Chapter 555 - The Strongest Duo, Dog and Flower! (Part 1)

In the Ice Nation, the sky was a gloomy gray, with thick ice clouds hanging low as if they might collapse at any moment. Occasionally, sunlight pierced through the gaps in the clouds, but it only brought faint light. It was powerless to dispel the cold beneath the sky.

The Ice Goddess’ eyes were faintly glowing blue. Every strand of her long hair seemed meticulously carved by snow sprites. Around her, ten Legendary elemental beings, each with different attributes, formed a multi-layered cubic domain, trapping her within.

Outside the domain, Hel, clad in a deep purple robe, wielded an elemental staff. The white gem at its tip shimmered brilliantly amidst the icy landscape.

During the battle, the Ice Goddess’ gaze suddenly pierced through the domain, glancing toward Frostprison City before settling on Hel.

“Was it your people who unsealed the Fire Spirit God?”

Hel couldn’t understand what the Ice Goddess was saying. She knew of the Fire Spirit God but had never arranged for anyone to free it.

“It seems it wasn’t you, but another rat that has infiltrated the Ice Nation.”

After sensing that her seal had been broken, the Ice Goddess’ icy body emitted a faint chill, making the surroundings even colder.

At this moment, the Ice Goddess had no energy to hunt down other rats. Hel, who stood before her, was the one she needed to deal with first. She raised her arm, and as several icy moons condensed in the sky, all noise and restlessness were buried under the snow. The battle between the two escalated once more.

Meanwhile, Lu Ran, who had obtained the Fire Spirit God’s elemental core but was ignored, had already set off for his next destination.

[Name: Legendary Elemental Core (Fire)]

[Description: A Legendary-grade enhancement resource that can upgrade the flame energy of Fire-attribute lifeforms into Legendary flames.]

Lu Ran was in high spirits. His next destination was the Ice Nation’s treasury. Unlike the Beastmaster Empire, which was a human nation where the strongest being might only be quasi-Legendary, the ten divine nations of the Elemental Era were all ruled by gods.

In terms of resource reserves, each nation far surpassed the Beastmaster Empire. It was unlikely that there would only be a few useless Epic-grade resources lying around.

The battle raged on. The Ice Goddess never expected that the little girl she had let escape had already nurtured ten Legendary elemental divine beasts. Even more shocking was that, under the skill amplifications of this Mythical human, some of these elemental divine beasts had even reached Intermediate Legendary.

What she least expected was that the power of these elemental divine beasts could fuse together and pose a real threat to her. Although she was fighting alone against many, as the eternal ruler of the Ice Nation, the Ice Goddess knew that countless gods were watching this battle. She was determined to erase this human who had repeatedly defied her will, no matter the cost.

The Ice Goddess absorbed the power of frost and faith from all directions, transforming into a towering ice statue of a goddess that was ten thousand meters tall. She shattered the spatial domain’s restraints with a single hand and slammed her icy palm down on Hel’s elemental divine beasts, sending them crashing from the sky.

The divine beasts dodged the palm but couldn’t escape the frigid winds it summoned. Explosions of various elemental attributes lit up the darkened sky like fireworks, only to be frozen solid by the relentless frost. Even Hel herself was covered in layers of ice.

In this devastating strike, many of Hel’s divine beasts seemed to have been instantly annihilated. However, with a low shout from Hel, multiple summoning arrays appeared around her, and the dead divine beasts reappeared as if reborn from the elements.

“You’ve fused all their elemental cores with yourself. As long as you live, they cannot perish.”

Realizing Hel’s new skill, the Ice Goddess shifted her focus to Hel herself. She froze time and space, sealing everything, intending to decapitate Hel in one strike. Yet, she soon found that space and time itself were resisting her, and her frost power couldn’t alter it.

“It’s useless.” Hel raised her elemental staff high.

A scale-shaped gem on it glowed brilliantly, emitting ripples of spatial energy. As Hel swung the staff, intricate elemental runes on her robe flickered, as if whispering ancient secrets.

