The water-blue Slime squirmed across the thick sheet of ice. With every wriggle, a layer of icy grit clung to its underside, and as its body twisted, that grit flaked off the Hydro Slime and dropped back onto the ice.
As a mage, she naturally wouldn't get too close to her enemy. Once she reached the edge of the pool, Fang Qiu stopped.
She cast a disdainful glance at the Hydro Slime, then struck without hesitation, channeling her Vision at full power.
The Cryo Vision at her waist blazed with brilliant light, and the surrounding Cryo energy came rushing frantically toward her.
Amid the swirling frost mist, a massive ice sword six meters long swiftly took shape.
The giant blade hovered before Fang Qiu, radiating a biting chill.
Behind her, Shenhe and Hu Tao stared at the giant sword that had formed at Fang Qiu's side, both momentarily stunned.
And not just them—looking at the giant sword beside her, so much larger than her own body, Fang Qiu was stunned herself.
She knew the strength she'd guessed at while sitting at home wouldn't perfectly match her actual power. But she'd always assumed the gap ran the other way—that she was weaker than she imagined.
She'd never expected she could conjure a sword this enormous.
Wasn't that gap a little too big?
Had she really grown this strong without even realizing it?
Good thing it was winter—the temperature was already low, and she was bundled up in plenty of layers...
So the effect on her wasn't too bad.
The Slime in the pool seemed to sense the threat coming from Fang Qiu, and it lifted its head to look at her.
The instant it raised its head, Fang Qiu launched her attack. With a wave of her hand, the giant sword at her side shot toward the Slime.
The Slime made no move to dodge—its body suddenly compressed.
Gathering power.
Release!
Its body sprang skyward like a coiled spring, hurling itself straight at the frost giant-sword.
In the next moment, the Slime's body was torn apart by the frost blade.
At the sight, Fang Qiu's eyes lit up.
A one-shot kill!
But before she could savor it, the frost blade, still carrying its momentum, slammed hard into the pool.
A thunderous boom.
A tremendous crash.
The thick sheet of ice burst apart as the frost blade plunged into the water below.
Shattering the ice, the giant sword sent up a wave several meters high.
Tsk.
The Philippine diving team.
Zero points!
That was Fang Qiu's first reaction.
Her second reaction was... wait, no, there's a wave crashing right toward me!
Never mind how miserable it'd be to get soaked head to toe in the dead of winter—just getting hit by a wave that size would probably knock her flat on her behind.
But the distance was simply too close.
There was no time to dodge.
Fang Qiu's gaze sharpened, ready to freeze the wave.
But at the moment of action, she hesitated.
If she froze the whole wave, fine.
But if she only froze half of it, this magic-based wave would turn into a physical-based one instead.
A brick-sized chunk of ice to the face—given her constitution, even if it didn't send her straight to reincarnation on the spot, it'd leave her laid up at Bubu Pharmacy for a good ten to fifteen days.
Wasn't that just asking to die?!
But that single moment of hesitation cost her the perfect window—now it was definitely too late to freeze it.
Damn it, still not enough combat experience...
She'd actually hesitated on the battlefield.
So she gave up.
Just as she calmly resigned herself to a baptism of icy water and a few days recuperating at Bubu Pharmacy, the next instant she felt a tug at her chest and was pulled into a warm, soft embrace.
The cold she'd braced for never came.
"Are you all right?"
Shenhe's voice sounded behind her.
Only then did Fang Qiu realize she was cradled in Shenhe's arms, and the wave before her had already been frozen solid.
Safe.
And then Fang Qiu noticed something was off...
When Shenhe had grabbed her just now, it hadn't been her waist that felt the tug—it had been her chest...
She looked down on instinct and found Shenhe's arms wrapped around her, one hand clutching her left breast so firmly that even through the fabric, Shenhe's fingers had sunk deep in.
Fang Qiu's pretty face, drained pale with fright a moment ago, flushed a tempting shade of crimson.
Feeling Shenhe's faintly warm breath brushing the base of her ear, Fang Qiu felt her legs go weak.
She couldn't tell whether it was the wave that had shaken her, or Shenhe...
"I'm... I'm fine." Fang Qiu answered, her face red.
Watching Shenhe and Fang Qiu wrapped together not far off, Hu Tao froze for a moment.
She didn't know why, but a tight ache settled over her...
The instant things went wrong, she'd wanted to act too.
But Shenhe had moved first...
And with her Pyro Vision, in a situation like this she was clearly less suited to a rescue than Shenhe.
So she'd held back.
Let Shenhe protect Fang Qiu.
And Fang Qiu had been saved, which was what mattered...
