The Barbarian Tsar Joins the Fight
The Barbarian Tsar Joins the Fight
Violence and struggle.
Only fighting determines a barbarian's worth.
Whether a young boy,
or even a frail woman,
all are reborn as tribe warriors through severe trials.
They must protect their tribe and livestock from the deadly cold of the Frozen Lands and vicious demonic beasts. That is why the barbarians raised their axes and shields, accepting extreme measures for survival.
"The God of War will protect us!"
"Slam down your axes! Brandish your clubs! Young tribe warriors of the White Bone Mace Tribe!"
"Bwahahaha! The great ancestors who ascended to Valhalla are watching over us!!"
The fierce shouts of the barbarians shook the vast snowfield.
A blizzard raging like a white night.
A murderous cold forcing extreme endurance.
And even the sheer rifts lying beneath the snowfield like traps.
It was an environment far too cruel and harsh for humans to live in.
Yet, as if mocking the harshness of the Frozen Lands, the barbarians leaped into the icy hell bare-chested, equipped only with thick pauldrons. As though cheering on the bravery and honor of these tribe warriors, colorful tattoos carved into their rugged muscles glowed vividly.
Uoooohhh──!!!
Beyond the blizzard, monsters draped in pure white fur revealed themselves.
Frost Trolls.
They were one of the apex predators representing the Frozen Lands.
They were also terrible beasts that threatened the survival of the barbarians.
"I am the tribe warrior Brand!!"
The barbarian man leaped off the ground and buried a sharp axe into the Frost Troll's nape. In response, the Frost Troll swung an ice club gripped in one hand.
Ppa-aak-!!
He took the ice club head-on.
Yet the barbarian spat blood roughly and charged once more.
The other tribe warriors were the same.
Facing the predator of the Frozen Lands, there was no hesitation.
The Frost Troll was a predator boasting a 3-meter-tall giant frame and tremendous strength and stamina. However, as the barbarians charged all at once, they severed the Frost Troll's head while simultaneously shattering its ice club.
"Finish off every last Frost Troll!"
"Mm! I'll help you right away, brother!"
"Someday we shall ascend to Valhalla where our ancestors dwell, but... today is not that day!!"
They struggle to live.
And they accept death to ascend to Valhalla.
To barbarians, death is merely a step toward ascending to their ancestors in Valhalla. Thus, even while fighting for survival, they displayed a paradoxical valor that longed for an honorable death.
"The Tsar has arrived!"
"The valiant Giant Hunter!"
"Ooh! The Tsar acknowledged by the Black Dragon of the Frozen Lands and the great ancestors!!"
Kuung-.
The barbarians poised for battle on the snowfield parted to both sides.
At the same time, an open path leading to the battlefield unfolded.
A glaive in one hand.
A round shield in the other.
It was the basic armament favored by the barbarians of the Frozen Lands.
Milena and the warriors of the Gray Wolf Tribe provided cover as they deployed in a fan-shaped formation. Thanks to their active assistance, he came face-to-face with the monster presumed to be the leader of the Frost Trolls.
-Gaaaaah! I'll beat you to a pulp, until only your head is left!!
"What a Frost Troll with terrible breath."
He raised his round shield and leveled his glaive.
The Frost Troll also raised its ice club high.
A hideously distorted face.
Sharp teeth protruding like a wild boar's.
Skulls of barbarians hanging all over its body, as if boasting its violent nature.
Just how many barbarians had it consumed? The ice club raised by the leader looked far larger and heavier than the ice bludgeons carried by the other Frost Trolls.
'How to wield authority, how to hunt monsters... It's crystal clear. Is it thanks to inheriting Harald's experience alongside the Giant Hunter's authority? And above all, even with a giant monster right in front of my eyes, I'm not scared at all.'
Evading the ice club, he struck the Frost Troll's knee with his round shield.
As the Frost Troll lost its balance, he slashed its nape with the tip of his glaive blade.
-Geureuk, geureuk...! Gaaa, gaaaaak!!
A Frost Troll's hide boasted a tensile strength far tougher and sturdier than any leather armor. However, the monstrous strength of the Giant Hunter gripping the glaive tore even through the Frost Troll's hide.
Puhwaak-!!
Blood and flesh showered down heavily.
At that, the Frost Troll clutched its nape with one hand while swinging its ice club.
"You want a head-on clash? Fine by me."
He wanted to gauge the difference in monstrous strength.
Compared to a Frost Troll,
just how strong was the Giant Hunter's monstrous strength?
Watching the trajectory of the ice club coming down hard, he swung his glaive.
Jjeojeok-.
Jjeojeojeojeok-.
Every time it collided with the glaive, cracks formed on the ice club.
That wasn't all.
Unable to fully withstand the recoil of the monstrous strength, the grip of the Frost Troll holding the ice club turned to tattered rags.
-You..., human, not...! You bastard, what, are you! Your whole body, should have been crushed, multiple times...!!
"Enough. Now die."
With a strike of his round shield, he broke both of the monster's thick ankles, causing it to collapse onto the icy ground. Then, like chopping firewood, he repeatedly slammed the glaive blade onto the back of the Frost Troll's neck.
Peok-! Peok-! Peok-! Peok-!
Had the glaive's blade dulled from parrying the ice club head-on?
Decapitation wasn't easy.
So he repeatedly slammed the glaive down.
