133

Demon

"Huh!"

Before Forseti and the others could react, a spear shot out, instantly piercing the black-haired woman's chest, and blood spattered.

The woman screamed and fell to the ground.

The trolls who were chasing her obviously knew they were close to the Aesir camp, so they didn't dare to pursue further and turned to flee after their strike.

Hermond hurriedly grabbed Forseti, and they appeared where the woman had fallen in the blink of an eye.

"Uh uh..." The woman had a gaping wound in her chest, blood gushing from her nose and mouth. It was clearly fatal, but she seemed to have something to say and sobbed out a few words: "King...King..."

"King what?"

"Prince..." The woman struggled to speak.

Hermond frowned. "Prince? Could it be a member of the Vanir royal family?"

Frost giants and trolls had invaded Vanaheim through a hidden space channel, causing the collapse of the Vanir royal city. Some Vanir people were still scattered, and gathering them was an important goal for Asgard.

Finding survivors of the Vanir royal family was undoubtedly a top priority.

Forseti looked at the trolls who had fled. "Let's catch a troll and bring it back."

"Go!"

Thanks to Hermond's speed, he immediately brought Forseti along and caught up with the trolls in no time.

Forseti clenched the fist of Verrigan, and Hermond slowed down. Forseti leaped up with a warhammer and rushed toward a troll.

"Hammer of Justice!"

The troll raised his sword to block.

"Clang!"

The force of the Hammer of Justice transmitted through the sword to the troll, stunning it. One of its feet gave way, and it struggled on the ground, unable to get up.

"Death!" the other trolls roared and rushed forward.

Hermond quickly grabbed Forseti and the stunned troll, then hurried back to the camp.

Once back, everyone quickly bound the troll with ropes.

Holding the troll's collar, Hermond asked, "Who were you chasing?"

"His Majesty Ulik will cut off cul's head!" the troll spat, but Hermond moved away quickly.

Hermond frowned and snorted. "Since you won't talk, I'll hand you over to the torturer. You'll soon learn that the variety of punishments is one of the hallmarks of our long history."

"Even if I die...even if I die, I won't say a word!" the troll shouted, and was taken away.

The patrol mission ended, and the team returned to the camp to rest.

"Forseti," Brunnock approached Forseti with a shield in his hand.

Forseti raised an eyebrow. "Where's your sword?"

Brunnock said, "The agreement is that I hold out for ten moves. I don't think I need a sword."

"This might be an improvement. It seems you've learned something these past few days," Forseti said with a smile.

In the past few days, Brunnock had been challenging Forseti once a day, but with his crude fighting skills, he couldn't last more than three moves and was subdued every time.

"But sometimes, offense is the best defense. Discarding the sharp blade doesn't necessarily make you a good defender," Forseti said, while touching his waist to take out Verrigan's fist from the Sanqi space.

The two moved to an open area.

Forseti paced slowly, then suddenly feigned an attack.

Brunnock, always vigilant, quickly adjusted his stance but was immediately deceived.

Brunnock turned sharply, but before he could react, Verrigan's fist was inches from his face, stopping abruptly.

"One move," Forseti said lightly, putting away the hammer. "I told you, this isn't a wise choice. Yesterday you lasted three moves, today just one."

Brunnock threw his shield down in frustration and turned to leave.

Hermond appeared beside Forseti at that moment. "What do you think of Brunnock's skills?"

"Honestly, they're poor. Besides basic drills, he has no combat training and merely imitates others' moves," Forseti replied.

Hermond smiled. "But I think he's quite talented."

"How can you tell?"

Hermond shook his head. "I don't know."

Forseti: "..."

...

Two days later, Odin organized an offensive, leading his troops toward a large enemy battalion.

Frost giants weaken when away from icy environments. The climate in Vanaheim is warm, especially at noon, so the Aesir often attacked the frost giants at midday.

The scorching sun was high, and thousands of Aesir warriors marched across the wasteland. As they neared their target, the temperature dropped rapidly.

Just as Asgard transformed the surrounding environment by building a mirror of the sun in Jotunheim, the frost giants had done something similar, freezing the area around their camp to minimize the sun's effects.

Soon, a snowy landscape appeared on the yellow and green plain, with an enemy camp made of bricks, stones, and ice in the middle.

This camp housed mainly frost giants and demons. Warriors from both tribes organized themselves at the camp's perimeter, preparing to face the approaching Aesir army.

At the forefront of the Aesir troops, Odin rode an eight-legged horse, clad in golden armor, spear in hand. He shouted, "Attack!"

"Kill!"

A group of Aesir warriors charged, with Forseti, Hermond, and others among them. On the other side, the allied frost giant and troll forces quickly formed ranks, ready for battle.

The two armies clashed, and the battle began.

Hermond knew that Forseti's Holy Light was highly effective against evil forces, so he led the team toward a dense group of demons.

About 100 meters diagonally in front of Forseti, there was a combat team composed almost entirely of demons.

This excited Forseti.

However, good things took time. Before they could reach the demons, they were intercepted by another enemy team and had to engage them first.

A dozen frost giants, mixed with two demons, roared and attacked.

Forseti immediately raised his hand, his palm shining brightly.

"Blinding Light!"

"Ah!"

The frost giants were briefly blinded by the light. However, the two demons screamed, their eyes bleeding from the Holy Light.

Forseti rushed at one of the demons, channeling Holy Light into his shield and slamming it into the demon.

"Hiss--"

The demon seemed to fall into lava, burned and smoking from the Holy Light, screaming and staggering backward.

Forseti followed up with another hammer strike, a Holy Light Strike.

"Boom!"

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