Salva continued reviewing memories, convinced he had found the truth, and turned to Kwenfield. "That dragon can use the laws of ice, right?" "Hmph. It probably stole part of an Ice Spirit fragment. I don't know if dragons have such special Draconic Magic. But those unique wounds and that power are indeed law-based."
"That matches my thoughts. If it's a law, that level of power makes sense." Salva felt he had pieced together part of the truth. A Ancient White Dragon had stumbled upon an Ice Spirit fragment buried somewhere nearby and tried to steal its law using its own Magic.
Because of the ritual they performed, the nearly hatched ice spirit and the fragment were still linked, and the blessed contamination was indirectly passed onto the dragon. Naturally, the polluted White Dragon underwent physical mutation and likely lost most of its intelligence, unable to chant and unable to use even ordinary Draconic Magic. From Salva's memories and Kwenfield's battle experience, the dragon had never spoken or chanted.
Though it gained immense power and part of the ice law, this caused its behavior to spiral out of control, leading it to slaughter monster hordes influenced by Blessed Power and ritual nodes containing Blessed Power. At the same time, driven by Blessed Power, it absorbed monster Magic on a massive scale, using its body as a relay to unleash enormous Magic, nearly collapsing their entire plan.
The process was unexpected and costly, but Salva felt it did not matter anymore. A powerful Ancient White Dragon that grasped part of a law and could bear Blessed Power, likely extraordinary even before falling into madness. In his eyes, it was an uncut gem of the highest quality.
It was inspiration falling from the sky, perfect creative material. "So it was you in the battle records."
In one memory, a Wind Magic-exceptional work of his had left a wound on the White Dragon, exposing black flesh beneath. That proved it had already been steeped in Blessed Power and his Magic, and that it could be injured this badly by his creation. "…It might be a little troublesome, but the advantage is mine."
Salva calculated the strength of his remaining works and himself, then clapped his hands with confidence. "You want to deal with that dragon, I have no objections, but you'd better be careful."
Kwenfield was already turning to leave the stone chamber, but remembering how he had been blown apart by a single punch, he offered a reminder to this ally who still had value. Eliminating this unstable factor suited him well, but if this man failed, losing the Gold Rank combat power he provided would make future plans difficult.
"Heh. Relax. That dragon's corruption is far worse than you think." "I already have a method prepared. I will handle that dragon, but afterward, provide me with materials for three thousand people." "It had better be so."
He left expressionlessly, stamping his foot as flames ignited from nothing and burned away the last corner of his robe.
As time passed, on the desolate snowfields there was little besides rampaging monsters and ever-stronger Blizzard. The former had nearly vanished for unknown reasons, while the latter alone was enough to block any traveler. A massive snow-white wolf ran across the plains, almost blending into the storm.
Two solid ice chains extended from its sides, linked to a sled behind it as it ran like the wind, feet skimming the snow at near-blurring speed. The sled had no shelter from the storm, and though it was covered in thick furs, in this environment it was little different from being exposed. At this speed, anyone ordinary would be blown off by wind pressure alone.
Only two people sat atop it, one with pure ice-blue hair, the other with hair black as a drop of ink on white snow. One was a Dotleivy Clone, and the other was the true mind of an Ice Spirit, so the wind and snow meant nothing to them. Considering the presence of Fei'er Li, a barrier was raised to block the wind, allowing them to sit normally as the wolf sprinted ahead.
The speed was extreme, and after crossing some unseen threshold, the already cold surroundings dropped several more levels, cold enough to make fingertips tremble. Without the protection of the two beside her, even wrapped tightly, Fei'er Li would turn into an icicle within half an hour. This temperature was a sign that they were close.
"We're almost there. You stay outside when we go in," Icelis said as the trio stopped. She jumped off the sled, leaving shallow footprints in the snow, where robed figures could be faintly seen through the storm. The wolf guards sent by Vann were reliable enough to serve as sentries, and they silently hid their presence.
Fei'er Li glanced back, then looked at Icelis. "This is your bed?" "Mm, more or less. That name is pretty close."
Before them stood a towering Snow Mountain, with large, pure ice-like crystals protruding near the summit. If Feltz saw this, she would likely be so excited her legs gave out, crystals larger than a person, any single one worth a fortune. Though Fei'er Li was still new to cultivation, she could feel the dense Ice Element around them, but the blessing of an Ice Spirit kept it from affecting her.
Deep within the Snow Mountain was Icelis's former place of sealing. Once the sleeping place of the ice ruler of the Northlands, the great ice spirit, and the three of them were likely only the fourth group in a thousand years to enter it. The previous record of a single entrant had finally been broken.
She wanted to see it, but that was not the purpose of this trip. "Aren't we looking for the ruins of the Dawn Sanctuary? I get wanting to go home, but maybe we should finish the job first." "We're here."
"Huh?" "I said, we're here."
Icelis looked back and blinked. "Didn't I tell you?" "What did you tell me?" Fei'er Li said flatly.
Scratching her head, Icelis smiled awkwardly. "Uh… I only remembered recently. I probably forgot to say it." "The place where I slept." "Below it is the Dawn Sanctuary you're looking for. Right here."
She waved her pale hand, and a powerful cold current burst from her fingertips, blasting apart a corner of the towering Snow Mountain. A clearly man-made marble spire was revealed, along with golden branch reliefs reflecting sunlight and half of an ancient giant bell carved with branch patterns.
The plot had completely gone off the rails. This was the thought Fei'er Li finally confirmed after hearing the latest news. To be fair, it had already started drifting the moment she saw Feltz pick up Icelis, not to mention the interference caused by her own partial spoilers.
Because of her hints and Icelis's help, Abyss Church strongholds were uncovered one after another, and they had even clashed with someone suspected to be the mastermind. In the original story, the Northlands was wiped out in an extremely short time, so fast that no one could react, leaving behind a cursed scar on the land. Because of this, Rohn Empire later built a defense line around the Northlands to block monsters from the depths of the snowfields.
Based on available intelligence, the reason for that rapid collapse was said to be endless waves of monsters attacking the city and sweeping everything away in a short time. But as someone who had read the book, Fei'er Li knew the real reason. It was the large-scale sacrifice ritual carried out by Abyss Church in the Northlands, which called forth Otherworldly Evil from between the cracks of the world and nearly allowed the Flame Calamity God to manifest, destroying everything and turning the frozen land into a dead wasteland.
It was precisely because of such an existence that the former Great Ice Spirit had been forced to dissect itself, using Rend on its own body to form a seal and block the demon outside the present world. That being only existed in background lore, and the major boss of that volume was merely a surviving abyss cultist. He tried to restart the ritual and open the seal, and although he was stopped midway, the little power and authority he gained already made him terrifying, only barely defeated through Icelis's self-sacrifice and the hero drawing the sword.
But now things were different. The Beast Tide was still frightening, yet powerful figures everywhere were taking action and drawing strength from the interior, and it actually looked like it could be held back. For some reason, the number of monsters had dropped sharply and was slowly falling to a controllable level.
In many regions, people even saw a massive White Dragon slaughtering monsters in large numbers, resolving the crisis before real battles could begin. Although the core altar of the ritual had not been found, various nodes were being dismantled, the ritual was disrupted, and there seemed to be internal problems within Abyss Church as abyss cultists rapidly decreased. And that was not all.
The latest news said that not long ago, Priest of the Lord of Decay, suspected to be the mastermind, appeared in a small city and fought fiercely with a White Dragon. Yes, it was the same one that had stepped in when Icelis was fighting. Supposedly, he was beaten to death by the dragon.