Chapter 288: Incorporating the Guardians of the Snowfield

It was not just the dark tentacles of 【Energy Drain】 that disappeared.

The moment Saint Xi En Rian turned into an ice sculpture, all the skeleton mages in the camp, who had been showing off their power the moment before, had their phosphorus fire in their eye sockets instantly extinguished all at once.

Subsequently, these skeleton frames that had lost their soul fire began to make creaking sounds.

First their joints loosened, then their chest bones and spines, until the entire skeleton frame collapsed completely, turning into withered bones scattered all over the ground, devoid of any vitality.

The camp, which had been incomparably chaotic due to the sneak attack by these skeleton mages, returned to peace.

After drawing the bow and shooting the three fatal arrows that killed Rian, Su Su Su Nai Fa's legs went soft, and she was almost about to kneel on the snow.

An unprecedented sense of weakness was filling her body.

The means of finally beheading Rian, seemingly just three arrows shot together, had no special features.

But in reality, the danger and operation behind it were not something to be told to outsiders.

If three arrows could really easily kill Rian across ranks, why would Su Su Su Nai Fa have to pull with Rian for such a long time? The moment she armed herself with 【Breath of the Wilderness】, she could have just opened her "ultimate move" directly. This is not a drama; ending the battle too quickly would affect the attendance rate. The second rule of the three magic user principles: never let others know your spells.

In the previous chase and pull, Su Su Su Nai Fa's continuous attacks were aimed at figuring out the foundation of the Zombie Behemoth summoned by Rian.

And Rian, his understanding of her spells was still stuck on the arrows of enduring ice she shot, not knowing that she still had a "big move" of three arrows shot together.

That is the first point.

The second is that although Su Su Su Nai Fa figured out the Zombie Behemoth's foundation, Rian's foundation was still unknown.

Therefore, she could only wait for Rian to launch a spell attack first, seize the moment when he was distracted and unable to cast defensive spells or life-saving spells, which is the so-called "post-swing" time, and then launch her own "big move."

And she also had to ensure that the spell attack launched by Rian had a spell trajectory, so that she could rely on the absolute speed of her arrow of enduring ice to overtake and behead Rian first.

Fortunately, she waited for this opportunity.

The Zombie Behemoth was just as she had judged; even if it risked self-destruction, it still couldn't block her three arrows shot together.

Of course, operation and calculation are one thing, but what truly supported Su Su Su Nai Fa in killing the enemy across ranks was her powerful strength, which was the best in the Fourth-Circle, and the support of 【Breath of the Wilderness】.

Why is cross-rank combat so difficult? The biggest reason is the suppression of low-circle magic users by high-circle spells.

No matter how powerful a Fourth-Circle magic user is, they cannot cast any Fifth-Circle spell.

This is a rule, an iron law, that cannot be broken.

This doomed Fourth-Circle magic users to be naturally a head lower when facing Fifth-Circle magic users due to the gap in spells.

This is like a martial arts master facing an elite special forces soldier holding a gun; purely in terms of individual strength, the martial arts master might be higher than the special forces soldier.

But it can't be helped that the other party has a gun in their hand.

Fifth-Circle spells are the "gun."

That is all.

But Su Su Su Nai Fa is different.

Because she has 【Blizzard】.

【Blizzard】 is a magic weapon held by Boreas himself, and Boreas himself is an Eighth-Circle grand magic user.

And 【Blizzard】 is exactly an Eighth-Rank magic weapon.

The power it can exert depends on the user's own strength.

Therefore, with sufficient strength, Su Su Su Nai Fa, even if she is only at the Fourth-Circle, can completely use 【Blizzard】 to cast attacks comparable to Fifth-Circle spells.

This is the foundation of her cross-rank combat.

And 【Breath of the Wilderness】 is the final piece of the puzzle; the 62% mana consumption reduction in the construct effect allows Su Su Su Nai Fa to break through the limit and cast the "three-arrow shot" that would normally require the Fifth-Circle to shoot.

The level suppression of magic users in this world is still too powerful... Seeing Rian turn into an ice sculpture, Gao De finally breathed a sigh of relief, unable to help but sigh in his heart.

Su Su Su Nai Fa is already undoubtedly a top powerhouse among Fourth-Circle magic users, and she has a top-tier magic weapon like 【Blizzard】, while Rian was clearly just a weak Fifth-Circle magic user who had just advanced not long ago.

According to the novels he read in his previous life, "heavenly pride" of Su Su Su Nai Fa's level crossing a major realm to kill a "small fry" like Rian should be as easy as chopping melons and vegetables.

But the result was that after arming herself with 【Breath of the Wilderness】, Su Su Su Nai Fa defeated Rian so arduously.

Here.

After resting for a while, under the dual buff of 【Breath of the Wilderness】's physical strength recovery and mana recovery, Su Su Su Nai Fa also recovered.

She walked toward Gao De, scale light flickering on her body, and 【Breath of the Wilderness】 fell off, simultaneously returning to its initial size and shape.

