Throne of the North.

Chapter 596 Goblin? Frost ghost!
The surrounding knights and squires swarmed forward and restrained the assassin. Ryan looked at the assassin with a hostile expression. No matter who it was, no one would be happy to be assassinated like this.

"who are you?"

Ryan asked, but the assassin in front of him did not answer him.

"Is he your friend?"

Ryan looked at another corpse on the ground and asked, but the assassin remained unmoved. However, his gaze gradually shifted to the direction of the distant sky.

Before Ryan could ask a third question, he suddenly sensed a buzzing sound coming from the north. Turning his head, he saw clusters of snow-white frost mist rushing towards him like clouds. As they passed over the ground, the earth beneath his feet was instantly covered with a layer of frost as thick as a finger.

"what?"

It was clearly an extraordinary life form, but Ryan had never seen one before. Neither the mage encyclopedias nor any accounts of the Norris continent contained any such purely elemental extraordinary creature.

They resembled a dense mass of frost and mist, and at the center of that gaseous mass, a pair of dark eyes flickered in and out of view, filled with indifference towards the world.

Against this backdrop of indifference, the misty form of the body appeared sacred and elegant.

"defense!"

Brand shouted, and his knights and squires lined up in front of Ryan, watching the extraordinary being in mid-air warily.

Charging forward at breakneck speed, the assassin beside him, tightly controlled and brimming with destructive power, seemed more like a villain. But the problem was that this extraordinary being did not stop.

The knight's longsword was raised, and as the gaseous elemental beings drew near, they finally bared their fangs, forming a pair of nightmarish beast claws in the frost and mist, which slammed down toward the knight's squire.

"Kill them!"

At a command, the knights charged forward. The cold, frosty claws left grotesque claw marks on their armor, and the glaring cracks were instantly covered with frost, followed by a crisp, ear-piercing cracking sound. The sturdy knight armor produced by the Frozen Territory had actually cracked.

The powerful elemental forces caused the knights some panic, but this did not determine anything. Even without armor, the knights were still incredibly strong. The power of their blood and qi, unleashed by their inner fighting spirit, accompanied by their longsword skills, slashed at these extraordinary elemental beings. With each slash, these monsters let out shrill screams.

The screams were chilling, like the piercing screams of a twisted monster from the deep sea, where the sun never shines.

The screams also possessed terrifying power. Dozens of monsters went berserk, their bodies swelling. It wasn't surprising that their bodies, which were originally in a frost mist state, could reach this point. However, the frost mist emanating from the dozens of monsters enveloped the world within a hundred meters in radius. They moved through it, constantly launching sneak attacks on the knights.

Ryan was also somewhat alarmed, not because of the combat power displayed by these extraordinary beings—their combat power was not strong enough, and they had not yet caused any casualties to the Buck Legion knights.

What alarmed him was that these monstrous things, when working together, actually formed a power similar to a domain.

Covering an area of ​​100 meters, dozens of monsters rampaged like ghosts.

"Kill them."

Ryan gave the order, and the powerful knights in the knightly ranks finally stopped watching. They drew their longswords, and their immense blood and qi gathered into sword qi techniques, which they then swung down at the monsters.

"Dragon Destroys Mountains!"

The already powerful strength was amplified several times with the emergence of extraordinary combat skills. As the huge blood-red sword light slashed down, several ghostly monsters roared in terror, but were still mercilessly killed. As monsters were killed one by one, the hazy frost mist around them gradually became clear. One by one, snow-white crystals emitting a cold aura fell to the ground. The wild grass around them was frozen and turned into ice fragments with the slightest touch.

"This must be their elemental origin."

After placing the crystal in the magic box, which isolated it from the terrible frost, the air warmed up again. Ryan looked at the black-clad hooded assassin beside him again.

"You should be very familiar with these things, right? Was last night's fire caused by them?"

The assassin's gaze was different from before; the war had changed his attitude towards Ryan and his men, but he still didn't speak.

"Mute?"

Ryan didn't dwell on the assassin in front of him; he simply imprisoned him and used him as bait. Afterward, he returned to the Frozen Territory with the crystals.

