My inventory is full of monster materials.

Frost landed in a low arc, looking up and down at his newly completed masterpiece—an ogre ice sculpture—and began to ramble on with praise, his tone brimming with pride.

"This giant's descendant is the ruler of this area? He's so weak..."

Frost then began to reflect on his performance, noting that taking off was not as graceful as gliding, the ice sculpture's posture was not upright enough, and the colors were not deep enough.

But Frost soon remembered the "Standard Procedure for Hunting Adult Dragons" that his elders had taught him.

The ogre was barely considered his first kill in the prime plane; next, he needed to rise into the sky to declare his dominance over this area.

Then the enormous ice dragon suddenly spread its wings, and the raging cold air propelled its body straight into the sky, taking in the entire view of the Golan Forest.

The boundless sea of ​​trees, with towering ancient trees layered upon each other, appeared dark and secluded under the heavy clouds.

Frost keenly sensed that a terribly repulsive aura lurked in the very heart of the forest, causing even the scales on his body to stand on end.

To demonstrate the majesty of the Ice Dragon Clan, Frost opened his mouth wide, as if to roar and unleash his power.

"My name... um?"

The words were abruptly cut off before they could be finished.

The blue light in Frost's eyes faded and became dull. His azure body, made of ice crystals, also lost its color and luster at a visible speed, gradually turning grayish-white and dull, with fine cracks spreading out like a spider web.

next second.

boom!

With a deafening roar, the ice dragon exploded in mid-air, shattering into countless tiny ice crystals that showered down a dazzling and magnificent rain of ice crystals.

On the ground, Henry and the others looked up at the scene, their faces filled with shock. No one spoke, only the soft sound of falling ice crystals echoed in the silent battlefield.

At the same time, a staggering figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the woods.

Even though the sky was still dark and there was almost no sunlight in the forest, Mark still subconsciously raised his hand to shield his eyes from the light.

The battlefield, once littered with corpses and filth, was now completely covered by a blanket of white snow. The stench of decay was frozen by the cold air, and the entire battlefield became clean and holy, a stark contrast to its previous state.

Mark strode slowly toward the battlefield, each step feeling like a heavy burden, his body swaying slightly as if he were about to collapse at any moment.

Due to the "Ice Scar Frozen Blood" trait, he lost 2 points of physique, which caused his physical condition, which was originally just that of a normal person, to plummet to a state of extreme weakness, making it difficult for him to even walk.

Henry and the others finally came to their senses, their eyes falling on Mark, their faces full of disbelief.

Mark has changed drastically. His hair is as white as snow, his eyes are as blue as ice, and his skin is fair and translucent. Several fine blue cracks spread from his cheeks, making him look both fragile and desolate, yet also cold and handsome.

When Emily, who was at the very back, saw Mark, her face flushed red with a "plop," like a red dragon cub, and thick white mist blew out of her delicate nostrils.

Mark walked past each member of the squad, hesitant to speak, until he reached Henry at the very front.

The big guy hesitated before tentatively asking.

"Mark? Is that you?"

Mark slowly raised his head, nodded weakly, and then reached out to take the battle axe from Henry's hand.

Henry instinctively loosened his grip, but the battle axe was heavy and the force of its fall was immense. Mark lost his balance and almost fell over.

Fortunately, Henry reacted quickly, steadily supporting Mark and handing him the battle axe, thus preventing an accident.

Mark turned his head, patted Henry's thick arm, and expressed his gratitude with his eyes.

Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, Mark gripped his battle axe and walked step by step toward the three-meter-tall ogre ice sculpture—he was going to personally put an end to this battle.

Click~

Suddenly, the ogre ice sculpture trembled violently.

Henry and his companions instantly tensed up, as if facing a formidable enemy, gripping their weapons tightly and watching the ice sculpture warily.

Mark remained unmoved, his blue eyes calm, his gaze fixed on the head of the ice sculpture.

Click~ Click~

The ice sculpture trembled violently a few more times, and due to the excessive movement, it lost its balance and collapsed to the ground with a crash, raising a cloud of fine ice shards.

Mark's gaze remained fixed on the ogre's skull—that was the source of the commotion.

Clearly, the brain core slime was not completely dead and was frantically ramming inside the ice sculpture, which caused the entire ice sculpture to collapse.

Mark walked slowly to the ogre's head, crouched down gently, as if observing a new life hatching.

boom!

With another violent impact, the ogre's skull broke open, revealing a mixture of transparent mucus and ice, with a core resembling a human brain vaguely visible inside.

At this moment, the brain nucleus was desperately trying to break free, but half of its body had already been frozen by the cold air and it was unable to escape.

Seemingly aware of its predicament, the brain nucleus underwent a new change—it slowly indented and split from the middle, just like mitosis in animal cells, attempting to shed the half-frozen brain nucleus in this way.

Mark's tired eyes lit up instantly, and he became interested. Instead of interfering with the splitting, he watched the ants moving house like a curious child.

"Hiss—hiss—"

The process of brain nuclei splitting is clearly accompanied by immense pain.

It emitted an extremely sharp hiss, a piercing sound that seemed to be both a scream of excruciating pain and a plea for mercy from Mark.

Seeing this, Mark slowly smiled gently and spoke softly to the brain core.

"It's okay, I'll help you."

Immediately, ignoring the frantic struggle of the brain nuclei, Mark plunged one hand into the sticky, cold mucus, grabbed the two still-connected brain nuclei, and pulled them out. With his other hand, he gripped the battle axe, raised his arm slightly, and a cold glint flashed on the axe blade.

Swish!

The tomahawk struck precisely at the junction of the two brain nuclei.

With a faint scream, the two brain nuclei were severed in two.

At the same time, a notification popped up in front of me.

[Dissection a resounding success! Obtained "fresh material"—the "Core of a Mind Flayer's Brain-Modified Slime King," and retained an additional special ability!]

[The Mind Flayer's Brain-Modified Slime King Core (Green)]

Completeness: 100%

[Effect]: 0-ring "Mind Encoding", 1-ring "Charming Humans", 2-ring "Suggestion"

[Special]: Activation (0/100) - Requires sacrificing brain matter.

Mark raised the brain core that had caused them countless troubles high in his hand, and with all his might, he raised his arm and shouted.

"It's dead! We won!"

A clear and bright sound echoed across the snow.

The team members stared in disbelief at the slender figure that had trampled the cannibal underfoot; it was so dazzling and captivating.

The next second, an overwhelming surge of excitement burst forth from his throat, echoing throughout the entire battlefield.

"Wow—!"

"Wow—!"

...

Cheers erupted one after another.

Henry and Clyde embraced tightly and wept.

Brady dropped his sword and rolled around in the snow like a child.

Emily, clutching her long staff, collapsed onto the snow with a sigh of relief.

Orion stood there, looking up at the sky with his eyes closed, breathing in the cool forest air and savoring the beauty of life.

After a brief moment of cheering, Clyde was the first to calm down. He shoved Henry aside and rushed forward, his eyes fixed intently on the brain core in Mark's hand.

Seeing this, Mark chuckled softly, pointed to the hole in the ogre's skull, and said.

There's another one there.

Clyde was clearly taken aback. He looked in the direction Mark was pointing and, sure enough, saw another brain core frozen inside the hole in the skull.

Without time to think about why there were two brain nuclei, Clyde lunged forward and dug into the ogre's skull with his bare hands.

Until Clyde, his hands trembling and covered in blood, held up a brain core, his eyes filled with fanaticism and urgency, and shouted loudly.

"my darling!"