Chapter 190
Chapter 190: How Strange
As a neutral force with no national affiliation, the threshold for joining the City of Mages was not particularly difficult.
A Mage possessing a minimum of 3rd-Tier strength, along with a sound sense of justice and morality.
Under these conditions, regardless of nationality or race—anyone had the potential to become a member of the City of Mages.
But—
Not every member who joined the City of Mages had the opportunity to become a Council Member.
Council Member.
A title that symbolized the pinnacle of both combat strength and moral standing within the entire Mage Council.
Those who held this status needed to possess an uprightness that surpassed ordinary people, and a level of power so rare it was virtually 1 in a million.
Setting aside someone like Viktor, who had only just stepped into the 4th Tier and yet, through extraordinary personal charisma, had won over the Mage Council and secured a Council Member seat.
Likewise, as someone who had voluntarily relinquished her Council Member status—Cocotte Yadh.
She had not left because the Mage Council had talked her out of it.
She simply couldn't be bothered with the quarreling, and whether or not she held the title of Council Member made no difference to her whatsoever.
And so, she had simply given up the Council Member status that had originally been hers.
And the fact that she had been able to become 1 of the rare Council Members even before Viktor joined—was naturally not due to the hollow prestige of her status as Elven Queen.
The City of Mages had never cared about status.
It was simply because……
Cocotte Yadh—Lv49
【Natural Bounty】
She was 1 of the most senior and most powerful Council Members the City of Mages had ever had.
A current of pure Magic Power surged through the space, and the creature's round eyeball rolled with a clatter right into Cocotte Yadh's hand.
Right in front of everyone, she weighed it in her palm with a look of mild bewilderment.
"I honestly can't imagine what's worth eating about this thing."
"Hey, you're not actually human, are you."
The smoke and dust gradually cleared, and a figure burst through the dispersing haze and lunged out.
No one had caught the movement clearly—they only felt a white shadow flare into existence and vanish again in an instant.
But Cocotte Yadh was entirely unhurried, slowly raising her finger once more.
A soft, shimmering green radiated from her fingertip, and in short order, a dual-layer Formation took shape.
This Magic had not even registered in anyone's awareness before it triggered in an instant.
Even the traces of the Formation's construction were impossible to make out.
Thick, enormous vines erupted from the earth in a flash, thrashing through the air like 2 great serpents, slamming into each other.
They swept up that white figure directly, suspending her in the sky below.
Like a fish on a chopping block, at the mercy of whatever came next.
All of this had unfolded with such speed that the onlookers had seen nothing but 2 streaks of green sweeping through the air.
By the time their senses caught up, they found the humanoid creature already bound and suspended in the sky.
Auréliane stood at Cocotte Yadh's side, craning her head upward to look at the white figure struggling and tearing relentlessly at the green vines, her eyes wide with astonishment.
A casting speed like that—she had only ever witnessed it in her own teacher.
And now, Cocotte Yadh had shown her the same.
In less than 1 second, the Magic had been released at breakneck speed, with even the fleeting traces of its passage swiftly erased.
Skilled Magic, released with complete naturalness.
So this was the baseline strength of a Council Member……
The cloud beneath Cocotte Yadh rose and fell gently, carrying her as she floated over, looking Safirose up and down.
"Tsk tsk—you look close enough to human, so could you be a Demi-human?"
"But there's no Demi-human subspecies that looks like you."
Safirose's green slit pupils, like those of a venomous serpent, contracted slightly as she stared fixedly at Cocotte Yadh.
"【Scanning target. Threat level—High】"
"【Switching—Combat Mode】"
A mechanical voice issued from her throat. Cocotte Yadh blinked, momentarily taken aback.
Before she could even process what was happening, 2 flashes of blade-light erupted in an instant.
The thick, massive vines were severed in rapid succession.
Having broken free of her restraints, Safirose landed on the ground—and then her form gradually faded from sight.
Her body had disappeared?
Magic?
A sudden sound of air being sliced rang out, and a droning resonance poured into Cocotte Yadh's ears.
【Banshee's Echo】
The white figure appeared at a short distance from Cocotte Yadh, parting its enormous mouth to reveal a full set of jagged fangs, and then a piercing, explosive shriek detonated outward.
The razor-sharp sound made countless people involuntarily cover their ears.
Cocotte Yadh perceived the attack, and with a sweep of Magic Power in her hand, she deflected the force away from her own ears.
Balancing the internal and external pressure within her ears, she deflected the creature's attack with ease.
Safirose realized her attack had failed, then swiftly ducked her head toward her feet and sprang violently upward.
Immediately after, 2 currents of air composed of swirling leaves broke through the earth, surging ceaselessly toward the sky.
But she had dodged them with perfect timing.
Cocotte Yadh watched her Magic get evaded, and her brow furrowed slightly.
The thing in front of her—her perception was astonishingly sharp.
Safirose, having dodged the attack in mid-air, flipped her body and landed steadily on the ground.
She raised both hands to her chest, and in her palms, 2 eyeballs were visible.
The eyeballs rolled backward—and a mouth lined with jagged teeth emerged from within.
It snapped wide open, and 2 jets of flame instantly erupted from within.
【Wall of Raging Flames】
The fierce fire formed a thick barrier, pressing relentlessly toward Cocotte Yadh.
The cloud beneath Cocotte Yadh, sensing the scorching heat, seemed to lose its nerve and retreated a fraction.
But she appeared thoroughly displeased with that, and swiftly gave the back end of the cloud a kick, forcing it to drift forward again.
She pinched her fingers lightly, and 2 streaks of glowing azure light emanated from her fingertips, then a thick column of water surged out from them.
