Those shameless old bastards actually ganged up and ambushed a young comrade who'd just turned eighteen. Seriously, they had no shame at all!

And just like that, Night Frost lost consciousness. Under the pull of the Magic Tool, her soul slipped free from her body. At that moment, she felt light as air. Even the wind brushing past her felt pleasant, and her whole being sank into a lazy, drowsy comfort.

"Go, quickly. You can't stay exposed for too long, or you'll die." (Elvish)

The moment she heard the word "die," Night Frost jolted awake. She hurriedly recalled the objective of her mission and lunged toward the Elderly Elf's brow, plunging into the space of his mind and soul.

But getting into that space wasn't easy. This guy had sealed his entire mental world shut tight. Still, maybe the Elderly Elf really was old, or maybe the battle had damaged his mind. Either way, Night Frost found a tiny gap she could slip through.

After squeezing inside, Night Frost had originally planned to descend slowly. The opening was way up in the sky, after all. But the fighting below was far too intense, so she had no choice but to suck it up and jump straight down.

And then, what had just happened happened.

As the Elderly Elf spoke with Night Frost, the undead druid in the distance stretched out a claw. His face, covered in undead, was filled with fury.

"Are you two pretending I don't exist?" (Elvish)

Only then did Night Frost and the Elderly Elf turn their eyes toward the undead druid. It was Night Frost's first time seeing what one looked like. The skulls covering his entire body made goosebumps rise all over her skin. No matter how she looked at him, he was disgusting.

The undead druid had reached his current level by borrowing the power of the undead, but Night Frost didn't find him troublesome. Her mental power was very strong.

She slowly raised a hand. Spirit Threads wove themselves into a spear and a shield. The shield appeared before the Elderly Elf, while Night Frost hurled the spear forward with unstoppable force.

The undead druid sensed at once that this spear woven from Spirit Threads was no ordinary weapon. So he gathered most of the undead into his palm, turning them into solid white bone, trying to catch the spear in his hand.

Night Frost wasn't about to let him have his way so easily. As she continued releasing Spirit Threads from her fingertips, she thrust out her other arm. A powerful blast of air instantly ignited into flames and slammed toward the undead druid.

The undead druid didn't dare touch the CrimsonGoldFlame, but the spear reached him first. Because he had fused with so many souls, his body had grown enormous, making it hard to dodge. He could only meet Night Frost's mental spear head-on with his bone-covered palm.

The two collided. The tremendous force made his body stagger, and he was forced back several steps. The mental spear trembled slightly, and the invisible shockwave right behind it smashed into his chest. Crimson Gold Flame wrapped around his entire body along with the blast.

The undead druid could only endure the pain and charge straight at Night Frost. He knew this flame would be hard to extinguish. Only by dealing with Night Frost could he free himself from the CrimsonGoldFlame.

Night Frost neither ran nor dodged. She simply stood there, staring blankly as wings sprouted from the undead druid's back. At incredible speed, he rushed right in front of her and stretched out sharp bone claws.

"Die!" (Elvish)

But Night Frost only gave a faint smile. She shifted slightly to the side. Behind her was an open area inside the Elderly Elf's mind, and that open ground was now covered in Array Patterns, just waiting for the undead druid to throw himself in.

In the corner, the Elderly Elf was activating the Array Patterns. This time, they were the complete form of the last one. Night Frost had bought him enough time. She had practically delivered the undead druid right to the Formation's face. There was no way they were letting him escape.

The Elderly Elf controlled Spirit Threads to bind his limbs. Night Frost directed sharp threads to strip away the undead druid's arms and legs. Having lost most of the undead power, the druid dropped weakly into the center of the Formation and was trapped there completely.

"You've won... barely." (Elvish)

The undead druid looked at Night Frost, then at the Elderly Elf. If Night Frost hadn't stepped in, the Elderly Elf would most likely have died here. That last strike had truly been dangerous. If Night Frost's arrival hadn't interrupted it, it was hard to say who would have come out alive.

"Kill me or torture me, do as you please." (Elvish)

He quietly looked up into the sky. This was the Elderly Elf's space of mind and soul. There was nothing there.

The Elderly Elf stood before the Formation and looked at the undead druid before him. With his limbs torn off and Night Frost's flames burning him, his spirit was fading away bit by bit.

"I want to know why... why did you do this?! You're not the kind of person who'd do something like this!!" (Elvish)

The Elderly Elf slammed his fist against the light screen formed by the Formation, furious. During the battle, he had seen many souls transformed into undead being devoured by the undead druid. Those undead had fused into one with him, and were now being purified by the flames.

