Listening to the Elderly Elf, Night Frost finally understood why he was so desperate to obtain a route map to the surface world. The time of the prophecy was drawing closer. A disaster even more terrifying than the one from thousands of years ago was about to descend.

Night Frost couldn't help but look out the window. It did seem to be true. The three suns that occasionally hung in the sky made it hard for plants and living things on land to survive. The riotous vegetation in the forest had driven the elves from their original homeland. And the raging sea seemed eager to swallow everything whole.

No matter how little one believed in the Dragon of Prophecy, the disaster was now creeping toward this Abyss step by step. Plenty of omens had already appeared. Some were even worse than what had been recorded in The Elves' Seven Days.

The Elderly Elf knew the contents of the prophecy. Because of that, he had devised countless ways to help the elven race survive the coming disaster. In the end, he arrived at the most feasible plan of all.

Run.

Run to another world.

Once, a man from the surface world had crossed the forest with a coffin on his back. From him, the Elderly Elf had heard many stories. That was when he learned their world was only one small part of the vast Abyss.

The elves' ancient records also stated that the very first elf was not a native of this land. They came from the heavens and brought with them the seed of the Tree of Life. After planting it, that elf quietly waited for new elves to be born. When the first elf was finally born, she left with her silver wolf companion.

All of that proved that other worlds existed. If the disaster was born in this world, then escaping this world should be enough. For the elves, this was likely their only path to survival.

His reasoning was solid. His methods were fair and thorough. Night Frost's doubts were completely dispelled. If he wanted to go to the surface world, Night Frost naturally welcomed it. But she couldn't speak for the entire surface world. At most, she could leave them a place to settle in the Twelfth District.

“If you want to come, then of course you're welcome. But the situation in the surface world isn't exactly optimistic either. Recently, I've been preparing to set out and search for the crack marked on the map, so I can return there. (Dragon Tongue)”

The Elderly Elf nodded. He had no reason to stop Night Frost. She had brought him the map, and they could leave at any time now. But the elven race had too much to move. A full evacuation would take time. He planned to put everything in order first, then lead the elves away.

“Oh, and this is an extra token of thanks. Take it as a gift to celebrate your promotion to Chapter Three. (Dragon Tongue)”

The Elderly Elf took out a leaf from a scroll. Dense life force coiled around the leaf. But Night Frost's gaze didn't stay on it. It locked onto the scroll itself.

That scroll actually contained its own space. It was even more convenient than Night Frost's Spatial Box.

“About that, I'd like to make a trade with you. I have a Formation from the surface world here. Could I exchange it for the Array Pattern on that scroll? (Dragon Tongue)”

Night Frost took out two sheets of Formation diagrams. One was the Array Pattern used in the Spatial Box. The other was the core of her wooden sculpture tactics, the Animation Formation. Calling it the core wasn't quite accurate, though. She was already planning to phase it out. She had found something better in her father's notes.

The value of those two together was actually a bit higher than the Array Pattern on the Elderly Elf's scroll. Not wanting Night Frost to get the short end of the deal, the Elderly Elf handed her a scroll and the paper recording that Formation.

After discussing things with the old man for most of the day, Night Frost finally obtained the mutually translated Array Patterns.

But just as the two were deep in conversation, the alarm inside the fortress suddenly rang out. A chilling aura streaked across the sky. And behind that aura was the Mana of the Dual Blade Sorceress.

Something had happened inside the fortress. Even the Dual Blade Sorceress had been forced to move. The enemy clearly wasn't simple. Night Frost took the leaf brimming with life force and the two papers recording the Array Patterns, stuffed them into her Spatial Box, and rushed out together with the Elderly Elf.

The Elderly Elf swept his gaze around and immediately spotted the Dual Blade Sorceress in the air, as well as the Chapter Three undead standing against her—the one he had called “Druid.”

“Him again... (Elvish)”

That one line stirred Night Frost's curiosity. The Elderly Elf seemed to know the undead before them, so she turned and asked,

“Who is he? (Elvish)”

The Elderly Elf didn't think this was anything worth hiding. While they hurried over, he gave Night Frost a brief introduction to the undead's past.

The undead in the distance was one of the protagonists of The Elves' Seven Days. He was that powerful druid. At the same time, he had once been the person this Elderly Elf admired most.

Night Frost had already started filling in the blanks in her head. Back in that disaster, the druid must have reached out a hand to the young Elderly Elf and pulled him back from the edge of hell. And because of that, the younger him had made a vow to follow in the druid's footsteps.

And now the two stood on opposite sides.

What a tragedy.

Crap. Had Zhou Jiaxin rubbed off on her or something? She was starting to imagine weird scenes again.

Night Frost snapped back to herself and realized that, before she knew it, the Elderly Elf had already arrived in front of the undead.

The undead gripped several chains in his hand. Bound to those chains were the souls of several elves. Pitch-black deathly energy was corroding those pure souls. Under that erosion, the souls were slowly turning into undead themselves.

