Behind one of the gigantic magic trees in front of him, and behind another towering tree off to his left, two magical beasts were hidden, each radiating a thick, malicious intent.
Judging by the aura they gave off, they were far stronger than the low-ranked Vulcans whose remains were scattered across the ground, though there was still a huge gap between them and a high-ranked monster like the Icefang Snow Wolf.
Since this was the central region of Vulcan activity, and apart from the Vulcan Queen there should not be any other creatures of this level here, that left only one conclusion.
"Tap, tap..."
As if they understood Geno's challenge, two enormous Vulcan Queens slowly stepped out from behind the massive magic trees.
Unlike the low-ranked Vulcans, these two were much larger, their bodies towering and imposing. Their backs were covered in thick, vivid fur, and their claws were like steel daggers. A chilling, murderous light burned in their pupils.
"Thump... thump..."
One Vulcan Queen stared at Geno and slammed its fists against the ground. The other followed suit, pounding the ice in a show of intimidation.
Low-ranked Vulcans had to constantly possess human bodies in order to survive. Vulcan Queens were different. They did not need to take humans as vessels. They could live on their own.
However, even if they did not possess humans, they would still devour humans with magic in their bodies to strengthen themselves.
The gazes of the two Vulcan Queens on Geno were the looks of predators eyeing a rare delicacy. Their claws scraped across the frozen ground, those dagger-like talons producing shrill, grating sounds that cut through the air.
"Low-ranked Vulcans, and now these two mid-ranked Vulcan Queens..."
Geno murmured softly. He had only wanted to pass through, nothing more. He had never intended to exterminate the low-ranked Vulcans, nor did he have any particular desire to kill the two Vulcan Queens standing in front of him.
But these low-ranked monsters, and now these mid-ranked ones as well, insisted on throwing themselves in his path and reaching for his life. He could hardly be blamed for what came next.
"Since you insist on throwing your lives away, I cannot do anything about that."
These low and mid-ranked monsters might not be worth his attention, yet if they came for his life, he would reluctantly deal with them.
He let out a small breath.
"Hu..."
Geno casually flicked his right hand.
The ground trembled. The biting cold surrounding the area suddenly eased and turned faintly warm.
However, this was not because Geno had released magic or cast any sort of spell. The change in temperature was simply the result of his own aura pushing away the chill.
Within the circle of space around Geno, the air grew warm. Beyond that invisible boundary, winter's cold still reigned.
...
Not too far behind Geno, separated by only a few trees, the calm figure of a man slowly approached.
"What... what in the world happened here?"
The man's face was full of confusion, mixed with shock, as he stared at the broken remains of low-ranked Vulcans scattered all over the ground.
This man was none other than Macao, who had originally gone to check what was happening in the direction the Vulcans had been fleeing from. Without fully realizing it, he had gradually stepped into the central region of Vulcan activity... and finally arrived here.
"Did some kind of high-ranked monster show up here? No, looking at these Vulcan remains, this does not look like the work of a monster. It looks more like the work of a person."
Macao crouched beside one of the mangled Vulcan corpses and examined it closely. If some powerful monster had barged in, there should have been tooth marks from ripping and biting on the bodies. Yet he could not see any.
"Wait... that is..."
As he drew closer to where Geno stood, he finally noticed two huge silhouettes.
Two Vulcan Queens.
"The Vulcan Queen, that is the Vulcan Queen... and there are two of them."
His already shocked expression twisted even further.
"No, wait. There is someone in front of them. That figure looks familiar, like I have seen him somewhere before..."
When his eyes fell on Geno, Macao felt a moment of blank confusion. It was understandable. He had only met Geno once for a short while. It was normal that his impression of the young man was vague. Still, the fact that he had already forgotten someone he had just seen earlier was a bit too much.
Before long, though, his mind finally caught up.
"It is... that young man. What is he doing here?"
"No, hold on. The aura he is giving off now is so intense. I still cannot feel any particularly strong magic power from him, but this strange presence around him is incredibly overwhelming."
Macao did not know what was happening, but even he could sense that Geno was anything but ordinary.
"I thought he would have gone down along the route I pointed out. I never imagined he would come here instead."
"The Vulcan corpses I saw along the way... do not tell me those were his doing?"
He felt that such a thing was almost impossible. Yet when he thought about the youngsters in Fairy Tail, about Natsu and Gray, he forced himself to stop judging by appearances alone.
"The Vulcan Queen is a mid-ranked monster, and there are two of them. No matter how strong this young man is, can he really defeat two Vulcan Queens?"
Even if he now suspected that Geno was not simple at all, the reality was still harsh. These were mid-ranked monsters, Vulcan Queens at that, and there were two of them. For someone like Macao, it was not even something he could imagine fighting.
