Invasion

Today was Bingying’s thirteenth birthday.

The village lay gently blanketed beneath thick snow. Crystalline icicles hung from the eaves, glittering with a dreamlike blue radiance beneath the rising sun.

According to the thousand-year-old tradition of the Iceborn clan, today was the day she would awaken the power of the Ice Soul.

Her family had placed great hopes in her. From an early age, she had displayed an extraordinary talent for controlling ice and snow. Even as an infant, her cries had caused frost to form across the window lattice. The first time she reached out to catch snow, the flakes had actually condensed into delicate hexagonal ice crystals in her palm.

Over the years, she had learned to make snowflakes dance through the air without any instruction, and could make icicles bloom from the ground… She was the greatest genius the village had ever seen.

If nothing went wrong, she would follow the Guide to Frost City. Once she awakened her powers, she would become an honored Ice Soul Mage and bring glory to the village.

Bingying lowered her head and gazed at her crystal-clear hands. She gently clenched her fists, encouraging herself as she felt the power of ice and snow within her. Her chest rose and fell ever so slightly, and the crystalline heart visible through her translucent skin beat faster with anticipation.

“The Guide has arrived!”

“Bingying, come out quickly!”

Bingying passed through the crowd and arrived before the Guide.

The Guide was a powerful Ice Soul Mage as well. Would she one day become a Guide too, serving the Queen? Bingying wondered excitedly.

The Guide was a very tall man clad in an ice-blue robe and carrying a staff. He stood solemnly in the village square with his eyes closed. Sunlight passed through his body, casting a blue shadow onto the ground.

Yet no one in the village was afraid of him. Many people gathered around him, their eyes filled with admiration and envy.

Only after Bingying approached did he slowly open his eyes. His pupils were like the purest glaciers, deep and imposing.

“Come here, little one.”

Bingying nervously stepped before the Guide. He extended one finger and lightly touched it to her forehead.

Bingying felt a strange energy surge into her body. Even her body, forged from ice, seemed to glow faintly, as though every inch of her icy skin and jade-like bones were rejoicing. The snow beneath her feet began to swirl soundlessly, condensing into exquisite patterns of ice flowers. Gasps of amazement rose from the villagers all around them.

“You truly are a gifted child.” A smile slowly spread across the Guide’s lips. He extended a hand covered in frost-like markings toward the girl. “Are you willing to join us, fight against evil, and protect the Queen’s subjects?”

“I am!”

Bingying nodded excitedly. The Guide had truly acknowledged her!

“Then let’s go. We’re heading to Frost City. Go say farewell to your parents… By the next time you can return on your own, you’ll already be an Ice Soul Mage like me.”

“Mm! I already said goodbye to my parents before I came out, Sir Guide! My luggage is packed too. I’m ready to leave at any time!”

The Guide gave a helpless laugh. “What an impatient little girl.”

He raised his staff, and wind and snow gathered before him. In moments, a gigantic snow wolf appeared before the crowd.

“It’s Snow Manipulation!”

“How impressive!”

The villagers gazed on enviously.

Just as the Guide was about to lift Bingying onto the snow wolf, a villager came sprinting back from outside the village in a panic.

“It’s terrible! A monster! There’s a monster! A terrifying monster appeared out of nowhere on the northern snowfields! Everyone, run!”

The Guide paused slightly, halting his movement.

He would never stand by and do nothing.

“What’s there to fear? The Guide is here in the village today!” one villager said with a light laugh.

“That’s right. The Guide can surely deal with the monster in an instant,” another villager said confidently.

The Guide served the Queen directly. What monster could possibly be his match?

“But you should still go to safety,” the Guide said, frowning. “Combat is an extremely dangerous matter.”

“Don’t say that, Sir Guide… With you here, nothing could possibly go wrong.”

“We’ve never seen an Ice Soul Mage in battle before. Let us broaden our horizons.”

“That’s right. We’ll stay far away and protect ourselves.”

Faced with the villagers’ eager gazes, the Guide sighed and said nothing more.

Surrounded and led by the villagers, the Guide soon discovered the monster.

It had crimson skin and bulging, sinewy muscles. Every step it took caused the snow beneath its feet to melt. That splash of red was striking against the white snowfield, completely out of place in this world of ice and snow.

However, it was not particularly large—perhaps only two meters tall—and should have been easy enough to deal with. The Guide felt slightly reassured. In this world, most magical beasts grew stronger as their size increased.

“My heavens, what a hideous, frightening creature!”

“It’s so ugly!”

“Sir Guide, hurry up and kill it!”

The monster was already very close to the village, posing a serious threat.

The Guide pointed his frost staff at the creature and began gathering wind and snow.

One icy spear after another appeared in the air… In any world, a piercing projectile was always one of the most basic offensive spells.

But in the very next moment, the monster vanished from his sight.

The Guide suddenly lost track of his target, while the ice spears continued to form aimlessly in the air.

“Roar—!”

A gaping maw suddenly appeared before the Guide.

“How is this possible…?”

The Guide’s pupils contracted. Then his vision plunged into darkness.

The villagers stared blankly as the monster swallowed the Guide’s head in a single bite. Accompanied by the teeth-grinding sound of shattering ice, the towering Ice Soul Mage burst into a skyful of crystals, like a sudden avalanche.

“Run!”

Someone shouted, and only then did the villagers begin fleeing in every direction for their lives.

The monster seemed drawn to the commotion. In an instant, it transformed into a red blur and charged into the crowd, running amok.

“Ah!”

“Help! Somebody help me!”

Even the Guide had died at the monster’s hands. Ordinary villagers had no hope of resisting it.

Bingying did not dare look back. She ran toward the village in terror, while the sharp crack of shattering ice and the villagers’ screams echoed around her.

Why? Why had things turned out like this?

Today was supposed to be the day she left for Frost City. She was supposed to begin a new life there, become an Ice Soul Mage, and make her parents proud…

Was this all a nightmare? Where had that monster come from?

Before long, the screams around her gradually weakened, then vanished altogether. The only sound left was the monster chewing on crystalline ice.

No one noticed that amid the harsh crunching, its crimson body was slowly swelling.