Chapter 35 There's a monster! There's a monster!

Sure, here's the translation:

Indeed, the person Duwei brought back was clearly the cold and ruthless ice beauty who had battled Vivian fiercely that day in the Half-Angle City to seize the Fearful Illusion. But at this moment, the woman was lying there with closed eyes, tightly pursed lips, unconscious, her brow furrowed tightly. However, Duwei could see traces of lingering panic and terror on her face!

That night, Duwei had witnessed firsthand how formidable this ice beauty was. Watching her now, unconscious but displaying signs of fear and panic, Duwei couldn't help but ponder... What terrifying ordeal had she faced?

Recalling today's inexplicable roar and earthquake...

Vivian carefully held a gourd of water and sat by her sister's side, then looked up hesitantly and stuttered, "H-how did you see her? W-what's wrong with her?"

Duwei shrugged, briefly explaining. Vivian seemed bewildered, even checking her sister's body, finding no injuries but noticing her short and weak breath.

Vivian attempted to give her sister some water, but the ice beauty clenched her teeth tightly. Duwei, growing impatient, knelt down and roughly pried open the ice beauty's mouth with a stick, then snatched the gourd from Vivian and forcefully poured some water into her...

"Ah! No, y-you'll choke her," Vivian quickly grabbed Duwei's arm, her big eyes staring at him for a moment, then whispered, "A-are you... not happy?"

"Should I be happy?" Duwei shook his head. "You better think about what to do when she wakes up. Your magic won't work now, and we won't stand a chance against her when she's awake."

He sighed, feeling conflicted. When he saw this woman faint in the sea, he had already pondered this question.

Should he save her? She wasn't on the same side as him! What if this woman wakes up and goes berserk again? Don't forget, that night she said she would capture him to refine some kind of soul essence... Though he didn't know what that was, one thing was certain: it wouldn't be anything fun!

Not save her? Watch this woman die on that ice mountain? Duwei also couldn't bring himself to be so ruthless.

Lost in thought, the ice beauty lying unconscious on the ground was already coughed awake by the water.

She coughed violently a few times, then quickly struggled to sit up, weak from being unconscious for so long. She just managed to sit up before falling back down, but she had finally awakened.

"Sister..." Vivian murmured softly, looking somewhat fearful of her sister. She quickly stood up and cautiously leaned towards Duwei.

"My head... hurts so much..." The woman on the ground struggled to hold her head, her face twisted in pain. "What's... happening... I... you..."

The brief confusion passed, and she gradually came to her senses, widening her eyes as she looked at Vivian and Duwei before her. "You? How are you here? I... how am I here? Did you... save me?"

Before Duwei and Vivian could respond, the woman jumped up on her own, as if suddenly remembering something. Her face paled, and she screamed sharply, "My dragon! My ice dragon! My dragon!!"

A look of anguish crossed her face, and she suddenly collapsed to her knees, hands cradling her face as she sobbed bitterly.

Vivian blinked, watching her sister's distraught state, unable to resist asking softly, "Sister... your dragon, what happened?"

"What happened... it's dead! Dead!!" The woman cried out in despair, pounding the ground with her hands, clawing and hitting as if her heartache couldn't be vented. "It's dead! It was eaten by that monster! It sacrificed itself to save me, but it was eaten by that monster!!"

Duwei's eyes widened at the revelation!

Eaten a dragon?

What kind of monster could devour a dragon?

Aren't dragons supposed to be the most powerful creatures?

Vivian's sister cried for a while, despite Vivian's attempts to console her. Her throat became hoarse, her eyes red, and she struggled to breathe, before gradually calming down.

Duwei pulled Vivian aside and waved his hand, his expression stern. "Please, what exactly have you encountered? What's this about the monster you mentioned? Is there really a monster here?"

"A monster..." The ice beauty's eyes flashed with fear. "A monster! Yes, there's a monster!"

She glanced at Duwei and Vivian, then suddenly exclaimed, "It's all because of chasing after you! I was riding my Octe searching in the nearby waters, and eventually found this place... found this island. I thought maybe you two would be hiding here... But when I approached the island on my Octe, it suddenly behaved strangely. It kept whimpering, as if there was something here that frightened it. No matter how I urged it, it refused to land. In the end, I had to suppress it with magic, and then..."

Here, tears streamed down the ice beauty's face. "It was me... I killed my Octe! My ice dragon..."

Duwei, with an indifferent expression, interrupted her. "Stop crying for now! Tell us what happened!"

