[5] Frozen Island

Bang

The charged roar of the beast banged its mouth against the wall as Claire narrowly dodged from being swallowed. She rolled, her figure twirled and her hand shot forwards.

A pike of ice grazed through the air and smashed against the snake's head, expertly colliding and shredding away in glimmering shards that lumped back into the water in plops. The serpent swerved its head towards her, not a trace of an effect having been done onto it as its tongue slithered out.

"..."

'I can't aim for the eyes, it's far too fast and I doubt that would be enough to kill it. And I can't create something large enough to hover over it and smash it within this small space,' She thought.

'Which leaves only its insides.'

Thinking was nice, actually getting the chance to go through with it was something else entirely. The mouth of the serpent opened, this time it didn't charge, having learned a much-valued lesson. Instead, an array of bluish mana chanced there.

That did not look like an attack she would be immune to.

Claire instantly turned tail and launched into a run, continuously, balls of ice appeared in her hands.

Vroom

She didn't know how a snake could possibly fire a beam of high intensive laser, and she didn't care, having much more worry with what exactly would happen if she was hit by it. The attack closed in, and the very air itself seemed to quake and rumble.

Her left hand shot out as an ice ball streaked through the air.

"<Switch>."

Just as the beam flashed over her, she vanished, reappearing and splashing into the water below her feet.

Yet, the head of the serpent turned, tracking her through the area.

The situation was a game of ability tag.

She barely dodged as the laser narrowly avoided tearing a hole through her abdomen. Yet, even that still failed to be enough, forced once more she could only toss another ice chunk.

"<Switch>!"

The ground exploded into a flurry of debris as water splashed up.

Staring as the snake turned its head towards her new location, Claire reached out her hand and her mana rolled. Within the air, crystalizing ice wallowed from nothing as an azure spear appeared before her. Its full length of her height and its width as thick as her arms.

It rapidly churned towards the turning snake while its icy aura dropped the temperature of the area.

She smiled, "Swallow."

Vroom

The two attacks clashed in an amazing array of blue sparks.

The azure spear pierced through the cold laser and bisected forwards. Yet, as Claire heard the cracks beginning to spread across its surface, she could only grit her teeth and will her mana—continuously replenishing and healing its cracks.

The bluish light filled the room, and this time, the advancing ice spear cut through it and its radiance was forced to crumble upon the walls of the area.

Rumbles echoed continuously as Claire looked to see falling debris.

Rushed for time, she spoke, "<Glaze."

The already massive spear gained a new layer of ice as its figure flew forwards.

Bang

The snake pinned against the wall, its entire head pierced through and open into a grotesque mess. Its blood spilled and splashed onto the ground, turning the ankle-level water into a crimson mess.

It churned its last radiance of azure blue and it was dead.

However,

"..." Claire watched, deadpanned, as the water level within the boxed area began to rise.

For a moment, she wondered whether this world simply didn't like her, or if there really were so many people that liked playing games with her. It wasn't long before she found herself, thankful, once more, that she could actually breathe within the mess.

Her eyes turned around the area, looking, just looking, for an escape from this place.

Although she could breathe, she rather not stay in a cooped-up box of watered rock for the rest of her life.

Finally, after what seemed Iike an eternity swimming in a sea of red, she spotted the source of the churning flood. A small square hole on the ground, continuously flushing water into the room. Seeing that as the only thing that had any inkling of being an escape, she did her best to swim towards it.

Her best was quite good. Her speed instantly increased with a kick of her legs. It didn't take long for her to reach her hand forwards

As soon as she came into contact with it, the swirling cloud of water sucked her within.

"..."

Claire speechlessly spun within the air as her body jerked and shot forward.

Below her was a swirling mass of a blue sea, biting down her teeth, she forced herself from screaming from the sheer speed of flying through the air.

Yet, her thoughts were instantly smashed sway as her figure fell from the sky and she found herself smashed into sand. Her entire world blurred for a moment. She feared, if it had not been for her current physique, she would have died on impact.

Staggering to stand, Claire managed to crawl herself from under a mass of dirt.

"Ugh," As she stood, she couldn't help but shake her head in disgust at her current state.

Not only was her entire body and clothing wet, head to toe, a slew of sand also stuck to her as if a new layer of skin.

'This should work...' She thought to herself.

"<Glaze>."

A layer of frost crept onto her skin and clothing, chilling even the air for a moment. Then, with but a thought, the flakes of frost peeled off and floated away with the world.

"That's much better, dry."

Even the sand that had crept onto her body were frozen away with the wind.

"Now, " She looked forward, her azure eyes only capturing sparkling blue.

"Why is an entire island frozen solid?"