“Oh… Is it sleeping nearby?” Seraphina, standing on a small hill overlooking the snowfield, exclaimed in astonishment, “Ansel, how did you manage to drive that big creature here?”

“As the apex of magical creatures, Hydral exerts an irresistible, immense pressure on any magical beast or creature, except for dragons and Tidecallers,” Ansel, standing in front of Seraphina, calmly stated. “The Blazing Ice Viper, as a newly born etheric creature, is absolutely unable to resist. In its predicament, its instinct would drive it to flee immediately, and then it’s just a matter of adjusting its direction.” freewebnovel.cσ๓

“Although it’s a bit troublesome, it’s just mere trouble.”

“I see… Wait!” Seraphina, seemingly deep in thought, nodded her head, then suddenly realized something. She took two steps forward, grabbed Ansel’s arm, her eyes shining, “Ansel! You did this after I left, didn’t you?”

“…What’s the matter?”

The young girl laughed cheerfully, “You’ve already solved the biggest danger in my village for me, I’m very happy!”

Today, Seraphina was full of spirit. She was wearing the black clothes that Ansel had prepared for her, looking dignified and heroic.

Upon hearing this, Ansel was silent for a moment, then softly said, “Actually, I didn’t do this just to help you, Seraphina.”

“The revolutionary army in the north is gradually gaining momentum. Although they don’t seem to have any commendable aspects, as their influence expands, some things I don’t want to see will happen.”

“Because I won’t stay in the north for long, I must deliver a deep enough blow to them before I leave.”

The cities of Herewood, Sparklens and Luminopolis, at Ansel’s request, did not control the activities of the revolutionary army within the city.

He passed the location of the Blazing Ice Viper to the revolutionary army through Polonia. In the eyes of the revolutionary army, since Ansel knew the location of the Blazing Ice Viper, then the two grand dukes behind the Red Frost territory probably also knew the location of the Blazing Ice Viper.

— Because as Flamelle’s son, Ansel would never lack magical creature materials in his life, so he would not be interested in the Blazing Ice Viper, it’s better to sell some favors to the two grand dukes.

With this in mind, the revolutionary army, wanting to snatch from the tiger’s mouth, must do something.

What’s the best way? Of course, it’s to distract the main force under the grand dukes in another way, kill quickly in the chaos, and then flee thousands of miles.

So, what could attract the subordinates of the grand dukes more than the crazy act of seizing a city?

Under the circumstances where a group of masters gathered in the Red Frost territory, the city was still occupied by the revolutionary army, they couldn’t save face, and most extraordinary beings care a lot about face.

With such arrangements, revolutionaires only attracted powerful extraordinary beings by occupying the city, then quickly transferred, and then sent out strong people to kill the Blazing Ice Viper at the first time and then immediately retreated, everything would be accomplished.

The plan was perfect, and reality also provided them with a good opportunity.

Unfortunately, the emptiness of the city’s internal defense was arranged by Ansel, the location of the Blazing Ice Viper was arranged by Ansel, and even their knowledge of this news itself was arranged by Ansel.

Indeed, Ansel didn’t need the Blazing Ice Viper, but this land and the Blazing Ice Viper itself were the grandest stage he built for Seraphina.

And the revolutionary army could only swallow the bitter fruit of occupying the city for nothing—Ansel would not let them leave easily.

He told this plan to Seraphina, and after the girl listened, she tilted her head and said, “I don’t care about those idiots, I’m happy if they suffer!”

“I just want to say…” Ansel touched Seraphina’s head, “I’m not doing this just for you.”

“Hmm…”

Seraphina turned her head to look at Ansel, examining him.

“I say, Ansel.” Miss Wolf asked somewhat doubtfully, “Why are you suddenly telling me these things that you know I don’t like?”

“It’s like you want me to dislike you.”

“…Is it?” Ansel asked with a smile.

“Yes.”

Seraphina nodded, “You’re a bit strange, you didn’t do… something guilty, did you?”

“…”

Just as Ansel was about to answer, Seraphina said with extreme vigilance:

“The residents in that city won’t be killed for no reason, right? Although I know now that there are good and bad people among them, and most of them are very stupid, but to die for no reason… Ansel, you didn’t do such an excessive thing, did you!”

