Night Frost dropped to one knee on the ground. Just now, heaven and hell had clashed inside her mind. If her mental strength had been even a little weaker, she might not have survived. She was very glad her mind was strong enough.

In that brief instant, Night Frost understood what those shadows really were.

Undead. Revenants. Something along those lines.

Lurie and another elf had both fallen unconscious because of that Chapter Three undead, so Night Frost had no choice but to carry them back herself.

After telling the other elves what had happened to Lurie and the other elf, Night Frost rushed back to the cave without stopping. She'd only casually helped treat a few people, and she'd already run into Chapter Three. That meant breaking this Formation had to move to the top of the list.

Sorceresses, undead, elves, Monsters, Halfbeasts, humans... there were too many factions here, and everything was a mess. If she stayed any longer, who knew what else she would run into.

Still, the way that elf had protected her soul just now gave Night Frost an idea for how to break the Formation from inside it. She only needed to carve defensive Array Patterns onto herself, then let the attacking Array Patterns collide against them while she found a chance to break the amplification.

The method demanded a lot of precision, but it was the only thing Night Frost could think of right now. No matter what, she had to try.

So Night Frost inscribed defensive Array Patterns onto her own body. Flames rapidly gnawed at her Magic Layer, but that wasn't a major problem.

Eye Orb and Li Dogegg found a rope. If anything happened to Night Frost in the middle of this, they would do their best to drag her back out.

The moment Night Frost stepped into the Formation, the amplification grand Formation activated first. Then the attack Formation and corrosion Formation started up one after another. A chain of attacks slammed into her body. In only an instant, dense wounds spread across her surface. Blood and flesh sprayed outward. But thankfully, because of the defensive Array Patterns, no wounds were left inside her body.

The corrosion Formation released poisonous mist that ate away at the Magic Layer on Night Frost's skin. Thankfully, it wasn't that strong at the start. As time passed, the poison fog would only grow thicker, until it became a place no living thing could enter. So Night Frost had to move fast.

Actually, the instant she stepped in, she already regretted it a little. Just as she'd predicted earlier, there weren't only three Formations here. There was also a mental attack Formation hidden beneath the Formation base.

After being boosted by the amplification Formation, that mental Formation stabbed at Night Frost's nerves. For a while, she could barely think about anything else. She could only do her best to withstand the Formation's assault.

"So focusing down the support first really is the truth..."

Night Frost looked at the amplification Array Pattern on the ground. Enduring the double assault on body and mind, she began to break the amplification Formation beneath her feet.

Night Frost was very familiar with amplification Formations. She drew them often. As long as she severed the single most important Array Pattern, the amplification Formation would lose its original effect for a short time. But this one was far more advanced than the ones she usually used. Just finding that key line took her quite a while.

"Found it!"

Night Frost broke the Array Pattern on the ground with delight. She had succeeded. She had temporarily stopped the amplification Formation in front of her. She immediately began weaving attack Array Patterns, trying to make the attack Formation collapse here and now.

After that, before the poison fog could thicken to that level, Night Frost charged straight toward the innermost Formation base. It was precious, yes, but if she wanted to break this Formation, this was the only choice left!

"I grant flame to the dragon, I grant blaze to my hand. Tear apart the shackles of life! Let all things burn away. Let this strike kill without fail! Inferno, burn it all down here! ..."

The Spear easily pierced through the two remaining active Formations and split the Formation base before her in two. In an instant, every Formation came to a halt.

Gripping the Spear, Night Frost collapsed weakly to her knees. The skin all over her body had already been burned beyond recognition. Even though she had reinforced her Magic Layer, it had been completely exhausted by the end. The flames she had used to weave the defensive Array Patterns had begun to eat into her flesh.

The corrosive poison fog in the air hadn't dispersed yet, but Night Frost no longer needed to care. Dragging her battered body forward, she walked to the deepest part of the Formation. A small box sat there. That was probably the thing the Elderly Elf had been obsessing over.

But just as Night Frost reached to open it, a crack suddenly split open beneath her feet. The Array Patterns, which had already gone still, started moving again. A pair of huge hands burst out from Night Frost's shadow and clamped onto her calves, dragging her downward bit by bit.

Sensing that the rope's movement had gone wrong, Eye Orb and Li Dogegg pulled with all their strength, trying to yank Night Frost back out. But those giant hands were fierce and powerful. There was no way Li Dogegg and Eye Orb could match them.

Night Frost also struggled with everything she had. Mana surged out of her body. Firelight drove away the darkness around those giant hands. But to her horror, she discovered that the darkness was only the outer layer. Inside was stubborn earth and stone.

The flames only baked the hands harder.

Half of Night Frost's body had already been dragged underground, but she didn't feel the solid pressure of being buried in dirt and stone. Something was off. Beneath her feet was hollow...

Were these hands trying to drag her to somewhere beneath the ground?

