Throne of the North.

Chapter 754 The Fallen Gods of the North Became the Soil Breeding Ground for Calamity

"If it were a disaster, changes should have occurred much earlier, such as in the weather and temperature. So, judging from the current situation, the disaster that the orc god spoke of should be a long time coming."

Ryan wasn't so afraid. For great beings, a hundred years or a thousand years is short; they might just pass by in a nap. But for humans, it's not like that.

So far, no signs of disaster have been seen in the northernmost permafrost region, which means there is still a long way to go.

The gods spoke quickly; for humans, it might only be a few hundred years.

He believed his worries were unnecessary.

Back on Rhinoceros Horn Mountain, Ryan opened his spiritual panel. He was now contemplating whether or not to open a new dimensional portal.

Yes, that's right. Ever since the spiritual panel, which had been in turmoil for so long, quieted down again due to the formation of the legendary blessing, Ryan gradually discovered that he could actively control certain powers.

Thanks to his legendary gifts, he seems to possess a portion of great authority.

He is gradually becoming the true master of the spiritual panel.

The power of this authority is also very simple: if he needs it, he can actively allow his spirit to search for and anchor itself in a certain otherworldly plane within the pan-planetary world.

No longer do they need to wait for the spiritual panel to tell them that they can open a new dimensional gate, nor do they need to wait for winter to arrive every year.

Once he makes a decision, the spiritual panel, or rather the vast and boundless spiritual world, will actively seek out a suitable otherworldly plane. This process takes about half a month to a month, after which he can open a new portal to the world anchored by the spirit.

The premise is that there is still a spirit in that other world that can be perceived by the spirit panel, that is, humans.

Ryan's hesitation was unrelated to this.

He was thinking about the current busyness of the Norris continent and the Frozen Territory.

Whether it's acting or training troops, the orc war on the land he controls is not over, and a lot of manpower, material resources, and his energy are tied up in it.

Brand led the Stag Squires eastward, where frequent battles solidified the authority of the Northern Military Council. Meanwhile, in the south of the Empire, Ryan remained focused on this unique war initiated by the Empire in the name of revenge. How many clergy would be killed and how many cardinals would perish in the process would determine the Empire's future prestige in the world, and the Empire's prestige would inevitably affect his political power as an imperial nobleman.

When the empire is strong, Ryan has to devote more attention to uniting nobles in various regions; when the empire is weak, Ryan has to find his own way to increase his importance in the eastern kingdoms and noble territories in order to continue to control this land.

Moreover, the changing strength of the Dawn Church during this process will also affect Ryan, though not as significantly as the former.

Ryan also has connections with Twilight Province and Hot Springs Province. If all goes well, these two provinces can serve as a stepping stone for the nobles of the other northern provinces to have more exchanges, as well as with Earl William.

Ryan and his group have formed a preliminary community of shared interests, and they need to deepen their ties to solidify their relationship.

In short, there are problems in the east, the west, the north, and the south. Even the developments within the frozen tundra territory cannot be ignored.

The larger the territory, the more exhausted one becomes. Sometimes Ryan could understand why the empire was ruled by the emperor controlling the noble vassals, and the nobles ruling the land.

Otherwise, how could we possibly manage it all?

It can only be said that being a monarch is not so easy. The king simplified his rule by swearing an oath of loyalty, but he also delegated power to the nobles, which limited the king's authority.

Ryan was just a baron, and there was no obligation for others to be loyal to him, so he had to come in person.

This is why he hesitated to anchor to a new alternate world; he didn't have enough time to develop that alternate world.

After much deliberation, Ryan had no choice but to put it aside for the time being, at least until Brand returned from the east before anyone would be able to go and explore the other world.

His territory is no longer in a state where it needs to rely on another world to continue developing. His spiritual energy balance has been declining, but it can still hold on.

After clearing his mind, Ryan began to focus on the east, which should be the fastest and easiest route.

……

……

north.

The world covered in ice and snow is the North.

A violent blizzard raged, with swirling snowflakes filling the sky and earth. The howling winds made the icebergs sway and tremble like the wings of a giant dragon in this apocalyptic environment.

