The Corrosive Poison Wing Dragon’s massive body suddenly stiffened. It felt a terror that stemmed from the very core of its being, and its diving momentum came to an abrupt halt.

The cruel smile on Najasha’s face froze, replaced by an indescribable horror.

Then, under the watchful eyes of all, the ice-blue serpent head opened its enormous mouth.

There was no earth-shattering roar, not even a single sound.

A frigid Ice Wind, mixed with countless fine ice particles, spewed forth from its bottomless throat.

That was not wind. It was the breath of death, an Absolute Zero that brought an end to all things.

The Ice Wind swept forward in a fan shape. It blew across the land, and the arid plains were instantly covered in a thick layer of ice crystals, transforming into a smooth mirror.

It blew over the Snake-man Legion.

The Snake-man Warriors in the front rank, their faces still contorted with the frenzied ferocity of their charge, froze in an instant. Their flesh-and-blood bodies rapidly transformed into translucent ice sculptures, with every single muscle fiber in their faces perfectly preserved.

Then came the second rank, the third...

Wherever the Ice Wind passed, it was as if time itself had been stopped by a Divine Spirit.

Whether it was the common Snake-men brandishing Bone Spears, the massive Swamp Giant Lizards, or even the members of the Dark Scale Guard known for their speed and eerie movements as they lurked in the shadows, none were exempt.

In the span of a single breath, they were turned into silent statues in this world of ice and snow, forever frozen in their postures of charging, leaping, and sneaking.

The charging tide of several thousand Snake-man Warriors was thus forcibly "frozen" in place.

High in the sky, the Corrosive Poison Wing Dragon let out a roar mixed with fury and alarm. The moment its vast Corrosive Poison Domain came into contact with the Ice Wind, it contracted rapidly like a punctured balloon, shrinking until it could barely shield itself and Najasha on its back.

Even so, a thick layer of white frost condensed on the edges of its huge, membranous wings, making its movements incredibly stiff.

Reflected in Najasha’s eyes was the still, ice-blue world of death below. Her pupils constricted to the size of pinpricks from utter terror.

"No... Impossible..."

She murmured, her voice trembling with fear.

"The Head of the Demon Serpent... How could it... How could it be controlled so easily by a mere Mortal!"

She couldn’t understand.

This was one of the most powerful heads of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent, containing a will potent enough to corrupt and contaminate any Domain Powerhouse.

To wield it, one would need a Catastrophe Level existence to personally intervene and suppress the will of the Master of the Demon Serpent with absolute Power.

But this human before her had done it.

Not only had he done it, but he even seemed... to have done it with ease.

The furious blizzard lasted for a full thirty seconds.

When the Head of the Demon Serpent slowly closed its great maw and stopped spewing the frigid wind, the entire world fell into a deathly silence.

Thirty seconds had changed everything.

Stretching forward from Black Stone Territory’s defensive line for nearly a thousand meters, the entire battlefield had become a vast Ice Sculpture Plaza.

A massive legion of nearly ten thousand Snake-men, frozen forever in this moment, captured in their most dynamic poses.

Sunlight once again spilled down, shining on the ice sculptures and refracting into millions of brilliant, yet deadly, rays of light.

On the defensive line of Black Stone Territory, you could have heard a pin drop.

All the Knights, including Personal Guard Captain Ed, stared dumbfounded at the miraculous scene before them.

Their mouths hung open, but they couldn’t make a sound. They didn’t even dare to breathe.

They had anticipated a bloody, drawn-out battle. They had anticipated sacrifice and death. But they had never, ever anticipated this.

’The war... is over just like that?’

CLANG.

A young Pegasus Knight, in his utter shock, loosened his grip. His heavy lance fell from midair, striking the cheval de frise below with a sharp sound.

The sound was like a stone tossed into a calm lake, shattering the silence in an instant.

"We... we won?"

A Griffin Knight muttered to himself, his tone filled with uncertainty.

"ROAR!"

A roar filled with fear and unwillingness echoed from high above.

