Kibishi's POV

  The distance between me and the monster was pretty far.

  For a normal human, this might have seemed like a normal distance, and they could have run away. But turning your back on this monster would have cost your life.

  And backing up right then to gain more distance would have caused the monster to chase after me, and it might have harmed my friends during the process.

  So the solution seemed simple.

  If I couldn't back up or run away from this thing (which I wouldn't, since I wanted to beat this monster myself), then there was only one thing to do...

  I slowly inhaled deeply.

  I adjusted my weight a little.

  I exhaled.And then, I made my move.

  Dash!

  ... And that was for me to move forward!

  Step! Step! Step!

  My boots slipped on the snow with every step I took.

  Of course, it wasn't that deep, so I could manage a steady pace and continue my progression toward the monster.

  I brought my right hand with my knife back as I felt my eyes burning once more. It seemed like my eyes were glowing again. That meant my powers were activated. With emotion tied to my powers, it seemed like a simple trigger, right?

  Well, no.

  For one, even if I focused on activating my powers, I ended up with pain from my brain to my eyes to my heart.

  And two, it didn't mean it would always be that way.

  This time, I got lucky.

  I would have to figure out a way to use this power without it being a burden instead of a help.

  Step. Step. Step.

  One foot. Then another.

  My target was nearly at the distance I wanted.

  Step. Step. Step.

  The monster wasn't pnning to dodge me. It was getting ready to attack me with its cws. I wasn't sure if it was due to bravery or if it thought it had an upper hand against prey stupid enough to head its way, but either way, this might give me a slight advantage.

  Slide!

  I slid across the snow while staring at the monster. It didn't seem to be moving still.

  Could it be blind since its eyes were gone—

  Swing!

  Dodge!

  The monster sshed its cw at me with intense speed. It grazed the side of my right cheek and left a mark.

  Thump!

  I dodged back, leaning backwards, and did a triple flip before doing a superman nding. I slowly stood right back up.

  I then noticed that I was a bit far away from the monster.

  "Huh?" I widened my eyes in shock.

  How could that be?

  Did I do that? How could I jump so far away?

  "I know that I'm a supernatural, but that's crazy," I whispered.

  Did my supernatural powers increase my mobility?

  "No. No time for that!"

  Right.

  Leap!

  There was no time for questions. Only actions.

  I slid a bit and almost lost my bance when I tried to nd after jumping in the air, but I continued to run towards the monster regardless.

  It seemed to me that the monster was now being the waiter of this battle.

  How come?

  No.

  It was more like, why 'now'?

  Step. Step. Step. Step.

  The boots crunched with every step I took. With the knife that didn't have its coolness due to a ck of feeling—thanks to my nerves being forcefully shut down by Jir's magic—I steadied myself and readied my advance.

  When I was near enough to the monster, I swung my knife at it.

  Swing!

  Dodge!

  Damn it! The monster dodged it.

  "Damn you...!" I spun my knife and tried swinging it horizontally at the monster's face.

  Dodge!

  It dodged again!

  This monster was only dodging my attacks, not countering them.

  I didn't give up, though. Once I leaned forward after my st attack, I tried something new and attempted to roundhouse kick the monster's face—

  Block!

  "What?!" I gritted my teeth.

  Oh, NOW it was countering my attacks?!

  Crack... crack....

  A cracking noise? Where was it coming from—oh no.

  I realized that the monster was crushing the foot it had caught. The only reason I wasn't screaming was because I was numb to any pain or touch.

  So you could stab my stomach, and I wouldn't feel a thing.

  But that didn't mean the foot would function if it got completely crushed!

  Ssh!

  I used my body weight to lean forward toward the monster and tried to swing my knife at its head once more.

  This made the monster dodge—

  Wham!

  It was followed by smming me on the ground and gaining some distance between us once again. I slowly stood up and took a look at my now bleeding, stained foot.

  Yup.

  That was going to hurt like hell once I regained my ability to feel.

  But that wasn't my biggest problem right now....

  I slowly looked at my target and saw how far away we were at that point.

  "It's even further than st time..." I whispered as I could feel my brows wrinkling from how frustrating this monster was being.

  This wouldn't do.

  This wouldn't work in my favor if this monster kept outspacing me.

  This isn't good. Time is running out.

  If I didn't do something soon, then not only would my nerves be working again, but all of us would be slow enough for that thing to attack once more!

  The direct approach isn't working—!

  Throws!

  Ssh!

  I instinctively sshed a speeding object that was aiming for my wounded leg.

  "What the hell?!"

  Toss! Toss! Toss!

  Ssh! Ssh! Ssh!

  Three more objects were thrown my way and I ended up cutting every st one of them into bits and pieces. What were those things anyway?!

  I looked down and saw rocks that were in pieces thanks to my knife.

  "Rocks?!"

  Where in the world did it get those from?

  I looked back and saw the monster digging its cws into the ground and holding a giant pile of snow.

  But then the snow melted so quickly. It melted so fast that I couldn't believe my eyes.

  And then, it became a boulder. Soon afterwards, it turned into four sets of smaller boulders and then, finally, rocks.

  What in the world was I seeing?

  What was it doing?!

  Throw! Toss! Toss! Toss!

  Ssh! Ssh! Ssh! Ssh!

  My arms swung so fast that it was almost a blur to me. The reason for that was that my body reacted faster than my brain could try to keep up.

  Cutting the rocks into bits and pieces should have been impossible. Even for me, this was unbelievable.

  But the more I cut through these rocks, the more I realized how much things had changed during this battle.

  The changes?

  What the monster and I were doing at that very moment.

  And that was...

  "Adaptation..." I whispered in a cold and serious voice.

  This monster and I—we were trying new ways to counter and figure out how to outsmart our opponent.

  The cold of this igloo? The cloud of smoke from before around its body? The way it dodged now instead of blocking?

  It was adapting.

  That meant not just any attack would work anymore.

  And I knew the reason for such a method.

  The cloud of smoke.

  It must have protected it from the cold of this igloo. Now that it was gone, it was fighting smartly.

  That meant we couldn't just do anything to it anymore.

  That meant my pn from before had failed. And what I was doing was pointless.

  But...

  That didn't mean I gave up hope.

  "...Two can py this game," I said as I felt my eyes burning once more.

  Very well.

  If I couldn't go with my current pn, then I would have to fight smart, too.

  You're not the only one who can fight smartly, monster.

  Don't worry. I'll figure you out if that's the st thing I do!