The Long Road Home

The next day, the Claw of Winter awoke to the songs of the Nutai.

As always, they sang and danced as they bid farewell to the Claws of Winter, carrying loads of burning potion with them.

They gave this mixture a rather childlike name, "Lulixiang" (炉里香), and planned to take it to other tribes to sell.

Helen also revealed their destination to the Nutai chieftain, hoping that if they could open up the market for the medicine, they could come and buy more goods and visit as well.

To be honest, revealing their whereabouts is quite dangerous, especially since they are theoretically being hunted by the Frostguards, but the Nutai are just that hard to be wary of.

After bidding farewell to the cheerful dwarves, Winter's Claw resumed its migration.

Udir was right; seeing the Nutai was indeed good news… The road ahead looked increasingly familiar to Heron; they were not far from their destination.

Before nightfall, they could already see a dilapidated mountain range in the distance.

"Look! Sejuani! Half a mountain of old Ornn!"

"It really is... Half a seat? I thought it was just a name."

Sejuani gazed into the distance, looking at the continuous mountain range buried in thick snow, with towering ridges rising abruptly from the ground, only to be "cut off" halfway through.

"A thousand years ago, I don't know exactly how many thousand years ago, two demigods fought here. I think the terrain here was formed at that time."

Heron wasn't just explaining this to Sejuani, but also to Aura, whose eyes were shining.

"Orn lives in a place like this?"

"Hmm, I live here too."

Sejuani looked away and glanced at Harren, a hint of hesitation on her face.

As agreed, once they reached halfway up the mountain where old Ornn was, they were to split into two groups: Harren would take Alara to see Ornn, while Sejuani would lead her tribe further south to find a place to settle.

But she pondered for a long time without speaking, and instead looked at Udyr.

Although she hadn't said anything yet, Udyr seemed to be able to read minds and muttered something in a mysterious way.

"There are so many of us, we can't all stay here... You are the War Mother of the tribe, Sejuani."

"I know……"

Sejuani waved her hand somewhat irritably, but she had achieved her goal: to have someone sensible stand up and advise her.

So he looked at Herren, who was stuffing food into his pocket.

"How long will you be gone?"

"Huh? How would I know? No matter how soon, I plan to stay for two days to care for the elderly living alone."

"..."

Sejuani opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately said nothing, only offering a reminder.

"Hurry up... I'll be waiting for you at my lodging."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to run away."

Having received Heron's assurance, Sejuani, though still somewhat uneasy, had no choice but to lead the team onward.

……

……

"The place you live in is really... shabby."

Herren first took Ara to his old home.

Herren hadn't been gone long, and everything here was still the same as before; at least Herren found it pleasing to the eye no matter how he looked at it.

"Fix it if you don't like it."

Herren casually retorted and then began collecting some things he hadn't had time to take with him.

Actually, it wasn't much, but based on the principle of making the most of everything, Herren still planned to take everything he could.

When he looked up, Aurora had actually started tidying up the room... He didn't know where she produced a broom from, but she diligently began cleaning every corner.

"Hey, you actually cleaned it up?"

"It's so dirty here..."

"Alright, stop fussing. Grab your things, I'll take you to see old Ornn."

Upon hearing this, Ara immediately perked up, and her droopy rabbit ears stood up.

"What do I need to prepare? Do I need to bring a gift? Does He like carrots?"

"You need to prepare very little, but it's essential."

Herren held up a finger and put it to his lips.

"That means keeping quiet as much as possible, because He hates noise."

"oh!"

Ara immediately covered her mouth, and after a while, she lowered her voice and whispered.

"Will I disturb Him...?"

"Ha ha……"

Ara's silly appearance immediately amused Herren.

"It's not that serious. As long as you don't make a scene or cause a scene, it's fine..."

"ah!!!!"

Before Herren could finish speaking, a deafening roar, like thunder, startled the two of them so much that they shrank back.

It took Herren a long time to react. He couldn't help but pat his ears. He felt that he hadn't been able to hear anything for a moment, and he even had some tinnitus now.

"What the hell?"

After the battle cry came the sound of smashing and breaking. Heron rushed out of the house and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw that in the distance, in the ruins of the Furnace Village, the dilapidated buildings were collapsing one after another, raising clouds of dust.

The solid remains, as solid as volcanic rock, were now being destroyed as easily as plowing a field, like tofu.

"Holy crap!"

Herren was instantly enraged. Although it was just a thousand-year-old ruin, he had lived there for more than ten years and considered himself a native of the village.

Who's so blind as to come to their own spawn point to spawn camp?

Heron immediately grabbed the power of entropy and headed towards the direction of the commotion. Ara, still dazed, followed him out and hurriedly caught up when she saw Heron's figure already far away.

Just as Herren was about to get close, the deafening roar came again.

"Get out here, you stinking goat!"

Herren wished he could plug his ears; such a loud roar was quite a shock to his mind.

At this moment, he finally saw the face of the culprit and was stunned.

The man was incredibly strong, with arms as thick as a person's. He was wielding a broad axe in each hand, swinging it with all his might. Even the hard rocks couldn't stop his immense strength.

He was shirtless, with only a Viking-style helmet on his head.

Herren immediately recognized the person in front of him because of his highly distinctive appearance.

"Hello, Olaf!"

"Forehead?"

Olaf, who was wreaking havoc, paused for a moment when he heard someone call his name.

Although he was a war fanatic, he instinctively turned around to greet someone he thought he had met.

"Hello……"

However, when he turned around, he didn't see any friends, but a True Ice Warhammer that was getting closer and closer.

when!

The crisp sound of the Heart Steel echoed in the air. Even Olaf was sent flying backward by this sudden and powerful blow, crashing straight into a pile of ruins.