Levi sat atop his horse. Under the moonlight, his figure appeared especially imposing.
Blue magical light flowed through his pupils like a stream, and a mysterious yet powerful aura radiated from his body.
A faint breeze stirred his long robe. Blue ripples surged from his clothing, like mist lifted by waves, slowly drifting upward into the air.
After hearing Levi speak, the group of battle mages all turned their gazes toward Safiroth's bloodstained body.
The magical tools in their hands also began to glow softly. One after another, the devices were infused with magic and slowly activated.
These battle mages, who had experienced countless life-and-death battles, could also sense it clearly,
the mysterious figure before them was extremely dangerous.
At that moment, Safiroth used the dim moonlight to slowly raise her head, fixing her emerald-green snake-like pupils on the crowd.
Her pupils suddenly contracted. A faint green light began to move from the top of her eyes downward, as if it were scanning everyone present.
When her gaze landed on Vladimir, her snake pupils trembled slightly.
[Target detected. Danger level: High]
Before she could scan Levi, she saw Levi swiftly swing one arm and calmly issue an order, "Attack."
The battle mages beside him, arrows already nocked, darkened their expressions the instant the command was given. Magic power poured frantically into the tools in their hands.
Countless blue lights flared up, adding a hint of daylight to the pitch-black night sky.
Dense points of light erupted into dozens of blue beams. After streaking forward at high speed, the magical beams froze in place, then shot together toward Safiroth.
An overwhelming sea of blue light converged at the center of the forest and exploded.
The frigid cold released by the blast instantly swallowed the entire forest.
Violent white smoke rose from the center, engulfing everyone.
Within a 5 K.M. radius, the forest was sealed in ice. The ground was clad in a layer of deep blue, translucent ice armor.
Jagged ice spikes abruptly jutted out from the frozen earth, reflecting the moonlight with razor-sharp brilliance.
The bitter white mist lingered among the trees, constantly radiating absolute authority.
White frost clung to the towering branches, gradually falling away with the breeze.
Safiroth darted and dodged between several streaks of icy light, but unfortunately, she was still struck by a fast-moving ice crystal.
Her robe was nailed to the frost-covered ground. Her footing slipped, and her clothes were completely torn apart, her body exposed beneath the night sky.
Under the pale moonlight, the wings on her back were glaringly conspicuous.
The instant Safiroth's body became visible, countless battle mages froze in shock.
Their eyes were filled with disbelief, so much so that they even forgot to continue supplying magic to their tools.
Even Vladimir was momentarily stunned after seeing her clearly, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"Hiss… a monster?"
Though it was hard to see clearly under the moonlight, one thing was obvious,
she possessed a graceful figure that most women couldn't compare to.
The muscles on her limbs were extremely well developed, and especially striking were the black-and-white wings on her back, which made her all the more astonishing.
Although no one had ever seen such a lifelike humanoid monster, the unique monster aura emanating from Safiroth was absolutely not something that could be faked.
The magic in Levi's eyes flowed like running water, that moonlit stream showing no sign of stopping.
"As expected… a real monster."
Vladimir deftly flipped down from his horse and lightly rotated his heavy wrist.
The moment his boots stepped onto the freezing ground, snow-white ice spikes suddenly protruded from the soles, plunging deeply into the forest floor.
He slowly raised his thick arms. A wisp of cold air gathered between his fingers, swirling above his head like smoke.
Almost the next instant, a massive frost-gleaming battle axe descended from the sky and was firmly caught by Vladimir.
The heavy ice battle axe radiated a cold sheen in the night, as if freezing the surrounding air, while countless glittering ice crystals drifted slowly around it.
He swung the enormous axe and charged toward Safiroth with surging power, cleaving through the air with a chilling arc.
Safiroth's pupils shrank sharply. She nimbly avoided the waterfall-like axe strike and rolled quickly to the side.
Her slender feet almost silently sprouted sharp claws. With a light step, several bone-deep cracks were left in the ground.
Shattered ice crystals sprayed in all directions like broken diamonds, kicking up snow-white waves around her.
