Chapter 126: Giants? Have You Ever Seen a Demon!
Gwen's resolute figure stood before Viktor, her silver hair dancing in the wind and snow, appearing all the more stern and cold.
Before her, at this mont, were thousands upon tens of thousands of Savage Beasts.
In the extre north—a land of unimaginable scarcity, where tribes survived solely through hunting—such vast and effective fighting strength had sohow been cultivated.
Angus had held the northern frontier for nearly 30 years. Those 30 years had been the most prosperous period the Northern Savage Beasts had ever known.
Gwen didn't even need to think deeply about it.
The further she let her thoughts go, the heavier her father's and brother's sins felt.
It was their negligence that had allowed the Savage Beasts to multiply unchecked.
She had much she wanted to say to Viktor, standing behind her.
But right now, there was no ti left for further reflection.
The Savage Beasts needed no more deliberation.
The instant death of the first Berserker had given them only the briefest flash of dread—what followed was an even more savage, unrestrained fury.
That boundless rage caused the violent flas coiling around their bodies to surge higher, as though the very next second everything around them would be swallowed entirely by fire.
They howled with mad ferocity, beneath that overcast sky, each one like a red demon that had crawled out of hell.
Within seconds, every Savage Beast charged forward in a frenzy.
That roar shook the heavens and split the earth, stretching endlessly across the land.
The ice plain seed unable to bear that terrifying weight, rising and sinking toward the frozen ocean.
Accumulated snow swirled a hundred ters into the air; the ice trembled without cease.
Within the minds of the Savage Beasts, only a single final thought remained.
That was—
War.
They worshipped war.
When the survival of the Savage Beasts was threatened, they could unite to the point of standing as one against a common enemy.
Any place richer in resources would beco their hunting ground.
"Awooo! Awooo!"
Bearing roars that resounded in every direction, the Savage Beasts brandished countless weapons and surged toward Gwen.
Each Savage Beast was like a warrior born, possessing no awareness of tactics or ranged attrition.
Only the raw, instinct-driven desire to fight.
After all, this was a tribe where even 10-year-old children could go to battle.
The instant the countless Savage Beasts ca rushing forward, Gwen made no unnecessary movents.
She simply held her sword-ready stance, guarding Viktor from beginning to end.
As though waiting for sothing.
Finally…
A deep, low voice slowly rose.
In an instant, countless Magic Formations blanketed the sky, thousands of formations flashing into existence from thin air.
As formation after enormous formation rose, tens of thousands of magical runes began to interweave and entwine between the formations.
Those countless formations rged into a single whole, as though sharing one common will, flickering in resonance with one another.
Endless totems erupted from between the formations all at once, as if the snowfield that had lain dormant for years suddenly unleashed its true fury.
Magic Power of every attribute flooded the vast and open snowfield, covering the entire world in an instant.
Several clusters of fire burst forth from the red formations, tearing through the dry air.
Accompanied by the jets of fla, flourishing wooden branches transford into spike after spike, surging toward the Savage Beasts.
The two forces rged in an instant, forming countless cascading curtains of flaming rain that rained down upon the boundless frozen ocean.
Purple lightning and white storms transford into great dragons, their violent impacts and shattering force punching through the earth beneath the Savage Beasts' feet, piercing through their powerful chests.
That scalding blood seed to surge and churn through the air alongside the lightning, gradually scattering across the pristine snowfield and staining a vast expanse crimson.
Thunderous booms like the low growl of a great beast poured forth endlessly, carrying hatred and rage.
Boundless magic bombarded the Savage Beasts in a relentless barrage. Those bodies of flesh and blood, beneath the overwhelming assault, shattered like fragile glass.
Vladimir stood on a snow cliff not far away, watching the scene before him and laughing without pause.
Behind him stood countless Mages clad in white robes.
They chanted spells, constructing and linking intricate, elaborate formations between their hands, projecting them onto the sky not far away.
Vladimir shouldered his ice battleaxe and let out 2 great laughs.
"I've never felt this damn good in my life!"
"Blast them for , blow those sons of bitches to pieces!"
With a single command from him, the magic intensified instantly, more concentrated, more ferocious.
Like countless colorful fireworks blooming endlessly beneath a long night sky, celebrating the imminent arrival of dawn.
Those pitiful Savage Beasts were blasted into disarray by the savage magical bombardnt, fleeing with their heads in their arms.
In open ground, when Savage Beasts faced Mages, it was essentially a one-sided slaughter.
Against Savage Beasts that charged in head-on, Mages were entirely helpless.
In terms of physical strength, they were naturally no match for this pack of savages.
But now, the terrain here was a godsend for the Mages.
The Extre Northern Ice Plains were surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges. To pass through and leave, there was only 1 extrely narrow mountain path.
With such a perfect arena, the Savage Beasts had no choice but to endure the Mages' attacks head-on across the snowfield.
Erika naturally wasn't idle either, unleashing one magic spell after another from her hands.