“Ice Goddess, this scale was obtained from a shrine ruin dedicated to the Supreme Divine Dragons. It is a scale of the Space Divine Dragon, forged from the rules of space itself. Its purpose is to stabilize space and time and enhance spatial power. Your strength cannot fully suppress even a single scale, let alone the Four Divine Dragons themselves.

“At your level, you should understand better than I do that the Four Supreme Divine Dragons truly exist. They are invincible. For the future of the Ice Nation and the stability of Stellar Moon, I urge you to stop now before it’s too late,” Hel pleaded earnestly.

The response she received was a cold gaze filled with unyielding authority. The Ice Goddess raised her arm, now entirely composed of ice elements. If she couldn’t freeze space-time, she would crush Hel with sheer force.

Boom!

This time, Hel’s ten divine beasts merged into a single giant entity, composed of multiple elements. It raised its arms and spread its hands, bracing against the attack. The collision of countless elemental forces sent the heavens into chaos.

Across the Ice Nation, elementalists could see the sky filled with violent elemental particles of red, blue, purple, and gold, resembling a chaotic starscape radiating ominous energy.

Had the Ice Goddess and Hel not both sought to avoid destroying the Ice Nation, the aftermath of their battle would have already reduced it to ruins.

As the Ice Goddess’ domain and Hel’s homeland, the Ice Nation narrowly escaped destruction. However, neighboring nations weren’t so lucky. With each clash, chaotic elemental currents rained down like meteor showers, obliterating everything in their path. The ground trembled, and blizzards and gales invaded other divine nations.

At this moment, hidden resistance members within the Ice Nation sensed the celestial disturbances. They yearned to help Hel but couldn’t act without her command. Countless lives trembled in fear, especially the citizens of the Ice Nation, who were terrified of the impending disaster. Amidst this chaos, the only one who remained carefree and cheerful was Lu Ran.

“Fight on!”

Lu Ran ransacked the Ice Nation’s treasury, discovering vast reserves of elemental cores and crystals. Although the overall quality wasn’t high, it was clear these were the core resources sustaining the massive nation. The quantity was staggering.

If given to Baby Cloud, these could trigger a qualitative transformation. Of course, they could also be sold for crystal coins in the Beastmaster Empire and converted into amplification cards.

“Intruders!”

“We’re under attack!”

No matter how careful Lu Ran and his team were, the treasury’s multiple barriers eventually alerted its guardian, who was an elemental Intermediate Legendary.

Initially focused on the battle between the Ice Goddess and Mythical Hel, the guardian only realized the treasury had been nearly emptied when it was too late. Fury and terror gripped it.

The Ice Nation’s treasury existed in a separate spatial dimension, containing resources beyond counting. The fact that an Intermediate Legendary was assigned as its guardian spoke volumes about their importance to the nation’s development.

However, now everything was gone. The guardian, a tortoise-like entity with an icy mountain for a shell, roared in rage within the secret realm. Its anger was matched only by its dread of the Ice Goddess’ wrath.

Torn between reporting the theft to the Ice Goddess mid-battle or staying silent, the Glacier Ridge God ultimately relayed the news to other ice elemental gods in the capital, seeking assistance.

Soon, resistance members hiding in the capital noticed one ice elemental god after another emerging from secret realms. The sight of so many gods floating above the city filled them with terror, making them fear discovery.

“That’s... the Glacier God and the Winterfrost God.”

“Even the Ancient Frost God has awakened! They say it was the first to follow the Ice Goddess!’

One after another, ice elemental gods appeared in the Ice Nation. Many assumed they were joining the Ice Goddess to annihilate Princess Hel. However, as time passed, it became clear their awakening had another purpose.

“

Ah...

I think I know why so many gods have awakened...”

“Look! The faith statues enshrined in the city... They’ve all been stolen!”

“What? When?”

The statues that were crafted from ten-thousand-year ice crystals and imbued with potent faith power were Epic-grade resources. Of course, Lu Ran wouldn’t let them go. Leaving Epic-grade resources as mere city decorations? Lu Ran could only marvel at the ancients’ simplicity.

