Epic of Ice Dragon: Reborn As An Ice Dragon With A System

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"Think of divine power as some sort of advanced form of magic," Drake explained. "That only a very few individuals can ever achieve. We've gone through our fair share of challenges to get where we are. But if you don't want to, you don't have to call us gods or recognize us as such. I don't believe I am, either way."

"I see..." Chris nodded. "It's incredible... and thank you for the remark. I'm Christian, and well... uh, it would've been weird."

"Don't worry about it," Drake said. "I know it can be weird for people from Earth, with all the religions out there. Anyway, do you feel any stronger?"

"I do..." Chris nodded, his bulging, muscular arms overflowing with new strength. "This is insane... I had no idea you could just make people stronger like that."

"I feel my abilities amplified..." Lucia said, opening her palms and conjuring red flames, which rapidly evolved into blue, then gold, and even purple colors. "Incredible. Are these completely different types of flames? I had never wielded them before..."

"Alright, looks like it worked just fine then," Miranda nodded. "Now what, Drake?"

"Now, once you finish your meal, we should get moving. There's a whole mess outside we need to fix before we move on to Vanaheim, where Sangre is waiting for me," Drake said. "Oh, right, Sangre... my brother. I'll tell you about him later, if you're interested."

"More importantly, can you tell us more about what these zombies are like?" Alma asked. "How do they work? How tough are they? I'm surprised the dwarves didn't just nuke them all using their Magitech."

"There are several ranks among the zombies..." Chris said. "There are the weakest ones, mob zombies that walk in large groups. They're stronger than a human, at least three times as strong, fast, and agile, but also mindless drones that obey stronger ones. Then there are mutants, mutated zombies that awakened special powers and abilities, some of them similar to those of Espers... and then there's the third, a fusion of the two: Espers that became zombies, or zombies that awakened as Espers. These are incredibly strong zombies that are also smart, if not smarter than us. They call themselves a 'new race' and even created a whole cult. I'm afraid we may find them once we get closer to the fragments of the city... and I'm also worried about Helena..."

"Helena..." Drake could swear he had heard that name before.

In fact, it was very familiar, like the name of a family member, but he could recall no one named Helena in this world, nor any family member with that name.

"The people here will be safe," Drake said. "We should get going as quickly as we can. That's for the best."

"Not wrong," Chris nodded. "Let's do this, Lucia, Jake! We can finally make a difference now."

"Yeah," Lucia nodded. "I hope we can find more survivors too."

"Hm..." Jake nodded as well, more confident than before.

Then, Drake explained to the rest of his friends about their new allies, Chris, Lucia, and Jake, detailing their origins and their connection to their previous lives.

Well, not to Drake's life, as he had no connection, but mostly to Benladann and Alma.

Once that was done, Drake decided to depart, bringing along the new trio and everyone else.

They were a massive group of many people, so when they appeared out of nowhere in the underground prison, they startled many of the guards there.

After that, Drake and his group walked upstairs and met with the king and queen once more, informing them about what they had done and how the problem with these people was now resolved.

"I see. We wish you good luck, Dragon King."

"You'll be rewarded for your efforts and accomplishments..."

Both rulers nodded, placing their faith in Drake and his group as they walked past the castle, reaching the giant bridge and slowly making their way forward.

Benladra and Kate looked upward, seeing the blue skies distorted with purple and pink cracks and distortions in space, connecting Yggdrasil to another world emerging from within.

Giant skyscrapers and other buildings hung upside down from the sky. It was an incredible sight, like something out of a dream.

Although Drake planned to address those first, he focused on the main problem at hand: the "cluster" of otherworldly fragments covering the entire bridge and the surrounding sea.

And, of course, a massive horde of hundreds of thousands of zombies wandering across the gigantic, wide bridge, looking around mindlessly, groaning.

"So those are the zombies, huh?" Drake wondered. "Are they alive or dead?"

"Technically, they aren't like the undead you may recognize from fantasy stories. They're living beings, just humans overtaken by the parasite and fused with it... I don't know if you could ever revert that," Chris said.

"I don't think I can. No, my Creation powers cannot affect living beings too much yet," Drake sighed. "We'll have to take them down and simply let their souls reincarnate safely. They'll be given a second chance at life. But still, I wonder, Miranda, can you heal them? Benladra?"

"Hmmm, no, the parasite is completely fused with them, to the point they have become the parasite... which is also somewhat a virus? How does that even work?" Miranda asked.

"There's nothing for me to heal other than superficial wounds, sorry, Dad..." Benladra said. "I can't do much..."

"That's fine. Then we go with my plan. I hope nobody is against it?" Drake asked, and as he expected, no one seemed to object. "Okay then. Triton, Amethyst, you go first. It's time to show off your abilities. Be careful, there may be weird ones among them."

"Heh, you're saying we can just blitz through these small fries if we want?" Triton smiled, his aura surging. "Sure!"

"Alright then," Amethyst nodded. "Jord, help me out, please."

"Of course, Amethyst," Jord said, manifesting by her side, resembling a surging storm of golden sand, transforming into radiant golden armor around her Dragonoid body.

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