107 Beyond the speed of sound...

"They're puppets." As soon as those half-human and half-ice monsters came to his vision, Mraz reminded him, "Someone is manipulating them."

Even if Mraz didn't tell him, he would have realized. After all, he had never seen a mutated human being who was sane. But Mraz's words made him more curious. 'Who could it be?'

"It could be an ice-elf. They're very tricky bastards. It's best to be alert." As Mraz reminded him, he thickened his ice skin and the first ice-human beast spoke.

'Even the one I had seen on Earth couldn't speak clearly, yet it is talking in perfect words.' Aiden felt that if Mraz hadn't told him beforehand, he would definitely have doubted, but not now...

With the sweep of his hand, The beast erupted in a fountain of blood; the gut spilled out, the scent of blood hit his nose.

'Well, unlike the fishy stench of the blue blood, it has a metallic scent.' Even then Aiden paid no heed to those who were trying to convey something and slaughtered them without hesitation.

"Hey! They are beings of your species, you know?"

"So you're implying that you're not the same species as us?" The edge of Aiden's lips curved up. This time, however, it didn't answer.

"It looked like there was no need for any more chit-chat." As the half-human beast spoke, it crouched down and lunged at Aiden.

However, before it could reach Aiden, an ice wall had emerged from the ground. It slowed the beast down but wasn't enough to break its flight. But the next wall did the job, and its legs touched the ground. The mana circle sprung into action, freezing its legs, whether flesh or ice.

What happened next was unexpected. It tore off the ice leg, but it grew back by the time it touched the ground.

As for the leg made of flesh, it did the same. Blood spread from its severed waist, yet it didn't let out a single cry of pain. The blank face showed no expression through the entire ordeal.

Although the freshly grown ice limbs were still unstable, the beast didn't care and charged at Aiden to fail again. The array of the ice spikes impaled and minced its flesh to the extent that it couldn't regenerate again.

Or so Aiden thought. The head of the now-smashed up body rolled on the snow and paused for a moment. In the next moment, the snow gathered underneath it, assuming the shape of a human with a bloody head.

'Is it something like an ice zombie?' Feeling helpless, Aiden asked Mraz.

"No, they are ice puppets. Even if it has no human body parts, it would still move. They will continue to strike until the puppeteer dies or runs out of mana."

"So the coward is hiding somewhere." Aiden sighed. "I was not thinking about using it, since I couldn't control it perfectly, but…"

The mana circles under the feet didn't vanish, nor did Aiden stop attacking the ice puppets with the ice spikes and ice javelins, but the snow continued to gather behind Aiden. The height continued to exceed meters after meters.

"What the heck is he trying to do? Is he trying to make a giant snowman out there?" Looking at the almost 6-7 meters tall, rugged human structure, Robin couldn't help but wonder.

The next moment, the body shook to remove the excess snow, exposing a thick blue ice human from waist up. As Aiden moved his hand, the half-human giant did the same thing behind him.

Aiden punched, it punched too; and made blood snow paste out of the leftover part of the mutated human. As Aiden swung his fist, it hit nothing but air. When the one behind him copied his move, it sent a dozen puppets flying in the air.

"This is fun." Aiden couldn't help but enjoy it. No matter what, nothing could escape the pair of giant fists. However, soon Aiden found a glaring problem.

'It consumes mana too fast.' Aiden sighed in his heart, and if it wasn't enough, Aiden soon noticed the numbers of ice puppets weren't decreasing. Even if all the human parts had smashed to paste, the solid ice puppets were still attacking.

"Didn't I tell you that, as long the puppeteer doesn't run out of mana, they would continue to attack? And if that elf is intelligent enough, it would surely keep backup mana crystals with him."

'This is one tiresome enemy.' Aiden sighed in his heart. 'A puppeteer controls a puppet from a distance, huh? How much distance are we talking about?'

"It depends on the ability of the puppeteer. If it is average, then they will be within 50 meters at most. After all, with this number of puppets and with the increase of distance, the mana expenditure will rise exponentially."

As soon as Mraz told him, a pair of wolves appeared on both sides of him. They both turned and ran away in different directions. "Find anything that moves but not attacking me within 50 meters of me. If there is none, check within 100 meters. Inform me as soon as you find it."

Robin was leisurely spectating the clash of giant and zombie. The sudden order surprised him for a moment, but soon he sprang into action.

"What am I supposed to look for?" As he moved his scope around, Robin asked.

"Anything that isn't human. Or something that seemed to be human but has pointed ears. Like the child that wolf was carrying."

"Oh! The elf? Is it good? Or evil?"

"That one is possibly controlling all the puppets."

"Which means he's an enemy. Should I shoot it?"

"Huh? Did you find it already?"

"Five O'clock. 37 meters. Behind a hide tent. There are two furry monsters with horns around it."

"I will count." Aiden looked around. The ice puppet around him was in the middle of regeneration. His pair of ice wolves were also closing in the area as Aiden started the count, "Aim for the head."

"3." The giant ice human raised its hand above its head as the mana circle under Aiden's stopped glowing.

"2." The giant pair of fists came down on the half-complete puppets.

"1." The giant human crumbled on the impact. The wolves charged and jumped at the furry horned beast and *Bang*

Aiden appeared in front of the ice elf the next moment.

"Beautiful!"

Someone smashed his pair of ice wolves into ice paste. And the ice enchanted bullet had failed to penetrate the elf's defense. Yet the first thing Aiden had said was 'beautiful.'

