TL/N: 🎁 GIVEAWAY ALERT! (Details at the end)
Translator: AnubisTL
Having made his decision, Jieming acted decisively. He immediately dispelled his disguise, and his massive "Great Light Phase" materialized in the blizzard!
Thousands of rune-imbued magical artifacts rained down like a tempest, instantly engulfing the entire gathering place!
The thunderous explosions of energy bullets, accompanied by the shrill screams of snow monsters, reverberated through the Ice Valley.
Caught off guard, the snow monsters had no time to mount an effective counterattack. Under Jieming's terrifyingly precise barrage, they perished in droves, their bodies dissolving into a blizzard of ice crystals and dust.
With no high-tier units to obstruct him, Jieming's destructive power was unleashed to its fullest.
Just like his previous purges, Jieming swiftly and efficiently concluded the battle!
In less than five minutes, the once bustling snow monster gathering place was reduced to a field of ice shards and a few intact Ice Crystal Cores.
Seizing the opportunity, Jieming performed another soul search, extracting all the intact snow monster souls one by one for in-depth analysis.
He had to understand what had happened here. Where had all the powerful snow monsters gone?!
Soon, from the depths of these souls—especially that of the sole second-tier snow monster—he obtained an answer that wasn't quite an answer.
The memories of these snow monsters were filled with an almost fanatical premonition of a "summoning."
Previously, all second-tier and higher snow monsters in this gathering place had been summoned to the core region of the Frostdark Realm by an inexplicable and powerful force.
Only a handful of first-tier snow monsters remained in the entire gathering place and its surrounding smaller outposts.
This second-tier snow monster had stayed behind because it had independently evolved to second-tier after the summoning.
However, precisely because this second-tier snow monster had only recently advanced, it had gained almost no higher-level core intelligence before the summoning.
Its memories contained only the vague yet irresistible force of the "summoning" and blurred images of all the higher-tier snow monsters surging like a tidal wave toward the depths.
"Summoning order..." Jieming's heart sank.
This was not good news.
Such a massive and sudden summoning meant something major must have occurred within the Frostdark Realm!
Moreover, it was likely of considerable scale, possibly even affecting the entire plane's war situation!
Since neither the Frostdark Realm nor the Blazing Sun Realm had the cycles of day and night, Jieming could only deduce the approximate time through other clues.
Based on the fragmented memories of the snow monsters, it seemed that not much time had passed since the summoning order was issued—perhaps only a few standard days.
After quickly clearing out the spoils from the gathering place, Jieming stepped outside and gazed at the swirling snow, feeling slightly disoriented.
Standing in the center of the emptied Ice Valley, he looked out at the vast expanse of snow and glaciers, which seemed all the more unfathomable.
The intelligence he possessed was extremely limited, making it impossible to determine the current situation in the Frostdark Realm.
If he pressed forward rashly, he might stumble straight into the snow monsters' core defenses or even a massive conspiracy.
Most importantly, the second-tier snow monster in the gathering place had only recently advanced and knew nothing about other gathering places or the detailed deployments of the snow monsters in the deeper parts of the Frostdark Realm.
"I can't go any further," Jieming quickly decided.
Without sufficient intelligence, blindly advancing would only put him in danger.
Without hesitation, he suppressed all his qi and energy fluctuations and retreated from the emptied snow monster gathering place.
He rapidly categorized all his findings, deductions, and the limited intelligence obtained from the second-tier snow monster's soul.
He prepared to return to the outpost as quickly as possible and report the information.
The frigid metal walls of the outpost blocked out the howling wind and snow, keeping the interior as warm as spring.
Jieming stood before the communication terminal, compiling all his findings from the snow monster gathering place—including the bizarre mass disappearance of high-tier snow monsters and the vague "summoning" message he'd glimpsed in the mind of the newly promoted second-tier snow monster. He organized this into a detailed intelligence report and submitted it through an encrypted channel.
The second-tier wizard responsible for receiving the intelligence and communicating with him was the same pale-faced man in a heavy wizard robe he'd met earlier.
His name was Edgar, and he seemed bored after being stationed in this isolated outpost for too long. He was particularly eager to converse with Jieming, a new "visitor" and a wizard who could bring back frontline intelligence.
"Oh? You noticed it too?" Edgar's pale face showed a hint of vindication as he reviewed the intelligence report on the light screen.