The Frozen Territory was home to many knowledgeable old scholars. After hearing Ryan's description and seeing the crystals themselves, Archmage McKen quickly offered his own guess.

"Those elemental beings are very much like fairies."

Ryan was surprised and couldn't help but say:

"Fairies? Fairies from the Woodlands?"

The Woodlands, where the elves live, are inhabited by a race called fairies. Magicians believe that the life of fairies is no less than that of dragons, creatures at the perfect top of the food chain.

They are all extreme manifestations of the extraordinary world.

Humans rarely see fairies because fairies will not appear in front of humans whose minds are not pure or innocent.

Archduke McKen shook his head, frowned, and remained silent, clearly also caught in great distress and cognitive confusion.

"No, it only resembles it. It's definitely not a fairy. Fairies wouldn't leave behind such things. They are part of the elements, the world's beloved darlings, but this..."

Archmage McKen used his Sorcerer's Hand to take out a crystal and place it on the ground. Instantly, a large area of ​​frost appeared on the surrounding ground, and the central area was frozen solid, with dense cracks spreading outwards.

"The power of fairies never destroys the world, nor does it cause extreme changes to matter, but these things can. They seem to completely dislike anything in this world except themselves, whether dead or alive."

Ryan realized what was going on and said:
"Like...the North?"

Archmage McKen hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Ryan's revelation made him realize what was happening.

"Yes, the North. They are like the North, wanting to turn the world into a world buried by snow and ice, where life can only exist in the ice and snow."

Putting aside its destructive power, this crystal is clearly a powerful extraordinary material. Archmage McKen was very interested and expressed his desire to develop a new alternate dimension with Ryan.

“I have a feeling that we can discover deeper secrets of the North from this new world.”

Archmage McCann was certain of his idea because this kind of extraordinary life form of frost element had never been heard of or seen before.

The world was plunged into the North, then became extinct due to its inactivity, and finally died and fell into the abyss, becoming a feast for the abyss. This predetermined process changed at this moment.

"The North..."

Archmage McKen murmured. He had bred the Northern Warhorse, but the Northern Warhorse was not his achievement alone. The Highland Mage Corps, under the guidance of his teacher, had conducted research in this area and provided him with the initial magical research materials.

After their teacher's death, the Highland Mage Order ceased their exploration of the Northern powers, as the profits from the Highland Warhorses were more than enough for them to squander. However, if they were to inherit the magical research from the North, all of these profits would be lost.

Only Archmage McCann firmly wanted to follow his teacher's ideas, believing that the North was the ultimate goal.

He was deeply influenced by his teacher, a influence that remained with him throughout his life, and this was also Archmage McKen's own magical philosophy. The difference in their philosophies was irreconcilable, and Archmage McKen was eager to find more evidence to prove the correctness of his and his teacher's truths. He hoped to witness an even greater truth to defeat the Highland Mage Order.

In the past, this would have been the cause and source of the magical war.

Upon entering the otherworldly plane once again, it was already night. The temporary camp was ablaze with fire, dispelling the surrounding darkness. The moment Archmage McKen appeared, he discovered a problem that the mages had not noticed before.

"In this world... the magical elements are not active, but they are not completely dead either."

Apart from the two worlds of Norris and Nidhogg, where the magical oceans still surge, the magical elements in other alternate worlds seem to have fallen into hibernation and cannot be active in the void, which prevents even a mage as talented as Archmage Luna from building a mage tower.

Those are two extremes: either unaffected, or magic falls into a dead, cold winter.

This world is different; it is still struggling, or rather, certain characteristics and powers of its nature prevent the magical elements of this world from ever falling into a complete winter.

"It is asleep, but it is also breathing."

"This world... is alive."

Archmage McKen's eyes burned with intensity. The 'living' he described was not the opposite of a world devoid of death from the North, but rather something possessing a life-like vitality.

"You mean, this world is like a giant, intelligent creature? Like humans, like beasts, like monsters?"

Ryan was also shocked. What did this mean? They were now inside the body of a gigantic being?
However, it is obvious that they could not be in some special internal world; this world is just the world.

