Chapter Thirty-Six: Hope Beyond Redemption

The swan was slain by three warriors, but now was not the time for celebration. The endless horde of mutant beasts did not retreat after the swan's death; instead, their assault grew ever more frenzied. In the northern city, the moment the swan fell, the frost dragon attacking from the sky suddenly stiffened, hanging motionless as if frozen in a photograph. It hovered, unmoving yet still suspended in midair. Ye Bai and the others watched from the ground as the dragon’s entire body seemed draped in crystalline armor, its whiskers floating and sending ripples through the space around it with each movement.

Ye Bai sensed an oppressive atmosphere. The power surging within the frost dragon grew exponentially for reasons unknown, and continued to rise, seemingly nearing the limits of this world’s endurance. The space nearby flickered with instability. The statue beast, once toyed with by the frost dragon, seized this opportunity. Its eyes blazed red, and its white feathers glowed with clusters of particles, launching itself in a blinding arc that streaked across the sky.

The endless mutants seemed cowed by this apocalyptic force, crouching in the snow and blood, quietly awaiting the return of their king. The warriors fighting below also halted their strikes. The outcome of this war would be determined by the highest powers; the mutant beasts could never be fully destroyed. Their task was only to protect Snow City and the loved ones within.

The statue beast found what it believed to be a chance to wound the frost dragon, mustering all its power for a decisive attack. Yet its assault failed to harm the dragon in the slightest and instead it was obliterated in the unstable space.

In the southern city, phoenix blood rained from above. Amidst the crimson, tiny white crystals fell. Some fused instantly with the bodies of mutant beasts below, transforming them into aberrant creatures bearing traces of phoenix features. Others landed on the warriors, and within moments, the overwhelming energy burst their bodies, leaving only pools of blood. But most dropped into the endless rivers of blood below, turning the dark red streams bright scarlet in an instant.

The king watched, eyes full of sorrow. These were the city's own warriors, many he had watched grow up. Yet there was nothing he could do; these energy forms were utterly beyond the world’s defenses. They existed between reality and illusion, merging with flesh, passing through energy bodies.

“The city has fallen.”

A warrior fighting near the city suddenly saw a torrent of blood pouring into Snow City. He turned, cast aside his weapon, and ran toward the heart of the city. His mother still waited for him at home, bedridden. In his childhood, she had entered the beast army for his sake, venturing alone to the Blue Ant Caverns to collect eggs, though she was just an ordinary person with no strength to protect herself. She could only wrap herself in thick clothes to brave the extreme cold, and when she returned, her legs could no longer feel anything.

From then on, his mother remained bedridden, never rising again. The soldier saw the massive hole torn in the city’s shield. Rage and despair overtook him; he rushed into the city, but waves of blood surged and engulfed him before he could utter a scream. He vanished without a trace.

At the highest point of Snow City, the energy maintaining the shield flickered and failed, spitting arcs of lightning before dying altogether.

A roar echoed.

The frost dragon, encased in its cocoon of energy, burst free and soared skyward, spreading its wings in a flash. It opened its maw and unleashed its breath at the city’s highest tower, melting the centuries-old landmark in an instant.

That roar signaled the attack. The mutant beasts surged, flooding into Snow City like a tidal wave.

"All warriors, heed my command! Except for the glutton warriors, everyone else return to defend the palace—your families are there! All visiting heroes, follow me to the northern city to slay this dragon and end this apocalypse!"

As he spoke, he vanished, appearing in the northern sky in a blink. Meanwhile, the ice crystal stones held by Salon, Xing Qingning, Huyan Jiayi, and all the newly initiated warriors began to shine with white light. Star core warriors from the east, west, and south pressed the white button on their stones, unleashing energy and sending pillars of light skyward. When they opened their eyes again, they were already in the northern city.

Before the apocalypse, the king had relocated all citizens to the palace. After the last apocalyptic battle, he knew shields alone could not withstand the mutant beasts. Snow City’s four sub-cities were designed to divert the beast tide, preventing them from storming the main city at once.

Outside the northern city, one floated in the air, thirty stood on the earth, all eyes fixed on the frost dragon before them.

Dragons soared overhead, the ground trembled, and dozens of mammoth giants marched forward. Around them, saber-toothed tigers with wings darted through the beast tide, while a humanoid snow ape rampaged, tearing passing mutants in half and devouring them indiscriminately.

Soldiers faced soldiers, generals faced generals. The mutant beasts entering from the north seemed to obey orders, circling wide to avoid these warriors and rushing into the city instead.

The frost dragon gathered its breath once more and unleashed it upon the assembled warriors below. Though it appeared as a waterfall, it burned with soul-searing heat. Ye Bai and the others summoned their elemental powers to shield themselves, but one among them, newly initiated and inexperienced, faltered. The dragon's breath invaded through every opening—nose, mouth, ears—burrowing madly inside. His face twisted in agony, and though he tried to cry out for help, his throat was already scorched through. The torment burned from soul to flesh, leaving him unable to utter a sound until he vanished from the world.

The king’s expression darkened. One had fallen before the battle even began—a blow to morale. He knew he could not delay.

“Warriors, today’s battle is not for me, nor for civilization, but for the families behind us. Kill!”

He charged toward the frost dragon.

Ye Bai faced a flying saber-toothed tiger. He remembered encountering ordinary tigers when he first came to this world, and knew their soft bellies were their weakness. Yet his water-forged ice dagger barely scratched the mutant tiger, snapping instead. Clearly, this beast’s body had ascended to the entry-level rank.

“Water and fire.” The king fought the beast king in the sky, summoning battle formations beneath his feet and around the frost dragon, launching assaults relentlessly.

On the ground, the greatest commotion came from Salon, prince of the Sandstorm City. Yellow sand dragons swirled about him, warding off mammoth attacks. More sand dragons slipped into the mammoths’ massive nostrils, tormenting them from within, leaving only their hides sprawled on the ground.

The wildest and most graceful battle belonged to Princess Xing Qingning of Ocean City. She wielded a long whip, her eyes blazing with feral charm. She had not expected the snow ape she once killed in the ice pillar forest to revive, stronger than before; her water powers could only restrain it briefly now, not freeze it as before.

The realm burned with the fires of war. Where there was no battle, the darkness swarmed with mutant beasts.

In the palace of the central city, a woman clutched her child’s mouth tightly, tears streaming down their faces. Yet the hall remained eerily silent despite the crowd. They feared their voices might distract the warriors fighting outside.

All warriors of Snow City and star core fighters who had not reached entry-level formed a tight circle around the hall. Before them yawned a deep abyss, like an ant’s burrow. Mutant beasts hurled themselves into the chasm, attempting to fill it with their bodies. The abyss kept most from the palace doors, but flying mutants occasionally slipped through, dragging defenders down. Many had already been pulled into the depths.

On the eastern side of the hall, Li Fei had lost an arm to a flying mutant beast. Had he not reacted quickly, he would already be lying at the bottom. Now Li Fei looked toward the northern city; when he retreated, he had seen Ye Bai, and knew the battle against the frost dragon would be even more brutal there.

The fat man’s fears were justified. Whether clad in glutton armor or bearing star cores, several Snow City warriors had already fallen to the beasts, despite the white-robed saint’s constant healing. Without her, losses would have been even greater.