Chapter 67: The Distinguished Graduate of the Military Academy

From having absolutely no freedom and being carried around by him like a corpse, to achieving this level of freedom of movement, is actually a kind of progress.

This shows that Lady Talitha has been persisting in her struggle, responding with wit and caution, and ultimately has achieved some success.

In the long run, perhaps without relying on the help of others, she will be able to make a clean break—no, to escape and survive.

Thinking of this, Talitha cheered up a little and followed Zohan out of the Aldous Manor.

Along the way, she also saw many demonic wolves. Like her, they were walking corpses with both their minds and souls bound.

This made Talitha look at Zohan with complex emotions. Why is he so powerful? How wonderful it would be if he were an ally.

No, if he were an ally, he would definitely use his abilities to make many demands of Talitha or the Clement family, such as having Talitha replace Nina and Madam Aldous to please him.

Heh, Talitha could never do that; she would only use her sharp claws to slice open his chest and see just how wicked his black heart really is!

However, his physique is indeed quite nice. Unlike many powerful fighters in the army who are covered in lumps of muscle, looking like monsters.

Nor is he emaciated and frail like traditional mages such as Beaumarchais. Instead, he possesses a symmetrical and healthy aesthetic, which makes it no wonder that Nina and Madam Aldous are so obsessed with his body.

Following his shoulder to his hand, it was precisely a pair of hands like this that unleashed earth-shaking magic—wait, what is the background of the little girl he is holding?

"Who are you?" Talitha asked Yeye directly. When she was in Celiade's room, she had seen this little girl crawling in and out of the closet.

At the time, Talitha thought this was Zohan's kept toy, and the abused kind at that, otherwise why would she be kept in a closet?

Now it seemed not to be the case. Zohan was gently holding her small hand, and the little girl was skipping along lightly and lively, not looking abused at all.

"I'm just a little girl who walks around everywhere. My name is Jormungandr, but you can call me Yeye." Yeye curiously looked at Talitha. "What's your name?"

"My name is Talitha Clement." Talitha proudly stated her surname, then asked curiously, "But why are you called Jormungandr? Who would name their child a name that once illuminated the entire Roland Continent?"

"Why? I've always been called this name. Does there have to be a reason for having this name?" Yeye didn't quite understand.

Looking into Yeye's pure eyes, Talitha couldn't help pondering that this little girl seemed completely unaware of the greatness of the name "Jormungandr."

This was, after all, the person Talitha admired second most, and the strongest being she adored.

The history of Jormungandr was too distant, whereas Lady Edestelena had a more direct impact on modern history and brought a more immediate sense of awe to Talitha, allowing her to replace Jormungandr as Talitha's most revered person.

"You don't know the power of Jormungandr yet your name is Jormungandr—could you also be an elf?" Talitha suddenly realized.

Talitha could sense Yeye's power. The immense magical fluctuations on her body gave Talitha a sense of oppression similar to Zohan's. Aside from elves, who else could release magical fluctuations that usually require a hundred or a thousand years of cultivation while wearing such an immature face?

"What is an elf?" Yeye asked curiously. This fluffy-eared pig always talked about things Yeye didn't understand, and never explained them to her.

"Master, she is a stupid wolf. Don't talk to her; it will lower your strength, intelligence, and cognitive ability," Celiade hurriedly said.

Because she could be said to be a magical beast personally created by Yeye, her state, mind, and soul were all closely tied to Yeye. Celiade had to be vigilant against Talitha's influence on Yeye.

Talitha bared her teeth, just extending her claws before pulling them back, because she could not attack targets not designated by Zohan. Violating this rule would cause the power in her body to vanish, and that feeling of weakness was simply too unbearable.

Yet Celiade's words were far too harsh. What did she mean by saying that talking to Talitha would lower one's strength, intelligence, and cognitive ability? Did she really have such a powerful contaminating capacity!

"Once the training begins, I won't hold back," Talitha could only issue such a threat.

Being of the same fifth tier, she had rich combat experience and would surely be able to suppress Celiade firmly. And since Celiade required training, Zohan would have to allow Celiade to be injured and beaten down; otherwise, how could it be called training?

Just you wait.

Stepping out of the town, the trees on the snowfields gradually increased. Upon entering the forested area, Zohan still cautiously cast a few defensive spells to ensure his survival and safety.

This time, rather than traveling alone, Zohan added a wide-area defense magic, the complete version of the [Radiant Fortress], known as the [Radiant Domain].

The common characteristic of defensive magic is that the broader the coverage area, the lower the defensive effectiveness becomes. The [Radiant Domain] was no exception.

The difference was that Zohan had modified the magic circuit to give it a certain degree of intelligent response. When attacks were concentrated on a single point, the defensive effectiveness at other locations would be appropriately weakened and coordinated to reinforce the heavily attacked spot, thereby enhancing the defense.

Jormungandr had praised this small design of his, believing that such modifications were even more suited for application in urban defense.

After all, when individuals use defensive magic, they truly might face three-hundred-and-sixty-degree attacks with no blind spots, whereas large cities under attack are usually subjected to breakthroughs at single points.

Sigh, I miss my teacher again... Although Zohan had been immersed in a tender nest during this period, he had not cast his teacher to the back of his mind. It was just that the appearance of Lady Edestelena had added many complications and anxieties to his heart.

"Is this where she and I will duel?" Seeing Zohan stop in his tracks, Talitha looked around and decided this was a fine place to make Celiade bleed.

A boundless sea of snow, verdant forests, scattered and messy footprints on the road, a camp behind covered in thick snow, and the towering Grandis Mountains seemingly reaching into the sky.

A place like this called for a splash of bright crimson to accent the scenery and banish that gloomy, monotonous atmosphere.

"A duel? You're not worthy." Celiade dismissed it with utter disdain. A magical beast's contempt for the weak and lower-tier beings is instinctive.

Demonic wolves were a powerful yet relatively common kind of magical beast, whereas Celiade, as a blood thrall, could eventually grow into a vampire—a species comparable to legendary races.

A race like the demonic wolves typically only ambushed weak adventurer parties, stray travelers, merchant caravans with poor guards, and at most, small towns and villages.

And vampires? They existed only in widely circulated myths and legends, portrayed as elegant and graceful, dancing in the darkness, blooming magnificent blood roses, composing magnificent symphonies of blood, and haunting epic tales.

They were completely different in style from demonic wolves.

Talitha sneered. Clearly still in the juvenile stage of some magical beast, yet she put on airs as if she were already fully matured.

She walked aside, intending to uproot a tree to demonstrate her strength.

She failed to uproot it.

She had no choice but to walk back to Zohan's side.

She had momentarily forgotten that the power Zohan currently permitted her to release was only at the level of an ordinary person.

"You guys originally sneaked in from here and then set up camp near Red Hazel Town?" Zohan asked Talitha.

Recalling his previous visit here, when he used scene-reconstruction magic to discover Mahait leading a batch of demonic wolves, he figured there might be a passage here leading to the outside world.

He had let Mahait and Beaumarchais leave without even pursuing them, simply so Mahait would believe their infiltration and attack route had not been exposed.

Next, when Mahait brought the Clement family or some other faction, they would develop path dependency and still take this route, making it convenient for Zohan to make some preparations in advance.

Talitha fell silent. As a military officer who graduated with top honors from the Edestelena Third Military Academy, she naturally grasped the implication behind Zohan's question.

He must intend to lead the demonic wolf fierce beast troops now under his command to bypass this route and head toward Munro Town, catching the remaining forces of the Clement family off guard.

If that happened, the forces the Clement family committed to this operation would truly be completely wiped out.