Having no room to dodge I instead move forward, heading straight into the blast with my left hand out. I am really counting on absorb at this point, if it doesn't work I just might end up as an ice sculpture.

'Absorb!'

Ice Storm Absorbed! +5 Cold Resist!

*DING*

Congratulations! Skill Absorb has progressed to level 2!

Absorb

Level: 2

Cost: 5 SP

You can absorb low to mid level spells!

Even though I absorbed the spell, my left hand and forearm are completely covered in ice. My guess is it is because the spell was a higher level than I can absorb, that may be why the skill leveled up too. Either way the fox looks surprised, but only for a second, it quickly recovers and fires another blast.

'Absorb!'

Ice Storm Absorbed! +5 Cold Resist!

As much as I would like to continue building up my cold resist the ice is now up to my shoulder and I don't want to take another blast. So I move at my fastest speed and as soon as I am next to the fox I swing Blitz down at its head. With a metallic clang Blitz is stopped by four of the tails, at the same instant the other two tails stab at my thighs.

Unfortunately, for it, the tails are unable to penetrate the drake armor and the fox gets zapped by my lightning aura. I quickly flip my grip on Blitz and use it to stab straight down at the fox's head. Again Blitz is blocked by the tails, but this time it uses all six tails and despite my strength I am not able to push through the defense.

So I smash my other arm into the cave wall and shatter the ice, but I still can't feel that hand. Since I can't grip a hilt I activate my mind blade and imagine it as a gauntlet covering my hand with a sword blade coming from the back of the hand. Before the fox can even see what I am doing or react, I stab the mind blade into its beautiful blue eye.

The fox drops dead and I let out a sigh of relief, then after getting Kechara to make a bit more room I drag the body into the cave. Just as I am about to tell Kechara to block the entrance again I hear a soft little mew sound. When I look over I see the little one from before coming running in, it goes straight to the big one's body and starts nudging it.

Instantly reminded of the situation where I met Kechara I just can't bring myself to hurt the little one. So I put Blitz away and then I bend down to pick up the baby and I do my best to comfort it. When I hear Kechara growling behind me I turn around and give her a few pats as I tell her not to be jealous.

As I am holding the little fox I can easily feel its ribs, it looks like it hasn't been eating very well. Reaching into my pouch I bring out a small chunk of boar meat and offer it to the baby. It snatches the meat with its front paws and starts eating quickly, to me it looks just like a squirrel with a nut.

'So cute!!!'

As I am watching it eat I notice its paws are more like hands, even the thumb is visible. Maybe calling this thing a cross between a fox and a squirrel would be more accurate than a bunny. Either way it is just too cute, no way can I leave this thing to die on its own.

After giving it another chunk of meat to eat I convince Kechara to be friendly, she leans over and licks it a few times. That gives me an idea, if I am going to have to leave, maybe this fox kit can stay with Kechara so she won't be so lonely. A quick scan shows the fox does have a core, but it is the lowest level of beast core.

After eating a third chunk of boar and having a drink of water the baby falls fast asleep. After making it a bed I start talking to Kechara about how they are similar, they both lost their mother after all. While it is sleeping I check and confirm that it is a female, and so is the big one.

So once again it looks like I have killed the mother and adopted the daughter, this better not become a habit. As I examine the mother's body I am amazed at how soft the fur is, considering it stopped Blitz I was expecting it to be hard. The fur is beautiful so I take my time and skin it very carefully.

Once the fur is off I proceed with butchering the body normally, I won't feed it to the baby but I won't let it go to waste either. I am fairly surprised when I remove the core, from what I know the fox was fairly close to becoming a sacred beast. I can't absorb it but that means the baby should have that potential as well.

Looking over at the baby I can't help but smile, Kechara has curled around the bed I made for the baby. Kechara was acting like she wanted nothing to do with the fox, but now I can see it was an act. This makes me happy, and it seems like my idea might just work out after all.

As I remove the heart and set it aside I am thinking about how Kechara's core is working. I had the thought of trying to do the same thing using my sacred power, if I can figure it out I can use it on the fox. If I can make sure she will grow up to be a sacred creature then she will be a perfect companion for Kechara.

Since I haven't used my sacred power much I still have plenty to experiment with, and looking at the storm we aren't going anywhere anyway. First though I finish up butchering the fox and I make sure to clean up as much as I can. No reason to leave any reminders for the baby, so I feed the extras to Kechara while I sit and start eating the heart.

Devour Activated! Agility +30, Intelligence +10!

Looking at the boost I got from devour I am thinking that it was a good thing we fought in an enclosed space. If its agility was that high I might not have been able to catch up to it out in the open. Letting Kechara have what's left of the heart I sit back and start playing with my sacred power.