Facing Seraphina’s questioning eyes with a bit of anger, Ansel smiled and said, “The revolutionary army can’t possibly massacre the city, I made the three cities’ internal defenses empty in order to reduce the fighting, how could there be a large number of civilian deaths?”

“…That’s good.”

Only then did Seraphina let go of her worries, leaning against Ansel’s shoulder, even through the thick clothes, Ansel could feel the warmth coming from his shoulder.

“Ansel.”

The girl’s gentle call reached Ansel’s ears.

“What is it?”

“Hehe… Nothing, I just wanted to call out to you.”

Seraphina’s eyes curved slightly, as she, who was clinging to Ansel’s arm, nuzzled against his neck, greedily savoring his scent.

“That night, I was actually ready to give up everything.”

Her face bore a tranquil and contented smile, making her usually stern, even slightly wild face appear incredibly charming, soft, and endearing.

“I thought, if I were to die like that, I wouldn’t have to deal with so many distressing matters.”

“But when I was about to plunge the knife down, trying to suicide, I realized I couldn’t accept that ending.”

The wolf softly voiced her determination:

“How could I just leave your side in such a pitiful and tragic manner?”

“…Then, I remembered the words you, Ansel, once said to me.”

She lifted her face, her fair cheeks under the clear sky seemed to glow with a milky luster, adding a radiant shine to her brilliant smile that held no reservation of her love.

“You would never abandon me, right, Ansel!”

It wasn’t a question, nor a rhetorical one, but an absolute, resolute affirmation.

Seraphina Marlowe believed in these words, not because of emotional blindness, hormonal impulses, or wanting to say something sweet at this moment.

She simply, and straightforwardly, declared her trust in these words to Ansel.

“So…” The girl chuckled, “So I just wanted to call out to you, Ansel. Every time you respond to me, I remember those words.”

The current Seraphina was so free, so happy, with not a trace of gloom in her heart, and filled with a passionate and fiery determination towards all things in the world and her own future.

“Being by Ansel’s side feels so good, ah, but that doesn’t mean I have to stick to you!”

She cleared her throat, let go of Ansel’s arm, and confidently declared with her head held high:

“After today, I can stand on my own—”

First, there was a tremor.

The tremor of the earth interrupted Seraphina’s words.

From afar to near, from the snowfield to the small hill where they stood, layers of snow collapsed in the tremor. The stubborn grass growing beneath the snow shivered, the soil and pebbles at the roots of the grass were lifted and fell, buried in the scattered snow, and then scattered in all directions with the snow that was shaken again.

Then, the flow of ether.

Gradually forming above the vast snowfield, a visible pale red vortex began to sweep the clouds, obscuring the sky. With the awakening of the monster born from the underground ether flow, its ether vortex grew larger, as if the sky was falling.

Seraphina stared dumbfounded at the scene before her: “Ansel… That guy, isn’t he just a fourth-stage? A fourth-stage can make such a big scene?”

From all directions, the violent ether surging from the ground shattered the snow and then froze it. As the red of the vortex became more apparent, like a blood-red crystal shimmering, an unimaginable terrifying extreme cold, instantly from the center of the vortex, along with the flow of ether, swept in all directions like a hurricane!

— Just like that terrifying cold wave that freezes everything!

“Water, wind, ether, beast, and… coldness.”

Ansel murmured calmly in the extreme cold storm: “The five elements of the Blazing Ice Viper, the most powerful of which is the Coldness similar to the vortex of the extreme northern cold wave.”

“Due to the influence of the great cold wave, this Blazing Ice Viper is probably the strongest one in nearly a hundred years.”

“There’s such a thing.”

Seraphina shrank her neck, she rubbed her cheeks hard, her face showed no retreat, but instead a spirited smile emerged:

“Hmph, it looks quite intimidating.”

“…”

Ansel didn’t speak, but at the same time, the tremor of the earth became more intense. In the center of this snowfield, a thin layer of red ice rapidly spread in all directions, staining the entire white land red. The ether vortex in the sky became more solid and visible. When the ground trembled to the extreme, even they standing far away were somewhat unstable, the red ice surface suddenly shattered in large areas!