The story of the black silk female knight

This perfectly synchronized reaction startled old Winston for a moment before he explained:

"No, not monsters or ghosts, but something far more dangerous... it's a storm. We probably won't be able to travel much further tonight."

As he spoke, old Winston gestured to his two sons, and the three of them quickly got to work.

They all pulled out shields taller than a person, held them upright in front of their bodies, and had ice blade-like components at the bottom of the shields, allowing the Winston father and sons to push the shields forward slowly, like human mini tanks protecting Valensa and Tia behind them.

Valensa frowned, somewhat puzzled.

If a storm is coming, shouldn't you try to secure yourself to the ground? With a large shield like this with ice blades attached to the bottom, aren't you afraid of being blown away by the storm?

Of course, the Winston father and his two sons all possess the strength of Lighthouse Warriors, and their strength and stamina should be sufficient to slowly push their shields forward against the storm, but is it necessary? Isn't that too much of a drain on their energy?

About four minutes later, the storm arrived, and Valensa's doubts were answered.

The wind was very strong. According to Valensa's previous life's wind force classification, it was estimated to be above level ten. It could uproot trees that weren't too thick and blow a sow weighing several hundred kilograms into the air.

However, in this magical world, this kind of wind force is only at the level of a Pearl-level Gale Technique. It's okay to use it when bullying weaker opponents, but it's difficult to cause any damage to Lighthouse-level cultivators.

Of course, the Pearl-level Gale Technique is only similar to this storm in terms of wind force, but the scale is worlds apart.

However, the area of ​​a person's body that can withstand force is limited. For an individual, it can only blow against a few people or against a strong wind that can cover a city. As long as the wind force is the same, the difference is actually not significant.

Given the strength of Winston and his two sons, there was absolutely no need for them to use a large shield.

Valensa and Tia's expressions changed when a series of clanging sounds, like arrows striking each other, rang out on the great shield.

There was something else in this storm that they hadn't noticed before!

Valensa quickly used her mental powers to further enhance her vision, and only then could she barely see that there were countless ice blades and ice needles mixed in with the gale force exceeding level ten!

Similar to the ice beneath her feet, the ice blades and needles in the storm also appeared to be solidified pure water, without any impurities, colorless and transparent. Even with Valensa's normal eyesight, she couldn't see these hidden deadly weapons in the darkness.

No wonder old Winston just said that this storm would be more dangerous than monsters and ghosts... Caught off guard, even a lighthouse-level cultivator would likely be riddled with ice blades and needles in an instant, either dying or being severely crippled.

Valensa and Tia both took a deep breath, said nothing more, silently disengaged from their fighting stance, and carefully followed Winston and his two sons hand in hand.

The five of them pushed three large shields across the ice field for four hours, braving the storm, without seeing the storm show any signs of abating.

However, old Winston breathed a slight sigh of relief and turned to Valensa, saying:

"So far, the journey has gone smoothly, and we'll be at our campsite for tonight soon."

"Ah."

Valensa nodded slightly, but was rather speechless inside.

Light pollution during the day is irritating and maddening, and storms at night can be deadly if you're not careful. Yet, in old Winston's words, this journey was actually quite smooth.

What if things don't go smoothly...

Valensa tightened her grip on Tia's head, silently reminding herself of the danger.

At this moment, she completely put aside the arrogance that had gradually grown with her increased strength, and once again maintained a sense of awe for the environment and nature.

Valensa realized she would never be able to say things like, "I am a beacon of strength, I can wear whatever I want" again.

After slowly pushing the large shield across the ice for about 20 minutes, Valensa finally saw the campsite that old Winston had mentioned for the night.

It was a small iceberg, about seventy or eighty meters high, standing on the ice field, serving as a natural barrier against storms.

At the foot of the southern side of the small iceberg, it is clear that people often spend the night there. Several igloos of different sizes have been carved out by hand, and setting up a tent inside is the best place to spend the night.

It's currently peak season for hunting on the ice plains, so such a great overnight spot is bound to be packed. When Valensa and her group arrived, there were already three small teams camping there.

Fortunately, the area was large, so there was no need to fight over it. Valensa and her group quickly found an igloo of a suitable size to stay in.

After the Winston father and his two sons put away their large shields, they immediately began setting up their tents.

Valensa should have done the same, but she didn't rush to act. Instead, she looked at Tia first:

"how?"

Despite the seemingly random question, Tia immediately understood Valensa's meaning.

The igloos at the foot of these small icebergs are pretty good campsites on the ice field, but Valensa still prefers to sleep in a luxurious hotel room on a soft bed and take a hot bath.

