Chapter 1037: The Dragon Who Froze the Sea

Then something changed.

The cold came first.

Not the cold produced by her own magic, but something infinitely greater, heavy enough that even Krissia could feel the difference.

The temperature dropped so rapidly that the water scattered across the beach froze before it could even fully touch the ground.

The sky darkened.

Krissia raised her head.

A gigantic shadow was moving through the clouds.

It took her only a second to understand what she was seeing.

A dragon.

Not a creature resembling a dragon, nor one of the many lesser species carrying small traces of draconic blood.

A true dragon.

Colossal.

Covered in pale blue scales so bright they looked as though they had been carved from ice.

Its enormous wings opened over the coast.

Frozen crystals broke away from them with every movement, shining against the light before disappearing into the air.

Curved horns extended backward from its head, and white mist so cold that it froze the surrounding moisture escaped from between the plates along its neck.

Krissia recognized that presence immediately.

"Cassandra..."

The enormous dragon descended.

It did not land.

It remained suspended above the coastline, beating its wings with enough force to scatter entire clouds as it observed the nearly destroyed wall below.

Then its eyes turned toward Krissia.

"Move away."

Cassandra’s voice crossed the beach like thunder.

Krissia tried to answer.

"I..."

Another wave struck the wall.

The entire structure groaned.

Krissia staggered.

Cassandra saw it.

The enormous dragon’s eyes narrowed.

"KRISSIA, MOVE AWAY!"

"I can’t!"

She tried to take a step backward.

Her leg simply didn’t respond.

Krissia looked down as though that could force her own body to obey.

She tried again, but her knees immediately gave out.

She dropped onto one knee.

"Damn it..."

It wasn’t fear.

It wasn’t hesitation.

Her body had reached its limit before her will was willing to accept it.

Cassandra understood immediately.

The enormous dragon’s eyes narrowed.

Then she opened her mouth.

Krissia felt the energy before she saw it.

A monstrous amount of draconic power concentrated in Cassandra’s throat, causing blue lines to glow between her scales.

The temperature dropped even further.

"Then stay down."

Cassandra inhaled.

The world froze.

A white storm struck the ocean.

It did not look like a simple breath of ice.

It was as though an entire piece of winter had been poured across the coastline.

The attack passed through Krissia’s wall without destroying it.

On the contrary.

The cracked ice began to regenerate.

The fissures vanished.

The broken sections were filled with new crystalline layers.

The wall thickened.

And the breath continued.

Cassandra’s magic passed through the barrier and struck the mass of water accumulated on the other side directly.

The result was immediate.

The ocean began to freeze.

First, only the surface.

Then several meters below.

Then dozens.

The colossal wave pressing against the wall lost its momentum as a white layer spread across it.

The foam froze.

Tons of water were transformed into a solid mass that continued trying to advance through sheer inertia.

Cassandra increased the power.

"FREEZE!"

A wave of draconic energy swept across the coastline.

The ice advanced kilometers out to sea.

The enormous wave that only moments earlier had threatened to swallow Asgard became a frozen mountain before the coast.

Krissia watched without managing to say a word.

She had used practically all of her energy to construct a single barrier.

Cassandra was freezing the sea.

Not completely.

Not even a dragon could freeze an entire ocean like that.

But a gigantic stretch of water in front of Asgard had been transformed into ice, creating a second defensive line far beyond the first wall.

And even then...

Krissia noticed movement in the distance.

Beyond the frozen region, the ocean remained violent.

New waves were forming.

Cassandra noticed as well.

The enormous dragon stopped her breath and spread her wings completely.

The ice groaned beneath her.

"This isn’t a storm."

Krissia breathed with difficulty.

"I know..."

Her voice came out as little more than a whisper.

"Something is causing this."

Cassandra continued staring toward the horizon.

She could feel it.

Krissia could too.

That pressure was still there.

Distant.

Deep.

And now that the immediate chaos had been temporarily contained, it became even more obvious that the presence was not coming from the waves.

It was coming from somewhere beneath them.

Far beneath them.

Krissia tried to stand.

Nothing.

Her legs still had no strength.

"Come on..."

She placed one hand on the ice.

"Get up..."

Her arm trembled.

Her body fell again.

Krissia clenched her teeth, irritated with herself.

"I can still..."

"You can’t."

The voice came from behind her.

Krissia froze.

Not from magic.

A shadow cast across the ice had suddenly become unnaturally dark.

It grew silently.

Then a woman stepped out of it.

Yennifer emerged as though she had always been there.

No flash.

No explosion of mana.

Only a shadow becoming too deep for an instant and returning a person to the world.

Krissia turned her head.

"Yennifer..."

"Yes."

Yennifer quickly looked toward the wall.

Then toward Cassandra.

Finally, her eyes returned to Krissia.

The blood beneath her nose, the irregular breathing, the trembling arms, and above all, her obvious inability to stand were enough for Yennifer to understand the situation.

Krissia tried to place her hand on the ground again.

"I need to keep going."

Yennifer caught her arm.

"No."

"There are still more waves."

"Cassandra is here."

"But..."

"Krissia."

The firmness in her voice ended the argument.

Krissia raised her eyes.

Yennifer remained silent for several seconds before looking toward the gigantic wall still separating Asgard from the sea.

The structure was destroyed in several places.

Imperfect.

Covered in cracks.

But it was still standing.

And it had remained standing for as long as it needed to.

Yennifer looked back at her.

"Good work."

Krissia went still.

The tension holding her body upright seemed to vanish with those two words.

"I only managed to delay it..."

"And that was exactly what we needed."

Yennifer slipped one arm behind her back and the other beneath her legs.

Krissia’s eyes widened.

"Wait."

Yennifer simply lifted her up into her arms.

"Yennifer!"

"You can’t walk."

"I can."

"You just tried twice."

Krissia fell silent.

"Three times," Yennifer corrected.

"You didn’t have to count."

"I did."

Krissia let out a weary sigh and finally stopped resisting. Her head involuntarily rested against Yennifer’s shoulder.

She truly didn’t have the energy left to argue.

Yennifer looked at Cassandra.

The dragoness was still circling above the coast, reinforcing specific sections of the frozen sea. With every beat of her wings, cold gusts swept across the beach, and new layers of ice formed over the barrier.

"Cassandra!"

The massive dragon’s eyes turned toward them.

"I’m taking Krissia to the rear."

"Take her."

The reply came immediately.

"And tell Monica this isn’t over."

Yennifer nodded.

"I know."

Cassandra turned back toward the ocean.

The pressure was mounting.

The ice she had created was beginning to emit deep cracking sounds.

Not because it was melting.

Something on the other side kept pushing the sea against it.

Yennifer noticed it too.

Her expression hardened.

Krissia opened her eyes again.

"Yennifer..."

"No."

"You don’t even know what I was going to say." "You were going to ask to stay."

Krissia remained silent.

Yennifer looked at her.

"Let’s go somewhere safe."

"But Cassandra..."

"She’s a dragon."

"That doesn’t mean..."

"I know."

Yennifer cut her off before Krissia could finish.

Her tone lost its lightness.

"That’s why I’m going back as soon as I leave you with the others."

Krissia gazed out at the ocean.

From that vantage point, she could see the full extent of what she had created.

Her wall looked small against the sea frozen by Cassandra.

Yet, it still stood there.

Between Asgard and the first wave.

She had succeeded.

Not in preventing the disaster.

Not in defeating whatever was stirring up the ocean.

Only in buying time.

But, at that moment, time was likely the most precious resource in all of Asgard.

Krissia closed her eyes.

"Don’t let her fight alone."

Yennifer looked at Cassandra.

"I won’t."