Lord of the Frozen Winter: Starting with Daily Intelligence Reports

“Your subordinate is incompetent.” Frost Iron Knights Commander Ferran knelt, cold sweat beading on his forehead, his face so grim it looked like it could drip water.

The edges of his fighting aura armor had not yet retracted, clearly indicating he had just escaped from a dangerous situation.

“I have penetrated to the end of the first stone steps of the altar,” he reported in a low voice. “Further down, my will began to blur, and my perceptions became chaotic. Even with a fighting aura protecting my body, it was difficult to maintain. If I forced my way through, I feared I would fall into madness.”

Silence fell upon the temporary camp.

Louis stood before the table, his gaze fixed on the coordinates circled in red on the map.

After a long while, he let out a soft sigh, his tone not accusatory but gentle: “Don’t blame yourself, you’ve done very well.

It’s highly likely that even a Peak Knight might not be able to penetrate that mental blockade.”

Ferran paused slightly, then looked up at Louis.

Since Duke Edmund’s demise, there had been no true Peak Knight in the entire Northern Territory.

Ferran was a High-Tier Extraordinary Knight, the most powerful individual combatant in the entire Red Tide Territory, and even the entire Northern Territory.

This investigation was specifically why Louis had recalled him from the northern front, with the goal of uncovering the secrets of this eerie altar.

Yet, he too was stopped at its threshold.

In other words, no one in the entire Iron-Blood Empire’s Northern Territory could independently uncover the truth of this ancient altar.

“This is no longer an ordinary ruin.” Louis’s gaze was stern. “This is an altar of an evil god, and we must strike with a heavy blow!

As his voice fell, everyone tensed.

Louis had already picked up a pen and written a line on the tactical briefing: “Tactical level adjusted to: Magic Bomb Mark III live-fire verification.”

The snowstorm raged on, the world a monochrome canvas.

A large, gentle slope platform had been cleared of snow in Ancient Abyss Canyon, and a massive, black-iron colored device was slowly being positioned three hundred meters from the snowfield altar.

It was a steel beast, as if dragged from hell itself.

Six heavily armored steel oxen, with necks as thick as stone pillars, exhaled white mist as they strained to pull the heavy carriage.

At the center of the artillery carriage, a colossal metal tube, as thick as a roof ridge, was conspicuously mounted.

It was entirely black and shiny, interwoven with silver-white rune slots and flow channels, shimmering with imperceptible magical light in the cold glow.

This cannon barrel was forged from burning sunken iron, a metal that would not corrode for a thousand years, resistant to high temperatures and energy backflow.

Craftsmen had tempered it a thousand times in steam engine forges, making it as stable as a mountain.

The bore was polished to a mirror finish to reduce friction loss and energy backlash during Magic Bomb firing.

This was the Red Tide Workshop’s secret research for three years, a pinnacle of craftsmanship.

“The Magic Bomb Cannon Launcher – the only cannon in the world capable of withstanding the third-generation Magic Bomb.” The man standing beside Louis had glowing eyes, his voice trembling. “My child, it’s finally going to speak for the first time!”

The man who spoke was, of course, Silco.

He wore an inappropriate white trench coat, an unseasonably fervent smile on his face, his hands clasped and rubbing together at his chest, as if it wasn't a test but a celebration that was about to take place.

Louis stood beside him, at a high point on the snowfield hundreds of meters from the Magic Bomb, watching the cannon crew complete the final calibration process.

Behind him, a whole line of knight guards formed a defensive perimeter, with safety measures on site being impeccably thorough.

It wasn’t cowardice, but rather, a gentleman does not stand under a crumbling wall.

Louis turned to Silco and asked, “Are you sure it can penetrate that lower-level seal?”

“If even it can’t,” Silco grinned, “then I can only suggest the ‘dual-bomb simultaneous launch’ insane plan!”

Louis didn’t respond, only lowered his head to glance at the map, position, and wind direction markers on the command console in front of him, then swept his gaze over the busy loading knights below.

These were an elite unit composed of Red Tide Knights specially trained in Magic Bomb usage.

All personnel followed a process of extreme precision to initiate the sealed loading procedure.

Because this was no ordinary weapon.

It was the ultimate result of Red Tide Territory’s three years of secret development, a monster jointly spawned by the Red Tide Workshop and the Magician Forest.

The Red Tide’s third-generation Magic Bomb, the Magic Bomb.

The bomb body was over four meters long, entirely dark blue, with a spiraling interwoven structure, designed for both pressure resistance and heat conduction.

Its interior was a hollow, double-chamber structure, with a heart cast from a “condensed energy core” embedded at its core.

That was a black crystal, storing distilled and compressed magic beast crystal fluid and magical energy extraction fluid.

Its activity was extremely high, constantly pulsating faintly, like the heart of some dormant but nearly awakening creature.

