106 So you are human...

Unlike the last outpost which the beasts had abandoned, they guarded this research post well. With watchtowers built of dense blue ice and bones of humans and other unknown creatures, they had secured the research post in all eight directions.

Beasts, large and small, were active inside the once technologically advanced research post. However, they had already destroyed the railguns, gun turrets, or any other offensive weapons.

The electromagnetic barriers, too, were taken down a long time ago and replaced it with thick ice spikes that plunged into the ground with sharp edges pointing outwards.

Unlike the last research post, they had turned all the old buildings into ruins and replaced them with tents made of unknown beast hides, decorated with giant bones and skulls. Some of them even had human skulls at the entrance.

With so many eyes in all directions, it was almost impossible for Aiden to go unnoticed. They had already spotted him as soon as he had engaged with the ice-needle hyenas.

As soon as Aiden took a step towards the research post, the snow goblins and ice dwarves turned their bows towards the sky, in full tension. The twin-headed ice trolls mumbled as mana circles formed around their feet.

The one-circle ice trolls and the ice beasts were raging inside the encampment, waiting for their chance to lunge at Aiden.

On the next step, Aiden appeared a few hundred meters away from the ice fence, and the arrows were let loose.

Multiple mana circles appeared above his head and also underneath his feet. Under the barrage, Aiden's defense crumbled with little effort. Yet, they couldn't hear the wail of their prey, nor they could smell the delicious blood.

While waiting for their prey to move, one of the ice dwarves found something was trying to crawl out of the ground. It looked down only to find that it was too late.

The ice tentacles wrapped around its leg as foreign mana poured into its body. The mana froze its heart first, and then the mana spread through the blood. One by one, the mana invaded and froze their veins and the internal organs.

The dwarves, the snow goblins, and even the ice trolls tried to steer their own mana to eliminate the invading ice mana. Still, with every passing moment, their mana became sluggish within their body.

Their brain stopped functioning. They opened their mouths, but no words came out. They soon became an ice statue as the mana froze them inside out.

"You should run the other way," Aiden smirked. It was normal that none of them could understand him and came running at him like a moth to the flame.

As soon as they entered within 7 meters of him, they were frozen solid, no matter who they are. With his first innate mana circle, a massive amount of essence rushed to his body, continuously replenishing him with mana.

Aiden was not even interested in them as he lifted his hand in the air. Under the guidance of his essence Mana, the surrounding mana gathered above his hand and created several mana circles in the air.

With an unending supply of mana, it took just a few seconds to complete 11 mana circles. Even with the spell [MultiCasting], 11 is the maximum amount of basic spells Aiden could cast without weakening the spells.

All the 11 mana circles shone sprayed ice javelins, one after another. As soon as Aiden pointed at someone, the barrage of ice javelins will turn them into minced meat.

Whether it was fully armored Ice dwarves or thick-skinned ice trolls, it didn't matter. Whether it was one circle beast or two circles, their fate was all the same.

To begin with, neither [Ice Javelin] nor the freezing spell should have been so devastating. It was because of his superior essence mana that these basic spells had become so lethal.

But it wasn't like the beasts were just standing there. With [Quick Freeze] spell underneath Aiden's feet, they didn't dare to come close.

Alas! Even if they were superior, because of lack of comprehension, the effective range of the [Ice Javelin] was just 25 meters. And the beast was quick to catch on to the weakness.

They created enough distance between them and Aiden and attacked using spells and arrows. Attacks came from the watchtowers too.

Aiden ignored Mraz's sarcastic comments and concentrated on the problem at hand.

Under the movement of his hand, snow walls sprang up from the ground and prevented the weaker attacks aimed at him. The ice javelins took care of the bigger ones. Still, a few of them were able to touch Aiden.

[Skill [Wind Skin (??)] activated. Mana used:2/20 min. Remaining Mana: ??]

However, this [Wind Skin] or what Aiden called [Ice skin] differed from the one old one. Rather than just reducing the impact of the attack, it turned into a full-bodied, thin layer of ice armor.

"It was a brilliant idea to use a thin layer of mana essence to create an amour." Aiden was pleased that he had spent some time changing his pre-owned spell rather than practicing all the new ones.

"What do you expect? It drew all the surrounding mana to it, thereby creating a thick resistance layer that reduced the effectiveness of the attack. Even without it, with your reserve of essence mana, it would have been difficult for an attack to penetrate it."

Mraz paused for a moment before adding, "This is something that even an infant could do. There is nothing to be proud of."

'Is he still angry that I told him he is not an excellent teacher?' Aiden didn't even dare to think about the issue again. But during a moment of carelessness, several goblins drew closer.

Moving through the underground, they came close, jumped out of the snow, and attacked Aiden from below. But fortunately for him, the freezing spell around him was still in effect, and the sharp ice crystal dagger stopped an inch away from his groin.

