Back in Jay and Kesar's cold makeshift base, the two were either looking for ways to improve the elemental zone or discussing how they would act should any monsters appear.
"So, just by them coming into the elemental zone range, the icy mana will slow their movements instantly...? That sounds pretty strong." Jay said after listening to Kesar's brief explanation.
Although most mages of the elemental magic branch could set up zones according to the element they were proficient in, the effects of these zones differed according to the element used, regardless of the mage's strengthening effect, which was something all zones shared.
In the case of frost magic, it had the effect of applying a passive freeze to any target that came within range the elemental zone, and this only got worse the closer one got to the center.
"Unless we run into a rank (B-) monster, then we've basically already passed the test." Kesar added confidently, whose appearance had changed slightly, having some ice in both his hair and clothes.
The ice had begun to form after the surroundings had completely finished freezing over, with the trees and ground in the surrounding area completely covered by a layer of ice that while it wasn't thick, it also wasn't thin by any means.
While this might seem dangerous to Kesar, possibly ending up just like the time he froze his arm after using the "Frost Needle" spell, according to him, this was only a consequence of having a high affinity for the element of ice and it wouldn't harm him.
Anyway, what Kesar said was true, now that he had already formed his elemental zone, there would be very few monsters that would be able to cause him trouble, this was even more the case if one took into account that he also had Jay as a reinforcement.
'And yet... it still seems rather lacking...' Kesar thought, observing his surroundings.
Although to Jay the elemental zone seemed like a job well done and a fairly secure defense, to Kesar, this could really only be considered something done by a rookie, though of course he didn't show this distrust to Jay.
The reason he thought so was due to the fact that he had already seen what a "real" ice elemental zone looked like, and it was nothing like the one he had just set up.
Coming from a family of mages who specialized in the elemental branch, the most common elements used being ice and water, he had been exposed to a lot of spells of these elements from a young age.
Among them, the spell that had captivated him the most had undoubtedly been the "Tundra", something that only one person in his entire family could achieve, his older brother, a powerful and incredibly talented rank (B) mage.
At the thought of the "Tundra" spell, what came to Kesar's mind were landscapes filled entirely with snow and frost, the product of an endless blizzard that froze anything it came in contact with, and in the midst of that frozen hell, only one man stood within a complex magic circle, around him huge icicles of ice that put the spell "Frost Neddle" to shame.
With such a motivational figure near him, combined with Keser's proud and hard-working personality, had resulted in him focusing entirely on elemental ice magic despite having more talent towards the water element, even so, he managed to achieve the rank (C-) mage status at the young age of 19.
Unfortunately, it was for those very reasons that despite acting in a confident manner, there was a taint within him, a mixture of different negative emotions such as the fear of not being good enough, the envy he felt towards his brother, among several other things.
"Haa..." Kesar let out a breath and shook his head, removing those thoughts from his head, "Anyway, we're safe."
"Hm...?"
The moment Kesar finished saying that, Jay suddenly turned in the direction of the creek due to the fact that his radar seemed to have detected something, though the signal had been somewhat faint and it quickly disappeared.
As for Kesar, although he also had some detection system inherent to his elemental zone, it paled in comparison to Jay's radar, so he couldn't notice anything special.
However, just as Jay was about to move a little closer to the creek so that his radar could truly detect if there was anything inside, suddenly the entire stream of water was filled with the same life sign he had sensed in the lake.
"Get away from the creek!" Shouted Jay quickly as he figured out what was going on.
"!"
Barely a second after Jay shouted his warning, at least four transparent tentacles shot out from the creek, targeting the prey closest to them, Kesar.
Fortunately, thanks to Jay's warning, Kesar was able to cast a hasty basic freeze spell just in time as he moved away from the stream, the spell transformed the tip of two tentacles into ice, as for the other two, they were slowed down.
"What?!" Kesar said, shocked by what he had just seen.
His surprise was to be expected, after all, even though he had only used a basic spell, with the reinforcement of his elemental zone, it should have been enough to freeze them completely, but the reality showed that the effect was much less than expected.
*Crack*
With the sound of ice being broken, the tentacles broke free from their ice prison, then, the four tentacles stopped chasing Kesar as he was too far away now, instead, they regrouped in the stream, from which the same monster they had escaped from several hours ago was emerging, the Aqugas snake.
'It seems that it managed to found us...' Thought Jay, who had also moved farther away from the creek.
However, unlike the huge and intimidating snake that was over 15 meters long and whose thick body was composed of bones from different monsters they remembered, now its appearance had changed, with its body being much thinner but increasing in length and several patches of bluish scales surrounding its slender body, giving it a much more snake-like shape.
Still, even though it was no longer as large as before, the danger Jay and Kesar could feel from being in front of the current Aqugas snake was much greater than before.
