Blue Rose Arrives

The giant dragon charged forward madly, but not without cost.

Its dual ice-and-fire attributes kept attacking Noelle and Vanessa in the air.

Both women felt the pressure around them suddenly ease, while ice-attribute magic power began churning wildly and surging toward the Earth Dragon in the distance.

Crack—

Amid its roar, the Earth Dragon was instantly torn apart by ice-and-fire magic power.

The two falling figures seemed to be wrapped in some sort of thorny vines.

Then a female voice rang out as she swung a massive warhammer and smashed it forward with all her might.

Crack, crack!

Ice and fire continuously exploded in the air. Carl's expression immediately turned complicated, and somewhat amused.

Well, well. Look who it was.

Carl could not help but laugh helplessly.

He had thought some terrifying creature had appeared, or that some accident had occurred. Yet when he sensed those two familiar presences, he still found it rather unbelievable.

Who had he thought it was?

It turned out to be Charlotte Roselei of the Blue Rose Knights, along with her vice-captain, Sol Marron.

Those two were old acquaintances.

Ever since Charlotte had awakened her magic power, the two of them seemed to have been tangled up with each other all along.

He had originally thought he would not see her for the next few days. After all, he needed to finish his current mission and make a name for himself in the Black Bulls before considering the Blue Rose Knights again.

If those tigress-like women of the Blue Rose Knights found out that a man had joined them, who knew how much of a fuss they would make.

He had no interest in dealing with them one by one.

The best way to handle that army of women was to let them find out first, slowly accept it and let it simmer, then have him appear and settle it with one decisive blow.

Who would have thought Charlotte and Sol Marron would appear here together?

Crack—

Magic continuously intertwined around the two women.

And Charlotte truly was Charlotte. With her thorn magic alone, she blocked the surrounding ice-and-fire aura without letting even a drop through.

Of course, they also noticed Carl and the other two, then quickly walked over.

Only when she landed before Carl did a trace of delighted excitement appear deep in Charlotte's eyes. Yet she still spoke to Carl in a cool, restrained tone:

"Who did I think it was? So it was Carl from our squad.

Tell me, after joining the Black Bulls, did you forget about our Blue Rose Knights?

As a member of the Blue Rose Knights, have you ever returned to visit our base?"

As he listened to Charlotte's scolding words, notifications of Charlotte's affection kept flooding through Carl's mind.

Carl could not help but laugh helplessly.

This woman really was all bark and no bite.

She was obviously delighted to see him, yet she insisted on putting on such a stubborn front.

Carl smiled and said:

"Hey, Captain. What are you doing here too?"

At last, Sol Marron stepped forward from the side.

Charlotte's thorn magic completely withdrew as well.

More than half of Sol Marron's Blue Rose Knights robe had already been torn apart.

Clearly, their journey into this place had not been easy either.

It was only because Charlotte herself was exceptionally strong that she had emerged almost completely unscathed.

Sol Marron shot Carl a resentful glare.

But when Carl looked at her seriously and took the initiative to greet her, Sol Marron suddenly began stammering.

"Dis-dis-disgusting man!

What are you looking at me for? Turn around already!"

When her gaze swept over Noelle and Vanessa beside her, and she saw that both of them were wearing Carl's clothes, her entire face instantly turned a terrifying shade of red.

"Carl, you really are shameless! What exactly are the three of you doing here?"

Sol Marron seemed to have already played out an entire drama in her head, staring at Carl with a look of disgust.

Although she had some unusual feelings toward Carl, she still found this man exceptionally irritating.

She had no idea why Sister Charlotte mentioned him from time to time, or why she had even taken him into the squad.

Noelle, standing nearby, looked rather awkward at that moment.

She felt as if she had seen this scene somewhere before.

Back then, she had also thought Carl was an exceptionally shameless person.

Though Carl truly could not be considered much of a gentleman, was a gentleman's heart truly that of a gentleman?

Noelle began to doubt that.

At that moment, she suddenly understood Vanessa a little better.

She gave Vanessa an apologetic look.

When Vanessa saw Noelle's expression, she felt somewhat stifled.

But if she knew what Noelle was thinking, she would probably only shout—there was really no need.

After all, Carl's abs had not been built for nothing.

Vanessa also felt that she had not suffered any loss at all.

Seeing the four women gathered together while Carl, the lone man, stood off to the side, Carl immediately felt overwhelming pressure.

He could only choose to remain silent and continue asking Charlotte:

"We came here to train.

Noelle and Vanessa have some problems controlling their magic power, so they need to hone themselves here.

What about you two?"

When Charlotte heard that Carl had not taken Sol Marron's mockery to heart at all, a trace of delight appeared on her face.

As expected of the man she had taken a liking to.

He was just that outstanding, just that broad-minded.

Charlotte said:

"It's like this. We had also heard a little about this Ice-Fire Land. At first, it was only rated at two stars, but as more intelligence came in, its danger level had risen to nearly five stars."

"In other words, the threats here may even endanger vice-captain- and captain-level individuals.

That is why I brought Sol Marron here to take a look."

"Of course, there is another reason."

Charlotte hesitated and looked toward Vanessa and Noelle.

Clearly, she did not particularly want outsiders to know what she was about to say.

Vanessa and Noelle noticed this and immediately felt somewhat displeased.

Carl was one of their own.

Yet the other side clearly treated Carl as one of their own while treating them as outsiders.

For a moment, the atmosphere between both sides grew faintly tense.

Carl said:

"It's fine. Go ahead, Captain Charlotte."

Charlotte fell silent for a moment at his words, then continued:

"This place has already been thoroughly investigated. In the lake near this village, there is a pair of ice-and-fire attribute spirits."

"They seemed to have died for love because of some accident, forming this entire region.

Recently, for some unknown reason, the seal in the lake completely shattered."

"Because of some resentment, the remnants of those spirits began expanding their domain without restraint, creating the current situation."

Charlotte hesitated, but under Carl's encouraging gaze, she still said:

"My magic power also still has problems.

You should know that."

Carl nodded and said:

"Didn't you already suppress that power?"

Charlotte gave a bitter smile.

"I did suppress it.

But for some reason, the power of that curse became entangled with the source of magic power within me."

"And that is not even the biggest problem.

The problem is that it is an extremely scarce, exceptionally refined magical power."

"If I had not resisted with all my strength, it would have nearly drained me dry."

"According to the ancient texts I consulted, perhaps only a magic source so terrifying it defies comparison can completely neutralize the Curse Vortex and even allow my strength to advance further."

Carl nodded after hearing this.

"I understand.

You came to absorb this ice-and-fire magical power."

Charlotte nodded.

Sol Marron, however, snorted coldly and said:

"Why are you wasting words on them?"

"Carl, what happened between us last time has not been settled yet.

Don't get too smug!"

Sol Marron took a step forward and continued threatening Carl.

However, at that very instant.

The surrounding ice-and-fire magic power suddenly erupted.

Crack!

In an instant, everyone, including Carl, was completely frozen.