I'm really not a Sanctuary Warlock.

Amidst flying sawdust, Lynn stormed into the room, his face ashen.

"Alice!"

However, when he saw the scene in the room, all the magical actions stopped. The wooden flowerpot, which had withered due to the cold, now had a towering vine that almost reached the ceiling.

The vines were covered with blue flowers that emitted a faint glow, illuminating the dimly lit room as if it were a dream.

And surrounded by flowering vines.

Alice lay quietly on the floor.

She slowly opened her eyes, and in those once clear emerald green eyes, a tiny, extremely faint emerald green flame was now burning.

She looked at Lynn as she burst through the door, and a smile, completely different from her usual timidity, appeared on her lips—a smile that carried a hint of divinity and confidence.

"Mr. Lynn."

Her voice was so ethereal, as if it didn't belong to this world.

"Let's not go to the royal city."

Chapter 183 Deprivation of Life (Part 2)

"What do you mean?"

Lynn stood at the door frame shattered by the wind blades, his mental energy highly focused. If Alice showed any signs of losing control and attacking, he would not hesitate to summon the temple guards.

The girl in front of me, surrounded by towering vines and a sea of ​​blue flowers, is no longer the burden who would stumble and fall while walking in the snow and would only hide behind a mercenary when she encountered him.

“Mr. Lynn, I say, let’s not go to the royal city.”

Alice stood up from the floor.

Her movements were very light, but as she stood up, all the blue flowers around her, which were emitting a faint glow, turned around in unison, as if paying homage to their king.

Lynn didn't speak, but just stared intently at her.

“I just… went to a very strange place.” Alice looked at her hands, her fair palms still seeming to retain the warmth of the immense life force that had surged into them. “It was all grayish-white mist, and there was a bird with green flames burning all over its body. It asked me a lot of questions.”

"The Phoenix?" Lynn frowned slightly.

"You know?" Alice asked, somewhat surprised. "It showed me what would happen if I continued to comply."

Alice raised her head and looked directly into Lynn's eyes, where the emerald flame flickered faintly deep within her pupils.

"Mr. Lynn, do you know why my grandfather sent me to the Duke of Valerius's mansion in the royal city?"

"To protect you," Lynn replied calmly. "Your mother is an immortal being; her bloodline can prolong life. Countless people outside want to capture you in order to find your mother's whereabouts. Your grandfather couldn't protect you, so he spent a lot of money to send you to a high-ranking noble in the royal city for protection."

"This is just the version he told you."

A smile played on Alice's lips, but her eyes held none of their usual weakness or tears. "Duke Valerius will indeed protect me. He will provide me with the most secure guards, the safest fortress, and even the most luxurious life, but the price is..."

Alice took a deep breath, her voice trembling slightly.

"The price is that I must become a tool for their family to continue their bloodline until a baby with the characteristics of an immortal species is born by chance."

Lynn's eyes narrowed slightly, and his hands, which were in his pockets, unconsciously clenched.

He had long suspected that this escort mission would not be so simple, and it seemed that Marquis Laurent had made this difficult decision because he knew he did not have long to live.

“This is the end I’ve always submitted to.” Alice looked at the vines around her, her voice becoming ethereal again. “I don’t want to be a burden anymore, and I don’t want to hand my fate over to others anymore.”

"So what?" Lynn interrupted her coldly. "What do you plan to do?"

"I want to become stronger."

Alice took a step forward, and with each step, tiny sprouts appeared on the wooden floor beneath her feet. "The phoenix told me that there are only four more secret realms like the ones we encountered before on this continent."

"If I can collect them all, I will have complete control over the whole of life and nature."

“By then, I will have gained true power. I will no longer need to seek refuge in the royal city. I can protect my grandfather myself, I can help the Laurent family rise again, and I can crush all those bastards who hunted down my mother.”

Alice became more and more agitated as she spoke, and the vines around her seemed to sense her emotions, writhing and growing wildly in the room, even squeezing cracks into the bricks on the walls.

“Mr. Lynn!” Alice suddenly reached out and grabbed Lynn’s sleeve. “You’re strong, the strongest person I’ve ever met. Help me, come with me to find the remaining four secret realms, okay? As long as I can gain power, I can give you anything you want! Wealth, status, even…”

"Let go."

Lynn's voice instantly extinguished the fervor in Alice's eyes.

Alice froze, staring at Lynn's expressionless face, and subconsciously let go of his hand.

"I don't care what fog you went through, or what phoenix you saw, or how powerful your so-called authority really is." Lynn reached out and patted the sleeve that Alice had grabbed.

"You want to become stronger, you want revenge, you want to protect your grandfather—that's all your own business."

Lynn raised his eyelids, his dark eyes devoid of any emotion.

"But now, you have to come with me to the royal city."

"Whether you think I'm cold-blooded or mercenary, a contract is a contract." Lynn turned around and walked towards the door. "Tomorrow morning, we'll continue our journey to the royal city. If you don't want to go, I'll knock you out and carry you there."

"I go."

Alice's voice came from behind, without anger or resentment, only a calm compromise.

Lynn stopped and turned around.

“I will go to the royal city, because that is a mission you must complete, and I will not let you break the contract because of me.” Alice stood up and looked directly into Lynn’s eyes. “But once we arrive in the royal city, I will not go to Duke Valerius’s mansion. As soon as I set foot on the royal city’s territory, your escort mission will be completed, right?”

Lynn narrowed his eyes. He was assessing the feasibility of the proposal.

Marquis Laurent's commission was indeed to escort Alice to the royal city, but where Alice went after arriving in the royal city was indeed not within his jurisdiction.

Once the person is delivered, he can simply return to Holy Song City to ask Laurent for the remaining payment.

