The arrogant laughter from the ice dragon was particularly infuriating to Erwin, and he turned to face the dragon with a cold expression, upon which its mocking laughter immediately drew to an abrupt halt.

The dragon was completely rooted to the spot, and it was as if it had never seen such an expression before. In that instant, its derision toward the pair of weak humans before it suddenly turned into an inexplicable sense of fury.

Looking at the young man standing before it, the dragon didn't know whether it was infuriated by his arrogance, or if it were enraged by the fact that it felt a flutter of panic in its heart in the instant that Erwin had directed his cold glare toward it.

Erwin raised a hand, then thrust his palm toward the pillar of light. A miniature spherical light shield detached itself from his palm, then adhered itself to the outer wall of the pillar of light.

Immediately thereafter, Erwin let loose a furious roar, and his hair began to rise up around his face. He could feel Onean's magic power surging toward him incessantly, but the spherical light shield on his palm wasn't able to advance any further.

However, this was already enough, and he began to rapidly inject his magic power into the miniature ball of light.

As a result, the spherical light shield began to slowly expand, and in the blink of an eye, it had already swelled from the size of a sesame seed to the same size as Erwin's hand.

Erwin didn't know if his theory that space could be altered in environments where time stood still was correct, but there was no time to hesitate, and he could only give it a try.

As it turned out, his theory was correct, after all. With the injection of his magic power, the form of the light shield on his palm was beginning to change. The same thing applied to the purple pillar of light. It didn't appear to be undergoing any change, but in reality, its two ends were compressing toward the center at a rate that was too slow to be discernible to the naked eye, and that was why Onean was in so much pain.

Given that everything else remained constant, the density of space would be increased as the size of the space decreased.

Of course, what Erwin was currently doing would only exacerbate Onean's pain. The expansion of the light shield on his palm meant that the space within the pillar of light was becoming smaller, and as a result, the density of the space within the pillar of light was also increasing. However, this was the only way that he could think of to save Onean.

At this point, Onean's face was already completely devoid of color, and she was no longer trembling, but that was only because she seemed to have fallen unconscious.

The ice dragon was quite surprised as it watched what Erwin was doing. It didn't expect him to be capable of using the same type of magic as itself.

It couldn't understand exactly what Erwin was trying to do, but it knew that it couldn't allow him to continue to do as it pleased. Thus, it pointed its claw forward once again, and a burst of magic power surged out of the tip of the claw before injecting itself directly into the pillar of purple light.

This is it! Erwin immediately stopped what he was doing upon seeing this.

The spherical light shield on his palm vanished in the blink of an eye into the pillar of purple light like a balloon that had been popped, and the boundless pressure that was about to act upon the light shield pushed Onean directly toward him.

Erwin immediately seized this opportunity, plunging his hand through the outer wall of the pillar of light before grabbing onto Onean's wrist, then dragging her straight out of the pillar of purple light.

Onean had already lost consciousness at this point, so her magic power output had also been cut off. As a result, it became easier to break through the outer wall of the pillar of light, and that was exactly the opportunity that Erwin had pounced on.

He carefully inspected Onean's physical condition, and he was very relieved to see that she was still breathing, albeit very faintly. Looking at her severely chapped lips, his heart was throbbing slightly with pain.

He wasn't feeling this way because of the horrendous torment that he had just witnessed Onean suffer through. Instead, what drew more of an emotional response from him was the hint of pride and stubbornness that was still etched on her face even in unconsciousness. Her tightly furrowed brows seemed to be expressing her unyielding pride and unwavering resolve, both of which were qualities that she seemed to have been innately instilled with.

With another thunderous roar, the ice dragon let loose a glacial breath, clearly very displeased at the fact that Erwin had dared to pull Onean out of its spell.

Erwin was already prepared for this, and he immediately unleashed a space split technique, vanishing on the spot with Onean still in his arms.

Seeing as both Erwin and Onean had escaped from their perilous ordeal, Christine hurriedly called out to them from the deck of the airship. "Run, Brother Erwin! We have to get out of here!"

Perhaps the airship was too far away from them, or perhaps the roar of the ice dragon drowned out Christine's voice, but Erwin didn't appear to have heard her at all. His gaze was fixed firmly on the giant ice dragon with a cold look in his eyes, and it seemed that he was intent on fighting the dragon to the death.

Christine stomped her foot with urgency and frustration upon seeing this.

Her father was about to say something to her, but he refrained from doing so upon seeing the look on her face.

Thus, the ice dragon and Erwin were locked in a confrontation, and neither side was willing to back down.

Another burst of purple light erupted from the tip of the dragon's claw, but Erwin remained completely still on the spot with Onean on his shoulder. His eyes were filled with nothing but cold indifference as he watched the oncoming pillar of purple light, which was expanding further and further in his field of view. It seemed that in his eyes, the formidable pillar of light was no different from the snow and mountains in the surrounding landscape.

