High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2197: Chapter 418: Qing Jiao

Boom!

A tree broken in half toppled onto the snow, making a low, muffled sound, raising a cloud of snow dust that shimmered under the pale sky, resembling the shade of a new lipstick from Shepherdess.

After returning this time, surely I’ll buy a tube, no matter the cost!

Linda Barnes thought fiercely in her mind about the lipstick she had seen not long ago, but her hands showed no hesitation as she flipped to the last page of the Law book and cast a Binding Spell that all students were very familiar with:

”Restricting South Mountain, bestow upon this Flood Dragon!”

Dozens of thick vines burst through the snow, like large white-scaled serpents, hissing as they lunged at the massive figure spiraling in mid-air.

Their opponent was an Azure Dragon.

In the countdown to the third day of Winter Hunting, this Qing Jiao suddenly appeared in the patrol team’s sight, flying unabashedly in the direction of the Winter Hunting Ground.

The patrol team had no choice but to act, attempting to intercept it.

Actually, whether to regard it as a ’Flood Dragon,’ Linda wasn’t sure in her heart, because compared to a normal Flood Dragon, that ’Qing Jiao’ had too many abnormal features—like its belly was extraordinarily large, resembling a snake that swallowed an elephant. It was baffling how its slender neck supported such a big belly. In some sense, compared to an Eastern Flood Dragon subgenus, this monster seemed more like Ukraine’s Iron Belly under the Western subgenus, although it still had the standard head of a Flood Dragon.

Perhaps only in a world as rich in species and brimming with magic power as the Silent Forest could such a freak be born.

Thinking of freaks, Linda involuntarily glanced at a small black dot in the not-too-distant snowy ground.

It was a Burnt Swallow.

This Burnt Swallow was Linda’s second reason for suspecting the opponent’s identity. Because it is a well-known fact, even for a three-year-old Little Wizard, that magical creatures of the Flood Dragon genus have a penchant for Burnt Swallows. However, this monster in front of her was turning a blind eye to the Burnt Swallow before it.

The First University has very detailed regulations on how the Winter Hunting patrol teams should handle monsters emerging from the depths of the Silent Forest. For example, according to magical creature protection levels, it determines whether to hunt, capture, or expel—Flood Dragons, in particular, fall under the ’expel’ category.

Because they are neither valuable enough for the patrol team to expend vast effort capturing them nor cheap enough to be hunted at will, allowing wizards to flay them for sport.

Hence, expulsion remains the best solution.

Expulsion is divided into ’forced expulsion’ and ’gentle expulsion.’ For a large, seemingly untouchable monster, the patrol team discarded the notion of forced expulsion upon discovery, intending to use the Burnt Swallow to lure it back slowly into the depths of Silent Forest.

After all, as long as it didn’t disturb the school’s Winter Hunting Ground, its whereabouts were indifferent.

Yet, the situation developed against everyone in the patrol team’s expectations. That Flood Dragon ignored the Burnt Swallow at arm’s length and crazedly attacked the patrol team wizards, repeatedly attempting to breach the Winter Hunting Ground.

This isn’t an Azure Dragon.

Or.

It is being controlled!

Compared to the latter disturbing speculation, Linda would rather believe the former; only each time this speculation surfaced in her mind, she couldn’t help but see that monster’s head— the notably standard Flood Dragon head—forcing her to self-deny such thoughts.

Roar!!

The Azure Dragon bound by the thick vines struggled fiercely, its long tail flailing wildly in all directions, snapping thick trees in half, raising a blinding curtain of snow that obstructed all the wizards’ visions — beyond three to five meters, nothing was visible.

”Centralize around me, follow the Magic Loop direction, close in on each other!”

The calm voice of the patrol team leader, Victor, echoed in Linda’s ear: ”Maintain open communications! Stay vigilant! Maintain the Guarding Curse yourself!”

”Restricting South Mountain, Maintaining Rock-like Firmness!”

This was another Auxiliary Hunter applying a Guarding Curse on himself.

Meanwhile, the slightly urgent voice of the patrol team’s Diviner came through: ”We need a pacification spell to calm this beast down quickly!”

This was difficult.

The patrol team leader, Victor, originally an assistant from Starry Sky Academy, a middle-level registered wizard, specialized in his fists, and Linda doubted whether his brand-new Law book ever had complete spells transcribed.

The other four patrol team members came from four academies, including third-year and fourth-year students, with the commonality that these young people all applied to graduate this academic year and had already passed the registered wizard examination.

Yet their adversary, that wrathful Qing Jiao, based on its size and previously demonstrated Talent Magic, was evidently nearing the Big Wizard level, not a foe this patrol team could forcibly subdue.

”It’s not enough!”

Leader Victor dismissed the Diviner’s suggestion.

Despite being from Starry Sky Academy, he demonstrated remarkable composure during the three-day patrol, and his voice now, unhurried, alleviated some psychological pressure on the other four: ”... Our earlier combined Soft Leg Curse only made this beast stumble briefly; its Scale Armor’s magical resistance is too strong.”

”What about the Sleeping Spell?”

”Unless someone conveniently has a powerful enough Sleeping Insect, five people casting the Sleeping Spell won’t be much better than a Soft Leg Curse... I suspect it might just sneeze then.”

”Wouldn’t that only make it more awake?”

Low laughs from the companions sounded in her ear, each trying to comfort the others. This effort appeared feeble under the increasing rage of the Azure Dragon.

After a while, someone finally suggested quietly: ”Can we call for support from other patrol teams?”

For a patrol team, this is the last resort, and the most disgraceful one. Especially with the Winter Hunt about to end, no one wanted to see this mission’s score markedly decrease at the last moment due to a call for help.

This time, there was silence for a long while.

Each waited quietly for the leader’s decision. Linda seemed to see the tall Warlock’s serious pondering expression. Soon, she realized the reason for his thought process.

”The moment I encountered it, I sent out a signal.”

Though Victor’s speech was still slow, everyone could hear the heavy pressure from his voice: ”I sent a signal to other patrol teams and the school, but no response was received. We could assume this Azure Dragon is being controlled, or we could assume they’ve blocked our request for help. Right now, only self-reliance can save us... quickly defeating this Azure Dragon is the only option.”

As he spoke, the five wizards had already dashed out from the snowstorm, spotting each other’s slightly disheveled silhouettes.