Chapter 1510: Chapter 1510: Queen?

The dense flying snow resulting from the shattering of the Snow Giant initially felt heavy like a thick wall, obscuring all vision.

But soon, this ‘wall’ quickly thinned and transformed into ordinary, large snowflakes.

He Ao’s gaze lingered in a certain direction amid the drifting snowflakes.

Accompanied by the faint sound of boots stepping into the thick snow, a slender silhouette slowly emerged from the blizzard.

Her steps were slow and graceful, her posture upright, akin to the wind and snow in the sky, gently drifting into this place.

As she came closer, He Ao could clearly discern her features.

This was a beautiful woman.

Her skin was like white snow, exquisite and cold, yet with a hint of baby fat; her long white hair was simply bound together, draped over her shoulders, adorned with some clean snowflakes.

She wore a white long dress embedded with ice crystals; the upper part of the dress wrapped around her shoulders with straight and stiff lines, resembling a formal outfit from the dungeon world, while the lower part was a looser mermaid skirt structure, vaguely outlining a slender and graceful silhouette, the hem trailing on the ground.

The sparkling ice crystals shimmered like gems in the faint light of the snowfield.

On her beautiful cheeks, lake-blue eyes slightly drooped, quietly gazing at He Ao.

Honestly, this dress is unsuitable for moving in the wilderness.

He Ao looked at the ‘woman’ before him and also at her drooping gaze.

Clearly, the other party ‘could see’ him and was not an illusory illusion.

From her demeanor, she seemed to have undergone very strict etiquette education.

If it were a dungeon world, this generally meant she came from an ancient family with a very noble ‘lineage.’

Of course, in the Federation after so many years, even in the dungeon world, few still adhere to these etiquettes.

He Ao’s gaze fell on the tips of the woman’s fingers, where a trace of ice and snow power entwined.

He could distinctly feel the core power of those Snow Giants being ‘absorbed’ by the woman before him.

Her handling of the Snow Giant’s outcome was the same as He Ao’s, both directly breaking the Snow Giant.

But the essence was entirely different from He Ao.

He Ao directly destroyed the Snow Giant’s core, causing it to collapse, while the woman before him seemed to ‘absorb’ the Snow Giant’s core.

“Hello, outsider.” As He Ao observed the woman, she was evidently examining his attire as well, speaking softly.

Her pronunciation was very slow and clear, even in He Ao’s ears, with a changed tone and dialect accent, yet as it came from her mouth, it rose and fell like classical music being played.

Even someone who couldn’t understand could discern the elegance and melodiousness in her voice.

Most of the time, humans have a surprisingly consistent aesthetic for music.

Moreover, He Ao vaguely sensed that the woman carried an extremely terrifying power.

She might have knowledge about this blizzard and the global cooling situation in the Main World.

Understanding the specifics, at least, would give him clues to resolve the current situation.

“Hello.” He Ao nodded slightly, his expression turning slightly somber.

He couldn’t contact Hao Yi’s clone.

Since arriving at this snowfield, he had been trying to establish contact with the clone.

While the link with the clone had been unstable since he delved deeper into the snowstorm, he had always felt the clone and could control it, albeit with a high ‘delay.’

Even while communicating with that ‘General’ and during the sudden advent of the storm, He Ao’s link with the clone remained intact.

But, from a certain moment after the ‘blizzard’ dissipated and He Ao arrived at this snowfield, the link with the clone was completely severed.

From the mysticism knowledge that He Ao currently possessed.

There were only two possibilities for the clone’s disconnect: one was the clone controlling the Velora in the depths of the void, being wiped out instantly.

But if the clone were wiped out, He Ao would somewhat sense it, considering the clone was covered with his soul.

The second possibility, however, was the ‘distance too far,’ severing even the soul’s connection.

Just like when he entered the dungeon world.

He Ao raised his head, looking at the blizzard-pervaded snowfield, as an orange-gray glow flashed through his field of view.

The space here was extraordinarily stable without any signs of turbulence or instability.

It was as if this was another ‘world.’

Finding no turbulent space also meant he couldn’t follow it back.

“Are you lost?”

Observing He Ao’s subtly changing expression, the snow-white long-sleeved woman softly inquired.

Upon hearing her words, He Ao gathered his thoughts, nodded lightly, “Sort of.”

