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...

"This will do," Amelia said as she led Erica into a spacious wooden cabin, handing her the key. "Keep it safe. There's only one, and it's a hassle to make copies."

Erica accepted the key with a simple "Thank you."

Amelia waved her hand dismissively and turned to leave.

Upon entering, Erica found herself in a cozy room. The furnishings were sparse - just two chairs, a long table, and a bed. A crimson fire crackled in the fireplace, casting a warm glow on the animal skins adorning the walls. In the dim light, a wave of drowsiness washed over her.

Despite her fatigue, Erica didn't forget to indulge in a hot bath first.

About half an hour later, she emerged from the bathroom. Her clothes, dried by magic, clung to her form, and only a few stray droplets remained in her golden hair.

Succumbing to her sleepiness, Erica collapsed into a chair covered with animal fur. As she gazed at the ever-burning fireplace, a red glow seemed to flicker in her eyes, mirroring the dancing flames.

The room was warm, yet Erica felt a sense of melancholy creeping over her.

In her drowsy state, Erica's mind wandered. She reflected on the long journey of the past few days, recalling the wind and snow that had relentlessly swept across the Northern Frontier.

Her thoughts drifted to her home, wondering how things were faring there.

Memories flickered through her mind like fleeting shadows.

She thought of Professor Viktor.

She remembered that day when Professor Viktor had unleashed his full power against her - that terrifying scene etched into her memory.

Everything had burned, the sky and earth losing all color in the face of his overwhelming might.

Unconsciously, Erica curled up, her body tensing at the recollection.

That horrifying sense of pressure, whenever she recalled it, always made her tremble uncontrollably.

Viktor's influence on her remained immense, so much so that she felt lost, unsure of which direction to strive towards.

It seemed as if no matter how hard she tried, she could never catch up to him. The gap between them felt like an insurmountable chasm, stretching endlessly before her.

As she gradually sank deeper into her memories, exhaustion finally draped a heavy blanket of sleepiness over Erica's body.

She should have been sleeping on the bed...

But the warmth from the fireplace was so comfortable, it didn't matter if she just slept here like this, curled up in the chair.

Suddenly, the wind outside grew stronger, its howl piercing through the cabin's walls.

Something seemed to stick to the window, making a sound as if it had adhered to the glass.

Erica found it strange. The sound brought her back to her senses, and she unconsciously looked towards the window.

It was a piece of paper, but in the dim firelight, she couldn't make out its contents.

The Northern Frontier didn't have widespread use of magical light bulbs, so she could only stand up and walk over to investigate.

She conjured a flame spell in her hand, which flickered to life, illuminating the window and the mysterious paper stuck to it.

This time, she saw it clearly.

It was a wanted poster.

The portrait on the wanted poster looked eerily familiar to her.

She could hardly believe it was the person she thought it was.

Perhaps it was just someone who bore a striking resemblance.

How could Professor Viktor appear in the Northern Frontier?

Even if he did appear here, why would he be wanted for a crime?

It didn't make sense.

But the more Erica thought about it, the more panicked she felt.

Finally, her eyes drifted down to the bottom of the poster, widening in disbelief.

Her lips moved slightly as she softly read out the name written there.

"Viktor Kravina."

...

Time passed quickly. Counting the days, Erica had been here for three days now.

She was gradually adapting to life in this harsh, frozen land.

On the snow plains, she started her training early each day.

Dozens of mages around her were doing the same exercises.

They were not only here to protect Erica but also sent by Duke Levi for special training.

Mountain climbing, weighted cross-country treks through the snow...

All kinds of physical training were thrown at Erica all at once.

At first, Erica wasn't used to such high-intensity training.

But after just three short days, she had become increasingly proficient, her body adapting to the rigorous regimen.

Vladimir stood nearby with his arms crossed, supervising the training with a critical eye.

From time to time, he would nod in satisfaction at Erica's progress.

"General."

Hearing Dick's voice, Vladimir turned his head.

"Those pups showing their faces at the border again?"

By "pups," he meant those loathsome barbarians.

