Ice spread across the grass, covering everything within range... including the grass, the wolf that had dodged the throw, and two others.
In an instant, they were all stained with the color of ice, and a layer of white, transparent, solid substance began to appear on their bodies.
"Awoo—!!!" The other wolves immediately howled upon seeing such an attack. After freezing in place for a few seconds while facing Furan, they instantly fled.
They dove into the nearby woods one by one and disappeared, leaving behind several frozen wolves.
Using Hand of Telekinesis, Furan retrieved the short sword stuck in the ground. The runes on it had dimmed, and no matter how Furan tried to channel her power, there was no response.
She knew this meant the runes had entered a cooldown period and could not be used.
She silently estimated the power of that attack and found it to be even higher than [Hand of Freezing], a relatively advanced apprentice Spell.
"If this rune were complete, would its power reach the level of a First-Tier Spell?"
Furan looked at the dimmed rune, her heart filled with anticipation.
Although she didn't know what the missing part of the rune looked like and it would be difficult for her to complete it, she could still engrave this rune and replicate it onto other weapons.
"I'll look for that Enchanter shop once I get to Gede Town."
She put the short sword away, then turned slightly and released a massive fireball behind her.
The fireball left a scorching trail in the air, exploding directly in the middle of the three frozen wolves. The bursting flames enveloped all three of them.
Furan's fireball was composed of Dragon Flame, which could rapidly incinerate any object it touched.
Before the fire on the ground could even transfer its heat to the surrounding grass, the wolves had already turned into a pile of ash.
The three wolves were gone, leaving behind only three mounds of intertwined grey and black dust.
The black horse Furan was riding paid no mind to the commotion behind it and continued forward.
---
After traveling through the wilderness for three nights, Furan finally arrived at the gates of Gede Town.
There was still some mud residue on her boots that she hadn't had time to clean with water control magic, and some lint from unknown plants clung to the back of her robes.
She looked at the city walls before her and raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.
"These walls are even higher than those of Lodris."
The walls of the entire town were noticeably taller than those of Apprentice City. The city gate was relatively narrow, only wide enough for one and a half carriages to pass.
At this moment, a long queue had already formed at the gate.
Aided by the height of her horse, Furan could see a large caravan entering the city gate. Carriages were slowly squeezing through one by one, while some pedestrians were squeezing out from the sides of the gate.
This time, the person in front of her didn't even look back. It seemed they hadn't seen her, so there was no 'courtesy' shown.
However, Furan didn't mind. Waiting was fine; she wasn't the type to use her status to bully others.
As the queue slowly advanced, Furan noticed many marks of attacks on the city walls.
One gap bore scorch marks and numerous cracks; another large pit contained some small white crystals, and the exposed surface looked as if it had been corroded.
All of this indicated that this town frequently suffered from monster attacks, which led to such marks.
Of course, this wasn't the kind of massive monster wave where hundreds or thousands of monsters attacked the city—if it were, there would be more than just these marks, and the stone used for the walls wouldn't be able to withstand such an onslaught.
On the contrary, these were built to defend against small groups of monster raids.
Those monsters could attack at any time, 24 hours a day, and from any direction. If they relied solely on the Guard Team to keep watch, they would be exhausted from responding.
The walls could block most monster attacks. Once they realized they couldn't break through, almost all monsters would choose to leave.
If they encountered a powerful monster, the Guard Team would simply ring a bell to signal for help.
The queue moved quickly. After a short wait, it was the turn of the person in front of Furan to be inspected.
However, something seemed wrong as a conflict broke out between the two parties.
Kate's face was grim as he questioned the Guard:
"I remember that we only need to check our documents and pay the entry fee, right? Why are you searching me?"
The Guard called over two other on-duty Guards before saying:
"Idiot, look who's lined up behind you!"
Kate whipped his head around, only then discovering that Furan was standing behind him.
"Only you outsiders often fail to look at who's behind you. We people of the Alliance habitually check who's at our backs..."
"Your documents say you're from the Highland Province. I don't recall any laws enacted there that forbid a mage from persecuting someone lined up in front of them."
"So be honest. If you don't have anything on you, then we can talk nicely."
Kate turned pale; he hadn't expected this to happen.
He absolutely could not be caught by them. These Guards would use torture to extract confessions, and he couldn't withstand their interrogation.
Steeling his resolve, he let out a slow sigh and took a step back.
He grabbed his bundle and charged directly for the gap between the Guards. Before the three Guards could react, he had already dashed past them.
"Catch him!!"
"He's hiding something!!"
Several Guards reacted immediately, shouting for the Guards further back to intercept him as they gave chase.
Kate's heart beat faster and faster, but his movements didn't slow down at all. He swiftly dodged the pedestrians in his way and the carriages still moving slowly through the city gate passage.
He leaped sideways onto the wall. Relying on the fragmented Breathing Technique he had learned in his early years, he ran a few steps along the wall, dodging the Guards trying to block him and landing behind them.
The city gate passage was somewhat long. He had broken through three waves of intercepting Guards and was still five steps away from the exit.
And for this final distance, there was no one left to block him. A smile played across his lips. Although it would be difficult to use the same method to pass through in the future, at least he had escaped this time.
But just as he was thinking about which route to take to avoid being cornered, a sudden pressure gripped his neck and yanked his body backward.
This caused him to lose his balance, and he could only fall to the ground, allowing the Guards to pin him down and tie his hands.
"Thank you for your assistance, Your Excellency the Mage. Your documents are here; you may pass."
A Guard spoke to Furan. He only gave the documents a cursory glance before marking a confirmation on the itinerary, verifying that Furan had indeed passed through Gede Town.
When he saw that illusory hand, he knew the mage had intervened. He made a mental note of this, reminding himself never to stand in front of a mage in a queue again.
They really do hold grudges, don't they? Retribution right on the spot. As expected, the experience that one should never stand in front of a mage is correct.
Furan did not respond and slowly moved forward on her horse.
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