Vega looked at the beautiful painting before it and felt a bit emotional.
"I'm starting to look forward to what will appear here."
The next second, the lava giant hand behind Viktor grabbed that group of barbarians in the basket who had temple qualifications and violently threw them all onto the ground in front.
A white formation formed on the ground, and a few strands of white feathers flew out from it, drilling into the bodies of those barbarians.
Under magic, they were forcibly awakened. They slowly opened their eyes, looking at the unfamiliar scene around them.
Even though they had been tormented terribly, this group of barbarians hadn't died.
After waking up, they once again saw the terrifying figure before them, tearing their throats with gurgling noises. They lined up in a row, and even with all four limbs broken, their bodies still repeated the act of begging for mercy.
Their heads smashed one crater after another into the ice field beneath them, and even their foreheads were bleeding.
Viktor didn't speak. After all, he couldn't communicate with these barbarians.
The lava giant hand behind him turned into the shape of a finger, and he simply pointed at the space behind the barbarians.
They understood Viktor's meaning. With difficulty, they turned their heads to look behind them.
As if summoned by something, they suddenly froze in place.
All of a sudden, the surging ocean waves seemed to reverse.
Like an earthquake, bursts of violent tremors came from the ice field.
The ground shook densely, as if it were about to shatter.
Between the cracks in the ice field, a structure gradually floated up from the sea surface, slowly appearing amid the icy ocean.
It looked like a palace, incredibly massive, like a divine miracle.
Finally, its full form emerged bit by bit, almost completely covering the sky.
It was a temple.
Its entire body was wrapped in cloud-white, giving it an ethereal, indescribably wondrous feeling.
The next second, fierce winds instantly gathered as one, violently whipping up along the cliff edge, and the ice crystals and white snow on the snowy plain were lifted a hundred meters into the air at once.
The ocean suddenly seemed to overturn, surging wildly toward the temple.
The barbarians, as if witnessing a miracle, pressed their heads onto the ground and didn't dare raise them again.
Viktor calmly watched the divine miracle appear out of thin air.
The Temple of Wind.
Located at the farthest northern point of the Extreme North, in the Extreme North Ice Field, the place where storms were the strongest.
Here, wind and snow raged year round, and the fierce hurricanes created a place filled with extremely dense wind-elemental energy.
Yet the divine power manifestation given by the Wind Temple to its qualified candidates just happened to be immunity to fire-attribute damage.
Similarly, the Earth Temple's divine manifestation gave its candidates immunity to wood-attribute damage.
Wind helps fire grow. Earth helps wood thrive.
The temple seemed to sense the arrival of these qualified candidates and slowly opened its gates to welcome them.
A violent storm instantly swept out, blowing open a terrifying crack in the ice field beneath their feet.
But the qualified candidates were already unable to move their bodies.
Viktor leisurely walked toward the temple and soon stood at its entrance.
A thick hurricane immediately wrapped around him, blocking his advance.
But Viktor merely cast a cold glance at the gate. His wind-coat suddenly flashed.
The patterns on the wind-coat gradually lit up. Two colors appeared behind him, and two different giant beasts seemed to slowly manifest. The outpouring energy completely enveloped the temple.
A powerful aura burst from Viktor's body. Dense natural energy overflowed from within him, and the violent hurricane couldn't blow it away at all.
The repelling force abruptly stopped and no longer responded.
"Ridiculous."
Viktor knew the temple's power was no longer trying to stop him.
Calamity was a higher-level power than the inheritance temples, because the inheritance abilities of the temples were originally split off from Calamity.
Viktor understood this very well, so…
If Calamity arrives and isn't allowed to enter, it's like your father showing up at your door and you refusing to open it.
Viktor stepped into the temple, and the storm outside gradually subsided.
Only the few qualified barbarians were left trembling in the storm, feeling their final bit of life gradually fade into cold and loneliness, submerged in endless fear and confusion.
———
"All members of the Pale Magus Society! Gather, gather!"
"In five minutes, all four thousand three hundred eighty-two people must gather on the snowfield!"
The magi passed the message along. All the magi on the snowfield mobilized, and the chaos of footsteps blew the thick snow into plumes several meters high.
The booming, thunderous steps echoed across the vast snowy plains.
Animals hiding beneath the snow were startled by the massive vibrations and fled deep into the snowfield.
Those rugged men stripped off their animal hides and put on their clean white combat robes again.
They held magic weapons in their hands and stood in formation on the snowfield, standing at strict attention, awaiting the general's orders.
In under five minutes, all magi and mages had assembled.
Amelia stood beside Vladimir. She, too, had changed into a heavy white mage robe, covering the wound on her lower abdomen.
The impatient aura she had earlier was completely swept away. Now, her expression was cold.
Vladimir stood on the ice-snow platform of the Magus Corps, looking at each person present with extremely stern eyes, full of intense expectation.
"Warriors of the Pale Magus Corps, a great battle is upon us."
"We have been stationed here for more than twenty years, and today! We can finally bring a complete end to those cruel demons, those barbarian dogs!"
"The time for resistance has come! We must seize this chance, completely drive out that pack of dogs, drive them farther than the Extreme North!"