"My King." Su Su Su Nai Fa held 【Breath of the Wilderness】 and handed it to Gao De.

"It suits you very well; from now on, 【Breath of the Wilderness】 belongs to you." Gao De did not take 【Breath of the Wilderness】.

This is a Fourth-Rank rune construct, which requires at least a Fourth-Circle magic user to equip.

And he had just advanced to the First-Circle not long ago, and the Fourth-Circle was still a long way off.

Rather than letting 【Breath of the Wilderness】 gather dust in his place, it is better to give it to Su Su Su Nai Fa and let her make full use of it.

Equipped with a rune construct, Su Su Su Nai Fa can basically be regarded as half a Fifth-Circle magic user.

And after Rian was beheaded by her, there should be no more native Fifth-Circle magic users in the northern realm.

Translated, it means: "I, Su Su Su Nai Fa, am invincible in the northern realm!"

Possessing such top-tier force is very important for Su Su Su Nai Fa's vision of unifying the northern realm.

Therefore, Gao De was not reluctant to part with a precious Fourth-Rank rune construct.

"Thank you, My King." A faint trace of joy flashed in Su Su Su Nai Fa's deep blue eyes.

Clearly, she liked 【Breath of the Wilderness】 extremely much.

She didn't stand on ceremony with Gao De... In her view, the entire Enduring Zhenbing tribe belonged to Gao De, so why stand on ceremony?

After solemnly accepting 【Breath of the Wilderness】, Su Su Su Nai Fa couldn't help but look at Gao De again.

If it was said that supporting Gao De as the new King of the Enduring Zhenbing tribe at the beginning came from the prophecy of War Mother Oretia that she had to adhere to, then now, she had a new sense of identification with Gao De, this new King, from the bottom of her heart.

"The culprit Rian has already been beheaded. My King, should we return to Dezhen next, or?" Su Su Su Nai Fa asked for Gao De's opinion again.

"Return to Dezhen?" Gao De shook his head, "Naturally, it's not that simple."

"Since Rian has already advanced to the Fifth-Circle, and advanced through the necromantic cultivation method "Necromantic Rituals," and was also able to ambush here in advance to launch a sneak attack, it is highly likely that the interior of the Guardians of the Snowfield has already been 'unified' by him."

He said a very cruel sentence with a calm expression. "Rian is already dead, so the Guardians of the Snowfield naturally have no need to exist anymore."

Su Su Su Nai Fa's eyes flashed with brilliance upon hearing this.

Clearly, Gao De's resolution coincided with her own thoughts.

After a short repair, the battle damage also came out.

A total of two Third-Circle ice-descendant magic users, six Second-Circle ice-descendant magic users, and eleven First-Circle ice-descendant magic users were sacrificed.

Basically, they were all in the first wave of attacks, caught off guard, pounced on by skeleton mages that suddenly appeared from the snow, unable to cast even a single spell, and were torn apart and killed.

Rian relied on his familiarity with the geography of the snowfield to launch a night attack that only a necromancer could do, and the results were indeed brilliant.

With sacrifices, there must naturally be corresponding gains.

Killing Rian can only be counted as blood for blood, not a gain.

Therefore, when the sun rose the next day, the army of the Enduring Zhenbing tribe set off again, marching toward the Icefield Temple.

After another four days of rushing, this time there were no twists and turns or blockades on the road, and the army of the Enduring Zhenbing tribe finally stepped into the range of only twenty kilometers from the Icefield Temple.

The Enduring Zhenbing people did not hide their tracks, and it was difficult to hide; such a large-scale troop march was difficult to escape the eyes of others on the vast snowfield.

Therefore, when the army just stepped into the boundary of the Icefield Temple, the high-circle magic users in the Icefield Temple had already brought all the members of the temple and were waiting there uneasily.

"War Mother, Gao De..." Luo Yiqi, who had been imprisoned by Rian, because he had had contact with Gao De, had also been released long ago, and at this moment was even pushed out as a representative of the Guardians of the Snowfield to communicate and talk with Gao De.

Luo Yiqi waved his hand, and the crowd behind him separated to both sides, making a spacious passage.

Subsequently, more than a dozen captured magic users were escorted out. "This is a part of Saint Xi En Rian's subordinates, who also followed Rian to practice forbidden necromantic magic. To capture them, we spent a lot of effort, and there were even casualties... Another part of the people discovered that the situation was not right in advance and slipped away first... But we will definitely bring them to justice as soon as possible and send them to Dezhen personally."

"What you said earlier, we only need to hand over Saint Xi En Rian and all his accomplices ourselves, and the Enduring Zhenbing tribe will withdraw their troops immediately upon receiving the people..."

"Times have changed; Rian ambushed us a few days ago, wanting to kill Su Su Su Nai Fa and me, with ulterior motives." Gao De was indeed calm, as if he didn't know Luo Yiqi, and didn't beat around the bush, directly getting straight to the point.

He also waved his hand, and the army behind him separated to both sides, and Rian, who had turned into an ice sculpture, was carried out.

Hearing Gao De's words, Luo Yiqi was already sweating on his forehead, and seeing Rian's corpse, his vision went dark.

