Night Frost stopped the Halfbeast before it could act on impulse, preventing a conflict from breaking out. The next few minutes were left to Li Dogegg and the elf girl.

The elf girl seemed to have studied the language of dragons. She managed to converse with Li Dogegg fairly smoothly. There were probably a few grammatical mistakes along the way, but overall, the two communicated well.

Night Frost listened from the side and heard everything clearly. She couldn’t understand what Li Dogegg was saying, but she could hear every word. After all, Li Dogegg was Night Frost’s familiar, and Night Frost possessed the heart of the Calamity Dragon. Naturally, she could understand what Li Dogegg meant.

After testing a few phrases, Li Dogegg finally brought the conversation with the absentminded elf girl to the main topic.

“Roar!” (Hello…)

Li Dogegg looked toward Night Frost. Night Frost leaned closer and quickly whispered all the lines it needed to recite into its ear.

After Li Dogegg finished roaring, the elf girl followed with a roar of her own. It seemed they were greeting each other.

Seeing this, the Halfbeast and the two humans lowered their weapons. They walked over to a patch of grass nearby and went to rest.

“Roar—roar—roar…” (Thank you very much for saving the two of us, my lords. My name is Ishta. I’m a jungle elf from the former Jungle Group One. I offer my respects to the familiar lady and this great lady.)

Li Dogegg nodded proudly.

But as soon as the elf girl finished speaking, Li Dogegg—

“Roar? Roar…?” (Huh? Familiar…)

Before Li Dogegg could finish, Night Frost seized it by the throat of destiny.

Without time to think any further, Li Dogegg continued reciting the rest under Night Frost’s coercion.

The elf girl assumed that the two of them had a good relationship. She secretly covered her mouth and let out a giggle.

Li Dogegg wanted to ask more questions, but the words stuck in its throat and refused to come out.

Under Night Frost’s threats and inducements, Li Dogegg could only continue following her script.

Night Frost turned her head aside and suppressed the smile spreading across her lips. Then she turned back with a solemn expression.

“Try to speak properly, all right? Don’t mind me.”

Night Frost’s words were like a demon’s whisper.

The night wasn’t cold. In fact, it was even somewhat hot. Yet Li Dogegg felt a trace of chill run down its back.

Thus, it could only continue following Night Frost’s words.

“Roar! Roar! Roar!” (No need to thank us. We’re adventurers from another kingdom, merely passing through this area. We came to ask about nearby settlements.)

Night Frost’s explanation wasn’t long. It was also simple and clear.

The elf girl understood what Night Frost wanted. She nodded, indicating that she could help.

She didn’t know where Night Frost had come from, but anyone willing to save them couldn’t be some utterly vicious criminal.

Even if Night Frost harbored ill intentions, the elf girl still had a trump card hidden up her sleeve. She could use it against Night Frost if necessary.

Still, the elf girl found it strange.

There were only so many languages on this continent. Night Frost was clearly human, so why was she speaking a language the elf had never heard before?

How strange.

But the elf girl didn’t want to think too deeply about it.

“Roar, roar, roar~ Roar…” (We don’t have a map, but our city-state isn’t far from here. I can lead you into the city and help you find one.)

In a place where she knew neither the people nor the land, finding a translator who understood the local language was incredibly fortunate.

Since these people could help Night Frost, she naturally wouldn’t treat them unfairly.

“Roar… Roar… Roar!” (Then we’ll be in your care. Don’t you think camping out here alone is dangerous? My carriage is nearby. Why don’t you come with me? There’s safety in numbers.)

Night Frost pointed toward the distance, beside the mound of earth.

Her carriage was parked there. She had personally built it according to the Eye Orb’s blueprint.

It wasn’t particularly large, but with a little expansion, it could barely accommodate everyone.

The elf hesitated. She went to a corner nearby and discussed the matter with her companions.

They talked for quite a long time.

In the end, the elf girl agreed to travel with Night Frost.

Of course, by “travel together,” they really meant having Night Frost carry them for part of the journey.

Night Frost was powerful, and she had a means of transportation. Besides, their current condition was far from good. They would probably struggle to carry out their next mission.

They spent a long time discussing whether Night Frost could be trusted.

In the end, they decided to help her as repayment for saving their lives.

It was truly a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Along the way, the elf girl told Night Frost everything she knew about the continent.

Naturally, she spoke through Li Dogegg.

The elf girl’s knowledge wasn’t especially broad. But when combined with the information from her Halfbeast companion and the two humans, it gave Night Frost quite a lot to work with.

They told her the general directions of the human city-states, as well as information about several factions within the Abyss of Myth, among other things.

In short, they were far more useful than Li Dogegg.

After all, it was merely a lazy, gluttonous dragon with a title that no one dared to acknowledge.