Thousands of magi and mages immediately grew spirited, their fists clenched tighter and tighter, and their bodies trembled, maybe from excitement. Everyone's face flushed red.
But many still kept some reason. They were confused.
Why start a war without warning?
"How come we're suddenly fighting?"
"Are those knights planning to cooperate with us?"
The Pale Magus Society was formed by mixing together many magi and mages.
Against barbarians with extremely strong physical abilities, magi, who combined physical combat with magic, could somewhat resist.
But mages couldn't.
If the Northern Knights were present, their powerful equipment and physical strength would allow them to face the enemy head-on.
Knights in front blocking the barbarians, magi directly behind them, and mages protected in the center, giving them a safe environment to build spells and unleash devastating magical attacks nonstop.
But now…
Those Northern Knights had never intended to stand united with the Magus Society.
Vladimir narrowed his eyes and countered, "You tell me, fight or not?"
Hearing this, the thousands of Pale Magus members all jolted and instinctively answered immediately.
"Damn it! Fight! We have to fight!"
"Our hatred with the barbarians is soaked in the blood of countless martyrs! A hatred spanning twenty years, we can't hold back anymore!"
"Yeah! We can't hold back anymore!"
As long as their chairman gave the order, even if they had doubts, they had to devote their full strength to the battle.
Twenty years of comradeship and bloodshed behind them, they hesitated not at all.
Vladimir looked at them and burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha! Good!"
"This time, we only need to go deep into the Extreme North, chase away the barbarians there, and retrieve a certain warrior."
"Of course, the surrounding tribes have already been completely wiped out. We don't need to worry about those dogs blocking us."
These words ignited their morale even more.
Vladimir looked at his excited subordinates with pride on his face.
He lowered his head and spoke to Erica beside him, "Erica."
"Looks like your training will have to pause for a few days."
"But, there's a saying, real combat is the best training."
Erica understood Vladimir's meaning.
He was asking whether she wanted to participate in this war.
If she feared danger and backed down, she could refuse.
But that wasn't Erica's original intention.
She always remembered her goal, and the person she wanted to chase.
If she didn't even dare join a war like this, how could she ever hope to catch up to Viktor?
Besides, Erica had her suspicions.
The warrior who went deep into the Extreme North and wiped out countless barbarians…
'Could it be Professor Viktor?'
So she kept her doubts in her heart and nodded.
Vladimir was very satisfied with her reaction.
"Hahaha! Good! But don't worry too much."
"Even if we really start fighting, we magi will definitely be the ones holding the front line. You mages just need to chant a few spells in the back to support us."
"Amelia."
He casually called out, and the cold, icy-faced beauty beside him immediately responded.
"Let this girl follow your mage squad. I believe she doesn't need your protection."
"Hmph. Mages aren't as fragile as you make them sound."
She snorted coldly but agreed.
After finishing everything, Vladimir turned again to the magi.
His eyes were filled with strong fighting spirit.
"Pale Magus Society, advance!"
"Target, the Extreme North!"
In an instant, with Vladimir's announcement…
All the magi roared louder and louder, and the snow-mountain a hundred meters away even seemed to tremble.
In the midst of the shouting, Dick hurried over to the front of the formation.
"General! There's a knight outside asking for you!"
"Oh?"
At this critical moment, a knight came looking for him?
Vladimir raised an eyebrow with interest, but before he could speak, a female knight in silver-white heavy armor had already walked over from the side.
Her armor clattered with crisp metallic sounds as she moved.
Erica looked at her and widened her eyes slightly.
But the female knight didn't seem to notice her at all. She only looked at Vladimir and spoke in a calm tone.
"General Lebedev, you intend to head to the Extreme North, correct?"
Vladimir was puzzled, and the magi of the Magus Society, upon seeing a knight, sounded even more unfriendly.
"Heh, a knight? Don't they only know how to hide in their huge castle like cowardly turtles?"
"And a female knight? Tch, didn't expect this. Are you Northern Knights running out of men?"
Amid all the mockery, the female knight didn't show a trace of displeasure.
She continued calmly looking at Vladimir and said, "I have a request. I hope to follow you and travel to the Extreme North together."
"Oh ho?"
Vladimir let out two amused chuckles. He waved his hand, signaling the magi to quiet down.
When everyone finally fell silent, he looked back at Gwen and asked, "Why? You need to give me a reason."
"Otherwise, as you see, my unit does not allow a knight to join."
She did not continue speaking. Instead, she took out a golden parchment from her waist.
The parchment seemed to carry faint magical power, and as if approaching something, it flickered with light.
The sheet felt slightly hot in her hand, and even the surrounding air distorted from the warmth.
Everyone present was either a magus or a mage, they could all see the magical residue on the parchment.
This was definitely a magical tool created by a powerful mage.
Before Vladimir could even ask, the female knight said calmly, "With this parchment, I can accurately locate Viktor."
Locate Viktor?
Hearing that, Vladimir immediately became interested.
Clearly, this person's relationship with Viktor was not ordinary.
So Vladimir asked, "Who are you?"
Gwen put away the parchment and took a deep breath.
As if making a decision, she finally spoke slowly.
Her tone carried undeniable certainty.
"I am Gwen Delin."
"The fiancée of Viktor Clavenna."