So Valensa was actually asking Tia if she could make a spatial marker here, then teleport back to the hotel to spend the night, and then teleport back early the next morning to continue her journey.

Of course, Tia also wanted to live in better conditions... Valensa had been poor for three years, while Tia had always lived a life of luxury and had never experienced such hardship.

So Tia immediately took out a golden magic card and stuck it on the floor of the igloo, trying to create a spatial marker unique to the Britannia Link Arcane.

But soon, Tia stood up dejectedly and shook her head at Valensa:

"No... The elemental magic here is too violent. I can't set a mark at all... Even if I manage to set one, it will be destroyed in half an hour at most."

"That's it..."

Valensa was clearly disappointed, but there was nothing she could do but stay in a tent.

She took out her and Tia's tent and set it up. After thinking for a moment, she sent Winston and his two sons some snacks and various braised meats that she had brought with her.

Anyway, it wasn't anything valuable, and the artifact cloak had a large storage space. Valensa liked to cook and store food in it whenever she had free time. Now, the food she carried with her was enough for her and Tia to eat for at least a year.

The Winston father and his two sons didn't have any storage space with that much capacity. They also had to carry a lot of survival tools for the ice field, so their food carrying capacity was quite limited. They could only bring food that was good at filling their stomachs but didn't taste very good.

When Valencia offered them pastries and braised meat, the Winston father and sons expressed their gratitude but also kindly reminded each other that food on the ice field was precious and they should eat it sparingly.

"rest assured."

Valensa, of course, wouldn't reveal anything about the magical cloak; she simply patted her skirt.

"I brought a lot of large-capacity storage items this time, so there's definitely enough food! Even if our planned trip is only one month, we could easily manage three months."

Many women like to put storage items inside their skirts, and Valensa and Tia looked like wealthy people, so the Winston father and sons had no suspicions and enjoyed their food without worry.

Of course, the food wasn't free. Without Valensa having to say anything, the Winston father and his two sons offered to take turns keeping watch so that Valensa and Tia could get some rest.

According to the usual rules for hired ice hunters, they are not required to keep watch at night; their task is to lead the way, while keeping watch is the job of the employer's guards.

However, the three grown men were certainly embarrassed to let the two girls take turns keeping watch, and since Valensa's words had just guaranteed their food supply during their stay on the ice field, they reciprocated by taking on the watch themselves.

This phenomenon made Valensa feel even more that the Winston father and his two sons were quite good; at least for now, they seemed to be doing things well, and there was probably another truth behind what happened two years ago.

However, Valensa didn't have any other ideas for the time being; the most important thing right now was to collect enough spinal cord from the Netherworld Clan.

Nothing happened that night, and Valensa slept soundly in the tent with Tia in her arms until dawn.

After a quick breakfast and packing up the tent to continue our journey, the storm had completely stopped, but the light pollution from the sunlight reflecting off the icy ground was starting to bother us again.

Fortunately, thanks to yesterday's experience, Valensa and Tia have adapted much better today. They are able to multitask, thinking about problems while traveling, and they are able to persevere.

That night, another storm of ice blades and needles struck, and the Winston father and his two sons once again took out their large shields and slowly pushed them across the ice.

However, there aren't as good places to camp tonight as there were last night.

The group could only find a place where the wind was a little less, with Winston and his two sons temporarily holding the front with their shields, while Valensa dug a hole behind the shields.

She first used Moon Kiss to cut a rectangular piece of ice large enough to accommodate two tents, then controlled the alloy shield to transform into six floating blades that entered the ice layer along the cut, digging out a block of ice about three meters thick directly from the ground.

Afterwards, everyone jumped into a rectangular ice pit more than three meters deep. Valensa and Winston and his son began to set up the tents, while Tia set up a magical barrier at the pit entrance to prevent everyone from waking up to find themselves buried in ice.

After spending the second night in a tent in an ice pit, the storm stopped again when we woke up on the third morning, but the extremely distressing light pollution reappeared.

This continued in a similar manner, repeating the experiences of the previous two days, during which a sudden, large-scale ice collapse also occurred.

Fortunately, the ice collapse occurred during the day, without the deadly storm. Tia used her magic carpet-like flight card to take Valensa into the air. Valensa then rescued Winston and his two sons, who were pinned to the ice wall by grappling hooks.

On the afternoon of the sixth day, when Valensa was beginning to doubt whether the three former ace hunters, Winston and his son, were truly deserving of their reputations, young Winston suddenly had a change of heart and whispered a few words to his father and brother.

The incident happened suddenly, and they were speaking very quickly. Valensa had just prepared to use her mental powers to enhance her hearing and try to eavesdrop when the conversation between the father and his two sons ended.

