The Nightmare of the North
The North. For convenience, that’s what the entire continent calls it, but in reality, even if you combined the Empire with every other nation, the place they labeled “the North” was still smaller. If you judged purely by size, it should have been called the Northern Continent and the Southern Continent. In fact, I’d heard that the northern barbarians didn’t call their land “the North” at all. They referred to it as Bator, meaning their own territory.
Nevertheless, the reason the people of the continent still called it the North was simple.
‘Because almost no one can actually live there.’
The northern lands do not nurture life. That lush green color is a luxury found only in the south. The northern lands are white. Nothing survives except snow. The northern barbarians settle only in the shallow regions where they can at least see dirt, and even then they can’t properly use seven-tenths of that vast continent. Why should land that exists but cannot be used be counted as territory? That was why the continent simply called the barbarians’ land the North.
Of course, there were also derogatory nicknames mixed in that belittled the northern barbarians, but…
“That doesn’t really matter.”
Muttering quietly to myself, I circulated my mana and raised my body temperature. The moment I saw the ground turn pure white, I had drawn up mana to warm myself, but the northern cold seemed to scoff, saying that level of effort wasn’t nearly enough. I glanced at the white vapor pouring from my lips and slowly began to walk.
I had come north at the Emperor’s not-quite-a-request, but her request didn’t stop at the North alone.
Thud. Thud.
Because I was both warming my body with mana and heightening my senses, I could hear the sound of footsteps. My eyes saw only the endless white expanse, but my ears picked up the noise of hundreds, thousands of creatures stomping in unison. This wasn’t simply monsters rampaging. It was a deliberate act of using their own bodies to announce their presence here. It was not something the continent’s monsters, who had lost their intellect and retained only their wild instincts, could do.
Monsters who possessed intellect and called themselves the warriors of the North.
Listening to the sound of their stomping feet, I slowly climbed the snow-covered mountain range. And soon—
“U! U! U!”
“Kwooooooo—!”
I came face to face with the multicolored horde of monsters blanketing the mountain.
Though they had the appearance of monsters, they stood in orderly ranks, staring at the wall that blocked their path. Their formation might have looked crude by human military standards, but the mere fact that they had formed ranks was proof they possessed intelligence.
If a human army suppressed its momentum and moved as one, then—
Goooooo.
“Kekek!”
“Gwaaaaak!”
Their army unleashed its killing intent without restraint. The purpose was to instill terror in their opponents. These were the northern barbarians. Five years ago, when the Khan of the North had thrown down the gauntlet against the continent, this was the army the front lines had been forced to confront.
“So that’s their side…”
After confirming the barbarian army, my gaze turned to the opposite side.
There stood a wall so long that its end could not be seen, cracked and scarred though it was. It had been built along the mountain range to stop the northern barbarians even before the war ended. Even after the Khan’s death, the barbarians’ greed for the continent had not faded, so even though it had been destroyed once, the wall had been rebuilt. The years carved into that wall were far more than five.
And nestled within that immense wall stood a castle, proudly displaying its majestic form.
Winter Forest.
It was the ancestral castle passed down through generations by the Forest County, whose head bore the title of Northern Margrave. It was a tomb that had buried countless soldiers while carrying out the duty of holding back the North for ages, and a holy ground where countless superhumans had thrown themselves in pursuit of fame and enlightenment. It lay right before my eyes.
It was the castle of a family granted the exceptional title of Margrave—equal in authority to a Marquis—out of respect for the Count who bore an incomprehensible duty for any political reason. And it was also the very frontline where, five years ago, Princess Arlea had earned the title of Divine Archer while fighting against the Khan’s invasion.
The reason I had personally come to Winter Forest was simple.
“They requested reinforcements.”
In the current continent, where most major incidents had disappeared, Winter Forest was the only place where superhumans could still risk their lives in battle. Superhumans who had reached the 5-Ring level or higher were willing to stake even their lives to raise their realm and honor, and Winter Forest could provide them with a battlefield. It was a mutually beneficial relationship.
That was why so many superhumans gathered at that castle, and the rebuilt Winter Forest had never once requested reinforcements from the continent.
Yet recently, the Emperor had said she received a letter from Winter Forest requesting support from the Empire. And it had come not from anyone else, but from the current master of Winter Forest, the Margrave of Forest himself.
