Keep attacking girls and try not to be killed by them

——(He seems like a brainless child, but unexpectedly he has quite a lot of ideas.)

"If you run too fast, be careful not to bump into things you shouldn't."

Shirley raised the ice crystal staff and waved it slightly, and suddenly dozens of magic circles of different sizes appeared in the task union hall at the same time.

"Multiple Parallel Chant·Original Magic·Ice Thorn Blooming Prison."

In an instant, countless thick ice thorns shot out from the magic circle in all directions!

Heloise was moving at high speed and couldn't dodge in time, so she had to force herself to perform the "Spiral Dance" and cut through the ice thorns in front of her with her hidden blade, but she also lost speed!

——[Five seconds passed]

"Third-level magic: Soul-binding Ice Chain."

Calculating the moment when Heloise would lose speed, Shirley's next magic was unfolded just at the right moment beside her. In the blink of an eye, she tied up Heloise's hands and feet, and then froze her into an ice sculpture without any suspense.

"Not bad, this speed made me use my brain a little bit."

——[Seven seconds passed]

Shirley smiled and looked at the last person left, the young man named Fei Ke. She had wanted to test him last time to see what kind of person he was. Now she finally had the chance.

"Come on, you're the only one left, let me see what type of trash you are?"

[img=675,1200]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/01/72fcf891-6064-4a68-8e5a-cd5e55ec9ce4.jpg[/img]

7.07 - Intrigue

(Alas, I didn’t expect to be forced to this point.)

Jiang Ran sighed helplessly in his heart. If possible, he didn't want to expose his strength.

At this moment, he was weighing in his mind whether it was more important to hide his strength or to figure out the secret of the maze.

The answer is obvious. Of course, the "Secret of the Labyrinth" is more valuable.

Jiang Ran believed that among the three people present, Heloise could be completely trusted, Vanessa was now in the same boat with him, and as for Ice Star Shirley, she should not be the kind of person who likes to spread news everywhere.

Therefore, even if Jiang Ran gave his all, the loss in terms of intelligence would not be too great - not to mention, he would continue to become stronger in the future.

Yes, as long as Jiang Ran can continue to grow, even if he exposes his current strength, the impact will be limited.

If you just try to hide your strength and stick to your old ways, it will end up being counterproductive.

"It is my honor to compete with Lady Ice Star Shirley."

After Heloise was released from the ice, Jiang Ran took over her "baton" and came to the center of the mission union hall.

A battle with Shirley is inevitable.

·

The hall of the Task Union is basically square, about ten meters long and wide, and about three and a half meters high.

In addition to the four thick pillars in the four corners, there are four other decorative thin pillars around the hall.

In the light from the windows, the pillars cast eight very nice shadows in the hall.

Jiang Ran and Shirley stood face to face, about five or six meters apart.

Jiang Ran held the 'Black Sword Flame Dragon Horse' in his hand, with the 'Corrupted Dagger·Poison Dragon Claw' and three smoke bombs on his waist... He wore a scarlet dragon cloak and stepped on the 'Shadow Dragon Boots·Ghost Shadow', ready for battle.

Since the last comprehensive equipment upgrade, the only equipment that has had the opportunity to shine among Jiang Ran's equipment is the "Fir Dragon Bow", but this time, it is the turn of other equipment to show their new abilities.

The first is the "Black Sword Flame Dragon Horse". After the transformation and recasting, its attribute bonus and power have been comprehensively improved. It continues to firmly sit on the throne of "the output leader" and is Jiang Ran's most violent frontal attack method at present.

〔See the figure below for specific changes〕

[img=700,733]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/01/b3d3880a-7566-4cc8-ad53-35b28121526e.jpg[/img]

The second is the "Corrupt Dagger·Poison Dragon Claw", which not only increases the probability of poisonous attacks, but also increases the poison damage a lot, and there will be additional damage when attacking targets in the poisoned state, which has somewhat gotten rid of the embarrassing situation of the original "Scraping Dagger".

〔See the figure below for specific changes〕

[img=700,383]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/01/3e859bf7-71c1-42ae-b9a0-9e76850784e2.jpg[/img]

The last one is the "Shadow Dragon Boots·Ghost Shadow". After adding dragon skin for sewing and modification, the attribute gain of this pair of boots has been improved to a certain extent, but the more powerful thing is that it also adds a new skill called "Double Shadow Escape Step". This skill allows Jiang Ran to further improve his mobility while paying a large amount of magic power.

〔See the figure below for specific changes〕

[img=700,611]https://rss.sfacg.com/web/novel/images/UploadPic/2023/01/ef48eaf8-a4d7-4e09-a1b1-da22e7a6fe5f.jpg[/img]

Relying on these equipments and his own skills, Jiang Ran believed that he could easily hold out for ten seconds in Shirley's hands.

·

"Hey, trash, tell me when you're ready."

"Ready, ready to start."

Jiang Ran took a stance, as if ready to attack Shirley directly.

At the edge of the hall, Vanessa and Heloise stood far away, both of them worried about "Fike".

In their opinion, even Fike would not be able to last more than ten seconds in the hands of Ice Star Shirley, as her ice magic was too overbearing.

"Then let's get started..."

Shirley waved her finger and reset the ice crystal number on the ceiling to "10". At the same time, Jiang Ran was surprised to find that red light prompts had appeared everywhere under his feet!

The red light prompt is three seconds in advance, which means that Shirley had already secretly chanted in advance before the ten-second countdown began, preparing to launch an attack first!

(As expected of the Chief Court Magician, he's incredibly experienced in combat!)

