Without realizing it, Li Yue had distanced herself from the others. As the first trainee to set foot on the Frozen Lake, she felt nothing in particular. In the far distance lay a vast expanse of solitude, with mountains layered upon one another. Snow Peak Mountain pierced the heavens, its pale slopes indistinguishable from the color of the clouds.
A world of total pallor, as if the pitch-black darkness of her dreams had been turned inside out. Yet, whether black or white, both could represent death. A death knight could be pale and armored, or dark and cloaked, wielding a scythe.
No trace of birds could be found among the thousand peaks. Beyond the thick, snowy storm, Li Yue did not know if any life remained. She simply stood there, gazing into the distance. This place felt like the domain of death, where only sighs and despair could linger.
She braved the cold wind, taking one step at a time. Aside from the aggressive scent of death emanating from the God's remains deep within the mountains, she felt nothing—not even emotions, inner feelings, or eventually, herself. In the midst of this tedious trek, she left those things behind on the path.
Toward what am I walking? she asked herself. Perhaps the answer did not matter, for she had known it all along. The answer had arrived long before the question. Her journey's end was death. She had been walking straight toward death from the beginning to the very end.
Loneliness... Loneliness... A thousandfold loneliness...
...
"Everyone, we're about to reach the Frozen Lake area. The monsters here seem very troublesome," said a young man in a snow suit, his voice trembling slightly as he shivered.
He led the group in a rapid run. After passing through a cave entrance that was almost completely dark, the world beyond transformed into another realm of ice and snow. The ground here was aqua-blue—or rather, it wasn't ground at all, but a layer of ice dozens of meters thick.
He leaned down and tapped the ice several times; the sound was dull. Drawing his longsword, he struck with all his might, but the blade only left a faint scratch, sending up a few fine shards of ice.
"This is way too hard." The man frowned, but the thought that the ice was solid gave him some peace of mind. After all, if the ice were thin and brittle, there would be the danger of falling into the lake. The creatures and environment here were unique; if one lost too much heat and succumbed to hypothermia, even a magic user would die.
"The primary substance of the Frozen Lake's ice layer contains powerful magical energy. Magic ice crystals can be harvested and refined by Mages to create various magic items and enhance the power of spells," a girl wearing glasses explained, sharing her knowledge. "To harvest them, you just need to use a fire enchantment and cut along the grain of the ice."
"Evil magical creatures live in the depths of the Frozen Lake. They are born from extreme cold and possess the ability to manipulate ice and snow and create ice storms. These ice demons are hostile to any creature that enters their territory and often launch attacks," another trainee with glasses said truthfully, letting out a yawn. "But we're only at the entrance of the Frozen Lake. There's no way there'd be a large number of ice demons here."
"That may be true, but what are those things in the distance that look like human figures?"
"It's unlikely to be people... We should avoid combat if possible. It's likely the first team to arrive here. Those... I'm afraid they are our hunting targets."
"They're showing up here already? Hmph! Saves us the trouble of looking for them."
"The downside is we have no prep time... But handling sudden situations is what I do best."
"Everyone! Prepare for battle!" the man shouted. Flames enchanted his shield as he launched a charge.
...
On the ice in the far distance, Li Yue's body trembled slightly. She sensed a surge of intense vitality approaching—a creature of terrifying proportions. It was so massive that the ice beneath her gaze had turned a dark, murky color.
"So, only creatures at the Great Mage level... these things approaching divinity... will not fear me?" Li Yue mused. "It seems the suppression of the God's remains is indeed becoming more and more loose."
She stopped. The creature beneath the thick ice seemed to lose its patience, or perhaps a faint sense of dread had stripped away the composure a predator should have.
The ice cracked layer by layer, producing a mixture of crisp snaps and ear-grating groans. The ground began to vibrate, but Li Yue showed no sign of panic. She stood tall, replacing the mithril bullets in her twin guns with blood crystals, then waited to be preyed upon.
Boom! The ice shattered violently. Amidst a sensation of weightlessness, a scaled monster dozens of meters long opened its massive maw. A breath of extreme cold billowed from its throat—a temperature capable of turning a magic user into an ice sculpture instantly.
"A living thing... so full of vitality." Li Yue smiled faintly. Faint scales appeared at the corners of her eyes, and her fingernails turned pitch-black. The pale blue water surface was instantly covered by a tide of darkness.
"Just a moment... I'll only use the God's remains for a moment. 0.01 seconds is enough... Just finish it..." Li Yue murmured. "Just a moment."
A blood-red bullet tore through the giant beast's body. Li Yue, holding a blood sword in her right hand, followed up with a strike almost simultaneously. The ice beneath them was instantly rent asunder. Layers of ice were sliced apart by the powerful slash until they turned into shattered fragments.
Blood dyed the ice red, and then there was nothing. It was as if nothing had happened. The pitch-black tide swallowed the beast's carcass, its blood, and everything else. All that remained was a broken world, shattered and silent.
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