"You've heard of The Seven Days of the Elves, I assume?" (Elvish)

Night Frost nodded. The Elderly Elf had told her stories about the elves' calamity before, and the one before them seemed to have been one of the main forces who fought against it back then.

"At the end of the disaster, the Dragon of Prophecy told me it wasn't over. But at the time, I thought it was only a disaster. As long as everyone worked together, there was no hurdle we couldn't cross. The facts proved I was wrong." (Elvish)

A trace of grief appeared in his eyes. He had personally witnessed the rise of the second sun.

"As the second sun rose, that peaceful and tranquil forest changed. Whenever the second sun hung in the sky, countless vines would grow in the shadows. Those vines preyed on weak creatures to strengthen themselves and spread themselves... the disaster had never ended." (Elvish)

"The strong ones in the forest urgently convened a meeting. They planned to join forces from all sides to eliminate those vines, and they had to keep it secret. The fact that the disaster wasn't over couldn't be made known to the people below, or it would cause unnecessary panic." (Elvish)

And so, an organization to fight the vines was formed. They concentrated their strength and uprooted vine after vine, but no matter what they did, they could never wipe them out completely. Their reproductive ability was terrifying. As long as there was still soil and nourishment nearby, those vines would be endless. (All below in Elvish)

"I spent half my life suppressing those vines. Under the combined efforts of several great experts, they stopped surfacing, and the forest gradually recovered. The disaster seemed to have passed, and the forest returned to its former peace... but I knew none of it was over."

"I visited the Dragon of Prophecy once again. The Dragon of Prophecy gave me a drop of Blood, allowing me to witness the tragic future... That was not an enemy we could stand against. The signs before its descent alone would be enough to kill most living beings on this land."

"I had to make the elven race survive. I had to make the entire forest survive. I had to find a way for the whole forest to live on!"

"But even at the end of my life, I still hadn't found one. Yet the gods seemed to give me a second chance. Because of my obsession, I did not die. My dead soul became an undead spirit, bound by the moon."

"The moonlight sealed my soul inside the moon, and I endured the passage of endless years."

"There were many undead inside the moon. Because I had once been strong, I retained part of my awareness. I began hunting weaker undead to strengthen myself. At last, in that dead silent space, I built a force of my own and recovered my memories."

"And not only that. Inside the moon, I also discovered many secrets—the legend of creation."

At those words, both Night Frost and the Elderly Elf leaned in. They were both curious.

"They were several murals. They recorded how an omnipotent god created this world. The moon's earliest function had nothing to do with detaining souls. It was a place the god used to store successful creations."

"These successful creations were the first gods created by that god. But after recording all this, those lives died."

"After that, the god of creation created dragons. Their lineage was passed down as one, standing at the peak of Ultimate existence. The Dragon of Prophecy was one of them."

"After that came Monsters... There were no elves in the murals, nor any other races. Perhaps all of them became what they are now only after a long process of evolution."

"After the god of creation made all things, the moon was left empty. So that god transformed the moon into a transit point for souls. At night, it would bind wandering souls, purify them, and send them into reincarnation."

"After that, the god of creation disappeared. The moon functioned for several hundred years before breaking down. It could only detain souls, no longer release them. Those souls were imprisoned inside the lightless moon, and that also gave the newly arrived me a chance to grow stronger."

"I spent endless years inside the moon. I kept growing stronger, until I finally became powerful enough to lead the undead. During that long life, I thought through countless questions. How could I let the forest's living beings survive? In the end, I found an answer. If I turned them all into undead, the moonlight would guide them into the moon's interior."

"It is a natural shelter, a shelter created by the gods. As long as they remain inside the moon, their souls won't dissipate, and they'll rarely suffer attacks. They can safely survive the disaster."

"But no matter how strong I became, I still couldn't break through the moon created by the god of creation. Yet heaven leaves no path completely closed. Just recently, the moon cracked."

"I returned to this land once more. I began experimenting, and after repeated attempts, my method proved workable. So I began to act. But before I could capture many elves, I fell into your hands. Hahaha... the elven race truly produces one talent after another..."

All of a sudden, the space trembled. Countless giant hands passed through the Formation with ease and grabbed at the druid's body. The Elderly Elf reached out, wanting to stop them, but was sharply rebuked.

"You'll die. You can't touch It. I've seen too much... It was drawn here, no..."

"I saw it! It was the Sorceress!"

"Anyway, be careful of It... and the Sorceress..."

"Please... lead... the elven race... to survive..."

The Elderly Elf's voice trembled. His resolute eyes locked tightly onto the druid's face.

"I will." (Elvish)

The Elderly Elf and the druid clasped hands tightly. The druid, smiling, was then torn into pieces by those giant hands, and his presence vanished.