The first slave

*Crack*

Aiden's body slammed into the ice wall, spreading cracks on the wall like a spider web. The giant body appeared in front of him and giving no chance to breathe it brought down the stone pillar on him.

*Bang*

The stone pillar with an intricate design that was coming down on his head stopped a few meters away from him. The ice troll stopped to scratch the skin, feeling that something had tickled the thick blue skin.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" Robin's voice cried in Aiden's helmet. However, Aiden didn't respond, "Even the con-metal bullet couldn't scratch its skin. If you don't move now…"

His words got stuck in his throat as he felt that the ice troll just smiled at him. Without hesitation, he placed the sniper on his back and ran to the place where the concentration of ice dwarves was much thinner as a result of Aiden's slaughter show.

The ice troll, on the other hand, raised its stone pillar again over its head and brought it down on the light-headed Aiden.

* Boom *

The impact was so strong that the already cracked ice wall crumbled under the pressure of the attack. The resulting snow fog pulled a cover in front of its eyes, but the ice troll did not doubt that the attack had crushed the puny animal until he tried to pull out the stone pillar.

"So, can I use the [Ice Skin] in this way as well?" Even if it couldn't understand the meaning of the words, the ice troll was still shocked.

"Ghhhaaaaa." It cried at the top of its lungs as it tried to pull its weapon again, yet it failed.

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

** A few moments ago**

It was his [Wind Skin] that turned into [Ice Skin] because of his inherited ice mana. When the ice troll attacked Aiden with the stone pillar, the blade in his hand shattered. And it happened, as Aiden instinctively poured mana into his [Ice Skin].

Unlike [Wind Skin], which gets saturate after absorbing a certain amount of mana, [Ice Skin] was different. The more mana he poured, the more layers of ice he had appeared on his body, and when he crashed into the ice wall, that thick layer of ice armour saved him from having broken bones and internal injuries.

Although he was still dizzy because of the impact, he realized another problem. It drained his mana too quickly. After using it for a minute, he realized that it had already drained almost half of his mana. Aiden ignored Robin's words as he tried to find a solution.

'What are you waiting for? Do you want to die of mana deficiency?' Mraz shouted in his mind, 'Channel the mana to the mana space.'

And as he did, the obelisk spat out ice mana inside his body. While Aiden was busy recovering mana, the stone pillar came down on him again. He poured ice mana into his left hand, and a thick layer of ice covered his hand.

'I underestimated its strength.' As the moment the stone pillar stuck his ice-covered hand, cracks spread from his palm to his shoulders, and the ice wall behind him shattered in a blink. However, in a matter of seconds, his endless mana recovered the cracks in his ice armour.

'Oh! It can freeze things in touch?' looking at the layers of ice that had covered the stone pillar, Aiden was a little elated as he mumbled, "So, can I use the [Ice Skin] in this way as well?"

"Ghaaaaaa" Its thunderous cry shook the ground as it tried to take back its weapon from Aiden's grasp, but it failed to do so.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Aiden smiled as he grabbed the stone weapon tighter, and the frost began to spread faster.

As the snow settled down on the ground again, it found that it was the puny beast who was holding the other end of the stone pillar. No matter how much force the monster exerted, it couldn't free its weapon from the puny beast's grip.

'What a wasteful way of using mana? It would have been easier to use an Ice Armor spell than this.'

Listening to Mraz's words, Aiden couldn't help but frown, "So you've got the mana circle of the spell called 'Ice Armor'? So why don't you let me use it?"

'Who carries mana circle with them? At the top of that, it's only a lower grade spell. Do you think I'd learn such a useless thing?'

'If you don't know, you should have remained silent.' Aiden cursed into his heart as he stared at the blurry eyes of the Ice troll.

[Skill [Air Punch (?)] activated. Mana used:?. Remaining Mana: ??]

Aiden took a step forward, as his right hand, covered with a thick layer of ice, slammed into the body of the ice troll.

"Gahhhhhh" Aiden wasn't sure whether it cried in pain or Aiden's action infuriated it, but as it pulled its weapon out of Aiden's grasp, and brought it down on Aiden's head.

[Skill [Air Spike] activated. Mana used:?. Remaining Mana: ??]

The troll's attack hit nothing but air. Aiden vanished from its view, only to reappear behind it as he kicked the back of the left knee of the troll. It covered the knee in a thin crust of ice at the next moment, but it wasn't enough to bring it down.

Angry from Aiden's constant provocation, the ice troll swung its enormous stone weapon. As it was only an inch away from his face, Aiden jumped back to create some distance between them.

"You should…" the smile on Aiden's face vanished as soon as he realized that something had latched on his leg.

