"That's not necessarily the case." Li Ang smiled and raised his finger.

Anna followed his finger and could vaguely see a barely discernible thread extending from the tip.

The thread was incredibly long, winding around collapsed beams, broken casement windows, and chunks of ice, until it reached behind Anna.

At the end of the thread was a densely packed cluster of Bomber-type Worms, nearly covering half of the palace.

All the worms were aligned neatly, their swollen bellies aimed at Anna, while their coconut shell-like backs uniformly faced outward.

All the carapaces interlocked perfectly, forming a curved, giant shield.

The instant Anna turned to look, the entire curved wall of Bomber-type Worms had already fallen swiftly like a pot lid, landing on top of the Frozen Monster's head.

Then, BOOM.

BANG!!!!!!

The massive impact of the explosion, accompanied by scorching heat, tore apart the shield formed by the interconnected carapaces on the backs of the Bomber-type Worms, sweeping through everything in the hall with unstoppable and unmatched force.

Thick ice bricks were blown away, icicles were reduced to dust, and the surface tiles were riddled with cracks, as if a layer had been directly shaved off them.

The flames from the explosion even blew off the dome of the Ice Crystal Palace.

The blaze on the peak of the snowy mountain could be clearly seen even from high up in the city.

The Bomber-type Worms were the original form of the Poison Exploder worms; their bellies were not filled with a corrosive solution but rather with a more simple and brutal explosive material.

Previously, Li Ang had taken advantage of his invisibility and his teammates' distraction of Anna's attention. Hidden in a corner of the palace, he took out the Automated Pet Box and used Cat's Eye to create an illusion of the corner, concealing the Breeding Box. (The invisibility effect of Electric Afterimage would only be broken by attacking or being attacked; creating an illusion would not cancel the invisibility state.)

Then, without delay, he took out a long string of Bomber-type Worms from the Breeding Box. Next, using the Biological Template, he rapidly extended a fleshy thread from his fingertip to connect and wrap around the string of worms.

In this way, he integrated the string of worms as part of himself. Thus, the string of worms benefited from the invisibility of Electric Afterimage and the phasing effect of Phase Boots.

After Li Ang completed his taunt and surfaced from underground, the Bomber-type Worms buried deep beneath were also brought out, ultimately triggering the explosion.

The sheer amount of explosive material gathered together almost completely dismantled the palace, which Anna had temporarily reinforced.

Through the billowing smoke, Li Ang's figure shot out, his scythe slashing diagonally but striking nothing.

In the deep crater created by the explosion, there was no longer any sign of the Ice Giant; only ice shavings remained, along with Anna, her body broken like a doll, lying shattered at the edge of the pit.

Her eyes had lost all their color.

All her pent-up forbearance, all her vigorous ambitions, had all dissipated.

A single snowflake drifted down, melting into her dark green eyes.

Li Ang slowly straightened up, standing silently while leaning on his scythe. The Detection Magic special effect of the Magic Mirror Fragment clearly indicated that the extreme cold energy in Anna's body was rapidly dispersing.

The pervasive, bone-chilling cold in the hall did not slowly subside with the absence of its master; instead, as a large amount of extreme cold energy was released, it became even harsher, causing the room temperature to plummet.

Moreover, this terrifying energy, capable of freezing souls, instantly froze Anna's body firmly to the ground.

The entire pit was freezing rapidly, and the hall overhead began to sway precariously.

Li Ang took one last deep look into the pit and leaped out with a push of his toes.

The explosion just now was indeed vast, but fortunately, the primary direction of the blast was contained within the carapaces of the Bomber-type Worms.

Miss Chai had very tactfully moved away a bit beforehand.

John Joyce and Smoker, already in a corner of the palace, didn't bear the full brunt of the shockwave.

Julia, at the last moment, took out a small, delicate Alloy Shield from her inventory, positioned it in front of herself, and incidentally saved a teammate as well.

Li Ang was just relieved that Miss Chai wasn't seriously injured. He showed no concern for the life or death of his teammates, minding his own business as he unzipped his Red Mane Coat at the waist and, from beneath the skin on his back, pulled out a Mirror Fragment.

Indeed, the secret to how Li Ang had always carried the Magic Mirror Fragment—which couldn't be placed in the backpack—was by using the Origin of Life to extend a portion of skin on his back and fold it inward, creating a hollow pouch to hold the Magic Mirror Fragment.

