Throne of the North.

Chapter 600 A Great Being—The Serpent Spirit

After forty-eight hours, the scorched swamp was left with only the rich aroma of meat. However, even Ryan couldn't help but vomit at the sight of this aroma.

The knights, wearing linen masks, walked through the area and eventually discovered an altar over three meters long and wide inside a large, charred skeleton.

This is the sacred Gonniel Altar of Svafnir, which grants extraordinary power to the brave rebels of this world and bestows upon them a path known as the Shadow Vanguard.

Every Shadow Vanguard is a born killer. Most importantly, they are not controlled by emotions. They are as cold-blooded as snakes and will carry out their killing orders without regard for the cost.

As the Gonnier altar was carried out, Ryan also noticed that dark figures were beginning to emerge from the surrounding darkness. Signi had brought the Shadow Vanguard here; they had been waiting for this moment for several days.

"The avant-garde is very strong, but are you sure you can be my match?"

Ryan looked at Signy, the natural leader who made no secret of her change in attitude towards him after their journey to Rhinoceros Mountain.

At this moment, the army of over 10,000 to 17,000 was undoubtedly a dark, overwhelming mass, a terrifying sight with no end in sight.

“That is a sacred object belonging to Svavnir; the gods bestowed it upon us.”

Signi didn't waste any words. After explaining, all the Shadow Vanguard behind him disappeared from Ryan's sight. They advanced towards the army, reaping the lives of soldiers invisibly. Faced with these unseen enemies, the soldiers were at a loss.

"Brand."

Ryan's voice echoed in the dark sky, and Brand beside him leaped up in that instant, flying into the sky. In the darkness, it seemed as if a pair of blood-red wings appeared behind Brand.

In the next instant, Brand in the sky crashed down to the earth. As the earth trembled, crimson energy shot out in all directions from Brand. Wherever it passed, all the soldiers were enveloped in a faint crimson glow. Correspondingly, above the heads of the invisible vanguard, crimson phantom deer heads floated, their presence locking onto the vanguard's position.

Such methods existed when Ryan established the Stag Legion. At that time, it was because all the knights and squires received the blessing of the Stag Spirit, and the Stag Breathing Technique brought them a powerful resonance of blood and qi. Now, this resonance is becoming stronger and stronger, and as Brand grows stronger, he is gradually mastering the deeper power of Exner.

[Heroic Spirits]

In the stories and fine wines of the world of Exner, heroic spirits are a noble topic. A dignified king will become a heroic spirit to protect his people in place of the spirit of the stag. Just as the heroic spirit crown that Ryan received granted him combat power comparable to that of the Sanctuary, Brand inherited this extraordinary power.

If Exner were still alive, Brand would become the new king of that world by the will of the gods. After his death, he would continue as a heroic spirit under the blessing of the stag spirit. While he was alive, he would also gradually become stronger and master the power brought by the stag breathing technique.

Each knight's breathing technique is precious and unique, just like Ryan's Flame Dragon Knight Breathing Technique, which makes Ryan fearless of fire and even gives him control over fire as a knight.

The Buck Breathing Technique, thanks to Brand's power, has begun to reveal its story.

Others cannot see the invisible vanguard, but heroic spirits can, because in many cases, ordinary people cannot see heroic spirits either.

The vanguard, with the stag emblem on his head, was still invisible, but to the soldiers he was no longer invisible or intangible.

"Kill them!"

The knights and squires beside Ryan charged forward. They were beneficiaries of the Stag Breathing Technique, and under the resonance of their blood and qi, they felt incredibly powerful. The charge of the warhorses was also something that the Shadow Vanguard could not directly confront.

Ignoring the distant war, Ryan arrived at the Gonnier altar. Looking at this sacred relic, unlike any other in other worlds, Ryan reached out his hand.

A blessing from the serpent spirit? That's probably the case.

As Ryan thought this, his hand was already on the cold altar, and in an instant, a pair of ancient and great eyes filled his entire field of vision.

What kind of eyes were those? They were boundless and towering, as if a sword had cleaved the heavens and earth, leaving an oval crack in the void. Amber vertical pupils were embedded in them, slowly rising and falling like the breath of the world. Brilliant pure golden light shimmered in the vertical pupils, containing the reflections of countless worlds. The reflections were as smooth as mirrors, and in each mirror, Ryan's image was reflected.

