Fei'er Li's voice came from above. Vann felt something was off about her tone, but with danger right in front of him, he ran up the cliff in a few strides.
"Fei'er Li, you... wait, something is wrong!"
He looked again and immediately noticed the problem. Not only was a faint chill naturally radiating from her body, but Fei'er Li's black hair had turned ice blue, just like Icelis's.
"It is me now, Icelis. In short, I am using her body for now. Do not worry about that ugly thing over there." "Did she give you an amulet earlier?"
It was Icelis speaking through Fei'er Li, and Vann nodded. Earlier, Fei'er Li had told him to take it just in case, and he pulled the amulet from his pocket. Only now did he realize that the goddess's eyes on it were glowing.
"A holy relic?"
With his experience, Vann thought of the possibility at once. "Then it really is one. I will create an opening for you in a moment." "Smash this thing into that creature's ribs, into what used to be my main body. It should hurt it badly." "And also... the dragon is coming. Just watch, and do not tell anyone about me!"
Vann nodded to show he understood. He did not know how all this was possible, but at this point, believing was the only choice. As for what she meant by the dragon coming and not exposing her, he did not understand, but he would act first.
Icelis's expression grew serious as she walked to the edge of the cliff. With only incomplete Laws left, reclaiming her original body directly was unrealistic. She needed to act quickly, because Fei'er Li did not know how long she could hold out.
The necklace on her chest, holding the fragment, slowly floated up and drifted toward the frost skeleton. "The fragment that dragon swallowed from me... I did not expect to have to use this."
This fragment was essentially elemental matter that Belial had condensed in his body and then spat out by the Lord. It still carried a trace of Icelis's power, so a small aggregation reaction occurred at this moment.
In theory, if Icelis did not mind, she could absorb this fragment and the other Magic within it. The fact that a real Great Dragon had charged out of the mental domain earlier and beaten everyone equally might also have been partly due to this thing.
Since the Ice Spirit could absorb it, then maybe it could too. "Then you should be able to as well..."
The fragment rose higher, and centered on it, the remaining Ice Element in the area was drawn in and began to gather, condensing into a long shape. The frost skeleton, whose body of Clone was mostly controlled by Fire of Decay, naturally sensed the elemental disturbance and the fragment undergoing aggregation. It tried to mobilize more Laws to suppress it.
But it discovered that within those elements was a trace of unusual Magic spreading outward. The affected Ice Element reacted again, slipping out of control. That was impossible.
"You are not getting over there either."
Vann leaped down from the cliff again, with members of Wolfguard following behind him. More Wolfguard, weaker ones that had been mobilized, slowly appeared. "This kind of thing should not be left to me alone."
As Icelis continued gathering power, a genuine smile appeared on her face. The elements grew unusually active, and with the help of her other, weaker share of ice Laws, they began to automatically assemble into a former shape.
It was extremely illusory at first. The fragment shone like a sun, wrapped within a forming ice skeleton, its exterior shaped into scaled skin by wind and snow. Ice claws and fangs emerged, exhaling the breath of deep winter, wings beating as flesh covered them, rows of sharp dorsal spines growing along the spine, and a thick tail swinging behind.
The approaching Dotleivy, exhausted, gathered its last strength to pour into it, filling out bone and flesh. The increasingly real form even began to breathe, as if it had living awareness.
"Roar!"
A lifelike ice Great Dragon coiled atop the mountain peak, the radiant fragment glowing like a sun visible within its belly as it let out a deafening roar. Drained of most of her strength, Icelis's face turned pale, but she grinned mischievously and pointed a small finger at the enemy.
"You get eaten once too!"
The Great Dragon circling behind her charged forward, the two massive bodies colliding head-on and sending shockwaves through the air. To Fire of Decay's will, this felt utterly foolish.
It sensed the aggregation reaction, but so what? Sacrificing a fragment for a big attack? How stupid. Whether in ability or Laws, it clearly held the advantage. This was nothing more than a meal delivered to its door.
The huge frost skeleton greedily absorbed the power of the Great Dragon the moment they made contact. Muscles even began to form over its original bones, and the strange-looking fragment at the center was taken without hesitation. A claw tore the fragment from the Great Dragon's chest and abdomen and merged it into its main body.
That mockery and delight lasted only an instant. "Roar!"
Its body suddenly convulsed. Massive RendCrack burst across the ice-shaped form, and dense chunks fell away.
The reason was simple. That aggregated fragment fit in like a missing puzzle piece, but it did not grant the expected Laws. After it was fitted, it became clear that this thing was fake.
The puzzle piece matched in shape, but differences in fine details and size created gaps. That strange trace of Magic rampaged through its body, tearing open countless Rend gaps. Those tiny mismatches triggered a chain reaction, causing the nearly completed puzzle to collapse, riddled with fractures.
With its Laws already incomplete and Icelis interfering with all her strength, it began to fall apart. It writhed on the ground like something that had eaten spoiled food, on the verge of its guts spilling out, ice chunks falling off in a blockbuster as it lashed out wildly in madness.
This was the moment. Wolfguard blocked a strike on the path ahead, and Vann rushed forward, smashing all the ice in his way with a punch. He drove the glowing goddess amulet deep into the ice, straight into the fragment at its core, then retreated at once.
Soft light bloomed within the ice, tangling with the violent black red flames. But it was not over yet.
Belial lifted his head. "That familiar local taste again. There is more? Not just a little..."
He sniffed the air, though it was only for show. What he truly sensed were the subtle changes in energy around him. Perhaps the God of Destruction template was nearly finished loading.
There seemed to be a large, unusual power nearby, something he could not see or touch. It was as if a one-way screen separated them. "Strange."
The red dot marking the mission target drew closer and closer. Belial's expression finally changed a little as he flew. He muttered to himself, wondering if he had actually been here before.
He searched through his memories and found nothing. That made it stranger, because he could swear he smelled traces of his own Magic in this place. While he was still thinking, the destination arrived, and the situation on the ground came clearly into view.
He ignored the humans present for the moment, though there was a small girl whose scent felt oddly familiar. What truly caught Belial's attention was the ice-made chicken skeleton rolling on the ground. Red and white lights leaked from its body, but Belial only saw the red one.
The mission red dot overlapped perfectly with that ice skeleton. Belial snorted in amusement, saying it was nothing like what he had expected. In his eyes, this looked like a third-rate villain whose trap had already gone wrong before he even arrived.
The ice skeleton was huge, possibly even larger than him, which surprised him a little. Other than that, there was nothing worth noting. He could no longer smell his own Magic on it, and he had no idea why.
"Whatever. I'll kill it first."
The massive Great Dragon muttered as it slowed and descended, the surrounding thunder and storm fading away to reveal a gigantic body covered in black scales. Since there were humans below, Belial decided not to use wide-area attacks and temporarily abandoned Starburst Crash. Instead, he chose something simpler.
"Ninefold Thunder Kick!"
Sharp claws empowered by Space Claw extended as he released his gravity control. His tens-of-thousands-of-tons body plunged downward with terrifying momentum. Below, the Fire of Decay, which had barely stabilized its form like a featherless monstrous bird, snapped its head around.
Riding the storm, the Great Dragon slammed down with a lightning-wreathed claw. A dull explosion rang out as shockwaves spread, and the Icebound Monstrous Bird raised its wings just in time to block the strike. Huge chunks of ice fell away and were blasted aside by lightning as ice and thunder collided violently.
Cracks like a blockbuster Crack spread across the monstrous bird's body. Even so, it endured the blow. Belial clicked his tongue in mild surprise, since it had not died in one hit.