“Phew…”
Icicle let out a tense sigh as she stared at the beast before her.
Her opponent wasn’t that strong.
The power she sensed was minimal.
That was certain.
Though Icicle had never faced a true monster before, she felt confident that this one was within her capabilities.
However, as she stepped closer, an overwhelming pressure washed over her.
‘Big…?’
From above, it hadn’t seemed so large.
But now, standing before it, she realized the wolf was nearly twice her size, drooling as it loomed over her.
It was impossible not to feel fear.
But…’I have to do this.’
She needed to become stronger.
If she couldn’t even defeat a monster of this level, she would never reach her goal.
Icicle summoned a longsword made of ice and swung it through the air, forming icicles.
At that moment—Crong!
As the wolf charged at her, Icicle fired the icicles without hesitation.
However, as if anticipating the attack, the wolf leaped into the air, dodging with ease.
“I knew you’d dodge like that…!”
As Cerberus leaped skyward, Icicle instantly froze the ground, causing sharp icicles to rise from below.
Massive ice spikes erupted from the ground.
Could it possibly avoid an attack coming from below while already midair?
Looking up at Cerberus, convinced of her victory, Icicle’s eyes widened.
The beast curled its lips into a twisted grin, as if mocking her.
And then—Swoosh!
Just as the ice spikes were about to pierce its abdomen, Cerberus kicked off the air, narrowly evading the attack.
‘What…?!’
Icicle had never even considered such a method of evasion.
Frantically, she searched for a spot where it might land and spread her icy energy toward it.
But upon seeing that, Cerberus kicked off the air once more, instantly diving toward her.
At this rate, she would be attacked.
With no time to think, Icicle instinctively drove her longsword into the ground.
A blast of freezing energy erupted, instantly forming a massive sphere of ice around her.
Icicle extended sharp spikes in the direction of Cerberus’s approach, hoping to turn her defense into an offense.
Yet even mid-air, Cerberus kicked off once more, landing safely and avoiding the impact.
“What the…?”
Was its intelligence truly that high?
It was displaying a level of reasoning that made it difficult to see it as a mere beast.
Its instincts compensated for its lack of strength.
“…”
Clenching her teeth, Icicle froze the ground and sent ice shooting forward.
The freezing energy shot out in a straight line, seemingly about to seize the wolf’s legs—But with incredible reflexes, it evaded before the ice could touch it, then kicked off the air once again, swiftly closing in behind her.
Cerberus charged.
Icicle hastily formed an ice wall in front of her.
Boom!
“Ugh…!”
Even though it was smaller than other monsters, the wolf was still about 2 to 3 meters tall.
When it charged at full speed, the ice wall shattered effortlessly.
During that brief moment, Icicle dispelled her barrier and widened the distance.
She quickly formed another ice wall, and as soon as it broke, she was ready to fire massive icicles.
The moment she confirmed that the wolf had once again lunged forward and shattered the wall—”Die…!”
Without hesitation, she fired the icicles.
However—Bang!
“What?!”
The moment it collided with the wall and shattered it, Cerberus kicked off the air once again, narrowly avoiding the icicles as they flew toward it.
Then, it landed on a nearby building’s outer wall before launching itself at her once more.
A completely different fighting style from ordinary monsters.
On top of that, it had incredible mobility, making it difficult for Icicle to handle.
“Haah… Haah…”
Close combat was impossible—the enemy was simply too fast.
Even if she pushed her physical abilities to the limit as a magical girl, she couldn’t perform movements that seemed to defy the laws of physics like this creature did.
She had been trying to fight from a distance, but at this rate, it was turning into a battle of attrition.
Simply throwing icicles to keep it at bay wouldn’t be enough to win.
In that case…‘I need a different approach.’
She already knew what she had to do.
She had learned it from that person.
“Phew…”
Icicle lowered her longsword.
And then—“Hup…!”
She drove it into the ground with all her strength.
In an instant, a surge of freezing energy erupted, forming a protective sphere of ice around her.
She just needed a brief moment.
‘A magical girl’s magic changes depending on her will…’It was guided by her emotions.
