Facing the army of fish swarming ahead, Vinny clenched Frostfang and breathed out a mouthful of icy air.

The strongest magic attached to Frostfang—[Icefang’s Roar]—had saved him from danger again and again. This spell could release a burst of magic power beyond his tier, cutting down enemies far stronger than him, but it also came with a brutal downside: Frostfang would freeze itself solid and become unusable for a long stretch of time.

But he didn’t have the luxury of caring about that right now. If they alerted that gigantic pale-blue shark-skinned monster, neither of them would make it out alive.

Vinny was finally experiencing, firsthand, just how important a “good matching mechanism” really was. In the past, Carillian Academy’s trials and assessments had always been calibrated to their grade levels, so they’d never had a real sense of it.

As overwhelming ice-element power flooded into Frostfang, a roaring ice dragon coiled around the gun-barrel and climbed into a dazzling, glowing set of ice-crystal fangs. At the same time, a pair of ice-crystal dragon wings unfurled from Vinny’s back. Spiral ice-element pulse magic wrapped around the ice gun, and with a crisp dragon cry, a colossal frost dragon burst into existence—sweeping across the fish army in an instant, freezing them into a pile of “frozen seafood,” then ripping the frozen mass into shreds with razor claws and fangs.

Fennia felt frost crawl over her skin, like she’d been wrapped up and carried off by a dragon of rime and snow. The cold wind cut straight to the bone, yet somehow it didn’t harm her at all.

The frost dragon smashed forward like an unstoppable force. Its roar shattered the bones of the scaled fish-monsters, dragging countless rushing monsters into a polar storm—until, in the end, they were slammed into glittering ice-dust and pulverized into powder.

Back when Vinny was only Apprentice-class and Sorcerer-class, [Icefang’s Roar] had already shown terrifying power. Now that Vinny had stepped into the Magus realm, he was on a completely different level.

[Icefang’s Roar] had gone from a small ice dragon only as wide as a carriage into a frost-white giant as wide as a roadway itself. The scaled fish-monsters filling that “road” offered no obstruction at all—wiped out in the blink of an eye, reduced to piles of frozen minced meat.

Behind him, those ice-crystal twin wings radiating cold drove the two of them forward like engines. Anything brushed by those canopy-like wings froze into an ice sculpture—then was flipped into splinters under the crushing wind pressure.

The frost dragon drove straight through, punching deep and flattening every monster in its way. Not only that—Vinny, transformed into that frost dragon, gripped the direction hard and thrust at full speed away from the massive shark-monster, veering in the opposite direction.

Even though Frostfang was a top-grade [Magic Tool] and using its attached magic didn’t cost much mana, keeping this frost dragon in existence was another matter entirely. Every single moment, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Vinny had to pour out an enormous amount of mana.

Just thinking about it was enough to know how hard it would be to maintain an elemental flying dragon this huge—and reality matched the thought. Vinny was already feeling how difficult it was to “pilot” a frost dragon. Just controlling direction and turning demanded high-level handling and reaction speed.

And with the extreme mana drain on top of that, after flying a long distance while freezing every scaled fish-monster along the way, Vinny finally found a place with no monsters to land. He dropped down and stopped.

The moment he released the magic, Vinny went down on one knee, crouching and gasping for breath. Frostfang in his hand also reverted into its earring form as its energy ran dry.

“Are you okay?” Vinny looked over at Fennia, who’d been flung off to the side by the wind pressure.

“I’m fine. Probably.” Fennia got up. She’d meant to say she was fine, but after she glanced at the severe frostbite along the outside of her body, she added the “probably.”

Still, it was fortunate. Fennia’s Spirit Soul was [Saint’s Envoy]. In a situation like this, if she couldn’t heal her own injuries, things would only spiral worse.

“So it still hit you?” Vinny slumped onto the ground, dismissed [Armor Fortress], and frowned. “I already tried my best to control the output range. You should’ve been in a completely safe spot.”

“It’s not a big deal.” Fennia tried using magic to warm her body, breaking the ice cocoon condensed over her. “But your ice is a problem. My fire magic can’t thaw it quickly.”

“Can you still walk?” Vinny asked.

