t

Meraly missed grilled food.

Even if Ayrin treated her to grilled Evil Toutou or pitch black snake heads, she probably could stomach it.

At least she would feel warm after eating it.

“How much longer?”

Meraly unconsciously snuggled closer and closer to Belo. The surroundings were too cold, with only Belo releasing heat. If not for Belo, Meraly felt she would have been frozen into a statue.

She looked at the diamond, dust-like scenery in the sky and asked, “Are we getting near the Ice Ocean all the way up north? The air has become much more humid and there are even ice flakes floating around.”

“Don’t overthink.”

Belo snorted and walked a little away from her. “There’s still a long distance until the Ice Ocean. If the Snowfall Forest was only such a small forest, the Evil Dragon would have conquered it long ago.”

Meraly’s body suddenly stiffened.

The long period of extreme cold affected her mind, but she was still very sensitive towards some matters. She instinctively felt...... Belo had avoided letting her stick close to him a few times already.

“You......” Disappointment and sadness overwhelmed Meraly.

“What?”

Belo frowned and snorted like usual.

“Do you really dislike me sticking close to you?”

Meraly flattened her lips, about to cry, “If you don’t like it, I can stay away from you. However, it’s really cold here......”

“What are you thinking?”

Belo snorted again and raised his brows, “I’m staying away from you because of the forbidden skill you learned! The coldness in this place can numb your bones and nerves. Like this, you should feel less pain.”

“Because of my Crystal Angel?”

Meraly’s mind was not as clear as usual, so she became absentminded for a moment. Suddenly, all her disappointment and sadness turned into bliss, “Are you caring for me?”

“Hmph!”

Belo did not even look at her and snorted.

It’s really true...... I thought the pain lessened because I was getting used to it. So, it’s related to the extreme cold here?

If he did not mention it, she would never have connected the link.

Meraly could not hide her joy as her lips curved into a smile.

The Crystal Angel she learned was a super heavy particle arcane skill that was unrelated to arcane level. It constantly ground the bones within the body into powder using arcane power and mixed in crystal powder. This cycle repeated itself over and over again.

After making up her mind in the Fearotz Stronghold, she understood her talent was limited. She could not improve her arcane levels quickly enough. Her fighting strength would soon fall behind, leaving her unable to fight alongside Belo and Ayrin. Hence, she had been practising Crystal Angel without wasting any time.

The pain during the process was unimaginable, but she did seem to feel much better after entering the Snowfall Forest.

The extreme cold weather froze her limbs and blurred her mind, while also greatly reducing the sensitivity of her body.

Meraly walked back closer to Belo and pouted, “But I rather feel more pain. It’s too cold.”

“Suit yourself.”

Belo snorted, but did not move away this time.

The unique high beastman bloodline allowed Belo’s body to adjust and adapt to the extremely cold environment. His blood seemed to be much hotter than usual. The heat released from his body warmed Meraly up but brought back the intense pain, making her lips tremble.

However, she gritted her teeth and leaned closer to him.

“Hmph!” Belo snorted without saying anything.

We can’t walk properly if I stick any closer.

I will forgive you with this.

Meraly’s lips trembled due to pain, but her heart was smiling.

“Almost there.”

Suddenly, a cold glint flashed across Belo’s eyes as he spoke.

“Almost there?”

Meraly was surprised for a moment, then her heart started beating faster. She became extremely nervous.

“Yeah.”

Belo nodded and continued walking forward.

Meraly closely followed him. Soon, she realized why this area was rather humid and had ice flakes floating in the air.

An ice lake appeared before them.

The lake contained some unique minerals. Although the temperature on the lake surface was no different from the surrounding forest, the water did not freeze and was instead in a molten state. It looked like the many semi-melted ice sherbets that shops in the Kingdom of Eiche would sell during summer.

There were no obstacles above the water. The bone chilling wind kept blowing up icy water droplets and condensing them into ice flakes in the air.