She wasn’t completely sure what represented her, but she had a vague sense of it.
Coldness.
Composure.
And perhaps something more.
‘If I just stay calm… If I focus on stopping everything around me…’
She wanted to see a world where everything was frozen still.
With that thought, she poured her intent into her ice-forged longsword.
“…”
Heh heh heh…In the meantime, Cerberus had been laughing mockingly.
It thought its prey had been so terrified that she had burrowed into the ground to hide.
But just as it approached, ready to devour her—In response to Icicle’s will, an intense chill surged outward from her frost-covered sword.
And then—Grr?
Cerberus couldn’t even react.
Crystalline frost spread over the transparent ice beneath them, and in the midst of that snowfall, Cerberus felt an inexplicable cold seeping into its body.
Reflexively, it looked down—Sniff!
Its legs had started to freeze.
Realizing the danger, it immediately kicked off the ground to jump—And attempted to push off the air as it always did.
Or rather, it tried to.…?!
Its legs passed through the air uselessly.
The sheer pain of it was enough to make it want to scream.
The space around it had become solid.
For some reason, the air itself was too dense.
And unbearably cold.
Just standing there felt like it was being frozen alive.
Unable to do anything, Cerberus had no choice but to fall back to the ground.
Its body was growing stiff.
That was when it finally realized—something was very wrong.
At some point, the protective sphere of ice had vanished.
And now, a girl was walking toward it.
“Absolute zero is a world where everything stops… Nothing can move in it.”
Quoting a fact she had heard somewhere, Icicle murmured in a cold, clear voice, her blue eyes glowing.
***
“They’re all catching their targets pretty fast.”
Surprisingly, Leaf had been the first to take down her enemy.
Maybe it was because her abilities were a perfect counter.
Cerberus had high mobility, leaping through the air with ease—but it wasn’t something it could do infinitely.
Once it jumped, it had a limit to how many times it could use that technique in succession.
Its weaknesses were obvious.
Its destructive power wasn’t anything special—at best, it was just a wolf slightly larger than a human.
Most magical girls could withstand a charge from it without much trouble.
The only real threats were its claws and bites.
That’s why Leaf had simply sprouted several trees from the ground and bound it in place.
No matter how agile it was, it couldn’t escape once it was restrained like that.
In terms of compatibility, Icicle actually had the hardest time dealing with it.
Unlike Blaze, she couldn’t shoot out cold energy like flames, nor could she freeze the air in midair at will—she hadn’t reached that level yet.
She had been told that the deeper she delved into her emotions, the stronger her magic would become as it resonated with her will.
But using that knowledge effectively in battle wasn’t something she thought she’d manage so soon.
And yet…”Huh, I didn’t expect her to apply it so quickly.”
Using self-hypnosis to manipulate magic—She had drawn out her emotions and linked them to the magical phenomenon she wanted to create.
She had spread near-absolute-zero frost across the ground, freezing even the surrounding air.
With the very air solidified, Cerberus, whose primary combat strategy relied on kicking off the air to move freely, was completely immobilized.
“Oh… That’s even faster than Hayul, isn’t it?”
“If my student surpasses me, that’s a good thing.”
To think she’d use it this way.
With this technique, she would have no trouble taking Cerberus down.
Luckily, they had launched a surprise attack while the monsters were spread out searching for prey, so there was no risk of the Cerberuses regrouping.
Each one was being hunted down in isolation.
‘Blaze looked like she was in a bit of danger, though.’
But measures had already been put in place in case anything happened, so it wasn’t a problem.
Watching the fight unfold through my surveillance magic in the sky, I chuckled to myself.
So this is what it feels like to train students.
It had only been a few days since they started learning, but they had already mastered the basics.
At this point, I could confidently call them my students.
“Hmm… Is that so? But I don’t think you even taught them that much…”
“What’d you say, punk?”
“Uh… I didn’t say anything…”
Like hell you didn’t.
I heard everything.
Scowling, I smacked the bear.
“Guh…!”
The bear flew back helplessly, crashing into the wall.
I do not tolerate anyone badmouthing my students.