His mind churned as if drunk.
"Ha....Ha"
Cale caught his breath, hiding within the wide expanse of trees, occasionally peeking his head out.
'Where would they be attacking from? If I was them....'
Obviously from a high vantage point he thought.
'Who would have guessed that it was actually a kill zone'
A mere guess was all it really was, but that judgement allowed for survival.
'Maybe I should trust my intuition from now on'
Shifting his gaze towards the caught on fire craters, he realized that it was no ordinary flame.
It burned despite the cold wind slapping it violently.
'How does one even get to do this?'
Cale didn't know much about what a kill zone truly was and only saw examples of it being used in tower defense games and novels.
But the way they nudged him quietly to where they wanted, made him shudder at what could've happened.
'They aren't even trying to hide it'
Residues of explosions being used kept showing on the ground, the incinerated corpses showed to have not resisted and were killed instantly.
'No, I still might not be safe here'
Who said their range was limited? For all he knew, they could attack as long as he remained still.
'If they mixed in explosions with icicles....I must have dodged them as well'
It was hard to tell if they really did mix in some explosions. Nonetheless, one thing was certain.
Seeing him dodge, they decided to wait till he got tired in the most open space they could slowly 'suggest' him to.
'I'm slightly depressed that I am that predictable, but okay'
"Survival first, depression later"
With those words, his left foot lifted off the ground, trudging anywhere except the center and the mountains creating a natural border.
'There's no way they have a lot of range'
Unless Cale was running straight to them, he would eventually run out of their field of view, he counted on that to happen.
Sp-Spark!
A spark blazed and crackled right under where he stepped, in his vision, a white line stretched thin before him.
"Ugk!"
His body moved before his thoughts could and lunged for cover. The dodge exponentially tiring him further.
Boom!
Sparks condensed and detonated, its destructive ability that of a bomb.
'So it is a landmine!'
Quickly recovering, he took labored for another step.
Sp Spark—!
His step sparked another landmine to life, another thin white line stretched ahead.
And his body moved towards it. However, this time he moved more violently than before.
Far fiercer than what he could put himself through, with each fiber of muscle that strained to move beyond their capabilities strained his mind faster.
It felt like it was being overclocked in real time, the heat in his body surged faster than the cold settling in. To the point where it started to burn him from the inside.
But he still dodged, dodging each landmine by a hair.
Blood dripped, the performance of his body dropped from the perfection it showed prior.
Every mine that set off shaved more and more of his stamina, so much so that they started to harm him ever so slightly.
The trail of white truth ended abruptly, destination being in a never ending expanse of tall wood spikes.
"...."
However, Cale didn't move despite there still being danger.
No matter how much he dodged, they would cut him off by forcing him to dodge away from the outside, closer to their range.
'They adapted....'
For a long while, they had realized how he dodged, presumably also realizing that it was a part of his insight.
So they knew he had a hard limit to 'seeing' and dodging their attacks.
But them finding out didn't mean that Cale also hadn't found out their ability.
'I'll call it landmine for now'
Landmine, at first it seemed like a complicated ability, an ability that needed meticulous preparation ahead of time when one first hears about it.
In truth, it wasn't that in the least.
It was simple, dangerously simple.
'If it were an ability that required extensive preparation, the attacks would make no logical sense'
Someone who could perfectly predict every move his opponent made for an extended time period, unless they were some edgy main protagonist, such a thing would be impossible to even theorize about.
'So they are more likely able to create a landmine on the spot'
Perhaps with a mere look or some other way. He didn't know the method, just that it could be that.
Cale's eyes drifted downwards to the ground where snow still fell, he could only imagine just how many they are still setting up in real time.
But, if they could set landmines in real time, how would they activate?
Well, that is why Cale decided to name this simple yet deadly ability 'Landmine'.
It requires small pressure to activate, and it can be anything, strong gusts, a foot lightly poking the wrong place.
A. N. Y. T. H . I. N. G.
Even the snowflakes that are diving from the cloudy sky and crash landed onto the ground where the landmine is would be a good substitute.
Spark!
Sparks danced as the snowflake tapped the landmine enough times to press in real weight.
Cale jumped away, his body crashing to the ground as more landmines activated under him.
The explosion would occur only when the sparks condensed to a singular point, a delay in other words.
Allowing for enough time to escape.
Cale, despite knowing this, stood still, even as they set off one by one.
Bang!
He still didn't move an inch when each landmine crept closer to him.
Fatigue was a reason, but not the underlying one.
His eyes scanned them one by one, each second that passed counted.
Finally, nodding as if seeing enough, he leapt away before another mine could set off right in front of him.
Other landmines hummed to life at the sudden shift in pressure choking them.
They sparked like little stars playing chase.
Step—!
A step crushed their fun quarrels to the ground. Cale didn't look back, he only rushed forward with no signs of stopping.
And his actions perplexed one student of Gardenia.
'This...what the hell is he trying to achieve?'
A thin branch with a red eye dangling looked at the scene with confusion.
"Has he lost his mind?"
Next to him, a green bush constantly replenished the amount of landmines that were being used.
"Perhaps a last ditch effort?"
He crossed his slender arms.
'Having seen and realizing that there was a delay in the mines must have given the idea to just walk right through'
However, such a plan would not work, the mines could set off without the need of someone actually stepping on them, which was what made this ability so fearsome in this environment.
To Carl, it seemed that their prey could not think of anything else and just did whatever popped in his mind.
"Oh? What is he going to do now?"
Carl chuckled silently, mouth curling and spreading to his cheeks.
He closed his eyes at the landmine that activated under the strong winds their free kill walked towards.
'Another one to boost our ranking'
Shoulders hunched as he could barely contain his now unrestrained cackling.
The green bush next to Carl rolled her eyes.
"Hu Hu~ It seems you are enjoying yourself"
As the fleshy branch behind her pulsed and shared its sight with her, she looked at the scout once before closing her eyes and returning to the playground she littered with bombs.
But to her shock...
"Eh?"
Their kill....avoided it by a hair?
"He's still using his insight?"
The scout stopped their laughter and took this a little more seriously.
"What kind of stamina is that? He's still using it even after half an hour has passed?"
They meticulously placed landmines ahead of time to avoid exhaustion....but they didn't expect him to still survive.
It forced them to start replenishing to meet the minimum demand.
But at this rate....
"He's not going for an hour is he?"
The green bush next to him called out.
Drip!
Blood sharply dripped from where the nose should be.