Frost Rose

When Su Ran reunited with Philly, she let out a long sigh of relief.

Even though the Witch’s Aegis hadn’t been triggered, Su Ran was still quite worried about whether their bodies could handle being in an environment filled with the power of a Holy Stone.

Fortunately, Philly had been cautious.

She didn’t enter the room directly but first found a few nearby trees and questioned them as Su Ran had instructed.

“Lady Su Ran, I asked the trees here. They all said they saw people wearing armor pass by here yesterday.”

Since the answers the trees could provide were limited, Su Ran had Philly ask them only the simplest of questions.

Now, she had gotten the result she expected.

“So, the knight hiding in the dark. Can you come out now?”

Su Ran’s sharp gaze lifted towards a small alley in the dark part of the street.

The first moment she arrived, she had seen a small red dot representing an enemy on her map.

However, since the other party hadn’t moved, she had also remained still, wanting to see what they were up to.

It was only after Philly had finished speaking that the small red dot began to flash rapidly, indicating that the other party’s hostility had reached its peak.

At that point, Su Ran could no longer pretend she didn’t see it and directly shattered their cover.

Su Ran was now one hundred percent certain that the person hiding here was the murderer.

“Witch.”

Slowly walking out from the darkness, Su Ran recognized the knight’s appearance.

It was Korn, who had just left.

Unlike before, Korn’s eyes were bloodshot and crimson, which reminded Su Ran of the shadow she had encountered outside Laita City.

The states of the two were different, but the bloody scent emanating from them seemed largely the same.

“You have the gall to call us witches? What you’ve done seems more demonic than anything we’ve done.”

Though she didn’t hide the disdain in her eyes, at least the witches by her side hadn’t done anything so cruel.

This knight before her, however, was a disgrace to the title.

At the very least, Su Ran felt that the Holy Maiden and knights who guarded Laita City were more worthy of their positions.

“It is their honor to be able to offer their lives for the lord.”

Su Ran couldn’t quite hear what Korn was saying; it seemed to have been deliberately blurred.

But she could be certain that the Korn before her was in a state of utter impenitence.

“Since you’re beyond saving, then there’s no need to show mercy.”

Looking at the deluded Korn before her, Su Ran changed her original plan of keeping a low profile.

Korn was merely a Sequence Four; she could easily take care of him.

“Isa, Philly, you two head back to the hotel and wait.”

After giving the necessary instructions, Su Ran looked at the knight before her, the aura of a Sequence Six emanating from her body.

The immense pressure of the magic essence made it nearly impossible for Korn to breathe.

He tried to struggle, but found he couldn’t even make a ripple in front of Su Ran.

“Then you shall repent for your sins within this deep, cold ice!”

Su Ran was becoming more and more proficient in using her witch abilities.

Infused with the magic essence of a Sequence Six, she used her talents with great ease.

She formed a cage of ice around Korn using the residual moisture in the air, then gradually lowered the temperature inside the cage.

The immobilized Korn could only watch helplessly as he was locked within the prison.

The moment she used her witch ability, the monitoring Holy Stone within Hermel’s church flickered, and someone immediately noticed the appearance of a witch in the city.

“Quick! Inform the Bishop!”

The priests and knights within the church were nervously organizing their next move.

Watching Korn gradually being covered by frost, Su Ran had intended from the moment she used her witch ability to take the blame upon herself.

In any case, this body of hers was merely composed of magic essence.

She could use light to conceal herself and disappear in front of so many people, giving her a legitimate reason to leave.

However, things took a turn beyond Su Ran’s expectations.

The cage formed from ice began to emit creaking sounds.

Soon, cracks spread across the entire surface of the ice, and the aura of Korn, who was inside, began to grow stronger and stronger.

Inside the house behind him, the dried bloodstains on the chaotic slash marks seemed to boil, bubbling on the walls.

They formed a strange magic formation, and the surrounding circumstances all told Su Ran she was facing a bizarre phenomenon.

“This is rather similar to what happened outside Laita City.”

Korn’s Sequence was still rising, but it was all still within Su Ran’s control.

She wanted to see what his limits were.

“But if that’s the case, did the crime scene in Jiangbei City have a similar effect?”

More than the Korn in front of her, Su Ran was actually more concerned about the murder case in Jiangbei City.

‘If Li Ming’s original plan had succeeded, would my blood have also become a material for this magic formation?’

“Ah?! What is that monster?”

At this moment, the long-prepared forces from Hermel’s church finally arrived, but when they saw the monster before them, they stopped in their tracks.

The Korn before them no longer had a human appearance.

His outer layer of skin had gradually begun to peel off as it was infused with magic essence.

He seemed to feel no pain in the process, and this peeling only stopped when his entire body was left with clearly defined muscle tissue.

The only thing on his entire face that remained unchanged were his crimson eyes.

“Now I have obtained unprecedented power! I must offer more sacrifices to the lord!!!”

The monster before them had little sanity left.

He turned his gaze towards the Church members who had arrived at the scene.

“Oh no! It’s a Sequence Five monster! Quickly, request reinforcements from the nearby churches!”

Sensing Korn’s Sequence level, the Church members wished they had two more legs.

They cursed themselves for coming to join the commotion.

Now they were going to lose their lives here.

Just as the Church members looked at the monster before them, their faces filled with despair.

Su Ran made her move!

Since she was really short on cash this time, she chose a cheap spell.

[Frost Rose: Usable through witch ability. Price: Special offer, only fifty yuan.]

According to normal logic, price equals power.

Su Ran didn’t have high hopes for the power of this discounted spell, but its advantage was that it was cheap.

If its power was too weak, she wouldn’t feel bad about tossing another one.

After confirming the use of this spell, Su Ran noticed that her witch ability had consumed a large portion of the magic essence in her body; her mana bar was almost empty.

Fortunately, she had the Ring of Pride.

As long as she had a little time, she could recover all the consumed magic essence.

A seemingly crystal-clear rosebud appeared in Su Ran’s hand.

With a flick of her small hand, the delicate flower bud landed gently on Korn, taking root, growing, and absorbing magic essence.

He offered no resistance, allowing the icy vines that grew from the flower bud to bind him tightly, while he stood frozen on the spot like a statue.

If one could see the flow of magic essence, they would have seen that the moment the Frost Rose took root, Korn had no room to fight back.

Even the magic essence within his body was frozen solid.