If the Margrave was writing the letter personally, it meant the situation at Winter Forest was extremely dire. However, even if the Empire’s army prepared as quickly as possible, it would still take at least a week to reach the North. And a week was more than enough time for a single castle to fall.
That must have been why the Emperor sent me here. I had already planned to stop by Winter Forest before heading north to gather information, so I hadn’t bothered refusing her request.
“Request for reinforcements… yeah, I can see why.”
The barbarians surrounding Winter Forest and radiating their killing intent. Most of them were little more than ordinary monsters who couldn’t even handle mana, but here and there I spotted monsters that would qualify as superhumans if they were human. The northern barbarians already had superior physiques to begin with. Once one of them reached the superhuman level, an ordinary superhuman of the same rank would have almost no chance of winning. And that was only what could be seen from the outside—there were thousands visible. Who knew how many more were hidden behind them.
Of course, that probably wasn’t the only reason they had requested reinforcements, but…
“Anyway, since I accepted the request.”
I muttered to myself and moved the mana I had been circulating until now. The mana spread throughout my body had been protecting me from the cold, but it was also the foundation for casting spells.
Crackle.
The mana permeating my entire body slowly began to ignite. The pale blue flames gradually shrank until they became faint lines. The lines merged and separated, turning into electricity, and the electricity soon wrapped around my whole body.
Hsssss.
The lightning that instantly enveloped me began melting the snow piled on the ground. The electricity spread beyond my feet, damaging everything around me. The moment it fully covered my body and I judged it had been sufficiently charged—
Tap—!
I kicked off the ground and soared into the air.
The Emperor had asked two things of me regarding Winter Forest. The first was to protect the castle until the Empire could respond to the Margrave’s request for reinforcements. The second was—
“To keep the appearance of Heavenly Thunder from spreading across the entire North as much as possible.”
I took out the pure white mask the Emperor had given me. On the right eye of the white mask was engraved a black lightning symbol. It was the mask I had used to hide my face during my time operating in the North.
I put on the mask and quietly observed both Winter Forest and the barbarian army. The soldiers of Winter Forest were silent, while the barbarian army was noisy. They stomped, roared, and proclaimed their ferocity. After listening to that noise for a moment, I came to a conclusion.
“If I kill them all, it won’t spread.”
And in the next instant—
The blue lightning struck directly into the center of the barbarian horde.
KU-GWANGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!
For a moment, the world turned blue. To the cowards of the south, the world might be blue, but to the warriors of the North, the world was white. The endlessly falling snow covered the earth and sometimes even hid the sky. No, the sky was hidden more often than not. Aside from the darkness that naturally came, the world of the northern warriors was white.
That was why—
Crackle. Crackle.
“What… is this.”
“Impossible.”
The sight before the warriors was not something they could easily accept. Their comrades who had marched boldly onto the battlefield, shouting their presence, were being devoured by that blue light. Even after swallowing hundreds of warriors, the blue light showed no sign of satisfaction and greedily expanded its size. The light that had suddenly descended turned the world blue, signaling that the land ruled by the North was being pushed back.
“Uwoh!”
“We are here!!”
“Protect the honor of warriors!!!”
The warrior leaders who had carved five stars into the sky stepped forward to block the light, but they could only desperately hold it back. The domain of light did not shrink.
“K-Kuuuugh.”
“Gruuuu.”
Even when ten of the five-star warrior leaders stepped forward, the light still tried to expand its territory. Just as everyone was seized by terror—
“Lightning, is it?”
A warrior with gray skin and the head of a wolf stepped forward. A being stronger than the five-star warrior leaders who had stepped out before. The third arm of the ‘Great Khan.’ A beastman who enjoyed the special favor of the Lycan chieftain.
“Wolf Fang!”
“A 6-Star warrior!”
“Our leader!”
When the leader who commanded their army appeared, the warriors let out cheers. The warrior leaders were strong, but compared to the warrior before them, they were on a different level. The wolf beastman who had carved six stars into the sky lived up to his fame. He quickly approached the light and swung his sword.
KWANG—!
With a massive explosion, the greedily advancing light came to a halt.
“Waaaaaaa—!”
“Warrior Wolf Fang has stopped the light!”
Because he had stopped with a single sword swing what ten warriors together could not block, the cheers directed at the wolf beastman did not cease. However—
Crackle.
“So you’re the leader.”
In a single flash, the wolf head that flew into the air was more than enough to cut those cheers short.