The ice beauty glared fiercely at Duwei, then suddenly jumped up, pointing at Duwei and Vivian, shouting, "It's all your fault! Vivian! It's because you wouldn't give me that Illusion you captured! Otherwise, I wouldn't have chased you here!!"

Duwei raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit annoyed.

This was just like the logic of a bandit.

But there was no time to argue with this woman. With a hint of hatred in her eyes, she reached for her waist.

"Looking for this?" Duwei pulled out a jade-green flute from behind his waist – the weapon belonging to the ice beauty, which he had confiscated while she was unconscious.

"Hmph! You think I'm not your match without my wand?" The ice beauty first froze in surprise, then shouted, "Come on! Vivian! Even without my dragon, I can still defeat you! You've never beaten me since you were little!"

With that, the ice beauty took a deep breath, and her body immediately flew into the air, simultaneously chanting spells at lightning speed...

Damn it! Duwei really felt like slapping himself! He had anticipated something like this might happen! This despicable woman, even though he had kindly saved her, she immediately turned against him as soon as she woke up!

Just as Duwei was seething with anger, something strange happened...

The ice beauty, floating up to the height of the tree branches, suddenly paled. Her body wavered in mid-air, then abruptly plummeted down like a toppled tree!

Fortunately, Vivian ran over and lent her assistance, and they both rolled into the bushes together. The ice beauty screamed, her face filled with fear. "What have you done to me! My magic! My magic!!"

She forcefully pushed Vivian away and, unwillingly, began chanting spells loudly again. However, this time, only a palm-sized piece of ice shot from her fingertips, hitting Duwei. Although it stung a bit, Duwei suddenly felt a spark of insight and couldn't care less about the pain. He shouted, "Your magic is malfunctioning?!"

"My magic!" The ice beauty froze, staring wide-eyed at her own hands!

She had clearly just cast an intermediate-level spell, "Frost Freeze," but only a small ice crystal had shot out!

Duwei's expression turned extremely odd, then he couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Your magic is malfunctioning too! Haha, it's malfunctioning too!!"

"Damn it!" The ice beauty roared in anger. "What have you done to me! Vivian! What kind of magic did you cast on me?!"

Duwei looked coldly at the raging woman, sneering, "Please, from our standpoint, we're enemies, not friends. Should we just wait for you to wake up and attack us?"

"It's your doing!" The ice beauty's face went pale, her eyes filled with dread.

"N-no, it's not... sister," the innocent Vivian spoke up, gently embracing the ice beauty and murmuring, "M-my magic malfunctioned too... sister..."

 Why bother telling this despicable woman?" Duwei scoffed, but after some thought, he chuckled, "It seems we've found the source... Vivian, your magic malfunctioned, and this despicable woman's magic malfunctioned too... It seems the cause isn't with you, but rather with this place! Perhaps there's some force here suppressing all magic!"

Knowing that the terrifying ice beauty in front of him had also lost her magic, Duwei breathed a sigh of relief.

Though a tiger might be fearsome, facing a toothless tiger, Duwei wouldn't be so cautious.

He even walked over, deliberately getting close to the ice beauty, and chuckled softly, "Well? How about it, esteemed mage? What do you plan to do to us now? Cast your spells? Or perhaps refine me into some kind of soul essence? Heh heh..."

The ice beauty watched Duwei approach, seeming somewhat stunned. Even Duwei was almost at the tip of her nose. Suddenly, a flash of fierceness appeared in her eyes!

Duwei felt a pang of unease rising in his heart...

And then, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach! Soon after, he was sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground!

The ice beauty clenched her fists, glaring hatefully at Duwei. "Hmph! Even without magic, do you think you can just bully me at will? I may be a mage, but I'm also a warrior! A swordsman who has passed the Level Six examination!"

Duwei lay on the ground, wincing.

It seemed he had gotten too carried away... Almost forgot, during the battle that day, the opponent had already demonstrated her strength... This woman wasn't like Vivian, a delicate girl who only knew magic. She was a formidable warrior skilled in both magic and combat!

Even without magic, she possessed exceptional martial skills... Enough to easily overwhelm them.

As the ice beauty landed a blow, she immediately moved to follow up with another kick. Vivian hurried over, blocking Duwei with her outstretched arms. "No, don't! Sister, please don't hurt him!"

The ice beauty sneered, looking at Vivian. "Ah! Useless Vivian! It seems I was right after all! This despicable nobleman is truly your sweetheart, isn't he? You're protecting him like this!"

"N-no, that's not it..." Hearing the term "sweetheart," Vivian's face immediately flushed pink, her eyes showing a hint of shyness as she lowered her head, squirming. "It's not like that... I-I... he... he... we landed here, and he... he... he's been taking care of me. Finding water for me to drink, even bringing me food... even you, it was him who saved you! You can't hurt him!"