"Black Flame... burn!"

Night Frost raised her hand. Pitch-black fire pumped out from her heart. Her palm drifted lightly toward the ground, and the Black Flame began to scorch and spread outward like mad.

The ground and the stone hands alike turned to ash under the Black Flame. The fire kept burning, spreading without restraint. Before anyone noticed, the entire underground area had already been covered in Black Flame.

Night Frost hurriedly withdrew the Black Flame. Crimson Gold Flame gathered in her palm, and she slammed it hard into the ground. The earth split apart, revealing another hidden space below.

Li Dogegg carried Eye Orb over to Night Frost's side. Just now, they had thought she was about to be dragged under. But with their strength, they had no way to fight those giant hands. Luckily, Night Frost had still been able to strike back.

"Actually, I think those hands were just trying to take me into the cave below... Where's the box?"

Li Dogegg set Eye Orb down and brought the box over. Just as Night Frost had expected, there was nothing inside. It was only a simple trigger for the Formation. The moment someone picked it up, it would activate the deepest layer of the Formation.

So Night Frost turned her gaze toward the bottomless cavern below. Bringing Eye Orb and Li Dogegg with her, she stepped onto platforms formed from invisible Mana and walked deeper, one step at a time.

A rotten smell filled the cave, and it wasn't a friendly one.

Crimson Gold Flame lit up the dark cavern, allowing Night Frost to see the scene at the very bottom.

It was a decayed skeleton. Chunks of flesh that hadn't fully rotted away still clung to it. The frame of the skeleton rested against a coffin behind it. Even in death, it had remained in that same posture.

Quite a few bottles and jars were scattered across the ground, along with tools for carving Formations. If she looked carefully, Night Frost could even spot tiny wood shavings.

Eye Orb looked around at everything, then looked at Night Frost. For a moment, he didn't know what to say. Carrying him, Night Frost took slightly heavy steps and walked up to the skeleton.

She bent down, picked up the somewhat worn notebook on the ground, and brushed the dust off it.

When she opened the first page, she saw handwriting she knew well. It matched the handwriting in the notebook found earlier in District Twenty One. That also confirmed the identity of this skeleton.

It was her father.

Night Frost quietly read the notebook:

"After fleeing District Twenty One, Ling and I came to the Twelfth District. Life in the Twelfth District was peaceful. Our child, Lingchen Yao, also grew up in that calm life."

"I worked as a director at a research institute in the Twelfth District. The pay was quite good. I was deeply grateful that the Twelfth District was willing to take us in."

"Sadly, good times never last."

"An unprecedented Monster appeared above the Twelfth District. At the time, we were out on the street with Chenyao. Ling handed Chenyao to me and told me to take him away. She had received orders to head to the outskirts of the Twelfth District and face that colossal creature."

"There weren't many shelters on the outskirts. The nearest one was four whole streets away. While we were making our way there, that dragon somehow appeared above our heads."

"Black flames burned everything in the world. Ling fought with her life on the line, and because of that, Chenyao and I were spared from the Black Flame. But right then, an ice-blue magic shell fell above us. It pierced through Ling's chest and exploded in front of me and Chenyao."

"Was it because they coveted my research from District Two, or the Formations I left behind? Were they from the Order Keepers, or the Seekers? I have no idea. The only thing I know is that half her body was wrapped in some unknown machinery. Her Azure Magic Armor looked utterly out of place with it."

"Ling was a Magic Maiden. Her life force was tenacious. With the help of instruments, I could keep her alive. But Chenyao couldn't. The young boy had taken the blast from that magic shell, and his life was already nearing its end..."

"Just when I was drowning in despair, someone found me. It was a Magic Maiden who called herself Order. I had seen that pure-white girl on the battlefield before. She delivered the final blow to the Black Dragon. She was one of the finest among Magic Maidens."

"She said she had come to apologize. I was confused too."

"She brought cloning technology, along with a three-color Magic Tool for soul transfer. That Magic Tool could alter memories and even transfer souls. Chenyao's brain had not yet died, and his soul still remained in this world. Since his body was already dead, then with this imperfect technology, he could be recreated."

"Overall, this technology had two fatal flaws. Even if a soul was transplanted, the clone might still fail to awaken. And clones were short-lived. He would not live past twenty. But what did that matter, if I could watch my child live again..."

"No. Of course I was unwilling to let my child become someone doomed to die young."

"As for the first problem, Order gave me a solution. That solution was the Magic Stone..."

"With only a Magic Stone, a bridge could be built between body and soul. It could also provide the power source needed to keep the clone functioning. Ling originally planned to have me use her Magic Stone, but Order rejected that. Order took out her own Magic Stone and split it in half with her own hands."

"She said she had already touched that higher realm. This half of the Magic Stone would let Chenyao live out his life in peace."

"I don't understand why she would do something like that."