“Yes. My feet aren’t hurt.”

Vinny glanced into the distance. The frozen path stretching from where they’d started all the way to here had turned into a single long band of ice—so far out that he couldn’t even make out the “seafood” shapes anymore.

Fennia shot a look toward Vinny.

Sure enough—just like she’d suspected. When he’d dueled her before, Vinny hadn’t even been using his full strength.

Like that move just now. She’d already been positioned in the safest core zone, the place least likely to be affected, and she still felt like she’d been peeled raw. If she’d been hit directly… anyone would’ve ended up like those raw fish slices, frozen into icy slag.

That kind of magic power absolutely wasn’t something a one-star Spirit Soul should be able to erupt with. That level of force… it might even be able to trade spells head-on with a mid-tier Magus and come out on top.

“Fennia, how long have you been wandering around here? Do you know where we’re supposed to go next?” Vinny asked.

“That… I don’t know. I haven’t even finished searching the previous area.” Fennia shook her head, then looked at the back of Vinny’s head, knit her brows, and pointed behind him. “Look. Isn’t that a boat?”

“A boat?” Vinny turned around—and sure enough, where she was pointing, there really was a small wooden boat.

So this was… the entry point to the next scene?

Vinny scanned the surroundings and realized they had nowhere else left to go.

“Fennia, let’s get on and take a look.” As he spoke, Vinny led the way up front.

“But getting on a boat in a place like this—won’t that be the most dangerous choice?” Fennia hesitated. “Everything we’ve run into here has been those aquatic-type monsters. In other words, underwater is their home. If we get on a boat, aren’t we jumping straight into a fire pit?”

“No, it probably isn’t.” Vinny pointed at the water supporting the little boat. “Look. The color of the water here isn’t the same as over there. Maybe that means their habitat is separated from this area.”

“And besides, we’ve been forced into a dead end. We don’t have a choice.” Vinny looked toward the distant shoreline, where scaled fish-monsters were still spilling out of the water.

“Those scaled fish-monsters—this is the one stretch of water they haven’t come out of.”

Hearing that, Fennia felt it made sense. She didn’t object anymore, and followed Vinny onto the boat.

Watching Vinny’s back, Fennia felt like fate really did have a twisted sense of humor.

At first, back when she was still in the church as a knight-in-training attendant, she’d already heard of Vinny’s infamous reputation. People kept spreading stories about his brutality and vile behavior in the Camella royal capital.

‘How could someone like that possibly be the goddess’s descendant??’ At some point, that rumor spread through the entire Church, until almost no one wasn’t talking about it.

Back then, Fennia had been young, full of burning passion. Boys and girls at that age were easily influenced by that kind of public opinion.

From then on, Fennia developed a kind of hatred toward Vinny—until she formally came into contact with him, and until that last [Miracle]. After that, within the Church, she’d started relying on her own eyes to witness and discover the truth, and only then did her view gradually begin to change.

Who would’ve thought that the despicable villain she’d loathed so deeply—swearing she’d take him down—would now, at this moment, be quietly becoming the pillar they relied on?

And he’d even saved her life, too.

Fennia stayed silent, running her fire magic to melt the ice cocoon while carrying her sword and walking behind Vinny.

He was strong—and in critical moments, he was reliable. Absolutely nothing like the useless piece of trash the people in the church claimed he was.

The goddess’s teachings were right. In everything, you had to witness it with your own eyes, reach an answer through your own thinking—rather than blindly following the crowd.

The instant the two of them stepped onto the deck, the scenery around them changed.

The yellow water slowly stopped flowing, congealing into yellowed soil, and the boat under their feet became nothing more than a few unremarkable broken planks on dry land.

“Whew.” Vinny let out a huge breath, relieved. “Fuck. This young master’s never been this disgusted by water in his life. You have no idea how heavy the fishy stench was on that bunch of ‘seafood.’ I don’t know if it’s because they don’t brush their teeth or they don’t take baths.”

“I think, for them, both are very unlikely to happen,” Fennia said after thinking seriously.

“Huh? Can you not get hung up on details like that? I was just complaining. If you seriously think it through, it gets boring.” Vinny sounded a little speechless.

