Ice walls towered high, and a chilling aura overflowed.
The fodder of the Frost Wolf Fang guild were frozen in place, unable to even let out a scream.
Ur stood in the wind and snow, the hem of her white trench coat billowing.
Her gaze swept across the camp, finally coming to rest on Gildarts.
Gildarts pulled off the tattered cloak from his head and tossed it casually onto the snow.
He grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth.
“Hey, hey, who would’ve thought a Mage of this caliber was hiding in a place like this.” Gildarts stretched his shoulders, his joints making a cracking sound.
“The old man didn’t mention this part in the mission.” Aether stepped forward and lowered his voice.
“Gildarts, our mission is to subjugate Frost Wolf Fang.
She doesn’t look like an enemy.” “I know.” Gildarts didn’t look back.
“But my intuition tells me that if I don’t have this fight, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.” Aether sighed inwardly.
This middle-aged guy was simply a battle maniac.
He couldn’t walk away when he encountered a strong person.
Gildarts slammed his right foot onto the ground.
The accumulated snow exploded.
He charged towards Ur like a cannonball.
The distance closed.
Gildarts raised his right hand, and white cube-shaped light converged in his palm.
“Crash!” A punch blasted out.
Ur’s expression remained calm.
She quickly crossed her hands in front of her.
“Ice-Make: Shield.” A thick, transparent ice shield instantly condensed between the two of them.
The white light made contact with the ice shield.
There was no loud bang.
No explosion.
The moment the ice shield touched the Crash magic, it directly disintegrated into countless tiny pieces of ice, clattering as they scattered across the ground.
A flicker of emotion finally appeared in Ur’s eyes.
She pushed off with her toes, sliding backward.
“Can decompose my ice?” Ur formed hand signs again.
“Ice-Make: Great Hammer!” A massive ice hammer appeared out of thin air, smashing toward Gildarts with the whistling sound of wind.
Gildarts didn’t dodge or evade, lifting his left hand upward.
White light flashed.
The ice hammer once again turned into countless cubes.
But this was only a feint.
Ur had already landed on an ice pillar, pressing her hands against the icy surface.
“Ice-Make: Infinite Blades!” The snow and crushed ice on the ground instantly turned into thousands of ice blades, shooting toward Gildarts from all directions.
Gildarts laughed out loud.
He slammed his hands together, and a violent surge of magic power erupted with him as the center.
The surrounding space seemed to shift.
All the ice blades collapsed into powder when they came within three meters of his body.
The wild wind whipped up the ice powder, forming a white tornado.
The shockwave Swirled outward.
Aether grabbed Laxus by the shoulder.
“Retreat!” Laxus gritted his teeth, staring intently at the battlefield.
“Let go of me!
I want to see clearly!” “Do you want to die?” Aether applied force with his hand, dragging Laxus behind a rock at the edge of the camp by brute force.
Just as they hid behind the rock, a blast of air scraped over their heads, leveling the snow on top of the rock.
Laxus leaned against the rock, his chest heaving violently.
His prideful lightning magic felt like a toy in the face of this level of destructive power.
Aether poked half his head out to observe the battle.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the side of the rock.
Aether immediately drew his short sword and turned around.
Two boys were crouching in a crevice of the rock, looking at them warily.
One had black hair, the other white.
They looked about two years younger than Aether.
Aether was stunned for a moment.
The black-haired boy was shirtless, wearing only a pair of shorts.
The white-haired boy was dressed in thick winter clothes, holding an ice pick in his hand.
“Who are you?” the white-haired boy spoke, his voice carrying hostility.
Aether sheathed his short sword and pointed at the black-haired boy.
“Before that, don’t you feel cold?” Gray looked down at his own body.
“Ah!
Since when did my clothes disappear!” Gray cried out, frantically searching for his clothes in the snow.
Lyon covered his face and sighed.
“Gray, now is not the time to be looking for clothes.” Aether looked at these two future Ice-Make Mages, his brain working rapidly.
“Are you the apprentices of that female Mage?” Aether asked.
Lyon tightened his grip on the ice pick.
“What if we are?
Are you with those people in the black leather armor?” “No.” Aether spread his hands to show he had no hostility.
“We are Mages from Fairy Tail.
We took a guild request to subjugate Frost Wolf Fang.” Hearing the words “Fairy Tail,” Lyon’s hostility lessened slightly.
Gray finally pulled a shirt out of a snow pile and put it on.
“You’re also here to fight the bad guys?
Then why is that uncle attacking Ur!” “Because he’s an idiot,” Aether answered without hesitation.
