Chapter 362: Demon! Your Time Has Come!

At the crack of dawn the following day, as faint light touched the sky, the White Dragon Lord set out with half of Blackrock Fortress's Master Tier and higher powerhouses. Together, they would cross the Frozen Land to deliver a fatal strike to the Ice and Snow Demon Base.

"Hold formation and advance at full speed!"

The White Dragon Lord and the gold dragon took to the sky. Below them marched an army of over eight hundred powerhouses. Sixteen were legendary powerhouses, while the rest were at the Master Tier.

The magic professionals buffed themselves with the Light Body spell and other auxiliary magic, clearing a dozen meters with a single light bound. For the melee professionals, it was even simpler. Blessed with explosively powerful physiques, they relied purely on raw muscular strength to sprint at blistering speeds.

The White Dragon Lord estimated that at this pace, they would reach the Ice and Snow Demon Base in an hour and a half. By then, the sun would have been up for a while, dispelling the negative energy brought by the blood moon.

The negative energy radiating from the blood moon could easily drive fighting demons into a mindless frenzy, pushing them into a Berserk state where they cared only for slaughter and destruction. In this state, demons fought with absolutely no regard for their own lives, making them far deadlier than usual. This was why the White Dragon Lord had dismissed the idea of a night raid.

The powerhouse army soon left the twisted vegetation of the Abyss behind, stepping into the barren tundra bordering the Frozen Land. Not long after they entered the wasteland, the thin layer of ice marking the Frozen Land's true perimeter appeared on the horizon.

"Halt!"

The army of powerhouses halted at the command, watching the White Dragon Lord slowly descend from the sky.

Beating his wings, the White Dragon Lord hovered just in front of his forces.

"Everyone! The Ice and Snow Demon Base is still an hour's journey from here. According to the plan, all personnel incapable of flight, form up!"

The magic professionals stepped out of the ranks, as did the melee professionals who possessed flight items. Over five hundred Master Tier powerhouses who could not fly on their own huddled together. Five hundred sounded like a massive crowd, but packed tightly together, they could easily fit onto three basketball courts.

The White Dragon Lord rapidly chanted an incantation.

Greater Mass Feather Fall.

The group felt their bodies suddenly lighten, as though a stiff breeze could blow them away. This was not an illusion.

A standard Mass Feather Fall only reduced a target's weight by half, but the empowered version cast by the White Dragon Lord reduced it by ninety percent. In this state, a slightly stronger gust of wind truly would sweep them away.

Finishing the spell, the White Dragon Lord looked over at the gold dragon.

"Leopold! You're up!"

The gold dragon, Leopold Chodmartin, swooped down. The heavy winds generated by his wings forced the weightless crowd to hastily grab hold of one another. The gold dragon pulled out over a dozen long ropes, which the grounded Master Tier powerhouses eagerly seized.

"Hold tight, everyone!"

With those words, the thirty-meter-long gold dragon beat his wings, hoisting the strings of human "grapes" into the sky.

"Ahhhhh!"

The gold dragon's flying speed was blisteringly fast. A few of the Master Tier powerhouses who lacked similar flight experience screamed in terror.

With those panicked screams still echoing in their ears, the remaining powerhouses couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the rapidly receding "grapes." They immediately activated their flight items or cast flight magic, following the White Dragon Lord as he chased after the gold dragon.

To avoid triggering any magical traps set by the Frost Demons, the group had devised this strategy. It allowed everyone to fly over the Frozen Land without burning through too much mana and stamina.

Before the Mass Feather Fall duration ended, the White Dragon Lord would reapply the magic to the "grapes," ensuring the gold dragon would never have to bear their full weight.

Just over half an hour later, the White Dragon Lord cast an Invisibility Barrier over the group as they continued their flight toward the Ice and Snow Demon Base.

Finally, the White Dragon Lord spotted the massive crater caused by a Meteor Burst and led the group down to land on the thick ice. Having dangled from ropes for nearly an hour, the "grapes" needed a moment to rest before the battle began.

Releasing the rope, one "grape" dropped to the ground, his legs feeling like jelly.

"@#¥%...&*, when we get back, I am absolutely buying a flight item!"

"@#¥%...&*! That was fucking thrilling! A giant dragon bus! I can brag about this for years!"

"..."

While some were weak in the knees, others were highly excited, chattering non-stop with those around them.

"Everyone, you have ten minutes to rest."

Hearing the White Dragon Lord's reminder, the crowd quieted down and began to recover their condition.

While maintaining the Invisibility Barrier, the White Dragon Lord stared at the crater two kilometers away. The demon base was still obscured by a Magic Barrier designed to conceal the city, preventing him from gleaning any information from within.

