Second only to one, to see Weilin… is to see the Illusory Snow Queen!
What kind of honor was this?!
What Huan Xuezhi announced truly shook everyone’s hearts, no less than the terror they felt upon seeing the Luotendo Declaration of War… Yet, beyond the terror, they were now even more bewildered and incredulous.
In the three years since the Illusory Snow Queen ascended the throne, even her four royal brothers, guilty in their hearts, avoided contact with her. Coupled with Huan Xuezhi’s increasingly icy temperament and her refusal to trust anyone, the military power of the Ice Snow Guard had been split into three.
For Illusory Snow City, with a population of only two million, the ten-thousand-strong Ice Snow Guard was both the strongest… and practically the only army.
And now, the ten-thousand-strong Ice Snow Guard, the most solid barrier of Illusory Snow City, was to be entirely handed over to an outsider Her Majesty the Queen had known for barely a few days…?
“Such a matter concerning military power and royal authority cannot be treated as a joke! I implore Your Majesty to reconsider!”
Snapping out of his immense shock, the Great Mage named Rhodes immediately bowed his head and tremblingly voiced his counsel.
Having waited nearly an hour just for Weilin, causing the entire civil and military court to kneel, resentment clashed like bells in everyone’s hearts. Among them, Sir Li, Lien, who had felt personally humiliated, was even more resentful. He quickly followed Rhodes’s words, shouting angrily:
“Single-handedly annihilating a Snow Giant…? Impossible! That is an Ancient Demonic Creature, an existence surpassing the Human Saint Realm, something even Your Majesty finds difficult to handle! Therefore, I have ample reason to suspect… this is a play staged by the Empire or the Federation! Lega Weilin is here to deceive Your Majesty’s trust and usurp the military power of the Snow Kingdom…!”
Dodd was not a mage, but a warrior who cultivated Frost Battle Aura.
He also believed that Weilin, who looked frail and helpless… couldn’t possibly have single-handedly killed that Snow Giant, whose mere distant sight had made his soul tremble and filled him with boundless fear?
At this thought, Dodd sneered, stepping forward. Cold white Battle Aura radiated from his large, sturdy right foot, sending a wave of frigid air straight at Weilin.
“Hmph! I don’t know what bewitching potion you fed Her Majesty, but… Lega Weilin, since you handled the Snow Giant with such ease, then my axe certainly can’t harm you, right? Dare to come and exchange a few moves!?”
Look, he was grinning savagely!
The ministers thought that with General Dodd, the Legendary Warrior, taking action, this spy full of suspicion would surely be exposed.
After all, the incident of slaying the Snow Giant had only occurred yesterday in Mistlight City; none of the civil and military officials of Illusory Snow City had witnessed it personally.
The scene, teetering on the edge of chaos, made Airi frown slightly… This bunch of idiots, couldn’t they hear the Illusory Snow Queen’s personal decree: “Second only to one, to see her is to see me”?
This was already overstepping propriety, an act of insubordination!
Airi was about to step forward, but a cold, gentle breeze brushed from behind, subtly restraining her actions…
It was the Illusory Snow Queen stopping Airi from intervening.
It seemed… Huan Xuezhi wanted Weilin to handle this herself.
And what about our Weilin? She was standing completely still.
Threatened coldly by General Dodd, she tilted an eyebrow, revealing an utterly casual smile, and asked with a surprised look, “…Seriously? You’re joking, right?”
“Heh, of course! What, are you… afraid?”
Dodd was increasingly convinced this person was a swindler trying to pull off an empty-handed heist.
“No, no, that’s not what I meant. There are too many people here. If a real fight breaks out, others might get hurt. How about this: we each use one skill and judge the winner purely by effect. That way, even if there’s a misunderstanding, we won’t damage our relations. What do you say?”
“…” Dodd thought for a moment, nodded heavily, then bellowed, “I’ll go first!”
With a leap, he flew to the center of the empty main hall.
Dodd’s weapon was a massive battle axe nearly two meters long, something only a rugged, brawny warrior of the snow plains like Dodd could wield.
