After clearing a mob spawn point, the three of them took a short break before hitting the road again.
No one noticed that a hint of warmth had quietly seeped into the air, which had turned cold following the snowmelt.
It wasn’t until they had cleared three or four monster nests that snowflakes began to drift from the sky once more… and the snowfall was only getting heavier.
A piercing, unnatural chill that bit to the bone was carried on the wind.
“Why is it snowing again?”
“It already started melting; will it really snow more?”
Lucoco stopped in her tracks.
“Sister Du Lin, Sister Su Yue,” she said, her eyes fixed on the virtual Map Radar.
“This snow is wrong… we have to leave, now!”
On the radar, the detected light spots were flickering out one by one.
Even the three dots representing them began to flash unstable.
“Lucoco, did you find something?”
Du Lin asked in confusion.
Lucoco didn’t offer a lengthy explanation.
She lunged forward, grabbing both of their hands firmly.
“It’s a [Teleportation Shield Barrier]! Hold on to me! And don’t move!”
The contract mark on her palm lit up before quickly dimming.
“Okay…”
“I’m holding on…”
Though they didn’t fully understand the situation, the two knew that listening to Lucoco was the right move.
Her set effects, Demon King’s Authority, and [Perception Block] were all activated simultaneously.
In the next moment, Lucoco dragged the two of them directly into the air.
They soared over the canopy of the forest, breaking through the wind and snow as they flew at high speed toward the manor.
“Aaaaaah!”
The sudden weightlessness of leaving the ground made Su Yue scream in terror.
“Idiot! Shut up!”
Du Lin barked urgently.
“Mph!”
Su Yue quickly silenced herself, looking at Lucoco apologetically.
Lucoco had no time to worry about anything else.
Her small face was flushed red, and her flight path was wobbly and unstable.
Even though her [Levitation] had been upgraded once and was assisted by her gear’s set effects, flying while carrying two people was still a bit much.
The snow was heavy, blurring her vision, but looking down from the heights, she could vaguely catch something moving rapidly through the snowy woods, knocking the accumulation off the branches.
Lucoco recognized them at a glance.
They were the most common pawns used by the Dark Camp in human territory: [Assassins].
There was no need to guess their target; it was definitely her.
She couldn’t detect their levels.
It seemed they had activated some kind of perception-blocking barrier on their side as well.
At this moment, the Assassins couldn’t see her, and she couldn’t obtain any useful information through the Map Radar or Appraisal Art.
Landing was out of the question.
These guys had to have known about her abilities already!
That was why they had summoned such heavy snow.
Wouldn’t the tracks left by invisible things moving through the vast white snow be obvious?
Furthermore, she wasn’t without a way to judge the enemies’ strength.
Her Demon King’s Authority was active, and the passive that increased her attributes based on enemy quality had been triggered.
Before, it was a 2,000% increase, but after Sebas joined, it had dropped to 1,640%.
And now, that increase was at 1,327%.
‘Reducing the threat assessment for the multiplier and losing over 300 points of the ratio… the average level of these Assassins is definitely not low!’
Why wasn’t the buff stronger?
It was because members of the Demon King Army were considered allies in the Authority’s judgment!
Only when she was truly face-to-face with them and sensed their killing intent would they be registered as enemies.
Though it was counterintuitive, that was the reality.
***
Lucoco put all her effort into maintaining maximum flight speed while estimating the number of dark shadows flickering through the snowy forest.
She was trying to judge the situation: was it a massive horde?
Or were they elite individuals?
Or perhaps both?
Regardless, flying toward the manor was always the right choice!
Just then, someone tapped her right arm.
Lucoco turned her head and saw Du Lin looking at her with a face full of anxiety.
Seeing Lucoco look over, Du Lin quickly mouthed words while urgently gesturing with her free hand.
Lucoco understood.
Du Lin was saying: They weren’t afraid to die!
Lucoco should drop them and escape on her own.
Shaking her head, Lucoco gripped her hand even tighter.
She had her reasons for bringing them along.
She had already contacted Sebas through the contract, and his response was: He had already noticed the anomaly.
