He heard a questioning voice, the clash of swords, a man's sinister laugh, as if all sounds had faded into the faint 'ding' of a bell.

Fang Hong just realized that the pendant from his necklace had somehow fallen off, passing through layers of clothes, landing in the snow. Before it hit the ground, the accumulated snow opened up layer by layer, allowing it to roll onto the pitch-black rock.

The exposed sharp rocks were so black that they seemed to glow, as if they had been scorched by a sea of fire, leaving marks from a hundred years ago, deeply ingrained in this land.

Fang Hong lowered his head and suddenly came to his senses, realizing he could move again. He quickly lifted his head, looked towards the valley, but where was the black-haired girl? All he saw was Sophie clutching her chest, kneeling in the snow.

Delice was trudging through the nearly waist-deep snow, carefully asking, "Knight Sister, are you alright?"

The Princess of Silver Weslan shook her head, seeing the well-behaved look of the little girl, she couldn't help but smile.

"Where is she?" she asked softly.

Delice looked in one direction, towards the depths of the valley, and also shook her head lightly.

Sophie turned her head to look there; the valley was quiet, with only a path of melting snow stretching into its depths. But the exposed pitch-black rock was a reminder to everyone that what had happened was no illusion.

And the black-haired girl was long gone.

The three looked at it for a moment, feeling somewhat bewildered.

Who was that girl, only Fang Hong knew in his heart. Perhaps her features were slightly different, but it was clearly the human form of Dolphins Nicopolis, only much younger, or rather, this was the true form of Nicopolis?

Was it the girl before becoming a Giant Dragon?

Fang Hong bent down to pick up the ring on the ground; the ring had again become cold and lifeless, with no unusual signs, even the faint lava patterns on it dimmed once more.

Fang Hong held the ring in his hand.

His inner doubt was, was that Nicopolis just now, or a phantom?

If it was a phantom, then those three people really died right in front of him, and they died horrifically. The melting snow in the valley seemed to indicate that what had happened before was not an illusion.

But if it was real, how could Nicopolis possibly be in this place? Moreover, he hadn't forgotten the last scene from Dolphins, the other party's resentful look towards him, how could such a Dark Giant Dragon appear here and just let them go?

He looked towards the direction of the path of melting snow leading away from the valley.

Before leaving Golande, the old Sir asked them to head to the Ash Woods, Idus, and the Istania Desert's Dragon's Land; Ash Woods was the first stop, and also the place where the legend of the Dragon Witch ended a century ago.

It was here that Nicopolis fought the Hero Yoshude in the final battle, then fell into this valley, his blood turning into a sea of fire that burned this place to ashes. The fire lasted for three months, followed by a week-long torrential rain, and after the rain, the valley took on its current form.

This is the local legend, but there is truth within the legend.

Fang Hong looked at the ring in his hand; after the experience in Aimumu Fortress, he realized that this ring might truly help him uncover some of the truths about the history of the Dragon Witch from the ruins of the past.

But he didn't expect to encounter such an event as soon as he arrived at Ash Woods, during his confrontation with the City Defense Force.

He had a feeling that the girl was unlikely to be the true form of Nicopolis—

So what exactly was she?

Once again, he turned around, thinking that he was probably not the first person to have seen this girl.

Because at the valley's exit, the previous scene had already terrified those Dulun City Guard soldiers, causing them to no longer care about anything else and to flee, looking like a group of groundhogs escaping across the snowy expanse.

The young Noble Knight could no longer stop these people; in fact, he himself looked solemn, retreating step by step, then turning to flee.

The Big Catfolk did not trouble these people; glancing from afar, he saw that Fang Hong and Delice were safe, so he stepped aside to let the others escape. Speaking of which, these people were still their mission targets, but evidently, there was more than one way to complete a mission.

The valley fell quiet again.

Leaving only a field of corpses.

However, those who died at the hands of the black-haired girl, including Aille, the Priest, and the Dark Fairy Tale, did not display signs of Starlight vanishing, as the corpses turned into specks of white light, disintegrating in the snow.

This scene confirmed Fang Hong's thoughts; everything that happened thirty years ago in Dolphins told them that those who died at the hands of the Dark Giant Dragon should not be resurrected, showing a state of Starlight vanishing.

But in Dolphins' Phantom Realm, those who died at the hands of the Shadow of Nicopolis ultimately proved to be alive. This indicates that the Dark Giant Dragon's phantom does not possess the same abilities as its true form.

The current scene clearly revealed that the black-haired girl was likely similar to the Shadow of Nicopolis—a reflection and projection of the Dark Giant Dragon's Strength here.

Only it was unclear what the meaning of this shadow was in this place?

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