And the materials were extraordinary; it used ten rare magic beast crystals from the Northern Territory, with extremely strict extraction ratios, jointly supervised by the Red Tide Pharmaceutical Research Department and the workshop.

Even more critically, the “magic-pattern array core” that stabilized the entire bomb’s energy flow could not be completed independently by Red Tide alone.

Louis had personally written to consult the three Archmages of the Magician Forest, and then the Red Tide Workshop reconstructed and adapted it.

The entire process was incredibly costly, but what it brought in return was the theoretical ability for this Magic Bomb to precisely and stably release a powerful shockwave, creating a dual effect of a high-heat shockwave and a magical energy oscillation layer at the detonation point.

Theoretically, it was enough to collapse a small mountain.

Therefore, it required a dedicated launch device, specialized loading guards, and Silco’s personal presence to ensure absolute certainty.

And only this one cannon in the entire world could withstand its roar.

“Activate the stabilization array!” a guard knight shouted.

Intertwined rune light arrays appeared on the cannon barrel.

The knights, with perfect coordination, sent the Magic Bomb into the cannon barrel, emitting a “click” of metal interlocking.

The cannon barrel runes lit up, and the distant ground also trembled slightly.

“Activate cooling rune slots, lock wind direction, adjust elevation to eighteen degrees, activate triple stabilization rings!”

“Loading complete!”

“Prepare to fire!”

Boom! The Magic Bomb cannon barrel emitted a deep roar like a beast, the entire cannon body vibrating in resonance—a premonition of tearing mountains apart.

“Ah ha ha ha ha!! Hurry, hurry, fire it!!”

Silco almost jumped, his eyes wide as he looked at the monster he had personally created.

Louis, however, stood quietly, his gaze fixed on the vast whiteness where the altar was located.

His finger moved slightly, signaling the knight commander to give the order: “Fire.”

At this moment, the snowfield was still.

The next second, thunder shook the earth, and flames surged into the sky.

A scorching white magical energy flame, bright as day, tore through the sky, and amidst the roar and tremor, streaked across the canyon sky like a meteor, heading straight for the darkness sleeping beneath the seal.

This strike was destined to be recorded in the history of this world.

“Boom!!!!”

Heaven and earth suddenly split apart.

Blazing white light erupted without warning from the altar’s center, like the sun falling to earth, devouring all color on the horizon.

Three seconds later, the shockwave, carrying an endless sea of fire, scorching lava flows, and explosive gas clusters, suddenly expanded, as if a giant beast roared out, making people’s eardrums ache and their hearts convulse.

The entire Ancient Abyss Canyon area, centered on the altar, was directly leveled within a hundred-meter radius.

The frozen earth, hard as steel, was blasted into tens of thousands of fragments, and the high temperature instantly vaporized the snow, condensing into an ascending white mist mushroom cloud that violently churned in the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» wind, obscuring the sky.

The area where the altar once stood was now collapsed into a massive crater emitting scarlet lava.

The rock layers were directly burned through, and surging underground magma rolled out, slowly flowing along the fractured surface, like the opening of a hellish rift.

Countless shattered stones, ice chunks, and ancient broken brick components were blasted hundreds of meters into the air, as if a meteor shower was falling from the sky.

On the observation high ground hundreds of meters away, more than a dozen Red Tide Knights were almost all knocked to the ground by the blast.

The artillery crew was even thrown several meters, falling heavily into the snow, their protective armor deformed by the impact, blood seeping from the corners of their mouths. “Hahahahahahaha!!!”

Silco raised his hands high, his coat tails fluttering, spinning like a madman in the snow: “It worked!!! Did you see it, Lord!”

“This isn’t a bomb anymore—this is the battle roar of a god ah ah ah!”

He was almost in tears, his voice trembling, as if he was about to ascend to heaven.

On the other side, Frost Iron Knights Commander Ferran stood on the half-destroyed cliff top, staring fixedly at the place where the ancient altar once stood, silent for a long time.

The ground there had collapsed nearly ten meters after the explosion; residual snow, stones, and broken rocks were all melted by the intense heat.

Now, only a steaming, scorched wasteland remained, like a blank space erased by a god. “This cannon shot—it’s beyond human power to resist,” he murmured, his voice so low it was almost swallowed by the wind and snow.

Ferran had witnessed the impressive performance of Red Tide Magic Bombs on the battlefield during the Battle of the Broodmother, and he knew Red Tide possessed very powerful Magic Bombs, believing he was already mentally prepared.

But as he watched the lava crack in the scorched earth slowly collapse, like the still-breathing maw of some demon, steam rolling up and obscuring the light of day.

“But who would have thought it had become so powerful.”

In that instant, a strange feeling suddenly arose in Ferran’s heart.

It was a faint sense of loss.

