The goddesses attempted to gain my salvation.

"Have reverence for nature, little girl from the Duchy of Ferrante..."

"The only regrettable thing is probably all that grain that was transported."

The flames continued to raise the surrounding temperature, and more and more snow melted under the high temperature.

The snow covering the entire mountain is maintained in a very delicate balance on ordinary days.

Having lived in this environment for many years, the Black Knife Gang naturally knows how to navigate through the snowstorm while maintaining balance.

But Maggie and the soldiers of the Duchy of Ferrante had no idea about these things.

Maggie's flames further accelerated the disruption of the balance.

The snow at the bottom, which was used for support, melted into water, and the snow on the mountain peaks began to slide down after losing its support.

Like dominoes, more and more snow came rushing down from above.

Ultimately, this resulted in a terrifying avalanche.

Overwhelming force, unstoppable!

Maggie certainly didn't expect things to turn out this way.

Staring wide-eyed at the swirling snowstorm that surged in like a tsunami, he was completely stunned.

The soldiers traveling with them were also stunned, looking at the disaster descending upon them, they even lost the courage to struggle.

Maggie instinctively ignited the flames, trying to stop the avalanche, but that little bit of temperature was still too insignificant for the tsunami-like avalanche.

Just as the avalanche was about to engulf everything, a blazing golden fireball hurtled towards Maggie from the side at near the speed of light.

Then, instead of exploding, it emitted an almost terrifying temperature!

The entire land was scorched by this temperature!

The avalanche was evaporating at a speed visible to the naked eye, but it was still too slow!

"Lower your head."

“Maggie”.

A familiar voice rang out from above.

Maggie was momentarily stunned, because the owner of that voice shouldn't be here!

However, she did as instructed.

"Everyone, squat down!"

As soon as the words were spoken, a large golden net began to weave above everyone's heads at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

The construction was completed just moments before the avalanche struck!

The sun-like heat melted away the wind and snow instantly!

The massive avalanche was caught by the large net and then instantly reduced to nothing under the scorching heat.

After witnessing this miraculous scene, the Black Knife Gang leader, who was hiding in the corner, changed his expression.

The person who offered help was very strong, far surpassing his own abilities.

Even if everyone attacks together, there's no guarantee of victory.

withdraw!

He waved his hand, signaling his underlings to retreat immediately.

But before they could run very far, a beautiful woman wearing a tall woolen hat and a woolen cloak stood in the wind and snow, blocking their way.

"Get out of my way!"

The leader of the Black Knife Gang drew his twin swords, and his henchmen also brandished their weapons.

They all thought, what abilities could a woman possibly have?

How could they possibly scatter so many of them?

But......

The woman did not reply; her icy gaze revealed a chilling coldness.

A nameless sense of fear lingered in my heart.

This woman... seems quite strong!

Without giving them any extra time to think, a light-attribute magic circle appeared above each person's head.

Then, chains of light flew out and firmly bound their necks.

Lift it upwards with force!

The entire Black Knife Gang was suspended in mid-air!

They struggled desperately to break free of the restraints around their necks, and some of them with some magical background even used magic to try to counteract the glowing chains around their necks.

But it was all in vain.

A few minutes later, all the members of the Black Knife Gang were dead, hanging high in the air.

A young man wearing a scarf, his face completely covered, walked over.

He glanced at the corpse above him and shook his head bitterly.

"Have you seen Maggie?" the woman asked.

"I saw it."

The young man turned around and looked towards the valley: "He's a bit stronger than before, but he's still too inexperienced."

"There is still a lot of room for growth."

The woman waved her hand and retrieved the radiant chains.

The body fell to the ground.

The young man took the woman's hand and they left.

"This is no longer our business."

"Let's go, to the next place."

"Olina..."

Chapter 218 How could it be him?

The town of Itami was just like any other day, amidst the snowstorm.

After 3 p.m., the townspeople basically stop working.

They came to the tavern in small groups, drank a few jugs of hot wine, cracked open some roasted sunflower seeds, and spent the rest of their time there.

Whose husband has hunted a wolf outside? Whose wife has gone out to hook up with men? And so on.

In short, gossip is their daily pastime.

The food crisis brought them hunger and an uncertain future, but it did not affect their optimistic attitude.

In a corner of the tavern, several contributing writers for the Adventurers' Weekly were gathered.

Among them was Rose, an old acquaintance of Ryan's.

They gathered here for one reason only: to share their latest news and experiences.

"Guys, don't you think things have been a bit unsettled in the Empire lately?"

"Sigh. Isn't this the start of the Empire's royal selection ceremony? It's normal for the members of the Thiel family to compete and fight among themselves, making things rather unsettled."

"That's not what I'm talking about!"

The young man leaned forward as he spoke: "I'm talking about the recent large-scale disappearances that have occurred in villages and towns!"

As soon as he finished speaking, an eerie silence fell over the entire table.

Rose pushed up her glasses, her face grave: "In just three months, residents of more than a dozen small towns have mysteriously disappeared, as if they had never existed."

"And three days ago, another case occurred. Two special contributors also went missing in the same incident."

"I don't think that magic as we understand it can do that."

A middle-aged man asked, "What do the Thiel family think about this?"

The youth shook his head.

"The food crisis has already given King Grandon a huge headache, and the monsters in the far north are also stirring up trouble, drawing away a large number of imperial cavalry. Meanwhile, the descendants of the Thiel family are busy fighting amongst themselves because of the king-selection ceremony."

“Nobody in the entire empire, except us, cares about these things at all.”

The middle-aged man took a big gulp of wine and shrugged indifferently: "Since the Thiel family doesn't care, why should we care so much?"

"Anyway, people are dying in the empire every day. The population of several villages combined is only twenty or thirty thousand, which is not even a fraction of those who starve to death. If we report this, we will be labeled as troublemakers by King Gulandon."

"If you ask me, let's dig up some gossip about the local aristocracy. People these days love to read that."

indeed.

With food prices remaining high, people are going hungry every day.

In the extreme cold of the empire, hunger was a very dangerous thing.

As the middle-aged man said, countless people were starving to death every day throughout the empire, and increasingly rampant magical beasts were ravaging the north. Add to that the infighting among the descendants of the Thiel family...

It's just a few villages mysteriously disappearing; nobody will care.

but......

Rose doesn't see it that way.

Such a large-scale and frequent series of missing persons cases seems to be foreshadowing some ominous beginning.

As one of the most outstanding contributors, Rose possesses an extraordinary sensitivity to information.

There must be more to investigate behind such a large-scale disappearance.

"Do you know the name of the town where these people went missing, and where it is located?"

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone looked at Rose in surprise.