Chapter 167 - Ice Empress

'Hmm, after testing it for a while, I can safely assume that this Troll might be around Lv.28-30. Also, because of its regeneration is more powerful than the other monsters I had seen, my normal physical attack does nothing to it. I also need to look out for its attack as, although I won't die in one shot, I would still get hurt since even the floor give in upon receiving its attack head-on. Overall, it's a good practice for me who wants to know how far I have gotten to.' That said, Sheila can't actively show off her trump card as there's a crowd watching behind her. If she did, she would only get a little amount of vanity at most, but there's also a bonus to that, it's the trouble starting to brew at her idiotic action.

Even having a disguise in that situation won't get one out of trouble, so she would rather not risk it. 'Hmm? Why does it feel like deja vu, as if I did exactly what I advise myself not to, did I?' Just when such a thought emerged in her mind, the Photographic Memory skill kicks in. Therefore, she immediately experiences a small flashback of the time when she had to complete the quest about saving Angelica from the Earth Dragon. 

'Ah, right...but that's not exactly my fault, is it? I mean, the quest told me to save 'a companion of mine.' So at that moment, I assume that I'll be seeing her a lot in the future. If I never expose my identity, what if a problem related to that arose in the future? Because I have seen that kind of plot in countless novels and games, I would rather do the opposite and told her ahead of time, skipping me the trouble. I do have a brain, after all.'

Roar!

The Troll angrily roared upon seeing the attack missed once again. After many of its attacks were easily evade by the human female whom it assumed as weak, it entered the enraged mode or in the gaming term, the second phase of a boss. The Troll charge straight toward her whilst smashing everything around it apart as if their mere existence making it even angrier. Just when the bulky hands about to turn her into a literal meat paste, Sheila dodges it by putting strength on her feet before launching herself backward, away from her previous spot.

"Oh? Enraged, are you? Alright, it's my turn now."

Suddenly, tentacles composed of shadow spouted out of the ground, attempting to immobilize the Troll but, because of its monstrous strength, the tentacles break apart once it exploded in strength. Following the disappearance tentacles, another one emerged from the Troll's shadow but again, it was ripped apart by the Troll. Although the expense for constant usage of Shadow Magic is quite high, her plan to immobilize the Troll works out at the end of it. With a smile on her face, Sheila will it in her heart. That's all it takes for the spell to begin taking effect in reality. But even so, she can't stop herself from muttering the spell name out loud, perhaps to make it seem more impressive than possible.

"SALAMANDER!"(The Great Fire Sprite, Salamander. I summoned you, appear before me!)

Abruptly, the crowd witnessing the strange phenomena feel as if the air, the temperature around them started to rise for an unexplainable reason. That is merely the beginning of the Great Sprite, descending upon the mortal world. It can also be said to be a side effect. Nonetheless, a small ball of flame suddenly appeared in front of Sheila. Slowly, that small ball of fire started to enlarge, followed by an increase in temperature that even the Troll started to feel a sense of danger from the flame itself. The Troll tried freeing itself from the grasp of the tentacles to stop whatever Sheila's cooking up, but it was a futile effort.

The flame only stopped enlarging itself when it becomes twice taller than Sheila in heights and thicker than a car. From its appearance, one might think of it as a giant lizard with a flame burning on top of its head. But this is none other than one of the Four Great Sprites, The Great Fire Sprite Salamander. Perhaps, if Sheila is stronger than the current her, its size might be a lot more gigantic than now. When the Fire Magic reached level 5, it seemed one can summon a fire sprite at the cost of 50% of their mana. Just that alone shows that it's no ordinary spell, even for someone like Sheila whom put a lot of point in intelligence attribute.

After summoning the fire sprite, Sheila heaved a tired sigh as the feeling of having one mana exhausted so suddenly is nothing to joke around. But now that the Salamander is here, she can finally test its prowess out with a finally worthy opponent. Locking her eyes with the reptilian eyes, that was it needs for it to understand her command.

Within the crowd, Adalia was speechless after witnessing the summoning. Because she had spent five years in the Mage Academy, she's more knowledgable compared to Mia. Therefore, she knew what kind of amazing thing she had just witnessed. Summoning spirit, an elemental spirit at that, it is not a thing that everyone can do. From her knowledge, one required a certain amount of sacrifice to summon a spirit from the Spirit World. Also, the spirit is unable to linger around too long in the mortal world for an unknown reason. It seemed the spirit would be forced back to the Spirit World if they disregard the rules set by the world, or so it was written on the book she had read once in the library.

