Chapter 87: The Descent of the Ice Dragon

A chilling cold froze everything around it.

Those who had stepped into this realm of extreme cold had lost track of time.

The figures of humans buried in the snow and the frozen corpses of horses remained exactly as they had been at the moment of their deaths.

The bodies were intact.

The fact that even monsters had not scavenged them was proof that something absolute had resided nearby.

Whoooosh—!

A fierce wind swept in a white blizzard, crashing against a massive ice wall.

As the cold air scraped along the surface, it created an eerie vibration.

A colossal ice cave stood before me, seemingly unnatural in its formation.

The space was vast, with every surface unnaturally smooth.

A faint, drifting chill swirled through the cave, hinting at the presence of a massive creature.

As I reached out and traced my fingers over the ice, a thought surfaced.

He had been here.

Sharp claw marks marred the ice walls, scars left behind as his massive body moved.

The lingering frost painted a hazy silhouette—a creature with long, outstretched wings, sturdy legs, and a towering head that once looked down upon the world.

Where had that enormous being disappeared to?

I had come seeking Kashpa’s treasure, yet witnessing these traces with my own eyes made me all the more curious about Kashpa’s fate.

I took a step deeper into the ice cave.

The frozen passage stretched endlessly downward.

Lower and lower still.

By the time the howling wind from above had faded into silence, by the time no light remained to illuminate my surroundings, I arrived at a vast cavern.

Though no light reached this place, my altered body allowed me to perceive the space clearly.

The rounded walls of the cavern bore deep indentations—evidence of an immense body having rested there for countless years.

The echo of my faint breathing and the rhythmic sound of Nightmare’s hooves resounded through the cavern.

As the echoes faded against the blue ice, I saw them—countless soldiers, charging toward this place from beyond the frozen walls.

Even as I stood before thousands of soldiers, I felt no fear. There was no life within them.

Frozen in time, they remained as they had been—their swords drawn, their bodies mid-charge.

They likely hadn’t even realized their own deaths.

Guiding Nightmare forward, I approached the massive ice wall.

As I shifted my gaze, another group of frozen humans filled my vision.

Clad in gleaming armor, they, too, held their swords aloft.

The intensity of their final battle seemed to linger in the air.

Every expression, frozen in time, still bore the emotions of that moment.

Banners, once soaring high, were now locked within the ice, unable to display their former glory.

Their armor was different from the first group I had seen.

The flags scattered across the battlefield bore distinct emblems.

They had lived in different eras.

And it wasn’t just them.

The entire icy cavern was lined with countless frozen figures, as if they had been turned into mere decorations.

“This is…”

This was an impossibility.

People from different periods in history, frozen together in the same moment?

A sense of dread, as if I had peered into an abyss I should never have seen, crawled over my body.

A wave of nausea surged within me, and I instinctively covered my mouth.

“How is it?”

A voice suddenly cut through the silence.

Casual, as if asking a friend for their opinion on an outfit.

A boy sat atop a massive block of ice, as if he had always been there.

His long hair swayed gently, though there was no wind.

His blue robe rippled in the same unnatural manner.

With every subtle movement, the surrounding mana responded instinctively.

It wasn’t his intention—everything simply followed his presence, as if it were only natural.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

The boy spread his hands, directing his question toward me.

With that gesture, a cold breeze swept through the entire cavern.

Frrrrt—

Nightmare recoiled, its tail curling as it took a step back.

It had sensed that the being before us was no ordinary boy.

There was no sense of life. No warmth that a person should possess.

His eyes, as deep as eternity itself, conveyed an overwhelming vastness.

Instinct screamed that I was facing a being beyond the limits of comprehension.

“It is… magnificent.”

I forced my lips to move, struggling to utter the response he was waiting for.

At my words, the boy smiled—a pure, radiant expression, as if it were the first time he had ever been praised.

“Thank you. I’ve never shown this to anyone before.”

Rising from his seat, the boy walked toward a corner of the cavern and began pulling out old furniture—a worn table and chairs, all coated in frost.

“Come, sit.”

Refusal wasn’t an option.

Obediently, I followed his words and took a seat.

Nightmare let out a breath of mist, as if to protect me, but the boy paid it no mind.

“You… at first, I thought you were one of us. But you’re too faint—close, yet distant.”

His empty gaze flickered.

His eyes, cold as ice, seemed to pierce through me.

“Are you… a human who harbors a dragon’s mana?”

I swallowed dryly and nodded.

The boy smiled, almost wistfully.

“If only you had come sooner. Why did someone like you appear now, after the real one has already gone below?”

He wasn’t speaking to me—just muttering to himself.

I carefully observed him before mustering the courage to ask.

“Are you… Kashpa?”

The boy shook his head.

“Do I look like him? Unfortunately, I’m not.”

“Then…?”

“I’m merely a lingering thought. A small fragment that broke away from him.”

“Then where is the real Kashpa?”