When the ice axe struck the ground, a surge of ice and snow burst upward like white surf.
When the wave subsided, the once-fertile land was buried beneath thick snow, as if adorned with sparkling transparent crystals.
[Frozen Seal Across Ten Thousand Miles]
Seeing Vladimir personally take action, the battle mages finally breathed a sigh of relief, the tension in their hearts easing.
Vladimir straightened his back, rested the massive ice axe across his shoulder, and exhaled a cloud of white mist.
"Tsk, I thought I'd get to rest once I got back."
Safiroth stood cautiously on the thin ice, lowering her head. Her eyes gleamed as she faced Vladimir in a standoff.
She stayed alert, her body slightly stiff, not daring to rush into the enemy's encirclement.
Seeing this, Vladimir laughed out loud.
"Don't you monsters ever use your brains?"
Safiroth's heart jolted as she thought rapidly.
However, almost in the same instant, the ground beneath her suddenly began to shake violently.
Cracks spread like spiderwebs, rapidly expanding and racing straight toward Safiroth.
Ice pillars shot out from the fissures like arrows, so fast that she barely had time to react.
Safiroth had just moved her foot when she was violently launched into the air by a massive ice pillar.
The shattered pillar broke apart, and her body fell toward the ground like a kite with its string cut.
Pain surged through her body like crashing waves. Using all her strength, Safiroth could barely prop herself halfway up.
Seeing this, the battle mages all showed excited expressions.
"As expected of the general!"
"A single strike and the monster's already injured!"
Vladimir planted the battle axe into the ground, carving a deep groove, then slowly walked toward Safiroth, a scrutinizing look in his eyes.
"A monster that looks just like a human."
"Looks like we need to deal with you directly."
Outside the royal capital, countless traveling merchants came and went every day. A monster like her, so similar to humans, could easily deceive ignorant passersby.
With a cloak to conceal her, even in the bustling royal capital, aside from seeming a bit strange, it would be hard for anyone to notice her true form.
So dealing with her was the correct choice.
Just as he was about to close in on Safiroth, almost in an instant, that agile white figure vanished like an illusion.
Vladimir stared at the spot where she had disappeared and immediately became alert, alarms blaring in his mind.
He spun around, and the ice axe flashed like lightning as he raised it to block.
A long blade gleaming with cold light slashed toward him, colliding with the massive battle axe and releasing a thunderous echo.
The two locked in a stalemate atop the frozen ground, their arms trembling as their strength clashed in the air.
Feeling the tremendous force transmitted through his arm, Vladimir was somewhat surprised.
"Oh? A monster that plays dead and launches sneak attacks?"
He spoke lightly, but Vladimir could clearly sense that the opponent's raw physical strength was actually on par with his own.
A monster that could match him in strength?
Vladimir could even see a crazed smile appear on Safiroth's face.
Combined with the dark blood at the corner of her mouth, she looked all the more terrifying.
However, she didn't linger. Instead, she directly retreated toward the trees.
The next second, she burst out like a ghost from another side of the forest.
Relying on his extremely keen perception, Vladimir precisely detected where Safiroth was attacking from and swung his axe.
The extreme ice battle axe collided with the long blade once more. A shocking shockwave erupted, shattering all the surrounding frost.
The clanging collisions rang out endlessly, leaving every battle mage present utterly stunned.
What kind of monster was this?
It could fight the general to such a stalemate, even pushing him into a passive position.
After several rapid exchanges, Vladimir felt the massive axe in his hands begin to tremble slightly.
At the instant the seventh strike came, Vladimir barely raised the axe in front of his face to block the incoming cold light.
But to his shock, the axe head slowly cracked and then shattered completely.
From within the forest, Safiroth revealed herself and unleashed the eighth strike at Vladimir.
Seeing Vladimir now weaponless, everyone gasped sharply, their hearts leaping into their throats.
Yet even without a weapon, Vladimir showed no fear.
Facing Safiroth, he threw a ferocious punch. His frost-covered fist slammed head-on against the long blade.
The two collided and remained locked together for a long moment.