Frost Battle Aura surged along his arm like flowing water. A pale white light wreathed the shimmering edge of the giant axe, emitting a powerful fluctuation that made hearts palpitate.
“Ice River Divine Axe… Ha!”
Lifted high above his head, the gleaming, cold axe crashed down onto the smooth floor.
With a thunderous boom, in front of the axe’s strike, massive blocks of ice erupted from the ground. In the span of a breath, they formed an Ice Barrier over sixty meters long and more than three meters high?!
Impressive!
This might not have been the strongest, but it was the most visually spectacular combat technique Dodd could use. After all, didn’t Weilin say to compare effects? Ha, top that!
Nods and murmurs of admiration rippled through the ministers. Even the Ranger behind the Queen opened her small mouth in surprise, visibly shaken.
Weilin asked, “Done?”
“…Of course General Dodd is done, now it’s your turn!” Lien lifted his head, speaking with leisurely confidence. Even as a Legendary Mage, he had to acknowledge the profound mystery of the sixth-order combat technique, Ice River Divine Axe.
“Alright then…”
Weilin let out a small breath, raised a slender arm towards the ceiling of the main hall, and chanted softly: “…Frost… Trap.”
Pfft!
In less than a day, the folk rumors about Weilin slaying the Snow Giant had deified this young lady to a terrifying degree, surpassing even the Star God. Although they didn’t believe the rumors, they still believed Weilin had some ability and thus held some anticipation.
…But they never expected her to use a Frost Trap?!
What kind of magic is ‘Frost Trap’?
A first-order water (ice) magic, in some ways even more useless than Gentle Breeze Spell. At least Gentle Breeze can still blow on people. But a trap… do you think people are blind?
Unless combined with a special trap concealment spell, or covered by heavy snow, a Frost Trap by itself… you’d have to tie up the enemy and throw them onto the trap to trigger it!
Furthermore, setting a Frost Trap, even if you made it bloom like a flower, inherently has no visual spectacle to speak of.
Everyone was floored.
The two mages, Lien and Rhodes, were so thoroughly disappointed and stunned that their faces showed not a trace of mockery or sarcasm… only utter bafflement!
Hmph, she’s just throwing caution to the wind, giving up completely.
But in the next moment, as Weilin raised her single arm, everyone suddenly felt the massive Cold Dove Hall faintly tremble…
An ear—earthquake?
With a cry of alarm, everyone’s gaze involuntarily turned outside Cold Dove Hall.
“That is… what?!!”
Like frogs at the bottom of a well, the humans strained their eyes to their widest, as if witnessing a divine miracle unfolding before them.
An ice barrier, smooth as a mirror’s surface, began to rapidly “grow” upwards from the ground a thousand meters outside the main hall.
It was like watching a tree seed you just planted in the soil compress hundreds of years of growth into mere seconds. An ice barrier, only a few meters high a second ago, shot upwards at an incomprehensible speed, stacking straight over a hundred meters towards the sky…
?!
Not just the front, but in every direction!!
Like an ice crystal flower left to the world by a god, its petals slowly closing around the entirety of Cold Dove Hall. Each unfolding, brilliantly icy petal was vast, blotting out the sky, forcing the world to gaze upon its immensity…
Frost Trap
[Description: Place a frost trap. Inflicts a slowing effect on enemies who approach. Upon triggering, deals area magic damage and applies an additional slowing effect.
Mental Power can moderately influence the state of the Frost Trap (size, shape, effect).]
“Do you feel like you’re trapped in a frozen swamp, struggling to move?”
The girl’s voice arose slowly, pulling everyone’s minds back from the horror of witnessing the miracle.
Almost simultaneously, Dodd, Lien… and everyone else in the main hall looked down in terror.
The ground, at some unknown point, had been covered by a thick layer of white frost… This frost continuously released a bone-chilling, marrow-piercing cold. “Struggling to move” was an understatement… Under this cold aura, the physiological functions of many were quietly freezing and dying…
“That’s right… Now, we are all inside the Frost Trap.”
It was such a bright, beautiful smile from the girl, a voice that tugged at heartstrings, yet for the first time, they felt a terrifying, lowly trembling that they couldn’t control…
(…She’s always this way)
