Shirley walked up to Anis with a red face. “Open your legs!”
“Wait? WTF?”
Before Anis could even react to the situation, her legs were bossily forced apart by a pair of slender legs clad in white silk stockings!
Shirley sat down abruptly in front of Anis. Reaching under her skirt, she produced a black eye mask!
“Where were you hiding that!”
Anis gasped in disbelief, but Shirley had already skillfully put on the eye mask and leaned back against Anis’s natural soft pillows.
“It is getting late. I am going to rest.”
“Hey!”
Anis tried to struggle a few times, but Shirley remained as motionless as if she were hugging a giant rock.
This was the basic foundation of a martial artist.
“Dammit!”
Anis was anxious and annoyed, but she was helpless.
Faced with Shirley’s arrogant behavior in taking advantage of her, only one thought surfaced in her mind.
A tooth for a tooth!
‘I have to hug her back!’
Anis opened her arms and pulled the petite girl into her embrace!
To be honest, Shirley was soft and fragrant. The sensation was unexpectedly pleasant.
Moreover, in this bitter cold, Shirley was like a stable heat source — very warm.
The Shirley in her arms seemed to have truly fallen asleep. For a full hour, she did not move an inch.
Anis’s tense nerves gradually began to relax uncontrollably, and her upper and lower eyelids began to fight…
The sound of even breathing echoed in the cave. It was only then that Shirley opened her eyes.
“Hehe, your guard is still too weak, Anis.”
Shirley adjusted her posture. While lying on her side in Anis’s arms, she deliberately rubbed against those marshmallows several times.
‘It really is comfortable. No wonder that little Sword Cat likes it so much.’
She felt both annoyed and amused by her own behavior. As the daughter of a prominent noble, she was actually envying a stray cat?
‘Just you wait. Sooner or later, Anis will be mine.’
—
The next day, the weather had completely cleared.
Although the blizzard was no longer an obstacle, the temperature seemed to have dropped even further. When the two woke up, their entire bodies were freezing. It would not be an exaggeration to say they had been shocked awake by the cold.
The fire had quietly gone out while they were asleep. Anis quickly relit the flame, and the two huddled by the fire to toast their breakfast — marshmallows and some staple bread that was as hard as a rock.
“How about we hug for a while longer? It is very warm!”
“Don’t you start!”
Anis quickly distanced herself from the girl. After eating breakfast, they continued their climb toward the summit.
The closer they got to the growing area of the Frost Lilies, the more abnormal the chill in the air became.
It was no longer just a simple low temperature, but an invasive cold that felt like countless tiny needles piercing into their bodies with every breath.
Anis could clearly feel the mana within her body operating automatically to provide a continuous supply of energy.
But this also came at a price — a large amount of mana was being consumed just to maintain her basic functions, which caused her overall strength to drop significantly.
The two climbed another slope, bringing them much closer to the summit.
“I can see them already.”
Shirley shaded her eyes from the sun and looked toward the mountain peak. “There are indeed Frost Lilies of the Valley growing at the top. Our efforts were not in vain.”
“That is good. Let’s grab them and get back quickly. This place is unbearable.”
Anis covered her nose and mouth, enduring the stinging sensation as she breathed. But right then, a sudden roar made her heart tremble!
It was close!
“Hide, quickly!”
Shirley made a snap judgment, and the two found a snowbank to conceal themselves.
Immediately following was a second roar, and then a third.
Listening to those mountain-shaking bellows, Anis searched her mind for relevant information.
Frost Lilies of the Valley use extreme cold mana as nourishment and are one of the few plants on the snowy mountain that can stably absorb ice-attribute mana.
Because of this, high-level ice-type magical beasts also follow the trail of this mana to come here.
These flowers are also the best food for them to replenish their energy.
Once Anis saw clearly who the owner of the voice was, her pupils constricted!
A massive tiger, covered in black and white patterns with fangs made of condensed ice, was sniffing around nearby.
An Ice-Toothed Tiger.
This type of magical beast could easily bite through steel. Shirley’s sword and shield would be nothing more than scrap metal against their sharp fangs and claws!
“Dammit, why is it one of those!”
Shirley bit her fingernail in frustration and drew her sword and shield from her waist.
The summit was right before them, and the Frost Lilies were within reach, only to be blocked by this fellow!
“Don’t be reckless. Your weapons are just junk in front of its claws.”
Anis pulled out her wand, pointed it at Shirley’s equipment, and whispered an incantation: “STRENGTHEN!”
Mana patterns etched across the surface of the sword and shield. At the same time, Shirley felt the weight of them increase significantly.
She knew very well that this was Anis’s weapon enhancement magic, but in reality, it was completely unnecessary.
This set of sword and shield had already been reforged once by her own ice magic. Their strength and sharpness were not something that blacksmiths who only made scrap metal could hope to match.
“Don’t use magic yet,” Shirley whispered. “That thing is sniffing for mana reactions in the air.”
The silhouette of the Ice-Toothed Tiger soon fully revealed itself before them. A pair of eyes glowing with a faint blue light carried a sense of pure predatory desire.
“I will take the front,” Shirley said softly. “You are responsible for pinning down the flanks.”
This was a standard and reasonable division of labor, but Anis hesitated for a moment as she thought about the countermeasures she had read in books.
‘It should be fine… right?’
Shirley caught that moment of hesitation, but she said nothing.
The battle erupted in the next second.
The muscles in Shirley’s legs suddenly exploded with immense power as she used a flash step to charge directly in front of the Ice-Toothed Tiger!
Sword intent swirled around her, the whistling sound of cutting air rushing past her ears!
[AIR-BREAKING SLASH]!
With her vast combat experience, she naturally knew that if she could not achieve an instant kill, then this unexpected first strike should target the opponent’s weapon!
If she could break its fangs, its threat would be greatly reduced!
“ROAR!”
Facing this sudden provocation, the Ice-Toothed Tiger opened its massive maw. Its sharp fangs bit down hard on the two sword gales, shattering them into pieces as if it were tearing through food!
“You ate my sword qi?!”
Shirley quickly raised her shield to block. As the Ice-Toothed Tiger pounced, she met it head-on!
The massive impact made her arm go numb. After blocking that heavy-handed strike, Shirley found an opening in the beast’s defense and quickly swung her sword to counterattack!
Her swordsmanship was clean and precise. Every slash aimed for a vital point, yet she remained cautious, afraid of revealing even a hint of mana fluctuation that would make Anis suspicious.
“Anis, now!”
Hearing Shirley’s voice, Anis saw her opening and quickly rushed out from behind the snow slope!
Her wand pointed directly at the location of the Ice-Toothed Tiger’s heart, and sharp ice spears shot out in rapid succession like a machine gun!
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