There was no need to worry; just head toward the manor.
This was a perfect opportunity to farm experience!
A [Normal Assassin] could only reach Level 50 at most.
Only by advancing to an Assassin Elite could they break that limit.
As long as Lucia or Sebas arrived, these guys would all be experience packs!
Even if they only managed a few hits, they would gain a massive amount of experience!
Right now, all she had to do was get as close to the manor as possible.
***
After wobbling out of the dense woods, Lucoco flew into an open area where the trees were relatively sparse.
Suddenly!
The feeling of being lifted vanished, replaced by a sudden sensation of falling!
It was a [Forbidden Sky Domain] and a [Gravity Barrier]!
“Sister Su Yue!”
While calling out to Su Yue, Lucoco immediately cast a buff on the two of them and deployed her Magic Barrier to shield the three of them tightly.
Su Yue understood instantly.
She swung her body to hug the other two.
“Mass Divine Grace! Damage Transfer! Holy Shield! Holy Shield…”
With her crisp shouts, a thick, holy aura wrapped around them.
Two golden ribbons connected to Su Yue as the shields on her own body stacked rapidly.
“Light Body Technique… Ah! It’s not working!”
Du Lin waved her wand, but the magical light flickered once and died out.
Immediately afterward, the three of them slammed down like cannonballs.
*Bang! Thud! Crack!*
Snow sprayed everywhere as they crashed into a large crater in the ground.
The Magic Barrier shattered instantly, only to be redeployed in the next heartbeat.
In the end, Su Yue absorbed the majority of the damage and was forced into a staggered state.
Du Lin also entered a stunned state.
Lucoco, however, was mostly unharmed.
She deactivated her Mimicry immediately upon landing.
At the very moment they hit the ground, the surrounding snow began to churn like boiling water.
Dozens of pitch-black shadows lunged out from the snowbanks, tearing through the wind.
Their daggers, gleaming with a cold light, stabbed viciously at the Magic Barrier from every tricky angle.
The buff jumped to 1,840%.
*Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink…*
All the attacks were blocked.
Seeing that they couldn’t break through, the dark shadows retreated instantly.
But at that moment — *Boom!*
Lucoco’s Fusion Magic exploded outside the barrier.
Several shadows that were slow to retreat were blown away on the spot, and two of them died instantly.
The initial probing attack and Lucoco’s counterattack were over in a flash.
The heavy snow quickly turned into a blizzard, and large clumps of snow banged against the barrier.
“Huff… huff… that hurt so much… Lucoco, hurry and give me a heal…”
Su Yue, who had lost half her health, finally shook off the staggered status and climbed up with an anxious cry.
“Get ready to tag the enemies! Hit as many as you can!”
Lucoco, who had only lost a sliver of health, spoke while casting a group heal to top them both off.
“The Appraisal Art and Map Radar are both disabled!”
Du Lin had also recovered from her stun.
Noticing the anomaly at last, she looked around with a grave expression, scanning their surroundings warily.
The dark shadows had vanished, and nothing could be seen outside the Magic Barrier… there was only the increasingly violent howling of the blizzard…
“Right!”
With a sharp cry, Lucoco used her tentacles to wrap around the waists of the other two and dodged to the left.
“Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!”
Du Lin threw three fireballs directly toward the right.
“Minor Heal!”
Su Yue cast a healing spell directly on Lucoco.
*Bang! Crackle!*
A giant executioner’s cleaver, condensed from dark magic, slammed into the spot where the three of them had been standing!
The snow collapsed and the ground was plowed into a deep trench.
Du Lin’s fireballs dissipated the ice and snow in their path.
Lucoco caught a glimpse of a blurred figure through the momentary opening in her vision.
The magic she had been charging was suddenly released.
“Flame Burst!”
Simultaneously, her free tentacles fired off several [Laser] beams.
There was a thunderous explosion!
“Hah!”
A dry, raspy hiss emerged from the blizzard.
The violent explosion cleared the snow, revealing a withered figure that had been blown into a bloody mess.
The Laser magic followed immediately after.