However, Dick just scratched his head and said,

"Quite the opposite of what you're thinking, General. The barbarians haven't shown their faces for days now."

"For some inexplicable reason, they've started behaving themselves."

Vladimir was puzzled. He gave Dick a look, and the two hurried off to the Pale Mage Association's outpost.

Their movement was very discreet; no one else noticed their departure.

"What's going on?" Vladimir asked as he mounted his horse.

Having fought with the barbarians for so many years, the old man understood that these barbarians couldn't possibly stay idle for long.

Among these barbarians, there were naturally some formidable opponents.

They possessed a special profession, a kind of born warrior, referred to by the people of the Northern Frontier as — Berserkers.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Unlike ordinary warriors, these Berserkers seemed to never fear pain, appearing extremely frenzied and irrational in battle, and were very sensitive to blood. Blood seemed to be their source of power.

Even Vladimir felt a bit of a headache when encountering barbarian warriors of that caliber.

This was why the barbarians had been able to run rampant in the Northern Frontier for so long, and why the Pale Mage Association still hadn't been able to drive them out.

Even if they wanted to push them out, to push these barbarians' living space back a hundred miles, they'd have to see if these mages had what it took to go toe-to-toe with the Berserkers.

Mages did have close combat abilities superior to ordinary wizards, but they weren't as sturdy as knights.

And those Northern Frontier knights?

Heh, their hearts weren't aligned with the Pale Mage Association.

The harsh cold of the north was the perfect space for these Berserkers to unleash their abilities.

Vladimir pondered as he sat on horseback, facing the wind and snow, his mind full of questions.

Could these barbarians be planning to gather together and make a big move while the Northern Frontier knights were in disarray?

However, Dick quickly refuted his idea.

"News from the spies who ventured deep into the north: the barbarian tribes within a hundred miles of the border have been almost completely burned down."

"Whether it's the [Flame Sword] or the [Pure Ice Claw], the branch tribes of these two major clans stationed at the border have basically been torn apart."

The Pure Ice Claw was one of the two major clans, along with the Flame Sword.

The Far North had countless small tribes, but only the Flame Sword and the Pure Ice Claw had formed vast spheres of influence.

Like the Flame Sword, the Pure Ice Claw also worshipped a demigod giant.

They similarly received divine power from this demigod giant, which made them fearless of the cold and granted them the power of frost.

However, even these two powerful clans had suffered heavy casualties, almost overnight.

"Everywhere they went, not a single person survived. All that could be seen were countless charred corpses."

As Dick spoke, he recalled the shock he had felt for so long.

Even those barbarians who were distributed out, because they were to be stationed near the border, were absolutely all warriors chosen from among the barbarians.

In terms of overall strength, they were by no means weak.

These barbarians even had means of communicating with each other, which made it impossible for the Pale Mage Association to deal with those barbarians stationed at the border.

Once they went to subjugate them, if they couldn't quickly swallow up these barbarians,

Then, soon, the surrounding tribes would immediately come to their aid.

But in the reports received from the spies,

These tribes were annihilated one after another.

They didn't even have time to contact the surrounding tribes, as if it happened in an instant.

It was as if the barbarians didn't even have time to resist. Their distinctive buildings still bore fiercely burning flames.

Even now, they continued to burn unceasingly.

The raging wind and snow were utterly unable to extinguish them.

Those poor barbarians seemed to have been wiped out without even having time to communicate, as if by a natural disaster.

Such terrifying destructive power, Dick had never seen before, let alone now, when he was just hearing about it from the spies.

Vladimir pondered thoughtfully.

Could it really have been caused by a natural disaster?

Perhaps not.

He seemed to think of something and asked Dick beside him,

"Those knights, have they found Viktor?"

Dick shook his head.

"They've had no news at all, as if Viktor had already left the Northern Frontier."

Suddenly, he seemed to have a realization.

"You mean..."

Vladimir patted Dick's shoulder and took out a cigar from his pocket.

Then he pulled out two pieces of flint from his coat pocket, struck them together, and a small spark suddenly appeared.