Ryan stared into those eyes, then looked around. He realized he was no longer on the battlefield between the army and the Shadow Vanguard. He was now in a place where the sky was boundless and vast, with wispy clouds floating in it. The earth was as wild as a shadow, corresponding to the vastness of the sky. At the edge of this blurred vision, there was a boundary line. On that boundary line, Ryan saw writhing scales forming a huge body.

Ryan had experienced such a scene twice. The first time was in the world of Bilge, where the Frost Lord showed him a magnificent war, with endless soldiers fighting on the battlefield, and Skyward's berserk war bear was one of the kings fighting on the most tragic front lines.

The second time was because of the Dragon Emperor's remains. That time, I saw a majestic world, with mountains and oceans filled with a rugged grandeur. The ruggedness was not due to simplicity, but rather to the fact that the viewer was looking at it from the extremely high sky.

This was the third time that the remaining will of the god Svafnir allowed Ryan to see the shadows of countless world planes. He wandered in the shadows of every world, and even sunlight could not directly detect him, thus his life could be traced back to a long beginning.

Ryan saw the beginning; the shadows formed by countless worlds then took on an even larger outline, resembling a tree. It rested quietly in the chaos and nothingness, with the supreme sun hanging high above its canopy. Under the sunlight, every golden leaf cast its shadow.

In the shadows lay the realm of snakes, and within this realm of shadows, Ryan saw countless reflections of himself, each one staring blankly ahead, just like Ryan standing before the Gonniel altar, outstretched with his palm.

Upon witnessing this scene, his vision seemed to shift back to the microscopic level, or rather, to a larger macroscopic one. Through the countless eyes of his own, Ryan saw countless spectacular scenes he had witnessed just moments before, like a kaleidoscope, growing layer upon layer, extending infinitely, cycling endlessly, and increasing infinitely.

There is no deepest point, no beginning. Ryan sank into the twisted shadows, gradually forgetting his own existence.

Until a certain moment, the clear spiritual panel shattered everything, and Ryan's eyes regained their clarity. He was still standing between the boundless sky and the wild earth, with the spiritual panel floating in front of him. Opposite him, a huge snake flicked its tongue, its gaze locked on Ryan.

He seemed to sense the presence of the spiritual panel, but like the dragon spirit, he could neither see nor touch it.

In its cold, vertical pupils, the giant serpent also revealed human emotions, giving Ryan the feeling that... that Signi longed for that natural-born leader girl.

It's a magical feeling; it's as if Signi possesses the soul of a god, and gods seem to have emotions that only humans should have.

However, after a moment, the giant serpent's eyes grew melancholy, and it revealed more to Ryan.

It was a rotten branch, and on its surface, the bones of a snake, its flesh and bones now gray and dull, were coiled.

The death of the World Tree branch caused Him to lose the means of dying and being resurrected, thus truly falling into death.

He was already dead, so naturally he couldn't enter the spirit panel like the dragon spirit. His remaining will allowed him to wait for Ryan's arrival.

And this was the first time Ryan had ever seen such a great being—a spirit.

His will was complete, unlike the dead Dragon Emperor who only operated on instinctive programs, or the newly formed great being like the impure dragon spirit. He was the will left behind by the ancient serpent, the great serpent spirit named Svafnir after its death.

He possessed all the knowledge and wisdom that the serpent spirit had in his lifetime, and even more humanity that he had acquired from Signi, the natural leader.

At this very moment, in this vast and wild world, He is conveying a message to Ryan.

"The World Tree bears all things. It is the original creator. The sun and the moon are its fruits, the abyss is its soil, and endless 'Tai Su' flows through its trunk. Each leaf is a world, and the rainbow bridge connects the worlds. The ancient insects destroyed it; they were pests that grew on the World Tree."

"But it was we who killed the World Tree."

This small amount of pheromone was enough to give Ryan a splitting headache. His soul, brain, and body could not withstand any more pheromones. Because of this terrible pain, the wild world around him, including the snake spirit in front of him, was distorted and blurred, as if it was about to shatter and dissipate.

Seeing this, the snake spirit could only stop transmitting pheromones, silently watching Ryan and waiting for him to recover.

After a long while, Ryan was panting heavily, his eyes bloodshot from his rapid breathing, but his gaze remained fixed on the giant snake in front of him.