He recalled his youth, when he led the knight order across the frosty plains, crushing enemy forces with his fighting aura countless times, the Steel Blade of the Northern Territory admired by all.

But now?

This single Magic Bomb, without a single soldier, could wipe out an enemy stronghold, a mountaintop, or even—a city.

What did this mean? It meant that the main force of war would no longer be knights like him.

“Perhaps the glories I once prided myself on truly will be buried by history.”

Ferran subconsciously tightened his grip on the sword at his waist; the blade was silent, as if it too sensed its master’s bewilderment.

His throat moved slightly, wanting to say something, but in the end, he only sighed.

Louis, who caused all this, remained motionless, only quietly gazing at the still unextinguished scarlet afterglow.

The high-frequency hum after the magical energy oscillation was like the lingering whisper of some devil.

This cannon shot was truly astonishing.

Like the dragon's breath of ancient legends, an uncontrolled forbidden art, or the Oracle of the Golden Feather Flower from three hundred years ago.

Louis did not show too much emotion, but only he himself knew that the excitement in his heart at this moment was almost breaking through his mask of restraint.

Louis, of course, understood what this meant.

Even if the enemy was the Dragon Blood Legion, if they were caught off guard, a single strike could uproot them, turning them into shattered earth and charcoal, leaving not even ashes.

This was the trump card he had dreamed of.

It was also the final trump card in the future turbulent chess game of the Iron-Blood Empire.

But excitement aside, he clearly knew: “This kind of power—must not be used lightly.”

It must not be known, not understood, and certainly not fall into the hands of others.

It should only appear at “fate-deciding” moments.

The snow continued to fall, and the distant scorched earth still glowed with unextinguished embers, emitting wisps of white mist.

Louis slowly withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the silent technicians and knights lined up behind him: “What happened today is strictly forbidden to be spread.”

However, before he could receive a reply, a shrill, reason-shattering scream suddenly erupted from the depths of the leveled ground, piercing through layers of smoke.

“Ah ah ah ah ah!!!”

This sound was neither human, nor beast, nor monster.

It was like an ancient shadow, freed from its seal in the abyss, roaring, or like an annihilated existence, in its final moments before death, crying out a will of anger and pain with its soul.

At that moment, the entire snowfield seemed to freeze.

Everyone simultaneously felt a tightening in their hearts, their eardrums stinging as if pierced by sharp needles, and an inexplicable shiver spread from their feet to the back of their necks.

A young knight, closer to the blast center, instantly turned pale, his knees buckled, and he collapsed unconscious onto the ground with a thud, his face twitching, muttering incessantly, as if still struggling to resist some encroaching will.

“Circulate your fighting aura!” Ferran sharply commanded, also secretly circulating his fighting aura to steady his mind.

Everyone felt that, in that instant, some “thing” seemed to be watching them.

Not with eyes, but with the weight of its very existence, emanating from beneath the earth.

The next second, a grayish-black mist silently rose slowly from the scorched earth cracks.

The mist writhed like a living creature, climbing out of the earth fissure, swirling in the air.

As if searching for something, or struggling to escape.

No one dared to speak, only watching with wide eyes as the mist rolled and twisted.

Finally, after emitting a piercing shriek like metal being cut in the air, it suddenly exploded into invisible fine dust, dissipating with the wind.

And as the last wisp of smoke drifted away, the eerie scream also abruptly ceased.

As if something had finally, completely died.

“Everyone, evacuate the core area! Bring the unconscious knight with you, handle him carefully, no more contact!”

Louis’s tone was unquestionable as he quickly directed the guards and knights present to retreat.

After a Magic Bomb powerful enough to shatter mountains and crack the earth, the most dangerous thing was not the explosion itself, but what remained undying after the blast.

“Once the aura has completely settled, we will organize a second exploration.”

However, just as his voice was still falling, an extremely faint, almost imperceptible wisp of purple smoke quietly emerged from the depths of the charred ruins.

That wisp of purple mist silently snaked out, twisting and swirling in the air, as if possessing consciousness, evading everyone’s sight.

The next moment, “!”

It flew towards Louis with an incomprehensible speed!

Louis’s pupils contracted sharply; before he could make any defense, the purple mist had already silently drilled into his glabella!

It was like a cold electric current piercing his soul.

His body trembled, his feet swayed slightly, and his face instantly turned ashen white.

No one noticed; everyone was still immersed in the shock and aftershocks of that cannon shot, discussing animatedly, not one person detecting this strange invasion.

“Again?!”

This feeling was too familiar—

Just like that wisp of red mist that emanated from Titus’s corpse and forcibly invaded his body, it had quietly struck again!

“Even though it’s so far away!”

Louis gritted his teeth, quickly closed his eyes and concentrated, activating the dual barriers of the Original Meditation Technique and the Tidal Breathing Technique to seal his Sea of Consciousness.