Chapter 181: The Fall of Winter (Part 1)
"The Frost Disaster descends!"
"Long live the Ember Kingdom!"
The battle grew increasingly chaotic as the Ember Kingdom's forces clashed with the Frost Giant army. It was as though the ancient war between dragons and giants from millennia ago had resumed. The dragon-blooded kin of the Ember Kingdom and the Frost Giants, inheritors of their ancestors' might, unleashed the brutal power buried deep within their bloodlines.
"It's time to end this."
Cassius stood atop the mountain, overlooking the carnage below.
The seemingly inconspicuous human noble shimmered with magical energy as his form rapidly expanded, transforming into his colossal true self—a twenty-meter-long red dragon.
Cassius didn't immediately enter the fray. Waves of chaotic magical power surged within him, activating dozens of prepared spells through metamagic enhancement in an instant— Cataclysmic Dragon's Eye, Draconic Grace, Energy Scales, Immortal Reverse Scale, Energy Resistance, Attribute Augmentation, and Greater Shield.
As powerful magic rippled outward, a dazzling array of spell effects danced across the red dragon's body, exuding awe-inspiring power.
This was the spellcasting prowess of a true dragon sorcerer, augmented by the red dragon's extensive collection of magical equipment, elevating his magical capabilities to a staggering level.
"Roar—"
A resonant dragon's roar echoed from the mountaintop.
Both the Ember kin and the Frost Giants turned their gazes skyward.
Their reactions varied—some were overcome with excitement, as though witnessing the descent of a god, while others were consumed with fear and trepidation.
Even the reckless Baya was left dumbfounded:
"How could such a creature exist in Anzeta? It's only been sixty years..."
The Frost Giant shamans fervently prayed, "By Solem above... Is this truly a dragon of the Third Age?"
The red dragon loomed over the mountaintop, slowly unfurling its wings. Between the crown-like ridges of its horns floated a golden vertical pupil of pure energy, exuding an all-seeing, soul-piercing presence.
The dragon's massive, muscular body was covered in golden-red scales, with shards of starlike energy orbiting around him. Lightning crackled across his form, entwined with various radiant energies.
Each beat of his wings produced thunderous booms and fiery explosions, controlling the weather itself as massive steam clouds followed in his wake.
"Foolish Frost Giants,"
"Not only will you lose the glory of your ancestors, but you shall forfeit—everything in your future!"
After delivering this declaration, Cassius soared into the sky. Unlike the traditional image of a clumsy yet powerful red dragon, he demonstrated an alarming speed that belied his size and strength.
"Swish—"
The air was torn apart with a piercing whistle.
The twenty-meter-long dragon became a massive blur streaking through the heavens like a crimson scalpel, cutting through the sky. Before the Frost Giants could process their shock, Cassius descended into their ranks.
The red dragon plowed through the battlefield, unstoppable. Any giant that came into contact with his body was instantly consumed by lightning and fire.
His form became a moving tempest of destruction, a calamity incarnate.
The Frost Giants hurled spears, axes, and poisoned arrows—effective tools for hunting white dragons—but against Cassius, they were futile, blocked by layers of protective spells.
In mere moments, every breath taken saw several Frost Giant warriors meet their deaths.
For the Frost Giants, who were accustomed to overwhelming their enemies, such one-sided slaughter was unimaginable.
"Clang—"
The crisp sound of clashing steel rang out.
Dolo's Bloodfire Battleaxe shattered under Kasa's strikes, leaving him barely able to avoid decapitation.
Yet, instead of despair, Dolo laughed triumphantly: "Hahaha! Stupid brute, I told you, our master won't leave any of you alive!"
"Even if you manage to kill me, your Frost Giant tribe will still face annihilation!"
Kasa tightened his grip on Winter's Roar and turned his gaze toward the battlefield, where the red dragon wreaked havoc among the Frost Giant forces like a harbinger of death.
Surprisingly, Kasa's face didn't reflect fear, tension, or despair as Dolo expected—instead, it brimmed with unyielding battle spirit.
He sneered, lifting Winter's Roar and licking the blood dripping from his lips.
"So, it's finally come to this..."
"Do you know—"
"That I have another title besides Bonebreaker?"
Dolo, wary of Kasa's unusual reaction, couldn't resist asking, "What is it?"
"Son of Winter!"
Kasa rubbed his hand along Winter's Roar, peeling away its bloodstained metal exterior to reveal its true form—a battleaxe forged entirely from pure ice crystals, radiating immense magical power.
Solem, the god of Frost Giants and cold, vanished after the fall of the Giant Empire alongside Annan. But before his long slumber, the protective deity split a sliver of his divine power into hundreds of fragments, gifting them to his remaining descendants. Kasa's axe contained one such fragment—the purest essence of Eternal Frost's power.
His eyes glinted with icy light, and his body exuded a bone-chilling aura enveloped in divine frost.
Wielding Winter's Roar, Kasa stood like a demigod among mortals.
While his blood ran cold, his fighting spirit burned fiercely as he roared toward the heavens.
"Red dragon! Your showy magic cannot intimidate the great warriors of the Frost Giants!"
"In the name of Solem, the god of frost and father of giants, I shall grant you eternal death!"
"Your mighty body will be frozen solid, then shattered into pieces!"
"Your head will be the crowning piece of my trophy room!"
With his roar, the winds howled in response, a violent blizzard rising once more to lift him into the air.
The Frost Giant shamans hurriedly chanted ancient incantations, bestowing powerful blessings upon Kasa, intensifying the raging storm.
The howling wind carried an ancient, primordial call, its urgency palpable.
"Do you hear it?"
"Our father god knows your name, red dragon—your time is up!"
Smirking, Kasa cupped his hand to his ear theatrically before bursting into laughter, soaring skyward with the storm.
As a true Frost Giant, perhaps even a chosen of the god of cold, Kasa's command over the winds far surpassed that of pretenders like Oliver.
The blizzard surrounding him was laced with deadly ice shards saturated with Eternal Frost's concentrated power. Even Cassius would suffer if struck directly by one of these shards.
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