"Are you sure they're here?" The man asked suspiciously, his gaze sweeping around, yet he couldn't spot even a single shadow. The doubt in his heart grew heavier.
Continuing forward from here was still snowfield, and to the side was a sheer cliff.
"The footprints really did stop here," another person replied gravely. Holding his staff, he carefully parted the accumulated snow, hoping to find any covered footprints in this vast expanse of white.
However, no matter how hard he tried, he found no trace whatsoever—as if Dan Feng and Roxy had vanished into thin air.
"Did we lose them?" Someone complained. "If we lost them, this is a huge waste! We would've been better off just taking some regular quests." The others chimed in agreement. They had come here pretending to be adventurers purely to earn some money.
If they couldn't find Dan Feng, then this entire day would have been wasted for nothing.
Kurashi quietly observed the surrounding environment, thinking to herself: Dan Feng and Roxy absolutely could not have just disappeared into thin air. She firmly believed they must have left in some direction.
"This is a cliff below— they didn't jump down, did they?" One person said while looking down at the cliff.
Below was a vast, boundless snowfield, but because of the height, they couldn't clearly see the situation at the bottom.
"Let's go down and check." The man said directly, then led the group hurrying down the mountain.
At this moment, Dan Feng and Roxy were leisurely killing snow demons—killing them was even simpler than reading a book for them.
As Cloud-Piercer pierced through the heart of the last snow demon, all the snow demons in this area had been slain by Dan Feng and Roxy.
Then Dan Feng took out a bag and collected all the snow demons' heads inside. This S-rank quest was thus completed.
"So many packed in there—Dan Feng, is it heavy for you to carry?" Roxy asked with concern, looking at the calm-faced Dan Feng.
Dan Feng shook his head upon hearing this. "It's very light, no weight at all."
After that, the two prepared to head back first to submit the quest, then pick up another one.
However, with a casual glance, Dan Feng spotted Kurashi's group coming down.
Dan Feng expressionlessly shook his head, then set the bag down.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Roxy asked in confusion, following Dan Feng's line of sight upward and also spotting Kurashi's group.
"I really called it." Roxy said in surprise.
She raised her staff and shouted delicately: "Ice Lance Blizzard!"
At the sound of her voice, Kurashi's group was immediately drawn by Roxy's shout. When they turned their heads, several ice spears were already flying straight toward their faces.
"They're over there!" The man shouted, then tried to prepare to chant earth magic, but the ice spears were simply too fast. By the time he finished chanting, his body had already been struck by the ice spears.
Fortunately, he still managed to successfully release the Earth Fortress in the end.
However, the people inside the Earth Fortress were not so lucky. They were hit by one or more ice spears to varying degrees—some even pierced through by multiple spears.
Even so, they gritted their teeth against the intense pain, quickly pulled the ice spears out of their bodies, and immediately cast healing magic to treat their wounds.
Roxy stood in the distance, her gaze fixed on where the Earth Fortress had appeared. Her expression was indifferent, creating a stark contrast to her usual demeanor.
"Missed." Roxy said slowly, her tone carrying an undisguised chill.
Since these people had truly dared to come, they shouldn't even think about escaping easily.
Without hesitation, Roxy prepared to cast Ice Lance Blizzard again. She intended to shatter the Earth Fortress in one go and kill everyone inside completely.
However, just as she was about to release Ice Lance Blizzard once more, Dan Feng suddenly reached out and pressed down on the mana stone of her staff, interrupting her casting.
"Eh?" Roxy let out a puzzled soft exclamation. She turned her head and looked at Dan Feng in confusion, not understanding why he would stop her at such a critical moment.
Dan Feng seriously looked into Roxy's water-blue eyes and said softly, "Leave it to me. After all, they're here for me. You've already killed so many snow demons just now—it's better for you to rest a bit."
Roxy hesitated slightly but ultimately nodded in agreement.
"So Dan Feng wants me to rest~ I'm so touched!" Roxy said with a joyful expression. Anyone could tell at a glance that she was completely lovestruck.
She slowly lowered her hand, and Dan Feng also removed his hand from the water-blue mana stone.
As Dan Feng's hand left the mana stone, Roxy suddenly felt a gentle breeze blow past, tousling the bangs on her forehead.
She subconsciously reached up and lightly smoothed her hair back into place.
Then, she took a deep breath and stood quietly to the side, ready to watch how Dan Feng would defeat these enemies.
Dan Feng leaped into the air, jumping straight up.
He used Cloud Chant Technique, so in Roxy's eyes, it looked like he was stepping on air to ascend—but in reality, he was merely utilizing the water molecules in the air.
The people inside the Earth Fortress heard the noise outside and hurriedly began chanting various magics inside, preparing to unleash a point-blank barrage on whoever was out there.
Dan Feng advanced slowly while holding Cloud-Piercer, his face as calm as ever. After all, how could these few people possibly make his expression change?
Just as Dan Feng was about to reach the Earth Fortress, it suddenly vanished—replaced by a barrage of multicolored attack magics.
Dan Feng had anticipated this. He held Cloud-Piercer horizontally in front of him and spun it rapidly.
Cloud-Piercer acted like a propeller, deflecting all their released attack magics.
"What?" The group looked on in shock at the scene before them. Before they could even react, Cloud-Piercer was already thrusting toward the person in front.
Cloud-Piercer easily pierced through that person's throat. Before Dan Feng pulled it back out, the man stared at Dan Feng with eyes full of resentment.
As Cloud-Piercer was withdrawn, the man instantly collapsed to the ground. Scarlet blood dyed the pure white snow red, while Dan Feng reaped their lives like the Grim Reaper himself.
Not long after, only the man and Kurashi remained, huddling together. Their legs had gone weak at the sight of their companions' deaths.
"Dan Feng! We're classmates! According to Ranoa Magic University's school rules, you can't kill your fellow stu..." Kurashi's words were cut off before she could finish.
"I remember warning you that day, right? I even used that kind of shocking magic—why did you still bring people to cause us trouble? I really don't understand." Dan Feng said calmly, slowly approaching Kurashi.
"Are you talking about that intermediate magic, Torrent? It was my mistake—I was blind! Please..."
Dan Feng shook his head, deciding Kurashi was beyond saving. To mistake a majestic, oppressive creature like the Azure Dragon for intermediate magic... He said no more and directly killed Kurashi.
From the moment they dared to follow, their fate was sealed. No rules could pressure him—not even if the principal himself came here; he would still kill this person. He had never been a saint. As long as someone harbored killing intent toward him or Roxy, he would find a way to kill them.
Watching the scene, the snow beneath the man's buttocks had been dyed yellow.
"Dan Feng, it's all..." The man tried to say something but was interrupted by Dan Feng again.
"If you had known this would happen, why act that way back then? I clearly gave you a chance, yet you insisted on chasing after us. Then you should have been prepared to die." Dan Feng said coldly. As soon as the words fell, Dan Feng used Cloud Chant Technique to kill the man.
Why not use Cloud-Piercer? The ground had already turned yellow—using Cloud-Piercer to kill him would just dirty it, wouldn't it?