In the chaotic darkness, a figure streaked across the sky like a meteor, carrying the power of destruction as she charged the monster standing in the void.

It was Night Frost.

Her body was no longer human. It had transformed into a massive Black Dragon. Its black scales glimmered with a cold light, while Black Flame danced between them, as if it meant to devour everything.

The monster’s silhouette flickered in and out of the darkness. Mockery and contempt gleamed in Its eyes, as though Night Frost’s attack meant nothing.

Yet the instant Night Frost’s draconic body collided with the monster, the seemingly solid Abyssal passage began to shake violently.

The tremendous impact kicked up a raging wind. It sent the Eye Orb and Li Dogegg’s body flying outward.

At the center of the collision, a mighty force tore loose and rampaged through the surroundings, as if it meant to rip everything apart.

Black Flame intertwined with the Abyssal Aura radiating from the monster. The lightless darkness merged with the void around them.

Apart from the two combatants, no one knew what was happening in the darkness.

Night Frost’s dragon scales cracked beneath the impact, ringing with crisp snaps. Dragon blood seeped from the wounds, then vanished into the gale stirred up by the collision.

The monster seemed to have underestimated the attack’s power. Its body trembled violently under the blow.

It could only keep drawing on its Abyssal Aura while resisting the assault of the Calamity Flame and the Black Dragon phantom.

“In the end, I’m still the victor… Calamity is simply too weak!”

The monster looked toward the increasingly transparent Black Dragon phantom and burst into laughter.

It stretched a palm toward the phantom and smashed apart the Calamity Dragon formed through Night Frost’s body by Li Dogegg.

But in the next second, a Spear pierced through the monster’s lower abdomen.

The dark-golden light in Its eyes faded, replaced by a beautiful crimson-gold hue.

The monster stared at the Spear in disbelief.

By then, the Spear had transformed into pitch-black flames, burning through Its organs. In only a few seconds, most of that body had already been consumed.

“You said you didn’t use weapons…”

It looked toward Night Frost. But the moment It met her gaze, It understood.

The soul within that body was no longer the Calamity Dragon.

It was Night Frost’s soul.

“Li Dogegg is the one who doesn’t use weapons. What does that have to do with me?”

Night Frost panted heavily. She had only just taken control of her body, yet she immediately discovered how depleted it was.

Not a trace of Mana remained.

Even the Magic Armor covering her body was struggling to hold together. Night Frost hurriedly pulled several Magic Stones from her Spatial Box to stabilize herself.

She didn’t want to stand naked in front of that monster. Besides, she and Li Dogegg had only destroyed Andi’s headless corpse.

That didn’t mean the pair of hands and the brain had lost their ability to fight.

“Shouldn’t you still be trapped inside the illusion? How did you escape?”

That was the final sentence spoken by the brain controlling Andi’s corpse.

Night Frost turned away. She had no intention of answering.

“Let’s go. Don’t waste time listening to Its bullshit!”

Night Frost hoisted the corpse from the ground. She took Li Dogegg and the Eye Orb, who had flown back from afar, and hurried toward Fertini’s aura.

But the monster didn’t actually need her answer.

It spread open Its palm and looked at the incomplete markings in Its center. Then It understood what had happened in that instant.

Black Flame had clung to Night Frost’s scale-covered palm.

Li Dogegg had been controlling Night Frost’s body, intending to use every last drop of Mana within it to deliver a fatal blow.

During the battle, Black Flame had remained wrapped around the monster. It was still covering Its entire body now.

Li Dogegg knew that the monster had no way to extinguish the Black Flame.

As long as the flames melted through the Array Pattern, Night Frost’s soul could escape.

So, while the monster slowly approached Li Dogegg, Li Dogegg manipulated the Black Flame in subtle ways.

She couldn’t make any obvious movements. Otherwise, the monster would certainly notice.

Li Dogegg secretly gathered the Black Flame in the monster’s palm, where the Array Pattern was carved.

As long as she burned through one of the lines, the Formation would become incomplete. Then Night Frost would have a chance to break free.

At that moment, Li Dogegg unleashed the strongest attack of her entire existence.

That attack possessed Ultimate power. It was enough to tear through the Abyssal Aura covering Andi’s corpse.

If the Black Flame corroded it, Andi’s corpse would certainly be destroyed.

Night Frost had discovered the weakness of the monster’s possession of Andi’s corpse because she was intelligent and perceptive.

That had been an unforeseen variable in Its plan.

But what did the Calamity Dragon have?

It was merely a creation with brute force.

It must have been Night Frost who had told Li Dogegg something.

To protect Andi’s corpse, the monster had no choice but to gather Its Abyssal Aura at the center of Its body.

Its power was immense, but Its source was only a pair of hands. The Abyssal Aura within them was like water without a spring.

It had already consumed a great deal while dealing with Night Frost. Now, facing the Calamity Dragon as well, It was struggling.

Still, as long as It stopped this attack, victory would belong to It.

But that very movement had fallen into Li Dogegg and Night Frost’s trap.

The instant the monster focused Its attention on Li Dogegg’s Ultimate attack, the Black Flame that had been building across Its body erupted.

It took the opportunity to shake the Formation.

The Array Pattern didn’t melt apart as they had expected. But the unstable Formation gave Night Frost the chance to escape.

During the collision, Night Frost’s soul crossed the darkness and gained its freedom.