"three two……"

Just as Shirley shouted "Start!", Jiang Ran had already dodged to the side, and then almost at the same time, four ice thorns pierced through the place where he had just stood.

——(He actually dodged it? My advance chant was seen through?)

Shirley was slightly stunned, then immediately started chanting the next magic spell, her eyes always fixed on the boy's movements.

——[One second passes]

After narrowly avoiding the opening attack, the young man did not attack Shirley, but instead went behind a pillar to seek cover.

——(Not learning from your mistakes, this is not a good idea.)

Shirley immediately began to chant the "Fourth-Level Magic: Eternal Ice Palace" which she had chanted in advance towards the boy's hiding place, and then continued to chant four different kinds of magic in parallel, ready to deal with unexpected situations at any time.

"Fourth-level magic: Eternal Ice Palace!"

——[Two seconds passed]

A huge white magic circle unfolded on the ground, and white cold air filled the entire hall. Vanessa was frozen by this unreasonable move just now.

—(Wait, what’s going on…?)

The experienced Shirley noticed something was wrong with the white mist. The coldness of the "Fourth-Level Magic: Eternal Ice Palace" was not so strong. It must be that the young man had done something!

——(This isn't the chill of the Eternal Ice Palace! What kind of deception is he using?!)

Shirley's vision was suddenly blocked. In this situation, she had no way of confirming whether the boy was frozen or not.

"Second-level magic: Ice Ring!"

——[Four seconds passed]

Shirley released an ice ring with herself as the center, and circles of frost breath continued to spread around her.

While the ice ring was protecting her body, Shirley rushed straight to the pillar where the boy was hiding. As she had guessed, the boy had used the strange white fog to hide somewhere else!

After seeing that she had been fooled, Shirley had to retract her previous comment that she "didn't learn from her mistakes"... This young man had obviously fully learned the combat experience of Vanessa and Heloise, and could even use Shirley's magic effects in turn.

"First-level magic: Breath of the Wind!"

Shirley summoned a strong wind to blow away the fog in the task guild, and finally saw the boy's figure next to the pillar diagonally opposite.

——[Six seconds passed]

There was not much time left, and Shirley's attack became more violent.

"Multiple Parallel Chant·Second-Level Magic·Ice Wall!"

The layers of ice walls instantly trapped the boy in a small space, and Shirley didn't leave him even the slightest gap.

But this is not the end yet. If Shirley doesn’t freeze the person, it won’t be considered a victory.

"Brief Chant·Fourth-Level Magic·Eternal Ice Palace!"

In order to win, Shirley did not hesitate to use her magic power, and froze the space where the boy was in an extremely exaggerated way!

——[Eight seconds passed]

At this point, according to common sense, Shirley should have won, but for some reason, she still felt vaguely that this boy would not be frozen so easily.

This feeling had no basis whatsoever; it was merely an "intuition" that Shirley had based on her rich combat experience.

"Don't blame me, two little girls."

Shirley looked towards the mission hall and raised the ice crystal staff high... What followed would be an extremely crazy range control magic.

"Simplified Chanting·Level 5 Large Magic·Ice Pole Field!!!"

7.08 - The Secret of the Maze (Part )

Ever since the Mission Guild's house was frozen into a giant ice sculpture, many people have gathered around to watch the fun.

Everyone was talking about it, saying that this must have been the work of "Ice Star Shirley". No one else had the magical power to do such a thing except her.

Just as everyone was discussing the matter, the whole house suddenly made a "clang" sound and was frozen into an even bigger lump of ice!

Even the houses next to it were not spared and became part of the huge ice sculpture art!

"Oh my god...isn't this too...too outrageous?"

"Who on earth has offended Lord Bingjixing? Are all the people in here going to be frozen to death?"

"The Chief Court Magician has truly surpassed the capabilities of a human being... What kind of monstrous abilities are these..."

Among the people who were discussing enthusiastically, there was a young man who kept nodding his head.

He looked at the completely frozen task union and thought to himself that if he had not managed to sneak out just now, he would definitely be frozen now.

(It’s just… now the whole house is frozen, so… how am I supposed to get in?)

·

In the house of the Task Guild, everything except Shirley herself and a small space around her was completely frozen.

Although she had decided to use magic in an extremely wasteful way at the beginning of the challenge, she herself had not expected that she would even use "fifth-level magic".

This is one of her trump cards.

——(Why does this guy make me feel so uneasy...?)

Shirley began to check the situation around her. She had to find the frozen boy to confirm that she had indeed won.

But at this moment, Shirley heard a "dong, dong" sound coming from the roof.

It was obvious that someone was jumping on the roof.

Each of these jumps felt like a jump on Shirley's heart, magnifying the uneasiness in her heart... magnifying...

——(No…Isn’t that possible…?)

An ominous premonition came over Shirley. She couldn't believe it, but she did vaguely begin to hear someone shouting from the roof towards the inside.

"Xue...er...sama...ten seconds...go...did I...pass...the...challenge...?"

Moreover, the voice was exactly the same as that of that trashy boy.

——(This is really a ghost.)

Shirley untied the ice on the path leading to the gate of the Quest Guild, walked straight out of the gate, ignoring the people gathered at the door to watch the excitement, and stepped on the ice steps that had been formed to reach the roof of the Quest Guild.

What caught her eye was the young man named "Fike", who was smashing the frozen roof with a stone.

·

Stupid, how could there be such a fool? ... Shirley looked at the boy's behavior and felt that it was utterly stupid. How could a mere stone break through her frozen heart?

However, the indisputable fact was already before Shirley's eyes. This boy, whom she thought was extremely stupid, had successfully survived ten seconds in her hands and even forced her to use the "fifth-level magic".