Until one moment, the howling wind became sharp, and the deep shadows of the mountain peaks in the hazy snowstorm roared deafeningly. It could not withstand it any longer. Faced with this terrible storm disaster, even the heavy mountain peaks became fragile and cracked.

Countless rocks collapsed and shattered, swept across the land by the gale, and only after a long time, far away, did they crash to the ground, carving a deep ravine into the snow-covered earth. The ravine drew a long boundary, as if the land on both sides was like children throwing a tantrum and refusing to hold hands.

But the temper of the earth was meaningless before this stern father in the North. The wind and snow swept in, and the ravines that had been carved out were filled back in a few breaths.

The mountain, the one that still cast a majestic shadow amidst the raging storm, had been reduced to countless fragments. These fragments, lacking its own power, could not withstand the cover of the North. As they continued to fall and crash into the snow, all traces of them were erased.

It lost the height that altitude provides.

A mountain peak several hundred meters high vanished from the world in less than half an hour before the power of the North.

Its departure was merely an interlude for the world, yet it made the tiny flames that relied on this mountain for shelter from the wind and snow feel the collapse of the world.

A campfire made of dead wood burned on the snow, surrounded by a blizzard just three meters away. Even the crushed mountain peaks could not destroy the only orange-red flame in this snowy world.

The sizzling flames scorched the sturdy fur of the wild beast until its flesh turned golden and its aroma filled the air. Only then did a pair of withered hands emerge from beneath the robe and grasp it in their own.

Brener took off his cloak, took a bite of the roast meat, and the feeling of fullness made him sleepy. The triangular tent behind him fluttered, as if urging him to fall asleep.

His Excellency Brena, the mage with the legendary title of "Undead," is the chief mage of the Flor Empire, the most powerful legendary mage in the world, possesses the power to manipulate souls, and was also in charge of the Cathedral of Light during the time when Columbus III established the Church of Light.

His presence ensured the safety of the Cathedral of Light, preventing any incidents or damage from the Dawn Church. Several years ago, during a period of heightened tension in the Kingdom of Andara, when the conflict between the Empire and the Dawn Church was at its most acute, Brena left the Empire. Ryan saw him one last time, after which the legendary soul mage traveled to the North.

To this day, he remains deep in the North and has not returned to the Empire.

The elderly mage Brena stood alone in the middle of the blizzard, enduring a disaster that could easily destroy even mountains, calmly enjoying his meal for the day.

The campfire in front of him was no ordinary campfire; it was called the 'Esophagus of the Octagonal Demon.' Even after the death of this terrifying being from the abyss, its esophagus continued to burn fiercely, eternally, in pursuit of delicious food.

The tent behind him was no ordinary travel tent; it was called 'The Bard's Hometown.' Bards from another world could easily send their stories to distant places, even across worlds, as long as they possessed such a travel tool.

These two items are either divine artifacts or semi-divine artifacts. They possess a powerful magical source, and more than a hundred years ago, the mage Brena gave them a divine source of inspiration, imbuing them with divinity.

But... none of that matters.

Amidst the raging blizzard, the mage Brena simply used them as travel tools, and in the face of true grandeur, the origins of these two items were insignificant.

After eating and drinking his fill, the mage Brena raised his head, and in that instant, the blizzard that stretched for hundreds of miles across the northern lands stopped.

All the snowflakes froze in the void, and even the gale had a grayish-white mark. They no longer rushed about recklessly, so in the gaps between the countless snowflakes, the field of vision became wider, and those old eyes that could see through even the soul saw a place far beyond the blizzard.

There, the light was dazzling and magnificent, like the aurora borealis covering the entire sky. Thousands of white meteors streaked across the aurora dome, constantly approaching the earth. No, it wasn't just the meteors; the entire magnificent aurora dome seemed to be a curtain, covering the earth.

They are falling, and this terrifying scene does not represent the true aurora borealis in the northern polar regions. In this extraordinary world, there is only one explanation for such a beautiful sight.

That means the gods are falling.

A great being died in the dome of this sky; He is falling, His death is spreading, and endless divine essence is scattered on the icy and snowy land, like drops of boiling oil hitting a calm lake. In an instant, this snowy world boils.