It lit the cigar perfectly, and red sparks flickered with Vladimir's breath.

The lit cigar turned a few times in the old man's hand before he put it back in his mouth.

"Tell those boys down there to get ready."

"Get ready for what?"

Before Dick could react, he heard Vladimir continue:

"Get ready to drive those barbarians out."

In an instant, his words seemed filled with an air of dominance and indisputability.

It was as if an icy lion had suddenly opened its eyes, making one feel incredibly fearful and awed.

For a moment, Dick seemed to see the Northern Frontier general who had galloped across battlefields in his youth.

"Also,"

Vladimir took a deep drag on his cigar, the feeling of it going into his lungs even made Dick feel a moment of suffocation.

After one puff, he blew out smoke rings and let out a hearty laugh.

"We've got to bring this kid back, you know."

...

Viktor coldly walked out of a beast-skin camp.

He held a ball of flame in his hand, and as Viktor left, the flame seemed to gain consciousness and leapt onto the camp.

Boom!

With a thunderous sound, the camp behind him was engulfed in a sea of fire reaching to the sky.

The flames burned incessantly, seeming to want to completely devour the entire camp.

And in the lava giant hand behind Viktor, there was a basket woven from wood and vines.

Inside seemed to be seven or eight barbarians, red-haired and blue-haired, male and female, all sorts.

But without exception, their clothes had been burned to ashes, yet their bodies showed not a trace of burn marks.

Their limbs were as if broken, thrown into the basket in extremely uncoordinated postures, their skin as if scrubbed over and over with sharp tools, a bloody mess.

Even if barbarians saw this scene, they might vomit quite a bit.

Viktor's face was cold as he continued to carry the basket towards the depths of the Northern Frontier.

Vega yawned on Viktor's shoulder.

"How much longer until we get there?"

"Soon."

Dropping these words, Viktor continued to walk northward.

At first, Vega was curious.

Although teleportation magic couldn't be used, why didn't Viktor use magic to fly or accelerate, to quickly reach their destination?

But based on the experiences of the past few days, Vega finally understood what he was doing.

He walked slowly like this across the snow plains, like an ascetic experiencing a long walking practice.

However, whenever he entered any barbarian tribe, he would only take one action.

That is,

Extermination!

Everywhere he went, the angry screams of the barbarians echoed across the snow plains.

From desperate pleas to unceasing anger, they died with pent-up emotions.

But Viktor didn't care at all about the emotions of these barbarians.

No matter how many of them he killed, Viktor wouldn't even blink an eye.

Viktor's notoriety seemed to have spread throughout the snow plains.

A god of death was on a killing spree in the Far North.

To the extent that when Viktor passed by many camps, those tribes were completely empty.

Some tribes had even migrated to other places without taking the food they relied on for survival.

The barbarian camp Viktor had just left was the first tribe he had encountered today that still had barbarians present.

Perhaps because they hadn't received the news yet, they were intercepted by Viktor in advance.

In any case, the barbarians had consciously begun to guard against the human rumored to exist.

They even had to hold weapons while devouring raw meat.

Viktor silently continued forward amidst the heavy snow.

This fierce wind and snow seemed about to swallow up Viktor's lone figure.

He continued to advance, the snow gradually beginning to dance more wildly, making it hard to discern directions.

Who knows how long it had been, how many mountain tops he had walked past.

Viktor's pace slowed a bit.

A ray of daylight suddenly pierced through the wind and snow, appearing before his eyes.

The snow ahead became sparse, as if divided into two worlds.

Viktor walked to the edge of a cliff.

"We're here."

He stood in place, gazing at the incredibly vast expanse before him, and said softly.

Ahead was an endless, surging icy ocean, utterly ethereal.

The azure sea and ice-blue mountains blended together, giving a sense of silence and tranquility.

The snow plains were dotted with fine ice crystals, appearing incredibly mysterious under the eerie green glow of the aurora borealis.

The light reflected off the crystals, merging together to form a breathtakingly beautiful panorama.

"This," Viktor said, his voice barely above a whisper, "is the Far Northern Ice Plains."

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To Be Continued..