Hearing Vivian's words, the ice beauty pondered for a moment, withdrew her fist, and stood straight, coldly saying, "Fine! It was this kid who saved me? Then I'll spare him this time."

"Th-thank you," Vivian breathed a sigh of relief.

But Duwei, lying on the ground, chuckled coldly. Ignoring the pain in his stomach, he got up, brushed off the dirt from his body, and sneered, "Hmph, if I had known, I wouldn't have pulled you out of the sea!"

"Hmph." The ice beauty sneered. "Unfortunately, you don't have the ability to throw me back into the sea now."

Duwei didn't get angry either. "True, it's a pity, I don't have that ability. That's the truth."

"Vivian said you pulled me out and carried me here? Hmph, then I owe you one, so I'll spare you now, but you'd better not provoke me again." The ice beauty turned away.

Instead of getting angry, Duwei laughed, even clapping vigorously. "Bravo! Spectacular! I've met many unreasonable women, but I've never seen one as beautiful and unreasonable as you. You really opened my eyes."

The ice beauty felt a bit embarrassed at this, her expression turning fierce. "What, do you have a problem?!"

"No," Duwei remained calm, his tone relaxed. "I even think it's fair... Might is right! Whoever has the strongest fist, is the most reasonable. That's how it is in the world... Now you're stronger than me, so I can't beat you. It's only natural for me to be bullied by you. If I were stronger than you, maybe I would have kicked you into the sea by now."

The ice beauty was stunned for a moment, looking Duwei up and down. This time, she didn't get angry again. Instead, a strange expression appeared on her face. "Huh? You, little nobleman, are quite special. You speak in an interesting manner... Not as hypocritical as the other nobles I know."

Duwei rubbed his stomach and said calmly, "We've had our fight, now let's talk about serious matters! You've lost your magic, which means we're trapped on this island! There's no food here, and fresh water is scarce. We also have no way to leave... And, as you mentioned earlier, there's a creature here that can devour dragons... Am I right? Now, I think it's necessary for us to sit down and discuss our situation!"

His tone was very serious.

The ice beauty paused for a moment, remembering her dragon, and a look of sorrow appeared on her face again. "My Okt... My Okt..."

"Now is not the time for sorrow. You'd better tell us what's going on," Duwei said coldly. "Since that creature can devour your dragon, it might come to devour us too! Speak up so we can make some preparations!"

This ice beauty was much stronger-willed than her sister. After shedding a few tears, she finally managed to calm down, although her face still bore a trace of sadness, her emotions were much more stable now.

"As I was descending on Okt, suddenly, near the edge of the island in the sea, a monster jumped out... It was huge, very huge... I don't know how to describe its appearance, it was like a big lump of flesh, with two eyes on either side. I don't know how big its whole body was because only part of it was exposed above the water, the rest was underwater... Okt was panicked at that moment, the monster let out a roar, and then... it attacked me. It used magic, water magic, its magic power was strong, it created waves as high as thirty meters, nearly knocking me and Okt out of the sky!"

The ice beauty's voice trembled slightly.

"Then, Okt retaliated against that monster, but Okt's ice magic couldn't inflict any damage on it... It seemed that the monster had some kind of magical defense aura, Okt's ice storms were immediately repelled when they hit the monster... I also cast spells, but they were useless too! I've never seen such a formidable monster... I've never even heard of a magical beast being so powerful! Even a top-tier archmage wouldn't be able to create a magical barrier to withstand a dragon's frontal assault for such a long time!"

"And then?" Duwei frowned.

"And then, of course, I thought of escaping," the ice beauty said with a grim expression. "Since I couldn't beat that guy, I immediately wanted to leave, but by then it was too late! I don't know what kind of barrier that monster set up, but when I flew Okt up, I only managed to ascend a bit before it felt like I hit some invisible wall of air and got bounced back! I tried several times, from different directions, but couldn't fly out... And then..."

"And then what?"

"And then..." The ice beauty wiped her tears forcefully. "And then, the monster's roar summoned giant waves, the height of those waves... I've never seen anything like it! I think even my teacher wouldn't be able to summon waves of that magnitude using water magic! Those waves directly swept us down from the sky... And then... I fell off Okt, and I saw with my own eyes, that monster opened its huge mouth and swallowed Okt in one gulp! My dragon fell from the sky, and that monster swallowed it in one gulp!"

In one gulp?

Swallowed such a large dragon in one gulp?

How big was that monster?!

Duwei's face paled.