This bizarre, even grotesquely ingenious, act was not Li Ang's own invention but inspiration he drew from smugglers who carried loose CPU chips into customs concealed on their person.

(Some couriers would use tape to stick loose chips to their bodies, wrapping it around themselves several times.)

Li Ang, holding all the Magic Mirror Fragments, approached the stone fountain, and the System's explanation of the fountain emerged in his gaze.

[Name: Blessed Spring Water]

[Type: Fixed Item, disappears after five uses]

[Quality: Perfect]

[Special Effect: Heal. Heals and repairs items or life forms not exceeding the quality of Blessed Spring Water, restoring them to a normal state in the conventional sense.]

[Consumption: None]

[Cooldown: None]

[Usage Conditions: None]

[Note: Only one object can receive the healing effect of Blessed Spring Water at a time.]

[Note: The healing effect of the spring water is independent of the amount used.]

[Note: Harbor kind and loving thoughts, and you may draw forth the true Blessed Spring Water. Once extracted, the separated water loses its healing effect.]

[Note: Kindness, compassion, love, and just a little bit of spring water.]

This was the end of the mission.

Li Ang took a deep breath. At this moment, Elsa's ice sculpture, like Anna, began to relentlessly release a fierce chill into the surroundings.

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK—

The exterior of the ice sculpture rapidly began to freeze, quickly engulfing the first two levels of the fountain's stone base.

Li Ang quickly activated his Ripple Energy. Braving the cold, he reached for the thick ring of ice accumulated within the first layer of the stone base. With brute strength, he snapped the thick ice in two and lifted it.

He tapped his toes to retreat, placing both pieces of ice into his inventory. He left only a bit of crushed ice in his palm, warming it with his Ripple Energy while filling his mind with beautiful memories.

Soon, the crushed ice melted. Li Ang applied the meltwater to the Magic Mirror Fragments.

Streams of light flickered through the cracks of the Mirror Fragments. The originally plain, even somewhat crude, mirror surfaces rapidly became glossy and smooth, gleaming with dazzling brightness.

Li Ang didn't have time to examine the Magic Mirror's specific description and beckoned sharply to Miss Chai.

Chaichai immediately understood, swooped down, grabbed Li Ang's wrist, and flew with him toward the fractured dome of the Ice Crystal Palace, thoughtfully and dutifully also pulling the reins of the sled loaded with extraordinary materials.

Two figures soared into the sky.

By this time, the frost emerging from Elsa's and Anna's bodies had already thoroughly covered much of the palace and continued unabated, threatening to transform the entire mountain summit into a polar ice field.

Wind whistled past their ears as sunlight broke through the clouds, shining down on the bustling city at the foot of the mountains.

Outside the palace, Li Ang saw over a dozen different kinds of Magical Beasts, exuding powerful auras, frantically attacking the palace gates. Meanwhile, on the other side of the palace, the Spellcasters anxiously chipped away at the casement windows, trying to break through and save their princess.

Only Carly, the physician, as if she had foreseen something, knelt on the ground. She looked at the earth-shattering palace and wept silently.

It was over.

The mission completion notification sounded in Li Ang's ears, and the few players cowering in the corners of the palace couldn't wait to teleport away, disappearing on the spot.

That's it, they're leaving?

Floating in mid-air with Miss Chai, Li Ang recalled Bob, John Joyce, and Smoker. They were first gravely injured by Anna, then hit by the blast wave... He smacked his lips but said nothing.

If those three had chosen to leave a little later, I might have had the time to use the Origin of Life to heal their wounds a bit, so they wouldn't die shortly after teleporting back to the real world...

Forget it, it doesn't matter.

After all, I'd never admit that when I activated the Bomber-type Worms, I hadn't considered my teammates' safety at all.

If John Joyce felt their rights had been violated, they could seek justice from me through various means in the real world. I'm very supportive of any actions that involve handing over free kills, equipment, and items.

Although I don't think John and the others, so submissive in the scripted world, would suddenly turn aggressive in the real world.

"It's time to go," Miss Chai said softly, looking down at the palace below. It had completely frozen solid, leaving only Elsa and Anna gazing at each other from afar.

"Yeah." Li Ang nodded, put away his Qinge Armor, and vanished.