As if responding to Duke's shout, or perhaps acknowledging that Duke had truly laid the foundation of the Frost Circuit on the constantly created ice stairs.
This cold world finally began to change. The white mist rolling beneath their feet suddenly became more intense, transforming from a gentle breeze to a raging storm.
In the blink of an eye, a massive mound of water vapor formed on the surface of the clouds.
With a roaring splash, the gaseous cloud layer unreasonably turned into liquid in an instant.
The clouds below turned into a vast sea stretching to the horizon.
Looking at the promised skyline now becoming a horizon, Duke was speechless. Indeed, talking about science or reason in the spirit world was foolish.
This enormous lake, which seemed as large as Lake Lordamere beside the Lordaeron royal city, seemed to gather all its water within three seconds.
A pair of colossal arms made entirely of water emerged from the massive watery mound, and then enormous eyes, larger than a carriage, appeared on the watery mound.
This was a water elemental even larger than a titan!
As the saying goes, "gentle as water."
Unfortunately, this creature didn't seem to possess the so-called gentleness of water. Instead, it had a temperament more volatile than a fire dragon, not even bothering to shout 'die' before swinging its arm, hurling a piece of its own watery limb at Duke like a flying axe.
Due to the limitations of vision, even the largest object would appear small from a great distance. Visually, the water elemental giant was only the size of a palm.
However, as the angular bent watery arm drew closer, Duke could truly gauge its size, feeling as if a hundred thousand mud horses were galloping in his heart.
This was a colossal water weapon over fifty meters in length and shaped like a boomerang.
Duke couldn't think of how to describe this object, but he was certain that even if it didn't cause him fatal damage in the first strike, the subsequent secondary attack would still be deadly.
That's right! A single drop of water might not be much to a human, but it's enough to drown an ant. And now, Duke was that ant.
Being a water elemental creature, the opponent would surely use its mastery of water control to drown Duke in its midst.
Some might say, would Duke, now a spiritual being, drown?
Duke didn't know, but his instincts told him that if he were to be hit, it would certainly be disastrous!
Dodge? Would dodging help?
Unable to estimate how many water elementals had emerged after the sea of clouds transformed into water, Duke's peripheral vision caught countless muscular water elementals flexing and posturing on the water's surface around him.
This scene felt like a god scooping up an entire reservoir of water and pouring it onto Duke's forehead. The momentum of the colossal water boomerang hurtling towards him was even more terrifying than a mountain collapsing.
At this moment, Duke became furious!
"Am I a sick cat if I don't show my might?!"
He didn't even know how many times the Frost Circuit within him had turned. All he knew was that it was getting faster and faster until it became a blur invisible to the naked eye.
"Since this is the spirit world... Since the Crown of Frost wants to test me and show me its strength... Since you, as a magical circuit, believe you can occupy someone as incredible as me, then show me your value!" Duke seemed to be muttering to himself, yet it was as if he were putting pressure on the Crown of Frost through a declaration.
Frost Wave!
...
Duke slammed his fist onto the ground, and a surge of unparalleled cold air blasted out in a fan shape towards the watery boomerang.
Just before the collision, the boomerang folded into a flat crescent-shaped water blade.
However, when the water blade collided with the freezing wave, a thunderous explosion resounded.
It was the clash of water and ice.
The water didn't have enough mass to counteract the destructive force of the icy air. Instead, the icy coldness caused the water to change first.
The massive water blade shattered from the impact, and the scattered water didn't even have time to cascade down like a waterfall before it was frozen by the chilling air into sharp icicles that shot out towards the distance.
The icicles targeted the water elemental giant who had just thrown its arm, piercing and pinning it to the ground. Well, it wasn't exactly pinned down, as the cold air turned the entire giant into a massive ice sculpture resembling a mountain.
A knowing smile curved Duke's lips.
"If I can do this, then..."
At that moment, the surrounding colossal water elemental giants went berserk. Instead of attacking individually, they all submerged their arms into the lake. Within a few breaths, Duke suddenly realized that the water giants had unleashed an apocalyptic tidal wave that engulfed the entire sky and earth!
It was a deluge of true end-times proportions. The unstoppable water filled Duke's entire field of vision.
An ordinary mortal wouldn't even be able to imagine how to counter it.
Perhaps the only outcome was to await death.
To let the despair of this cataclysmic tidal wave crush Duke's spirit.
But who was Duke?
A traveler! Someone who had seen countless disaster movies, witnessed the White House being destroyed numerous times, and watched the Statue of Liberty get demolished over and over again.
Would he be frightened by something of this magnitude?
With a slight tilt of his head, Duke smirked and uttered a word, "Ice Age?"
The icy circuit within Duke had already formed an independent miniature universe, where the cold air continuously multiplied like atomic fission.
It doubled, then quadrupled, and then multiplied infinitely.
With just a stomp of his foot, a coldness more terrifying than the tidal wave instantly swept across the world.
As the massive wave approached, instead of the rumbling sound caused by the vast body of water, all that could be heard was the rapid freezing "crackling" noise. The white waves slowed down, and while they continued to push forward like a black hole or whirlpool, more and more mountainous ice chunks formed on the crests of the waves.
The ice chunks churned, but only ice crystals emerged from their collisions, and the flowing water became increasingly scarce.
Finally, after twenty seconds, the thunderous roar subsided, and a frozen, silent world appeared before Duke.
Just then, everything disappeared.
The surroundings became pitch black, and a magnificent white crown appeared before Duke.
A magnetic, neutral voice said:
"Wear me, and I shall bestow upon you the supreme power of ice." ...