Hero of Darkness

Chapter 386: Joutenheim

As Kahn and his crew were seated on their respective chairs, the opposition to his plans by Commander Stark himself left everyone shocked. However, Kahn himself understood why the old semi-saint swordsman was against this decision. Not because he underestimated their sovereign but because he knew this border better than anyone else.

”You donʼt understand, my lord. That area is where more than 7 semi-saints have died in the past 100 years. It is extremely dangerous even for someone as strong as you.

Even my great grandfather fell against the legendary rank monsters who ruled that region in the past. Now… even Iʼm not certain how many of them are there.” spoke the commander with eyes full of worry.

”One of the main reasons is because the terrain is disadvantageous to outsiders like us who are warm-blooded beings while all the monsters and species have completely adapted to their environment to the point that even detecting them in the snow is too hard.

And mostly frost storms and blizzards also make it hard for us to locate and properly attack the monsters in large-scale battles.

The blizzards are so strong that even a warship like you brought here canʼt go deep inside. The last time we tried… half of our flying ships dropped from the sky like wingless birds.

And the deeper you go.. The stronger and deadlier species youʼll face. Even fire attacks and bombs hardly help in killing them because their effectiveness and intensity are decreased because of the freezing temperature and frost in the surrounding.

This is why I canʼt see help but stand in your way, my lord.” explained the veteran commander who had spent all his life in this region.

Kahn also nodded in an understanding manner because that was indeed the whole truth as per the information they gathered.

This was also the main reason why the North didnʼt have any other semi-saint even from the three noble factions holding command in the past 100 years. Only people who originated from this area and wanted to protect their home had willingly assumed command.

So Kahn understood why the old man was being persistent to stop him.

”What you say is right. But Iʼm not without any plans. Unlike before, we have something that will turn the tide of the battle in our favor. And thatʼs why Iʼm daring to venture into the deeper regions.” spoke Kahn and the next moment, he took a big round bottle filled with compressed green gas.

”This… what is this?” asked the old man while the other military officers looked at the bottle with curious gazes.

”This… is our biggest ace.

Itʼs a neurotoxin venom gas bomb. Regardless of the physical and elemental structure, the monster will fall against it and so will eventually die without even being able to get up.” said Kahn as he finally revealed one of the products created by Armin in the past week.

And currently, they had more than 10 thousand of these bombs in their arsenal. He had planned his move as soon as Ronin gave him the detailed reports about this border and its environmental factors.

So Kahn fully intended to use their new weapon of mass destruction on enemies that were going to be many times stronger than all those they hunted in previous borders of the fiefdom.

Not only will it save them the effort, but also a lot of manpower needed to fight in this region given the disadvantages they had because of the terrain.

Another discussion began but Kahn finally managed to have the commander and his allies to comply and then only a single warship departed for the region of the north that was given a name of its own by the common people…

Joutenheim!

The land of the Frost Giants that were considered to be descendants of primordial creatures who were on par with the Dragons and Godbeasts according to folklore.

And now these giants were the main rulers of these lands and even had tribes of their own that resided in the deepest parts of this 2000 kilometers snowy region.

Anyone not from this region was an outsider for these creatures and unlike the other legendary rank monsters Kahn and his subordinates hunted down, there was an actual chain of command.

However, no one had seen or found any information related to the regional boss even after a century. So Kahn had come prepared for a long expedition.

However, given the adverse conditions, he only came with Ronin and Jugram this time given the type of battle strategies they could use during the hunt.

While he left Omega and Oliver who would be completely useless here because of many reasons. Both Omega and Oliver were warm-blooded creatures while the latter was only good in aerial combat.

Kahn himself had the Cold Body skill back from his dungeon hunting days so he had no problems here either.

This region was completely unsuitable for them regardless of their rank, unlike Ronin and Jugram. The former had temperature reduction skills while the latter himself was a walking pit of fire because of the bloodlines.

Jugram and Kahn himself were currently the best choices for a frontal battle because both of them were unaffected by the frost and possessed Marauder King and Wrath of Vajra skill that enabled them to bypass 80% of the defense of the enemies and get stronger 5 times than their real strength after fighting for long respectively.

However, spying on enemies and gathering intel was also a must so Ronin was also a core member of this team.

After flying 100 kilometers deep inside and ignoring the small mobs that were nothing but Rare rank beasts at best, the warship landed amongst tall mountains covered under snow and the three musketeers exited through the main door.

Schwooo!

A freezing breeze passed by as soon as they exited the warship. Just this normal breeze was enough to give a normal human being frostbite.

”Letʼs hunt some monsters good enough to act as our steed. The ones we already have will die out too quickly in these conditions.

Also, do both of you have enough supply of those neurotoxic gas bombs?” spoke and asked Kahn.

Both the subordinates nodded and dashed forward in the raging winds while their master disappeared from the spot.

The trio spread in three different directions and charged towards the valley of dense woods to hunt for local monsters. Their main objective was to hunt for strong monsters they could use for transportation.

And in the next 10 hours, all three of them searched and hunted down many beasts varying from different species.

And after gathering them, Kahn created 3 Lord Rank white tiger-like monsters with bones sticking out of their bodies.

However, these were the upgraded versions of the biggest predators in the 50 kilometers area and each monster was 3 meters tall. Their physical structure was perfect to travel in the mountainous region that only had waves after waves of blizzards.

The trio traveled till night and finally used a cave for resting till the morning came.

Given the weather here, even more sun would be barely noticeable due to the dark clouds and heavy snow but they had no other choice lest they turned into a snowman themselves.

For the next 2 days, the trio kept their hunting spree and got rid of many hordes of frost and ice elemental monster hordes and Kahn added more than 3 thousand ice elemental monsters and variants in his Legion.

However, they had yet to find the main dominant species of this border so three of them had no choice but to keep traveling into the deeper regions.

And finally… they saw a settlement of gigantic blue and brown creatures that seemed to be the ones inhabiting this part of the borders. Each member being at least 5 meters tall and 3 meters broad.

The Frost Giants!

Kahn finally found the rumored frost giants, the rulers of this region. Although these were nothing but Rare rank members at best, still the sheer number of these creatures wasnʼt something to be taken lightly of.

Under Kahnʼs orders, Ronin secretly infiltrated inside the settlement that spanned for 10 kilometers in radius and returned after an hour.

”Master… this is just an outpost. Only 2 thousand frost giants are acting as the guards.

However, each one is big enough to kill 20 people on their own.” spoke Ronin.

”I see. Letʼs not give them a chance then. Iʼll go and get rid of their alarm systems chain of command. You two handle the rest.” spoke Kahn and he opened a void crack.

This was his sure shot method of keeping the attack silent and getting rid of whoever was the strongest in this outpost.

But they still needed to get rid of the normal foot soldiers and add them to his collection for later uses.

So he left using the true dimension and now, only the two high lord subordinates were left.

However, only one of them was fit for fighting in a large-scale battle.

”Jugram.. I know you have been holding back a lot since you evolved. This is about time you get angry.” spoke Ronin to the Hell Berserker general.

”Thatʼs my secret, Ronin...” replied Jugram and looked at the horde of the Frost Giants patrolling the region.

BOOM!!

The next second, a massive burst of fire suddenly lit up the surroundings and at the center of this explosion.. Stood a gigantic 8 meter tall demonic creature whose scarlet red aura filled the open grounds and even the frost giant a few hundred meters away felt like they met their natural enemy.

Jugram, who turned into his real Chaos Demon form spoke in a grim and murderous voice.

”Iʼm always angry.”