Ch.1137War’s Tide

Frider’s report continued.

Based on the size and depth of footprints in the snow, the frost giants of Utgard were significantly larger than any giants they had previously hunted.

They seemed to have weak tribal consciousness, frequently attacking, killing, and even eating their own kind.

She confirmed they used language rather than just roars or gestures, but since it wasn’t the Imperial language, she couldn’t understand what they were saying.

They would eat anything—livestock, humans, their own kind, or monsters—but since meat was scarce in the Sky Mountains, they normally sustained themselves solely on the mountain ice.

“Just ice…? Can they really survive on that?”

“A human would normally starve to death… but they’re monsters, aren’t they? Their physical structure must be fundamentally different from ours.”

Each individual was as powerful as a hero-class knight or stronger, and despite their massive bodies and strength, they could survive without food, drinking only water.

For anyone facing war against such a species, the future would look bleak, but for the Northern territories, this was actually a blessing.

‘Now I understand why so few giants came down from the Sky Mountains. They simply had no need to.’

Consider what would happen if frost giants required food proportional to their size. What then?

The Sky Mountains were a permafrost hell where even werebeasts struggled to endure the cold. How many animals could possibly live in such a place?

If frost giants were carnivores with appetites matching their size, they would have hunted every living creature in the mountains to extinction within ten days.

After those ten days passed, not just one or two giants but hundreds would have descended from the mountains in search of prey.

While Faelrun might handle five or fewer giants, how could they possibly deal with hundreds descending at once?

Not just the North but even the Empire might have collapsed like sandcastles swept by waves.

Of course, if things had truly reached that point, Haschal would have rushed in to slaughter the frost giants, but by then countless lives would already have been lost.

From Valdemar’s perspective, he should be offering prayers of thanks to the heavens that frost giants subsisted on ice.

“That’s all I learned about the frost giants. I could have gathered more information if I’d been willing to risk confrontation with them…”

Having finished her report on the giants, Frider emptied her glass in one gulp, set it back on the table, and let out a short sigh.

She clearly regretted not being able to gather more information due to the risks involved.

“No, that’s more than enough. You did well.”

Of course, Valdemar had no intention of sympathizing with her regret—quite the opposite, he was relieved.

Understandably so. If Frider had done something reckless out of impatience and died in the process, it would have been a catastrophe from Valdemar’s perspective.

Losing his only blood relative, the heir to the duchy, and a powerful knight who had reached the upper-middle ranks of heroes—all for mere reconnaissance.

Though he didn’t show it outwardly, Valdemar had been anxiously waiting for Frider’s safe return, and the mere thought of losing her made his heart sink.

…If he was going to worry so much, shouldn’t he have avoided sending her on reconnaissance in the first place?

It wasn’t as if Valdemar had wanted to do this. No matter how much he thought about it, there was simply no one more suitable than her in the current situation.

She possessed exceptional martial prowess that could overcome most crises, yet her abilities weren’t particularly effective against frost giants in direct combat.

In the entire Duchy of Faelrun, only Frider met these conditions among hero-class knights.

Moreover, before he could even bring it up, Frider herself had volunteered for the reconnaissance mission, arguing its necessity, making it awkward for him to refuse.

In the end, after intense internal conflict between his concern as a father and his rationality as a duke, Valdemar had no choice but to trust in his daughter’s abilities.

And fortunately, Frider proved his trust was not misplaced…

The giants’ habitats scattered throughout the mountains, the estimated number in each location, and potential threats to be wary of—

Frider’s reconnaissance team returned safely with sufficient results, and only then could Valdemar finally set aside his worries and feel proud of his daughter.

“Ah, one more thing I noticed while investigating their habitats… I couldn’t find any trace of werebeasts anywhere in the Sky Mountains.”

Frider suddenly added this as if she had just remembered.

The minority of werebeasts who had refused to migrate to the Great Plains with Oleg, claiming they couldn’t accept negotiations with humans.

They had scorned their eastern-bound kin as traitors, declaring themselves the “true” Baryachrus who inherited Rurik’s will, and had persistently attacked Faelrun from across the mountains.

Though they weren’t numerous enough to pose a serious threat in open warfare, their hit-and-run tactics of raiding and fleeing had been an endless nuisance for Faelrun.

