Gwen Delin.
Hearing the name of the knight in front of them, everyone immediately sucked in a breath of cold air.
They all looked at each other, breaking into noisy discussions.
"Hey, she said her surname is Delin."
"Hiss… that old guy Angus' daughter? He actually has such a pretty daughter?"
"You guys aren't paying attention to the real point, right? She's that Viktor's fiancée… the one on the wanted notice."
"Damn, that ruthless guy…"
Vladimir was also a little surprised. He looked at Gwen, puzzled.
"You're Viktor's fiancée?"
"Interesting. You're not here to catch him and drag him back to bow his head and confess, are you?"
Gwen's name wasn't as famous as Viktor's. Within the Northern Frontier, only those northern knights knew of her.
Naturally, Vladimir had no impression of her.
Gwen's face didn't show any extra expression, as if she were simply stating something.
"I've already understood what happened."
Before coming here, Gwen had returned home once.
Her second brother was still unconscious and paralyzed. Her father looked fine on the surface, but his eyes were empty, and he still hadn't regained his sanity.
Seeing the state of the two, Gwen felt a little surprised.
Because she realized that she was calmer than she had imagined.
Clearly, the two people in front of her were her blood relatives.
Yet her emotions were neither sad nor joyful.
Maybe she really was too cold-blooded.
But she also knew she wasn't returning because of these two in-name-only family members.
Kefra told her that her father had started the fight, and Jashu had been crippled only because he threatened Viktor.
And now, Viktor was nowhere to be found. Just by relying on a few words from Kefra, it was impossible to convince those northern knights.
Naturally, it was also impossible to prove Viktor's innocence.
The wanted notice was still spreading across the North, so Gwen had to find him.
If Viktor really had deliberately harmed Angus, then Gwen would fight him in a fair and just duel.
Of course, Gwen leaned toward believing Viktor was innocent.
She wanted to trust her sister, and she also wanted to try trusting Viktor.
"I just want to find Viktor. But with only myself, I can't cross the Extreme North."
"So, you came to us Pale Mages?"
At some point, Vladimir had a cigar in his mouth.
Whenever he was thinking about something, he would always smoke one.
But he hadn't lit it yet. He simply looked at Gwen, speaking with a hint of seriousness.
"I basically understand, but…"
He glanced back at Erica behind him, then turned back to stare at Gwen again.
"How are you going to prove you're Viktor's fiancée? Or rather… after what your two families have already been through…"
"Do you really think the marriage agreement between your two families is still valid?"
Gwen opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Erica behind her lifted her hood and stepped forward.
"She is Viktor's fiancée, Uncle Vladimir."
"Hm?"
Vladimir glanced at Erica with some dissatisfaction, but when she casually flicked out a flame spell to help him light his cigar, he couldn't help but smile.
"Long time no see, Knight-Commander Gwen."
Erica bowed to Gwen, who wore silver armor, and gave Gwen an elegant smile.
Gwen couldn't help but look at the petite Erica, and for the first time her face showed surprise.
"Miss Erica?"
Seeing this, Vladimir scratched his head, troubled.
"Tsk, I didn't expect you two to know each other. Fine, but my question still stands."
"Viktor killed too many barbarians for us, and your identity isn't exactly nice."
"To be honest, my boys are only holding back their emotions because you're Viktor's fiancée."
"As for that group of northern knights from your family, hmph, a bunch of good-for-nothing fools sitting around doing nothing."
Gwen's expression didn't change much, but compared to earlier, her tone carried even more determination.
"If it's confirmed that Viktor is innocent, I will personally arrest my father and Jashu Delin, and inherit my father's position as head of the house."
"I swear this in the name of a knight, and will take responsibility for my words and actions."
As her voice slowly fell, the disdain on the Pale Mages' faces immediately vanished, replaced by solemn respect.
The Pale Mage Association had dealt with those northern knights for more than ten years, so of course they knew exactly what kind of hypocritical people they were.
They might not do anything, but those self-righteous knights valued their honor the most.
A knight would never casually swear an oath.
Once an oath was made, if they did not uphold it, the power that sustained them would gradually disappear.
Even if they still called themselves knights, they would no longer possess the strength of a knight.
Vladimir nodded.
The girl before him indeed had very solid resolve.
Once she inherited the position of head of the family, her engagement with Viktor naturally would continue.
There would be no talk of breaking it.
So, before Viktor personally said their engagement no longer counted, she was still Viktor's fiancée.
"Sigh."
Vladimir sighed helplessly.
He wanted to smooth the road for his friend's daughter, but too bad the girl herself wasn't winning any points.
Vladimir looked at Gwen again with a different expression. He exhaled a puff of mist, unclear if it was smoke or the white frost of the cold.
"I'll allow you to come with us. Conveniently, I also need you to guide the way."
"But there's one thing I need to state first."
"As a knight, don't expect the mages to protect you."
Gwen silently nodded and took the initiative to stand at the front of the group, her face cold and firm.
The other members had no objections, including Vladimir.
Because everyone knew, Gwen was the guide.
With her leading, they could avoid many detours.
———
The inside of the temple was filled with green, protruding rocks, arranged in seemingly no pattern.
Before Viktor, several colossal doors trembled with a faint white glow.
