46 Increasing Danger

Jadel spun around, barely avoiding the lightning strike as it crashed into the ground behind him. 

The instant the lightning touched the frozen earth, it morphed into sharp, crystalline spikes of ice, surging toward him.

"Not good! Not good!" His childish voice trembled with panic; the excitement he had shown earlier was long gone. His eyes darted from one monster to another.

"Brother! What do I do?" He shouted, running, narrowly avoiding another bolt of lightning that crackled and exploded into ice beside him.

The fear in his voice was palpable as he continued dodging, but there was no plan, no strategy. He was only running—running in circles, trying to survive.

Suddenly, the voice echoed in his mind.

°When are you going to fight seriously? Use the gadgets.°

Jadel blinked. "Oh... oh, oopsie!" he exclaimed with a sheepish grin. "I forgot!"

Swizle!

A crackling beam of lightning whipped past his head, close enough to make his hair stand up. 

"Oh my gad!" he screamed, dropping into a roll, barely dodging the attack.

Jadel quickly looked at his wrists; seeing two bracelets, he tapped, activating them.

The nanobots moved like a symbiote, fully enveloping his hands. With a grin, Jadel stood up, the lost confidence returning to his voice as he flexed his fingers. 

His eyes gleamed as he observed the nano hands. "The Cowdy brother did a good job with this." He thought, his mind formulating many plans to fully utilize it.

"I just hope it could withstand a little longer."

「Soul Bound: Lost Gem」

The Icevolt drakes growled, electricity crackling in the air as they charged up another barrage. 

Jadel's eyes narrowed as the thin glowing lines connecting their attacks to his body became clear.

"I can do this," he muttered, steadying his breath.

Swizzle!

One drake lashed out with a bolt of lightning. Without hesitation, Jadel raised his nano mechanical hands, the black mechanical surface absorbing attack. 

「Dash」

Activating dash, he sped toward the drake, closing distance in a heartbeat. Its month glowed as it prepared for the next attack.

「Gravity modulation」

「Core release: 50 percent」

Jadel struck the drake's jaw with a powerful palm strike, causing the body to lift under the force of impact. 

He followed up with a punch to its exposed stomach, unleashing the stored energy.

The lightning crackled, turning into ice spikes, piercing its body. 

「Absorption Gacha」

Ding

____________

Mana: 1

____________

Without wasting any time, he stored the monster corpse and rushed to another monster.

With a swift motion, he hurled the mana siphon blade toward the monster. The blade struck its target, digging deeper into its flesh. 

Immediately, the air around the creature seemed to warp as the blade drained its mana, leaving the monster powerless, its attacks faltering into nothing.

"Explode"

Boom!

Screech!

The drake cried in pain, still alive after the explosion. 

Jadel tapped the nanobots, causing it to morph, forming a gun on the back of the palm. 

Taking out a mana bomb he loaded, firing towards the monster.

Another boom sound resonated, followed by a screech, and its body fell with a half exploded face.

The fights continued, and it became harder to continue fighting. His body is screaming at him to stop. His stamina, already depleted, was only thanks to the potions he could continue fighting.

He was past his limits. it's a wonder how is still fighting under these extreme conditions. 

The drakes charged at him relentlessly, their eyes locked onto their prey, salivating seeing his vulnerable state.

Each time he absorbed and redirected an attack, the orbs in the nanobots shone brightly, and the heat was becoming unbearable to handle.

He threw a wind bomb, upon its detonation, a sharp gust of wind generated, scattering the drakes and inflicting multiple cuts.

Jadel panted, his body drenched in sweat. The excitement he felt faded once again, and panic settled in.

Crackle! Crackle!

Another Icevolt drake lunged at him, its mouth crackling with energy. Jadel raised his hand, ready to absorb the attack again. But the time the nano hands only buzzed.

"No, no." He panicked, trying to get them into working. 

But it was too late. The Drakes lightning bolt hit his left arm, freezing the nanobots upon contact.

Ice spread rapidly across his mechanical hand, crawling upto his elbow. 

"Gah!" grunting, he ripped off the freezing gauntlet, tossing it aside just before it turned his entire arm into ice.

'These monsters are far more numbering than the brownie monsters. Not only that, the combat power is far more superior... If it goes like this, the 'agreement' will break.'

His breath was ragged, and he could feel his body slowing down due to the ice properties in the mana that were seeping into his breath.

'If this body hadn't been injured, I could have used my full potential. But now it's restricting me from using more than half of what I'm capable of.'

Crackle! Crackle!

Gritting his teeth, he started evading the lightning bolts again, it was relentless, and his body had slowed significantly.

Bump!

His body bumped into something cold, looking back, he saw massive ice was streching to the skies. Finally he was cornered, without any way of escape. 

The Icevolt Drakes surrounded him, their mouths crackling with electricity as they prepared to attack. And all of them released their attack at once.

"Brother!!" He screamed as the drakes unleashed their skill.

Crackle! Crackle! Boom!

Mist filled the place. Dozens of ice spikes formed. Their eyes gleamed as they looked Jadel through the mist.

But he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly multiple balls rolled towards the monster, its glowing, garnering their attention.

Tik! Tik! Tik!

Boom!

One after another explosion kept on going, obliterating every monster that cornered him.

On the largest spike, Jadel form revealed. His right hand and side of face froze, the ice slowly spreading.

Without any hesitation, he drew his blade and brought it down to his frozen arm. 

Crack!

The severed hand dropped to the ground, shattering like a glass. Blood sprayed, but the cold quickly froze the wound, preventing him from bleeding out.

He dug his finger into his face, ripping chunks off skin without even flinching.

The cold gaze observed the vast expanse. The way he came, he can't go back, and the only escape route, monsters keep on spawning out of them.

「Absorption Gacha」

Ding!

__________

Endurance: 1

Mana: 2

Mana: 1

Mana:1…

__________

"Angela, high grade healing potion." His watch glowed, and a healing potion appeared on his palm. Breaking the lid, he chugged down the potion. 

He repeated this process until he finished a dozen healing potions. 

By the time he finished, hundreds of drakes surrounded him.

"Let's see what it will result in." He started to circulate his mana to a dangerous degree, fastening the healing process at a rapid pace.

「Core release: 65 percent」

「Shadow Monarch: Second Mastery」

「Dash」

「Garvit modulation」

Woosh–crash!

The spikes burst into pieces, Jadel's body disappeared; only black steps were visible, but that too vanished as quickly as it came.

The dark steps continued heading towards where the monsters were coming. He entered, moving through the floods of monsters that were going towards the open expanse.

Finally finding a small cave, he jumped into it, crawling inside as quickly as possible.

As he entered, he saw that it was filled with thousands of monster eggs.

And seeing that he knew the monster won't be arriving here anytime soon 

BOOM! BOOM!

「Absorption Gacha」

Ding!