The high-pressure, powerful stream of water pierced straight through the fire wall and launched itself at Safirose at high speed.
The onlookers watched this dazzling and intense exchange, rooted where they stood.
The Demi-humans could only keep their distance and observe—there was simply no way for them to provide support.
The speed at which the 2 combatants were fighting had already moved beyond anything these soldiers could involve themselves in.
Auréliane, meanwhile, had her eyes wide open.
As a diligent and studious child, Auréliane had gone through the magical creature encyclopedia Viktor had given her again and again until she knew it thoroughly.
And every single ability being used by the white creature in front of her could be traced back to a source within that encyclopedia.
"Banshee's Echo……that's clearly the powerful Skill of a Dark Banshee."
"That wall……it looks like a Flame Gorilla's Wall of Raging Flames?"
Auréliane couldn't believe what she was seeing, and for a moment thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.
But the very next second, an ability Safirose used confirmed it beyond any doubt.
2 streams of water slammed into Safirose's body with full force—yet she stood completely still, as though her body had been entirely turned to stone.
Across her body, a stone-like gray luster had settled.
"A Gargoyle's【Petrification】!?"
Just as Cocotte Yadh had said—she truly was not a normal human being!
How could a human being possibly use a magical creature's Skill?
Unless she was a Mage, in which case she could use Magic that produced effects similar to this.
But clearly, not even a ripple of Magic Power had appeared anywhere on her body.
The streams of water gradually subsided, and Safirose's Petrification was released immediately afterward.
The next instant, her body was suffused with a purplish radiance, as though lightning were flowing endlessly through it, with sparks beginning to flicker and crackle across its surface.
This time, Auréliane was practically blurting it out:
"That's【Lightning Flow】! Don't get close to her!"
"Lightning Flow only lasts a few seconds—after that, her speed will slow down considerably!"
Having received the warning, Cocotte Yadh immediately went on guard.
Just as Auréliane had described—her body seemed engulfed in purple electrical current as she shot toward Cocotte Yadh, trailing streaks of flame in the air behind her.
The trees around her were all smashed apart at the trunk as Safirose barreled through them, sending wood fragments flying in every direction.
At the critical moment, the cloud sensed the crisis.
Without even needing Cocotte Yadh to urge it, it put on a miserable face and frantically soared upward on its own.
Narrowly evading the lightning bomb that detonated in the blink of an eye.
The instant the thunder began to subside, Cocotte Yadh closed her fist, and a yellow lance of lightning rose from beneath her.
Coursing along the earth, it surged abruptly beneath Safirose and erupted from the ground.
【4th-Tier Magic: Radiant Thunder Spike】
Shhhk!
That yellow lance of lightning ran clean through Safirose, who had slowed and gone rigid in place, impaling her and suspending her in mid-air.
This strike inflicted grave damage on Safirose.
But Cocotte Yadh, who could have pressed the advantage, instead sat atop her cloud, looking down at Safirose from above.
"You can't beat me."
"I'll give you 1 chance. Tell me who you are."
Cocotte Yadh could sense that the woman in front of her was genuinely very powerful.
Her every movement seemed born for combat.
She was a pure fighting machine.
Her strength was probably somewhere around the 4th Tier—though that was only Cocotte Yadh's estimate.
Because she could feel that her opponent had not yet used her full strength.
Of course, she hadn't used her full strength either.
However, Safirose did not answer her question.
Even having sustained damage, she showed no reaction whatsoever—as though it were nothing at all.
Those serpentine slit pupils shifted, drifting toward Auréliane off to the side.
She had heard it just now.
It was that human girl who had seen through her Skills.
"【Switching target. Threat level—None】"
"【Requires prior elimination】"
The moment she saw Safirose redirect her gaze, Cocotte Yadh instantly understood her intent.
She immediately raised her hand, and a green Magic spell surged upward in an instant.
Lush, enormous trees erupted from the ground, their thick trunks boxing Safirose in.
But the very next second, Safirose produced a long blade from somewhere unknown.
Her body shifted lightly—a wide, sweeping rotation—and she cut clean through the massive trees.
Where had that blade come from?
Cocotte Yadh had barely processed the question.
But by the time she moved to intervene, it was already too late.
As though she had been granted instantaneous acceleration from thin air, Safirose had already closed the distance to Auréliane.
【Iai Cleave】
That cold gleam, drawn out long and sweeping wide, came slashing down at Auréliane with full force.
Everyone's heart jumped to their throats—but the next instant, another cold gleam flashed out to meet it, blocking Safirose's attack.
Safirose looked up, and saw a Female Knight clad in armor.
Her expression was ice-cold as she pressed her blade against the long sword to hold it.
A cool, detached voice rang out from Gwen Delin:
"This time—you won't get a sneak attack in."
A staggering burst of flame erupted from Gwen Delin's blade, the scorching heat and the burning air combining to press down on Safirose with a pressure unlike anything she had felt before.
【Fury】
2 flashes of blade-light crashed into each other, and the already fierce flames erupted into a blast in that very moment.
Red Runes gradually lit up across Gwen Delin's blade, releasing a surge of powerful Magic Power.
The long blade in Safirose's hand began to warp slightly from the bizarre intensity of the heat.
Yet she refused to yield, pressing herself against Gwen Delin with all she had.
At the same time, no one took notice.
The black feather at Auréliane's waist gave a faint, quiet tremble.
Atop a massive, lushly-grown tree, a pitch-black silhouette had appeared on the branches at some unknown point.
Its form was concealed behind the foliage, and it peered downward with a single solitary eye.
"Interesting."
"Looks like Viktor was right—we really did run into this one here."
The Crow muttered to itself, a cunning light flowing through its eye.