The situation right now is kinda… hilarious.
Without Kai around, Irelia could easily wipe out everyone without even breaking a sweat.
But with Kai here, not only does she fail to deal any meaningful damage—she's the one getting absolutely demolished!
"STUCK!"
Kai slams his sword straight down through her foot, pinning her completely in place.
She tries to raise her hand to cast a spell—only for Baron's lightning bolt to strike and paralyze her instantly.
Abaric charges in right away, slashing her repeatedly while his sand clone appears to maximize the damage output.
Her hands clench tight, summoning an ice wall that envelops her body for protection.
But Vakoth smashes straight through the ice wall with Icebreaker, then slams a brutal punch into her stomach.
The shattered ice fragments start to detonate—only to get instantly sucked into a black hole.
"AGHHHH!!!!" She screams in pure frustration, rage, humiliation, and unwillingness to accept defeat.
"SHUT UP!" All five of them shout in perfect unison.
Kai and Vakoth rush her at the same time. Vakoth hurls Icebreaker skyward and throws both fists forward.
The two of them unleash a barrage of punches on Irelia, not giving her a single chance to open her mouth.
Kai smashes her jaw. Vakoth hammers her gut. Kai kicks her side. Vakoth punches her shoulder. Kai cracks her face. Vakoth stomps her foot.
Every blow lands with brutal, unrestrained force. The leg Kai had pinned with his sword slowly tears apart under the pressure.
"UOHHH!!!" Both Kai and Vakoth pull back for momentum, then simultaneously slam their fists straight into her stomach.
Riiip!
The sword can no longer hold her leg—her leg is torn in half and sent flying.
"WE'RE NOT DONE YET!" Reito roars.
Instantly, a massive black hole yanks her back toward the group before vanishing—revealing Baron charging mana into his fist.
"D-Don't think you'll succeed!" she snarls, gathering mana in both hands.
"That's not happening," a deep voice rumbles from above.
Right after, Abaric and his clone spin like spinning tops—one in front, one behind—sawing into her waist like a pair of buzzsaws.
Blood sprays everywhere. Her mind blanks. She can only stare at Baron's glowing blue fist.
"RAIKOU!"
Abaric retreats while the clone pins her in place. Baron charges forward and drives his fist directly into her stomach.
The concentrated mana explodes outward, surging from inside her body to the outside.
Her abdomen is blasted clean through by lightning; the clone behind her shatters instantly.
"Whoa, wasn't that supposed to be a ranged move? Why do you always close in like that?" Reito asks curiously.
"To maximize pain."
"That's savage."
"PICK UP YOUR WEAPONS! WE'RE BATHING IN BLOOD TONIGHT!" Vakoth bellows.
Baron steps back. Kai, Vakoth, and Abaric charge in slashing.
"AGHHH!!"
"UGHH!"
"NUOGHHHH!!!!"
Irelia's agonized screams echo nonstop—but the three don't waver for even a second; they just keep cutting.
"This tag-team synergy is insane…" Even Kanna and Lily are stunned by how flawlessly the five coordinate.
To the point that Irelia can't do anything at all—she's being beaten to within an inch of her life.
Violet watches her get pummeled, face filled with sadness, yet she doesn't intervene.
After all, this was Irelia's own choice. Violet won't stop her. (…Just stop them already, she's already half-dead and barely conscious…)
"Pipi!!" Pandora cries out a warning from Kai's shoulder. Kai's eyes snap wide and he freezes.
"EVERYONE, BE CAREFUL—SHE'S ABOUT TO DROP A MASSIVE AoE!!"
Hearing that, all five leap back as far as they can.
Irelia's body is covered in blood—then the blood freezes solid from her own cold aura.
"I-I… I won't… I won't give up!!" Her eyes shake violently; she's on the verge of losing consciousness.
"CHA…RIOT!!"
Instantly, two ice horses appear, pulling a war chariot.