As for whether the Duke can find Alice, that's a trivial matter among the nobles.

“We’ll part ways at the city gate. You go to collect your reward, and I’ll go search for the remaining secret realms,” Alice continued. “That way, we’ll be even.”

Lynn stared at Alice for a few seconds and suddenly realized that the girl in front of him was indeed different. She had learned to negotiate and to find the most advantageous bargaining chips for herself within the scope of the rules, instead of just crying and begging.

"I have no objection," Lynn said calmly.

He walked to the door, glanced at the wooden door he had shattered into pieces, and frowned.

“You’ll stay next door tonight, in my room.” Lynn pointed to his original room. “We’ll leave at dawn tomorrow, so don’t oversleep.”

After saying that, Lynn pushed Alice out of the room.

Alice stood there, looking at the empty corridor, and let out a long breath. She looked down at her hands, and the emerald green light danced on her fingertips once more.

"We're even..." she murmured softly, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes.

……

The following morning, the snowstorm in Frostleaf City not only did not stop, but instead intensified.

When Lynn and Alice walked down the lobby of the hotel one after the other, the entire lobby fell silent instantly.

The hotel owner was already waiting at the bottom of the stairs, smiling broadly as he handed over two packages filled with hot food and water.

"Sir, this is your supply for the journey. We have prepared the finest dried meat and white bread as you instructed." The shopkeeper was bent over so low that his back almost touched the ground.

Without a word, Lynn tossed down a gold coin, caught the package, threw it into his spatial ring, and led Alice straight out of the inn.

Leaving Frostleaf City and heading south for about 300 kilometers, you'll reach the territory of the royal city of Rivendell.

The route of the Lynn Plan was only a vast expanse of primeval forest and rolling hills.

Because of heavy snow blocking the mountains, this place has almost become a no-go zone for humans.

But in Lynn's view, this was the safest route.

Without caravans and refugees, there were naturally no annoying assassins and spies.

In the afternoon, the wind and snow gradually subsided.

The two entered a dense coniferous forest, where the trees towered into the clouds, and the dense foliage blocked most of the light, making the forest appear dark and oppressive.

Lynn suddenly stopped walking.

He didn't turn around, but simply turned his face slightly and lowered his voice: "Step back behind me."

Alice paused for a moment, but quickly recovered. She took three steps back, leaning against a huge pine tree, and cautiously looked around.

"Shh...shh..."

The soft crunching sound of the snow being trampled came from all directions, starting lightly but quickly becoming more frequent.

In Lynn's line of sight, the bushes in front of him shook violently, and then pairs of eyes emitting a ghostly blue light lit up one after another in the dim forest.

That's a wolf.

But it wasn't an ordinary wild wolf.

They are larger than adult lions, with cold gray-white fur and a row of sharp ice crystals sticking out of their backs.

With each breath, a cloud of white, cold air is exhaled into the air.

"Frostfang Wolf Pack," Lynn quickly concluded in his mind.

This is a social ice-type monster, with individual levels ranging from approximately 20 to 25.

They're not particularly strong, but the problem lies in their sheer number.

Lynn glanced around and saw that there were at least thirty wolves in sight. Moreover, wolves always hunt using encirclement tactics, so there were definitely more lurking in the shadows.

"Ugh."

With a low howl, the wolf pack's encirclement began to tighten rapidly.

They moved in unison, their eyes gleaming with hunger; clearly, they had already made Lynn and Alice their sumptuous winter dinner.

Lynn sighed.

He raised his right hand, and his fingertips began to gather intense fire element. In this icy and snowy landscape, fire magic could inflict devastating damage on the Frostfang Wolf.

He planned to first use a "Burning Fire Wall" to cut off the wolf pack's charge route, and then use a barrage of "Fireballs" to pick off any remaining wolves.

Just as Lynn was about to make his move, a fair hand suddenly pressed down on his wrist.

Lynn frowned and turned his head away.

Alice had emerged from behind the tree at some point and was standing beside Lynn.

There was no fear on her face, and the chilling emerald flame in her bright green eyes reignited once more.

“Mr. Lynn, let me give it a try.”

Lynn looked at the flames in her eyes and felt the life force that was rising wildly in her body. He didn't speak, but slowly lowered his right hand and dissipated the fire element from his fingertips.

"Be careful." Lynn took half a step back, handing the battlefield over to her.

Alice nodded, without drawing any weapon or chanting any lengthy incantations. She simply took a step forward, facing the pack of frosty-fanged wolves baring their fangs.

The three largest Frostfang wolves launched the first attack. They stomped their hind legs on the ground, their massive bodies like three streaks of gray-white lightning. They opened their blood-red maws, bringing with them a biting cold wind, and pounced on Alice from the front and sides respectively.

The distance instantly shrank.

ten meters.

five meters.

three meters.

Lynn's eyes twitched slightly; he was ready to come to the rescue at any moment.

But Alice remained standing there, motionless.

Alice finally raised her hand just as the three wolves' claws were about to touch her cheek.

She didn't unleash any offensive magic; she simply opened her five fingers gently towards the three wolves in mid-air, and then...

A sudden grip.

"Deprivation of life."

As these four words fell, the bodies of the three Frostfang Wolves leaping in mid-air suddenly froze, and then a layer of visible emerald green light was forcibly extracted from their bodies.

As their life force dissipated, the three demons withered away in mid-air at a chilling speed.

Their once glossy gray-white fur instantly lost its luster, turning ashen and falling off like withered grass; their plump muscles shrank like mud that had been drained of moisture, clinging tightly to their bones; even the row of hard ice crystals on their backs shattered as they lost their magical support.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"