So why was she finding it a little hard to breathe...
Just as her thoughts tangled into a mess, Fang Qiu and Shenhe walked over to her.
She quickly let out a long breath, pushing the heaviness aside, and went to meet them. "Fang Qiu, you're not hurt, are you?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Fang Qiu said with a smile.
"Good, as long as you're okay." Hu Tao said with a beaming smile. "I didn't expect your strength to grow so fast, Fang Qiu—you can already conjure an ice sword that big."
"I don't really know how it happened either." Fang Qiu was a little puzzled herself.
"In winter the Cryo energy is more concentrated, and with the snow on top of that, you were able to perform beyond your usual level." Shenhe explained. "Normally, the ice sword you'd conjure should be around five meters."
"I see." Fang Qiu nodded thoughtfully.
Compared to Shenhe, who could freeze a tsunami nearly a hundred meters high without breaking a sweat, she still had a long way to go.
Let alone Rex Lapis, who could throw a spear and turn it into an island.
It seemed she still had quite a road ahead before she could become the Cryo Empress.
Still, five meters was pretty strong.
Far more impressive than the strength she'd guessed at.
Hmm... why did this little bit of self-consolation sound so much like a picture she'd seen in her past life...
A wife consoling her husband after the deed.
It's okay, one minute is impressive too...
Hmm... speaking of one minute.
Fang Qiu found herself pondering.
Sometimes big isn't enough—you need endurance too.
Right after conjuring that frost giant-sword, she'd felt a wave of weakness wash over her.
At most she could manage one or two more before she'd have to rest a while.
Better to break the giant sword down into ordinary one-handed blades.
Still, aside from going all out even against a weak foe—a lion pouncing on a rabbit with its full strength—she'd also meant to test her own destructive power.
After resting for a bit, they set off again.
Along the way, they found several more Slimes.
With her earlier experience, Fang Qiu had gotten much more adept at handling them.
An ordinary ice sword was enough to wipe out the small Slimes.
After cutting down a large Slime, Fang Qiu ran into a Mitachurl wielding a huge axe, along with some smaller Hilichurls.
Fang Qiu stood her ground and unleashed Unlimited Ice Blade Works from range.
Well... "unlimited," but really just seven blades.
Before the axe-wielding Hilichurl could even close in, it was skewered into a pincushion.
The remaining small Hilichurls were wiped out from range as well.
Besides the axe Mitachurl, they also encountered one carrying a wooden shield, along with some small Hilichurls.
Breaking the shield was a bit of a hassle, but Fang Qiu wiped them out from range all the same.
During the fight, Fang Qiu found the trick to it.
As long as she conjured the ice swords instantly, the surrounding temperature wouldn't drop too fast.
Under Shenhe and Hu Tao's guidance, Fang Qiu's combat skills grew smoother and surer.
They made their way to a valley.
In the valley stood a small Hilichurl camp, where a Hilichurl clutching an enormous slab of rock ambled about.
Besides that rock-shield Hilichurl, there were several others carrying torches.
Breaking the rock shield would be more troublesome, but Fang Qiu was confident she could take them down.
But just as she was about to strike, Shenhe stopped her.
"What's wrong?" Fang Qiu blinked, puzzled.
"Something about those Hilichurls isn't right." Shenhe said gravely.
"Not right?"
Looking more closely, Fang Qiu noticed a layer of black mist seemed to hang over those Hilichurls.
Especially the rock-shield Hilichurl—the black mist around it was particularly pronounced.
Hmm?
Black mist?
Fang Qiu frowned, realizing things weren't so simple after all.
The Hilichurls she'd cut down before hadn't had any of this black mist, and these ones felt far more dangerous than the ones she'd killed earlier.
Good thing she hadn't rushed in—if she couldn't handle them, she'd be crying for help again.
Just as Fang Qiu was about to ask Shenhe what to do next, Shenhe's aura abruptly shifted.
Before Fang Qiu could react, Shenhe whirled around, a cold gleam flashing in her hand, and a talisman brimming with frost energy flew from her grasp.
"Frost Deity Incarnation!"
A low shout rang out alongside it.
By the time Fang Qiu turned to look, an ice puppet had thrown a mighty punch, slamming into a water ball hurtling toward them at breakneck speed.
A thunderous boom.
A roar erupted; the moment the water ball touched the ice puppet it froze solid, then the puppet's punch smashed it into icy powder that burst apart.
"Rise!"
Hu Tao gave a low cry as well; blazing flames surged from the Staff of Homa in her hands. With a sweep of the spear, fire gushed out and slammed into an ice spike flying in from another direction.
The scorching flames swallowed the ice spike whole.
