dent in the earth.

Cracks flowing with magma spread out on the ground around him, creating a type of domain as the temperature inside began to skyrocket.

The two frost salamanders that charged at him from the sides had finally entered his range. Their bodies instantly began to slow down and before he knew it, their speed had been reduced by more than 50%. The first salamander that had been sent tumbling back a little had already recovered and charged back at Dohel. However, it quickly came to a stop right before the 10-meter radius wide Vokan's domain around him.

Several other frost salamanders that were still far away opened their jaws and blasted another wave of freezing blast at him. However, due to the massive change in temperature inside his temporary domain, their attacks barely had any effects on him.

"Darn it! I can't believe I had to use this so early. What on Neron is going on."

Breathing heavily, Dohel grumbled under his breath before using the chance to launch an attack at the slowed-down monsters in front of him. While he was already low on stamina, he still needed to end this quickly. Pushing himself, he immediately used another skill and swung his weapon at the two monsters at his sides.

°Lightning Fangs.°

As he skillfully swung his weapon at them, two streaks of light sliced cleanly through them like hot knife through butter. Dohel's breathing got heavier as he began to sweat profusely. He used the little time he had bought himself to scan the surroundings and get a clear picture of what was happening.

"What the f—"

His eyes went wide as he finally understood what had happened. There were about fifteen more frost salamanders that had somehow come up from the ground behind them and launched a surprise attack.

The information they had bought had only mentioned that there would always be around 30 frost salamanders moving together around this time of the year and most likely living in a cave. It had mentioned their strange attraction to heat even though they were weak to fire. They were also very susceptible to crowd control.

There had been nothing about an ability to dig much less the cunning to think of ambushing their targets. "Tsk." Dohel clicked his tongue in annoyance. This was the absolute worst situation they could forcibly find themselves in this early into the journey.

He turned his head to look at Kylyra who was still engaged in a battle against six or seven frost salamander. Her weapon sent the monsters tumbling back but almost immediately, another one would take its place and slashed its claws at her. Their strength was no joke and she would lose her balance if she didn't properly defend against it.

Although she still held the advantage, she was unable to reduce their numbers at all. The scales on the bodies of these creatures were incredibly hard in the cold and they also had crazy high durability against most attacks.

The only reason they had been able to kill so many of them was because they had been able to use the monster's weakness of fire to their advantage. However, Kylyra did not have any fire-type skills and therefore would have to slowly whittle the health of the enemy down.

Normally, it would be Dohel's job to assist her so she doesn't get overwhelmed but things had quickly gone awry. He turned his head and saw several more frost salamanders attacking Larut and the twins. If he were to let that continue, Kylyra would be in trouble without Anne's spells to back her up.

Larut fired arrows after arrows at the rapidly approaching frost salamanders but was barely able to penetrate their skin. Without the enchantment on the magic arrows he had used earlier, it would seem like it was impossible to kill these things with his crossbow.

Their speed was also impressive and their snake-like bodies allowed for nimble movements. One of the frost salamanders quickly closed the distance between them and lunged at him with open jaws.

"Dark Vine Hostage."

Dark vines shot out of the ground and wrapped around the monster that was already in the air about to bite his head off. Larut was a little startled but his experience with situations like this allowed him to quickly recover and draw out the short blade by his waist.

°Incise Flaming Burst.°

His blade moved like a surgical instrument and in one fluid motion, he sliced several strange markings into the dangling creature. The moment he was done he spun around and kicked the monster off the air, sending it flying back as it slammed into another frost salamander.

Boom!

Like a ticking time bomb, the monster immediately exploded upon impact, taking the life of the second monster with it. Anne took the chance to focus back on Kylyra and Aine used another spell, this time on Dohel who was on the verge of collapse.

"Invigorate."

A surge of renewed energy surge within Dohel as his breathing instantly became better as he recovered a bit of his stamina. There were about twenty Frost salamanders still alive on the battlefield and the ones Kylyra was facing had suddenly increased to ten.

