In a field of green grass splaying to the end of sight, hundreds of shadows darkened patches of grass as they slowly advanced toward the two children standing afar.

“Balloons?” Himo staggered. “How are these balloons?!”

Monsters, that’s what they were. Monsters in the sky. Long, thin, intertwined tentacles drooped from each flier, as their blue umbrella-shaped head halted the spanning clouds from the sight of those below. Together, they looked like a floating sea. Like a cloud. Each flew impassively, uncaring of the stares of others. Uncaring of the strong wind that scowled from east. Uncaring of everything aside from their objective. Their sinful target.

And the child watching, Himo, soon realized too. The gem he had picked earlier had much greater value than he believed. For he had just gained the wrath of the jellyfalls.

But his shock didn't last long. "The last time we met, I could only escape. Let's see how I will fare this time." With a grin, he took his violin. "Phylia, stand back."

She did as he said. The pursuer was still there, so she couldn’t shapeshift thoughtlessly.

Himo readied his violin bow. Gently moving it on the chords, he shaped the surroundings with his music, crafting a world of lava around the cloud of jellyfalls. It was like an inescapable net—it grew closer and closer until it trapped the monsters.

But the net broke. The walls of lava crumbled and vanished, followed by a shockwave that destroyed the illusion the child had created—Himo spurted blood.

“Master! Are you fine?” Phylia supported him.

“I’m fine, nothing serious.” Himo coughed and said, “They are quite strong.” He took a few steps back and fell deep in thought. While he could reach the monsters with [Hopper], it would at least require a stacked one. And that would mean having a limited air-mobility.

The foremost jellyfall moved. Its tentacles aimed at the two, spasming lightly as they charged up blue electricity—and they shot. Like wrathful lighting, a blue streak of light darted to the two.

Himo grabbed Phylia and leaped away with [Hopper]. “There’s no other choice, huh?” A frown etched to his face, and two stacked platforms coalesced under his feet. Boom! The dirt beneath his feet exploded into a brown cloud as he turned into a bullet that hunted the jellyfall. He grabbed the scythe. And he slashed—splitting both air and jellyfall together, the black blade decreased the opponents by one.

The squishy body of the monster posed no resistance. Two halves of the jellyfall fell from the sky, gliding through the air until they crashed onto the ground.

The nearby jellyfalls trembled in rage. Over twenty creatures pointed their tentacles to the child in mid-air and shot their bolts.

Himo clicked his tongue. He had one [Hopper] charge left, so he used it. Toward the closest jellyfall. As the ray of blue shot behind him, he smirked. If I can stand on one of them, I can replenish the charges! But when he neared on the umbrella-shaped head, the jellyfall moved farther from him—it was nearly in hand’s reach, yet still too far. He frowned and swung the scythe. Its blade pierced the monster’s top.

“Got you!” He pulled the scythe to reach the jellyfall, but he accidentally split the monster in half. “Wha-?! Really?” 

Both he and the corpse began to fall as the wind whistled in his ears. At the same time, over fifty jellyfalls charged their lightning and aimed at him. Like a tidal wave approaching from afar, their lightning seemed ready to drown the whole plains.

That sight sent a shiver down his back. He shielded himself with the corpse of the falling monster. And the blue crashed on the jellyfall, melting its side instantly. Pale, Himo jumped away from the carcass—the blue nearly grazed him and fell to the plain, turning green into scorched black.

“What is this…?” Himo widened his eyes. He had underestimated his opponents. Being in mid-air, he had no way to avoid the next attack. A next attack that was about to come—countless jellyfalls had their tentacles covered in electricity. He grabbed his violin, but before he could do anything, a net seized him from behind.

The net pulled him down, and the blue bolts missed him once again.

Phylia, whose right palm had turned into rope and net, pulled him to the ground and caught him with her arms.

“Thank you!” he said.

“Hmm!” She smiled and nodded. Then, she retracted net and rope, making it look as if she were storing them in a storage ring.

Himo sent a grim look to the remaining jellyfalls. If it’s this hard to kill two, how am I supposed to kill the rest? No matter how he racked his brain, he found no solution. He felt powerless, unable to overcome the gap known as ‘height’. 

Amid a silence that screamed the coming of monsters, he heard footsteps behind him, followed by a young, cold voice. “Acceptable, but you lack one important thing.”

Himo stiffened. The pursuer! He snapped his gaze backward, but then widened his eyes in shock. “Brother?!”

Ignoring his stupor, Eitha stepped over a small mound on his right side. He looked coldly at the jellyfalls. The temperature in the area dropped by his mere presence—green stalks of grass around him turned into frozen crystals. The raging wind slowed down until it stopped completely. Air itself grew denser. Whether it was animal, plant, or natural phenomenon, everything around him seemed to freeze.

The advance of the jellyfalls halted. Without a single second of delay, each of those creatures shivered and turned to flee.

Eitha splayed a hand toward the monsters, and a blue floating circle coalesced before it. Several ancient runes adorned its borders as its middle rotated the symbol of a snowflake. Time seemed to halt as he announced, "Icelization." He didn't raise his tone, and yet, his voice reverberated throughout the plains, piercing the hearts of children and monsters alike.

Three white streaks of ice dashed out of the circle, warping then into a mist. Like an expanding shockwave, the white mist spread throughout the surrounding plains as its wake left behind a realm of sole ice. Aside from Himo and Phylia that were protected by a sphere of warmth, everything soon turned into frost—the jellyfalls had the same ending.

The temperature had fallen to absolute zero.

Each monster turned into an ice statue in the sky and started their descent. Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! They fell like a cascade of frost, striking the frozen ground and bursting into countless, shattered pieces. Only small, fragmented parts of them remained, all lying over the dirt they once darkened with their shadows.

Himo stood with his mouth agape the whole time. What kind of magic is this? Compared to this, a fireball is just a joke!