Irelia's form on the chariot begins to twist and mutate—looking less human and more like a monstrous snow queen straight out of a fairy tale.
"She's overusing forbidden magic. Right now she looks exactly like the Ice Queen from bedtime stories!" Baron comments.
The two horses neigh, then pull the chariot soaring into the sky.
Wherever it passes, snow falls and everything freezes solid.
The temperature plummets dangerously. Even with Kanna using runes to warm everyone, it's not enough.
"Hey kid, any way to reduce the damage from this thing? My hands are about to get frostbite necrosis here," Vakoth grumbles, his weapon hand already turning purple.
"There's always a price for wielding cursed weapons. Look at Baron—he's been spamming it this whole time and holding it together pretty well," Kai says, pointing.
Vakoth glances over.
Baron looks dead serious… but he's clutching his stomach, gut rumbling loudly, clearly clenching everything to keep from shitting himself mid-fight.
Poor guy. To keep fighting alongside everyone while suffering explosive diarrhea-level curse backlash—he really has a will of steel.
"She's too damn fast! I can't keep up!" Abaric complains.
"What kind of demonic speed is this?!" Reito stares at the mini-map on his black-hole orb—the red dot representing the enemy is moving at near-impossible velocity.
Irelia hurls a gigantic ice spear straight at the group. Vakoth's sharp instincts let him dash to the predicted impact point and shatter it mid-air.
But the fragments that rain down freeze their feet to the ground, shocking everyone.
"Kanna! Just burn our feet off!" Kai shouts.
"WAIT WAIT WAIT I'M NOT READY—" Before Reito can finish, flames erupt under everyone's feet—melting the ice instantly.
All five pairs of feet are bright red from the rapid freeze-burn combo—numb and screaming in pain.
"She's throwing again!"
Her throwing speed keeps climbing; no one can predict where the next spear will land. Even Vakoth can't react in time.
"…We're out of options!" Kai presses his hand over his left eye and closes it.
"Pipi?!" Pandora lets out a worried cry—she knows exactly what he's planning since she's bonded with him.
"Don't worry. This is the perfect moment to use it… and I've trained enough to know exactly when to stop…"
"…?" Aura senses something and narrows her eyes at Kai.
When Kai lowers his hand, his left eye glows like a serpent's.
This is the same power he activated back in the hidden dungeon with Tyler.
And this eye lets him perceive everything in slow motion.
Yeah… that's pretty much it. He hasn't even unlocked its full potential yet.
'IT ITCHES LIKE HELL!!!' Tears stream from his left eye from the unbearable itch, but he doesn't dare scratch.
Pandora taught him to use only one eye—it's weaker than both, but he can sustain it much longer.
Kai watches the incoming spear in ultra-slow motion, then grabs everyone and yanks them out of the impact zone.
Because everything moves like a slow-motion film in his vision, to the others it looks like he moved faster than the spear itself.
"Huh?" Baron blinks in shock, realizing he's suddenly far from the danger zone. Everyone else looks equally confused.
Once they're safe, Kai fires three needles from his sword toward where Irelia is moving next.
Instant effect—she takes all three hits, each dealing triple soul damage. Blood sprays from her mouth.
The spear crashes down anyway, turning the entire area into an ice age—spikes of frost erupting everywhere.
"Whoa! Kai, how did you do that?!" Reito stares at him in awe.
Then he sees Kai's left eye and instinctively steps back in fear.
"What? Does it look that creepy?"
"Yeah… like a predator's eye. Or more accurately, a snake's," Baron says bluntly.
"Oh nice. So it has intimidation factor too? Awesome!"
Irelia clutches her wounds, blood flows, freezes, flows again.
Honestly, her vitality is insane. After all that punishment, she's still standing. Her will to live is terrifying.
She looks down, pours every last drop of mana into her hands, and summons a barrage of ice spears.
Her speed increases even further. Each spear now carries mana density comparable to a mini nuke.