While gathering information from the elf girl, Night Frost subtly revealed some information about herself as well.

She guided the conversation toward the subjects she wanted, little by little.

When the elf heard that Night Frost had only recently emerged from the deep forest, her eyes widened in disbelief.

“Roar, roar, roar! Roar, roar? Roar!” (You actually came out of that place? There haven’t been many living creatures there since last month… Especially…)

The elf girl seemed extraordinarily shocked that any living being had emerged from that forest.

Night Frost exchanged a glance with Li Dogegg.

Could she be the first person to leave that forest alive in the past month?

“Roar…”

The elf girl placed an arm on Night Frost’s shoulder. Tears glimmered in her eyes.

She desperately wanted to know what the forest had become.

When Night Frost asked why she was so eager to know what had happened there, the elf girl didn’t hide anything. She told the entire story in detail.

According to the elf girl, there had originally been two suns in the sky.

When day came, both suns rose and cast scorching light across the world.

But one month ago, a third sun appeared out of nowhere.

Whenever the second sun rose, the third sun followed close behind.

The air grew slightly hotter. No corner remained untouched by sunlight. The grassland’s vegetation was baked dry and yellow.

Sometimes, even the cold seawater could be boiled.

The third sun brought more than just heat. It also brought disaster.

Whenever that sun rose, the southern continent was swallowed by surging seawater.

No one knew whether the sun itself had caused the mutation, but some Monsters became abnormally violent.

The vegetation in the forest began twisting into sentient monsters. They grew along the light, becoming terrifying beyond measure.

The elf girl had once been a guardian of that forest.

She was a jungle elf born from nature, a part of nature itself. She had lived in the jungle alongside her ancestors.

But after the third sun rose, every beautiful moment of that life began counting down toward its end.

The sea swallowed her homeland, turning its fertile soil into land unfit for survival.

The bizarre plants strangled the trees, then hunted and killed every living creature in the forest—including the jungle elves.

Their people had not been without powerful warriors.

When the third sun rose, the forest’s Order fell into chaos. The strongest jungle elves, representatives of the forest’s Order, rushed to every corner of the forest to stabilize it.

They also led some of the younger jungle elves away from danger in an orderly retreat toward the grasslands.

But the sea surged in without warning and swallowed everything.

Only the elves who had evacuated early survived, along with powerful warriors strong enough to resist the tide and stand against nature itself.

The elves and Monsters who failed to escape the forest in time were all killed by the sea. They became food for the Monsters living within it.

The elf race lost its territory. They had no choice but to sign a treaty with the humans and temporarily live within their city-states.

Of course, the forest wasn’t the only place affected.

Creatures everywhere began migrating northward. The elves were merely one group among many.

If this continued, the humans would eventually have to withdraw from the grasslands as well.

Night Frost nodded.

She understood the situation now.

This small team had come here to investigate the changes in the forest and the sea, hoping to restore both to their original state.

But their entire team would probably have been wiped out not long after entering the forest.

After all, that was no place for humans to remain.

Night Frost suddenly understood why the elf girl had reacted so strongly upon hearing that she had come out of the forest.

Almost no one who entered that place ever returned.

Those who were far stronger than the elf girl had gone into the forest and never come back.

Yet Night Frost, who was weaker than them, had managed to do it.

Night Frost felt a little embarrassed.

In truth, she shouldn’t have survived either.

But Crimson’s power, the Eye Orb’s power, and Li Dogegg had all pulled her back from the brink of death.

Otherwise, she would have become food for the Monsters of the sea as well.

“Roar~~~ Roar!” (If you receive any news, please tell me. I really want to know what’s happening in there now. Those elders refuse to say a word…)

“Roar, roar—” (Actually, I don’t know anything. I only managed to get out because I was lucky. Still…)

Night Frost took a dripping-wet book from her storage space.

It was a notebook that had been left inside the small house.

Most of the writing had blurred beyond recognition, but a small portion of the text could still be made out.

Unfortunately, no one in Night Frost’s group could read the script.

“Roar…” (I found this book inside a wooden house. It was lying intact on a table, but the seawater soaked through it. The writing has become too blurred to read.)

The elf girl looked at the notebook Night Frost handed over.

The seawater on it still hadn’t dried. It was wet and dripping, with a strong fishy smell.

Night Frost had assumed that the supposedly pure-hearted elf race would dislike such a tattered, filthy-looking book.

But the elf girl held it steadily in her hands without the slightest trace of disgust.

That was rather different from the novels.

The elf girl’s smile faded.

She carefully pried apart the pages that had stuck together. Each time she opened one, she used magic to hold it in place, preventing the soaked paper from tearing under excessive force.

The deeper the elf girl read, the dimmer her gaze became.