She quietly crouched in a corner of her own mind, like a predator upon the grasslands, waiting for the right moment to strike a fatal blow.

The monster was powerful.

That brain could predict an enemy’s movements. It calculated the future and made choices at countless forks in the road.

It always selected the option with the highest probability—the most suitable method for dealing with its opponent.

But Night Frost refused to follow common sense.

Her first surprise attack had been beyond Its calculations. After adjusting the method of calculation, however, It had been able to deal with her easily.

Using the Formation had been the optimal conclusion reached through calculation.

The probability of Night Frost being trapped by it had been as high as ninety percent.

After the Formation successfully imprisoned Night Frost, Li Dogegg, whose soul belonged to the Calamity Dragon, charged over.

Perhaps she had endured enough calamity for fortune to favor her.

She actually evaded the attack of those hands and seized control of Night Frost’s body.

The Calamity Dragon’s attacks were broad and forceful. They were also easy to deal with.

But even the monster had failed to calculate that a single fluctuation in the Formation would allow Night Frost to escape.

At the time, Its mind had been analyzing the attack patterns of the Calamity Dragon’s soul—not Night Frost’s.

Night Frost’s Spear had been hidden behind the monster long ago.

That sharp Spear had waited for the monster to shift all Its Abyssal Aura to the front.

It had waited for Its arrogance to swell with the certainty of victory.

Then, while the monster was immersed in that triumph, it had delivered the true final blow.

The monster couldn’t believe it.

The advantage had originally been Its.

It possessed an absolute weakness, but It also possessed absolute power.

Night Frost was strong, but she had yet to cross the threshold of Ultimate.

Without the Calamity Dragon, she would have died long ago.

“What a troublesome creature. But the limits of humanity end here…”

Night Frost ran with Li Dogegg and the Eye Orb for an unknown amount of time before finally stopping.

Her Mana and stamina had both been completely exhausted. She collapsed limply onto the ground, her face slightly flushed as she panted heavily.

“How did you discover that brain’s ability?”

On the way, Night Frost had briefly explained how they defeated the monster to the Eye Orb.

Once she had recovered a little strength, the Eye Orb asked the question, clearly curious.

“I wasn’t certain, either. I admit, I was gambling…”

“That thing was called a god by those Magic Maidens and Sorceresses. It naturally had extraordinary abilities.”

“If it were a true god, it should be able to predict the future, right?”

“But when I thought about it carefully, that sudden ambush at the beginning caught It off guard. It only resisted through the strength and toughness of Its body.”

“Although It blocked my next few attacks, some occasional attacks still worked.”

“For example, the Spear I condensed while trapped in the illusion. It killed It successfully.”

“That was when I realized It couldn’t stop attacks that fell outside Its expectations.”

“Then I knew Its ability to predict the future had flaws. Or perhaps there were some futures It couldn’t calculate.”

“Even if It blocked most attacks, certain unexpected ones could still succeed.”

“In that instant, I understood. That was our only chance to defeat It.”

“If we didn’t gamble, we would die.”

Obviously, Night Frost had won the gamble.

If she had lost, they wouldn’t be lying here now.

This was the umpteenth time Fertini had returned. She had already carried away all the fallen little Magic Maidens.

This time, she had come back to confirm whether Night Frost and the others were still alive.

“You’re back, my lady! (Dragon Tongue)”

Fertini’s eyes widened when she saw Night Frost collapsed on the ground.

The fact that Night Frost could appear here meant they had won.

“We won for now. It won’t catch up to us in the short term.”

“But I’ll have to trouble you. I have no strength left. (Dragon Tongue)”

Night Frost had barely finished speaking before she lay down.

Her vision had already begun to darken. It seemed to be a symptom of anemia.

If not for her iron will, she would have passed out already.

Fertini carried Night Frost on her back. She held the corpse of the little Magic Maiden, now reduced to half a body, in her arms.

The Eye Orb rested on her shoulder, unable to suppress its guilt.

“I’m sorry. I damaged your companion’s body.”

Fertini shook her head.

“She died long ago. It killed her easily.”

“Even if we left her there, she would only rot. This way, she could make one final contribution.”

“Without Andi, we would all have died. But because of you, most of us survived…”

“There’s no need to feel guilty over the dead. I’m sure they’d be happy to know they protected their companions even after death, wouldn’t they? (Dragon Tongue)”

Fertini spoke without a trace of warmth, but anyone with eyes could see the single tear sliding down her cheek.

No one knew whether she blamed the Eye Orb for what it had done, or whether she mourned her dead companion.

“When we return, bury them together.”

“They’ll always remain in our hearts. We’ll remember them forever, won’t we?”

“Besides, Andi once said that tears should be shed for ourselves alone, didn’t she? (Dragon Tongue)”

Night Frost rubbed her head, easing the sorrow in Fertini’s heart.

The moment Andi was mentioned, Fertini’s heavy steps became firm.

She continued forward one step at a time.

Even if endless darkness and a lightless sky waited ahead, she was the most mature among the remaining Sorceresses.

She would lead everyone to survive.

Seeing that fear had not crushed Fertini, Night Frost nodded in relief.

Surely, Andi’s spirit would be delighted to see this scene.

Surely, Night Frost’s parents’ spirits would be proud of what she had achieved today.

She silently clenched the notebook in her palm.