All of a sudden, a pair of crescent moons flew out of his sleeves.

The sky was already very overcast, and what little natural light was present was gradually being drawn into the dark rifts left behind by the pair of new moons. Soon, it had become so dark that it was as if night had already fallen.

In that instant, the giant ice dragon was finally willing to admit to itself that it was feeling fear. At the same time, it had also confirmed that this human was capable of wielding the power of space and time, just like itself. Even more importantly, he was far more reckless with his powers than it was.

Thus, the ice dragon instinctively began to flee the scene. It wasn't afraid of Erwin's magic. Instead, it was afraid of the outcome that would be produced once the two time and space spells clashed with one another.

However, it was already too late.

The pair of glistening new moons came into contact with the pillar of purple light, and in that instant, the Terarody Mountain Ranges fell completely silent, so silent that there was not a single sound to be heard. At the same time, the Terarody Mountain Ranges fell completely dark, so dark that not even a single ray of light could be seen.

As a result, all of the bystanders were left wondering if they had suddenly gone blind and deaf at the same time.

This time, it wasn't just a simple matter of Erwin's new moons severing the shackles of space and time. With two powerful time and space spells clashing together, a vast cloud of black mist was created, and it devoured everything around it, including the two living beings that had cast the spells, as well as the unconscious Onean. 

After what seemed to have been an eternity, the overcast sky was revealed again, and the frosty wind resumed its howling. However, Erwin and the giant ice dragon, which had been responsible for creating that astonishing phenomenon, were nowhere to be seen. It was as if they had never existed in this world in the first place.

However, the severed section of dragon tail that was lying on the ground was a clear reminder of everything that had just transpired.

"Brother Erwin! Brother Erwin!" Christine's panicked voice rang out amid the mountains, but there was no response.

Sherry was the first person to leap down from the airship, and he was followed closely by Lanyon and all of the other Four Winds mercenaries.

However, even after searching the entire area in a radius of several kilometers, they weren't able to find Erwin and Onean.

Erwin was the spiritual leader of the group, and with his disappearance, everyone was feeling completely lost. The future was already extremely unclear for the Four Winds mercenary legion, and in the wake of Erwin's absence, everyone was left wondering if it was even worth continuing on this journey.

Sherry sat onto the ground with a dejected expression, and even the mature and steadfast Lanyon was feeling very anxious and frustrated, unable to figure out how to proceed.

Christine was so desperate in her search for Erwin that she didn't notice that her boots had been pulled off her feet by the thick snow. Her exposed feet quickly turned bright red from the cold, but she was still searching frantically through the piles of snow, hoping against hope that Erwin would be lying under one of them.

Georgina had gone off even further away to search for Erwin and Onean, but in reality, he knew that the search was futile, and he only wanted to get away from everyone and spent some time alone.

The overcast sky was like a cloud of despair hanging over everyone's heads, and the future was looking murkier than ever.

...

The radiant light of the sun shone down onto Erwin's face, and he wanted to raise his arm to shield his own face, but his movements were restricted for some reason, and he was unable to lift his own arm.

At the same time, he was struck by a sense of asphyxiation, as if there were a heavy weight on his chest, and he looked down to find that he was lying under a dragon's arm.

His gaze trailed along the length of the arm, and he discovered that it was a severed dragon's arm, extending all the way from the dragon's claws to its heart. Green blood was currently flowing out of the several arteries and blood vessels around the dragon's heart, and given that Erwin was in such close proximity to it, the smell was particularly strong.

Hold on, is the giant ice dragon dead? he thought to himself in an astonished manner, then raised his head to inspect his surroundings. In doing so, he discovered that he was situated in a forest. The branches and leaves of the huge trees around him kept out much of the sun's rays, and there were no signs of human activity anywhere in the surrounding area.

Right as Erwin was about to push the heavy severed limb off his own chest, he heard the sound of a delicate groan.

"Onean?" He immediately sprang up into a seated position upon hearing this, and the delicate groan instantly turned into a cry of pain.

Erwin followed the sound to search for Onean, and he discovered that the two of them had been crushed under the two ends of the severed dragon's limb. He was on the claw side, while Onean was being crushed firmly under the dragon's heart. Thus, as soon as he tried to lift the claw off himself, the weight that was crushing down on Onean became even heavier. However, it was also because of this crushing sensation that Onean was awakened from her unconscious state.

"Hold on, I'll get you out of there right away." Erwin's entire body was feeling quite sore and painful, but he couldn't afford to rest now. He raised one hand to cast a levitation spell, then grabbed onto Onean's wrist with his other hand.

After the giant heart was lifted slightly by the levitation spell, Erwin was able to rescue Onean and pull her out into the open.

Onean looked up at the sky as she gasped for air, and her chest was rising and falling violently. She felt as if she were about to go insane from the overwhelming feeling of asphyxiation just now.