Mid-ranked Vulcans could not be measured in terms of low-ranked Vulcan numbers. It was not a matter of "how many low-ranked Vulcans equals one mid-ranked Vulcan." They were not even on the same level. No matter how many low-ranked Vulcans there were, they might still not be a match for a single mid-ranked Vulcan Queen. At best they could slowly wear one down.
"If he cannot win... should I step in and save him? But with just me..."
Macao was a good man, but he was not a fool. He wanted to save Geno, yet he still had enough self-awareness to know that in front of two mid-ranked monsters, he might not even get the chance to run away, much less save someone. To rush out now would be closer to suicide than rescue.
"I cannot die. I still have to stay by Romeo's side and watch him grow up. But if I just pretend I never saw anything and run away... can I still call myself a Fairy Tail mage?"
...
After a long inner struggle, Macao finally made his decision.
"So be it. If I have to throw my life away, then I will... maybe it will not come to that. But if I leave him to die, he is definitely finished. Romeo would not want his father to be a coward who walks away while someone is dying in front of him."
Macao had made up his mind. If the young man truly fell into danger, he would still step in. He would first use his Purple Net Magic to restrain the two mid-ranked Vulcan Queens, then grab the young man and use his fastest escape magic to flee the area.
He was already gathering magic in his body, preparing himself so that the moment Geno became endangered, he could unleash his spells immediately.
...
"This aura is different from the monsters. It should be Macao. How did he end up here?"
Geno sighed inwardly, a little helpless. He had not expected Macao to come this far. He was certain that in the original Fairy Tail anime, without his arrival in this world, there was no plotline of Macao entering the central region.
If Macao really had come here in the original story, his fate would probably not have been simple Vulcan possession. He might have died here outright.
"I had no intention of changing Macao's story, but it seems my presence is already creating ripples. Who knows what will happen later."
"Forget it. I am not some savior. I just hope he can still return safely to the Fairy Tail guild."
"Thump..."
One of the Vulcan Queens beat its chest. The bright fur on its back instantly flared, crackling with ice lightning magic. A surge of electricity coursed into its dagger like claws.
"Tap, tap... thud..."
It launched itself at Geno with terrifying speed, its electrically charged claws slicing through the air as if they could tear space itself.
At the same moment, the other Vulcan Queen let out a roar and pounced toward Geno as well, claws extended, fangs bared.
"This is bad. They are not just trying to eat him. They are furious. Could it really be that all those Vulcan corpses on the way were the work of that young man?"
Macao was clearly nervous. In this freezing cold, sweat was actually starting to bead on his forehead.
"They came out swinging with such a brutal killing move. If he cannot dodge, that body is going to be torn to pieces."
While he was still worrying and wondering how Geno would evade the attack, Geno himself showed no intention of dodging at all.
"Slow. Far too slow."
Geno spoke quietly in his heart. His eyelids drooped slightly, and the crimson cross pattern in his pupils burned brighter and clearer.
Compared to earlier, he could now see with perfect clarity the flow of magic within the two Vulcan Queens. Their magic was far richer than that of the low-ranked Vulcans, yet they did not even possess one thousandth of the magic that had belonged to the Icefang Snow Wolf.
"So in the end, these so called mid-ranked Vulcan Queens are much weaker than I imagined."
Geno tilted the corner of his mouth. There was no battle fervor in his tone, only the casual detachment of someone commenting on a single insignificant leaf about to fall from one of the magic trees.
He raised his right hand slightly. Black mist surged from his palm like a living thing, shooting toward the first Vulcan Queen whose claws, wrapped in lightning, were already right in front of him.
Just as those claws were about to reach him, a hand suddenly extended from within the black fog. The crackling electricity vanished in an instant, swallowed whole.
The Vulcan Queen did not even have time to blink before its arm was ripped off cleanly from the shoulder. Foul, hot blood burst out in a wild spray, yet not a single drop landed on Geno's handsome face.
"What... what just happened? That was so... so fast."
Macao, who had been watching closely the whole time, clenched his fists so tightly that purple flames instinctively flared and then faded around them.
His mind was blank. He had not seen when Geno attacked at all. The speed had reached a level his eyes could not follow.
"This is unbelievable. Is he really just a young man who looks seventeen or eighteen?"
He had not even finished being astonished when, in the very next moment, the severed arm of the Vulcan Queen was flung up into the air.
Before the arm could hit the ground, there was a sharp crack, followed by a dull thud. The Vulcan Queen did not even have time to blink before its head was already rolling across the ice, leaving a long, bloody trail behind.