(Arin's POV)
"Operation commenced."
My whisper was swallowed by the roaring blizzard. Yet, the killing intent it carried seemed to freeze the surrounding air far colder than any ice magic could ever achieve.
Inside this deadly Whiteout, where visibility was absolute zero and sound was heavily distorted by the howling wind, verbal communication was an impossibility. But we needed no words. We already had a plan.
And the first trigger was the red-haired girl who was absolutely obsessed with speed.
"Rose! Nine o'clock to three o'clock!" I shouted with all my might, utilizing the Aura Voice breathing technique to pierce through the wall of wind. "Zig-zag! Be a rabbit!"
There was no verbal reply. But I felt a sharp displacement of air on my left side.
Rose Carlos did not hesitate in the slightest. She might not be able to see the enemy, but she trusted my instructions completely.
Amidst the dense white storm, a red flash darted forward. Rose did not run in a straight line. She bounced from tree trunks to rocks, creating a chaotic and confusing movement pattern. She deliberately caused a racket. Her feet stomped the ground hard, shattering the silent rhythm the Sigma had meticulously built.
"Over here, Ugly Dog!" shouted Rose. Her voice was shrill and highly provocative. She picked up a chunk of ice and hurled it carelessly toward the direction where she assumed the monster was lurking. "Catch me if you can!"
Grrrr!
A low, menacing growl rumbled from within the fog.
The baiting strategy worked perfectly. Sigma was an apex predator. Its hunting instincts simply could not tolerate a prey running so conspicuously right under its nose. Its attention was instantly diverted. It forgot about me for a moment, neglected the silent threat, and chose to chase the fast-moving target instead.
The air pressure shifted. A massive bulk moved in pursuit of Rose, unknowingly herding itself right into the center of the slaughter zone we had prepared.
"It walked right into the trap," I hissed.
Now it was the support team's turn.
"Erika! Illuminate the sky!"
On the other side of the arena, Erika, who had been kneeling to endure the freezing cold, immediately stood tall. She knew her offensive magic would be utterly useless against Sigma's mirrored fur. Therefore, she did not aim at the enemy.
She aimed straight for the sky.
Erika raised her staff straight upward. The tip of the staff shone blindingly, gathering all her remaining mana into one dense, concentrated point.
First Circle Magic: Mana Flash (Stacked).
Not just one, but ten layers of light magic were stacked into a single entity.
BOOM!
A sphere of light exploded above the forest canopy, piercing the blizzard like a newly born miniature sun. The intensity of the light was so overwhelming that the shadow of every single snowflake became clearly visible.
The world that was previously blindingly white now possessed stark contrast.
And right in the middle of that snowy field, a giant black shadow was printed clearly on the white floor.
The shadow of the Sigma Direwolf.
It was leaping, its body elongated in mid-air, ready to pounce on Rose who was running just ahead of it. Its position was completely exposed.
"Elena! Freeze its landing zone!"
Elena did not need to see the monster directly. She only needed to look at its shadow on the ground.
The noble girl slammed her magic staff into the earth with chilling precision.
Second Circle Magic: Permafrost.
The magic did not spread wildly. It traveled rapidly across the ground's surface, aiming precisely beneath the shadow of the descending Sigma. The soft, gripping snow instantly transformed into a layer of clear, incredibly slippery glass-like ice. Its friction coefficient was absolute zero.
THUMP!
Sigma's front paws landed on that ice. It expected the grip of the earth to continue its deadly sprint.
But what it received was a total lack of footing.
SKIIIID!
Its front legs slipped wildly forward. Its hind legs, attempting to frantically regain balance, slid out to the sides.
The King of the Mountain lost all its dignity. The massive two-ton body was thrown off balance, its belly crashing hard onto the icy floor, and it slid uncontrollably due to the sheer momentum of its own sprint.
"Now! Lock it down!"
From behind a large boulder on the right side, a black shadow darted out.
Celia Alphine.
The iron maiden did not scream. She conserved her breath for raw power. In her hands, the giant Halberd spun rapidly.
Celia did not target the neck or the torso. She aimed specifically for Sigma's hind leg, which was kicking the air desperately in an attempt to find footing.
Celia reversed her weapon. She did not use the axe blade to cut, but utilized the curved steel hook on the back of the weapon.
CLANG!
That hook snagged perfectly onto the Achilles tendon of Sigma's right hind leg.
"Stop right there!" growled Celia.
She did not try to pull it with just her muscles. That would be foolish. She would simply be dragged along and overpowered.
Celia dropped her body low, then drove the shaft of her spear deep into a crevice in the rocky ground, turning the Halberd into a dead peg. She used her own body weight and the very structure of the earth as an anchor.