When the Frost Troll collapsed on the ice ground struggled wildly, he pinned its head down with one foot.
-Chieftain...! Chieftain, fell!
-Keureureuk! Strong Chieftain was caught by human, being beaten to pulp!
With every downward strike of the glaive, blood and flesh splattered.
The dying screams emitted by the Frost Troll did not stop.
This was not a fight.
It was a one-sided slaughter and torture.
Only after the back of its neck was ripped to tattered shreds was the Frost Troll's head severed. Raising the massive head high, he showed the Frost Trolls their leader's gruesome end.
The White Bone Mace Tribe had served as spokesmen for the elves and beastmen residing in the Silver Barrier Mountains and Frost Claw Valley. However, due to the large-scale slave hunt launched by Boris and the Golden Eagle Tribe, exchanges with the foreign races had been cut off entirely.
It was not a bad result.
For no matter how grand the Great Chieftain of the Golden Eagle Tribe was, he wouldn't be able to run amok in the stronghold of the elves and beastmen.
"Even our great ancestors would have been deeply impressed by such valor!"
"Tsar, strong! Tsar, great!"
"We only heard that he was a soft, weak coward... As expected, it was an absurd rumor! It was just sly Boris's cheap trick to demean the Tsar!"
Brave.
Strong. Splendid.
The tribe warriors of the White Bone Hammer Tribe repeated the same praise like parrots.
Hm.
Their vocabulary is much poorer than I thought.
I heard they were fluent in the languages of elves and beastmen as representatives of the foreign races.
Was it thanks to helping them repel the army of Frost Trolls that invaded their territory? The White Bone Hammer Tribe welcomed everyone, including Milena and the warriors of the Gray Wolf Tribe.
"...Oops."
Kwajik-!
As soon as he gripped the cup, it crumbled.
It was the result of failing to delicately control the monstrous strength of the Giant Hunter.
Should it be called boiling lava?
Erupting was easy, but maintaining balance was harsh.
Especially right after using the Giant Hunter's authority, monstrous strength was spouted recklessly like a rascal.
"Chieftain, may we stay in the settlement of the White Bone Mace Tribe for a while? I am currently being pursued by Boris, who is my uncle and the Great Chieftain of the Golden Eagle Tribe. Should I regain my status as Tsar someday..., I promise to give a grand reward to the White Bone Mace Tribe."
"The Tsar is the successor who inherited the Black Dragon of the Frozen Lands and the great ancestors. Furthermore, the Tsar defeated the ruthless Frost Trolls for us. How could we turn away such a request from the Tsar? We of the White Bone Mace Tribe shall dedicate our lives to the Tsar!"
Immediately after the Coronation of Dragon Blood ended,
he fled east, leading Milena and the Gray Wolf Tribe.
Boris Berkut.
The Golden Eagle Tribe, the Great Chieftain's personal guards.
As well as the numerous subordinate tribes following Boris.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that a full-scale war to seize power over the Frozen Lands had begun. Since he was penniless and virtually broke, making a direct confrontation impossible right away, he had no choice but to decide on fleeing in the middle of the night.
"First off, I'd like to meet the elves... Is there any way?"
"Mmm, the elves of the Silver Barrier Mountains have already severed the plank road, which was the sole pathway. Approaching carelessly will turn you into a honeycomb under a shower of elven arrows."
Elves and beastmen who entered the Frozen Lands due to the oppression and persecution of the Unified Empire.
He learned that those elves and beastmen had moved to even more rugged frontiers to shake off the evil hands of slave hunters.
The way to summon the elves and beastmen seemed distant. To shake off his complicated feelings, he picked up stones at a frozen river and threw them like a child.
Tukang-!
Tugagagak──!!
Indeed, the Giant Hunter's monstrous strength was incredible.
Every time he threw a stone, the ground shook alongside a sharp sonic boom.
Should it be called throwing cannonballs?
It boasted truly formidable power.
Numerous trees struck directly by the stones fell, scattering thick clouds of ice dust.
How many stones had he thrown?
Tulsseok-.
Something fell from a spruce tree heavily laden with snow.
"Kyak!"
A countenance as beautiful and noble as the perpetual snow of a snowy mountain.
Long, pointed ears.
A thin tunic tailored from a special fabric.
A young girl of mysterious age with flowing brown hair revealed herself, letting out a sharp scream. She seemed to be a curious brat who had escaped from her kin's settlement without permission.
"I..., I don't taste good at all! I've been starving for days and I'm skin and bones..., so even if you eat me, I won't even make a decent snack!!"
"......"
Degul-degul-degul-.
The elf girl tumbled like a pill bug and collided with his feet, letting out a cute scream: "Eko-!"
At that, the elf girl paled in utter shock and prostrated herself flat like a frightened chick.
"Tsar...! To kidnap a young elf just like the Great Chieftain! Truly uncle and nephew...! Did you really prefer younger girls over older ones?! I knew it..., the Tsar is a man after all."
"The situation is confusing enough already, okay? So don't make it worse."
A barbarian flaunting monstrous strength.
An elf girl begging for her life.
It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding.
Milena and the tribe warriors of the Gray Wolf Tribe, who were guarding the perimeter, arrived at the scene. Witnessing the elf of slender build, Milena's violet eyes flashed as she spewed out heated words.
You took an elf as a slave? Are you out of your mind?!