"Today, we will find the first hiding place of the Netherworld Ghost."

Old Winston seemed to breathe a slight sigh of relief, turned to Valensa and smiled:

"Are you sure you won't need our help in the fight, ladies?"

Chapters 169-171 Hunting the Underworld Ghosts

"No need, I can handle the combat myself."

Valensa answered decisively.

Faced with Winston's slightly probing gaze, Valensa remained unwavering.

"That's...ok."

Old Winston sighed helplessly, but finally nodded gently.

Actually, this is not quite in accordance with the rules. The Hunters' Guild has a rule that Icefield Hunters must be present when a Netherworld Hunter is killed to prevent anyone from privately collecting Netherworld body materials.

However, the Winston father and his two sons have already been expelled from the Hunters' Guild, so why should they still abide by the Hunters' Guild's rules? Valencia is the one paying them now.

After decades as an ice hunter, old Winston was actually a little conflicted and hesitant, but only for a moment, and he quickly suppressed it... After all, Valensa was offering him a lot of money.

The two sides quickly reached a consensus and, under the leadership of old Winston, changed course.

After enduring the light pollution from the smooth ice surface for about an hour, old Winston suddenly raised his hand to signal everyone to stop, and he himself knelt down and licked the ice surface.

"Hmm... almost there."

It's unclear what old Winston's judgment was based on, but after standing up, he earnestly instructed everyone:

"We're about to enter the Netherworld Ghost Clan's range, everyone prepare to resist the transformation."

Valensa and Tia both nodded slightly, but made no move. Being cautious, they could be said to have been in a state of resistance to transformation.

Big Winston and Little Winston obediently took a few deep breaths together, tensed their muscles, and let the aura of a Lighthouse-level warrior cover their skin.

This is the so-called anti-conversion state. Whether it is Qi, magic power or holy light, as long as it is the cultivator's own bio-energy, it can be used. By controlling this bio-energy to completely cover oneself, one can effectively resist the undead conversion ability of the Netherworld Ghost Clan's innate ability.

This is why those below the Pearl level are restricted from entering the Ice Plains... Apart from some spellcasters, most warrior-type cultivators need to reach the Pearl level or above to condense bio-energy.

This conscious control of bioenergy to cover the whole body to resist transformation is very important; it is a valuable experience that countless American ancestors tried with their lives.

Long ago, when caught off guard, some of the weaker Radiant-ranked warriors had a chance to be directly transformed into undead by the Netherworld Clan.

Now, those Pearl-level experts who have prepared in advance can resist this transformation.

After preparing for the transformation, the group continued for about half an hour, changing their direction at least seven or eight times. Although they seemed to have traveled a long distance, they were actually just circling around within a few hundred meters.

Valensa merely raised an eyebrow at this, saying nothing, because she already had a guess in her mind.

Many treasure-hunting missions in games work like this: they only mark a general area, and the rest requires players to keep searching around that area.

The Winston family is probably doing the same thing now.

Finally, after old Winston had licked the ice for the sixth time, his expression brightened, and he pointed to the ground with a grin, saying to Valensa:

"This is it, there's no mistake... Dig down from here, and you'll definitely find a dormant ghost within 30 meters!"

"Okay, I see."

Valensa nodded, not in a hurry to make a move.

She first gave Tia a wink, then smiled silently at Winston and his two sons.

"……Why."

Old Winston clearly understood Valensa's meaning. His smile turned into a wry one, and he scratched his head in apparent distress before finally unable to resist subtly hinting at it:

"I can roughly guess that you, Miss Paladin, have other purposes, but I still want to remind you that the Netherworld Clan is really dangerous, and some secrets often require a great price to understand."

"Don't worry, it's okay."

Valensa chuckled and pointed to the sky:

"With Her Majesty the Goddess present, those mere underworld ghosts can't cause any trouble."

"……Why."

Old Winston sighed again.

He had seen similar paladins before and knew very well how foolish it was to question Her Majesty the Goddess in front of a paladin.

Besides, he has already been expelled from the guild for more than two years now, so there is no need for him to fall out with the customers over the guild's rules.

Having figured all this out, old Winston didn't hesitate any longer. He quickly pulled his two sons back a hundred meters away and turned around to indicate that he couldn't see anything from Valensa's actions.

Valensa then took out an ice pick, took a deep breath, and swung it forcefully against the ice to begin digging.

Valensa's strength was greatly enhanced by mental power. In addition, she developed a two-stage power technique based on the principle of spiked sword. With each swing of her pickaxe, she could pierce through several meters of ice and shatter the ice around the point of impact.