This wasn't entirely a bad thing. The active barrier meant the Ice and Snow Demon Base had not yet finished construction and the demons were not yet ready to face the outside world. If they were openly displaying their city like Ten Thousand Blades Fortress, the White Dragon Lord would have had to re-evaluate the risks of this operation.

As he observed the site, the White Dragon Lord reached into his Dimensional Bag and pulled out a Diamond Golem.

When the glittering Diamond Golem appeared on the ice, the breathing of the eight-hundred-strong powerhouse army quickened. They stared wide-eyed at the sudden appearance of the construct.

An adventurer mage's Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped heavily.

"Goddess above! How much money is that golem worth?!"

The adventurer mage rapidly calculated in his head. Even stripping away the added value of magical craftsmanship, the material costs alone were an astronomical sum.

In any plane, diamonds were precious magical gemstones measured by the gram. This Diamond Golem, however, was measured by the ton.

Immediately after, the White Dragon Lord pulled out another Diamond Golem. The adventurers' hearts pounded even faster. If reason hadn't told them they couldn't even defeat the Diamond Golems, they might have rushed forward to rob him.

One after another, the White Dragon Lord retrieved a total of five Diamond Golems. Under the sunlight, the five constructs refracted such a blindingly brilliant radiance that the adventurers grew numb.

The captain of the Boar's Howl Legendary Squad, Poroman, stared enviously at the five Diamond Golems.

"Lord Amos, are these the vanguards you mentioned last night?"

"Indeed. We'll have the golems lead the charge shortly."

With the Ice and Snow Demon Base protected by a barrier that obscured its interior, having the absurdly durable Diamond Golems spearhead the assault was the perfect tactic. Furthermore, the Diamond Golems massively boosted the army's morale.

Mages were the most terrifying group in the multiverse, and the only thing more terrifying than a mage was a wealthy mage. An absurdly wealthy lord mage was someone people wanted to detour around on sight. Having an absurdly wealthy lord mage as an ally was the greatest morale booster possible.

The ten minutes of rest passed in the blink of an eye. The White Dragon Lord gave the gold dragon a nod, then maintained his invisibility as he flew into the sky with the five Diamond Golems.

The two-kilometer distance passed in seconds. Hovering above the barrier, the White Dragon Lord scattered the drops of the Diamond Golems. The five constructs curled into balls in mid-air, plummeting like meteors toward the hidden Magic Barrier below.

The moment the White Dragon Lord appeared above the barrier, the demons monitoring the perimeter discovered him.

"Enemy attack!"

Piercing alarms echoed through the demon base. Numerous demons swarmed out of their ice caves, only to see five glittering cannonballs fall through the barrier and slam onto the ice, blasting out massive craters.

Startled, the demons nearest the craters grabbed their weapons and closed in around the impact zones.

A semi-translucent, thick-knuckled hand reached out of a crater. Seeing its sheer size, a few cautious demons stumbled back in fright. Even though they didn't recognize a Diamond Golem, they instinctively sensed an extremely dangerous aura radiating from it.

The eight-meter-tall Diamond Golem climbed out of the crater, its body still sticky with the demon blood of some unlucky victim. Its pale blue arcane eyes locked onto the surrounding demons.

"Large number of enemies detected! Combat module activated!"

The pale blue arcane eyes shifted to blood red. The Diamond Golem charged into the surrounding demons, its massive weight causing the ground to shake with every step.

The demons roared and charged the Diamond Golem, throwing themselves at it like fierce ocean waves crashing against coastal rock. The two sides collided, and the front line of demons was sent flying into the sky by the sweep of the Diamond Golem's thick arms.

The demons realized in horror that whether they used magical or physical attacks, their strikes were as useless as tickling the enemy.

Seeing the White Dragon Lord begin his assault, the forces in the distance charged toward the demon base as well.

After dropping the Diamond Golems, the White Dragon Lord rapidly chanted an incantation while flying erratically through the sky so the enemy could not lock onto him.

Ice Burst Bomb Rain!

Massive ice spheres materialized beneath the White Dragon Lord, immediately plummeting toward the barrier. The moment they struck the ground, they exploded, dropping the surrounding demons with flying ice shrapnel.

But the White Dragon Lord's primary goal wasn't just to kill demons; it was to churn the magical elements inside the concealment barrier. Generally speaking, massive-scale concealment barriers like this one were relatively fragile. Disrupting the magical elements within was enough to destroy them.

Just as the White Dragon Lord had predicted, it wasn't long after the explosions sounded that the barrier vanished.

The scene inside the barrier appeared before the White Dragon Lord. Even in a nascent demon city, the demonic hierarchy had already been divided. The demon city below could be roughly categorized into the ice cave district, the ice house district, and the core district.

