"Isn’t that the Ice Empress?"
"Didn’t she leave her family after they refused to give her a chance at becoming the heir?"
"I heard she was born from a maid... a mistake, that’s why they never truly acknowledged her despite her once-in-a-millennium talent."
Whispers spread through the group of adventurers as more and more people recognized her identity.
Elaris heard every single word.
But among them all, the one that hurt the most was:
*mistake.*
Behind her, Elena’s expression darkened with worry. Even though they were only stepsisters, their relationship had always been close. That was the very reason Elaris had agreed to come here as her guardian.
The old man suddenly laughed.
"Shameful, really. Even after becoming this strong, you’ll always remain nothing more than a mistake."
The atmosphere instantly changed.
A terrifying D-rank aura erupted from Elaris’s body as freezing mana spread in all directions. Frost rapidly covered the ground, and everything within nearly fifty meters began to freeze.
Even the old man was affected.
His expression changed slightly as cold air crept across his arms.
"Tch... Break!"
The old man roared and forcefully released his strength, shattering the freezing pressure around him before immediately retreating deeper into the forest.
Elaris followed without hesitation.
Both of them understood the same thing:
If they unleashed their full strength here, the surrounding F-rank adventurers wouldn’t even be able to move under the pressure alone.
Far from battlefield.
The old man exhaled slowly, and the wind around the clearing suddenly changed.
Pressure burst outward as dust lifted from the ground and leaves twisted violently through the air. The atmosphere tightened like invisible threads snapping into place.
Wind affinity.
In the next instant, the old man moved.
Wind wrapped around his feet in short bursts, pushing his thin body forward with unnatural speed. Each step cracked lightly against the ground as he closed the distance, his palm already raised.
"Wind Cutter."
A thin arc of compressed air shot toward Elaris.
She tilted her head slightly.
The air in front of her froze mid-motion, slowing the incoming blade before it shattered into scattered frost particles just inches away from her face.
Without changing expression, Elaris stepped forward.
The ground beneath her feet turned pale blue as ice rapidly spread across the battlefield.
The old man narrowed his eyes.
"Tch..."
He reacted immediately.
"Air Shield."
A rotating barrier of wind formed around him while three compressed air bullets shot from his fingertips at different angles, aimed not to kill, but to interrupt her advance.
Elaris lifted one hand.
A pulse of cold radiated outward.
"Frost Veil."
The incoming attacks curved slightly off course, as if the freezing air itself had disrupted their trajectory. Two attacks grazed past her shoulder before freezing solid and falling harmlessly to the ground, while the third exploded into mist several meters away.
By then, she was already closer.
The old man clicked his tongue before planting his foot heavily against the ground.
"Wind Prison!"
A circular storm erupted around Elaris as compressed air walls spun violently around her, cutting off movement and vision. Leaves were shredded instantly, and cracks spread across the frozen ground under the pressure.
For the first time since the battle started, Elaris stopped walking.
The old man released a sharp breath.
"Got you."
Inside the prison, the air screamed violently around her, yet Elaris’s expression remained calm.
She slowly raised her hand as cold mana gathered at her fingertips. The temperature around the storm dropped rapidly, causing the spinning winds to slow ever so slightly.
Then she finally spoke.
"Too noisy."
Frost rapidly spread across the prison as cracks formed through the spinning wind.
The old man’s eyes widened.
"No... that’s not possible for D-rank—"
*Crack.*
The entire prison froze for a fraction of a second.
"Frost Bind."
Elaris lowered her hand, and a pulse of cold exploded outward. The frozen prison shattered instantly as she stepped through the collapsing barrier and appeared directly in front of the old man.
The smile on his face disappeared.
This was no longer a distraction mission.
This was survival.
Wind wrapped around his arms again, thicker and far more unstable than before.
"Don’t underestimate me, girl!"
He thrust his palm forward.
"Compressed Gale Burst!"
A concentrated explosion of wind erupted at point-blank range.
Elaris didn’t retreat.
She calmly raised two fingers, forming a thin ice wall between them just before impact.
*BOOM.*
The collision cracked the wall from top to bottom, but it held.
Snow-like fragments drifted through the air between them.
Elaris looked at him through the fading frost.
"You’re trying very hard," she said calmly.
The old man gritted his teeth as strain spread through his aging body. Veins bulged along his arms while he forced even more wind mana into his unstable techniques.
His goal was no longer victory.
Only time.
Just a few more minutes.
Elaris raised her hand one final time, forming a small ice shard above her palm.
"End."
She flicked it forward.
The shard moved quietly through the weakening winds. The old man attempted to dodge, but his foot froze for a split second against the icy ground.
That moment was enough.
The ice shard struck his shoulder and exploded into binding frost lines that instantly locked his arm in place.
Silence returned to the clearing.
The old man stood frozen where he was, breathing heavily with one arm trapped in ice. His eyes widened with disbelief as the remaining wind around him slowly faded away.
He had used everything he had.
And still...
He had only managed to buy enough time.
Elaris looked past him toward the deeper part of the forest, her silver-blue eyes narrowing slightly.