The boy pointed to the ground beneath his feet.

He wasn’t indicating the frozen ice.

As if sensing my silent plea for more explanation, he spoke again, slowly.

“He went below this world.”

“Below this world…? You mean beneath the clouds…?”

“That’s right.”

My lips parted in stunned silence.

The faint suspicions I had held about the world beyond were now spoken aloud by this boy.

Perhaps—just perhaps—I was on the verge of learning a secret about this world that I had never known.

Shifting slightly in my seat, I asked him cautiously.

“That place… what lies beyond it? And why did Kashpa go there?”

The edge of the world.

The severed land, where the blue sky stretched beyond.

I wanted to know.

I wanted to see the world that lay beneath the white clouds.

If I couldn’t, even a vague description would suffice.

Right now, I simply wanted to understand the world beyond.

“Ah, calm down. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing more I can tell you.”

“Huh?”

“I told you, I’m just a fragment of Kashpa’s thoughts.

The memories I retain are nothing more than small fragments.”

“Ah…”

The faint expectation I had disappeared at the boy’s answer.

Seeing my disappointment, the boy gestured into the air.

With that light movement, the surrounding mana stirred violently, and from a corner of the space, something wide and frozen blue slowly began to float toward us.

It was a shimmering scale, scattering a chilling cold.

“This is…”

“A scale left behind by the main body.”

“Why are you giving this to me…?”

“Weren’t you here searching for treasure? Most of the other adventurers who came to these snowy mountains seemed to have that purpose.”

I accepted the large scale and asked the boy,

“Is it really okay for you to just hand this over like this?”

“I just felt like it. Looking at you reminds me of the children of my kind.”

“Ah, um…”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“T-Thank you…”

The boy smiled brightly as he watched me clutch the large scale.

A few more words were exchanged, but there weren’t many answers he could give me.

“I should get going now.”

“Going…? Where to?”

“To do what I must.”

The boy looked around before continuing.

“Kashpa always wanted a new ornament. So, I decided to make one.”

“A new… ornament?”

“You’re thinking exactly what you should be.”

The moment his words ended, a pure white wind began to blow.

The frigid gust swept through the cave, bringing with it a swirl of snow.

And when it passed, the boy who had been sitting before me had vanished without a trace.

“Wow…”

A soft sigh escaped my lips. As the tension in my body unraveled, a cold sweat trickled down my back.

Even the Nightmare standing beside me had slumped over, utterly drained.

And that wasn’t even the real body?

It was merely a lingering thought within the mana?

Swallowing dryly, I tightened my grip on the blue scale.

Leonis trudged through the harsh snowfall, pushing forward against the biting cold.

Surrounding him, fierce winds howled, but he enveloped himself in mana, resisting the freezing air.

Crunch.

“Haa…”

His breath spilled out in a white mist, quickly dispersing.

He had been moving alongside the dense procession of adventurers, making it difficult to observe his surroundings properly.

So, he stepped away from the group, moving on his own.

Some adventurers, seeing his movements, shamelessly tried to follow, but only Leonis could navigate the raging blizzard freely.

By the time those trailing behind him were swallowed by the snow, Leonis frowned and looked up at the sky.

The light had disappeared.

It was common knowledge that the sun set quickly in the mountains, but this wasn’t natural.

Something was blocking the sky.

“…!”

Leonis let out a hollow chuckle at the absurd conclusion he had reached.

Who—who could possibly block out the vast sky?

He was still pondering that question when—

From the pitch-black heavens, a pair of gleaming eyes shone down upon him.

A brilliant blue light, filled with an arrogance that regarded all life below as insignificant.

And in that moment, silent death began to descend.

The mana, visible to the eye, surged like waves through the wind, creeping closer.

Crackle!

Even the air itself began to freeze.

Wherever the blue mana touched, it was as if time itself had come to a halt.

“Damn it…!”

Leonis ran.

Relying on his mage’s instincts, he read the flow of mana and sprinted toward a spot untouched by the blue death.

His breath burned in his throat, his heart pounded as if it would burst, but he couldn’t stop.

The silent, creeping death was right at his back.

Crackle!

The air froze.

The edges of his billowing cloak brushed against the blue mana—and in an instant, it, too, froze in time.

Leonis frantically tore the fabric away and flung himself forward.

He tumbled across the snowy ground, his belongings scattering everywhere, but he didn’t even think about retrieving them.

“Huff… Huff…”

All that mattered was survival.

To escape the blue death engulfing this frozen mountain.

Then, he realized—

The freezing cold at his back had stopped moving.

How far had he run?

“Phew…”

Gasping for breath, he leaned against an ice-covered tree and looked down at the world, frozen solid.

And beyond the snow-covered peaks, he saw it.

A massive shadow stirring.

Enormous wings stretched out, blotting out the sky.

A long neck pierced through the clouds.

Leonis instinctively understood.

That looming figure beyond the blizzard—

Was a dragon.