*Sizzle!*
“Argh… aaaaah!”
The bloody figure was charred black by the electricity.
Its health bar hit zero, and it fell straight to the ground.
The blizzard swept back in, leaving nothing but the roaring wind outside the barrier.
In the party list, Su Yue’s level jumped to Level 17.
Lucoco’s level rose from Level 18 to Level 19.
Since Du Lin hadn’t touched the monster or provided any support skills to the kill, she didn’t receive any experience, and her level remained at Level 16.
**[System Notification: The enemy’s level is too high. Experience points exceeding the threshold will be distributed later.]**
“To tag them, I can only use healing spells… Hehehe~”
Su Yue laughed sheepishly.
“You actually reminded me!”
Du Lin looked at her with an expression that seemed to say: ‘You’re actually not an idiot anymore.’
“Something’s coming…”
Before Lucoco could finish her sentence — *Bang!*
An explosive bomb detonated against the barrier.
Immediately following that — *Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Countless bombs flew out from the blizzard.
The Assassins were starting to use throwable items to drain Lucoco’s mana…
“Sister Du Lin, let’s throw fireballs together!”
Lucoco was not one to sit and wait for death.
While moving, she used her tentacles to hurl Fireball spells, intercepting many of the bombs while lighting up the area for brief moments of vision.
“Alright!”
Du Lin agreed. While throwing fireballs, she took a moment to cast a mana recovery buff on Lucoco!
After Su Yue reapplied her “tagging buff” to Lucoco, she began rummaging through her Player Bag.
She pulled out bombs that had been gathering dust for a long time and began to fight back in the same manner, throwing them out randomly.
***
Seeing that Lucoco’s side had started moving, the Assassins naturally shifted their positions as well.
Using the flickering vision and the trajectory and point of origin of the intercepted bombs, Lucoco immediately calculated where the enemies were.
A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, and the contract mark on her palm flashed.
“Sebas, take them out!”
In the next second — *Sizzle!*
Two black rays, several meters in diameter, roared in from the distance.
They swept back and forth several times, plowing through the snow hidden beneath the blizzard.
“Aaaaah!”
“Gwah!”
Screams mixed with the sound of tearing flesh erupted in the snow.
Sebas’s attack had wiped out nearly eight out of ten Assassins in the area.
The three-minute timer ended, and the buff was recalculated, dropping to 1,740%.
Su Yue, Du Lin: Level 18 UP ↑ (Experience overflow; takes effect after leaving current area)
Lucoco: Level 20 UP ↑.
**[Advancement conditions met. Overflow experience will be used for advancement. Experience gain will resume after advancement is complete. Rank rising…]**
*Rumble!*
A loud boom echoed from the heavens, sounding as if something was falling from a great height, creating a series of sonic booms.
*Thud!*
Something slammed into the ground, making the earth tremble.
The blizzard suddenly stalled and began to slowly dissipate…
Next came a series of hammering, booming sounds as shockwaves followed one after another.
The three people inside the Magic Barrier were blown backward, tumbling across the snow.
Once they regained their footing, they realized the world before them had become clear.
The blizzard had stopped, and the Forbidden Sky Domain buff had vanished.
In the distance, three black streaks of light were colliding so fast they were a blur.
It was Sebas, and he was fighting against two of the masterminds!
The Assassins exposed by the clearing vision launched a new offensive.
Their movements were so swift they were almost shadows as they darted across the snow.
“*%&*%&!*”
They roared gibberish as they lunged toward the three girls.
Du Lin and Su Yue couldn’t understand them, but Lucoco did.
They were saying: “Why is the barrier so hard? Why hasn’t her mana run out yet?”
However, Lucoco’s focus wasn’t on these people.
She narrowed her eyes, warily scanning the surroundings.
‘The Gravity Barrier hasn’t disappeared.’
The buff that had just dropped suddenly surged back to 1,924%!
Something had already set its sights on her.
She had a general idea of the strength of these Assassins.
Lucoco was certain that these guys were the elite troops of the Assassins!
And the one targeting her was definitely a high-level elite, or perhaps even a boss-level existence.