[The host has activated innate skill [Zone]]

[12.0725]

'Shit.' Aiden cried into his heart, but it was too late. He directed all his mana to his leg as the [Ice Skin] on his leg grew thicker. However, before he could pull out his other leg, the wind picked up the scattered snow off the ground. Aiden looked up to find there was no change in the sky, but…

'What the hell? How the hell did a storm come out of nowhere?'

'It's not a storm, it is a blizzard.' Mraz corrected him from inside, 'it is another innate spell.'

And with every passing moment, the wind became more ferocious. Small shards of ice, hidden inside wind and snow, scratched Aiden's skin. But it wasn't just him, a couple of unsuspecting ice dwarves were sent flying with the powerful wind.

'Looks like I've become too lax.' Aiden shook his head as he hastily removed his other leg and he poured more mana into his ice skin.

The thick Ice Armour soon covered him from head to toe, only leaving his eyes exposed. If it wasn't for the ice armour, his body would have been crushed by the thick ice tentacles, which have prevented him from moving a single step.

Aiden could see from the inside of his ice coffin that the closer the troll got to him, the stronger the blizzard became.

However, it was the stone pillar that attracted his attention most. As the ice troll was dragging its stone pillar, the intricate design of it shone behind the hazy curtain created by the blizzard.

The ice troll stopped in front of Aiden, lifted his weapon high in the air, and…

"It would have been better if you hadn't come close to me." Hearing Aiden's words, the ice troll stopped as if it could understand what Aiden was saying.

The weapon, held above its head, lost all the glow and had returned to normal again. The blizzard which was fiery a moment ago vanished and the ground beneath his feet returned to normal again.

[The host has activated innate skill [Skill Mine]]

"These guys are far stronger and intelligent than those on Earth." Aiden shook off all the thick ice skin off his body as he moved towards the Ice troll.

Blue blood leaking out of its lips, and that wasn't all. With a giant shard of ice that stuck in his abdomen and the left leg frozen solid, it wasn't in a position to move again.

'Didn't I tell you that these guys are from a lower plane? These guys are bound to differ from those mutated on that primordial plane. At the top of it...'

Aiden ignored the voice in his mind and walked towards the troll. With each passing moment, the ice continued to spread through his body, freezing the ice troll inside out.

Touching the now frozen body, Aiden mumbled, "Your ice is different from the rest, isn't it?"

'Oh! At last, you noticed.' Mraz's proud voice resounded in his mind, 'How could the ice essence of this legendary beast be compared to the essence-less ice mana of these cannon fodders?'

'Can't you give me a straight answer?' Aiden frowned in his heart. But as he looked around, he realized that he had no time to entertain Mraz.

Ten meters of the surrounding area was void of any kind of body, and ice dwarves standing outside the effective blizzard area watched Aiden cautiously.

However, all the monsters from other directions were gathering on the spot where he was standing, and…

'Looks like he got a knack for survival.' Looking at Robin, who was almost a hundred meters away in the east, Aiden smiled and vanished from the spot.

'What are you doing?' Mraz cried inside his mind as he appeared about twenty meters away from his previous position. 'First, absorb the spirit of the three-circle beast. With a three-circle beast, you would have a better chance of comprehending the mana circle.'

"And wait there until they attack me." Aiden cursed as he continued to flee towards the east.

Not that Aiden didn't want to absorb the essence of the ice troll, but he was afraid if he fell into the invaluable state like last time, those beasts wouldn't let this chance pass. And by instinct, he felt that for now; it was better to flee.

From time to time Aiden noticed that the beasts were following him, however, they were no match for Aiden's speed. It took him a very short time to catch up with Robin.

"Oh! I've never expected that you would be so st… ahhhh." Robin couldn't finish his sentence as it turned into a cry of pain.

At first, he felt that it was a slap from Aiden, but soon he felt the pain had penetrated his skin and latched onto his heart.

"Khhhuuuuk" Robin groaned in pain, feeling that someone was squeezing his heart tightly. Strength left his body as his legs went soft and he fell on the ground. Yet he continued to struggle like a headless chicken on the snowy white ground.

"You should give up struggling and accept it. Otherwise, those beasts will soon catch up with you." Hearing Aiden's voice, he wanted to curse, but he didn't have the strength to breathe, much less talk.

But he did as he was told, and amazingly, as soon as he started to relax, the pain decreased. And within a few moments, the pain vanished without any trace.

"Thank you for saving me back then, but this is not the time to talk," Aiden stared at Robin as he continued to speak, "You should follow me, we will speak when we are safe."

"What the fuck you have done to me?" Robin wanted to scream. However, the intended words didn't come out. Only that heart-squeezing pain had returned. The more he tried to talk, the more painful it became.

"If you don't want to die, please stand up and follow me. We don't have a lot of time." Hearing Aiden's words, he wanted to curse but didn't dare to do so.

He stood up and followed Aiden. Only when he did as he was told he realized that all the pain was gone as if it wasn't there in the first place.