“It seems my looks really match the elves’ sense of beauty. After all, that’s what they told me.”
“Perhaps we elves are simply a race that pursues perfection.”
Xuefei gave a wry smile.
Her figure and appearance could only be described as perfect—perhaps even at their peak. Her petite yet mature build perfectly matched her old aesthetic standards, just like Leia’s now. Though Leia looked seductive and alluring, her body was that of a girl not much different from Xuefei’s own. The only real difference was that Leia’s chest was just a bit larger… But once lactation kicked in, Xuefei’s breasts would surge ahead. For some inexplicable reason, she even felt like keeping them at their current perfect C-cup size.
But the fact that this flawless figure belonged to her was the most ridiculous part of all…
“Thanks.”
“That’s so perfunctory!”
“You’re pretty too.”
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that you’re terrible at compliments? Whatever, dragons are just straightforward like that, huh~”
The two continued onward. Though there were faster ways, Isabella didn’t seem to be in any hurry.
Soon, Xuefei understood why she was taking it so leisurely.
The cave suddenly narrowed until they had to go single file to squeeze through. But after a few hundred meters, it widened again, like two horns fused together—broad at the ends and pinched in the middle.
Then, as the ceiling rose to about ten meters high, it emerged from the damp mist: a massive stone door embedded in the rock wall. The two leaves were carved with obscure runes and spells, their edges sharp and gleaming despite centuries of water erosion.
At the same time, gusts of biting cold wind blew through from behind the door. Xuefei’s delicate brows furrowed as a realization dawned on her.
“Is that… the Northern Border ahead?”
“It’s right beneath Nina’s throne. This door is our final stop.”
Isabella took a step forward and, with practiced ease, launched into a hundred-meter sprint. She cocked back her small, pale fist, then smashed it straight into the door with a dull thud.
What followed was her silvery voice, trembling desperately in the wind.
“Aaaahhh owww, ah—!”
“What was that noise?”
“I… I hurt my hand! It hurts so much… That sneaky bitch Nina, why’d she make the door so damn hard… You bastard, aaaah…”
Only then did Xuefei catch up, finding the pitiful Elf Queen clutching her little fist, blowing on it desperately as tears streamed from her eyes. Right now, she looked exactly like a naughty little girl who’d botched her prank—enough to make Xuefei seriously wonder if Isabella was just messing with her.
And what was with calling her a “sneaky bitch,” anyway?
“You know Nina well?”
The moment Xuefei said it, Isabella’s expression snapped back to normal. The fist that had so intimately greeted the door was still glowing red, but her face took on a faintly sorrowful cast. Xuefei was certain she hadn’t misread the emotion.
“Not really…”
“Is that so? But appointing her as the Winter Queen was a huge success.”
Xuefei raised her hand, and a red fruit materialized in her palm. She placed it in Isabella’s other, uninjured hand.
“Eat this. It won’t hurt anymore.”
“Thanks…”
Isabella’s voice grew sluggish, all her earlier liveliness gone. She was like a wilted little flower now.
“Nina’s… pretty outstanding, yeah.”
Pretty outstanding? That was an understatement.
In Xuefei’s mind, the Winter Queen from the first playthrough had left an indelible mark. Reaching Super Tier Layer 1 through her own efforts alone was unprecedented—the most absurd creature Xuefei had ever encountered, and the most terrifying hidden boss she’d ever rated.
She eyed the door in front of her and traced a circle on its surface, testing the material.
But no matter how she looked at it, this door—which appeared to be stone on the outside but felt like solid steel—wasn’t made of either.
“Could this thing be… ice?”
Isabella took a bite of the fruit in her hand and nodded.
“Yeah. Nina loves using ice. A lot of her buildings are made entirely from piled-up ice. For her, whipping up a castle from solid ice is as easy as waving her hand. She really is like a genius.”
Xuefei turned and gave a deep look at the dejected Isabella, who still wouldn’t raise her head. It seemed like whenever Nina came up, this girl showed that mix of relief and sadness.
This woman could easily read the emotions of others, yet her own feelings were laid bare just as transparently. It was simple to see through her kindness—no, this sensation… could it be pure innocence?
“Bang—!”
Black dragon scales covered Xuefei’s hand. With a light push, a deafening crash echoed as the ice door shattered into a perfect archway. More frigid air billowed out, sharp as knife blades and nearly slicing across the Elf Queen’s face.
“Hey, hey, let me open the door!” Isabella jumped up in a panic, but the instant the words left her mouth, she realized it was already too late.
“What tremendous strength. As expected of a dragon. Sorry for the trouble, Xuefei.”
“…Do you really have no other magical talents?”
This woman’s physical prowess far exceeded what any Soul Tier cultivator could achieve. Yet it remained baffling that the Elf Queen—mysterious and powerful enough to sow chaos throughout the Elf Kingdom—possessed only this much strength.
Xuefei’s quiet mutter didn’t escape Isabella’s ears.
She gave a wry smile and said, “I’m really quite weak. Don’t hold it against me~”
Xuefei flashed a smile at the shivering Elf Queen, then stepped through the ice doorway. She found herself utterly captivated by the sight before her.
These frozen ruins were a world apart from the cramped cave tunnel they had just traversed. This was an underground castle sealed in ice—the door had been merely the tip of the iceberg.
Faint glimmers bore witness to its former glory. Beneath their feet lay a layer of ice as clear and brilliant as diamond, encasing ancient stone-paved roads and perfectly preserving a snapshot of the ruins in their prime, buried a thousand meters underground. The peculiar spatial compression magic they had sensed in the cave had vanished entirely, leaving behind nothing but endless wonder.
Xuefei had been here before.
That was right—the Ice Holy Key from the first playthrough had been found here…
The memory of being driven away by the Winter Queen remained crystal clear. Thanks to her extraordinary recall, Xuefei navigated the path with ease after just a single prior visit. She strode forward, forgetting the bedraggled Elf Queen stumbling along behind her.
“Wait! Wait up!!”
“I haven’t even told you where it is! The ground’s so slippery here. I don’t have sharp dragon claws—wait for me!”
“…”
But Xuefei, leading the way, was already entranced by the spectacle.
A castle frozen in time. An opulent palace glittering with splendor. Xuefei could clearly make out piles of gold coins sparkling beneath the ice—even chipping away a small portion would yield a small fortune. What truly caught her eye, however, was the throne, so similar to the Winter Queen’s own. Hovering fifty centimeters above it was a small box.
“If memory serves, the Ice Holy Key is right here.”