The outermost ring consisted of ice caves, hollowed out from beneath the ice to serve as dwellings for the lowest-tier demons. The ice cave district was currently not large, but once the demon city developed and the bottom-tier demons multiplied, the area would expand by at least fifty times.

Inside the ring-shaped ice cave district were sparsely scattered spherical ice houses, which belonged to the more powerful demons. In the core district surrounded by these ice houses, a massive ice fortress was already mostly constructed.

By sheer luck, one of the scattered Diamond Golems dropped by the White Dragon Lord had smashed directly into the ice fortress, shattering its domed roof into a pile of ice blocks. Now, five Legendary Demons were besieging the construct that had fallen from the sky.

The other four Diamond Golems were currently massacring everything in the ice house and cave districts. Rings of demons were sent flying into the air, losing their lives before they even hit the ground.

The White Dragon Lord's gaze swept over the earth expressionlessly, unmoved even as his Diamond Golem was besieged. For one, a Diamond Golem could hold out for at least half an hour against five Legendary Demons. More importantly, the White Dragon Lord was busy hunting for his own opponent—the High-Tier Legend Frost Pangolin.

Yet the Frost Pangolin had still not appeared, filling the White Dragon Lord's heart with wariness.

'That cunning bastard!'

While the White Dragon Lord searched for his opponent, the distant army of powerhouses under the gold dragon's lead rapidly closed in on the demon city. Within a dozen seconds, they charged inside, slaughtering the weaker demons in the outer ring.

Woooo!

At that moment, the massive Demon Army surged out from the ice fortress and charged toward the powerhouse army. The gold dragon hovered above the demon city, rushing over to break any sieges wherever he saw allied troops struggling.

The Frost Pangolin still hadn't appeared. Growing slightly impatient, the White Dragon Lord lowered his altitude and continued vigilantly inspecting the entire city.

Suddenly, just as the gold dragon was rescuing a squad of adventuring professionals, a massive pit ruptured in the ice below. A claw gleaming with cold light stabbed viciously upward toward the gold dragon's relatively soft abdomen. The owner of that claw was none other than the Frost Pangolin, who had been missing until now.

The gold dragon reacted swiftly, hastily grabbing the stabbing arm with both claws while whipping his slender tail downward.

The dragon tail slammed ruthlessly onto the ice, shattering the surface to reveal the giant, pangolin-like Frost Pangolin below.

"Cunning demon! I've caught you!"

The gold dragon hauled upward with all his might, trying to drag the Frost Pangolin out. Instead, he found the creature was rooted into the ice, refusing to budge no matter how hard he pulled. Combined with the massive force behind the claw, the gold dragon instantly deduced that the Frost Pangolin's strength was even greater than his own.

The moment the claw stabbed outward, the White Dragon Lord rushed over at full speed.

"Get out of the way!"

Spotting the deep blue glow brewing within the White Dragon Lord's mouth, the gold dragon hastily released his grip and dodged aside.

The icy blue Dragon Breath grazed the gold dragon's body and blasted onto the ice. The frozen surface instantly thickened, while a strange fluctuation silently drilled beneath the ice.

Tunneling beneath the ice, the Frost Pangolin felt its heart tremble. It hastily dug to the side, and relying on its outstanding burrowing speed, the beast narrowly avoided the soul attack concealed within the Dragon Breath.

The White Dragon Lord felt the Frost Pangolin's aura vanish once again.

'Dammit!'

This Frost Pangolin moved incredibly fast beneath the ice and could perfectly hide its aura using the ambient frost.

The White Dragon Lord had initially thought the Frost Pangolin was a meat-shield type demon, but it had turned out to be an assassin-type demon skilled in stealth attacks.

"Everyone! Watch your footing! Hold on just a little longer!"

The White Dragon Lord flew into the sky, his mouth rapidly chanting an incantation. The [Elemental Body: Ice] spell enchanted within [Amos's Horn Ring (Silver)] was still on cooldown, but the White Dragon Lord could also cast this magic manually with an incantation. It was just going to take some time.

In the dozen seconds it took the White Dragon Lord to chant, the Frost Pangolin utilized its elusive, whack-a-mole style assassination abilities to kill over a dozen powerhouses. The gold dragon chased it back and forth, but every time he arrived, it was too late, and the Frost Pangolin managed to escape.

Finally, the White Dragon Lord's magic was complete. His body transformed into a semi-translucent Elemental Body.

After transforming into an Elemental Body capable of passing freely through ice, the White Dragon Lord plunged headfirst into the surface. Beneath the ice, he saw the Frost Pangolin rapidly excavating its way through.

"Demon! Your time has come!"