Dohel knew the party would be in trouble if he didn't do something. For all he knew, a few frost salamanders might've sneaked behind them to attack the carriage and if they had hired a normal Merchant, this whole journey might've gone down the drain only a few hours into it.

"Aine, buy me some time!"

"Okay."

Dohel adopted a different fighting stance and his aura slowly but steadily increase. Standing still amid such a battle was obviously not a good idea and even monsters like the frost salamanders wouldn't miss such an opportunity to attack.

However, Anne was already done double-casting her spells. 

"Dark Arrow Rain."

Being a witch, Aine didn't have as many offensive and even enhancement spells as her sister. However, the spells she had were all high-leveled spells and as a witch — she could use several mediums and methods in increasing the strength of her spells.

Bringing out a wooden doll from her pouch, she simultaneously cast a second spell, almost at the same time as the first.

"Cursed Puppet."

Arrows made purely out of dark energy materialize in the air and fell like a devastating storm on the area above Dohel, who remained unmoving. Anne, who was serving as support for Kylyra at the moment, also chimed in and cast a defensive spell on Dohel in a timely manner.

"Magic Shield." 

A translucent blue shield materialize above Dohel and serve as protection from Aine's wide-range attack. Most of the frost salamanders were bombarded with dark arrows but none of them received any fatal wounds. Their durability was just that high.

At the same time as the Dark arrows fell, Aine broke her wooden puppet in half and three of the frost salamanders closest to her drop dead. Their backs mysteriously twisted in a weird posture.

Having completed his charge, Dohel lowered his stance and lunged at the ten frost salamanders that had surrounded Kylyra. Larut and Aine could keep the others at bay for a few minutes while he assisted Kylyra in dispatching of those ten so they could focus on the ones behind.

°Volcanic Blade Dance.°

His steps were like that of a volcanic eruption and the ground he stepped on slowly melted into liquid magma. His movements were as swift as the wind yet it was also as chaotic like a storm. And then, faster than even that, he swung the greatsword in his hands. The flashing blade left a reddish afterimage in its wake as it cleaved through the air.

The swing were such an astonishing one, that it made an impression on Tyler's mind as his interest was piqued and he felt that watching this from the side was finally worth it.

As Dohel swung his sword in a warrior's dance, his heated blade cleaved through the bodies of the frost salamanders with ease as Kylyra began sending the monsters flying in his direction with her heavy blows.

The battle only went on like this for about one minute before all ten frost salamanders were dead on the ground. Either missing their heads or their bodies were cleanly cut in half. 

Dohel smiled and gave a nod to Kylyra who didn't seem to be tired or even had a scratch on her. He knew she had the racial skill that allowed her to heal herself and she could even convert food to energy so she had a massive amount of stamina but with him panting like a pig, he couldn't help but be embarrassed.

Kylyra immediately shot out towards the frost salamanders that were being held back by Larut and Aine as Anne also tried to support them as well. As Dohel tried to follow Kylyra just like always, he suddenly lost control of his legs and fell. Anne switch her target for support and tried to heal him, but he was more mentally drained so healing spells would not help much.

As Dohel was forced out of commission by the strain he had put on himself earlier. The battle between the remaining four members of his party and the frost salamanders went on for some time without and the group was barely able to retain the advantage when something suddenly changed.

••••••••••

Seeing the party struggle without Dohel's fire abilities to finish off the highly durable monsters. Tyler couldn't help but sigh deeply as he watched the show from the distant carriage. A few frost salamanders would also occasionally slip by them to attack the carriage but that was a mistake they could live with as Nadine would immediately eliminate the monsters with a single lightning spell.

A spell Tyler hadn't even known she could use to begin with. Then again he had probably seen it on the list Albert had prepared for him back then but had simply ignored the information as it hadn't been of any significance at the time.

Several series of events unfolded, and with the battle dragging on longer than he had expected, Tyler finally felt it was time to put an end to it and as luck would have it, he was blessed with the perfect opportunity to make his move.

"While this was a little educational, it's about time to put an end to it wouldn't you agree?"

Raising his right arm up slightly he stirred the chaotic mana within him and cast a spell:

"Overtier magic - Flaming Arrows."