Vladimir looked at Safiroth and burst out laughing.
"Fists are still the best tools!"
As his words fell, his other fist clenched and struck straight toward Safiroth's body.
In the moment of crisis, Safiroth also threw a punch, colliding directly with Vladimir's attack.
But lacking years of accumulated training, her strength was naturally inferior. She was blasted away by the punch.
Yet in the final moment as Safiroth was sent flying, a crimson light burst forth from her hand.
[Mark of the Fire Serpent]
Flames transformed into a fire serpent, flicking its tongue as it coiled and lashed out, biting viciously into Vladimir's arm.
The fire serpent climbed over Vladimir's body like lightning, then exploded, completely engulfing him in blazing flames.
Meanwhile, Safiroth twisted her body midair and landed steadily on the ground like a cat.
Gasping for breath, she stared at the flame-wrapped Vladimir, her eyes filled with exhaustion and vigilance.
Everyone stared at the raging flames, their hearts clenched tight, the tension suffocating.
Suddenly, Safiroth's eyes widened.
Before everyone's eyes, the flames slowly faded from Vladimir's body, as if he were reborn through fire.
He emerged completely unscathed.
His clothes were only lightly scorched, dusted with a bit of ash.
He casually shook his hand, completely at ease.
"Nice fire."
A freshly lit cigar was clenched between his lips.
Smoke curled upward.
"Too bad. Would've been better if it were stronger."
Safiroth's eyes widened again. In that instant, she felt a powerful sense of danger from behind.
She spun around quickly, only to see a giant, sharp-toothed shark completely wrapped in liquid lunging toward her.
Its ferocious teeth gleamed with cold light as the massive shark swallowed her whole.
Safiroth was fully submerged in the liquid, struggling desperately, thrashing to break free.
The shark slammed hard into the ground, pinning her firmly in place.
The earth shook, dust flying.
[Cinder Burn]
The next second, flames erupted violently from Safiroth's body, scorching and evaporating the surrounding liquid.
Steam billowed upward, and the shark slowly vanished.
She lay pressed against the ice-covered ground, feeling the bone-piercing cold.
The freezing earth and the blazing fire formed a stark contrast.
Struggling to stand, Safiroth felt her vision blur, exhaustion surging like a tide.
At some point, Levi had dismounted from his horse. Countless water bubbles floated around him.
"Sorry, this isn't a duel."
Countless bubbles rose into the sky, like a field of stars.
The first droplet of water slowly fell from above.
Then the rain grew heavier and heavier, until it poured down like a waterfall.
Raindrops splashed continuously onto the ice, soaking Safiroth's body as well. Her wet hair clung to her cheeks.
They also extinguished the cigar in Vladimir's mouth.
"Hey..." Vladimir froze, staring at the cigar in his hand.
In the pouring rain, Levi slowly walked toward Safiroth.
His steps were steady, like a hunter closing in on prey.
Safiroth widened her eyes, trying to escape, but the rain-soaked ice glued her feet in place.
Watching Levi draw closer, Safiroth let out a sharp, piercing shriek, carrying a shockwave meant to drive him back, the sound echoing through the forest.
[Banshee Shriek]
Levi twisted his body. After the sonic wave passed through him, he turned into flowing water.
At the same time, amid the torrential rain, a shark leapt up, drawing a curved arc in the air before smashing heavily into the ground.
The splashing water gradually gathered, and Levi reappeared right in front of Safiroth.
As Safiroth's gaze swept over Levi, a red warning flashed before her eyes.
[Target detected. Danger level...]
[...Extremely High]
Steam-like moisture clung to the corner of Levi's eyes as he looked at Safiroth, his gaze cold and resolute.
"You're under arrest."
Suddenly, on the icy ground not far away, a mass of black smoke surged up and spread outward.
Seeing the rising black fog, the crowd had no time to think. The moment they sensed danger, they all assumed battle stances. Magic was once again poured into their tools, which began to glow faintly.
The black fog coiled in midair, and an eerie, sharp voice rang out, "I'm very sorry."
"But you're not taking her with you."