Chapter 1019: The Witch Who Turned into a Cat

The Ringed Ringed Shushi system did not exist in this era; the witch looked at the scene before her in astonishment.

Xia De's empty left hand had already assumed a throwing posture, and as silvery-white electric light condensed, fine patterns climbed onto the lightning spear.

The sound of the wind masked the thunder, and he threw the lightning spear toward the black mist beneath the black sky, but the opponent dodged it with ease.

The swirling black mist seemed enraged by this strike; it descended again, attempting to pounce on Xia De's face. But as Xia De stabbed the Moonlight Greatsword into the snowy surface, a golden shield lit up beneath the pitch-black sky, and the exploding golden radiance once again forced the black mist to rise into the high sky.

In truth, in the past, Xia De rarely participated directly in combat; confronting the Formless Child as he did last time was already a rare battle. Although this opponent was a demon, it was clearly not very strong. The Tree Father never sent Xia De to the past to defeat enemies like a gladiator; any enemy appearing in this bizarre space was similarly suppressed by the environment here.

The Moonlight Greatsword in his hand dissipated, and as the black mist pounced downward again, Xia De raised his right hand high in the wind and snow. The 【Silver Moon】 rune at the center of the massive brass Life Ring bloomed with light identical to that of a real silver moon.

Just like the god who had stood upon the ridge earlier, raising a long staff to drive away the evil spirits, the light at his fingertips drove Xia De to shout his wish at this moment:

"Light-Brightening Art!"

Even though the Silver-White Mountains suppressed light sources, the silver moonlight that erupted in an instant still illuminated the space above his head.

The black mist dissolved in the light of the silver moon. When the light vanished, as a panting Xia De leaned on his knees to catch his breath, only one-third of the black mist remained, flying along the snowy slope toward the high ridge.

Miss Lu Yi Sha hurriedly supported Xia De, who was clearly exhausted.

"What a pity to let it escape!"

Although he knew he couldn't eliminate a demon like the Doctor could, Xia De still felt some regret.

But immediately after, both he and Miss Lu Yi Sha were astonished to see a young girl with bare feet and wearing a white robe appear, seemingly out of nowhere, upon the ridge that was emitting a faint glow.

The pure white oak staff was raised forward, and amidst the light it unleashed, the fleeing black mist melted completely into the blizzard.

"God..."

Originally, it was Miss Chloe supporting Xia De, but at this moment, it had become Xia De supporting Miss Chloe, who had nearly fallen into the snow.

The cowering man hid behind a rock, trembling, while the unconscious Mrs. Marquez had most of her body covered by the wind and snow. The witch and Xia De looked up together, crossing the gentle snow slope to gaze at the white-robed deity atop the distant ridge. The deity withdrew the long staff and suddenly pointed it toward the highest mountain peak in the distance.

As the long staff was thrust into the snow, both the witch and Xia De heard the voice of the God:

"Go, go and climb. Once you conquer the wind and snow, you will obtain the power you desire."

The wind, mixed with snow, carried a song sung by someone unknown:

"Even the bravest warrior dares not climb the snow mountain,

For the snow mountain is the tomb of the lost.

The first climber knows not whence they came,

And the last climber shall also be buried here.

Snow is the spirit of the earth;

Wind is the offspring of the mountains.

Amidst the glory of the old days,

The maiden who climbed the peak glimpsed the truth of the ancient past.

The eternal ice-seal shall surely come,

That is the final destination for all things."

【You have listened to the story of the Old God "Winter Maiden," and you have learned of the miracle of the Old God "Winter Maiden."】

【Outsider, you have obtained the spell "Call Large Snowball."】

【Summons a large snowball to fall from the sky. If cast indoors, the highest point of the casting area must have a height difference of at least 3 feet (approx. 0.9 meters) from the top of the caster's head when standing. The snowball does not melt easily, and when it hits a target upon landing, it carries various effects such as stiffness and mental freezing.】

The figure of the God vanished atop the ridge under the darkness, and both Xia De and Miss Chloe stared blankly at the heights. But the current environment allowed no time for them to daze; the disappearance of the "Shelter" left everyone exposed to the wind and snow.

"Do you have any extra fabric on you?"

The witch asked Xia De, seemingly intending to rebuild a simple shelter.

"I do."

Xia De nodded, but then asked:

"But would a tent work?"

"That would be even better."

Without needing Xia De's help to build it, the witch took the tent parts Xia De handed her in the snow, and with just a few flicks of her fingers, three snowmen "crawled" out of the snow:

"Sure enough, being near you, the frozen spirit recovers somewhat. Do you have some special flame on you?"

Miss Chloe said, while asking Xia De for six buttons. After giving the snowmen eyes, they became Miss Chloe's temporary summons:

"Embers of the Primordial Fire."

"You actually know the nuns who hold the fire? Don't those nuns never pay attention to anyone else?"

While this free labor built the tent, Miss Chloe went to check on Mrs. Marquez, who was unconscious by the campfire. The cowering man walked up to help the snowmen build the tent, probably feeling that this way he wouldn't be left behind.

Xia De was very interested in the witch's secret art of summoning snowmen, but he was even more interested in his newly acquired spell. Casting spells at home would risk damaging the house, but there was no such worry here.

When the spell was acquired, Xia De already knew the incantation, which was similar to "Praise the Maiden." As he chanted, he crossed his right index and middle fingers and pointed them toward the sky:

"Snowball."

The muffled boom coming from the wind startled Miss Chloe. She looked up in surprise to find a snowball 1.5 times the height of a person on the snow. The snowball was a perfect sphere, but it had sunk into the snow layer due to the accumulated snow on the ground.

At this moment, Xia De was excitedly inspecting the snowball. Before Miss Chloe could stop him, Xia De cast the spell continuously, summoning three more large snowballs. The snowballs landed on both sides of the wind-sheltering rock, making the sheltered area even larger.

"Have you lost control?"

When Xia De walked back to the now-formed tent, the witch said worriedly:

"On this snow mountain, not only will the body and soul gradually become stiff, but even the spirit will gradually freeze, and recovery is very slow. Even if you have embers on you, do not cast spells casually."

"No need to worry about that. Actually, I... will be leaving here in a while."

Xia De said. In the witch's surprised gaze, he crouched down to check Mrs. Marquez's condition, took out holy water, and with the witch's assistance, dripped it into her mouth, finally sprinkling the holy water on her forehead:

"I came here to help you climb the mountain, but I cannot stay here forever."

Xia De explained, and the young witch frowned slightly. By now, the tent had been built, and the group crawled inside. Under the witch's treatment, Mrs. Marquez gradually regained her senses. She looked a bit panicked, but Miss Chloe had no time to soothe her right now:

"You can leave at any time?"

Red-gold eyes stared at Xia De.

"No, only when the time comes."

Xia De said, watching the cowering man crawl into the tent last. The group sat around the campfire; the vegetable soup on the fire had been poured out, as no one knew if the demon had tampered with it. Mrs. Marquez seemed to still have the memory of what just happened, sobbing as she prepared food for the group again.

"What exactly are you?"

Miss Chloe asked.

"I said, I am an Outsider."

He reached out and grabbed the witch's hand. This action took the witch by surprise; she had never seen a man take the initiative to touch a witch:

"Can you feel the temperature? Can you feel the power of a living person? Can you feel my soul?"

Xia De asked. The eleventh-tier witch then nodded:

"This is what I don't understand. You clearly look like an ordinary mortal, so why can you cast spells as a male?"

Her eyes looked downward:

"Are you actually female?"

"Miss, your gaze is truly impolite. Besides, witches are not allowed to transform into males."

Xia De reminded her, stopping her before Miss Chloe could speak again:

"I have ten-plus minutes left, listen to me first. When I return, I cannot carry items with supernatural power, but if you have other things you want, or information you need me to look up, you can tell me."

As he spoke, he took toys out of his pocket, intending to leave most of his supplies behind. Unlike the group of Witch Empress Violet, Miss Chloe and her two companions lacked everything except water.

Miss Chloe asked Xia De for paper and pen, writing down some ordinary items that could serve as spellcasting materials. For example, the buttons from earlier; once the summoned snowmen had the ability to move, it would be great even if they just carried them while walking.

"As for information, no, what we need now is not information, but the courage to climb."

She handed Xia De's notebook back to him:

"I just hope you can appear again to prove that what I saw was not a hallucination."

The witch looked into Xia De's eyes:

"No matter what you are, you promised you would return."

"Yes, I promise I will definitely return. But it's quite fresh that I don't have to find anything this time..."

Xia De nodded:

"You just need to continue moving toward the peak of the Silver Mountain Range. When I come next time, I will definitely be able to find you."

The Tree Father would surely make him appear around the group.

Miss Chloe nodded somewhat woodenly, her eyes looking at the flames licking the bottom of the pot. Hesitating for a moment, she suddenly bumped her head against Xia De. She didn't want to attack Xia De, but transformed into a silver-white cat and scurried onto Xia De's lap.

The "Witch Cat" said nothing, but Xia De knew she wanted to rely on his body temperature to recover her strength as much as possible, but was too embarrassed to get close directly due to her pride, which was why she turned into a cat.

More than 6,000 years later, in the 6th Era of 1853, Tifa had also turned into a cat after taking a potion. But Tifa the cat was pure white, without a single speck of other color, while Chloe the cat was silver-white, a color no normal cat could possess.

Of course, compared to them, he still thought "real cat" Mia was cuter.