Although they had already faintly guessed that Rian might have been beheaded when Rian guaranteed to personally solve the Enduring Zhenbing tribe's army and left the Icefield Temple, but the Enduring Zhenbing tribe's army did not stop their steps, but now seeing Rian's corpse with his own eyes, he still couldn't believe it.

Rian is a Fifth-Circle necromancer?! How did he die in their hands? "War Mother, Gao De, this matter really has nothing to do with us. We all follow the teachings and have never been involved in any improper matters."

"All those evil acts were done by Rian and his subordinates. We were unaware, let alone participated in them. Even, in order to establish his authority, Rian cruelly killed Archbishop Lu En who did not support him..."

Luo Yiqi hurriedly began to explain, indicating that Rian's actions had nothing to do with the Guardians of the Snowfield.

His tone was urgent and sincere, and the expressions of the ice-descendant magic users of the Icefield Temple behind him were the same, fearing being implicated.

"Whether it has anything to do with you is not for you to say." However, Gao De's face was still as cold as frost, without the slightest movement. Looking at Gao De's cold face, and then at Su Su Su Nai Fa's posture of following Gao De's lead, Luo Yiqi's head was about to explode, and he cursed those high-level members who pushed him out to communicate in his heart... Is this a job that a person can do?

But for the sake of the sect, he could only grit his teeth and continue to apologize: "I don't know what the Guardians of the Snowfield need to do to make you vent your anger and make up for our mistakes?"

"From now on, there will be no more Guardians of the Snowfield sect. All the assets of your sect, including all resources, all members, and all your branch churches in the northern realm, will belong to Dezhen." Gao De said lightly.

Regarding how to deal with the Guardians of the Snowfield, he had already reached a conclusion on the way here: incorporation.

As soon as Gao De's words fell, Luo Yiqi and all the ice-descendant magic users of the Icefield Temple behind him had their expressions change drastically.

"This... this... our teachings are to guard the snowfield, and do not allow us to submit to a northern realm tribe..." Luo Yiqi was speechless for a moment, wiped the cold sweat that didn't exist on his forehead, and didn't know what to say.

"You were forced by Rian's force to submit to him, which shows that your teachings are not inviolable."

"Could it be that you think that we, who can kill Rian, would be inferior to Rian in strength?" Luo Yiqi's polite words hadn't finished, and Gao De had already interrupted him.

His words were very direct, just pure force suppression.

Either submit, or die.

The Guardians of the Snowfield originally had a total of three Fourth-Circle magic users; Rian advanced to the Fifth-Circle and killed Archbishop Lu En, who was also a Fourth-Circle.

And now Rian was beheaded by Su Su Su Nai Fa.

In a short time, two of the three leaders of the Guardians of the Snowfield were left with only Chief Ximo, who was currently unknown where he was.

Such a Guardians of the Snowfield, how could they contend with the Enduring Zhenbing tribe's army led by Su Su Su Nai Fa, who was armed with a rune construct?

"Gao De, this matter is not something I can decide... Archbishop Lu En was killed by Saint Xi En Rian, and he died in your hands, so now the only person with decision-making power in the sect is Chief Ximo, but Chief Ximo is currently unknown where he is, why not wait for him to come back..." Luo Yiqi was still struggling.

"I don't have the leisure to wait for him to come back. If Chief Ximo knows about this and has any objections, he can go to Dezhen to reason with us then."

Gao De said lightly, but when he said the word "reason," he slightly emphasized his tone.

"Now, I give you two choices. Within ten breaths, either submit to the Enduring Zhenbing, or die." He had no patience to pull with these people anymore.

Since they possess absolute strength suppression, why do they need these twists and turns? Just crush them directly.

Gao De's voice fell, and an ice-descendant magic user behind him took a step forward, stood out, and began to count down in a tone without any emotion: "Ten."

"Nine."

"..."

"Three."

Each countdown was like an invisible

In truth, they had long since wanted to submit.

Two of the sect's three high-ranking leaders were dead; its decline was a foregone conclusion.

Since Saint Arbiter Ryan had taken the lead in practicing forbidden necromancy and committing evil acts, from this perspective, the reputation the Snowfield Guardians had built over so many years was already more than half destroyed.

Moreover, the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe was the premier tribe in the northern realm; submitting to such an existence was no loss of face, so why throw away one's life for nothing?

The only reason they had waited until now to kneel and surrender was simply the feeling that if they dragged it out a little longer—dragging it out to "three"—they would at least appear to have more integrity. To kneel and surrender at "ten" would make them seem too cowardly and afraid of death, wouldn't it?

Yet the appearance of the first person to submit was like opening Pandora's box; the psychological defenses of the other Icefield Temple mages, who had still been hesitating, collapsed in an instant, and they all knelt down in unison.

"Two."

Following the echo of the word "two," Luo Yiqi gritted his teeth and finally followed suit, kneeling down and burying his head low.

Before "one" could even be uttered, there were no Icefield Temple mages left standing on the scene.

(End of chapter)