"...So that was your plan."
She turned away without another glance.
Behind her, frost slowly began spreading across the old man’s body.
Thin cracks of ice crept across his skin as terror filled his eyes.
"Shatter."
The frozen body instantly broke apart into countless glittering ice crystals that scattered through the cold wind.
**20 minutes earlier...**
As soon as both of them left, Scar Face and the remaining bandits charged toward us.
This time, I didn’t waste mana on large spells. My reserves were already running low, so I focused on conserving every bit I had left while drinking a mana potion. Even though the recovery was slow, it was still better than nothing.
Soon, both sides clashed violently.
Blades collided against swords and spears as everyone fought desperately to take the other’s life.
Screams echoed across the battlefield.
Blood stained the ground.
Before long, casualties began appearing among the adventurers as the enemy’s E- rank fighters entered the battle. And there weren’t just one or two of them.
There were five.
As the fight continued, I noticed something strange. Those E- rank bandits kept forcing their way toward the center of the battlefield, even while taking injuries.
Their target was obvious.
Elena.
A cold aura suddenly exploded from her body as she finally revealed her true rank.
E- rank.
Many adventurers gasped in shock. She was only twenty years old, yet she had already reached E- rank.
"Ice Burst."
A wave of freezing energy erupted outward.
Several F rank bandits were instantly frozen before exploding apart under the ice blast.
The battlefield became even more chaotic.
After nearly fifteen minutes of fighting, the enemy forces had been reduced to around twenty injured survivors, including the five E- rank bandits.
But the adventurers had suffered heavily as well.
More than fifty had already died despite my constant healing support.
"We can’t capture her anymore! Kill her instead!" Scar Face roared.
Immediately, the remaining bandits became even more aggressive. Their attacks turned sharper and faster as ranged weapons and spells started targeting Elena from every direction.
Rose quickly ordered the adventurers to protect her.
But it was becoming futile.
"Hah..."
I let out a tired breath before gripping my sword tighter.
"Looks like I’ll have to protect her myself."
I equipped my sword and activated a skill.
"Flow Guard."
A thin layer of water wrapped around my body like transparent armor.
Without hesitation, I rushed toward Elena just as a sword strike aimed for her neck.
"Aqua Slash!"
A compressed blade of water shot forward, striking the enemy’s weapon and knocking its trajectory downward before it slammed harmlessly into the ground.
"Binding Stream."
Water suddenly formed from the air and wrapped around the attacker’s ankle.
Before he could react, I swung my sword.
"Aqua Slash."
The water blade sliced through his legs.
"AAAHH!!"
Ignoring his scream, I stepped forward and drove my sword straight into his throat.
*Stab.*
His eyes widened with disbelief before the light slowly faded from them.
Suddenly, danger exploded from my blind spot.
A heavy punch rushed toward my head.
Five thin water barriers instantly formed in front of me.
The first two shattered on impact.
The third cracked apart.
The fourth barely managed to stop the punch.
I immediately cast Slippery Ground beneath the attacker while Elena launched an ice attack from the side, freezing his lower body in place.
Without wasting another second, I rushed toward Elena.
Blood was flowing from her leg wounds.
I grabbed her by the waist and started running toward the forest where Elaris and the old man had gone.
"Stop them!" Scar Face shouted as he and two E- rank bandits chased after us.
Elena’s face had already turned pale from blood loss.
Even so, she still took out mana and healing potions before handing some to me.
As I drank them, a small amount of strength returned to my exhausted body.
"Slippery Ground..."
I continuously used my skills behind us, forcing the pursuers to lose balance or slow down.
Then suddenly—
*Stab!*
A thrown dagger pierced into my back, my sixth sense react, but I can’t able to dodge.
I staggered forward from the pain but continued running.
"Hollow Body."
I secretly activated my life-saving skill.
Elena looked at me with worry while launching weak ice attacks toward our pursuers.
"Leave me and run," she said weakly after noticing the enemies dodging every attack while rapidly closing the distance. "They’re here for me."
"No."
I didn’t even look back at her.
"Lily will be sad if something happens to you," she whispered softly.
I finally turned toward her.
"And what about you?" I asked. "Do you really want to die here? Or worse... get captured by them?"
Her expression stiffened slightly.
"You know what will happen then."
I tightened my grip around her waist.
"So trust me. At the very least, neither of us is dying here."
Elena’s eyes trembled slightly at my words, but she said nothing.
Instead, she quietly buried her face against my neck while holding onto me tighter.
Then I pulled out an F rank special potion worth one thousand system points.
The moment I drank it, heat exploded through my entire body.
My exhausted muscles instantly recovered, and overflowing strength surged through me like a flood.
"Hold tight," I warned her as I tightened my grip further.
Then—
*BOOM!*
I shot forward like a cannonball.
The sudden burst of speed was so overwhelming that I almost lost control immediately.
Instead of trying to stop, I focused entirely on adjusting my direction.
As soon as we entered the forest, I finally relaxed slightly.
Then, a few minutes later—
Three dark portals slowly opened behind us.