The next moment, a fireball came rushing at them.
Shenhe was about to act, but Fang Qiu moved first.
She raised a hand and swept it out, a Cryo shield forming and turning into a streak of blue light that crashed into the fireball.
The ice shield was burned through, but the fireball was snuffed out along with it.
At the sight, Fang Qiu let out a slight breath of relief.
It seemed their opponents' elemental control was on par with her own—not unbeatable.
"Careful, don't let your guard down." Shenhe warned.
The words had barely left her mouth when three Stonehide Lawachurls, five or six meters tall, dropped from the sky and slammed into the ground.
The earth quaked, and Fang Qiu nearly lost her footing.
The three Stonehide Lawachurls let out earth-shaking roars.
As the roars rang out, an earthy-yellow glow appeared over all three Hilichurls.
And more than that, Fang Qiu saw, standing on the shoulders of the three Stonehide Lawachurls, three short figures clad in robes, holding staves, wearing masks resembling crow's faces.
Even the black-mist-shrouded Hilichurls behind them closed in.
"Abyss Mages. It seems the black mist here has something to do with them."
Looking at the Stonehide Lawachurls and three Abyss Mages surrounding them, Shenhe's expression darkened; a cold gleam flashed in her hand, and a strangely shaped spear radiating frigid light appeared in her grasp.
Hu Tao's face was grave as well, violent flames rising from the Staff of Homa in her hands.
But she glanced at Fang Qiu and drew the flames back in.
Feeling the oppressive force radiating from the Stonehide Lawachurls, Fang Qiu let out a long breath and pushed down her fear and panic.
She scanned her surroundings warily, the Vision at her waist glinting with cold light.
Honestly, she'd never seen anything like this scene...
It was Attack on Titan come to life...
Though she had no idea whether she could be of any use in a battle at this level.
Nor whether Shenhe and Hu Tao could handle it.
But at the very least, she had to keep from dragging them down.
"You keep Fang Qiu safe. Leave them to me."
Fang Qiu blinked, and before she could get a word out, Shenhe pushed off with her foot and shot toward the Stonehide Lawachurls as a streak of white.
Two of the Stonehide Lawachurls and two Abyss Mages launched their own attacks, charging at Shenhe.
"Frost Deity Incarnation!"
Shenhe swept her hand up, and a talisman edged with cold light flew free, transforming into a spear-wielding puppet that charged one of the Stonehide Lawachurls.
She herself rushed the other Stonehide Lawachurl.
As she charged, two of the Abyss Mages swung their staves and unleashed attacks at Shenhe.
Shenhe's expression tightened, and just as she moved to counter, two ice shields blocked the Abyss Mages' attacks.
It was Fang Qiu who'd acted.
Seizing the chance, Shenhe rushed in beneath one of the Stonehide Lawachurls.
The Stonehide Lawachurl slammed both arms down at Shenhe.
Shenhe twisted aside and sprang upward; by the time the Lawachurl's arms had smashed the earth into scattering rubble, she had already leapt above its head and brought her spear slashing down.
The strike was heavy and powerful.
It knocked the Stonehide Lawachurl flat to the ground, the yellow glow around it shattering apart at once.
On the other side, the puppet formed from the talisman had locked into battle with another Mitachurl.
The two Abyss Mages launched another attack at Shenhe.
Fang Qiu was about to act when the sky above her darkened. She looked up on instinct—another Lawachurl had, at some point, leapt above her and Hu Tao, fists clenched, smashing down at them.
The savage pressure of the wind sent a jolt through Fang Qiu; without a shred of hesitation, her Vision burst with light.
A six-meter frost giant-sword sprang up where she stood.
Hu Tao, meanwhile, wrapped an arm around Fang Qiu's slender waist and darted off to one side.
The Stonehide Lawachurl, airborne and unable to adjust its posture, smashed straight down onto the frost giant-sword standing there.
In an instant, ice crystals scattered everywhere, and the yellow glow across the Lawachurl's body flickered wildly.
After the frost giant-sword Fang Qiu had left behind shattered completely, the yellow glow on the Lawachurl's body had dimmed to almost nothing.
The moment Hu Tao landed, she swept the Staff of Homa hard, and a wave of fire gushed out—only to be blocked by an Abyss Mage that rushed in.
On the other side, Shenhe dodged the two Abyss Mages' attacks, but in doing so lost her chance to finish off her target.
The Stonehide Lawachurl she'd knocked down clambered back to its feet.
And by now, the black-mist-shrouded Hilichurls were charging in as well.
For the moment, the battle had ground into a fierce deadlock.
____
________________________________________
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