Chapter 11 - Brainstorming

In the end, finding a solution to that problem wasn't difficult at all. In the beginning, Zack used only the knives and made them pierce the body of the giant ice slimes by making them hit each other's back. Five of those did the trick, and Zack was able to kill them in less than two seconds. The giant ice slimes still had the chance to fire ice lances at him, so he felt like he could improve that.

Zack's second strategy had been to throw a single knife at the monsters and then throw something large and heavy on the same spot, like a block of concrete, or a steel bar. That worked as well, but it was damaging the knives and they also made him waste two extra seconds.

The final strategy made Zack gain one extra second, though. After throwing the knives at the target, he would approach them using instantaneous movement and then attack them with palm strikes on the backs of the knives. Instantaneous Movement actually made his body gain a lot of momentum, and adding that to a punch was powerful enough to make the knife pierce deeply into the monster's body and then completely shatter it.

"I guess this is enough… it hurts like a bitch, though," Zack said while looking at his hands.

Before long, the last enemy began to melt, and then the core was revealed. The core of the giant ice slimes resembled a crystal-clear orb encased in a semi-translucent shell of ice. Within the orb, tiny ice crystals danced and shimmered, giving off an ethereal light that illuminated the surrounding area. The core seemed to emit an aura of coldness, causing the air around it to chill and frost to form on nearby surfaces.

Despite its icy appearance, the core of the giant ice slimes contained a potent energy that could imbue objects with ice properties. When harvested and properly prepared, the core could be used to give items and weapons a temporary coating of ice, enhancing their effectiveness in battle.

The effects of the ice coating lasted for one hour after application, giving the wielder a temporary advantage in combat. During this time, weapons and items imbued with the ice properties would radiate a faint blue glow, signaling their enhanced capabilities.

"Their mobility is limited and since they can't fly, they rarely come in groups of three or more," Zack thought. "I guess I should start exploring this place more thoroughly.

Zack could tell with more or less precision where the magic circle was so he wouldn't get lost. It was fifty meters North of a metallic tower that resembled the Eiffel Tower. He had knocked the snow off it earlier when he hit it with a knife just to see why that thing stood out like a sore thumb, and he found that.

Without wasting time, Zack began to head North, the direction most of the monsters came from. Soon, he began to feel the difference, and the number of encounters increased.

"Come to think of it, they say that the monsters came through wormholes, but they never said if those were closed forever," Zack thought. "Instructor Amanda never had the answer to that question either; it was apparently a secret for the guilds."

After jumping over some hills of snow, Zack eventually found something quite interesting ahead. There was this massive slope going downhill in the middle of the city. It didn't seem natural… so he wondered what happened there. If he had removed all of the snow, Zack imagined the place would have looked like a massive crater.

"Something caused by the monsters?" Zack rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I never heard of several species of them coming and attacking the same spot."

While many aspects of their history remained shrouded in mystery, certain facts were well-known and widely accepted among hunters.

One such fact was the phenomenon of localized monster types. It was a curious occurrence where, in certain areas, hunters only had to contend with a single type of enemy. This meant that in a particular region, whether it was a forest, a mountain range, or a desert, the monsters that roamed there belonged to a single species or type.

This localized concentration of monsters provided hunters with a unique advantage. By focusing their efforts on studying and combating a single type of enemy, they could develop specialized tactics, equipment, and strategies tailored to that particular foe. It allowed them to become experts in dealing with that specific threat, enhancing their effectiveness in battle.

Before long, Zack saw some monsters climbing the slope. They. They were heading in all directions, and some of them were coming in his direction as well, which was convenient.

"I guess I should find a lot of them just by moving around this slope," Zack thought. "Perhaps I can ambush them with Instantaneous Movement. Still, I will need more strength and a bigger weapon."

Blunt weapons worked better with monsters like that, while short weapons like knives worked the least against them. Zack only used the same knife against them, and while that lasted for a while, the tip was starting to bend, and once that happened, it was time to change it.

It was a tough call, but in the end, It was for the sake of efficiency. Zack used all of his free points and increased his strength further. Then, he looked for a steel pipe to attack the monsters.