Giant Tribe!

The entire Sun Village was now fully revealed to everyone.

Looking around, everything—the undulating rocky slopes, the tall and rugged buildings, and the large wooden stakes scattered everywhere—is completely encased in a thick, translucent layer of ice.

Lucy stopped and couldn't help but raise her hand to her forehead.

"This place is completely frozen solid."

Before the words were even finished, everyone's attention was quickly drawn to several enormous structures standing on the edge of the village.

Those were several enormous ice sculptures, each several tens of meters high.

Looking through the thick, crystal-clear ice, one could see that what was sealed inside were not ordinary humans, but giants with incredibly strong bodies and honest, dignified appearances.

The giants' clothes, the thick iron rings on their wrists, and even the fine hairs on their rough skin were all perfectly preserved and frozen in place.

Some giants are still running with long strides, while others have their axes raised high, as if they were pressed on an eternal pause button the moment disaster struck.

"Wow, it's huge!"

Lucy, Wendy, Natsu, and the others all exclaimed in unison.

No one could have predicted that the mysterious Sun Village that Warrod spoke of, which worshipped fire, was actually a group of giant natives living in a secluded place.

Gray rested one hand on his hip, looking up at the enormous humanoid ice block in front of him, which was larger than a two-story building.

"Could this be the settlement of a giant tribe?"

Happy fluttered its little wings in mid-air, then approached Jiang Bai with some concern, gently tugging at Jiang Bai's sleeve with its claws.

"Hey, Jiang Bai, they're all frozen like this, are they really still alive?"

The moment Jiang Bai stepped into this frozen basin, his vast and boundless Mental Perception pierced through the thick ice like mercury, revealing the entire village and even the vital signs of the frozen creatures.

Jiang Bai appeared relaxed.

"Yes, that old man wasn't lying. These big guys still have plenty of life force; it's just that their consciousness has been completely frozen and put into hibernation by this domineering cold."

Upon hearing the confirmation, Natsu a huge weight lifted from his shoulders, and he instantly felt fully revitalized.

Natsu flexed his wrists, a confident smile spreading across his face.

"Yosh! Since the person isn't dead yet, let me melt all the ice!"

Natsu strode to the nearest giant ice sculpture, planted his feet in a horse stance, took a deep breath, and unleashed his Dragon Slayer magic.

Natsu clenched his fists at his sides and roared angrily.

"Drink!!"

Scorching, violent golden-red flames surged from Natsu's fists, transforming into two enormous fireballs that firmly imprinted themselves onto the solid ice wall.

Happy raised his two tiny arms in mid-air and shouted encouragement.

"Go for it, Natsu! Melt all these ice blocks!!"

Natsu gritted his teeth and, instead of stopping, increased his magical output.

It lasted for a full three or four minutes.

The surrounding frozen ground was scorched by the scorching flames, sending wisps of smoke rising from it.

However, when Natsu's flames finally died down, the scene before them shocked everyone.

The surface of the solid ice, which had been continuously scorched by ultra-high temperature flames, showed no signs of water melting or dripping, not even a tiny crack or a trace of melting.

The ice layer remained smooth as a mirror, and the giant's face sealed inside was lifelike.

Natsu's legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the scorching muddy ground, panting heavily with his hands on his knees, looking utterly exhausted.

"Ha... ha... what on earth is going on?"

Natsu raised the back of his steaming hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, his tone full of bewilderment.

"My Fire Dragon Flame can usually melt steel into molten iron, but when I hit this broken block of ice, not a single drop of water evaporated. The flames are completely ineffective!"

Gray stepped forward, squatted down, and placed his right hand on the outer wall of the solid ice, concentrating intently to sense it.

Upon touching him, Gray's brow furrowed even more.

This is not ordinary natural ice.

"The solid ice here harbors a strange, highly exclusive, and powerful magical will; ordinary elemental properties cannot even budge it in the slightest."

Natsu sat on the ground scratching his short pink hair. Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed through his mind, and he quickly turned his head to look at Jiang Bai expectantly.

"Hey! Jiang Bai! Use that flame you used to refine dragon blood essence in the kingdom's capital a few days ago!"

"If it can even melt and purify the bones of an adult dragon, that level of flame would definitely be able to blast all these strange, broken ice blocks to smithereens in one go!"

Upon hearing Natsu's suggestion, Lucy and Wendy both turned to look at him.

In everyone's eyes, the fire that Jiang Bai wielded could easily melt even the giant dragons from four hundred years ago, so dealing with a mere layer of ice would be a piece of cake.

Jiang Bai had his hands in his pockets, showing no sign of impatience.

Jiang Bai's heart was as clear as a mirror.

The tragic freezing of this Sun Village was not caused by any natural disaster, but by Yin, a member of the Nine Demon Gates of the Tartaros who possessed the Ice Devil Slayer Magic.

These solid ice crystals are, in essence, cursed ice constructed from pure demon-slaying power.

It is indeed possible to forcefully burn through solid ice using one's own fire.

But since we're going to solve this problem anyway, let's just do it once and for all and uproot the mess hidden in the shadows.

Jiang Bai met the expectant gazes of his companions, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"We can start melting it, but before that, we need to take care of some messy, trivial matters first."

The words had barely left his mouth.

Jiang Bai's gaze shifted without warning to the raised, broken rock face on the left side of the village.

Jiang Bai turned his head to the side, raised his chin at the empty pile of stones, and lazily called out.

"Those three lazy bums who've been hiding behind the rock and peeking for ages, have you had enough of the show? Aren't you going to come out on your own?"

The entire room fell silent instantly.

Natsu immediately leaped to his feet, while Gray clenched his fist in return.

Lucy took a half-step back warily, and reached for the Celestial Spirit Key at her waist.

Who goes there?!