“Sir... why? (Elvish)”

The Elderly Elf questioned the undead before him. This was the person he had revered most. He had saved the elven race during the disaster. So why, now, was he trying to drive the elves to extinction?

The Elderly Elf raised a hand. The wrinkled corners of his eyes were slightly red. He spread his palm, and scrolls arranged themselves around the undead in eight directions. Then he clenched his fist. Vines lashed toward the undead before him.

But the undead leaped into the sky and easily dodged the Formation the Elderly Elf had laid down.

Once in the air, though, the undead had no room to maneuver. The Dual Blade Sorceress raised both blades. Wind surged beneath her feet. In an instant, she was right in front of his face, slashing out with a strike packed with Mana.

Two crisp, ringing clashes of metal sounded out. The undead's hands transformed into bear paws. The sharp twin blades struck bone claws harder than iron or stone.

The Dual Blade Sorceress's attack was blocked. Seeing that, the Elderly Elf seized the chance and charged in.

As he moved, Formations took shape in an instant. It seemed he had caught a glimpse of Night Frost's fighting style. He had copied her method and attached Array Patterns to his own body. The Array Patterns amplified his physique, giving him close-combat strength that didn't lose to the undead before him.

“This is plagiarism! That's plagiarism!”

Night Frost protested furiously from below. This was obviously her original creation, yet that old guy had copied it on the spot. And even... even worse, the effect was better than the original. The reason was simple. His Mana was gentler. Unlike hers, it didn't burn his own body.

Still, the Elderly Elf's combat skill didn't seem all that great. He was undoubtedly masterful in the art of Formations, but in actual battle, he was still several levels below the druid before him. The Dual Blade Sorceress was about evenly matched with the druid, and it would be hard for her to gain the upper hand in a short time. Overall, the Elderly Elf's arrival gave the Dual Blade Sorceress an opening.

“Release the seal. Twin blades, Infinity—let all sins condense into a peerless sword that echoes through past and present, and sever all things in this world...”

The Dual Blade Sorceress didn't hold back at all and used her ultimate move. Under the boost of the release, silver fur grew across her body. The power hidden in her Blood was awakened.

Night Frost noticed that after releasing power in this way, human traits would begin to shift toward Monsters, eventually turning into something similar to a Halfbeast. But on closer look, that fur was actually woven from Mana. It was fundamentally different from a Halfbeast. The Sorceress leader Night Frost had killed before had been the same.

The undead druid seemed to feel the pressure. That slash looked capable of splitting his soul in two. He hurriedly spread his palm and aimed toward the corner of the street across from the sewer, where the charred corpse lay. With a sudden yank, four undead emerged in his palm.

“It’s time for you to help me!”

The undead druid waved his hand, and the four undead floated in midair. He controlled them and placed them in front of himself as shields. But the Dual Blade Sorceress's blade was far too sharp. It split three of the weaker undead in half with ease. The blade light still pressed forward without slowing, and now it was already closing in on the undead formed from the Sorceress leader.

That undead trembled slightly. A trace of brightness bloomed in her silent eyes. Her lips parted, and she spoke the incantation she hadn't finished during her battle with Night Frost before:

“...offer the desire of vision, the Blood of the earth—at this very moment, release the seal!”

The cloudless night sky shattered open. Inside it was a vortex. As the Sorceress leader's words fell, two enormous arms stretched out from within and wrapped around the undead she had become. The Dual Blade Sorceress's blade light left a cut on the back of one giant hand, but the wound quickly healed.

“What is this!? (Elvish)”

The druid formed hand seals, only to discover that the Sorceress leader, after finishing the incantation, could no longer be controlled by him. He retreated again and again, afraid of being caught up by those bizarre giant hands.

Even with her full strength, the Dual Blade Sorceress found it hard to injure them. The Elderly Elf also understood that those hands were no simple thing. He poured all his Mana into a cyan scroll. Within it appeared a bow and an arrow. The material of the arrow was unknown, but it could strike unfailingly and pierce through anything the eye could see.

“You're going to use that against me? (Elvish)”

There was a trace of shock and panic in the druid's voice. His expression was probably quite something too, but his face was hidden behind black mist and covered by the night, making it hard to see clearly.

The Elderly Elf didn't answer. He looked at the bow in his hand. Fine patterns had been carved across it. It was a weapon he had spent nearly half his life creating, one capable of bearing the power of a single shot from that arrow. As for using it more than once, that would depend on how badly the bow was damaged after firing this arrow...

This arrow was a treasure left behind by the ancestors of the elven race when they departed. It was not to be used unless there was absolutely no other choice.

From that arrow, Night Frost caught the scent of the Ultimate. If a single arrow could pierce the Ultimate, then the source of that arrow could only be...

Only this arrow could break through those giant hands. The Elderly Elf understood that deeply. So he used all his strength and drew the bow open.

Just as he had expected, even this bow could not bear that arrow more than once.

There would only be one chance...

“Arrow, pierce it! (Elvish)”