JOLT!
Sigma's tendon cable pulled taut. Its sliding momentum was forcibly halted by Celia's improvised anchor. The monster roared in shock as its leg was firmly locked, leaving it trapped in a highly awkward prone position.
However, Sigma was not defeated just yet.
It was a high-tier monster. Pain only made it infinitely more savage.
The wolf's massive head snapped around toward Celia. Its eyes burned a vibrant red, overflowing with pure hatred. Its jaws opened wide, revealing rows of teeth capable of crushing solid steel. Its lungs expanded drastically, inhaling a massive amount of air.
I saw it from a distance. Mana gathered rapidly in its throat. The air vibrations began to distort violently in front of its mouth.
Sonic Roar.
If it unleashed that roar right now, Celia's internal organs would be pulverized into mush. Her eardrums would shatter, and her brain would liquefy. Rose, who was standing nearby, would also perish instantly.
The distance was too great. I did not have enough time to reach them.
"Celia! Let go!" I shouted.
But Celia was incredibly stubborn. She refused to release her anchor. She chose death over letting that monster break free.
"Kars! Gag it!"
It was an absolutely insane command. An order that could only be given to someone who was fully prepared to die.
And Kars Benzzi, he had been ready since the very night he betrayed his own brother.
From a tree branch right above Sigma's head, a heavily armored figure went into a free fall.
Kars did not carry a weapon. He had discarded his Black Mace.
He turned his own body into the weapon.
"Shut... your mouth!"
Kars fell directly in front of Sigma's gaping snout. He did not attempt to dodge. Instead, he thrust his left arm, clad in thick plate armor, straight into the monster's open mouth.
CRUNCH!
The sound of denting metal and cracking bones echoed horrifyingly.
Sigma's jaws clamped shut reflexively. Those dagger-sharp fangs pierced right through Kars's steel armor, tore deep into his flesh, and embedded themselves firmly into his forearm bones.
Fresh blood spurted heavily, drenching the wolf's silver snout.
"ARGHHHHH!"
Kars screamed. The agonizing pain surely surpassed the absolute limits of human sanity. His arm was literally being chewed alive.
Yet, Sigma's roar failed completely.
The Sonic Roar that was supposed to blow Celia's head off was now trapped in its throat, entirely muffled by Kars's arm. The sound only came out as a pathetic, vibrating gurgle.
Sigma tried to thrash its head wildly to throw Kars off.
But Kars refused to let go.
Kars's eyes changed drastically. His pupils shrank, and the blood vessels in his eyes burst until his sclera turned a terrifying blood red. His neck muscles tensed rigidly.
The Old Blood. The power of the Benzzi bloodline. The Conversion of Pain into Physical Strength.
The more agonizing pain he felt, the infinitely stronger his grip became.
Kars used his right hand to embrace Sigma's upper snout, then locked his position by hanging his entire body weight onto the monster's neck.
"You... will not... hurt... my friend!" growled Kars between his agonizing screams.
The monster was now totally locked down.
Its leg was anchored by Celia. Its footing was rendered frictionless by Elena. Its vision was blinded by Erika. And its mouth was gagged by Kars's brutal sacrifice.
This was the moment.
A single one-second window bought with the blood and broken bones of my friends.
I stood ten meters in front of them.
My world fell utterly silent.
I no longer felt the agonizing pain in my dislocated shoulder or my shattered ribs. I did not feel the freezing bite of the blizzard.
I only saw two specific target points.
The heart in the left chest. The heart in the right hip.
"You all have done your jobs flawlessly," I whispered coldly. "Now it is my turn to be the surgeon."
My hand brushed against the dial on the Feather-Touch glove.
I turned it all the way to the absolute limit. To the point where its internal circuits might very well catch fire.
Mode: Zero Weight (Full Body).
My body instantly became as light as a photon of light.
Then, I cranked the valve inside my chest. Piston Heart.
No longer Senior Aura. I forced my heart to pump with a forbidden, suicidal rhythm. A rhythm that would violently tear my own blood vessels apart if I maintained it for more than a single second.
Minimum Professional Aura.
Heat.
It felt exactly like swallowing the sun itself. My blood boiled furiously. Red steam hissed violently from my pores.
"Shatter."
BOOM!
The ground beneath my feet did not merely crack; it exploded into a deep crater.
I shot forward.
My speed shattered the sound barrier. A small sonic boom erupted behind me, blasting snow violently in all directions.
In a thousandth of a second, I arrived right beside Sigma's left chest.
First Strike: The Stake.
I gripped the Adamantium sword with both hands. I did not attempt to slash. I thrust straight forward.
STAB!