As a 2nd-Tier Mage, she had already mastered the 2nd-Tier spells she had learned previously.
Constructing the formation rune patterns took her only a matter of seconds.
Drawing on the powerful Wood divine power within her body, every spell she cast carried terrifying sharpness and sustained force.
Clusters of fla transford into high-speed arrows, surging swiftly toward the Savage Beasts clustered in the narrow pass.
Precisely piercing their skulls.
One strike, one kill!
The Mages continuously stacked all manner of Buffs on one another; countless spells erged in an unending stream.
A single Mage, alone, might not even be able to beat one ordinary warrior.
But—when Mages assembled together, the enormous combined effect of their mutual Buffs could unleash a force of terrifying magnitude!
Enough, perhaps, to level mountains and fill the deep sea.
The sky-spanning magic bombarded the world without cease; the sky itself seed stripped of all color beneath that terrifying surge of Magic Power.
After being washed by magic of every kind, the snowfield was shrouded in drifting smoke and dust, utterly devoid of life.
Even the air was thick with the stench of blood.
Viktor watched the spectacular scene before him, his heart completely unmoved.
Weija, however, felt a flicker of surprise, narrowing her eyes as a voice only Viktor could hear gradually sounded.
"Have you ever imagined that one day, this many people would co to help you?"
Viktor's expression was blank. He only responded to it lightly.
"Then there's only one possibility—they aren't helping ."
The relentless rage being vented spread and surged among those Mages. Viktor understood it perfectly well.
"The hatred has accumulated for too long. And so they only needed a simple spark."
"Now, their fury has been ignited."
The intoxicating thrill of endless slaughter filled the hearts of those Mages; they channeled every ounce of their rage entirely onto these Savage Beasts.
There was a reason for this.
The Pallid Mage Society—Viktor knew this organization well.
In the ga, it had fallen under the jurisdiction of the Empire's northern frontier.
It was a force personally founded by an Imperial general on the verge of retirent.
They held no official standing whatsoever, simply an organization ford by people banding together to resist the Savage Beasts.
Those who joined the Pallid Mage Society had, to varying degrees, so history with the Savage Beasts.
At the beginning, they were all ordinary people living at the Empire's northernmost border.
If the lands under the governance of the northern frontier Knights were peaceful and tranquil, then within this stretch of the northern frontier—the humans who lived here suffered disaster brought by the Savage Beasts at every waking mont.
Loved ones brutally killed. Families torn apart and ruined.
Here, these were among the most ordinary and commonplace of occurrences.
Yet none of this should have ever happened.
The iron fortress personally forged by the Northern Knight had not protected these people living close to the extre north.
Instead, it had sealed them on the outside.
Everything beyond the fortress walls was outside the Knights' responsibility.
Even if Savage Beasts appeared before the fortress, the Northern Knights only needed to consider whether they would attack the castle or push deeper inward.
The Emperor was far away, and every year there would always be considerable casualties.
Those who died in the north, when word reached the Royal Capital, didn't strike the Emperor as anything unusual.
And yet, under Angus's governance—
The north had indeed remained stable for many years.
That's right…
Trading the lives of a few for the peace and stability of the majority.
That was Angus's governing strategy.
After the Emperor had rejected his sense of justice, he understood what he truly wanted.
So, after coming to the north, he had long since ceased to be the righteous man he once was.
In the end, the Pallid Mage Society was ford by necessity.
Vladimir Lebedev.
This accomplished general could have returned to the Royal Capital and enjoyed a life of wealth and prestige.
Yet with his fierce sense of justice, he could no longer endure watching his compatriots around him die one by one in despair.
He ultimately remained in the north, taking in ordinary people left holess and bereaved by the Savage Beasts, doing all he could to teach them the strength to protect themselves.
Like a leader, he guided these people who carried boundless hatred within them.
To stand against these dangerous Savage Beasts.
Watching the Savage Beasts before him with their heavy casualties, and those Mages who had accumulated untold hatred—
Viktor's expression remained blank, yet inwardly he only wanted to laugh.
"One worships the Goddess of Justice, yet in their heart there is nothing but self-interest and calculation."
"The other believes in no gods or spirits, an old man well advanced in years, yet at every mont burning with passion, solely to save more people."
"Who, in the end, is truly righteous?"
At that, he looked once again toward Gwen, standing before him.
The wind and snow after this battle grew even more savage, making it impossible to tell whether it was simply snowflakes swirling or smoke and dust carried by the storm, blinding one's eyes.
Beneath the unrelenting magical bombardnt, shockwaves surged forth in wave after wave.
And Gwen still stood before him.
At this mont, this Knight whose heart held goodness and justice—what was it that drove her to stand here, before him, protecting him?
Ti passed, and after the hapless Savage Beasts had been subjected to the endless magical bombardnt for a long while—
They attempted to flee through that narrow mountain path, but countless Mage-soldiers blocked the way there, even using their own lives as boulders to obstruct the road, cutting off the Savage Beasts' final ans of escape.