If he could come here, then he could definitely return, just by finding the passage connecting the two worlds.

But was this the dungeon world?

This place always gave him a feeling of seeming yet not seeming right.

“I’ve never seen your attire before; are you from the southern continent?” The white-dressed woman softly stated, “How did you come here?”

“A blizzard,” He Ao pondered and said, “It ‘covered’ my way home.”

He looked at the woman before him, softly asked, “And you?”

“I’m searching for a way to resolve this blizzard,” the woman softly stated, raising her head, looking at the dancing snow around, gently lifting her hand.

Invisible white radiance overflowed from her fingertips, brushing over the surrounding space.

The drifting blizzard halted gently under the radiance, revealing an endless vast snowfield that appeared in He Ao’s field of view once the snowstorm stopped.

The woman glanced at He Ao’s thin attire and softly spoke, “Indeed, there are some anomalies in this blizzard, with many aspects that cannot be comprehended.”

She observed He Ao, “The nearest city-state from the south needs a two-hundred-kilometer journey, and proceeding fifty kilometers north leads to another city. You can join me in waiting for the storm to subside in that city, then consider returning south.”

This was some sort of ‘invitation.’

He Ao observed the woman before him and pondered, “I still don’t know your name and identity?”

“You can call me Kela; I am the queen of Xikelan, and you can trust me.” The woman calmly replied.

“Queen?” He Ao observed the woman before him, slightly stunned.

Is Xikelan a kingdom?

He vaguely felt that the term Xikelan sounded familiar.

The woman’s voice held a significant amount of dialectal modulation, and while He Ao could roughly connect the meaning through the context, he purely had to guess on the specialized terms.

He glanced around, seeing only the woman by herself.

“Here, deep within the snowfield, my attendants and army would only slow my pace and increase their dangers by following me.” The woman seemed to have discerned He Ao’s doubts and spoke softly.

“Where is the Kingdom you mentioned?” At this moment, He Ao finally recalled where he had heard the term ‘Xikelan’ before.

In his memory, there was indeed a term that sounded very similar to ‘Xikelan’, and that was ‘Xiqilelan’.

In the dungeon world, northeast of Rock City, there is a city called Xiqilelan, which also seems to be an ancient city.

In the dungeon world, Xiqilelan is the northernmost city of the Federation, even further north than Rock City.

Beyond Xiqilelan, one completely enters the desolate North Ice Field.

But at this moment, He Ao wasn’t certain if the ‘Xikelan’ the woman in front of him was referring to was the ‘Xiqilelan’ he knew about.

“About a thousand kilometers south from here is my Kingdom,” the woman said calmly, “If you are near the Kingdom, I can have the army escort you to a city within the Kingdom.”

Hearing this, He Ao was taken aback for a moment.

If his guess was correct, Xiqilelan would be the northernmost city of the Federation. North of Xiqilelan would be the pure North Ice Field, devoid not only of human city-states but also of most exotic beast species.

So far, the records of the Federation in the dungeon world regarding the North Ice Field have been sparse, only knowing that it is the northern boundary of the Federation, a true no-man’s land with eternal snow.

Adventurers who venture into the North Ice Field never return.

But now, the Queen in front of him says that where He Ao is located is a thousand kilometers north of Xiqilelan, deep within the North Ice Field, and there are even quite a few cities here.

There are cities to the south and to the north as well.

This doesn’t quite align with the “common knowledge” of the dungeon world.

“Isn’t there supposed to be no city north of Xiqilelan?” He Ao directly asked the woman before him about his doubts.

“Indeed, there are no new Kingdoms north of the Kingdom, but there are many scattered city-states here, which is the territory of the Northern City-State Alliance,” the woman looked at He Ao and, not surprisingly addressing his doubts, explained softly and slowly, “The Northern City-State Alliance and the Kingdom have been allies for years. In the spring and summer, we have extensive trade.”

She didn’t seem to mind that He Ao’s pronunciation was different from hers; in fact, their pronunciations had always been different.

“Northern City-State Alliance.” He Ao pondered over the term.

Vaguely, he had other speculations.

“I need to continue north now,” Kela raised her head, looked at He Ao, and asked softly, “Would you like to go with me to the northern city?”

He Ao looked at the woman before him, after a brief pause, he nodded slightly and smiled, “Sure.”