The sword pierced smoothly between Sigma's ribs. It tore through the thick flesh, punctured the lungs, and drove perfectly into the dead center of its first heart.
The tip of the sword penetrated all the way through to its back.
Sigma convulsed violently.
The regeneration from its second heart activated instantly, attempting to pump massive amounts of mana to close the fatal wound and push my sword out.
"I will not allow that."
I released my grip on the sword hilt, leaving the weapon deeply embedded there, turning it into a dead stake effectively clogging the regeneration of the chest heart.
My body was still sliding rapidly due to the sheer momentum of the sprint.
I dropped my body low, executing a slide across Elena's frictionless ice, gliding smoothly under the monster's belly straight toward its hind legs.
My hand reached for my waist. I grabbed the Mithril scalpel dagger.
Second target: Right Hip.
I pressed the glove button once more.
Feather-Touch: 500% Weight.
My right hand gripping the dagger suddenly possessed a weight equivalent to a giant sledgehammer.
And I channeled every last drop of my remaining Professional Aura into a single concentrated point at the tip of that blade.
Second Strike: The Hammer.
"Die, you Monster!"
I punched Sigma's right hip savagely from the bottom up.
KABOOOOM!
The resulting sound was sickeningly wet and disgusting.
It was not the sound of a knife piercing flesh. It was the horrific sound of a hydraulic explosion.
A five hundred percent weight increase combined with the extreme velocity of professional aura created an utterly illogical destructive force.
My fist, along with that dagger, sank deep into the flesh of its hip. It pulverized the pelvic bone into fine powder, completely shredded the thigh muscles, and detonated the second heart hiding within into a puddle of red mush.
The shockwave from my punch lifted the entire rear half of Sigma's body into the air.
Groaarrr...
Sigma's roar was abruptly cut off.
Two hearts obliterated within a time frame of less than half a second.
Its regeneration system fell into total confusion. The healing mana no longer had a central command. Its flow became chaotic, crashing into itself, and then extinguished entirely.
The ominous red glow in the monster's eyes dimmed completely.
The terrifying strength in its jaws vanished. Kars slid down limply from its mouth, his arm utterly destroyed, but he was still breathing.
The giant body of Sigma swayed once, twice, before finally collapsing to the side with a heavy, earth-shaking thud.
THUD.
The raging blizzard halted abruptly, as if its magical domain had died along with its master.
A profound silence descended, blanketing the devastated forest.
I lay flat on my back on the freezing ice, right beside the carcass of that colossal monster. I had no breath left. My lungs seemed to have forgotten how to function.
My right hand... I could not feel it at all. That hand was a deep, sickly purple, severely swollen, and broken in three different places due to the massive recoil force of that five hundred percent punch.
"Cough..."
Thick blood spilled from my mouth. It tasted incredibly bitter. It was the blood of severe internal organ damage.
But then, I heard another sound.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
It was Kars's voice. He sat leaning against the head of the dead wolf, clutching his completely shattered and bloody left arm. His face was pale as a ghost, but...
He was laughing.
"Hehehe... hahaha..." Kars laughed weakly, tears of pure agony streaming down his cheeks. "We... we are still alive..."
Celia dropped her spear immediately. She ran limping toward Kars, her usually cold and composed face now filled with pure, unadulterated panic.
"Kars! Hold on! Do not move! I will bind the wound!" exclaimed Celia, desperately tearing her own cloak to bandage Kars's horrific arm.
Erika and Elena ran frantically toward me.
"Arin!" Erika fell to her knees right beside me, her hands glowing vibrantly green with emergency healing magic. "Hold on! Do not close your eyes!"
Elena tore open her medical bag with trembling hands, pulling out a bottle of deep red Elixir. "Drink this! Quickly!"
She poured the thick liquid directly into my mouth. I choked slightly but forced myself to swallow it all.
Warmth. The incredibly sharp pain slowly began to dull.
I stared up at the night sky, which was slowly beginning to clear. The stars were visible once again.
We won.
Against a pseudo-tier-four monster. Against a deadly blizzard. Against absolute impossibility.
"Operation..." I whispered hoarsely, offering a weary smile displaying blood-stained teeth. "...success."
I turned my head slightly toward Sigma's carcass.
In its chest, my Adamantium sword remained gallantly embedded. And deep inside there lay my greatest prize. A heart possessing super regeneration capabilities.
The ultimate fuel for the next stage of my Piston Heart.
"Good job, Team," I murmured softly, right before my consciousness began to fade completely due to extreme exhaustion.
And right there, in the middle of that freezing forest, six completely shattered students had just proven one absolute truth.
That in the face of brilliant tactics, raw courage, and a touch of absolute madness, even the King of the Mountain could be forced to its knees.