However, it did not influence the actions of Aiden. He raised his ice scythe and brought it down to his throat.

Or he tried. A furry hand caught the blade of the scythe. Even before Aiden could understand that the sharp ice blade didn't even scratch the furry hand, another hand stuck him, and *Boom*

Aiden's body exploded, sending chunks of ice at them with fearsome speed. Both the giant furry creatures moved their bodies to cover the body of the elf.

However, at such proximity, it was already too late. The elf's defensive barrier resisted the barrage of shards of ice for a moment, but it, too, shattered soon and... *Bang*

This time the bullet went straight through its brain. Spraying blue blood on the white fur of the creature. *Gahhhhhhh*

"Even if it was an ice clone, the feeling of using [Self Destruction] is very sickening." Aiden sighed as the shout shook the world.

"Those things are especially loud." Aiden stared at the creature that he had seen one more time, in the first cell on the top floor of the mountain prison, "What is actually this thing?"

"Chenoo. A creature you should avoid fighting." Mraz's voice didn't sound too pleased, "The Chenoos is known by all the plane dwellers and one tribe that is loathed by all."

As Mraz was explaining, Aiden noticed that the black eyes of the pair of Chenoo's turned white. As the pairs of white eyes turned towards him, a shiver went down his spine.

"How many circles do these two have?" Aiden could feel that his instinct was telling him to run away.

"They have none. They can't use mana. They have only one innate ability, [Absolute Mana Resistance]. Their skin nullifies any kind of magic, no matter what their element is. And not even a three-circle ice troll could compete with it in strength."

"Could they be the one who tore down the thick conmetal door of the underground lab in the last research post?"

"Is that something you should worry about now?" Aiden's reaction obviously annoyed Mraz. He grumbles, "their eyes have turned white. They are in rage mode. You have killed their master, now they won't stop until they kill you."

*Gahhhhh*

It was as Mraz had said. They opened their jaws and roared at Aiden, sending spits flying at him. Aiden, on the other hand, put his hand into one of their mouths, pulled its tongue, and poured his essence mana into its body.

By instinct, it clamped down on its jaw and shattered its frozen tongue. But it never moved again. The body lost its warmth as a layer of frost covered its entire body. Soon, the Chenoo turned into an ice statue.

But it didn't worry about the other Chenoo. Its punch, aimed at Aiden's head, stuck nothing but air as Aiden vanished from the spot.

"What the hell was that?" Aiden's previous action was too shocking for Mraz.

"Didn't you mention that their skin is resistant to mana? So I poured mana inside its body and froze it inside out." However, with relentless attacks from the Chenoo, Aiden couldn't just stop at a spot and speak with Mraz.

No matter how first Aiden moved, Chenoo never lost track of him. Remembering the conmetal door, Aiden dared not to meet its strength head-on, and use the black rod to meet the fist.

Soon he wished he didn't. The junction of his index finger and the thumb shattered as the impact sent him flying.

His body rolled across the ground, and as soon as he stood up, the heavy body, covered in fur, slammed into him. Aiden felt that the whole transporter slammed into him and sent him flying again.

This time, however, he didn't dare to stand up and vanished from the spot. As predicted, the Chenoo slammed on the spot he was standing a moment ago. But Aiden wasn't at a position where he could rejoice.

He could tell that a couple of ribs were broken as he coughed off some blood. And the Chenoo wasn't giving any chance of catching his breath.

'Why the fuck that thing is attacking me like there is no tomorrow? Shouldn't it be happy that I killed its master, and it's free now?' Aiden couldn't help but curse inside his mind.

"What happy? Do you think the Elves will use such primitive methods as yours? They have used high-grade techniques that would send the Chenoo in raging mode with the death of their master. From the looks of it, even it will die soon too."

'Looking at its aggressiveness, I don't think my body will last that long.' Looking at the beast that was charging at him, Aiden sighed, "You have asked for it."

[The host has activated innate skill [Zone]]

[12.4987]

Aiden's punch met the white furry fist and *Boom*

The resultant impact was so strong that it blasted the surrounding snow into the air. Even the Chenoo was too shocked to believe that a puny creature had forced him to take a step back.

"Gahhhhh" It wanted to roar, yet remembering the ending of the other Chenoo, it didn't dare too. On top of that, it couldn't identify the tiny animal.

*Boom*

It wasn't sound of another impact, but the effect was because of the initiation of [Blink] in the [Zone]. As he initiated [Blink] he looked around to find that the surrounding things slowed down to the extent that they weren't moving anymore.

However, the most prominent consequence was that the world around him lost its sound. It was a suffocating silence, but Aiden didn't have the time to enjoy it. As soon as he willed it, his body moved towards the Chenoo.

Aiden realized from its movement that the Chenoo could not pursue his movement, and he was still searching around to locate Aiden. Aiden gathered all of his strength and punched on its chest, and the speed due to [Blink] increased the impact by a few folds.

At Aiden's speed, he could see that the legs of the Chenoo were slowly leaving the ground. At this time, another late notification appeared.

[The host has activated innate skill [Blink]]

Aiden appeared on its back and elbowed its spine. Another [Blink] and a knee to the jaw. [Blink] and a punch to the side of his stomach. And Aiden retained the last [Blink] for an emergency.

A long-distance away, on the ice dune, Rodin couldn't find the words to explain what he was seeing. His lips twitched a little as he mumbled, "he didn't go supersonic with the human body, right?"

Alas! The pair of wolves around him didn't answer him.