Setting aside her fanatic streak, this girl really did have a stiff, by-the-book vibe. It made Vinny think of that knight back in the mine.

“But we can’t be the only ones suffering.” Vinny looked toward the jungle and ruins bathed in dusk ahead. “If even you are here, then maybe most of the teachers and students who came this time got dragged into this weird world too.”

“Let’s go. Hopefully the monsters here aren’t as ridiculous as those sea monsters. We’ll search around. Maybe we can find other classmates.” Most importantly—find the other Destiny Heroines.

If he could find Aesphyra, Isatia, or Mirexia, then they’d be set. Vinny wouldn’t have to keep overloading his brain analyzing everything while also hard-carrying. If he found even one of those three, he could lie flat.

But the one Vinny was most worried about was Shicodale.

That little dummy—how scared would he be if he ran into something like this?

In a place full of danger, the more panicked you were, the higher the chance you’d get yourself killed.

…Damn. He could only hope that when it really mattered, Black Shicodale would take care of Shicodale. But it hadn’t been that long since Black Shicodale last showed up. Could he really come out again?

The more Vinny thought about it, the more worried he became.

“Where’s your weapon?” Fennia asked.

“The side effect of that spell. I can’t use it for now,” Vinny said.

The two of them traveled together, moving cautiously through the jungle.

Even though the person beside him wasn’t a Destiny Heroine, moving as a pair—having someone with him—diluted the loneliness sharply. The mental pressure eased a lot, and both of their mindsets improved. At the very least, they could see hope in each other.

The ice cocoon on Fennia finally melted. She began releasing healing light to treat her injuries.

“Are you worried about someone?” Vinny flicked a glance at Fennia’s expression and suddenly asked.

“…? How did you know?” Fennia froze, like she hadn’t expected her thoughts to be that obvious—much less that Vinny would see right through her.

“You’re basically writing what you’re thinking all over your face. How could I not notice?” Vinny pulled his gaze away.

“I’m not normally that sensitive to feelings,” Vinny continued. “It’s just—your expression just now was practically synced with mine, so I guessed.”

“You’re worried about someone too?” Fennia looked at Vinny. Finding this small point of similarity in him warmed her heart a little.

“Yes,” Vinny answered.

“Who are you worried about?”

“My roommate.” Vinny spoke. “He’s too soft, too kind. I’m worried that if he got dragged into this disaster too—and I’m not by his side—I don’t even dare imagine what he’ll do.”

“Then what we’re worried about is probably about the same.” Fennia lifted her chin slightly. “After I saw you were in this world too, I also started worrying about a friend of mine.”

“At first I thought I was the only one who ended up in this cruel world. Now I’m guessing… maybe she’s here too.”

“She’s not very good at fighting?” Vinny asked.

“Yes. She’s also very gentle, very kind.” As she healed herself, Fennia answered. “My healing power is weak. When I use healing, it’s only the most basic green light. But my friend is a true genius. Her compatibility with [Saint’s Envoy] is extremely high. She has powerful healing ability—one of the very few among the Church of the Dawn’s younger generation who can release golden healing light.”

“That is—the one-in-ten-thousand God-Attendant. A White-Robed Branch Clergy member even designated her as a successor.” Fennia said.

“God-Attendant?” Vinny felt like he’d heard that before.

“It’s the title and honor given to someone who can release the highest-grade healing light—the gold light.” Seeing that Vinny didn’t know, Fennia explained.

“The gold healing light is called [Immaculate Light]. It’s second only to the Dawn Saintess’s holy light, and it’s the strongest healing light a cleric can master. Every God-Attendant is one in ten thousand. It’s pure talent—favor granted to her by the goddess.”

“Her future is limitless. In the future, she can at least become a White-Robed Branch Clergy member. If—if nothing unexpected happens—she’ll reach places far beyond me, and accomplish far more than I ever could.” Fennia couldn’t help tightening her grip on her sword.

“Good people have heaven’s protection.” Vinny shook his head. “Let’s not worry too much. Worry just eats your energy from the inside. Better to put that energy into finding them.”

“…Mm.” Fennia nodded.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep