Teacher Shalina’s heart felt like it was about to leap out of her chest. The deep crater blasted by magic ahead rapidly grew in her vision, the broken and twisted rails like ferocious fangs.
Dragged by the giant eagle, the carriage was rushing toward this destructive end at an astonishing speed.
She didn’t understand why Sefina was so resolutely charging toward a dead end, but at this moment, she chose to trust her without reservation.
So, Shalina gritted her teeth and poured all her remaining mana into the summoned creature, driving the giant eagle to struggle forward.
Just as the carriage’s front wheels were about to leave the intact track and plunge into the deep pit at the critical moment—
Sefina made her move!
The ice-blue wand in her hand traced an arc, its tip bursting with piercing cold light. A torrent of ice-attribute mana instantly poured out, precisely covering the destroyed rail break ahead.
Crack-crack-crack!
The sound of freezing erupted densely. An ice-made track, emanating a chilling cold air, materialized and extended at a visible speed, its hardness comparable to steel.
This ice rail perfectly connected the broken rails, forming a brief yet sturdy transitional bridge.
Rumble—!
The heavy carriage wheels mercilessly crushed over the ice track, emitting a dull, thunderous roar.
The entire carriage shook violently once, but in the end, it did not fall. Instead, it slid perilously across the miraculous ice rail over the deep pit and rolled back onto the undestroyed tracks behind.
“Did… did we make it?!”
Gasps of relief after a narrow escape sounded inside the carriage, but there was no trace of joy on Sefina’s face. She knew that staying put and defending would only become increasingly dangerous.
“We’re over!”
Those assassin infantry from Carriage No. 2 who couldn’t use [High-level Levitation Spell] would eventually catch up on foot.
And even more terrifyingly, at the end of this diverted branch line, or at some predetermined ambush point, there were bound to be more enemies.
That could be dozens of battle-ready fifth or sixth-tier mages. Once surrounded, even Sefina would find it difficult to protect so many people and escape unscathed.
Therefore, Sefina preferred to expend a large amount of mana to solidify the ice rail, just to keep moving and try to escape this obvious trap zone.
Outside the carriage, the five hovering assassins clearly hadn’t anticipated their target to be so tenacious and decisive.
They had originally intended to silently eliminate their target in a secluded spot, but they hadn’t expected that seemingly petite “loli” teacher to see through them and put up such fierce resistance.
Now, the attacks from all five of them couldn’t even quickly penetrate the other side’s defenses.
“Buy time! Wait for reinforcements!” one of the assassin leaders rasped, changing tactics.
Instantly, colorful magical lights lit up again. But this time, their target was no longer the difficult-to-break carriage defense. Instead, they turned their attacks toward the giant eagle summon that was desperately pulling the carriage.
Wind Blades sliced at the giant eagle’s wings, Fireballs exploded on its body, lightning spears attempted to paralyze its nerves…
Simultaneously, they didn’t forget to divert some firepower to continue bombarding the carriage, forcing Sefina to keep maintaining her defensive magic, unable to counterattack with full strength.
Screech—!
The giant eagle let out a pained cry. Although it was a powerful summon, it couldn’t withstand such concentrated and sustained attacks.
Its form began to grow hazy, the flapping of its wings became slower and more labored, until it finally dissipated into the air.
Inside the carriage, Teacher Shalina swayed and softly collapsed backward. Her mana was likely completely exhausted.
“Teacher Shalina!”
“Teacher, are you okay?”
The students beside her hurriedly supported her, their faces filled with worry.
Shalina weakly shook her head, lacking even the strength to speak. With her summoned creature gone, the carriage completely lost its motive power.
Sefina frowned deeply, forced to watch helplessly as the carriage, under the effects of inertia and friction, gradually slowed down. Finally, with a piercing screech of metal on metal, it came to a complete stop on the cold rails.
The wheels stopped turning. The world seemed to fall silent instantly, leaving only the howl of the night wind and the faint sound of something cutting through the air in the distance.
An even more despairing scene unfolded on the horizon.
On the distant horizon, more, denser small black dots appeared. Like vultures smelling blood, they were approaching at an extremely fast speed.
Gradually, they became clearer—more figures dressed in black combat attire, holding wands.
Their numbers… at a rough glance, at least twenty or thirty!
The mana fluctuations emanating from them were all, without exception, above the fifth-tier, with no shortage of sixth-tier auras among them.
If these dozens of enemies arrived simultaneously and launched a volley…
Even Sefina would absolutely be unable to protect the entire carriage…
Annihilation seemed like an inevitable conclusion…
Inside the carriage, the surviving students’ faces were ashen. They didn’t even have the strength to cry, only able to close their eyes in despair, waiting for the final moment to arrive.
Sefina gripped her wand tightly, her knuckles white from the force. For the first time, a trace of sharpness flashed in her red eyes.
Hasn’t the backup arrived yet?
Just at this suffocating, desperate moment—
“Enemies there! Attack!”
“Protect the hostages!”
“Leave two alive for interrogation!”
“Team One, construct defensive magic! Team Two, prepare to attack! As much as—”
A series of clear, cold, commanding voices, like the dawn bell breaking the night, abruptly rang out from the hillside beside the railway tracks.
Immediately afterward, figures emerged like ghosts from the shadows of the slope. They wore standardized magic robes different from the assassins’, their movements swift and orderly, instantly occupying advantageous positions.
A massive composite defensive array rapidly unfolded before them, like a semi-transparent glass dome, shielding the stationary carriage behind it.
Simultaneously, dozens of charged attack spells locked onto the bewildered assassins in the air and the reinforcements rushing from the distance.
Salvation in the nick of time!
Sefina gasped for breath in large gulps. The high-intensity combat and mana overexertion made her petite body tremble slightly, her forehead covered in fine beads of cold sweat.
Looking at the sudden reinforcements before her, her taut nerves could finally relax a little. She thought to herself:
They’re finally here… Good, not too late.
Her gaze passed over the fierce battlefield, settling on the highest point of the hillside.
The evening wind howled, blowing through the hair of two figures.
One of them, with silver-white hair fluttering slightly under the moonlight, was Flovi, who had previously jumped off the carriage and left.
Looking down at her unharmed master below, a trace of relief flashed in her usually somewhat vacant, pale golden eyes.
The other figure standing beside Flovi made Sefina’s gaze sharpen slightly.
It was a young woman with a tall, straight posture, possessing hair like ice-blue strands frozen deep within a glacier, flowing wildly in the night wind.
She wore the uniform of the Legdolo magic academy, with a cold-weather cloak casually draped over it.
At this moment, her eyes calmly surveyed the battlefield below.
Beneath that calmness, however, lay a hint of icy, sharp insight.
It was Versie.