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“Elder Noor, what should we do?”

“Solem, why would Lord Solem send us such a trial?”

Watching the Frost Giant warriors’ helplessness against the red dragon, Koch grew anxious and sought advice from the elder hidden among the group’s protection.

“Don’t panic, hold him off.”

The aged Frost Giant priest clenched his teeth, his voice trembling, as though making a firm resolve.

“I will make him witness the power of winter—”

“Even at the cost of my life!”

In that moment, he seemed no longer the three-hundred-year-old elder at the end of his days but rather the ambitious priest of centuries past, determined to lead his tribe to revival.

He murmured, as if in prayer.

“Exalted Father of Frost Giants, Solem.”

“I shall unleash your boundless might, bringing winter to our enemies. And this, this will be the finest blood offering for you.”

“A red dragon.”

The howling wind seemed to cheer for him.

The old Frost Giant crushed the ice crystal in his hand without hesitation.

With his eyes shut tight, the runes covering his skin began to glow, and his wooden staff rapidly sprouted white frost. An intense, bone-chilling power spread rapidly from him.

Cassius, flying in the sky, sensed this familiar surge of power and turned his gaze toward its source.

“The power of Eternal Frost?”

“So, the ‘Winter Battleaxe’ wasn’t the only fragment. The rest… is here.”

Cassius immediately flapped his wings and changed direction, diving straight for the priest preparing his spell.

【Sunday Grace】【Aerial Maneuvering Spell】 were instantly cast upon him.

These spells granted the red dragon terrifying speed, making him appear as nothing more than a crimson blur to the Frost Giants.

Koch roared in desperation.

“Stop him! At all costs!”

Frost Giant warriors leapt from the icy cliffs, charging at the speeding red dragon, ready to sacrifice themselves.

Yet they failed to slow him down at all. The dragon’s massive body, accelerating with terrifying momentum, struck without hesitation. The Frost Giant, standing over eight meters tall, was sent flying, blood spraying, his body torn into unrecognizable shreds mid-air.

Frost Giant hunters threw reinforced capture nets used to ensnare beasts, only to have them torn apart by Cassius’s clawing spells. The nets never even touched the dragon’s scales.

One after another, Frost Giant warriors fell.

Finally, Koch stepped forward himself, raising a reinforced shield. He struck it with his bone club, releasing a series of intimidating roars.

“Red dragon! You may kill me, but you will never annihilate the Eternal Frost Tribe!”

“Lord Solem watches over me!”

The searing flames pierced through the shield and incinerated Koch with ease.

“Is this what you call faith?”

“None of these Frost Giants can be left alive—not a single one.”

Watching the Frost Giants charge to their deaths one after another, Cassius furrowed his scaled brow, contemplating darkly.

Yet their sacrifices were not in vain.

The aged Frost Giant priest finally opened his eyes, his cloudy blue pupils radiating a chilling, piercing light.

A white field enveloped the Frost Giant, giving Cassius an eerie sense of slowing.

——The pinnacle of cold is stillness, not just freezing life into eternal slumber but even halting time and space. The eruption of Eternal Frost’s power caused even time to edge toward stillness.

Slowly, he raised his staff, now covered in crystalline frost.

“Solem’s Blade Domain!”

Razor-sharp ice crystals filled the air, each shard exuding a freezing aura capable of halting all things. They rapidly expanded outward, filling the space within several meters and spreading a chilling force hundreds of meters wide, slowing all living things to a crawl.

Noor trembled violently, intending to freeze himself and the red dragon together!

Yet he overlooked one critical fact—this red dragon was a sorcerer.

Cassius’s protective spells could not withstand the freezing time and space but could temporarily resist the pervasive cold, buying him enough time for instantaneous spellcasting.

“This is how the power of Eternal Frost should be wielded—”

“Taking it head-on is unwise, but avoiding the edge is doable. After all, I have the spells of a dragon.”

【Sheltering Egg】

A dome-shaped magical barrier enveloped the red dragon instantly.

Straining against the freezing, stiffened space, he transported himself to a temporary extradimensional refuge created by the Sheltering Egg.

“No—”

Noor tried to move his staff to stop him, but he too was trapped within the extreme frost domain, unable to move. He could only watch helplessly as the red dragon disappeared.

His thoughts grew slower and slower.

“It’s over…”

“We’re truly… doomed.”

This was the last thought in Noor’s mind.

The ice crystals in his hands spread rapidly, freezing everything, turning the space entirely into a crystalline world.

Over time, the aged Frost Giant priest was sealed in a massive block of ice, his face frozen in an expression of despair and regret. His body seemed poised to cast a spell, as if he might move in the next moment, yet he remained as still as though paused.

The Frost Giants, affected by the cold, began to move again, panicking as they beheld the elder encased in ice.

“Lord Solem, what has happened?”

“Elder Noor is dead!”

“Damn it, where is that red dragon?”

“Oh no, he… he seems to be coming back.”

As space rippled, a portal appeared in the void, and the red dragon’s head emerged once more.

“This Sheltering Egg certainly lives up to its name—an extradimensional space feels as cramped as a dragon’s egg.”

“But that spell was truly terrifying. It almost sealed off the space entirely. Even now, with the spell gone, the surrounding space remains nearly impossible to break through, as if it’s frozen solid.”

Cassius, still wary, glanced at the ice-encased elder.

“Followers of Solem.”

“Not a single Frost Giant here can be spared.”

He resolved again.

These Frost Giants, who remained to guard their sacred land, were devout believers in Solem and Cassius’s primary targets for eradication. Indeed, he intended to grant them complete annihilation, leaving none alive.

The red dragon beat his wings and ascended into the sky, his towering form looming over the remaining Frost Giants, a predatory grin spreading across his face.

“After all this time, I haven’t used this spell yet… you should consider it an honor to be my first test subjects.”

“Now then.”

" Vengeance Storm!”

The intense ripples of spellcasting surged as the Storm King’s Eye on the red dragon’s chest flashed with a blinding brilliance.

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