The completely enraged Slime King burst out with intense magical fluctuations that made people's hearts tremble. I'm afraid that a hundred, no, even a thousand Intermediate Mages added together could not compare to this Monster king!
Yet the well-informed Curator Jin Kela still could not figure out why such a powerful monster would appear in Winter City.
The barren land beneath their feet—where even an Intermediate Mage was already considered the strongest existence—had no reason to attract such an immensely powerful monster.
──
"Switch to Wind."
[Understood, Master.]
A brief conversation echoed in the mind of the Robe-clad figure.
To him, dealing with the Slime King was not difficult, but if he were to fight directly within the city, it would be far too flashy. Moreover, if he wasn't careful, most of Winter City would probably vanish.
The next second, fierce winds roared through Winter City, sending sand and stones flying!
Rows of houses along the street looked precarious in the howling gale. Fortunately, because they were hiding behind the Robe-clad figure, Jin Kela and his companions were not blown away by the wind.
"This is... the scent of Wind magic!" the Wind Mage exclaimed in shock.
Old man Jin Kela's body trembled slightly. Earlier, he had seen this mysterious Robe-clad figure use Ice magic, and had assumed he was a powerful Ice Mage. But now, it seemed he might be an extremely rare dual-element mage, just like the lass Luo!
*It's a pity Xiaoxue is a Water and Fire dual-element mage, otherwise she might have been able to take this master as her teacher.* Although the crisis had not yet been resolved, Jin Kela was no longer very worried about the monster invasion; instead, he had already begun planning for Luo Xiaoxue's future.
Before the ice crystals on the Slime King's surface completely shattered, a "wind tornado" connecting heaven and earth, towering countless kilometers high, rapidly formed and swept up its massive body!
Luo Xiaoxue gradually recovered from her lingering terror, silently observing the Robe-clad figure. For some reason, although the Robe-clad figure's height was not particularly remarkable—at least a head shorter than Shen Xuan—she felt that his back bore a strong resemblance to a certain librarian who was currently not present.
Unfortunately, she had no opportunity to investigate closely.
The next moment, the Slime leader's body was carried high into the sky by the tornado, leaving Winter City and flying toward the distant north.
The Robe-clad figure's clothes snapped loudly in the wind, and dense Wind mana gathered beneath his feet, carrying him along as he gave chase.
The gale came quickly and went just as fast.
Inside Winter City, apart from the buildings destroyed by the slime, no other traces of the monster invasion remained. Even ordinary small slimes were probably blown off to who knows what corner by that gust of wind.
Dark Night Forest
This was a vast forest less than a hundred kilometers away from Winter City. Because heading any further north led to the Polar Night World—a dark world where the sun could only be seen for a tiny fraction of the entire year—this forest, which symbolized the dividing line between day and night, had been given the name "Dark Night".
A bitter, chilling wind howled past. In the gloomy forest, a massive bulk was heavily flung onto an open patch of snow, gouging out a deep crater.
A human figure followed closely behind, appearing right above the pit.
"Phew~ It is really cold here!"
His voice sounded young and magnetic.
If Luo Xiaoxue were here, even without looking at his face, she would know just from his voice that he was 100% that librarian surnamed Shen who constantly found ways to slack off and idle away his time during work hours!
"Better get to work quickly, though. Otherwise, if that lass finds out I'm not in the tunnel, it'll be hard to explain."
Without a doubt, this person was none other than Shen Xuan.
Furious impacts echoed from the Slime King's "new home". No matter how hard the permafrost was, it still couldn't withstand the blows of a King-rank monster. The earth shook violently for a time, even triggering an avalanche.
"I wonder what it would taste like if I turned it into a blue-tongued giant ice pop..." Shen Xuan muttered to himself, but thinking of its corrosive bodily fluids and their tight schedule, he had to dismiss the idea, turning instead to pull a shovel out from his trousers.
The tremors caused by the monster's impacts quickly subsided. The Dark Night Forest remained the Dark Night Forest, save for a few newly frozen monsters.
......
In Winter City, after the crisis was resolved, Curator Jin Kela saw that his precious granddaughter was safe, and since he had many matters to attend to at present, he intended to first head elsewhere with the accompanying Wind Mage to check on the situation.
"Xiaoxue, take care of yourself. Grandpa still has to go check on things elsewhere. If you see that exalted adult return, be sure to notify Grandpa; everyone in Winter City wants to properly thank him."
"Alright, Grandpa." The young girl nodded in acknowledgment.
Just as Jin Kela was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, where did that brat Shen Xuan run off to?"
"He already hid in a safe place, Grandpa doesn't need to worry."
"Humph! He slipped away fast enough himself, leaving you behind here. Once I'm done dealing with matters in the city, I'm going to give him a proper scolding!" Curator Jin Kela said with a hint of anger in his voice.
The young girl wanted to explain on someone's behalf, but the old man had already departed with the wind...
In front of the library, watching Grandfather Curator and the Wind Mage leave, Luo Xiaoxue could not help but recall what had just happened. If the Robe-clad figure had not suddenly appeared, she probably wouldn't have been standing here now.
She felt both lingering fear and intense curiosity about what the face hidden beneath that black robe actually looked like.
"Could he possibly be..."
The handsome face of a certain scoundrel surfaced in her mind, and Luo Xiaoxue's suspicions, which had previously faded, flared up once again.
She immediately turned and ran into the library, the crisp and hurried pitter-patter of her exquisite, cute rounded leather shoes echoing off the floor.
Because of the earlier tremors, a row of bookshelves in the library had tipped over, and all sorts of magic books were scattered across the floor, making a complete mess.
Yet the young miss had no time to worry about this. She rushed straight toward the back door, preparing to dig open the tunnel at the base of the city wall and see if that guy was still hiding inside!