However, that wasn’t all. Lu Ran’s operation wasn’t over yet. By the time the Ice Nation’s gods reacted, Lu Ran had already arrived at a glacier outside the nation and begun digging.

Under his command, Six-Path Flower shattered the ice with seed projectiles, allowing them to descend into a deep, hidden subterranean world of ice. Lu Ran smirked as he reached the depths and spotted a familiar figure.

Another ice sculpture stood there, encasing a handsome young man with striking features and an air of nobility. His expression was uneasy, as if he were sleeping but not peacefully. This was Hel’s younger brother, the future Ice Emperor, who would appear in the era of Limitless City.

Lu Ran had come here because, according to rumors, Hel had left many resources in her brother’s spatial equipment, even Legendary-grade ones, to ensure he’d have the means to grow stronger upon awakening. Since this world would soon shatter anyway, Lu Ran saw no reason not to take these resources for himself.

After a while, the Ice Emperor slowly awoke from his slumber.

“Elder Sister... Elder Sister, don’t leave me!”

He seemed to be dreaming. With a gasp, he jolted awake, panting heavily and looking around in panic. Within his beastmaster space, his contracted familiars, along with the Winter Knight Hel had forcibly sealed inside, also regained consciousness.

The Winter Knight, sensing that not much time had passed, was stunned. It had assumed the seal’s duration had ended, but now realized the ice had been broken by an external force.

The Winter Knight quickly emerged from the beastmaster space on its own, warily eyeing the only other beings in the icy cavern besides the Ice Emperor, who were Lu Ran, Captain Doofus, Baby Cloud, and Six-Path Flower.

After the initial shock, the Ice Emperor also caught his breath and looked up at Lu Ran and his companions. “Who are you?”

As the Ice Emperor’s guardian, the Winter Knight stepped protectively in front of him, staring sternly at Lu Ran. Sensing the terrifying aura of Six-Path Flower and the others, it didn’t dare act rashly.

Meanwhile, the Ice Emperor began recalling fragments of his memories. His elder sister Hel, unwilling to let him be dragged into the rebellion, had not only left him a newly nurtured Legendary ice elemental familiar to protect him but also forcibly sealed him away, hoping to spare him from the coming catastrophe.

So now...?

Still shaken, the Ice Emperor quickly grasped that Lu Ran and his group had awakened him prematurely.

“Who are you?” He demanded.

Lu Ran replied casually, “Don’t worry about who I am for now. When your sister sealed you, did she give you anything? Where is it?”

Lu Ran had already searched the area and found no spatial equipment, meaning it must have been fully integrated into the Ice Emperor’s body. If Lu Ran forcibly took it, there was a risk that the equipment and the resources inside would be damaged.

“Who are you?” The Ice Emperor glared, bristling like a porcupine.

He sensed Lu Ran wasn’t here with good intentions.

Upon seeing the young man’s defensive posture, Lu Ran sighed. “I’m not your enemy. Anyway, you don’t want your sister to die, do you?”

“What do you mean?” The Ice Emperor froze.

Lu Ran summoned #18, who projected a holographic screen showing the ongoing battle between the Ice Goddess, now a colossal ice statue, and Mythical Hel.

The fight was brutal. Hel, a Mythical elementalist, had already lost an arm and a leg to frostbite, forcing her to sever them to stop the spread of ice poison. She now moved with elemental prosthetics. Her hair that was once vibrant was now streaked with frost, and her face was pale.

The Ice Goddess wasn’t faring much better. During the battle, Hel had somehow damaged her elemental core, leaving the massive ice statue riddled with black cracks that refused to heal.

Both sides were in dire straits. With her core injured, the Ice Goddess no longer dared to fight alone. Sensing the ice elemental gods gathering in the capital, she summoned them all to join the battle.

Now, facing the Ice Goddess and nine ice elemental gods, Hel was outnumbered and in grave danger. The sight made the Ice Emperor’s eyes widen.

“This is the battle happening outside the Ice Nation. Your sister is challenging the Ice Goddess. Although both sides seem evenly matched, the Ice Goddess has an entire nation backing her. If this continues, your sister is finished.”