Erwin was seated beside her, staring at her with a slightly slack-jawed expression, thinking to himself that he had never seen her look so disheveled before. The green blood of the ice dragon was smeared over close to half of her face from her forehead to her chin, and a large section of her silver hair had been stained green as well. The white magician's robe that she was wearing was also in tatters, revealing large sections of her bare skin, from her voluptuous chest to her slender waist, and from her delicate rear end to her smooth and luscious legs. Erwin was unwilling to miss any part of this delectable visual feast, and his gaze was constantly roaming over her body.

Onean quickly noticed the strange look on Erwin's face, and she looked down to inspect herself. After seeing how much of her body was exposed, she didn't even know what to cover first.

However, as a princess, her composure was very admirable, and she didn't scream like the average woman would do in her position, nor did she try to cover her own body in embarrassment. Instead, after taking a brief look at herself, she cast her gaze toward Erwin, upon which she suddenly burst into laughter for some reason. At the same time, a barely detectable flush had appeared on her face.

Erwin was rather perplexed by her amusement, and he looked down at himself, only to discover that his situation wasn't much better than Onean's. No wonder he had felt so cold and exposed as he was going about rescuing Onean from under the severed dragon's limb. As it turned out, he was also virtually completely nude.

Thus, after giving himself a quick once-over, he also burst into laughter. The two of them exchanged a glance, and they began to laugh louder and louder, as if this were the funniest situation imaginable to them.

The sound of their laughter reverberated throughout the dense forest, and it seemed that they were celebrating their survival through their laughter after their near-death experience.

After both of them had grown tired from laughing, Erwin and Onean laid down beside each other to look up at the bright and sunny sky, and both of them were still grinning from ear to ear.

"Where is this place?" Onean asked with an absentminded expression.

"Who knows?" Erwin replied as he tucked his own arm under his head as a pillow, looking very content to be basking in the warmth of the afternoon sun.

"These leaves are from honeystrand poison trees, which can only be found in the north. It looks like we've arrived in the north," Onean said as she propped herself up into a seated position before inspecting her surroundings.

"Don't look at me, I have no clue. I don't even know if we're out of the Terarody Mountain Ranges yet. Having said that, there's no more snow around, so we're probably out of the mountains," Erwin said. "What are honeystrand poison trees supposed to be?"

Onean turned to him with an amused expression, and she was just about to tease him for his lack of general knowledge, just like she had done back in the horse-drawn carriage. Erwin was naturally able to see what she was thinking from her expression, and in retaliation, his gaze roamed greedily over Onean's body, taking in the breathtaking sight that was laid bare before him.

On this occasion, Onean was unable to suppress her embarrassment, and she wanted to use magic to pluck off a few leaves to cover her own body with, but unfortunately for her, she didn't have even a single ounce of magic power left in her body. If it weren't for the fact that her magic power had run completely dry, she wouldn't have been stuck helplessly under the severed limb of the ice dragon.

Instead of offering Onean his help, Erwin put on a gleeful expression as he asked, "Have you run out of magic power?"

Onean crossed her arms with a sulky expression, then turned her face away to ignore him.

Erwin hurriedly plucked off a few leaves before handing them over to Onean to appease her. As he did so, he recalled what Onean had said earlier, and he asked, "Didn't you say these trees are supposed to be poisonous?"

"They're not poisonous in this season. During summer, the sap that flows out of the leaves is poisonous," Onean explained, refusing to accept the leaves from Erwin.

Thankfully, magic was a great tool for modifying things, and Erwin was able to combine a few of the leaves he had picked up with Onean's tattered magician's robe.

"I feel like you could be a good tailor if you put your mind to it," Onean said as she looked at her newly modified dress with a joyful expression, spinning around on the spot a few times in the process to show off the dress. "It could be a bit longer though."

As the saying went, a woman's mood was as fickle as the weather.

"I only have so much fabric left to work with, so I couldn't make it any longer than that," Erwin said, using the material constraints as an excuse, but in reality, he was very pleased with his own handiwork.

What little remained of the magician's robe had been modified into a simple yet still elegant dress that was tapered at the waist. The leaves had been used for the edge of the collar and the hemline of the dress, as well as to mend the holes on the dress. With the addition of the leaves, the dress was looking very vibrant and full of vitality.

Not only was it perfectly accentuating Onean's tall and slender figure, it was the perfect mix of seductive allure and simple elegance, and it really could pass for a piece created by a master tailor.

Furthermore, this was only an impromptu piece from Erwin, who had no prior experience in tailorship. There were times when he couldn't help but be impressed by his own artistic acumen, and this was one of those occasions.

The only problem was that the dress exposed a little bit too much of Onean's back. The v-neck collar of the dress extended from Onean's shoulders all the way down to the middle of her back, while the hemline of the dress was hanging around two inches above her knees.

The dress was clearly not a suitable piece of clothing for such a cold season, but as the tailor of the dress, Erwin was more interested in satisfying some ulterior motives other than keeping Onean warm.