The Emerald River appeared wide and deep in the night, and even in the severe depths of winter, the river water still surged relentlessly, with rolling waves churning and making roaring sounds.
The sound of the wind and the water intertwined, making it particularly noisy in the quiet night.
Above the riverbank, Cana rode a Cloud Steed, flying in the sky, her gaze fixed on the Beastmen army on the opposite bank.
On the opposite side of the river, tens of thousands of Black Pig People stood silently, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive.
Dozens of giant turtles, as massive as trucks, moved with heavy and slow steps, gradually advancing towards the river.
Thick, sturdy ropes were tied to the giant turtles' feet, with the other end connected to makeshift wooden rafts hastily built by the Black Pig People from trees chopped down nearby.
As soon as a giant turtle entered the water, hundreds of Black Pig People would immediately jump onto its back or the raft, and under the turtle's pull, they began to cross the river with difficulty and slowness.
"About twenty thousand, carried across the river by some kind of giant turtle monster. The fastest ones are already in the middle of the river," Cana observed the situation carefully, then immediately looked down and shouted loudly, "Gray, are you ready?"
By the riverbank, Gray and Elfman stood side by side. The night was as deep as ink, and Gray could only vaguely make out the gradually clearer silhouettes of the giant turtles on the river.
"No problem! Release the Frost Spirit!" Gray responded, extending his hands flat, his left fist forcefully striking his right palm. Ice-blue cold air instantly surged upwards from him like a mighty tide.
"Elfman!" Gray took a deep breath and shouted to his companion beside him.
Elfman's gaze was firm, and he gave Gray a reassuring look, saying heroically, "Man! No one can disturb you before I fall!"
In the sky, Cana raised her hand and threw out a card, shouting loudly, "In my name, Frost Spirit, seal Release!"
The card flying in the air bloomed with ice-blue cold air, and a human-sized ice-blue eyeball slowly revealed its true form.
The Frost Spirit floated in the air, consciously flying towards the high sky.
The eye-shaped Frost Spirit plunged into the clouds high above, and an ice-blue light instantly illuminated the night, like a dazzling star.
From the clouds, goose-feather-like heavy snow instantly fell in flurries.
Cana's hands continuously moved without stopping, throwing out cards sealed with Frost Ice Swords as if they were free.
The cards exploded in the air after leaving her hand, transforming into large ice crystal snowflakes. These snowflakes elongated and twisted into rapier shapes.
Overwhelming ice swords, with sharp whistling sounds, rapidly fell downwards.
These ice swords were astonishing in number, dense and numerous, yet all fell into the water, not a single one landing on the enemy.
The river, which had a relatively normal flow, suddenly slowed down due to the ice swords' influence. As the blizzard intensified, the temperature dropped sharply, and the river's flow became increasingly slow.
"Ice Make: Frozen Plain!" Gray's powerful shout came from the riverbank.
Gray, with his magic power fully unleashed, his black hair standing on end, instantly vanished from his spot and reappeared above the river the next second, fiercely bending down and punching the river water.
As soon as his fist, wrapped in ice-blue cold air, touched the water's surface, the river water instantly froze.
Ice Demon power spread tightly along the river surface, and the thick ice layer made crisp and loud cracking sounds, rapidly extending into the distance.
There were over a thousand Beastmen riding giant turtles to cross the river, but they could only watch helplessly as the ice layer, mixed with ice-blue cold air, rapidly spread towards them.
In the river, the giant turtles' massive size and the rafts tied behind them meant that they had no time to dodge.
In just an instant, thousands of Beastmen and the giant turtles crossing the river were mercilessly frozen into ice sculptures, reflecting a cold light under the moonlight.
Under the ice, in just over ten seconds, these Beastmen and giant turtles would freeze to death.
With the help of the blizzard and Cana's ice magic cards, Gray's full-power strike directly froze the Emerald River, which was nearly three hundred meters wide.
The Beastmen on the opposite bank, seeing the river frozen and the advance party in the water also frozen, immediately fell into a commotion.
"Enemies!" a Beastman shouted in terror.
"Don't panic, charge through, they can't stop us!" another Beastman roared, brandishing his bludgeon.
Driven by their commanders, these Beastmen wielded their bludgeons, howling as they charged across the frozen river surface.
Gray was not flustered at all. Looking at the Beastmen charging across the ice, a light of excitement instead rose in his eyes, "Come on, more of you!"
Maintaining the ice layer consumed an astonishing amount of magic power, and Gray's face quickly turned pale, but his eyes, fixed on the Beastmen, became increasingly bright.
When a large number of Beastmen were about to charge up to him across the ice, Gray shouted, "Now!"
Gray punched the river surface again, all the magic power in his body gushing out without reservation.
"Ice Make: Release!"
"Crack!"
The originally hard ice layer showed cracks, ice shards flew, and after a crisp sound, it suddenly shattered, and the river water resumed its surging flow.
The Beastmen who were rushing across the ice suddenly felt the ground give way beneath them and, caught off guard, all fell into the bone-chilling river water.
"Help!"
"So cold!" the Beastmen cried out in panic in the water.
With the enhancement of ice magic, the low temperature of the river water was also deadly to these Beastmen.
In an instant, thousands more people fell into the water.
In the extremely cold ice water, the Beastmen struggled desperately, but the low temperature quickly made their bodies increasingly weak, eventually sinking little by little into the water.
One after another, over two thousand Beastmen were lost!
The massive consumption of magic power made Gray feel dizzy at the moment, and his figure swayed slightly.
Fortunately, Elfman was quick-witted and, before he fell into the water, grabbed Gray and pulled him back to the riverbank.
In the sky, the blizzard grew heavier. Being by the river, the air was rich in water elements, greatly reducing the difficulty of the Frost Spirit's spellcasting.
The raging snowflakes blurred vision, and the low temperature near the Emerald River made breathing feel like blood was about to freeze.
The temperature of the river water also grew lower and lower, and fine ice crystals began to appear in the river water, making crisp cracking sounds with the current.
Such icy water, even with magic protection, would be absolutely impossible to cross.
Cana rode her Cloud Steed down from the sky, landing gracefully beside the two, and casually threw out two cards.
Two fiery red eggshell energy shields instantly enveloped Gray and the other man.
"It'll definitely last until dawn!" Cana said, high-fiving them both.
"It's up to EZ now, reinforcements should arrive soon," Gray let out a long breath, his complexion slightly improving.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"