Chapter 112: The Snow Queen

“Could it really be that many monsters?” Xue Han was so surprised she couldn’t even close her mouth.

Indeed, the monsters here were not only numerous but densely packed, making it an ideal place for Flame Rain, a high-damage area-of-effect spell. Most importantly, these monsters had very low health and magic resistance. Although Xue Han’s magical attack wasn’t particularly strong, it was more than enough to burn them down swiftly.

I charged straight down the narrow path leading to the entrance, stopping at the tightest spot. I told Xue Han, “Place a pile of fire beneath me, then you can burn the monsters below. Don’t get too close to them—they’re mostly ranged attackers. Don’t get one-shot!”

“Don’t worry~!” Xue Han giggled and immediately cast Flame Rain right at my location. The cooldown for Flame Rain was only five seconds, but its duration lasted a full sixty seconds. Within minutes, the area around us was completely engulfed in a rain of fire, and I could see my experience bar steadily rising.

“Lin Fan, there’s gear dropping below!” Xue Han whispered behind me. I took a closer look and indeed saw a piece of green equipment shining amidst the monsters. But it was unrealistic to go down and pick it up now—not to mention whether I could grab it safely, just dealing with the monsters in front of me was a challenge. I relied on the narrow icy path to hold off a small number of monsters, but below, the crowd was dense. As soon as Xue Han’s fire burned away one group, another would immediately fill the spot, as if the monsters were endless. Forget about the piles of silver coins dropped—they were impossible to collect right now.

I gritted my teeth and said, “Don’t pick anything up for now. Burn everything first. If you go down now, you won’t be able to get back up. If the monsters all climb up here, your defense probably won’t hold.”

Xue Han nodded in agreement and resumed casting fire spells.

Two hours later, we had finally cleared about a quarter of the monsters closest to us. I had already leveled up, now at level 40 with 40% experience, while Xue Han had leveled even faster, jumping from 36 to 37 and surpassing Murong Shanshan on the leaderboard.

We cleared out the surrounding monsters first. Equipment dropped by monsters would respawn after twenty minutes, so we could only pick up gear within that window. But that was enough—within just twenty minutes, we had gathered eight pieces of green equipment and two pieces of blue, all around level 32, very practical.

Xue Han looked toward a distant mob of monsters and smiled. “We don’t need to guard this pass anymore. Let’s circle around over there and continue burning. The monsters probably won’t expect us coming from that side.”

“No, you go and burn. I’ll stealth down below and pick up the gear when the monsters drop. That’s all money—we’ll split it half and half.”

“Hehe, alright then. You stay down there, I’m heading over!”

...

Xue Han strode over with a few swipes of her Flame Rain, and sure enough, the monsters were completely oblivious to the flank from the back path. They wandered around dazed, then quickly fell one by one. Twenty minutes later, a small group of monsters was wiped out, leaving a pile of shining equipment on the ground. My eyes lit up, and I immediately went into stealth mode, scooping up the gear piece by piece, grinning from ear to ear...

“Xue Han, move somewhere else to burn. I’ll come over once I finish picking up the gear!”

...

Xue Han was having a blast. Five hours flew by in the blink of an eye; we both leveled up again. I was now level 41, and Xue Han had reached level 38, surpassing Murong Shanshan—the knight who held second place in the city at level 40. But there is always someone stronger—no matter how fast I climbed to level 41, I still wasn’t number one nationwide. That guy, Power Hotpot, had somehow already reached level 42. Truly monstrous!

By around 11 p.m., almost all the monsters in the hall were dead, except for one last corner. As Xue Han and I approached, we saw it was a triangular nook with what looked like a throne placed far off. Surrounding it was a group of extraordinary monsters—distinct because they were all above level 46, higher than any other monsters in the area.

Strange. The Ice Queen should be sitting on that throne, yet not a single trace of her could be seen.

“What now?” Xue Han glanced at me. “It’s already bedtime. Should we keep going?”

“Of course. It should take less than half an hour to finish this. Afterward, we log off and sleep.”

“Okay!”

Xue Han quickly moved behind the group of monsters and unleashed Flame Rain, its scorching heat blanketing the area. Chaos erupted, and the monsters finally dropped a pile of equipment before turning into experience points. A flash of light, and Xue Han leveled up to 39, while I reached level 41 with 64% experience.

My inventory was nearly full of gear, but money could never be too much. I happily dashed over, greedily collecting everything. I didn’t even spare the gold coins. Roughly calculating, since we arrived, we had amassed over 3,000 gold coins—a considerable fortune. Clearly, these monsters were high-level loot-droppers; otherwise, they wouldn’t carry so much gear and money.

Xue Han laughed from above, “Lin Fan, how much gear do you have? Want me to carry some for you?”

As I picked up items, I replied, “About 180 pieces in total. I’ll count precisely later. My bag’s almost full, but it should still be enough.”

Suddenly, “Whoosh!” My health plummeted by over 1,000 points. What just ambushed me? Such a high attack!

System message: You have been hit by the Ice Queen’s frost attack. Health reduced by 1,102 points. Attack reduced by 50%. Movement speed reduced by 50%. Health will decrease by 50 points per second due to frost damage!

“Xue Han, help me!” I shouted, dodging backward. Glancing back, a snowy white figure gradually appeared on the throne. Strips of ice and snow, like a wedding veil, hung down from the throne’s side. The Ice Queen’s cold body solidified from transparency, her icy face expressionless, wrapped in a white gown. In her hand, a jade-green staff shimmered, radiating an icy aura. A blast of frost struck me, instantly draining over a thousand health points.

A milky white light flared up—Xue Han’s powerful healing spell arrived just in time, restoring a full 2,100 health points with a 45% boost to healing. Truly extraordinary!

“Lin Fan, start attacking now! I’ll keep healing you!” Xue Han cast a curse on the Ice Queen with urgency in her voice.