You mean, us?

We killed the World Tree? What does that have to do with me? Ryan was puzzled, but looking at the spiritual panel, he knew he had no choice in which side to take and could only be chosen by fate.

"The World Tree is dead, the North has descended."

The great serpent spirit conveyed a brief message, but the pheromones in that sentence were still so powerful that Ryan's teeth chattered. Ryan understood the meaning and couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"Are you saying that the North is 'us,' created by you spirits?"

He was utterly shocked. In the otherworldly plane he had encountered before, in the war between gods and spirits, the spirits were undoubtedly the losers, the unfortunate ones who were about to die. Ryan had thought that the gods had used the North to make them do this, but now he was being told that the spirits had used this method to kill him and put the gods into a deep sleep.
The wild world around him became even more blurred and distorted. The tattered lines made Ryan's vision blurry, as if he were looking at a mosaic. Moreover, he saw countless greedy and evil eyes, the monsters of the abyss eagerly anticipating the world's fall.

They seemed to see their companion being born, and that they would share in this companion after its birth.

Swavnir is infinitely close to death, but because of the hibernation of the Serpent Spirits, the world remains in a state of ambiguity. The North cannot completely cover the world, and the world, due to its hibernation, cannot be certain of its true death and fall into the abyss. As a result, the abyss can only wait and cannot take the initiative to intervene.

"They will not get their way."

The serpent spirit relayed the message again, looking at Ryan. Ryan knew why; it was because he had come.

He came into this world, so Svafnir will not become the abyss, but soil. Everything born after His death will become an entry on the spiritual panel—[Serpent Spirit's Blessing]—instead of food for the demons of the abyss.

The serpent spirit wanted to convey something more, but seeing Ryan's condition, it stopped. It knew that Ryan had reached his limit. If it continued, or even if it sent all its memories, all its experiences and knowledge into Ryan's soul, it would only cause Ryan's soul to explode instantly.

That would be no less than... the extinguishing and blooming of the sun.

So after a long pause, the snake spirit left behind a sentence that was different from the vast pheromones.

"You will surely achieve endless victories."

This is a very human blessing, unrelated to deities, but rather the radiance of humanity spreading within this great being.

Then everything before Ryan's eyes vanished into thin air. In the shadow, the snake spirit transformed into a small snake and disappeared into the spiritual panel. As expected, after the numerous spiritual blessings, there was now one more snake spirit blessing.

Ryan's eyes regained their luster, and he was still standing in front of the Gunnir altar, but at this moment, the altar shattered silently.

Ryan's extraordinary life force began to grow wildly. Each time he received a spiritual blessing, he would become stronger, but this surging wave of extraordinary power clearly exceeded the sum of all the previous ones.

When the power within Ryan subsided a few minutes later, he found himself to have become a Holy Knight, and standing at the pinnacle of the Holy Realm.

In his last remaining strength, the Serpent Spirit expressed some regret, stating that he could not bestow upon Ryan His power—the primal power that grows stronger every day as long as one lives—as His status could not surpass that of the Spirit.

But He indicated that Ryan would certainly become stronger and did not need this blessing of becoming stronger every day.

This is the most human-like being Ryan has ever encountered.

Looking at the shattered relics scattered at his feet, Ryan turned around. The next moment, an inexplicable and terrifying power spread in all directions, causing all the Shadow Vanguard, including Signi, to fall silent, stop fighting, reveal themselves, and stare intently at Ryan.

They certainly sensed something, and Ryan came up into the sky and shouted:

"I'm sorry to tell you something, but the great being you serve is not asleep; He is dead."

"But at the same time, I have some good news for you. You have a new god to pray to. If you don't mind, the name will be Ryan."

The Bucks' knights and squires had no reaction to this scene. They were born from the miracles bestowed by Ryan and had witnessed countless miracles of Lord Ryan.

The tens of thousands of soldiers on the battlefield remained motionless. They were even more pure than the knights and squires, because when they inherited the power of the Dragon Emperor and went to war against Surtur of Twilight, these people of Nidhogg had already been forced to become his loyal subjects. Later, in the faith of the Dragon Chosen, Ryan went a step further and directly controlled these people.

They were already followers of Lane.

The shadow avant-garde figures in the darkness also didn't react much, oh, because they didn't even have morality.

(End of this chapter)