"The Frost Calamity descends!"
"Long live the Kingdom of Cinders!"
The battle descended into greater chaos as the army of the Kingdom of Cinders clashed with the frost giant forces. It seemed an extension of the war between dragons and giants from tens of thousands of years ago—Cinder scions bearing red dragon blood and frost giants carrying the lineage of the giants slaughtered one another, freely unleashing the brutal savagery buried deep within their blood.
"It's time to end this."
Cassius stood atop the mountain peak, looking down upon the gruesome battlefield from above.
Faint motes of magical aura shimmered across the human noble whom the giants had ignored. His figure swelled rapidly, finally transforming into his massive, twenty-meter-long true form—a red dragon.
Cassius was in no hurry to throw himself into the fray. Surging, frantic sorcerous power churned within him, and under the effects of metamagic, dozens of long-prepared spells erupted in an instant—Cataclysmic Dragon Eye, Draconic Agility, Energy Scales, Undying Inverted Scale, Protection from Energy, Enhance Ability, Greater Shield...
Accompanied by mighty fluctuations of mana, dazzling spell auras intertwined over the red dragon's scales, bursting with astonishing power.
Such was the spellcasting might of a True Dragon Sorcerer, further amplified by his wealth of magical gear, elevating his magical potency to an outrageous degree.
*Roar—!*
A long, reverberating dragon roar rolled down from the summit.
Whether Cinder scions or frost giants, all looked up toward the peak in unison.
Yet their sentiments were vastly different: some were thrilled and invigorated, as if witnessing the descent of a god, while others were overcome with dread and sheer terror.
Even Baya, normally so brash and reckless, stood dumbfounded.
"How can such a thing exist in Anzeta? It's only been sixty short years..."
The frost giant priests prayed frantically. "By Thrym! Is... is that still a dragon of the Third Age?"
Hovering high above the mountaintop, the red dragon slowly beat his wings. Suspended between his crownlike, swept-back horns was an incorporeal golden vertical slit—an eye that seemed capable of piercing through everything, striking fear into the heart of any sentient being.
His massive, muscular frame was covered in crimson-and-gold scales. Energy fragments resembling stellar shards swirled around his body, accompanied by a plating of lightning. Bizarre, blinding energies wrapped around his flesh.
With every beat of his wings, cracks of thunder and roars of flame erupted in the air. He even commanded the weather itself, dragging billowing banks of steam behind him in his wake.
"Overconfident frost giants."
"Not only will you lose your ancestral glory, but you will also lose—everything of your future!"
Delivering his final decree, Cassius swept through the sky. Defying the common impression of red dragons as lumbering brutes, this red dragon possessed not only immense physical might, but also terrifying speed.
*Whoosh—!*
The air was sliced open with an ear-splitting shriek.
That massive, twenty-meter frame turned into an enormous blur as he dove, splitting the sky like a crimson scalpel. Before the frost giants could even recover from their initial shock, the red dragon tore straight into the enemy formation.
Cassius plowed through the ranks as if entering an empty field. Any giant who came anywhere near him was instantly engulfed by thunder and flame.
His body frequently dissolved into overflowing lightning and fire, resembling a walking natural disaster.
The frost giants hurled spears, handaxes, and even poisoned arrows with all their might—tactics exceptionally lethal when hunting white dragons—yet before Cassius, every effort proved futile, completely blocked by the layers of defensive spells.
In the time the red dragon spent rampaging, nearly every breath brought the death of at least several frost giant warriors.
A one-sided slaughter of this scale was utterly unimaginable to frost giants who were accustomed to crushing their foes.
*Clang—!*
Another crisp collision echoed.
Duoluo's Bloodfire Battleaxe shattered to pieces. Unable to withstand Kasa's axe blow any longer, he was nearly decapitated.
Yet he showed not the slightest despair. Instead, he laughed with arrogant triumph: "Hahaha! You stupid brute, I told you long ago—our master won't leave you a single path of survival!"
"Even if you manage to kill me, your frost giant race will still be exterminated!"
Kasa gripped Winter's Roar and gazed toward the distant battlefield, watching the red dragon reap lives like the god of death among the frost giant ranks.
Unexpectedly, the fear, panic, and despair Duoluo anticipated never appeared on the frost giant's face—instead, his expression was filled with surging battle intent.
He gave a sinister grin, raised Winter's Roar, and even licked the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
"Has it finally come to this...?"
"Do you know—"
"Aside from Bonebreaker, I have another title?"
Duoluo grew intensely wary of Kasa's abnormal behavior, yet he could not help asking, "What?"
"Son of Winter!"
The frost giant rubbed the haft of Winter's Roar and forcibly stripped away its bloodstained metal shell, revealing its purest essence beneath—a battleaxe condensed from sheer ice crystal, brimming with unimaginable magical power.
Thrym, the god of frost giants and cold, had vanished following the departure of Annam after the fall of the giant empire. Yet before sinking into his long slumber, the fiercely protective Thrym had divided a minuscule fragment of his divine power into hundreds of portions and bestowed them upon his surviving descendants. The weapon in Kasa's hands was one of them—imbued with the purest Everfrost power.
A piercing light flashed in Kasa's eyes as bone-chilling cold radiated from his entire body, crowned by an aura of frigid divine light.
Gripping Winter's Roar, Kasa looked like a demigod walking the mortal world.
A frost giant's blood was freezing cold, yet the battle intent in his heart burned white-hot. He roared toward the sky:
"Red dragon! Your flashy, superficial magic won't frighten a great frost giant warrior!"
"In the name of Thrym, God of Cold and Father of Frost Giants, I shall grant you eternal death!"
"Your mighty flesh will be frozen into ice, then crushed to dust!"
"Your head will become the most prized trophy in my hall of honor!"
As his roar echoed, the freezing winds howled and danced, and a violent blizzard swept in once more, lifting him into the air.
The several frost giant priests hurried to chant ancient incantations, layering powerful blessing spells upon him that caused the freezing gales to roar even more violently.
The chill winds shrieked through the air, carrying a call from primordial times—a voice tinged with a faint urgency.
"Did you hear that?"
"Father Thrym knows your name! Your days are numbered, red dragon!"
Kasa cupped his ear with a smug grin, laughed boisterously, and rode the blizzard straight into the sky.
As a genuine frost giant—and perhaps even the chosen champion of the God of Cold—his ability to command the freezing winds far surpassed a half-baked amateur like Oliver.
The blizzard swirling around his body harbored deadly peril, concealing within it countless icicles saturated with high concentrations of Everfrost power. Even if Cassius took a direct hit from one, it would certainly not be pleasant.
Chapter 180