"..." Liu Ye was left speechless as he read the warning. He said he was down for stronger monsters but why did she choose the most powerful one in the area?

The warning window followed Liu Ye as he went down the slide and he didn't hesitate to stop as soon as he could.

Thud!

An Ice Wall rose up ahead of him and it cracked as he smashed hard with his feet. Just as he thought he saved himself, he heard Avi follow right after him.

"Woohoo!"

She cheered happily as she headed straight at his wall but he thankfully stopped her by catching her in his arms.

"Why did you stop?" Avi questioned while wrapping herself around him. "My, my, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

So far she has never missed a chance to tease him.

"This is not the time to play games," Liu Ye snapped her back into focus. "Do you know where this slide leads to?"

Liu Ye was naturally intrigued the moment he saw the +100% Elemental Mastery bonus but noticing the death penalty, it would be dumb to enter inside without preparation.

"Of course I know. This is a shortcut to the big mama bear that we are going to defeat," Avi replied confidently before looking at him playfully. "Why? Did you think that I will let you go inside by yourself? Baby, I'm still yet to taste your lips. I won't let you die."

"So you are confident that you can kill it alone, right? I probably won't be able to help you," Liu Ye wondered as he could already imagine how the battle would look like.

His abilities wouldn't even deal any damage so aside from the additional Elemental Mastery he would get from spamming abilities, he wouldn't get any experience or gold for this kill.

To make it worse, he would probably waste so many potions that he will be forced to return early to refill which would halt his grinding day. He planned to reach at least level 25 by the end of the day.

Avi's response didn't help the case at all.

"Oh, I'm sure I can't beat it on my own which is why I always avoided it," Avi replied while pursing her lips. "It's different now that I have you. I need someone to distract the mama bear so I can kill her. You should be quick enough to avoid her attacks."

She covered his lips with her finger and added, "Did you forget that we are partners? Don't tell me you thought I would just watch you train all day and do nothing? You are not paying me to train you so you also need to help me when I need it."

Crack!

Just as she finished speaking, the Ice Wall broke and they slid down the slide once again. It was a short ride though as they soon caught air and landed in a small pond filled with ice-cold water.

"Ahh, so refresh—"

Avi moaned in pleasure as she resurfaced but Liu Ye quickly covered her mouth. She was about to complain when they heard a loud growl of a bear coming from another cavern. It was finally the moment when Avi got serious and stopped playing around.

"This should be the bear's water source," Avi whispered as they got out. "I will prepare a trap while you will act as a decoy."

Liu Ye noticed gigantic footprints on the ice and couldn't help but have some second thoughts. The paw alone was at least one meter wide and looking at the size of the tunnels, the bear had to be at least 15 to 20 meters tall.

Everyone had limits to how far they could push themselves and his were slowly being crossed.

"If you are attacked, just jump in the water. It's not like she can fit in the hole," Avi suggested and stopped paying him attention.

She wrapped water around her arms and began climbing to the ceiling with ice hooks at the end of her water whips. Her plan was simply covering the whole cavern with spikes that she would later drop at the enemy's head.

Even though the whole battle would probably inconvenience him, Avi was right. She was helping him so it was only natural to return the favor. He would still benefit more in the long run.

If anything bad happens, he could still use his Ice Serpent as his last line of defense.

"Alright, I am ready," Avi announced after setting up her trap. "Make some noise so she can come here. I will attack from above."

Liu Ye looked up and saw a whole ceiling full of Ice Stalactite. He actually felt confident with so much arsenal but he didn't know yet who they were about to face.

"Hey!!! We are here!!!" Liu Ye yelled loudly and the snoring stopped abruptly. He prepared his Ice Projectiles to get the first aggro and waited as they heard loud stomping.

Even though he wouldn't get much experience, maybe there was a chance to claim the achievement.

ROAR!!!

When the King of the North finally saw them, it bellowed so loudly that all the spikes Avi prepared cracked and fell down. It didn't rush at them through and instead walked out of the tunnel like a king in his own home.

[King of the North - Lvl. 60]

[HP: 60,000/60,000]

[MP: 15,000/15,000]

The mama bear was actually a big papa bear with an Ice Helmet on its head and Ice armor on its back. The only weak point he could see were the eyes that gawked at him as if he was a bug disturbing the King's meal.

Liu Ye didn't hesitate to shoot while aiming at the eyes yet the Bear King only swiped with his paw to crush his Ice Projectiles.

-0

-0

-0

He then tried bursting with a Water Jet but his efforts were futile. He would have a better chance of extinguishing a forest fire with a bucket of water than killing this bear.

The Bear King looked at him with contempt and slowly approached while showing his teeth.

Thankfully, he was just a decoy.

Swoosh!

Avi charged an attack from her fist and suddenly released a stream of flames that swallowed the whole Bear King.

"Don't you think of touching my baby!"