A single-player post-apocalyptic game, but with an all-female teammate mod.

The remaining ice sprites and the other two snow maidens in the valley only trembled slightly before continuing to swim in place.

Just to be safe, Qingye told the two women to step back a short distance, and then threw a Gale Palm at them.

Feeling another strong gust of wind, the snow woman paused for a moment, then the white smoke from her lower body left a trail of afterimages as she sped towards Aono.

After the Snow Woman left the valley, Aono suddenly attacked.

The alloy battle axe swept across with a whistling sound, its blade tearing through the air, and was about to strike the ghostly snow woman.

"puff."

The axe blade sliced ​​through the invisible clouds as if cutting into the snow woman's body, leaving only a slowly healing frost mark in the air.

The snow woman didn't even dodge; her empty eye sockets suddenly turned towards Aono. The surrounding temperature plummeted, and a small blizzard appeared out of nowhere, carrying ice particles that slammed into Aono's body.

At the same time, a piercing shriek drilled straight into his mind.

"Well!"

Shadow, who was about to provide support, let out a muffled groan, his figure swaying in the blizzard, his movements noticeably slowed.

Icarus paused slightly in mid-air, a hint of confusion flashing in his emerald eyes, and his aiming trajectory deviated slightly.

Only Qingye felt a slight warmth between his brows the instant the soul-shaking impact struck.

With the added trust value, the accumulated mental and spiritual strength showed its advantage at this moment.

Whether the Snow Woman's arrangement was a special attack targeting the soul or the spirit, it was nothing more than a cool breeze to him.

He charged out of the blizzard unscathed and swung his alloy battle axe once more.

This time, however, the battle axe was imbued with blinding lightning.

This time, as the battle axe struck, the Snow Woman trembled violently, her translucent body twisting drastically as she emitted a shrill, silent scream.

Lightning surged wildly, and ice crystals and electric snakes intertwined and exploded.

At this moment, the recovered Shadow and Icarus also joined the battle.

Ika launched the first attack from a distance using energy beams.

There was some damage, but not much.

Conversely, Shadow killed Yuki-onna directly.

The moment the long-handled naginata fell, purple lightning exploded!

The Snow Woman let out a final, mournful cry, and her entire phantom image crumbled into countless ice crystals, like a shattered mirror.

It finally dissipated completely in a burst of lightning, leaving only a few wisps of faint chill rising slowly.

Seeing this, Aono was in a great mood.

Just as he expected, the snow woman was immune to physical attacks, so the previous Gale Palm had no effect whatsoever.

However, these ghost-like monsters are almost always countered by lightning.

In fact, lightning has almost no effect on any life form.

Whether it was the previously hard-shelled mechanical creations, or the now almost ethereal ice and snow spirits, even ordinary flesh and blood snakes and snow monsters, none of them had any power to resist the raging thunder.

He flicked away the non-existent ice shards from his battle axe, exhaled a puff of white breath, and sighed, "Tsk tsk tsk, indeed, it was absolutely the right choice to supplement my training with lightning."

As he spoke, he stepped forward and collected the gold coins and materials dropped by the Snow Woman.

"Soul Dust and Rune Fragments... these should be the lower-level materials for Winter's Soul and Frozen Rune."

"Such a high-level elite monster didn't drop any materials directly. Looks like your luck is pretty bad today, Shadow."

After jokingly teasing Ying, Qingye led the two women back to the valley and began his unstoppable mowing of grass.

Lightning is a natural counter to the Snow Woman who is immune to physical attacks, and that strange mental attack is also ineffective against her. It's easier to take her down than to deal with snakes and snow monsters.

The strongest Yuki-onna is only this strong; the next strongest, the Ice Sprite, is even less impressive.

Shadow and Ika barely made a move; they simply guarded the area to prevent the monster from escaping.

But whether it's the Ice Sprite or the Snow Woman, these elemental monsters that are immune to physical attacks seem to have little intelligence and show no intention of running away.

In just over ten minutes, Aono single-handedly wiped out all the ice sprites and snow maidens in the valley.

After reaping this huge wave of rewards, and with the experience he had accumulated before, he finally leveled up again.

Feeling the surge of heat within his body, Aono no longer felt so cold.

Once the heat subsided, he wrapped his down jacket tighter around himself and called to Shadow and Ika to continue the search.

Shadow searched along the edge of the valley, while Icarus, carrying a watermelon, leisurely flew through the air to patrol.

In this extremely cold world, there are virtually no resources in the wild.

The only place where resources might be found is in these monster lairs that occupy a certain area.

"Master, a discovery has been made."

When Icarus's voice came, Aono was walking into the depths of the valley, his feet sinking into the ankle-deep snow.

On that rock face, smooth as a mirror from the blizzard, there was an inconspicuous ice cave.