His purpose was to investigate the cause of the cooling in the Main World and the sudden appearance of those historical phenomena, while the purpose of this ‘queen’ before him was to clear this storm of rapid cooling.

In a sense, they had similar goals.

Moreover, since he had appeared in this place upon entering this world, then it’s very likely there is some mystic connection nearby related to his ‘crossing’.

Perhaps looking at the source of that snowstorm might also provide clues for his return.

“Alright.” Upon hearing He Ao’s response, Kela nodded slightly.

She turned around and gently raised her hand.

From a distance came a sudden sound of heavy animal footsteps stepping into the snow, stomping on the ice surface.

He Ao lifted his head and looked in the direction of the sound.

In the soft sunlight, a reindeer gleaming with a faint light, seemingly entirely made of ice, dragged a long sled forged from ice blocks, swiftly crossing the snowfield to arrive before Kela.

Kela lowered her head and looked at the sled in front of her.

The size of this sled was not large, only suitable for one person to sit.

Kela raised her hand, a faint white glow flashed at her fingertips.

And with the light at her fingertips, the sled slowly widened and lengthened, transforming into a two-person sled with a side door.

Then she turned around and looked at He Ao, softly saying, “It’s ready.”

With that, she slowly walked to the side of the sled, the side door opened, and she sat on the side close to the reindeer.

He Ao also slowly walked over and sat opposite Kela.

The side door then closed, and the deer-like ice sculpture lifted its legs, stepping on the ice field, quickly running ahead.

He Ao looked at the distinct ice sculpture reindeer, a creature made entirely of ice blocks, yet nimble and agile, not unlike a real flesh and blood lifeform.

He Ao carefully observed its composition form.

This reindeer’s structure seemed remarkably similar to that of the giant snow giant, both projections of some underlying structure of the world in reality.

Or rather, in essence, they might be the same.

He Ao withdrew his gaze and looked at Kela before him.

At this moment, Kela was sitting on the sled, her legs closed and slightly tilted, her hands placed on her knees, her back straight, her body slightly leaning against the sled’s side, seemingly taking a short rest.

She did not seem ‘afraid’ that He Ao might pose any ‘danger’ to her.

The reindeer’s rapid run brought a howling wind, scattered ice crystals fell on the woman’s translucent, youthful face with a hint of baby fat, as well as her tied-up white hair.

A faint orange-gray light shimmered in He Ao’s eyes.

From the very beginning, He Ao could sense a very strong power within the body of the woman before him.

He had attempted to place a mark on the woman. After his Super Memory progressed to Angel, only three marks were needed to alter an angel’s choice.

Yet He Ao had placed six marks and could only barely feel the thoughts of the woman in front of him.

He could sense that the woman before him bore ‘goodwill’.

The last time He Ao placed so many marks was on a heavily injured Tuning Master, and he had to use eight marks to roughly perceive the Tuning Master’s thoughts.

But a Tuning Master is a Usurper God, and an injured Usurper God is still a Usurper God.

This means that the ranking status of the Queen Kela in front of him might not be at the level of a Usurper God, but at least it far exceeds that of an Angel.

However, He Ao could not feel any ranking oppression from her body, which indicates she possesses high-level power but appears not to have a complete rank, or the rank has not manifested.

This ‘queen’ has formidable power, terrifying rank, and soul, but she doesn’t seem to be aware of it.

She seems not to have ascended through normal ‘promotion’ to reach this point.

It seems she does not have a strong understanding of her own power.

This isn’t necessarily a ‘good thing’ in this world of Mysticism.

Power obtained without cost, most times, doesn’t signify Grace, but rather ‘disaster’.

However, another thing that surprised He Ao somewhat was that during his contact with Queen Kela in front of him.

His Reason showed quite a noticeable trend of stabilization.

This means that the Queen before him firmly believes he is ‘human’, and this strong belief even gave him intense feedback, significantly stabilizing his humanity.

Moreover, it seemed this Queen firmly believes she herself is ‘human’.

He Ao didn’t know if entering this ‘Otherworld’ this time was good or bad, but in some sense, this might be that ‘place where no one knows him’.

While He Ao pondered, Kela, with her eyes tightly shut, opened them slightly, her lake-blue gaze quietly fixed on He Ao.