A black meteor streaked across the sky, its brilliant light all the more dazzling beneath the translucent icy canopy.
"It seems Alvin's fall has triggered some kind of chain reaction!"
Amid the radiance,
Within the range of his perception, disturbances of varying intensity had erupted across every corner of the Frost World. Many cold-attribute intelligent species — much like the Ice and Snow Clan — and even creatures like ice leopards and frost dragons had spontaneously risen up in rebellion against the Ice and Snow Empress's rule, engaging the Frost Guards in fierce battles and even gaining the upper hand in many places.
"Mm! Understandable! With Alvin defeated and dead, it's only natural that these foreign races can't stomach the Ice and Snow Empress's rule any longer and are fighting back!"
Leylin patted the pouch at his waist. That Alvin — aside from having his Frost Breath entirely extracted to treat Leylin's own bloodline emotional instability — even his physical materials and bloodline essence had not gone to waste. All of it was now stored within his pouch.
With this Morning Star's suppressing presence removed, it was hardly surprising that the frost-attribute races were revolting. Quite a few survivors from the Ice and Snow Clan had witnessed Leylin defeat Alvin, and the news had spread at remarkable speed.
"Still… the Ice and Snow Empress has ruled for so many years — for things to collapse this quickly really is a bit too extreme!"
A peculiar light flickered in Leylin's eyes. Even with Alvin's death, the Ice and Snow Empress's Frost Guard army shouldn't be crumbling so rapidly — it was as though their command structure had fallen into chaos, as if their headquarters had been destroyed.
A thought suddenly surfaced in Leylin's mind: "Could it be that something has happened at the Ice and Snow Empress's headquarters?"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The moment this thought struck, Leylin's meteor form accelerated even further, leaving behind only an afterimage in the sky.
Even those frost-attribute creatures at the third rank, upon witnessing Leylin hurtling past, were so cowed by his terrifying speed and oppressive aura that they knelt on the ground, not daring to move.
The Frost Castle stood at the heart of the Frost World. When Leylin arrived, he found that the area surrounding the castle was already wreathed in the smoke of battle on all sides.
The numerous frost-attribute races that had previously been oppressed had once again formed a coalition army, their forces pressing up against the central ice plains.
A handful of surviving Frost Guards, led by a few Ice Knights, were holding the line behind the natural fortress of a great canyon — but the outcome was already decided. It would not take long before these coalition forces could fight their way directly to the gates of the Frost Castle.
"Tsk, tsk… with Alvin dead, the entire Frost Castle has no one left to call upon!"
Leylin looked down at the noisy coalition encampment, a cold smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "If they fight tooth and nail to breach the Frost Castle, only to find the Ice and Snow Empress waiting for them — someone far more terrifying than Alvin ever was — I wonder what expressions they'll wear?"
Leylin's gaze did not linger on the battlefield. Instead, he flew straight toward the castle.
On the way, there were a few loyal guards and the like who tried to intercept him, but they were no match for him at all — they couldn't even hold Leylin back for a few seconds.
But what struck Leylin as strange was that the closer he got to the Frost Castle, the less resistance he encountered. By the time he finally arrived above the castle, the guards only dared to watch from a distance, not daring to approach, as if something terrifying lurked within.
"So this is the Frost Castle? Not a trace of life energy, and this eerie draining force?"
Leylin hovered above the Frost Castle, gazing down at the magnificent frozen edifice below, his eyes filled with a grave expression.
Here, the ice radiation had intensified to its peak, its concentration hundreds or even thousands of times greater than outside. It was in constant flux, amplifying and distorting in the most grotesque ways.
"I'd wager no Rank 3 or lower ice creature could survive here…"
The radiation was so overwhelming that even the native ordinary creatures couldn't endure it — when something beneficial accumulates past a certain threshold, it transforms into a deadly poison!
But what truly astonished Leylin was not the radiation concentration, but the bizarre draining force rising from the ground.
To his perception, it was as if a horrifying black hole lay beneath the Frost Castle, ceaselessly siphoning the life force of every living thing on the surface — and the range was continuously expanding.
A thick layer of white frost dust had accumulated on the ground, left behind by some unfortunate members of the Ice Clan — who knew how many.
"No! What the thing underground is draining is not Life Energy — it's the ice energy and cold-natured bloodline power within the Ice Clan!"
A blue glow emanated from Leylin's eyes, and after a moment he let out an involuntary cry of alarm.
Rumble!
As if sensing Leylin's arrival, the entire ground of the Frost Castle began to tremble.
That obscure aura Leylin had detected earlier now began to slowly awaken, its intensity rising steadily.
"Mm…" A woman's soft murmur suddenly resonated throughout the skies above the Frost Castle.
Massive quantities of wind and snow converged, coalescing into an enormous female statue.
The statue bore a crown upon its head, and beneath its slender brows lay eyes brimming with majesty and frost. It spread its hands toward the battlefield not far away.
