The snow beneath its feet began to slowly shift, climbing up its legs before freezing in place.
And from the snow that was left behind, ten new threats formed.
Each looked to be a miniature version of the creature that now appeared to anchor itself within the frost just to create them.
The miniature creatures wasted no time. They attacked as soon as they were fully formed.
Seeing she could do nothing to the creature from its back, Olivia jumped into the air, her eyes landing on Azrael fighting multiple mini-versions of the boss.
But these weren't just mere copies of the boss. No, they were far worse.
As they were made completely out of snow, they could alter their bodies any way they wanted, which ultimately resulted in some of them moving within the snow below and others growing snowy, ice-covered wings to move through the air.
But whether below, in front, or above, they were all aiming to kill him.
Wait but why only him and not her, even though she was there too, falling through the air?
But they didn't seem to notice her in the slightest at least not yet.
That was when it came to her. This thing was covering itself with snow to make these things… but why would it need to do that if the snow itself wasn't important?
No.
Since the first moment they entered this place, the snow and the fog had seemed weird. And if this thing didn't have eyes, then how was it able to locate them?
It was all to do with the snow they were moving through.
It could only sense things in the snow. To make up for that glaring weakness, it spread this winter fog around the area so it could even attempt to sense what was in the air.
Grasping on to the sudden realization she was quick to make use of it,
As her eyes met with Azrael's seconds before she landed.
She shouted,
"Az, jump now!!"
Hearing her instructions, he didn't waste a second. He jumped into the air with all his strength, cutting through the thick fog as he ascended through the air.
But even so the creatures still followed him sensing as he cut through the fog,
even the ones on and in the snow growing wings in a matter of seconds just to pursue him.
Reaching the same height from which Olivia was quickly falling from, Azrael grabbed her outstretched hand and threw even her further up.
Before slowing both there descents by lowering the gravity around them
"Az, it can't see us as well in the air, if at all! So whatever you do, try not to touch the snow!"
Hearing her explanation, he didn't respond, only nodding as he focused on lightening the gravity around them to keep them aloft longer.
Seeing the ten snow-made creatures flying toward them, Azrael increased the gravity around Olivia, causing her fall back to the same height as him,
before grabbing her hand and throwing her at one of the creatures with increased force.
Then he allowed himself to fall with full force onto the one directly below, pushing his spear through its head and using the momentum to jump to another beside it.
He caught Olivia once more as she destroyed the creature he had threw her at by plunging her sword deep with in their body and blowing the snow apart in a slash
But with her temporary foothold gone she had started falling again. Grabbing hold of her, they both heard a familiar sound play within their minds.
Ding!!!
[Resonance: 40/100]
But they paid no attention to it in this critical moment. No, their only concern was to destroy all the creatures in the air before finding a way to kill the big one controlling them.
And so Azrael threw her again through the air at the next target.
Ding!!
[44/100]
She wasted no time. Not even a second after she was thrown, she wielded her pitch-black blade, pushing it deep within the poor creature's body, giving it no chance to fight back before it was destroyed.
Before she fell again, she was caught by Azrael, who always made sure he was close by as he killed his own targets.
After all, she couldn't be the only one doing all the work in this relationship.
He had to be there to kill with her and catch her when she fell, only to push her right back out there.
With four of the beasts down, only six remained.
They wasted no time.
This time, it was Olivia who threw Azrael at a far-away enemy, and he quickly pulled her along with gravity, preventing her from falling into the snow.
51/100
They quickly did the same for the remaining beasts, plunging their weapons into their bodies, cutting or blasting them apart.
But they ran into a bigger problem. Without any more footholds, they could no longer stay in the air for long.
And that was just the beginning, as they heard it—
MMMMMMMM!!!—like deep, falling snow, as if an avalanche was about to hit.
As they fell, their bodies were bathed in a deep arctic blue glow from the incoming blast.
And that was when they finally realized: if its back was that tough, then there was a good chance its stomach wasn't.
That was the only reason they needed to at least try.
Grabbing each other's hands in the air, Olivia did a backflip mid-air before throwing Azrael at the creature's chest with all her strength, simultaneously throwing herself out of the blast's path.
59/100
BOOOOOOM!!! The blast shook the floor as it hit, but neither of them was struck, fortunately.
Cutting through the air, Azrael held his spear straight as he increased the gravity around his body as much as he could manage, while traveling in a downward arc straight toward the beast's chest.
And when he finally hit it, there was nothing stopping his path.
62/100
With the combination of his momentum, the strength with which Olivia had thrown him, his downward trajectory, and the increased gravity around him, he went right through the beast's chest,
piercing its giant blue heart, killing it.
The ground shook as it fell over, dead.
Walking over to its massive corpse, Olivia reached her hand into the hole Azrael had made in its chest to pull him out.
Before they both collapsed onto the snow-covered floor—one covered in arctic blue blood from head to toe, the other almost completely clean except for her hand—both utterly exhausted.
Their mana was completely drained. Their bodies no longer responded as fast, if they responded at all.
But at least the worst was behind them.
Or that was what they thought, until they heard the sound of a slow, calm clap.
It was deep and rough, as if the hands making that sound were two pieces of leather hitting one another.
And that was when they saw it in the distance: two glowing eyes. One a deep red, and the other a radiant purple.