Super Regeneration

Atri brought her sword downward, missing just an inch to kill her target in one swing. Her slash only left a gashing wound on the wolf's right eye. However, the icy energy had successfully countered its flame furs, making it prone to her attack.

She didn't stop just there, knowing her attack had failed.

Dodging the wolf's wild strikes, Atri repositioned herself behind it and lunged at her target. Ice shards began to materialize from the icy energy around her. 

She propelled four pieces, and two of them pierced the wolf's skin that tried to catch Sorath, stopping it from the chase.

Shifting her attention to the injured wolf, Atri slashed it using a sword dance technique she had learned, chopping and crushing the menacing lupine.

Not giving her a break, another wolf lunged at her with its jaw opened, displaying its blazing oral structures.

Atri clicked her tongue. She increased the mana intensity around her, reinforcing the icy energy. 

When the wolf bit, it wasn't meat or bone that it tried to rip but a thick layer of ice covering Atri's left hand - from the tip of her fingers up to her shoulder.

This wolf's kind bite was meticulously strong, as described in a book about Tower creatures. However, that was if someone didn't possess the counter-element of its fire.

Atri's ice effectively countered the wolf's flame, rendering its bite useless. On top of that, it couldn't retract its fangs because they were stuck - or more like it was caught by the freezing ice.

"Bad dog needs to be punished," Atri said, flashing a smile.

She tightened her grip on the sword in her main hand, lifting and pointing the blade at the furry creature's open mouth. Slowly, her hand guided the sword inside its mouth. 

Luckily, it was just a cub or the weakest Burning Wolf, so the icy energy could repel the flames that tried to burn her sword and hand. 

When the tip reached the end of its mouth. Atri pulled and pushed it back with additional force, stabbing its throat. She reinforced her Trace, spreading the icy cold energy inside the wolf's body, freezing it from inside.

Once it was frozen, she shattered it into pieces. She also didn't spare those ice blocks that had fallen to the ground, stomping them to dust.

Remembering there was still one left, she spun in the direction where the wolf she had hit with ice shards was, only to find Sorath walking past its carcass cautiously, not wanting to get burned by its flame hide.

"Good job," Sorath said when their eyes met.

"Are you okay?" Atri asked.

Sorath spread his arms wide. At that moment, Atri quirked her eyebrow at the gesture.

"As you can see," Sorath confirmed. "Not even a scratch."

Then he closed his arm.

"Oh..." Atri's voice was almost like a whisper. And there was a bit of disappointment in her voice, too.

Staring at her, Sorath said: "Did you know this would happen, so you change your Trace?"

"No... It's a coincidence."

"Either way, we can go try and kill the leader of these cubs if we have the counter element of it."

"You are joking," Atri said. But after she saw Sorath's expression, her doubt surfaced. "...right?"

"I'm serious."

Blinking twice, Atri looked at her sword as she canceled her Trace.

"If you say so... maybe we could."

Hearing her response, Sorath chuckled.

"Nevermind. I'm just kidding. There's no way we can hunt a Burning Wolf Leader."

In his mind, Sorath screamed: 'She's too trusting!'

Atri raised her eyebrow, questioning his motive for making a fool of her.

In the distance, not really that far, a familiar voice screamed as though it had seen a ghost. But it was quickly silenced.

"Are you dumb? Why are you screaming?"

Fred covered Enri's mouth so tight that it seemed he was trying to kidnap her. Meanwhile, the girl in question kept pointing at something while her muffled voice made noises.

Eventually, she grabbed Fred's hand and shoved it aside. Taking a breath, she shouted.

"She's moving! The corpse is moving!"

It turned out that she was pointing and screaming at Nihila, who was revived from death. To be precise, she was regenerating from her burning wound.

Her charred body slowly regained its color. Burnt black into the soft, fair skin once again. Her pretty face and lean body that was lost in the flame started to reform, replacing her unrecognizable appearance.

The process of regeneration felt like watching a magical girl transformed.

After the regeneration was completed, Nihila stared at her palms and sighed. A look of disappointment was palpable. Her face was as if saying, 'Fail again?'

Enri and Atri, though far from each other, gasped simultaneously at the sight of Nihila's naked body. However, while Enri told Fred to turn away, Atri was striding toward Nihila and covering her with a robe she took from the magic bag.

Bewildered and speechless, Atri could only stare at Nihila's slouching form. Then, as Sorath approached, she whispered to him.

"How do you kill someone with a regeneration ability like that?"

Instead of answering, Sorath reconveyed the question at Nihila.

"How can I kill you if your regeneration ability is this strong?"

Nihila glanced at him.

"By destroying my core- my heart and not giving it a chance to repair me. I'll give you a heads-up. The regeneration is even faster inside than outside. You'll eventually break it if you keep barraging me with a thousand strikes," she said. "This Trace... why must I possess this cursed ability?"

Enri raised her eyebrow as she approached and heard Nihila's complaint. She had an annoyed look.

"What do you mean? Isn't it good to have a super regeneration Trace? You can't be killed as long as your core is safe. That's almost like an immortal. That kind of ability should be a Transcendent rank or even higher-"

Realizing something, she stopped talking for a while.

"Wait. Are you a pre-awakened?"

Nihila nodded.

Bewildered, Enri forced a laugh.

"Fuuu... You're never grateful, are you?"

"The only time I'll be grateful is after I die."

Sensing the situation was potentially turning into a conflict, Sorath stopped them.

"Alright, let's stop here, shall we?" 

Enri clicked her tongue, throwing her face away. Meanwhile, Nihila closed her eyes, slowly rising to her feet.

Looking around, Sorath squinted his eyes.

"Should you two want to continue this argument, do it later. We need to get out of here first before the leader comes."