He pointed to the description of "high-tier snow monsters being summoned" and said, "We've been receiving sporadic reports of similar phenomena for several days. At first, we dismissed them as normal troop movements within the snow monster ranks."
"But in the last two days, the number of such reports has surged. Nearly every wizard squad sent out on missions has reported similar circumstances."
Edgar casually swiped a few times on the light screen, bringing up several processed intelligence summaries and displaying them to Jieming.
The contents were largely similar: all reported an abnormal lack of high-tier combat power in snow monster gathering places across different regions.
"So, the command center already issued corresponding exploration missions two days ago," Edgar continued, explaining. "They ordered all wizards operating in this area to focus their efforts on investigating this matter. Your intelligence serves as another strong piece of evidence supporting this mission."
Edgar picked up a steaming mug of beverage, took a sip, and seemed eager to continue the conversation. "Moreover, I was just communicating with colleagues at several other outposts."
"Based on their feedback, this phenomenon is widespread, nearly covering all our currently mapped border regions of the Frostdark Realm. So we've been privately speculating that this could even be considered a universal event across the entire Frostdark Realm."
"The entire Frostdark Realm..." Jieming repeated thoughtfully.
If that were true, the implications would be enormous.
This was clearly not a simple military maneuver, but rather a massive event that could engulf the entire snow monster civilization.
"Exactly," Edgar shrugged. "So, I estimate that in a couple of days, once the elite squad investigating further returns with more concrete intelligence, the camp will likely issue a full-scale military notification or assign a major strategic mission. At that point, we stationed here will probably have our hands full too."
After hearing Edgar's analysis, Jieming's mind turned to another matter.
Given the bizarre changes occurring in the Frostdark Realm, could something have happened to the Blazing Sun Realm as well, which has always coexisted with the Frostdark Realm?
A bold speculation arose in his mind.
After a moment's contemplation, Jieming walked back to the communication terminal and requested authorization from Edgar: "Lord Edgar, may I use the equipment here to send a short message to the wizards in the main camp? I need to confirm something."
"Of course, go ahead," Edgar readily agreed. "This is supposed to be a perk for you wizards out in the field."
Jieming skillfully operated the terminal, using the outpost's more powerful long-range communication equipment to send an encrypted message to Viola at the main camp on the border line.
The message from Jieming was brief. He briefly described the mass disappearance of high-tier snow monsters in the Frostdark Realm and asked Viola to confirm if a similar situation had occurred at the lava giants' camp in the Blazing Sun Realm.
Jieming didn't wait idly for a reply.
He resumed his conversation with Edgar, the topic shifting to an area of mutual interest: the biology of snow monsters.
Jieming shared his laboratory findings on dissection and energy structure analysis, cross-referencing them with Edgar's battlefield experience as a wizard stationed on the front lines. They talked animatedly, time slipping away unnoticed.
Just as they were discussing the energy conversion efficiency of the snow monsters' Ice Crystal Cores, the communication terminal emitted a soft "beep."
Viola had replied!
Jieming's heart skipped a beat as he immediately checked the screen.
A line of concise text appeared, instantly confirming his bold suspicion:
"Confirmed with the mission center. High-tier lava giants have also disappeared in large numbers, mirroring the situation you described in the snow monster camp! Only large numbers of low-tier lava giants remain active in the Blazing Sun Realm!"
"So it is..." he muttered to himself.
Not a unilateral anomaly, but a coordinated, two-realm linkage!
The lava giants of the Blazing Sun Realm and the snow monsters of the Frostdark Realm, sworn enemies for millennia, had simultaneously made nearly identical strategic deployments!
Without coordination, they had withdrawn all their high-tier forces from the vast borderlines, concentrating them deep within their respective planes.
This could not be a coincidence!
"Something truly earth-shattering is happening on the Flamefrost Plane..." Jieming was now absolutely certain of this.
But he still didn't know what this event was.
Was it a final battle being prepared, where both sides would join forces to decide the plane's fate against the wizards?
Or had they jointly discovered a deeper threat that required a united front?
Or perhaps it was a cyclical ritual or event tied to the plane itself?
Countless possibilities flashed through Jieming's mind, but he knew that with his current clearance and limited intelligence, he couldn't possibly deduce the truth.
However, for Jieming personally, this presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Before the storm on the entire plane officially broke, before the wizard legion could mount a large-scale response, the border regions would fall into an unprecedented power vacuum.
Many snow monster gathering places were now leaderless, their defenses at an all-time low.
(End of the Chapter)
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