"Looks like my instinct has dulled a little." Aiden frowned, kicking the frozen goblin in frustration. But it was true that he was careless about it, and by the time Aiden realized it, an enormous chunk of ice was an inch away from his face and…

*Boom*

It didn't end there with a single attack. They showered more boulders at him. Creating white chaos of ice and snow.

"Huh!" Aiden sighed as he appeared beside the one circle troll who was busy throwing ice boulders at the very individual that was standing right beside it.

Aiden unhurriedly reached for its waist and, in a matter of seconds, he produced an ice sculpture similar to the Atlas.

"No wonder Alex had always used clones to fight. They're best for moments like these." The mana-circle under his feet shone again and froze all the surrounding monsters.

"Don't you think you've played enough?" Mraz frowned, resulting in another sigh from Aiden's mouth. And Aiden vanished just as the black rod turned into a scythe.

12 one circled ice-trolls, 7 two-circle ice trolls, and those standing higher than the other creatures were weeded in rapid succession. Soon, it dyed the snow in mesmerizing blue.

And for those below his shoulders, the black scythe in his hand turned into a blade, and the slaughter continued.

"What the hell is he?" The edge of his lip twitched a little as he stared at the slaughter show that was going on inside the research post, "If doing missions on Earth makes you so strong, then I really need to sign up."

Robin took his eyes off the scope and sat back up. On his right, the larger wolf was sitting there like an obedient hound, with its eyes fixed at Aiden, while the wounded one had fallen asleep in tiredness.

"He surely isn't a human. He might be a monster or an alien…" Robin was weaving conspiracy theories and *Boom*

Aiden looked to find the blade's blue edge, made of ice, shattered. However, the rod was perfectly fine. "And I was wondering, how could there not be a three-cycle ice troll when they're defending a post?" Aiden grinned, even though he was sure that it wouldn't understand it.

*Gaaaahhhhhh*

"Yes, gahhh." Aiden copied with a smirk and raised the black rod. With the layer of essence mana, it took the shape of a harpoon. Aiden hurled the harpoon as the ice troll charged him.

The three-circle ice troll swung its stone pillar like a baseball bat to meet the harpoon and *Boom*

The ice troll looked a little troubled when it realized that the attack forced it to take a couple of steps back. Cracks spread on the thick stone pillar. Raising the weapon, it launched another attack.

The stone pillar, covered in a thin layer of ice, hit nothing but air. The human reappeared just outside the range of the stone pillar. It wanted to charge again, but…

"Don't you guys have something like an ice swamp? After all, you guys inspired me." Aiden smiled and looked at the mana circle, which had already frozen the ice troll's legs to its knees.

The spell continued to freeze, and as its struggle grew rougher, the strong wind picked up snow from the ground. Looking at it, Aiden grinned, "Yes, that one. I want to use this spell too. But…"

"Incoming from ten O'clock. Someone just opened the gate of the underground lab." As Robin informed him, the [Blizzard] spell created a white curtain between him and the ice troll.

But soon the wind stopped, and Robin found out that the headless body of the ice troll was spraying blood all over the place. He shook his head as he recalled the previous experience.

"Did he actually become so strong in one month?" For a moment, Robin was a little shocked. But as soon as he recalled the two spells and the ice enchantment technique that Aiden had taught him, he felt it wasn't impossible.

In the past, the amount of his mana never escaped the bottleneck of two digits. And now, even though he couldn't measure the amount of mana, he was confident that he had at least a few hundred.

"After doing who knows in that chamber for ten hours straight to the point of exhaustion, there is no way he wouldn't get stronger." Robin sighed as he put his eye on the scope, "What the hell are those?"

Aiden was wondering about the same thing. "It looks like Extra-hand, but…" Aiden stared at the beasts, counted over ten, he had never seen before.

Some of them seemed like Extra-hand at first glance. When he inspected he realized that those extra hands were made of ice. The Extra-head, too, had heads made of ice.

'Can there be anything like a guardian skull under this location, too?' Aiden had no way to confirm. Yet he was certain that these abominations differed from those he had seen before.

After all, those who were inside the chamber with the skull couldn't move after the mana turned them into ice. And here, Aiden could see a normal-looking human with an ice leg and ice claws could walk just fine.

They stopped just outside the area of Aiden's influence and looked at Aiden. But the intimidating growl didn't come.

The one who looked like Extra-hand opened his mouth and spoke in human language, "If you want to live, just leave this place."

*Boom*

Even before it could react, an ice spear passed through its chest, blessing red blood everywhere. "Are you even human?" Aiden spoke like he didn't know it before.

"We will not hurt you," said another half-human and a half ice thing. However, it too ended up in another red fountain.

"Hey!" Another fountain.

"Stop it." This time, the explosion was more stunning than the last one.

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

Aiden didn't attack this time and smiled "So you're implying that you're not the same species as us?"