"Run quickly! These monsters are too strong!"
"We are no match for them at all!"
"Help, help! My hand—"
...
In the eastern part of Winter City, the miserable cries of human soldiers rang out one after another.
Thousands of slime monsters covered the ground. Though they lacked sharp teeth and bony armor, their bodies possessed immense corrosive power. Anyone touched by them would lose at least a layer of skin, and even through armor, the bodies of the slimes could seep right in, causing agonizing torment!
Many soldiers fled wildly like headless flies, and quite a few of the commanders had already run off, let alone attempting to rally the deserters.
Even more terrifyingly, a section of the city wall had already been smashed down by the giant slime, and an increasing number of slimes were following their leader's pace, pressing deep into the city!
"What did you say? Abandon Winter City and retreat? There are still over a hundred thousand people in the city! If we leave, what will happen to them?!"
Curator Jin Kela angrily questioned a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses.
This man was none other than "Lord Liu", one of Winter City's two Intermediate Mages.
"Curator Jin, you can see it too. We simply have no way to stop the slime army, and that golden slime even directly ignored both your Intermediate Magic and mine. Perhaps in its eyes, our attacks were no different from an itchy tickle, which is why it didn't bother with us. For the lives of all the soldiers and mages, retreating appears to be the best choice right now." Liu adjusted his glasses and spoke calmly.
Shifting his gaze toward the army of slimes plowing all the way straight ahead toward the Winter City Magic Library, Liu added, " देखing that they haven't scattered to cause destruction everywhere, perhaps they are simply passing through Winter City. If we blindly resist, we might thoroughly provoke the slime leader and instead cause even greater losses."
In truth, had he known beforehand that the golden slime was this powerful, Liu would never have unleashed Intermediate Magic upon it. Compared to protecting some unrelated ordinary people in the city, he clearly cherished his own life far more; fortunately, the Slime King hadn't paid him any attention whatsoever.
As for the casualties among a few civilians, they were entirely acceptable when facing an irresistible, super-powerful monster. After all, he was merely an Intermediate Mage, and the current situation had far exceeded his capabilities. Even if he did nothing at all, he would not face heavy punishment from the Mage Association.
Curator Jin Kela also noticed at this moment that the golden slime's advancing direction was precisely the library. Realizing that Luo Xiaoxue and Shen Xuan were most likely still inside, he panicked instantly. "Liu, you dare abandon the city and run? Aren't you afraid the Mage Association will deal with you?!"
Hearing the other man bring up the Mage Association, Liu, who had been fully prepared, spoke in a earnest and profound tone, "Lord Jin, I said this isn't running away; only by preserving oneself can one better protect others!"
"My ass! You cling to life and fear death, yet when monsters invade, you choose to abandon Winter City. I will definitely report this matter to the Mage Association!" Curator Jin refused to believe his nonsense and threatened him with words, yet he also understood that the "Mage Association" held little restraint over Liu.
With that, the old man's gaze swept across the group of Junior Mages standing beside him. "Which of you is willing to help me protect Winter City?"
...
Just as Luo Xiaoxue ran out of the library doors, she felt a massive shadow fall over her.
A golden slime was right there not far ahead, blocking out the sunlight with a body larger than the entire library itself.
Wherever it passed, the ground was leveled flat, and even stone structures were corroded away completely. Anyone who came into contact with it would likely be left without a trace in a split second.
Though the slime possessed no eyes, Luo Xiaoxue felt as though it were looking straight at her, sending a sudden chill down her spine.
The cries of people calling for help and the sounds of collapsing houses still echoed in her ears. A few apprentice-level mages who had barely stepped through the gates of magic raised their staffs and chanted various incantations, hurling all sorts of attacks at the Slime King in an attempt to stall its advance and buy some time for the fleeing people.
Regrettably, even the joint efforts of two Intermediate Mages earlier had failed to do anything to the Slime King, let alone these third-rate mages whose spell attacks, pouring forth like a cascading waterfall, didn't even amount to an itchy scratch.
More ordinary people simply fled in all directions, avoiding the monster's path of advance.
"Guji guji..."
The golden slime had no mind to bother with the harassment of a few ants, and with a flock of lesser minions, it continued hopping forward toward the library.
Facing the surging tide of monsters, the little girl's legs felt somewhat weak. She was merely a teenager; where had she ever encountered such a scene, especially with that colossal golden slime pressing down so heavily that it made it hard to breathe!
"They're coming this way!"
"No! I cannot be afraid. Grandpa Curator is not here, everything depends on myself!"
Swallowing hard, she ran to the right along the street, reaching a sparsely populated open area twenty or thirty meters away, and immediately raised her staff, chanting incantations in a low voice.
She intended to use herself as bait to lure it away; otherwise, the ordinary people nearby, the library, and Big Brother Shen Xuan might all be caught in the fallout!
The fire elements in the air gathered continuously, and in the blink of an eye, a massive fireball over three meters in diameter appeared before the young girl. It burned fiercely, blowing hot waves that ruffled the little girl's hair and stained her fair face a glowing crimson—whether from the heat or the firelight was hard to tell.
Junior Magic—Fireball!
To Luo Xiaoxue's astonishment, that golden slime actually altered its course slightly and leaped toward her!