“They’ve all disappeared somewhere—not even a footprint, let alone bodies.”

Yet these werebeasts had vanished without a trace, as if they had ascended to the sky or sunk into the earth.

“Could they have gone back across the mountains?”

“No, that area has been completely abandoned. If they were still there, they would have at least maintained their territory.”

They hadn’t even returned to their original stronghold, the old capital of Baryachrus beyond the mountains.

Though she hadn’t visited directly but only observed from a mountain peak, Frider was certain the werebeast remnants hadn’t returned across the mountains.

Novgorod Ice Fortress, the capital of Baryachrus that Rurik had spent vast amounts of time building, had completely collapsed, leaving only its foundation in ruins.

Though werebeasts were more cold-resistant than humans, even they would freeze to death without proper walls or ceilings in the harsh northern winter.

The abandoned ruins, accumulating snow with no signs of maintenance, told her that the remaining werebeasts hadn’t returned to Novgorod but had disappeared without even having the chance to rebuild the fallen fortress.

“Hmm, then the frost giants?”

“That’s what I’m not sure about. The giants seem to have destroyed the fortress, but if so, those beasts shouldn’t have been able to escape…”

While the remaining werebeasts’ forces couldn’t defeat frost giants, they shouldn’t have been completely unable to escape either.

Giants were incapable of surprise attacks due to their size, and werebeasts boasted mobility faster than horses over short distances.

“It must be one of two possibilities. Either they were annihilated after a reckless resistance… or they’re hiding so thoroughly that we couldn’t find any trace.”

“You think so? The Sky Mountains would be their only hiding place… and we thoroughly searched pretty much everywhere.”

Frider tilted her head, expressing doubt.

“The only places we couldn’t check were frost giant territories. It doesn’t seem likely they’d hide there…”

“Well, what about underground?”

“…Underground?”

“Yes. Recent events have shown us that beneath this land lie things we never anticipated.”

Dragons, monsters, even demigods and evil gods—all these powerful beings that shook the land with their mere appearance had made their bases deep underground.

In other words, the underground of this continent was like a vast dungeon filled with all sorts of monsters rather than just soil and rock.

If the werebeasts had escaped to such underground spaces, it was no wonder Frider’s reconnaissance team couldn’t find any trace of them.

Unless one was a mole, how could anyone find creatures hidden underground? It was impossible to know not only where they went but how deep they had burrowed.

“Hmm, certainly… there couldn’t be a safer hiding place. Neither we nor the giants could thoroughly search underground.”

Frider nodded in agreement with Valdemar’s conjecture, finding it reasonable.

And that conjecture was remarkably close to the truth.

The werebeasts who had remained in the frozen lands beyond the mountains had indeed abandoned their original base and descended deep underground long ago.

Though not to escape from frost giants.

======[ Northern Underground ]======

Overflowing blood, roaring battle cries, and the violent clash of weapons covered the ground where flames flickered.

In the center of a vast underground cavern, as wide as a plain except for its ceiling, the remnants of Baryachrus were engaged in fierce battle.

“Forward! The Great Chieftain commands it. Tear those vermin to pieces!”

“Baryachrus unit, charge! Don’t fall behind them!”

As warriors of their “true king”—a being incomparable to traitors like Oleg.

“It’s been a while, Caliburn. I thought I smelled the stench of beasts, and here you are, hiding in such a place, dreaming of resurgence?”

“Erzsebet…! You persistent autumn mosquito, are you here to interfere with me again?”

Deep underground beneath the northern snowfields, where frost giants and northerners maintained a tense standoff across the Sky Mountains.

“Your vigor is truly pleasing. If you offered all that blood as tribute to me, I might even consider keeping you as a hound.”

“Cut the nonsense and come at me! This time I’ll burn you to ashes without leaving a drop of blood!”

“Isn’t it you who is the dog, not I? Well, no matter. If you won’t offer it willingly, I shall simply take it myself.”

The demigod of the werebeasts and the Empress of Blood clashed head-on, leading their armies.

Like most other awakened demigods, they sought to take each other’s lives and divinity as stepping stones for their resurgence.

The waves of war sweeping across the continent spared neither the surface nor the underground.