I Was The Hero, But I Woke Up as a Phoenix Princess! – Chapter 705

Vinash City was not a remote city. It was built on the southern coastline of the Aer Continent, with maritime merchant ships and wind carriages making its trade prosperous, becoming the foundation of the city.
In the past, the sounds of numerous magi-merchant ships would fill the docks, and even late at night, after the magic lights were lit, people would still be engaged in a thriving night market.
It was as if the hustle and bustle had never left.
However, at this moment, a suffocating stillness, like the maw of a giant beast, tore at the sky and swallowed the entire city.
Miss Verafia, holding a lantern, was in the middle of the procession, with only Shiel and a few knights by her side.
Ig, Ophi, and Ain, among others, were at the very front, eliminating the enemies blocking their path in the blizzard.
Fragments of the frost calamity condensed into malevolent beings called “Snow Progeny.” Neither Ig nor the other knights were unfamiliar with these monsters that appeared with the spread of the frost calamity, and they swung their sword edges, cutting through the ice and snow.
It did not take too long. The Ice Dragon Girl swayed her dragon tail, and her slender jade hand flicked, and a line of frost-blue spear aura tore straight through the last Snow Progeny, shredding the pale ice crystal fragments into dust.
However, neither the knights nor the priests who had defeated the Snow Progeny showed much excitement. Even Ig merely took Ophi and silently put away the Ending.
The young man’s azure eyes gazed at the boundless ice and snow that seemed to be swallowing the entire city.
The stillness of the frost was like a heavy sky, pressing down on everyone’s hearts. Even the anticipation caused by the warmth of the young girl’s lantern had gradually been blown away by the approaching wind, becoming oppressive.
“Miss Verafia, let’s continue moving forward,” Shiel said softly beside the young girl.
“Mm.”
Miss Verafia slightly raised the lantern in her hand, and the soft light expanded its range, melting the blowing wind and snow.
“…Are you looking at this city?” a soft girlish voice suddenly came. Shiel turned her head in surprise, “Miss Tais?”
The young girl, walking with a thick fur-lined robe, her cloak blown by the wind, did not appear bulky. Tais held a staff in her fair hand, and a starry blue fluorescent light faintly illuminated her face, revealing a hint of paleness in the reflected wind and snow.
The Kasha Cult aimed to curb the spread of the frost calamity. They had traveled thousands of miles to this city to thwart the conspiracy of the frost calamity followers.
However, in that very moment, they had also witnessed the frost calamity descend, wantonly devouring life and the world. Tais had suffered no less a blow than Shiel.
“That’s true. But…”
Miss Verafia turned her head, gazing at the city covered in ice and snow beyond the lamplight’s range.
No matter how gorgeous and prosperous the buildings were in former days, at this moment, in the wind of the dark night, they were all covered in layers of ice crystals, yet they exuded a more exquisite sense of beauty, like ice sculptures, reflecting the light of the lantern.
She shook her head gently, then turned her face to look at the silver-haired young girl in the cloak, “I was thinking about what Tais told me before.”
“What you told me…?”
“Mm.”
The young girl nodded, “I remember Tais told me that you suspected Tristan’s conspiracy was to bring about the frost calamity, and like the former Winterfall City, turn this city into the domain of the Frost God… Um, Tais also told me about Winterfall City at the moment the frost calamity descended.”
“You mean…?”
“From now on, this land will become a forbidden zone for life, and the frost calamity will spread from within… The hundred thousand residents and the elite border knights were eroded by the power of the frost calamity and became servants of frost and snow, guarding the phantom of the frost calamity in that ice-sealed city.”
Miss Verafia softly repeated the words Tais had told her before.
She moved her face, and beside her, illuminated by the lamplight, was a human figure carved by ice. Covered by layers of hard ice, her face was hidden, but she had a lifelike feeling.
It was as if a panicked knight had been swallowed by frost and ice the moment the frost calamity descended.
There were not a few such ice sculptures along the way.
Her eyelashes blinked, and she slightly raised her golden eyes. Miss Verafia extended her fair fingers and touched them. The ice sculpture showed fine cracks and disintegrated.
However, there was no blood or flesh, not even fragments of armor remained. It was as if the moment the frost condensed, anything outside the domain of “ice” was devoured.
Tais’s face turned slightly pale.
Shiel looked at their expressions and seemed a little confused.
Miss Verafia turned her golden eyes. She chuckled at herself slightly, and then gently opened her lips:
“I never understood why those frost calamity followers summoned the frost calamity in your city, Shiel…”
“Miss Verafia, you mean?”
“Young Lady means… the power of the frost calamity has devoured all the heat and life in this city. Moreover, it wasn’t just a simple devouring of life.”
Ig walked up to them. The Ending he held in his hand reflected a gleam of ice in the firelight.
“It’s like this… Although the erosion of the frost calamity’s laws can easily kill a person’s life, it doesn’t annihilate his individual existence.”
Miss Verafia paused, “If He just wanted to turn Shiel’s city into a new ‘Winterfall City,’ the descending ice laws should have been the same as before, merely eroding them and turning them into His servants and pawns.”
“Instead of leaving even a single shred behind like this.”
Even though the frost calamity had descended upon this continent for nearly twenty years, the phantom of the Frost God had never lingered in the mortal world.
Winterfall City had turned into a domain of ice, but what made it a forbidden zone for life was the countless eroded and corrupted soldiers and border knights who were consumed by the calamity at the moment of its descent.
However, the frost calamity that descended upon Vinash City merely froze the city, and the laws of frost wantonly hunted the lives outside the frost.
“Then, then… Miss Verafia, are you saying…” Shiel’s voice began to tremble.
“Not to expand His territory, not to expand His followers, perhaps, it’s just that this evil god is feeding.” Tais said. Her hand gripped her staff, and she showed a determined expression as an enemy of the frost calamity. “The entire city and tens of thousands of lives are merely His food.”
“Devouring life, is He doing this… to fully revive?”
“No.” Miss Verafia suddenly spoke softly. “This god has actually awakened long ago. However, He is incomplete, and even within His domain, He cannot truly exert His authority.”
The young girl before them was a follower of the North Wind Witch… This ice witch was considered an envoy of the frost calamity, and according to rumors, she harvested lives for the evil god behind her, feeding Him souls.
Perhaps the rumors about the witch were just the fears of the world and the framing by the apostles of the frost calamity, but for this incomplete god to display His power, devouring life is the best choice.
What kind of existence would require a god to devour the lives of an entire city to display His power?
The answer was not difficult to guess.
She lowered her cheeks slightly, “Shiel… perhaps I have implicated you and your city.”