"Why... why does it seem like it's coming specifically for me?"
An absurd thought arose in the girl's heart, but she had no time to dwell on it. She waved her staff, and the fireball shot out at extreme speed, smashing toward the slime leader dozens of meters away!
Boom!
Without retreating or dodging, the creature took the Junior Magic head-on. The fireball exploded against its body, instantly turning into a sprawling web of fire, while a wave of heat dispersed in all directions, causing the air itself to distort slightly.
The golden slime abruptly halted its advance, the flames clinging to its body and burning continuously.
The attack appeared to have taken effect on it.
"Did it work?" Luo Xiaoxue muttered to herself.
Yet intuition told her it couldn't possibly be that simple; otherwise, how could these slimes have broken through the defense lines formed by the garrison and the mages to invade the interior of Winter City?
Before she could think further, a "sizzling" sound emanated from the Slime King's body, and the flames extinguished in the blink of an eye. As for its golden, jelly-like body, it hadn't suffered the slightest bit of damage!
"W-What?!"
Luo Xiaoxue involuntarily took two steps back. Just how strong was this big fellow's defense?!
The gap between them was simply as vast as heaven and earth!
At that moment, the Slime King's jelly-like body formed two semi-circular protrusions. Luo Xiaoxue had a bad premonition, and sure enough, the next second, two streams of viscous water shot out explosively from the protrusions, lunging toward the girl's petite and delicate body!
The speed was far too fast, making Luo Xiaoxue feel as though she had returned to that moment shortly before outside the library doors when she had nearly been struck by a warhorse.
She wanted to dodge, but her physical movements could not keep up with her thoughts. Stumbling underfoot, she fell to the ground, while those two pale-golden "water streams" had already arrived before her.
This time, there was no Shen Xuan behind her to pull her back.
For some reason, in this moment of crisis, Luo Xiaoxue felt very little fear of death. Instead, her mind was filled with the promise she had made to Shen Xuan not long ago.
Yet, there were so many things she hadn't gotten the chance to say to him; and Grandpa, who had taken her in and raised her—she wouldn't be able to show him filial piety in the future...
"Xiaoxue!!!" A desperate roar echoed from afar. It was the voice of old man Jin Kela. He was flying over with a Wind Mage, and though their speed was already fast enough, it was still too late to catch up to the Slime King's attack.
Luo Xiaoxue turned her head and saw Curator Jin Kela's expression of near-madness.
"Grandpa..."
The little girl suddenly felt afraid. She wanted to cry, and she did not want to die, because there were still people in this world she cared about—Grandpa Curator, Grandma Stanley, little sister Kelly of the same age from the West District, and... Big Brother Shen Xuan.
Besides, a great mage once said—if one does not experience a sweet romance, such a life is incomplete and would lead straight to hell.
Well, she had added that last sentence on her own.
Just as Luo Xiaoxue was filled with utter despair, a massive yet unsuppressed wave of magic washed over her.
At the same time, a dark figure swept past her eyes at a speed almost too fast for the naked eye to catch.
When Luo Xiaoxue regained her senses, the figure enveloped in a black robe was already standing between her and the Slime King.
Immediately following that, a strange sound rang out.
Crack, crack!
It was the sound of freezing.
The little girl opened her mouth slightly, staring in disbelief at the scene before her—
The "water streams" had arrived in an instant, but when they were only about a fist's distance away from the robe-clad figure, for some unknown reason, the two "water streams" froze into two pillars of ice!
"Are you alright?" A deep male voice emerged from beneath the black robe, clearly inquiring about her condition.
Still caught in shock, Luo Xiaoxue scrambled up in a daze. "N-No... I'm fine."
With a part of its body frozen, the Slime King instantly flew into a rage, its golden body writhing incessantly. The next second, hundreds of thousands of "water streams" struck toward them once more!
Facing its onslaught, the robe-clad figure casually beckoned toward the sky. In an instant, high above in the heavens, a silvery-white Magic Array materialized out of thin air, and the temperature plummeted abruptly!
Curator Jin Kela had already arrived nearby by this point, a lingering fear gripping his heart. If the robe-clad figure hadn't suddenly appeared, his precious granddaughter would likely be gone.
While Jin Kela rejoiced over Luo Xiaoxue's safety, he was equally shocked by how the robe-clad figure had constructed a Magic Array without needing any incantation.
Releasing magic required chanting, and the stronger the magic, the longer the chanting time—this was common knowledge to everyone in the world. Yet how on earth had this person accomplished completing the magic construction and casting it in a split second?!
Chilling Qi continuously poured out from the array, enveloping the Slime King's colossal body.
In practically the blink of an eye, the Slime King was covered by a thick layer of frost, along with its thousands of tentacles, all frozen solid!
Not to mention the other low-grade slimes, which had long since frozen into blocks of ice.
"Stay back." The robe-clad figure reminded Curator Jin and the others behind him.
Curator Jin Kela understood immediately, hurriedly pulling Luo Xiaoxue along as the Wind Mage carried them to rapidly retreat over a hundred meters away.
Once they had cleared the area, the Slime King's previously frozen body once more violently convulsed, shaking the ground so hard it felt as though an earthquake was occurring!