Does it simply possess characteristics similar to those of an intelligent life form?
"Perhaps it's a struggle of the gods?"

Ryan said that every world has its own great beings, and the special nature of this world is obviously inseparable from the world's will—the spirit.

It could also be—God.

Gods and spirits are both great beings, but now Ryan's understanding is sufficient to categorize different great beings in different ways.

"The natives of this world can give us the answers."

Ryan brought Archmage McKen before the prisoner, who looked quite young with a youthful face. The knights had already examined him and found him to be physically intact, so he could speak.

"Can they become invisible?"

Archmage McKen was somewhat interested. In his understanding, invisibility was a very advanced technique. The invisibility that mages knew often represented two precious elemental attributes.

The shadow mages vanished into the darkness, while the light element mages dissolved into a kaleidoscope of colors.

This world has only two colors: black and the other colors. So, even if the methods of invisibility differ, they are essentially extraordinary methods derived from the elements of light and darkness.

For example, the Catman Assassin, and the Vatican Black Swan.

What about the natives of this world? Do they possess the supernatural power of light or darkness?
"It must be dark. With only two hours of daylight a day, they are destined to have no feelings for light."

Ryan didn't have much patience and asked:
"Is there a way to use magic to make him talk?"

Archmage McCann shook his head and said:

“Those magicians who like to manipulate souls, such as necromancers, have many ways to make them utter information, but I am just a stable boy.”

Ryan remained silent, and just as he was about to say something, a commotion broke out outside. The two left the cage and saw flames burning all around the temporary camp, with petite figures moving about in the flames.

Ryan smiled. It seemed that the natives of this world didn't possess extraordinary wisdom; they would still take the bait when the time was right.

"Griff, find their leader!"

"Brand, prepare to charge!"

The firelight outside the camp caused chaos among the knights, but it quickly subsided. Even the northern warhorses, whose blood was colder than that of the highland warhorses, did not become agitated by the firelight.

Because of the darkness of night, the Blood Eagle could not fly too high in the sky. As it circled on the ground, its eyes remained sharp, and it moved so fast that it left afterimages.

"To the east, a woman."

Griff's voice reached Brand's side, and the next moment hundreds of knights charged out with a thunderous roar. The extraordinary system of this world made it impossible for them to fight head-on, and they were naturally powerless against the charge of the cavalry.

In the darkness under the firelight, figures darted to both sides, not intending to escape but instead trying to rush in.

Ryan had the assassin brought out of the cage and said with a smile:

"It seems your position and your friendship are very trustworthy. They know they are no match for you, yet they still intend to save you."

The boy finally looked at Ryan and spoke, but what he said surprised Ryan.

"They're here to kill me."

"Oh? What kind of tradition is this?"

The assassin shut his mouth again; in their system, it seemed that even that last sentence shouldn't have been uttered.

"So it was me who saved you, aren't you going to thank me?"

Ryan wanted to know more about this world, and in response to his words, the boy twitched his facial muscles and said:

"You have been marked by the Frostfiends. More Frostfiends will appear tomorrow during the day until they kill you all."

"Frostfiends, are those the elemental monsters from during the day?"

Ryan finally got some information, but the assassin in front of him seemed to be repaying his protection with this information. No, it wasn't really repayment, because the guy started to struggle violently. A blade as thin as a cicada's wing appeared in his mouth at some point, and he shot it towards Ryan with force.

Ryan raised his hand and gripped the blade. He didn't even know his own strength anymore; this method was no match for him.

"It seems your civilization is even more extreme than I thought."

Ryan wasn't just referring to the natives around him, but also to the native companions of the assassins around the camp, who used various means to cause trouble for the cavalry army, including but not limited to poisoning and setting fires.

There are many powerful superhumans, but only knights rule the world. Even when faced with numerous obstacles, Brand still managed to crush the chaos ahead.

Then, in the next moment, the two enormous forces collided, and the blood-red stag roared from the boiling blood and qi like an avalanche, causing Ryan to show a truly unexpected expression.

(End of this chapter)