Suddenly, Meraly saw mysterious light dots on the other side of the lake.

“What’s that?” she asked.

The moment she noticed the light dots, they immediately vanished, causing her to feel even more scared.

“They’re Forest Snow Wolves.”

Belo nonchalantly spoke, “The snow wolves in the Snowfall Forest are even stronger than those in the Eternal Winter Forest. However, they won’t come near us since I’m here.”

Belo’s explanation did not lessen Meraly’s nervousness. She turned around and asked Belo, “You mentioned we were almost there. Did you sense something?”

“Do you want to turn around?” Belo suddenly asked.

“What?” Meraly was confused about Belo’s sudden question.

Then, Belo started to take off his clothes.

“What are you doing?” Meraly was startled by Belo’s action. She opened her eyes wide in fear.

Belo took a glance at her and answered, “I don’t know what it is, but it’s inside this lake.”

By the time Meraly reacted, Belo had almost completely stripped himself. She quickly turned around, her frozen cheeks burning.

Next, her dulled mind became shocked and worried.

“You...... Are you going to dive in there? Are you going to dive into the lake to find it?” She stuttered.

“Why else would I be stripping?” Belo snorted.

“Don’t touch the water. Your fingers may drop off from the frostbite in this place!”

While the naked Belo was walking towards the lake, he looked over his shoulder. “If there’s an emergency, use your arcane skill to blast the lake.”

“Got it.”

Meraly unconsciously nodded, but her mind was extremely shocked and worried. She stuttered again, “Are you really going in? This temperature......”

“Enough, you just be careful.”

A loud water splashing sound.

Meraly trembled and turned to look.

To her surprise, she saw a large splash on the water and the naked Belo standing at the edge of the lake.

“Ah!” She screamed.

“Belo, why are you...... What are you doing?”

“Throwing some frozen soil. Like this, I can conserve some energy when diving.” Belo explained unhappily.

Splash!

Another loud water splashing sound rang out.

After a few seconds, Meraly turned around to check on Belo.

He was no longer there. The spot he dove into the water returned to calmness as the ripples died down.

Awoo......

In the forest on the opposite side of the lake, wolves were howling.

Meraly shuddered.

“You better come out soon! I will be waiting for you here!”

Loneliness and coldness completely embraced her as she began praying for Belo.

......

Within the forest on the opposite side of the lake.

In a place she could not see, a dozen Forest Snow Wolves were rapidly sprinting.

Just like Belo had said, these wolves were much stronger than those in the Eternal Winter Forest. Their physiques were at least one time larger, each of them looked like a small bull.

In addition to their fluffy fur, these wolves gave off a majestic and ferocious feeling.

During the rapid sprint, clusters of arcane energy spread from their paws and became air cushions.

This not only made their steps soundless, but it also prevented their paws from getting injured by the sharp and hard ice shards on the ground.

The control over arcane energy further proved Belo’s words about these snow wolves being stronger than other snow wolves.

Woo......

The snow wolf running at the front suddenly stopped.

A large hand filled with calluses stretched out from behind a frozen tree.

The moment that hand stretched out, the ferocious snow wolves instantly became tame.

The hand lightly patted the head of the alpha wolf.

The Forest Snow Wolves let out whimpering sounds, as if they were describing what they saw.

Whoosh!

The air suddenly trembled.

The hand retracted, the chilling air becoming violent.

Several...... arcane masters two and half meters tall suddenly appeared, their gazes shining like cold lightning!

......

Meraly focused her gaze on the ice lake.

There were no movements.

Suddenly, she shuddered. It was as if she had felt something. She quickly turned to look at the forest behind her.

However, she did not notice anything strange within the next minute.

I hope it’s just my imagination.

She bit her lips and hoped Belo would come back as soon as possible.

Within the forest behind her, a few hands slowly retracted.

Dozens of ferrets were frozen into ice statues before those hands.

The hands were crystal clear and released no heat, unlike human hands.