Even if the Savage Beasts tried to force their way through, wave after wave of Mage-soldiers who rapidly plugged the gaps made them feel utterly helpless.
It was as though they were even more fearless of death than the Savage Beasts themselves, charging continuously at the front line.
Even if their bodies were shattered, their limbs severed, they felt no fear of that ignoble death.
All only to ensure that every last one of these Savage Beasts would be ended here.
Trapped in an absolute desperate situation, those Savage Beasts fell into utter despair.
They had never imagined that one day, these Mages would turn out in full force like this.
These frail, despicable Mages—they stood high upon the towering cliff walls, leaving not the slightest possibility for these fearless warriors to retaliate.
Damn them, truly damn them!
The Savage Beasts seed to reach so kind of decision.
Two streaks of red and blue light suddenly blazed into existence among the remaining Savage Beast crowd.
Like glimrs of light with their own consciousness, they streaked toward the depths of the sky.
As though sothing were manifesting from thin air—suddenly, an aura of extre and absolute terror descended.
Fla and frost plumted from the sky simultaneously, sending shockwaves 100 ters into the air.
As the crimson hue gradually faded, an imnse figure entered the view of every person present.
It was a giant, towering as a mountain, gripping a massive blade that blazed with unceasing fla, glaring down at the countless Mages with scarlet, furious eyes.
On the other side of the ice plain, a titanic blue claw suddenly thrust up from beneath the earth, wrenching the peak of a snow mountain clean off with brute force.
The blue ice giant slowly rose to its feet, both hands bearing horrifyingly sharp talons; the Glacial Fang glead brilliantly beneath the firelight.
At the sight of those 2 terrifying giants before them, the faces of countless Mages changed drastically.
"That is… the legendary giant… Leviathan of the Blazing Sword?"
"And Glacial Fang… Skadi."
"Weren't they said to appear only in legend?"
The legendary demigod giants were devoted followers of the Savage Beasts' faith.
And that faith was, at the sa ti, a power that protected them.
When the collective survival of the Savage Beasts was threatened, the giants known as "demigods" would appear before them, sweeping away all threats on their behalf.
Yet no one had ever truly witnessed the giants.
Everyone had simply treated them as legend.
Only the Savage Beasts themselves knew in their hearts—
The demigods had always existed.
Fla and frost converged and intertwined, erupting at this mont into a power of absolute terror.
Vladimir's expression grew several degrees more serious. Even he, when facing such power, was involuntarily forced to step back several paces.
In the blink of an eye, howling gales and raging blizzards surged once more.
Gwen endured the biting cold storm, raising her head to look at the 2 giants that had suddenly appeared before her, her mind in a daze.
She was closest to those 2 giants, and could feel even more keenly the crushing pressure emanating from their bodies.
And yet…
The justice within her heart sustained her.
She wanted to move forward, wanted to go protect those Mages.
This was the duty of a Knight.
But suddenly, a hand reached onto her shoulder and pulled her sharply back.
Gwen couldn't even resist; by the ti she ca to her senses, she had already been pulled into Viktor's arms.
"Viktor…"
"Don't move."
Viktor watched those 2 towering giants, his voice carrying wisps of white breath in the cold, sounding lightly.
"I'd rather not see you die."
Gwen felt a trace of displeasure.
As a Knight, her calling was to protect others.
But Viktor only said lightly—
"The one you need to protect right now is ."
"Rember, I am equally a Mage."
"…"
Gwen fell silent for a mont, and instinctively, she actually found that Viktor had a point.
And yet…
She suddenly realized that her back was resting against Viktor's chest, and Viktor's voice was coming from directly above.
She only needed to tilt her head slightly upward to see Viktor's face.
This subtle posture made her feel an odd and strange discomfort.
But before she could say anything, Viktor's voice had already risen amid the boundless frost and raging fla.
"Laiton."
"Don't just sit back and take without doing any work."
The mont those words fell, in the blink of an eye—
The sky turned pitch-black and dim.
Even the imposing presence of the 2 giants dimd by several degrees.
It was as though sothing of extre and terrifying magnitude was about to appear.
Above the sky's layered darkness, it was suddenly dyed a deep, all-encompassing crimson.
Then, a massive claw covered in countless razor-sharp steel spikes tore the sky open in an instant.
It revealed an enormous eyeball, staring unblinkingly down at the world.
Red mist gradually gathered from all sides of the ice plain, bringing the endlessly drifting wind and snow to a standstill.
Countless people stared at the sky in stunned awe.
That terrifying and savage image laid itself bare before everyone present.
An enormous scarlet crocodile slowly pushed its body through that narrow tear in space.
The storm around it surged anew—but this ti it was no longer wind and snow.
It had transford into shards of steel honed to blades.
Even the 2 giants slowly raised their heads, looking toward the even larger existence that had appeared in the sky.
A voice of absolute, furious rage, like a great bell cracking through a valley, filled one with unease and dread.
Yet no one could resist it. They could only watch in silence as that absolute demon proclaid:
"Destruction."
"Has arrived—"
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