Whilst the crowd was amazed by the spectacular sight in front of them, Adalia is the opposite of them. She looks more like a certain someone having a culture shock. If someone like her already reacts like this, how about those who have a lot more knowledge than her? For example, a group of influential families having a meeting on the floor above. Looking at some of their expression, it seemed they were currently facing the same situation as Adalia.

When the student had just finished telling everything to his teacher, the influential families had already known about it. Due to the strange incident a couple of days ago, they become quite vigilant since then. The incident was truly strange as out of nowhere, a glass-like shattering noise spread to the whole building, shocking them to their core. It couldn't be helped since that was the first time they experience something like that. Once they have done a little investigation, they found out the barrier protecting the building has been broken apart, leaving a small hole above a specific height which indicated it wasn't the work of a normal person. And so, they thought it must be some kind of test assault from their enemy, to see how they would react to it since there was no follow up after that.

When the guard notified them about a problem in the Arena, they immediately hold up a meeting. And now, they were staring intently at the monitor just when Sheila had summoned Salamander. Of course it wasn't everyone that react like that. Among the influential families in the meeting room, there's this one who thought lowly of Sheila and didn't believe what he just witnessed to be true. In his mind, if he has such capabilities, he would go for a higher rank in the globe, not just be content to an influential level within a few cities. Only an idiot would be content living their current lifestyle instead of trying to improve it for better, that is his mindset. And so, Sheila or 'Shiro in this case, is already marked as an idiot inside his mind before he even realizes it.

"What are you all worrying about? The guardian will take care of our problem in just a beat, so just relax and have a wine instead."

Seated next to the Head of Beldfort Family, it's the Head of Almart Family, Frederic Almart. Whilst most of the families here with a brain and some knowledge was thinking seriously how to handle the problem named Shiro, Frederic could be seen enjoying the wine he brought when he was partying a moment ago before coming here for the meeting. His appearance looks like someone in 30ish, neither too young nor old, but good enough for a man from an influential family. If not for the unique ring on his finger that only selected people worn, he might have been kicked out of this room for his attitude. 

His fearsome capabilities in managing his family's business are truly on par with a true prodigy that deserved a respect, but for those who knew about his real and wicked personality, they would rather let an idiot that knows nothing about business to do it in his place since he caused too many troubles for them to counts. When he saw a beautiful assistant from one of his business partners, he couldn't control himself and dares to put his dirty hand on her despite knowing the assistant was a person with a 'special circ.u.mstance.' If not for his retired father stepping in to clean up his mess, his family's business might have gone downhill starting from there.

From his attitude alone, one might think of him as ugly or like a fat bastard in most movies involving corrupted nobles. But his actually the opposite of that, although his appearance couldn't be said to be on par with that of models, it's not that bad either. In fact, to the girls who were aiming at marrying a rich CEO, his average look is another point to them. 

"...don't speak carelessly. At least think before you open that mouth of yours."

The Head of Beldfort Family, Gerald Beldfort, replied. Even if not for the fact that both of their family are at odds with each other, Gerald would still spit on Frederic because the latter had tried laying his dirty hand on Adalia, his treasured daughter. Thankfully, she's smart enough to push him away before things could take place. But, as the father of 'the devil,' he has a couple of things to say about her problematic behavior as of late but decided against it, thinking it was normal for a teenager at her age to act like that.

"Heh, really? I don't care. It's my own mouth anyway, not yours. In fact, I think you need to rear your daughter better than this, or are you perhaps, an incompetent father?"

Of course Frederic responds with a thorn in his words, adding salt to the injury. As Gerald about to give a piece of his mind, someone else intervened in their conversation, putting an end before things can escalate to something else.

"Stop it, Gerald. And you too, Frederic Almart. Remember, this is a meeting room, not a place where you joke around like in your little party. Please be civil and follow TPO."

A mature yet feminine filled with cold tone whispered, but strangely it feels as if she's speaking closely to their ears which is not a surprising matter to them since they knew that she's a 'special case.' Among the influential families, she's the only one born as a commoner before being picked up to one of the influential families for her monstrous talent in magecraft. Of course there a few hiccups as one expected, but after getting their a.s.s whipped by her, the brainless young masters finally halt their action when they realized that they were unable to beat her even in the battle where they got the high ground. 

Because of her expression remained emotionless, the people dubbed her as the 'Ice Empress' of Rainford Family. Some rumors also began to spread that stated the Rainford Family didn't actually pick her up on a street but instead, they paid for her service. Either way, one thing that they learned is not to mess with her unless you want to get yourself killed. No one questions anymore about her sudden arrival into their influential group after that.