Chapter 490: The Last Resort

Chapter 490: The Last Resort

Crack! Rumble!

Massive fissures appeared across the glaciers of the Frozen Abyss, and the super-thick ice sheet, hundreds of thousands of meters deep, began to shatter.

A tremendous force spread from within the glacier, disrupting its once-stable form.

Some shattered glaciers sank downward, forming deep valleys.

Others rose upward, transforming into towering snow-capped peaks piercing the sky.

The changes occurring in the Frozen Abyss resembled the environmental upheaval caused by continental drift hundreds of millions of years ago.

Except this time, the driving force was not tectonic movement.

Nor did it affect such an enormous area as plate tectonics would.

Only the thousand-mile-long glaciers within the Frozen Abyss were undergoing transformation.

Rumble!

The central region of the glacier continuously bulged upward, forming an immense mound.

The mound continued rising until the glacier finally fractured, crumbled, and collapsed.

From within the broken glacier arose a colossal entity whose terrifying and massive form made every living creature in the world tremble.

The Ice Emperor awakened from the depths of the glacier, tens of thousands of meters below.

After passing through ice as thick as the earth itself, the Ice Emperor emerged into the sky.

Clatter! Crash!

Countless pieces of ice, large and small, slid off the Ice Emperor's body and crashed to the ground.

The largest chunks were no smaller than hills.

On the vast plain-like back of the Ice Emperor stood several unremarkable dark silhouettes.

These figures were the very people who had awakened the Ice Emperor beneath the hundred-thousand-meter glacier—those who had fought Li Wei and Gusewei.

The Ice Emperor let out a dull roar like muffled thunder, its voice carrying for hundreds of miles, making it impossible to distinguish whether it was thunder or a roar.

It turned its massive body and slowly flew in one direction.

For such a colossal being, its movements could already be considered slow.

Yet even at that pace, its flight speed far exceeded that of any bird.

With a single shift in position, it had already traveled a hundred miles away.

When the Ice Emperor escaped from the glacier of the Frozen Abyss, it left behind a bottomless pit so deep it couldn't be seen.

This became yet another Frozen Abyss.

On their way back to the City of Ice and Snow, Gusewei said worriedly, "The Ice Emperor has awakened. What should we do?"

"Li Wei, you saw it too. The Ice Emperor is simply not something humans can handle. That size—it probably wouldn't even be threatened by forbidden spells."

Li Wei nodded. "Indeed. Let's see what the Ice Queen suggests."

The Ice Emperor's body was simply too enormous.

Its length extended beyond what Li Wei could estimate.

Even within a ten-kilometer-wide ice cave, only a small portion of the Ice Emperor could be seen—an iceberg tip of its true form.

When Li Wei first saw the Ice Emperor, he momentarily thought the entire glacier was built upon its back.

Like the mythical divine turtle that carried continents across endless seas.

Did the Ice Emperor also carry an entire Frozen Abyss on its back?

It was hard to imagine what methods humans could possibly use to control such a monstrous being.

Li Wei had no good ideas for dealing with the Ice Emperor either.

By the time Li Wei and Gusewei returned to the City of Ice and Snow, two days had passed.

Both had grown much stronger, allowing them to travel faster, yet the long distance still made the journey feel endless.

When Li Wei, Gusewei, and Saint Xi met with the Ice Queen, Gusewei personally explained the detailed events.

After listening, the Ice Queen sighed deeply.

"This isn't your fault. I failed to understand how they managed to awaken the Ice Emperor. If I had known earlier, perhaps you might have had a chance to stop them."

Li Wei stepped forward and asked, "We've seen the Ice Emperor. In my opinion, Fort Freyde likely cannot withstand it."

If the Ice Emperor reached Fort Freyde, it could destroy the entire city.

It wouldn't even need to launch an attack.

The two sides were simply incomparable opponents.

The Ice Queen sighed helplessly. "That's true. Now that our attempt to prevent the Ice Emperor's awakening has failed, all we can do is flee."

Li Wei frowned. "Flee where? As far as I know, there's only Fort Freyde in the Far North Ice Plain."

"Do you want to see the Ice Emperor destroy Fort Freyde?"

"If the Ice Emperor can destroy one Fort Freyde, it can destroy a second, a third... If no one stops it, everyone will lose their homes."

The Ice Queen closed her eyes, pondered deeply, then opened them and looked at Li Wei. "There's still one way to stop the Ice Emperor."

Gusewei showed surprise, and Li Wei quickly asked, "What method?"

He didn't ask why the Ice Queen hadn't mentioned it earlier.

The Ice Queen was willing to abandon Fort Freyde rather than tell him the solution.

Clearly, in her eyes, the consequences of this method might be even greater than abandoning Fort Freyde.

The Ice Queen said, "Believe in the God of Frost and Warhammer."

"Before the Ice Emperor reaches Fort Freyde, hold a sacred ritual to summon the God of Frost and Warhammer to descend."

"When the divine light envelops Fort Freyde, the Ice Emperor will no longer attack the city."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei slightly furrowed his brow, sensing something was amiss.

"Rely on divine power? It seems that's our only option now," Li Wei said.

He glanced strangely at the Ice Queen and asked, "I'm curious—why don't you want to use this method?"

The Ice Queen looked at Li Wei, then gazed toward Fort Freyde down below the mountain. "Since you came to Fort Freyde, have you seen any temples?"

Li Wei recalled for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't think so."

The Ice Queen said, "Fort Freyde is a city without faith. It belongs to no god."

Li Wei asked, "Is there something wrong with believing in gods?"

The Ice Queen replied, "For ordinary citizens, faith in gods is good. But for me, it would mean losing Fort Freyde."

Li Wei stared at her, blinked, and suddenly thought of the Flower Goddess.

He suddenly felt that the Ice Queen seemed somewhat similar to the Flower Goddess.

Yet the Ice Queen was not a "deity," nor did anyone worship her.

No—although no one regarded the Ice Queen as a divine being, the attitude of the indigenous people of Freyred City, and even of the entire Northern Ice Plains toward her, bore a striking resemblance to how the residents of Flying Petals City viewed their Flower Goddess.

The only difference was that the people of Flying Petals believed their Flower Goddess truly *was* a “deity.”

Meanwhile, the native inhabitants of the Northern Ice Plains believed the Ice Queen to be the King of Ice Spirits.

Now, in Li Wei’s eyes, this so-called “King of Ice Spirits” had become questionable.

Thus far, the Ice Queen had never admitted to being an ice spirit in Li Wei's presence.

(End of chapter)