The cave entrance was covered with a thick layer of white frost, which would have been easily overlooked if Icarus hadn't been flying in the air to investigate.

The cave is not deep; in fact, it can be described as narrow.

At the end of the cave, two girls sat on the ground with their backs against the ice wall.

The girl on the left is wearing a regular high school uniform, with her long, smooth, jet-black hair cascading down her back.

Paired with classic princess-cut bangs, extremely fair skin, and snowflake hair accessories, even in dim lighting, her exquisite and dignified demeanor remains dazzling.

Her eyes were slightly closed, with tiny icicles hanging from her long eyelashes. She remained motionless, yet exuded an unapproachable nobility.

The girl on the right was wearing a snow-white kimono, with long, smooth blue-black hair draped over her shoulders. She looked obedient and gentle, but her face was frighteningly pale.

Both of them were enveloped in a faint ice-blue barrier.

Aono took two steps closer, and a system notification popped up.

[Winter's Soul x1, Frozen Rune x5]

[Winter's Soul x1, Frozen Rune x5]

"Um……"

Aono stroked his chin, recalling the scene when he first met Tsunade.

He browsed through his system inventory.

After the Ice Sprite and Snow Maiden, although there were three or four elite monsters, not many complete [Winter Soul] and [Frozen Rune] items dropped.

There are two Winter's Souls, but only five Frozen Runes.

In other words, you can only take one of them with you now.

The last one requires me to go back and synthesize the materials before I can take it with me.

"Icarus, Shadow, what do you think?"

Ying glanced at the two girls and uttered two words without any emotion, "Either is fine."

In her view, everyone is the same, since she doesn't know anyone anyway.

Icarus nodded, indicating that he agreed with the shadow.

Aono chuckled, his gaze sweeping over the two familiar girls.

The elegant-looking girl on the left should be Shiba Miyuki from "The Irregular at Magic High School," also known as "The Anti-China Hero," a top-tier ice magician.

And the girl on the right has a somewhat inhuman feel to her…

It should be the yokai from "Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan," Yuki-onna Oikawa Hyoure.

This snow woman is not that snow woman.

Oikawa Hirei has a pretty face and long, straight legs. She is a wise, fertile snow woman.

She's a snow woman, so her abilities are obvious.

Both girls' abilities can play a significant role in this extremely cold environment.

However, in terms of adaptability to the environment, Yuki-onna and Oikawa Hyouri should be stronger.

You could even say that this world is her home turf.

Soon, Aono made a decision.

It's just a matter of choosing one day earlier or later; ultimately, they will all be brought back to the Ark.

He took out the chilling [Soul of Winter] and [Frozen Rune] and pressed them onto the barrier in front of Oikawa Hirei.

The moment the rune touched the barrier, it transformed into a stream of light and seeped into it.

The barrier in front of Oikawa Hyori instantly dissipated, her long eyelashes trembled a few times, and she slowly opened her eyes, which were like ice and glass.

75. New members +2

"Young Master, I will protect you!"

"For all eternity to come, I will protect you!"

"From now on..."

As soon as Oikawa Hyouri opened her eyes, she immediately began delivering lines that were devoid of any emotional expression and completely nonsensical.

Aono is now completely used to it.

"Yes, yes, you will protect us, but before that..."

He casually agreed, then withdrew his hand, pinched the girl's cold, smooth cheek, and opened her panel.

------

Name: Oikawa Hirei

Class: Ice Mage

Trust rating: 0%

【recruit】

------

"An ice mage? Hmm, it seems he is indeed the designated combatant for this level."

Before officially recruiting someone as a teammate, you can only see the suggested panel, but that's enough to make a judgment.

Aono held Oikawa Hyouri, who was still occasionally reciting her lines, in his arms. He took one last look at Shiba Miyuki, who was still trapped in the pale blue barrier, and then set off on the return journey with Kage and Ikaros.

Today was a very fruitful day; we not only killed a large number of monsters, but also discovered the new area of ​​the snow-capped mountains.

Finally, they found two powerful combat-class teammates worth recruiting.

More importantly, it is now afternoon.

On the way back, we'll change direction and clear out another wave of monsters, and we should be able to return to the Ark just before dark.

Last night, Qingye went out to take a look while wearing an energy shield.

The strange sense of danger had faded considerably, but it was still there.

More importantly, the snow and ice after dark are even colder than during the day.

Even with his physical condition, his fingers felt a little frozen after just a few minutes.

Moreover, a violent blizzard constantly filled the land.

Even without that vague sense of crisis, it's not a good time to linger outside at night.

……

After dinner, everyone dispersed.

After washing up, Aono began his nightly recruitment activities.

The only difference from before is that the support personnel have been changed from Icarus and Nymph to Coco and Dudu.