The boy had clearly noticed Amy as well. He anxiously shouted at Amy, “You... don’t come over here, it’s dangerous, run quickly...

Run along the edge of the woods...”

At first, Amy hesitated about whether to help this troublemaking boy, but seeing how concerned he was for her, she instead became more determined. She slung her sword onto her back, dashed over in a few steps, took the little bear from the boy’s hands, and ran toward the main road.

When she reached the edge of the drainage ditch, Amy forcefully threw the two little snow bears onto the main road, not caring about the boy’s reaction. She bent down, grabbed the boy’s right foot, swung him around in a circle, and then let go.

“Put me down, put me down... I can jump by myself... wah... bang—” The boy, protesting, was thrown across the drainage ditch.

“Woo... woo...” Seeing its master being bullied, the little green dog opened its mouth, ah-woo, and bit onto Amy’s pant leg, its eyes full of—expectation. It anxiously whimpered at Amy, as if to say, don’t forget me. While barking, it lifted its right leg to signal to Amy (only then did Amy realize that this little dog actually walked on two legs).

What a clever, amusing little creature. As Amy thought this, she picked up the little dog and leapt across the drainage ditch.

The two giant snow bears were also closing in fast. The one running in front was undoubtedly the male. For a snow bear, a four-meter-wide drainage ditch was nothing at all. The snow bear prepared to jump, but Amy drew her longsword and made a couple of feint slashes in front of her. The snow bear clearly realized that if it jumped over, it would be struck in midair. The enraged snow bear swung its front paw through the air, and the temperature in front of Amy rapidly dropped, the air solidified, froze, and formed ice blades that flew toward Amy.

What the—snow bears are born with level one ice magic?

35

“Ice Blade...” Amy shouted, and the longsword’s ice blade formed an even larger and thicker blade, sweeping up the snow bear’s own attack and pressing down on it like a wall. Although it was only a level one spell, the effect was completely different when cast by a high elf—even a level one mage couldn’t summon such a massive amount of ice blades in such a short time.

The snow bear had never encountered anything like this before, and with only four meters between them, it had no time to dodge. It took the hit squarely, and its snow-white fur was instantly stained with red.

“Awooo...” The king of the snowfields had never suffered such a painful wound before. The snow bear howled like mad, its eyes glowing red, blood mixing with the tears at the corners of its eyes, looking utterly ferocious.

Bears are extremely terrifying animals, especially when wounded. A cornered bear can inflict damage on its enemies for generations. The bear before her was a prime example.

Ignoring the gleaming longsword in front of it, the male bear bent down and leapt over the drainage ditch, while the female appeared at the edge, roaring as she jumped over as well. On the Frozen Continent, even the bravest Hamian hunters would never provoke a snow bear on purpose. A squad of Hamian soldiers would go out of their way to avoid a snow bear. The attack of two snow bears was enough to destroy an entire squad.

The female bear sniffed the two little bears on the ground, then sniffed the boy lying there. Amy’s heart leapt—“Why isn’t he moving? Did I hurt him when I threw him?” The giant bear’s tongue licked the boy’s face, but he still didn’t move. The little dog also pressed its head against the boy’s leg, motionless. The female bear turned and roared angrily at Amy.

Facing attacks from both bears at once—this was probably the last thing Amy wanted to see.

Awooo, the male bear lunged, its massive paw whistling through the air toward Amy’s head. The female bear charged from another direction, her huge mouth suddenly opening, four fangs white at the top, yellow in the middle, black at the base, her blood-red tongue pressed tightly against her lower jaw, breath spraying saliva like stars, and she lowered her head to bite at Amy’s neck.

Amy tilted her head, just dodging the bear’s paw, but before she could react, the female bear’s hot “kiss” was upon her. Her head went cold, and in a flash, Amy bent down and escaped between the male bear’s legs.

Before she could straighten up, the female bear spat out Amy’s little hat and pounced again. The male bear circled around and also lunged with its jaws wide open...

Perhaps it was years of living together as a couple—these two bears coordinated perfectly. Whenever Amy dodged a paw, a bear’s mouth was waiting for her. There was no chance to swing her two-handed sword. Luckily, the bears were so tall that attacking a low target wasn’t easy for them, or else Amy would have been swatted several times already.

On the third time she dodged between the bear’s legs, disaster struck—the male bear stepped on Amy’s longsword. Thinking quickly, Amy leapt over the drainage ditch again to avoid the female bear’s attack.

The two bears didn’t hesitate at all and jumped over the ditch together. Amy didn’t turn around. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she bent low, pushed off hard from the edge, did a backward somersault, and landed right in front of the ice blade: “Ice Blade—Ice and Snow

36

Storm.” As Amy grabbed her sword, she took advantage of the moment when the bears were turning and loudly called out the level two special attack of Ice Blade.

For an ice mage, Ice and Snow Storm is a very useful spell. Although its attack power isn’t strong, it can continuously form layers of ice around the enemy’s feet, making it impossible for them to move for a short time.