Boom! A terrifying pillar of blue light erupted from beneath the ground, seeming to pierce straight through the heavens, sending out countless ripples.
The various clans that had been locked in a bloody struggle moments ago suddenly froze, their eyes filled with a look of bewilderment and longing.
"Long live Her Majesty the Empress!" "Long live Her Majesty the Empress!" "Long live Her Majesty the Empress!"
A Frost Guard was the first to drop the ice spear and shield in his hands, running toward the place he had once regarded with the same terror as a venomous serpent, his face brimming with fanatical fervor.
Crack! Crack! A layer of ice rose from beneath his feet, freezing solid against the ground as wisps of blue light sank into the earth.
The guard, however, felt nothing at all. Both his legs were torn clean off, yet he dragged himself forward toward the fortress with his hands, a crust of ice already forming over his wounds.
The frost continued to spread upward until it enveloped the guard's entire body, threads of blue radiance absorbed by the ground beneath, draining the Life Energy from him ever further.
Even as death finally claimed him, his face remained filled with that same fanatical fervor, as if the Ice Empress were his one true god, his everything—even willing to sacrifice all that he was for her sake!
"This state is even more terrifying than being struck by the most powerful hallucinatory spell! Even the soul is no longer their own…"
Leylin sighed, standing high in the air, watching the scene unfold with an expression of detached indifference.
It wasn't just the Frost Guards. Even the allied forces who had been bitter enemies moments before, upon catching sight of the Empress of Ice and Snow, likewise dropped their weapons with fanatical expressions and surged toward the frozen fortress.
Countless ice sculptures kept materializing, then shattering into snow-white powder that layered the ground in a thick blanket—yet still it could not stem their relentless advance.
Blue luminescence continuously emanated from Leylin's pupils as vast quantities of data were gathered, processed and compiled through the Chip's analysis, then projected before his eyes.
"Is this a direct attraction through bloodline? It seems there's also the influence of prolonged frost radiation!"
Leylin stroked his chin. This was no temporary illusion or spell-based control, but rather a terrifying effect built up over countless years—which was precisely why it worked so well, so thoroughly that even tier-three beings could not escape it.
"I'm afraid this is also the truth behind the blood sacrifices…"
A sudden conjecture took shape in Leylin's mind. Perhaps every foreign race in this entire frozen world had been cultivated by the Ice Empress, much like a shepherd tending a flock—waiting until all the livestock had fully matured before conducting a periodic harvest.
"If that's truly the case, then this Ice Empress, I'm afraid…"
A flash of resolve crossed Leylin's eyes as Morning Star-level radiation suddenly swept outward from his body.
Buzz! The very void seemed to tremble, as if the entire world had been instantaneously drained of color, reduced to black and white.
The range of radiation continued to expand. Those Frost race members who had not yet crossed into the frozen fortress's perimeter suddenly contorted in agony, collapsing to the ground in convulsions, their faces twisted in pain, their internal organs swelling and rupturing within their bodies.
Leylin had now reached the pinnacle of Morning Star. Under normal circumstances he kept a tight seal on his radiation to avoid affecting the surrounding environment, but with this sudden release, even tier-three beings could hardly endure it.
The intense pain had also forced many of the ice creatures back to consciousness. They jerked their heads upward, fixing terrified gazes upon Leylin and the Ice Giantess hovering in midair. After letting out a few shrill cries, they fled without looking back.
But even so, they had been contaminated by Leylin's potent radiation. Those tier-two and tier-three powerhouses at the edges might have been able to purge the contamination through their own strength, given the relatively small dosage. But for tier-one Wizards and apprentices, any exposure would likely mean death — it was only a matter of time.
Moreover, before the fire of their lives finally burned out, they would have to endure the agony of radiation sickness.
The chaos spread as if it were contagious. More and more Ice Clan members regained their senses, and regardless of which faction they had belonged to — even if they had been mortal enemies locked in desperate combat just moments before — they now fled in a wretched panic, desperate to put as much distance between themselves and this place as possible.
The Ice Giantess in midair suddenly turned, her four eyes fixing coldly upon Leylin without the slightest attempt to conceal the hostility within them. Leylin met her gaze head-on.
He hadn't interrupted the process earlier because he wanted to collect data and calculate energy trajectories. But now that all of that was done, Leylin wasn't foolish enough to simply stand by and watch her power increase.
"ROAR!" The Ice Giantess let out a thunderous roar as a massive ice cyclone formed around her fist and hurtled toward Leylin.
"Hsss…" Behind Leylin, the spectral form of the colossal Great Komuo Serpent materialized. Compared to its previous appearances, it now looked even more vast and uncanny, with a new glint of intelligence flickering in its eyes as it hissed back at the giantess.
Boom!
The invisible sound waves clashed with the cyclone, sending snowflakes scattering across the sky.