Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

Since the zombie army was just running away in a very not organized manner, Ethan and Hannah had an easy time capturing those zombies. After making sure that they wouldn't struggle and cause any problems by cutting off their limbs, Ethan grabbed one of the monsters by the neck and nodded at Hannah.

"We can go now," Ethan said. "Try not to move me to a place very far away. Otherwise, you will spend your mana too fast."

Hannah nodded at those words. It was better to take things slowly. First of all, Hannah teleported Ethan to the north of the imperial capital, ten kilometers away from the walls. Ethan saw himself in the middle of a burned forest, and the place probably had been destroyed by the zombie horde. Still, instead of the pondering about that, Ethan crushed the zombie.

"Even further on the North, huh," Ethan said.

Ethan didn't feel any mana coming from that direction. Instead of that, he felt the mana in the zombie's body moving in that direction. In the next moment, Hannah teleported him back and learned that such a distance wasn't enough. After a few more tries and after discovering that the monster was more than one hundred kilometers from the capital, Ethan decided to buy some mana potions and gave them to Hannah.

Grant potion (Rare)

Effects: restores ten points of your mana per second during one hundred seconds.

"Use them," Ethan said. "They taste great, and a relatively simple, so don't hesitate."

Those were the best potions Ethan could buy using his shop, those were leagues behind in comparison to the potion he obtained from Ian, but it was much better than nothing. While she was drinking the potions, Hannah's complexion got better incredibly faster. The only strange thing was the fact that she was drinking the potions way too fast… she was liking them a bit too much.

"For something made out of mana, this is pretty good, and the effects are outstanding," Hannah nodded while looking at the bottles. "It is on par with the best potions that I saw in several worlds."

"That is weird, or perhaps your standards are too low," Ethan said. "It didn't take even a week after returning home, and I found an alchemist that could create much better potions. Apparently, she is the little sister of someone I didn't like to know… Anyway, we can talk about this later."

Thanks to those potions, their searching speed increased a lot. However, the necromancer was hidden in a place much farther away than they had imagined. Ethan and Hannah concluded after reaching a frozen ocean thousands of kilometers away from the imperial capital.

"The mana is heading even further North," Ethan said after killing a zombie and throwing away its body. "No wonder no one found this guy. Even with people with magical powers. It would be hard to find anything here or imagine there is a hideout ahead."

"… I can feel a powerful presence ahead," Hannah said while trembling from head to toe, thanks to the cold of the region. "I can teleport us to that place at any moment, but before doing so, let's find something at the capital that will prevent us from freezing."

"Come on, it isn't that cold," Ethan said.

"… I thought you didn't change all that much, but I was wrong," Hannah frowned. "As usual, you are always trying to look cool and badass."

"I'm not trying," Ethan shrugged. "It just comes to me naturally."

It would be much more comfortable just to look for some warm clothes in the imperial capital. Still, in order to gain some time, Hannah just casted a magic field around them. The magic field was used to block the freezing effect of ice spells, but it also could be used like that. Still, even with that, Hannah still was trembling.

"Achoo!" Hannah sneezed, and then Ethan laughed when he saw some snort flowing from her nose.

"That is a queen of a fantasy world for you," Ethan shrugged. "I guess it can't be helped."

Ethan rarely used his shop to buy things, only to make things more comfortable for him. Still, since it was for Hannah and not for him, he ended up buying a cape that would protect most of her body, and the only unprotected area would be the head. Still, it was fine since that cape was a magic item specially made for that kind of environment.

Winter's cloak (Common) (+0)

Durability: 10/10

Effects: Prevents a decrease in the user's body heat.

Requirements: none

"Don't let this cloak get hit. The durability of it is incredibly low," Ethan said and then put the cloak on Hannah.

Immediately after that, Hannah showed a relaxed smile. The cold disappeared instantly, and only that comfortable feeling was left behind. Which was quite weird since she still was surrounded by the white of the snow.

"You sure can create useful things with your power," Hannah said. "I would bet you can live a pretty decent living by selling those kinds of things."

"I would live that if I could and if Earth didn't have dungeons," Ethan said. "Let's get going. Keep your senses sharp since we might find some traps along the way."

Hannah could tell that they were only ten or so kilometers away from the necromancer. So, they decided to walk and observe the terrain before the fight. Most mages tend to lay several layers of defense when they create their fortress, so it would make things complicated if Ethan and Hannah just teleport to where he is and ended up falling into some trap. Hannah was powerful, but there were plenty of ways to nullify the cards on her hands. As for Ethan, in his current state, he wouldn't survive if he gets surrounded by a small army of monsters.

Despite their caution, the two siblings didn't find a single trap along the way, and eventually, they found an ice mountain in the middle of the frozen ocean. Most likely, that was an island made of ice. Given the thickness of the ice under them, the island could move and break the ice with ease. The necromancer was a mage powerful enough to pull that off. Still, he didn't have any intention of doing that.

"I guess he is a rare breed of a hot-blooded mage," Ethan said. "He already noticed our presences, right?"

"Yes, there is no mistake," Hannah nodded. "He wants to fight us for some reason. Perhaps he is confident with his power, or maybe he is forcing his army to go all out and destroy and the imperial capital with us here."

"Or perhaps he is just dumb," Ethan said. "Now that I think about it, there is a chance that he wants to face us due to our previous occupation. He seems to resent the hero who saved this world quite a bit, after all."

Hannah nodded at that. Considering all possibilities, that was the most probably. Still, both of them didn't hesitate and approached the island, only to find a cave after a few seconds.