"…oh… ohhhh," Kai mutters, watching the storm of spears rain down from every direction—no blind spots.
She intends to freeze and kill every single one of them… Well, that was her goal from the very beginning.
'Fuck! What do I do now?!'
Her spear-throwing speed has already surpassed his needle-firing speed. He's afraid he won't kill her in time before she wipes them all out.
Escape routes frozen. Everything is slow in his vision, yet still urgently pressing.
His mind races, brain working overtime—but the insane itch in his left eye is clouding his thoughts.
Is this really the end? He really doesn't want to lose here!
The spears draw closer. Sweat pours. He grips his sword tighter.
Then he remembers something… back when he was still training.
"Kai, your skill is actually way stronger than you realize," Pandora had said while scratching her stomach and opening a bag of snacks.
"What do you mean?" Kai panted, drenched in sweat from training.
"I read your memories. You always use it to pin enemies by stabbing their feet, right? It's effective… but there's a problem."
Kai dropped the weight and looked at her.
"What if the enemy is someone who doesn't care about pain, or someone strong enough to fight back even with a sword through their foot?"
"Then stab the stomach or other parts—obviously when they're already down."
"…I forgot that was even an option. But what if the enemy is too fast to catch?"
"I've got that eye thing now. Everything slows down when I activate it."
"…ugh! Anyway—your skill is way more versatile than you think! Get creative! The skill isn't trash; the user's thinking is what makes it trash!"
"Really?" Kai burned those words into memory.
"…That's right." Back in the present, Kai stares at the incoming spears.
A skill stays with someone for life—so that person has to keep finding better, more creative ways to use it.
In novel, the protagonist never truly master their skill—partly low mana, partly because he think it's too weak and never bother exploring it.
And that skill has been with that guy way longer than Kai has been in this world!
Stuck is genuinely useful in its own way: low mana cost, support-type, zero backlash.
Kind of funny that Kai is actually using "Stuck" more effectively than the original protagonist ever did—probably because the guy was too pessimistic to dig deeper.
And now Kai is in a life-or-death moment.
He's missing something… something to perfect himself…
…
Stuck (F): Allows the user to touch something (non-living) and make it become stuck. Condition: the target must be surrounded by something in order to be "stuck." Can be activated multiple times simultaneously, but mana cost increases accordingly.
…
"Oh… how did I forget that…" Kai suddenly grins, remembering the skill description.
The school's check stone only showed stats and potential—never the full detailed skill explanation—and slapped an F-rank on it.
The only other info he had came from that trash novel "Cuck Hell World," which described the skill poorly—so he'd been using it wrong the whole time.
Turns out, skill information is always instinctively known to the user and stored in their brain. Since he isn't originally from this world, he didn't know!
It's not "hold"—it's "touch" to activate! (Maybe he use it before but don't figure out?)
And now he's found the key! The true potential of this skill is way bigger than his body!
Holy shit! This skill is OP as hell! He only just realized!
Kai stares at the barrage of spears, eyes deadly serious.
"I hope this works… No—it HAS to work!"
His left eye glows brighter; red veins begin crawling across it.
"Huh? Wait! Why is Kai running straight toward the spears—" Before Reito finishes, Kai leaps upward, facing the storm head-on.
Everyone's eyes widen in horror—Kai and the ice spears are seconds from collision.
At this rate, he'll die!
…Or maybe not.
Kai reaches out and touches the nearest spear.
"STUCK!"
"!!"
A sharp sound rings out—the spear that was about to impale him freezes mid-air, completely immobile!
Kai touches the next one, then the next, shouting the skill name over and over.
The whole group is stunned, watching an army of ice spears now hanging motionless in the sky.
Even the deranged Irelia freezes in shock.
"KNEW IT!" Kai grins wide and shouts.
As long as something is surrounding it—he can activate the skill!
It never specified solid matter or anything specific!
Which means… if he wants to…
The air itself surrounds everything!