The surviving Corrosive Poison Wing Dragon could no longer care about a powerhouse’s dignity. It flapped its wings violently, its massive body carrying Najasha as it turned and fled frantically toward the Jade Swamp.

It was scared. Utterly terrified.

In this furious ice catastrophe, even a creature like it, which had already advanced to the Domain Level, had paid a price. Its Magic Power was almost completely depleted, and it could no longer activate its Domain.

Half of its body had been grazed by the Ice Wind. Although it was only for a few seconds, it seemed to have been frozen solid.

"Trying to run now?"

A cold smirk appeared on Raylo’s pale face. He looked up at the golden Giant Dragon beside him, which had long been struggling to restrain itself.

"Sun, go. Bring that overgrown worm back to me, or tear it to shreds!"

"ROAR!"

Having received its orders, Sun let out a roar that shook the heavens, filled with a battle lust that had been suppressed for far too long.

The next second, its massive body transformed into a golden streak of Lightning that tore across the firmament, chasing after the lopsidedly flying Winged Dragon.

The golden Lightning tore through the sky, vanishing over the horizon in an instant.

On the battlefield, the deathly formation composed of several thousand ice sculptures refracted a grimly beautiful light under the sun.

Raylo’s gaze returned from the distance, sweeping over the Knights below who were still in a state of shock, as if they had forgotten how to breathe.

He took a deep breath, and a wave of dizziness washed over him—an aftereffect of overexerting his Magic Power.

"Ed!"

Personal Guard Captain Ed jolted and snapped back to his senses. He urged the Thunderboltous Griffin King he rode to move closer, the horror still not fully faded from his face.

"My lord!"

"Relay my orders."

Raylo’s voice dispelled the last trace of unreality in the air.

"Clean up the battlefield, take stock of the spoils, and collect... collect any usable weapons and equipment. Be careful with those Snake-men. Make sure they’re all thoroughly dead."

"Yes, my lord!"

Ed straightened his chest and responded loudly.

The orders were quickly passed down.

The war had ended in a way they could never have imagined in their wildest dreams.

Raylo said no more. He patted Baofeng’s neck.

The Storm Griffin King understood, letting out a low cry as it carried him down for a slow descent.

The moment his feet touched solid ground, a tidal wave of weakness washed over him. Raylo’s vision went black, and he staggered.

Raylo’s taut nerves finally relaxed. He simply plopped down on the ground and let out a long sigh of relief.

The exhaustion of surviving the ordeal washed over him like a tide, flooding every inch of his body.

"Puchi."

A small, dark, jelly-like creature emerged from the void and affectionately nuzzled Raylo’s leg.

Coal Ball blinked its large eyes, then turned to look at the vast "Ice Sculpture Plaza" outside the city walls, its eyes gleaming with light.

It couldn’t wait to carry out its duties as the "Minister of Logistics."

Raylo slowly closed his eyes and began to meditate, recovering from his body’s deficit.

At the same time, his mind couldn’t help but become immersed in the world-destroying strike he had just unleashed.

’That wasn’t my Power.’

’The one that truly unleashed this ice catastrophe was the Head of the Demon Serpent I held in my hand.’

’Just a single head, severed for who knows how many ages, possessed such immense might.’

Raylo couldn’t imagine just how terrifying a creature the true form of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent must be, having slumbered in the depths of the Jade Swamp for hundreds of years.

This thought made his just-calmed heartbeat accelerate uncontrollably once more.

’The victory of Black Stone Territory was nothing but a fluke.’

Time slowly passed as Raylo meditated and the Knights methodically cleaned up the battlefield.

The sun gradually slanted westward, coating the frigid battlefield in a layer of warm gold.

Suddenly, Ed, who was directing the cleanup, froze. As if sensing something, he snapped his head up and looked toward the Jade Swamp.

A small black dot had appeared in the distant sky.

The black dot rapidly grew larger at a speed visible to the naked eye, trailing a long, comet-like tail of golden light and flame.

"It’s Lord Sun! Lord Sun has returned!"

A sharp-eyed Griffin Knight shouted loudly.