Laxus snorted coldly from the side but didn’t refute it.
“So, why are you here?” Aether continued to ask.
“Did Frost Wolf Fang provoke you?” Lyon stood up and brushed the snow off himself.
“This group came to Ice Wind Valley half a month ago.
They robbed nearby villages and even took several villagers away as forced labor.
Ur said we can’t let trash like this dirty the northern snow.” To protect the villagers.
That was very much in line with Ur’s character.
Aether nodded.
“It seems our goals are aligned.” In the center of the battlefield.
Gildarts and Ur had already exchanged a dozen rounds.
The terrain in front of the camp had been completely altered.
The ground was pitted, with crushed rocks and massive ice blocks everywhere.
Gildarts stopped and caught his breath.
His shirt had several cuts from the ice blades, but he wasn’t bleeding.
Ur stood on high ground, a layer of frost forming on the edge of her trench coat.
“Your magic is very violent.” Ur looked coldly at Gildarts.
“But there’s no killing intent.
You’re not from Frost Wolf Fang.” Gildarts scratched his hair.
“I never said I was.
I’m just a passing Fairy Tail Mage.” “Fairy Tail?” Ur frowned.
“That guild that specializes in destroying buildings?” Gildarts coughed twice.
“That’s a prejudice.
We’ve taken a proper S-class mission this time to wipe out Frost Wolf Fang.” Ur dissipated the ice magic in her hands.
“Since our goals are the same, there’s no need to waste energy.” Gildarts withdrew his white light with some regret.
“A pity.
I wanted to see your full strength.” Ur ignored him and turned toward the rocks.
“Gray, Lyon, come out.” Aether led Laxus out from behind the cover, following the two boys.
Ur’s gaze swept over Aether and Laxus.
“Taking two children on an S-class mission?” Ur looked at Gildarts.
“Your guild is quite daring.” “It’s called training.” Gildarts walked back to Aether’s side.
“And these two boys aren’t ordinary dead weight.” Ur didn’t dwell on the issue.
She turned her head to look deep into the camp, which had been split in two by the ice wall.
“I’ve cleared out most of the fodder.” Ur said, “But there are several people inside with very strong magic fluctuations who haven’t come out yet.” Aether followed her gaze.
Deep in the camp, a massive fortress built of black stone stood silently in the wind and snow.
“We were making such a racket out here, and the people inside haven’t even shown their faces.” Gildarts rubbed his chin.
“Looks like they’re preparing some big move.” Aether closed his eyes, activating his internal magic perception.
Bennett’s combat intuition gave him an extremely keen sense for danger.
Inside the fortress, an extremely cold, viscous magic power was slowly gathering.
That magic didn’t belong to any conventional elemental attribute, carrying a nauseating scent of decay.
“Something’s wrong.” Aether opened his eyes.
“That’s not human magic.” Ur glanced at Aether.
“You sensed it?” “It’s like a magical beast.
No, worse than a magical beast.” Aether gripped the hilt of his short sword.
Boom.
The fortress gates were suddenly smashed open from the inside.
A black pillar of gas shot into the sky, tearing a massive hole in the wind and snow above.
Three men wearing black robes walked out of the fortress.
The person in the lead wore a half-skull mask.
The Guild Master of Frost Wolf Fang, Bark.
Bark held a thick iron chain in his hand.
On the other end of the chain was a monster over four meters tall.
The monster was covered in black scales, its arms were unusually long, and its nails were like sharp scimitars.
Its eyes were pure crimson, with no pupils.
“A demon.” Ur’s voice turned heavy.
Gildarts’ expression also changed.
He put away his casual, lazy demeanor.
“A demon from the zerefs book?” Gildarts asked.
“Just an inferior imitation.” Bark let out a raspy laugh.
“But it’s enough to deal with you.
Kill them, tear them apart!” Bark released the iron chain.
The monster let out a piercing roar, dropped to all fours, and charged toward the group.
The layer of ice on the ground shattered under its claws like paper.
“Laxus, Aether, get back.” Gildarts took a step forward.
Ur stepped forward at the same time.
“Gray, Lyon, protect yourselves.” Fairy Tail’s strongest Mage and the peak expert of Ice-Make stood side by side in the wind and snow.
The monster leaped high, its massive shadow looming over the two of them.
Gildarts raised his right hand.
Ur formed hand signs.
“Crash!” “Ice-Make: Absolute Zero!” White light and extreme cold erupted simultaneously, meeting the black demon in mid-air.
Aether stood in the back, staring intently at that black magic.
He knew that the real battle had only just begun.
Maybe it’s not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”