More than 130 years have passed. The North has covered the world for more than 130 years. The former rift valleys have become plains, and the former mountains have been covered by flat land. No one can imagine how the landscape of Norris has been changed in more than 100 years.

However, if one's memory is still clear, one can recall that more than a hundred years ago, this snowfield beneath our feet was once a majestic mountain range with countless rugged and towering peaks.

At this very moment, the mage Brena stood at the site where the gods had fallen. He watched the great beings perish, and finally his gaze fell upon the boiling snowfield.

He saw pale hands, like the claws of a wild beast, emerging from the earth; he saw long blue fur covering the arms; he saw a sharp-toothed fang; a gaping maw, its mouth splitting open to the earlobe, breathing in the cold air. Its ferocious head was covered in thick fur, its face more human-like than that of an orc; its strong limbs were thicker than a human's waist; its towering size required one to look down to see a short person; and one of its hands, when open, could easily grasp a human's head.

However, this swollen staff is not holding a human head, but rather gripping a stick forged from white bones, with barbs on it.

One after another, monsters greedily devoured the snow, which seemed to be their only food. As they ate faster and faster, these terrifying monsters began to emit a bone-chilling white aura from their bodies, and their pale skin was gradually turning a deep blue.

The fall of the gods awakened the monsters born from the birth of the North. They roared wildly in the icy wilderness, and the blizzard that had been stagnant by the divine source in the void was revived by their roars.

Brener could sense that this new blizzard disaster seemed to have... come to life.

The most terrifying thing is that no matter how strong the blizzard, those blue, hairy monsters are unaffected; they move as if on flat ground, because the North is their territory.

If the North is great enough, then these monsters are its servants. They howl and clamor to expand the territory of this divine kingdom, and so these terrible monsters begin to march south.

"Is this... the calamity and changes in the North that I sensed back then?"

Brener finally spoke, somewhat alarmed. The North, the icy and snowy North, had actually brought here its dead gods to become the 'soil' that nurtured these monsters.

In the interdimensional war between gods and spirits, the spirits were the losers, barely surviving. But in the moment of defeat, they created the [Northern Territory], a world-destroying force in the interdimensional world, plunging countless gods into slumber and causing the interdimensional world to perish. This was a suicidal tactic.

However, it is clear that over the course of more than a hundred years, the Spirit, having died, was unable to control the North, and the God, having fallen into slumber, lost his rule over the panplane. In the process, other changes occurred.

Were these monsters created by the North, or were they created by some other terrifying being using the North?

Brener was too powerful; the knowledge wielded by his powerful soul made him begin to reasonably suspect the root cause of these monsters' birth.

They definitely have owners.

Brener clearly sensed that the souls of these monsters bore the marks of being 'manufactured,' were not purely natural life forms, and did not possess much intelligence.

They could not form a civilization, but in their souls, Brena sensed countless forces of anger, resentment, revenge, and destruction. In the deeper reaches, Brena tried to touch them, but felt his soul tremble, as an incomparably primal and magnificent aura permeated the air.

All of this clearly does not belong to these monsters themselves.

He sensed fragments of how these monsters were created from the fluctuations in their souls.

Is it related to giants?
"The birth of these 'snow trolls' is to hasten the destruction of the North and plunge the entire transdimensional world into utter ruin?"

Brena knew that this was the calamity deep in the North, the disaster that the orcs fled south in fear. The calamity was not a natural disaster, but rather the living monsters filled with a bloodlust for destruction.

Humanity will eventually have to face them.

Brena watched as thousands of trolls howled incessantly ahead. This number was definitely not right, but deep in the North, dead gods were constantly being dragged here, and endless divine essence was creating more and more monsters like this.

When there are enough of them, they become a disaster.

I just don't know how long it will take to reach the border of the empire.

"The southern third will be replaced by the northern two-thirds."

The mage Brena took a deep breath. In his view, these monsters were not that powerful yet, still at the stage of beasts.

Wild beasts cannot pose a threat to intelligent humans.

(End of this chapter)