Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Simon hurried his steps and spread his senses all around him, now that his [Mental Map] skill was gone, he could only rely on his strengthened senses to detect any oddity around the surroundings.

The perpetual snow on the ground was so thick that a crunching sound echoed out whenever he took a step forward. His vision was blurred by the occasional snowstorm and gales. Simon tried avoiding places where there was an artic storm raging out and only walked in areas where the weather was fine.

Whenever he glanced at the distant gigantic storm, fear would grab hold of his body making him unable to breathe for a while. Even from this long distance, he could tell that his powerful Demon viscount body would be shredded into bits and drained of all of his strength once he was engulfed by that snowstorm.

It was not an exaggeration to say that the storm appeared just like a dull grey pillar of hurricane, a force of nature so powerful and terrible that you feel just like an ant in front of it.

Instinctively distancing himself from that storm, Simon searched for the mechanism all the while having his strength drained before coming to a sudden halt.

He looked at his left, right, front and back. His [Detect Presence] skill which had its range cut more than half after entering this snow region, alerted him of some presence that seemed to be drawing near him.

He strained his eyes and scanned the area all around him only to find nothing out of ordinary. However, Simon knew more than to ignore his instincts which had currently become extremely acute.

Whoosh… snow continued to fall unendingly, a chilling breeze brushed past his body. That was when some movements finally occurred, the thick glaciers beneath him, started trembling before a black shadow burst out from it. 

Fortunately, Simon who was on his guard, dodged the entity with a timely backflip and carefully observed the being from a distance.

The thing or rather the monster that came out from the glacier, was three meters tall, standing on its powerful hind legs, had a dorsal fin on its back, their sharp spiky tail was connected to a caudal fin.

When the being opened its mouth, more than one row of sharp incisive teeth, just like a shark, came into view. What distinguished the being was its red and black colour, at a glance the thing looked just like an orca.

Simon who had dodged the enemy's attack, used [Analysis] on it.

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Race:-Red Killer Orca

Level- 311

Skills- [Berserk], [Tail Axe], [Ultra Smooth Swim], [Enhanced Sensitivity], [Swift Water Slash], [Water Torpedo], [Hydro Blast], [Flame Magic resistance], [Enhanced Agility], [Enhanced strength]

Inherent Skills-  [Enhanced Deadly Jaws], [Predator Aura], [Slippery Body].

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The multitudes of skills that the enemy possessed, made Simon widen his eyes. The enemy was clearly a race that he had never seen in the ghastly winding forest and was on a level that even he couldn't look down on it.

To make matter worse, the being was clearly hostile to him and in this environment where his strength was continuously being chipped away, he decided it was better to escape from the enemy rather than fight it.

FLAP… with a push from his shoulders blades, a pair of magnificent bat-like wings came out from his back, utilising his [High-Speed Flight] swiftly opened a distance between him and his enemy.

Now that he was all alone, he did not have to keep the pretence of being a human. Along with the appearance of his wings, his looks also changed, the powerful appearance of a Demon Viscount was on full display.

FLAP…FLAP… 

After flying for a while, Simon landed on the snow-covered ground or rather the glacier and unfolded his wings. There were two reasons that made flying in this place an absolute stupidity.

First was that the rate at which the snow was falling on his body had increased marginally due to him flying at a high speed which made the effects of this place all the more apparent. The second was because he was flying at such speed even while restraining his flight skill, that he couldn't search the places for the mechanism at all.

Therefore he had no choice but to give up on his hope of using his [High-Speed Flight] Skill to scout the area faster. Just as Simon was frustrated at the absurdity of this place, his [Detect Presence] skill started acting out again and before long a scene that had happened not so long before, repeated again.

The Red Killer Orca that he had used his flight skill to open up a distance broke through the glacier and appeared in front of him again.

"You got to be kidding me, it has not even been five minutes since I left the place but it has already caught up to me?" he complained but there was no one to listen.

He utilised his flight skill once again but the Red Killer Orca was able to track him back once again. Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence and thrice is a pattern. Simon did not have to repeat it thrice to know that there was no way he would be able to escape it.

The Red Killer Orca clearly had a skill that allowed it to track him even from a few miles away. Thinking that there was no point in running, he decided to bite the bullet and defeat the enemy in front of him before anything else.

The Red Killer Orca seemed to perceive his intention and bared its sharp rows of teeth. Its powerful legs dug deep into the surface layer of the snow as it initiated its charge.

FWOOSH… just like a jet of water, its three-meter body was covered in water and it charged straight towards Simon like a torpedo. The momentum and power behind the attack of the Red Killer Orca was so great that Simon had no leisure to go easy on it.

Dodging the attack [Water Torpedo] with a quick sidestep, he invoked his [Lightning Magic Mastery] and quickly dished out lightning attacks on his opponent.

Thanks to his habit of using [Analysis] on his opponent, he was able to see that the being had the [Flame resistance] skill that made the flame magic that he was most proficient in, mostly ineffective. If not for that information, he would have mostly like opened this initiation with his flame magic.

In a situation where he couldn't depend on his flame magic, his efforts of evolving his Novice tier electro magic into Intermediate tier Lighting magic was finally paying off. Thick bolts of blue lightning clustered together to form a crude weird bolt and flew towards his opponent.

Perhaps it was the right choice to begin the attack with a Lightning Magic, the enemy's reaction to it surprised Simon.

KIEEEKK… recognising the danger, the Red Killer Orca dug deep into the snow and bore through the glacier and into the water below.

Its response to his attacks stunned him for a while before he came to a realisation. The Red Killer Orca although had resistance to Flame Magic due to it being an aquatic monster, its weakness was also obvious. It was weak to Electro attribute of mana. 

Simon stood still for a while, gobsmacked at the sudden turn of events. He who had thought that he would have to engage in an arduous battle, didn't expect the situation to turn 180° all of a sudden.

Anyways, now that his opponent had run away, he could now search for the mechanism with an ease of mind.

High up above the sky, a woman of ethereal beauty could be seen looking down at the snow-covered land below. Her hands were crossed above her bounteous chest and her tangerine eyes examined a certain figure down below.

A transparent circular shield that was difficult to spot with normal eyes encased her within and blocked every single snowflake from touching her body. The thick arctic clouds behind her, even seemed to be afraid of her.

"From their appearance, they resemble the Demon Spirit Orca race who are one of the members of the sea tribes. So does that mean that this island is hidden near the Chaotic Sea Continent? If so then why did those sleepy old farts didn't say anything about it?" Lucine muttered to herself.

From the dubious look in her eyes, it could be seen that even she was amazed by the appearance of the Red Killer Orca.

"Anyways, I didn't expect him to have also mastered lightning magic! No wonder that fellow ran away. However, if he thinks that the matter has been settled, then he is up for some surprise. It has almost been one hour, the effects of this place should soon be taking effect".

Down at a certain corner of the snowy land, multiple figures could be seen entangling and encircling a person in the middle. From the intermittent muffled booms and the breaking down of the glaciers, one could see that this group was currently engaged in a battle.

Simon took hurried breaths and stabilised his breathing, at this moment he was surrounded by four Red Killer Orcas radiating a bloodthirsty aura. The Red Killer Orca that he had thought fled away after he displayed his Lightning magic, came back but this time brought multiple of its comrades along with it.

Each of them were around level 310-320 and their skills were mostly the same. Two of the Red Killer Orcas behind him used their skills [Water Torpedo] which swiftly covered their bodies in a layer of water and came barrelling towards him in a pincer.