Page 185

Sunlight pierced the clouds, and the cold wind howled.

The glacier, blanketed in frost and snow, shimmered with a biting brilliance.

This was the Wahala Glacier, a land known as the "Frozen Forbidden Land," where the Frost Giants had lived for millennia, and the Eternal Frost Tribe had guarded for generations.

The Frost Giants had built crude fortresses atop the icy expanse, carving into the frigid mountains.

They were cruel and destructive raiders, taming colossal tundra drakes, hundred-legged beasts, and frost worms. At their peak thousands of years ago, the Eternal Frost Tribe even subdued white dragons, using them as guardians for their strongholds.

But today, the Eternal Frost Tribe was about to face its most catastrophic disaster.

Every young warrior of the tribe armed themselves, standing ready.

Some Frost Giant warriors trembled as they gripped their weapons, the weight of generations of expectations pressing upon their shoulders. This would be the life-and-death battle that decided their tribe’s survival.

"We’ll succeed."

"Chief Kasa has already fought it. That red dragon can’t be unscathed."

"The dragon must be gravely injured."

"And we have nearly a hundred Frost Giant warriors here!"

The younger Frost Giants encouraged one another. Despite the peril shown in the magical vision, they clung to the hope of a miracle.

Noor stood atop the glacier’s highest point, his eyes narrowed, his expression calm as he felt the wind stir. He seemed on the verge of falling into a deep slumber.

Suddenly, the Frost Giant priest opened his eyes, and a sharp glint flashed in his pale blue, cloudy pupils.

"The time has come."

"He is here."

Nearby, a strong and able Frost Giant warrior swung a bone club, beating the war drums and shouting:

"Warriors of the Eternal Frost Tribe! Prepare yourselves!"

"The dragon is coming, and we’re going to slay it!"

At his words and the resonating drumbeats, the Frost Giant warriors looked to the skies, praying to spot the red dragon in advance.

But they did not know—Cassius never relied on such inefficient means of travel.

——He preferred spells.

"Look!"

"What is that?"

The Frost Giants’ startled cries rang out.

The space before the glacier rippled, distorting, twisting, and folding. A fiery portal, incongruous with the surrounding chill, opened slowly atop the glacier, releasing plumes of steam.

First, a ferocious head emerged, followed by a muscular body, and finally, a long tail tipped with a sharp point.

The red dragon had arrived at Wahala Glacier.

"Your tribesmen provided very accurate coordinates."

Cassius scanned the gathered Frost Giants, each wielding a variety of weapons, before locking his gaze on the aged Frost Giant priest.

Noor rasped:

"At last, you’ve come, the fated Disaster."

"Oh?"

"Old Frost Giant, you know me?"

The golden glint in the red dragon’s eyes carried a flicker of interest.

Noor steadied his voice, speaking deeply:

"Of course, I know you. You are the trial bestowed upon us by the great Solem, Father of Frost Giants."

His gaze burned with resolve as he looked at the red dragon.

"You are an indispensable part of restoring the glory of the Frost Giants and reviving the Eternal Frost Tribe’s splendor."

Hearing this, the Frost Giant warriors’ eyes reignited with hope. As the sacred land’s defenders and devout followers of Solem, they now brimmed with renewed faith and fighting spirit, seeing the dragon as a divine trial.

Cassius’s expression turned icy.

"Then did your god bother to tell you—"

"That the Eternal Frost Tribe will face extermination?"

The red dragon beat his wings and ascended nearly a hundred meters into the air.

The Frost Giant warriors’ leader, Koch, raised his weapon and shouted:

"Fight! This worm won’t scare the warriors of Eternal Frost!"

"Solem watches over us! The fate of the Eternal Frost Tribe, forged over millennia, lies here and now!"

The long, resonant sound of a war horn echoed.

The Frost Giants began hurling spears, boulders, and even frost spikes at the red dragon in the sky.

Elite archers drew beast-bone longbows spanning nearly five meters, loosing arrows as thick as bowls toward the red dragon’s heart.

Over the centuries, the Frost Giants had hunted countless white dragons using these methods, but none of it fazed Cassius. The layered, glowing shields of magical energy surrounding him effortlessly deflected every projectile.

From above, Cassius coldly surveyed them, his voice dripping with mockery.

"Is this your resistance?"

"Utterly laughable—"

The red dragon unleashed a torrent of flames from his maw, transforming everything in its path into a hellish inferno. Ice and snow melted instantly under the searing heat, veiling the glacier in thick, rolling steam.

The Frost Giant hunters blew their bone whistles.

A sharp, piercing sound rang out.

The glacier trembled violently, shards of ice crumbling.

Massive, centipede-like beasts burst forth from beneath the icy surface, cloaked in frost but radiating internal heat like a furnace. Wing-like fins extended from their heads, and jagged teeth wriggled along their enormous jaws.

Cassius glanced at them, his expression unchanged.

"Hundred-legged beasts…"

These were the hundred-legged beasts, among the most fearsome predators of the polar regions. With magical organs that burned like furnaces, they resisted both cold and fire.

Frost Giant hunters had scoured the icy wilderness for their eggs, raising them from larvae and training them to guard their frozen fortresses.

And now, they were finally being unleashed.

The ground shook violently, as though an earthquake had struck. Massive cracks spread across the ice, and eleven of the hundred-legged beasts emerged, rising like colossal pillars, a truly spectacular sight.

"This is your trump card?"

"A mere dozen worms?"

Cassius’s tone was indifferent as he abruptly beat his wings.

The air erupted with resounding cracks as blinding lightning arced around him, surging toward the reckless hundred-legged beasts. This was the Body of Storm’s Resonance.

With a powerful swipe of his claws, shimmering claw-shaped force fields appeared in midair, instantly slicing several hundred-legged beasts in half.

In mere moments, most of the Frost Giants’ painstakingly reared hundred-legged beasts were obliterated. The survivors quickly burrowed back into the glacier, too terrified to emerge.

The Frost Giants continued their assault, but Cassius’s speed was overwhelming. Flying high above, the boulders, spears, and arrows mostly missed, and those that hit failed to penetrate his layered defenses.

The battle remained grossly one-sided. On the ground, the Frost Giants were helpless, while above, the red dragon rained fire upon them, leaving them wailing in anguish.

*************************************************