On the rock doors were carved mysterious constellations, radiating a powerful aura from behind them.
There were ten doors total, arranged in a circle inside the temple.
Viktor looked at the Temple of Wind, calmly thinking.
There were six great temples in the game, and this was one of them.
And inside each temple, there were ten entrances like the ones before him.
Each entrance had a powerful guardian protecting the force within the temple.
The guardians' power levels were arranged from low to high; the weakest was level fifteen, the strongest level fifty.
Although the final boss was very high level, their existence in itself limited their upper power, far inferior to calamities.
Returning to his senses, Viktor looked at the slowly opening stone door.
With falling dust and rumbling echoes, a pitch-black, deep passage appeared before him.
A faint airflow drifted outward from it.
Viktor steadily stepped into the first door.
As he walked in, the gate closed behind him.
But before the gate fully shut, Viktor had already walked back out from the passage.
A white aura wound around his body, like a spirit.
Every time he cleared a stage, Viktor could clearly feel a refreshing energy entering his body.
Viktor looked at his status bar.
[Wind Attribute Power +10%]
He calmly watched the stone door open again and stepped forward.
As the second door opened, Viktor quickly entered.
But the result was not much different from before.
In just a short time, he walked back out.
Another strand of white aura wrapped around him.
It was the power of wind.
Then the third door, the fourth door.
He calmly passed through door after door. Each time he exited, another white smoke-like aura wrapped around him.
At this moment, Viktor looked at his newly gained buff in silence.
[Wind Attribute Power +50%]
Finally, after clearing the fifth door, a fierce gale suddenly rushed straight toward him.
The powerful storm made his windcoat flap wildly, whistling loudly.
The opening of the sixth door carried a noticeably different force.
He pushed against the wind as he slowly walked in, but the deeper he went, the weaker the wind became.
When the gale completely vanished, Viktor looked around at a place entirely different from before.
This trial ground was far larger than the previous five doors, with the overhead boulder carved into part of some beast's body.
White light illuminated the entire vast trial ground.
"As expected."
In the game, the first five doors were relatively easy.
Most players could pass them.
But starting from the sixth trial, the difficulty suddenly increased.
From the surrounding rock walls, a fierce hurricane burst out.
The wind constantly twisted and reformed, visibly combining into a strange creature.
It seemed to have no physical shape, wrapped in swirling white dust, its shapeless body dancing in the air.
Its arms were instead several floating clusters of dust, transforming into various shapes, spears, battle axes, blades…
A hundred weapons shifted as it launched a fierce assault on Viktor.
Unfortunately for it, Viktor, being a mage, feared melee the least.
In an instant, Viktor's hands were wrapped in thick natural energy. Spears and blades appeared in his grasp, burning with intense flames.
As the clouds of dust came at him, Viktor sidestepped and attacked the fog's body.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The smoke burst apart the moment it was struck. Viktor grasped the timing perfectly and spotted the glowing orbs hidden in the strands of smoke.
He swung his spear.
Crack!
The orb shattered into dust.
That cluster of smoke, having lost its energy source, trembled violently before dispersing into airflow and fading into the trial ground.
With one cluster gone, the remaining fog's attack frequency grew even fiercer.
But Viktor had already seen through all their attack patterns.
He dodged quickly and perfectly avoided each strike.
The remaining clouds naturally could not escape their fate.
Viktor shattered them one by one.
Landing steadily on the ground, Viktor brushed the dust from his clothes and watched a strand of white haze coil around him.
Silent, he turned and walked out of the trial ground.
As the stone door opened, Viktor walked to the next trial door.
The seventh trial, the eighth trial.
The stone doors seemed like decorations, Viktor broke through with ease.
Vega's heart was full of confusion. When Viktor walked out of the ninth door, the crow finally voiced his question.
"Viktor, tell me honestly, how many times have you been here?"
"Why are you THIS skilled?!"
Viktor didn't answer immediately. He simply looked toward the final stone door and replied lightly, "Can't remember."
Standing in the temple, Viktor watched the final trial slowly open to him.
"Let's go."
He walked through the calm passage and arrived at the final trial ground.
Here, it was incomparably vast, like a different dimension.
The azure sky was peaceful and endless.
The ground beneath his feet was covered by thick clouds. As far as the eye could see, only white.
Countless pillars stood upon the clouds.
Viktor looked through the clouds at what lay beneath the pillars.
Bottomless.
Viktor walked forward steadily and stood on one of the pillars.
At this moment, he seemed to stand among the clouds, standing between sky and earth.
As he moved, in the blink of an eye, a fierce tempest roared toward him, violently whipping his body.
With his hands tucked in his pockets, Viktor felt the storm tug at his collar as it violently swayed.
Finally.
A giant bird covered in white feathers slowly broke through layers of clouds, flapping its wings as it appeared before him.
It had a pair of white wings as large as hands, constantly stirring hurricanes.
Its body was wrapped in azure cloud-like patterns, and a powerful wind-element force surged from within it.
It looked down from above at the intruder, its eyes full of disdain.
Screech!
A roar echoed across the entire sky, like a clear and resonating bell.
Viktor looked at it expressionlessly. The patterns on his windcoat slowly lit up with two colors.
A long health bar appeared in Viktor's sight.
[Lv50]
"Looks like the battle has begun."