But the reality was different.
His relief lasted only a moment.
At some instant, White Shadow suddenly stepped back, and then a surge of frost immensely enveloped her body like moss growing over it.
Thereupon, White Shadow gently opened her mouth.
Huh—
A tangible stream of icy blue cold air spread out.
Colin's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stepped back.
Bang.
However, the next second, he was shocked to find that the snowy passage behind him, which had been clear before, had somehow turned into a dead end!
An ice wall blocked Colin's retreat.
Boom!
Colin instinctively threw a fireball behind him.
Under the formidable power of the Blazing White Fireball, the ice wall behind him was pierced in an instant, creating a several meters long passage.
But at the end of the passage, there was still solid ice.
It was as if the entire passage behind was abruptly filled with ice blocks.
Creak, creak, creak.
At this moment, several hard Ice Spurs suddenly sprouted from the ice wall beside Colin, seemingly intent on binding him in place.
Colin dodged and turned his head to look at White Shadow.
It was as if a king had issued an order; though there was no visible movement from White Shadow, all the ice crystals within Colin's sight seemed to come alive, changing with White Shadow's thoughts.
As if subjects responding to a king's command.
The fire elements in front, upon encountering that icy blue cold air, seemed like a tiny dying candle that extinguished in an instant.
The cold continued its relentless advance.
Trouble.
As Colin dodged the sharp spikes continuously protruding from the ice walls, he realized the passage was getting narrower and his eyebrows furrowed.
Cold air in front, an unknown depth of ice wall behind, the ice walls on both sides kept moving closer, compressing his space to move...
Colin pondered for a moment and decided to make one last attempt.
If it didn't work, he would have to escape... Although thick, the ice wall behind him was still just ice and could not stop him.
He took out a delicate ice sculpture from his Storage Ring.
"Do you remember this, Shelley? This was the New Year's gift you gave me."
The ice sculpture was a crystal-clear, five-petaled flower with a base that looked like a miniature iceberg.
According to Shelley at the time, she had carved a strange flower called Casarate that only blooms on the unlit summit of ice mountains, desolately radiating light to the outside world.
"Casarate, do you still remember?" Colin continued, staring intently at White Shadow in front of him.
The next moment, Colin's anxious heart slightly relaxed.
Upon seeing the ice sculpture, the ice walls around him suddenly stopped moving.
The figure of White Shadow also suddenly paused; her eyes gradually cleared, the blizzard within them slowly dissipated, and the fluffy snow hair glowing with white light fell dimly.
She looked more like the Shelley he knew.
"Colin..." after a moment, White Shadow slowly spoke as if awakening from a dream, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"Why are you here?"
Shelley looked at Colin and seemed to remember something, then quickly looked down at herself.
Upon seeing her own peculiar state, her face noticeably changed, and at the same time, a barely discernible blush passed over her pale cheeks, as she waved a hand to clothe herself in a Wizard Robe.
Her near Elementalization just now made her practically invisible, but as she gradually regained her senses, her body also gradually returned to normal...
The embarrassment in her heart quickly dissipated, replaced by complex feelings about Colin discovering her peculiar state.
Shelley pursed her lips, gazing at Colin, and silently repeated the question:
"Why are you here, Sir Colin?"