The airflow became chilly all of a sudden, ethereal blue dots of light drifting through the air like winter snow.

A layer of ice crept over everything in the distance, spreading across the blood-soaked battlefield.

And all the dead snapped their eyes open.

Frost churned. Those severed in ice felt the biting cold stitch their halves together.

Those missing limbs felt the ice crackle and sprout, forming semi-transparent replacements.

The ethereal glow of winter blue settled across the vast distance as the army of the Frozen rose.

From the distance, Seth watched, his scalp going numb.

He could feel Elaine’s presence, her palpable storm of essence — so he knew this was her doing.

But still...

"Damn!" he exclaimed, staring at the dead rising. Though their auras weren’t as threatening as when alive, they still had deadly sharp silver horns and nigh-unbreakable scales intact.

This was an army to be reckoned with.

Seth feared them even more than when alive. After all, as terrifying as they were, previously they never had a human mind behind them controlling every action.

’If that had happened, defeating them wouldn’t have been so easy,’ he thought grimly.

This was Seth’s first time seeing Elaine’s ability in action, so naturally he was flabbergasted.

Though the reality of the Origin had cemented itself in his mind, seeing something like raising the dead — though not literally bringing them back to life — was still jarring.

The rumble behind Elaine grew louder, but now she had what she needed. Her eyes glowed bright without the slightest hint of worry or fear, her previous demeanor gone.

Elaine’s figure straightened, her shredded silk gown fluttering sparsely across her frame, highlighting pale unblemished skin on her exposed thighs and slender torso.

Even injured, aside from the smear of crusted blood on her lips, her body remained pristine enen though tattered.

Her arms spread wide as though to embrace the brilliant cadence of essence roiling around her, curling like a flood dragon spiraling to the heavens.

Her bare feet slowly left the ground as her being gracefully levitated.

Elaine had discovered major abilities of her gene skill, Call of the Frozen, after resting from the battle of the Corruption Zone.

And one had to note: Elaine’s skill was Monarch grade — two levels above Noble.

Even in the Origin, an Awakened with a Monarch-grade skill could be considered among the zenith of geniuses.

The distinction of mediocrity lay in grades. Elite-grade gene skills? Forget ever ascending.

Leader grade was the bare minimum for experts if they ever wanted a silver of chance to undergo the second evolution.

While Noble-grade marked prodigies.

Above that were the Royal and Monarch grades of power. Lifeforms of these grades in the Awakened rank could all be called apex of apex.

They were the true high lords of the First Zone of the Origin, mostly sacred race members or those with fortuitous encounters.

So it put into perspective how rare Monarch and Royal-grade skills were. Not only scarce, each was a broken ability.

Elaine realized her skill was more than summoning the dead — its true effects were far greater.

Her body simmered with icy mist, myriad streams of essence converging from her risen army to her delicate silhouette suspended in the air.

Her hair billowed, storm of essence growing tumultuous, eyes lit completely with cold frost hue.

She clenched her hands, feeling all the power resting at her fingertips.

’All I need to do is grab it...’

And she pulled.

A miraculous scene occurred. All the risen dead erupted into clusters of simmering frost flakes.

Bodies gone in an instant. In their place, a vast river of flowing blue streamed through the air toward Elaine.

Elaine’s eyes glowed. This was one form of her gene skill — the Call of the Frozen.

This was an effect where she embodied her own army.

The tide of frost flakes erupted, spiraling around her frame, encompassing the space with cold blue.

Winds raged, blistering cold seeping into skin and bones.

A hurricane of frost flakes towered to the heavens, shimmering with transcendent glow.

From afar, Seth spectated in awe. Even his mighty Asura body and Grim Armor couldn’t shield him from the cold.

Seth’s head turned right. On one side, Jack’s colossal frame billowed, shadowy aura towering.

On the other, a frosty blue disaster raged — the stormy ice hurricane burning with icy radiance.

Seth wasn’t the one fighting their battles, but he still felt proud.

His eyes brimmed with joy, armored hands clenched.

’Yes... this is my human race! Others may break under pressure, but this is where we thrive!’

Seth’s understanding of the cosmos was shallow, his comprehension of other races almost nonexistent.

But still, he felt a burning certainty in his chest.

Humans had to be — or perhaps already were — the race with the greatest potential across existence.

In the distance, a dark cloud brimming with deathly currents gathered, lightning connecting heavens to earth like pillars of doom.

Seth’s eyes honed on the sight. He could practically smell the aura radiating from afar.

And he knew. "Uriel..." he smirked.

It seemed it wasn’t only Elaine and Jack having a spotlight — Uriel was showing his might too.

Seth’s eyes roamed further but found no other phenomena.

’Not right... that guy couldn’t have been sent back to Earth so quickly, right?’ His brows furrowed as a particular image came to mind.

But he was helpless. If not for Elaine and Jack finding him, he wouldn’t know where they landed.

Apart from him, who spawned in the Dile Marsh, the rest spawned randomly like he did at the beginning.

So for all he knew, that guy might be at the GreenFold Settlement.

Back to Elaine...

The hoards of silver-scaled Viagra Bulls barreled out of the forest, crimson eyes plagued with frenzied hate.

Their feral aura wafted into the air as they charged unrelentingly at Elaine.

The daunting sight of the ice hurricane did little to intimidate them.

Well, now it couldn’t anymore. In a blink, it evaporated into smaller sparks of blue, revealing within what seemed to be a goddess.