"No way... this thing actually developed a resistance to cold?!" Shouted Kesar in surprise as he observed the bluish scales in the snake's body.
Although he wasn't an expert on monster snakes, he could recognize if a certain object or living being had some sort of resistance to cold, especially when the origins of that resistance were magical, as was the case with the snake's 'scales'.
'Sh*t, this is bad...' Kesar thought after feeling that a small amount of mana was emanating from each of those scales.
If it had been a resistance developed simply from being born in a cold environment, the effects of his spells wouldn't lose much power either. However, the resistance the scales had were completely different, as it was not simply resistance to cold, but a specific resistance towards ice magic.
Against something like this, his spells, despite being enhanced by his elemental zone, would undoubtedly be seriously affected.
Thinking about this, Kesar's expression soured at the same time as a feeling of bitterness began to fill his insides, regretting having used the 'Frost Needle' spell against the snake.
"Even if it's resistant, your spells can still affect it, right?!" shouted Jay suddenly, who had moved to stand in front of Kesar, facing the snake.
Having been brought back to reality, Kesar replied, "Only to a certain extent, besides, I won't be able to freeze it completely like before. In fact, I don't think the slowing effect will be as effective either... not to mention that..."
Jay then, noticing that his tone lacked confidence and that he was getting flustered, looked at him for a second before quickly reaching over and smacking him on both cheeks with some force.
*Bam!*
"Ouch! What are you doing?!" Kesar asked, his cheeks a little red from the hit he had just received.
"Is freezing him the only way you can use your ice magic?"
"...Ah."
Immediately, the realization hit Kesar.
Just then, the snake again launched several tentacles towards both of them, this time with more strength and speed than before.
"Make a wall in front, quick!"
Heeding Jay, Kesar quickly cast a basic ice spell in front of them, blocking the tentacles' path for a moment.
"Don't stop, we have to prevent it from getting too close to us!"
Unlike Kesar, who had been having second thoughts seeing that the snake developed a resistance to cold, Jay had already been thinking of ways in which they could deal with the snake.
Although the snake's resistance meant that several plans they talked about could no longer be used, it wasn't as if the strengthening Kesar received from establishing his elemental zone had disappeared.
In the process of talking about facing monsters, Kesar had showed him that his spells, even the most basic of them had improved in quality, allowing him to not simply create large chunks of ice, but even being able to shape them, just as he was doing just now.
Without pausing for a second, Kesar kept casting the same ice spell over and over again, creating a long ice wall of about 6 meters high and 10 meters long that separated them from the Aqugas snake.
While it wouldn't be enough to stop it indefinitely, it would at least buy them some time, and that would be enough for Jay to come up with a more concrete plan.
"Listen, we won't be able to beat the snake in a head to head confrontation, the difference in strength is too wide." Jay said hurriedly, watching to see if any tentacles made it through the top of the ice wall.
The snake's specialty might be drowning its victims, however, that didn't mean that was its only strength, as they had seen firsthand earlier how the snake had managed to take down trees as easily as if it was just taking a simple stroll through the woods.
That coupled with the risk that they could be caught being close to their main body made getting close a definite no, so Jay thought of something different.
"Fortunately, right now we have an indisputable advantage... and that is that the snake no longer has the terrain advantage!"
Hearing his words, Kesar couldn't help but agree with him.
As special as it was, the Aqugas snake was still a water-dependent monster, even now that it had become considerably more difficult to deal with, it still had to use the stream to get around.
"Even if it can store water in its body and use it as a reserve, if we don't let it have contact with the stream, it won't last long, then it will become a combat of attrition, and that's when we'll have a chance."
Judging by what he had just said, it was quite obvious that Jay's goal was to defeat the snake, something he believed quite possible with the help of Kesar's amplified spells.
Although they could also escape at this very moment, he preferred to leave that option as a last resort, after all, they hadn't spent all afternoon preparing this place to simply abandon it when problems arose.
At the thought of facing the Aqugas snake, Kesar hesitated for a moment, but his doubts were crushed by a feeling of determination that arose within him.
"Alright, let's do it!" He said.
*CRACK!*
Suddenly, the ice wall cracked, the head of the Aqugas snake appearing between a large crack that had appeared in the middle.
At the same time as the snake emerged from the wall, several pieces of gelatinous mass fell from its body, turning into several small snakes which launched themselves towards the two of them.
"Come on then, you know what to do!" Jay shouted to Kesar as he turned to face the snakes, "I'll give you a few minutes so you can freeze the stream, when you're done, it would be best if you attack the snake from behind!"
"Okay, got it!"
After that exchange, they both started moving, Jay to intercept the small snakes and Kesar running in the opposite direction to avoid the main body of the snake and get towards the creek.
Thus, the second battle between the wizard and esper team against the Aqugas snake began!
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