“Meimei?!”

I let my guard down!

I made a mistake!

I can’t believe I made the same mistake twice in one night.

“You guys, don’t leave this place.”

She hurriedly cast a simple magical barrier around the other terrified children. Then Rosetti immediately raced after them without wasting a second.

Under the night sky, dust swirled through the shabby little courtyard.

It was as if they’d been waiting for Rosetti to arrive.

The three beastfolk who’d kidnapped Meimei stood there, utterly unafraid.

As if to show off and provoke Rosetti, they deliberately tightened their grip around Meimei’s throat, displaying her pained expression right before Rosetti’s eyes.

Meimei let out a cry of pain.

“S-Sis…”

“Meimei!”

Rosetti cried out in heart-wrenching desperation. Unsettled fury gathered in her bright eyes beneath her sharp brows.

A thick, undisguised killing intent spilled out of her.

Centered on Rosetti, an icy wind infused with the power of ice magic poured out of her uncontrollably, chilling everyone to the bone.

Before long, the entire courtyard felt like the far north. Just standing there made their limbs stiffen, until they could barely move.

“Amazing… Truly amazing. No wonder they call you the Icebound Witch of the Borderlands… This power might even make Lord Mu look inferior.”

The beastman holding Meimei stared at Rosetti, shivering in the freezing air. He muttered to himself, and the cold sweat trickling down his face froze in an instant as he spoke.

He couldn’t help wanting to back away and run.

But he couldn’t!

Their identities had already been exposed.

Besides, the armies were fighting on the front lines right now. If they retreated and let Rosetti join forces with Alice, the city lord… even their superior might not be able to win.

For the sake of the beastfolk’s victory,

Rosetti had to die here today!

“Mmph… It… hurts so much…”

The hand squeezing Meimei’s throat tightened, and her pained whimpers rang clear.

The best way to make an enemy slip up was to provoke them.

At the sight of this, the killing intent surrounding Rosetti grew even stronger.

“Take your hand off her. Do you hear me?”

Her gaze was cold, her words just as icy, and the chill around her had frozen everything within dozens of meters.

Facing her, the beastman swallowed hard, his mouth dry. Still, he called out fearlessly:

“Don’t chicken out! Get your asses over here!”

The man holding Meimei shot a glance at the two men on either side of him.

They understood at once. Raising their weapons and unleashing their battle aura, they attacked Rosetti together.

Unless they were a level-seven mage, spellcasters had to chant incantations to use magic. Rosetti was now like a stationary target.

Compared to warriors, who focused more on training their bodies, Rosetti was just a mage. No matter how strong she was, she could only stand there and take their hits.

That was what they believed as they ran toward her—right up until their legs suddenly went numb, their vision spun, and they could no longer move…

“A-a one-hit kill… How did you do that…?”

They stared in shock, their eyes bulging with terror.

The beastman holding Meimei stared at his two companions. They’d died without ever knowing how: their legs remained frozen in a running stance, their bodies severed, even their blood turned to ice. His hand loosened around Meimei without him realizing it.

“Sis…”

Half-lidded and slumped on the ground, Meimei stared helplessly at the sister who seemed so different from the one in her memories…

Too young to understand, all she could do was watch quietly from the sidelines, hoping someone would come and stop all this.

But no one could hear her…

…

…

“I really underestimated you, Icebound Witch.”

Watching Rosetti, surrounded by icy air, the last beastman—Roviet, known among the beastfolk as the Exploding Fist King—curled his lips into an excited, fearless grin.

He removed the mask hiding his face, revealing gleaming, razor-sharp fangs and a prominent scar.

He rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles.

The beastfolk were a people who loved to fight the strong and prove themselves. If they hadn’t needed to ensure their army’s victory and capture Bota City,

they never would’ve resorted to such underhanded methods.

But none of that mattered now.

As one of the beastfolk’s finest warriors, facing Rosetti now made his blood boil.

His muscles tightened, veins bulged, and battle aura enveloped him, bursting out without restraint.

The power of his battle aura was clearly on par with Alice’s.

Rosetti, in turn, could barely hide her shock. Her face went blank with disbelief.

One beastfolk warrior on the front lines who matched Alice’s level was already putting the battle under immense strain. Now there was another—and they’d even managed to sneak into the city without anyone noticing…

The situation was dire.

A warrior and a mage facing off one-on-one was an uneven match. Unless there was a huge gap in their levels, a mage could never beat a warrior of the same level.

Rosetti had just taken them out almost instantly, but those two were only level-two warriors. They’d underestimated her and let their guard down, giving Rosetti an opening.

But against him… it wouldn’t be easy.

“Take this! This is a martial technique personally bestowed by the Beast King! Icebound Witch, victory will always belong to the beastfolk!”

He stomped down with all his strength, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Beneath the pitch-black night sky, he became a straight streak of light. His battle-aura-charged punch shattered the icy field surrounding Rosetti in a single blow.

Seeing this, Rosetti hurriedly adjusted her stance.

If her opponent was this powerful, she couldn’t afford to hold anything back.

She’d have to use that…

“Ah!!! My right hand!!!”

The cold intensified once more. Extreme ice engulfed Roviet. The arm that had been strong and ruddy lost all color under the icy assault, becoming useless.

Supporting the numb arm he could no longer control, Roviet backed away from Rosetti. He frowned and clenched his teeth.

He hadn’t expected his arm to get frozen.

By his reckoning, her magic power should’ve already reached its limit. There was no reason for it to suddenly increase again.

Unless… she’d just used a forbidden spell.

But after using one, no one could withstand that pressure—not even a beastman, let alone a human…

So why was she still standing there without a scratch? Could she not be human…?

Wait?!

Could it actually be…?

It was the least likely possibility, yet the only truth that explained everything. Roviet raised his head in dread and stared at Rosetti, fear and lingering shock on his face.

A sharp, cold wind swept past. Beneath the desolate moonlight, her dazzling golden hair gradually lost its color, turning strand by strand to snowy white.

Her eyes had lost their light. And to match them were long, pointed ears—ears that could never appear on a human.

At the sight, Roviet finally understood why Rosetti, a mage, had killed them so easily.

And why she could use a forbidden spell that should’ve made her bleed to death, yet still stand there without a scratch…

The reason for all of it lay in her bloodline…

“Well, I’ll be damned… Who’d have thought I’d run into a half-elf mongrel with an ‘Extreme Cold Constitution’ in a godforsaken place like this? No wonder we haven’t been able to take the city…”

…