Chapter 3212

"Not ibexes, I mean unicorns."

"You have unicorns?"

Not only Miss Reinhardt, but even Miss Larson, who was sitting obediently beside her teacher, looked at Xia De in surprise. Xia De hurriedly shook his head:

"I mean, are alien creatures like unicorns okay? Sister Daifulin mentioned to me that there is a large group of ownerless wild chocobos in the Vesta Forest, wandering around in the forest every day with nothing to do. How about we get a few and raise them in the town as transportation for going up the mountain?

I heard that they are all experts at climbing mountains. Strong adult chocobos can even run directly on the lake surface after a running start."

The white-haired witch apprentice's eyes lit up immediately; she obviously had never seen a real chocobo. And the witch, after careful consideration, did not immediately agree with Xia De's proposal:

"This proposal can be considered. The tribe does not forbid these cute little things from going up the mountain, but the chocobos in the Vesta Forest are said to belong to... Do you know about the Vesta Forest?"

She suddenly asked again, manipulating the small boat to turn slowly to prevent the three of them from really rushing into the sea.

Xia De nodded:

"I know. Sister Daifulin mentioned it to me and said that many witches participated in that high-intensity battle at that time. Miss Reinhardt, didn't you and Miss Larson go? I heard that almost half of the Witch Council was present."

The young girl with platinum hair was quite embarrassed:

"The Speaker did say that the Council was very short of manpower at that time, so if I had time, I would try my best to support the Vesta Forest.

But Stella and I were held up by the affairs of the Archipelago Kingdom. At that time, we were in Kelageli. We originally wanted to explore mines there, but ended up getting involved in the grievances between the locals, werewolves, leshens, and a Sage-level relic. Yes, the Archipelago Kingdom is in a remote location, and the density of alien creatures there is much higher than in the Old Continent.

By the time we finished the local affairs and rushed back, the Battle of the Forest had already ended. However, everyone in the Council handled it very well... I will soon be promoted to the twelfth tier, and I will participate in such major events then."

She was completely unaware that she was actually already in the vortex.

The two most serious "snow mountain pollutions" that Elder Harald entrusted Xia De to deal with were much worse in danger than the situation in the cave he and the two witches broke into on the night he was looking for the missing Miss Reinhardt.

Because he had obtained intelligence from Elder Harald in advance, Xia De also knew the specific situation of those two locations: one was a spring at the foot of the snow mountain, and the other was an abandoned auditorium in the mountain.

The place where the three people took the boat to was of course the spring at the foot of the northern slope of the snow mountain. Before reaching the destination, she also talked about the spring; she often went there to play when she was a child:

"The real 'snow mountain water' made by the priests of the Fatum people can actually only use water sources from a few specific locations as raw materials. Even I don't know the real formula; I only heard that it needs 'lower water,' 'middle water,' and 'upper water.' That polluted spring is one of the 'lower waters.' The water quality is extremely cold. If ordinary people drink it directly for a long time, their lifespan will definitely not exceed twenty-five years."

The small boat carried them to land at the pier of the Geiranger village on the northern slope of the snow mountain. The second-tier old priest in the village had already been waiting for them. The group did not stay in the village for long and went directly through the village towards the foot of the mountain. The spring was located in an open-air position, but because it had been polluted, in order to prevent the pollution from spreading, the priests had completely closed the area around the spring and sent people to guard it.

The old priest in the village sent the three people to the entrance of the path by the cedar forest. The old man was wearing a coir raincoat and a cotton hat. After warning them that there were a small number of monsters wandering in the polluted area, he curiously asked Claire Reinhardt:

"Little Claire, does the Great Elder want you to participate in this year's All-Souls Festival?"

It seems that the old people in the village at the foot of the snow mountain really all know her.

"Also, don't jump into the spring to play this time, and then say you fell in by accident after you were frozen stiff and crawled out."

The witch held Xia De and Miss Larson with her left and right hands respectively, letting them follow her away quickly.

The winding path led to an unknown distance in the cedar forest. When walking through the forest, Little Mia woke up and ran to Xia De's shoulder to look around. Because Miss Larson was walking behind, she kept looking up at the cat's swaying tail, not knowing what she was thinking.

Soon Xia De sensed the very obvious foul aura. Continuing to walk forward, he saw black ice crystals appearing on the ground and trees in the cedar forest. On the periphery of the area where ice crystals appeared, the ancient characters of the Fatum people formed glowing rune strings on the snow surface, used to borrow the power of the snow mountain to prevent the further expansion of pollution.

Of course, these runes did not play any blocking role for humans. The three people made preparations at the edge of the polluted area, wore the amulets given by Elder Harald before departure on their chests, and then stepped in separately.

Xia De felt that the surroundings became slightly colder, but after the amulet became slightly hot, he could no longer feel the cold; the white-haired girl from the extreme north shivered slightly, and then whispered that she felt the spirit of her whole body was about to be frozen, but she held the amulet with both hands, and the operation of the spirit in her soul was slowly recovering.

As for the witch, her face immediately became a bit pale, but she did not activate the amulet, but cast a spell softly. So a warm, bright yellow light radiated from her body, and the warmth of the sun helped her dispel the severe cold. As long as she didn't try to communicate with the snow mountain in this kind of area, she wouldn't be affected too much.

"Meow~"

Except for drilling from the shoulder into Xia De's clothes, the cat did not have any abnormalities. It looked at her when the witch was glowing, but soon lost interest; after all, the cat itself could glow.

Some monsters that looked like snowmen were patrolling in the cedar forest covered with black ice crystals. The strength of these monsters was not very high; they were considered enemies derived from the foul area. Yesterday morning, when looking for the witch, the battle traces found by the three people in front of the cave were left by the witch and her followers fighting these things.

Xia De intended to try the magic he had just learned, so when the snowmen were attracted by the breath of living people, he took the initiative to ask to deal with them himself:

"【Thunderclap Wave】 I have already learned it; I want to try the specific effect."

After all, when trying at the sacrificial site yesterday, it only messed up Sister Daifulin's hairstyle.

Miss Reinhardt was also very interested in this. She and her apprentice both mastered this unique magic, so they also wanted to compare whether there was any difference in using it in Xia De's hands.

It's just that she originally thought she would see Xia De summon the life ring this time, but Xia De still didn't do so. He just held his breath and looked at the two three-meter-high humanoid monsters made of black ice crystals approaching this side—they were like variants of the "Fallen Earth Elemental Genie" that appeared in the Randall Valley area. After the two sides were close enough, Xia De waved a palm forward:

"Thunderclap Wave!"

The crackling sound did not appear harsh in the first second, but immediately after two loud bangs, the two black ice giants were pushed backward by the huge force Xia De hit, sliding five meters and then collapsing to the ground. Fine electric arcs jumped on the monsters, and when the three people walked to their side, they still hadn't recovered from the paralysis.

"Not bad, it has such power just after learning it. When you are completely adapted to this magic, it is not impossible to want to push back giant waves or move mountains... I knew you were very talented in the magic of the solar system."

She did not spare her praise, and then told Xia De that to completely destroy this kind of monster, one needs to use the power of fire or the sun. And after these black ice crystal giants die, some small ice cubes close to "unfrozen ice" will condense in the position of the heart, which is a very precious alchemical material.

The three people continued to walk towards the depths of the cedar forest together. Looking up from here, the ice crystals condensed on the branches fell with the wind. Some fell on Little Mia's head, making it look up curiously, but more hit the rocks covered with white snow and shattered into fine powder.

From the gaps in the branches, one could clearly see the continuous silver crowns of the snow mountain supporting the skyline. No matter when you see this kind of scenery, it will make people feel comfortable.

"The pollution here is very similar to the manifestation of the pollution in the cave."

Xia De said, and Miss Reinhardt nodded:

"It is normal for the manifestation to be similar; after all, they are all foul things born from the snow mountain. I am really curious about what happened on this island in the three years I was away... Be careful, the situation ahead seems to be more serious."

The foulness of the snow mountain is similar to "Crazy Earth," and the specific manifestation, in addition to giving birth to those black ice crystal giants, also includes the appearance of black ice crystals in the environment, and freezing all life that enters the polluted range. Continuing to walk forward, one could successively see squirrels, long snakes, and even a small wild boar wrapped in ice cubes.

After dealing with two more slowly walking ice crystal giants, the group finally saw the so-called spring under the cliff at the end of the cedar forest.

The area of the "spring" is not large. To use an inappropriate example, it is about three times the size of the bed under Xia De's bed that can hide people.

It was illuminated by thin sunlight in the shade of the cliff. The surface of the spring was covered by an ice layer, and the frost-white cold air moved along the rock surface behind the spring and the surrounding black snow surface.

Glacier meltwater gathered here through the underground rock layer. Even if the gurgling clear stream was frozen, Xia De could still feel the pulse of the earth when seeing it. There were also a few pine needles frozen on the black ice surface, and the rotating ripples on the naturally frozen ice layer were like the annual rings of this ancient mountain range.

Miss Reinhardt was accustomed to this scene, and the white-haired girl who grew up in the extreme north appreciated this scene curiously.

Xia De felt that he was touched. The sun, the snow mountain, and time converged here, jointly constructing such a harmonious natural landscape. Although there was still foulness around, this did not prevent Xia De from truly realizing why the Fatum people called this mountain the "Holy Mountain" when he moved his gaze from the ice spring at the foot of the mountain to the higher peaks.

And when he grasped the subtle touch when seeing this picture, the element of enlightenment naturally surged towards him from the element tide surging at the foot of the snow mountain.

A sigh from the short silver-haired girl from the distant past seemed to come to his ears. The picture in front of him was completely frozen at this moment. Claire Reinhardt and Miss Larson then saw Xia De raise his hand and point to the snowflakes flying in front of him:

"Stop!"

He said, and the large snowflakes were frozen in the air like the scenery in a photo. Space-time was frozen here for a moment, and "she" in his ears smiled gently:

【Outsider, you have felt enlightenment.】

【You have obtained the magic - Chloe's Space-Time Freeze: Only targets entities without souls, non-entities, and scenes, freezing them with the power of ice and space-time. Corresponds to the 【Space-Time】 spirit rune.】

【Note: The magic - "Chloe's Space-Time Freeze" and the magic - "Adele's Time Stasis" can take effect at the same time.】

【Note: Outsider, when you next perceive power related to ice and snow, you will definitely obtain the corresponding spirit rune.】