Chapter 297: Jotun Snow Mountain
In front of Saul and the others, they clearly saw the giant beast—made ferocious by the influence of the 'earthquake'—begin to change.
The swirling cold mist on its body was continuously worn away under the illumination of the starlight, revealing its pure white wolf fur.
The crimson ferocity in its eyes gradually faded, replaced by reason and peace.
At the same time, streaks of crimson light were slowly drawn from its body and absorbed into the 'Book of the Stars' in Uma's hand.
Amidst the ether, it seemed as if phantoms were appearing within the Book of the Stars.
"A-Actually..."
Seeing this scene, Saul's eyes widened.
Since the 'earthquakes' began, as one of the few Giants in Elbaf who could be called an 'intellectual', he had naturally investigated and learned many details about them.
So he understood—after every earthquake, the riots that inevitably occurred in the Underworld often originated from certain Lords of the Mountain losing control.
These powerful beasts would exhibit extraordinary ferocity; it was said that even Prince Loki couldn't tame them.
They would lead the beasts under their command to wreak havoc in the Underworld, even attempting to climb to the Sun Realm.
And although the warriors of Elbaf tried to deal with them, there had never been a precedent for restoring them to normal—the previous few times, killing them was almost always the final solution.
But this was clearly not sustainable—because Elbaf and the Lords of the Mountain had historically coexisted.
The Lords of the Mountain, as the leaders of Elbaf's beast communities, were themselves an important part of Elbaf's ecosystem.
And now, this was the first time someone could awaken a Lord of the Mountain from its madness.
"Lord Uma, your ability is truly unbelievable!"
Saul sincerely expressed his amazement.
But at the same time, he also couldn't help but say: "Since you have a way to restore the Lords of the Mountain to normal, then please..."
As long as Uma took action, the riot in the Underworld caused by today's two 'earthquakes' could be easily stopped—that was what he was thinking.
But...
"Woo!"
Saul couldn't finish his sentence.
A massive wolf howl interrupted him.
"Siflin?"
Amidst Saul's surprise, the giant wolf named Siflin seemed to have finally regained full consciousness.
It howled once, then its giant maw snapped towards Uma.
But Uma didn't counterattack.
And seeing this, the three Giants didn't make any impulsive moves either—their sharp intuition as warriors told them the movement wasn't an 'attack'.
And the facts indeed proved this.
"Awoo!"
The giant wolf Siflin lowered its head before Uma, its massive eyes gazing at him with what seemed like a hint of pleading.
"You want me to get on?"
Uma seemed to understand Siflin's meaning: "Where do you want to take me?"
He had already heard on the way here—the other Giant warriors who went to the Underworld to suppress the rioting beasts had encountered several other berserk Lords of the Mountain and were currently locked in bitter struggle.
From Uma's perspective, his original plan was indeed to deal with those Lords of the Mountain first. After all...
[Parsed and absorbed 'Source Energy of Lineage Factor · Disordered', obtained 30 portions of Source Energy of Lineage Factor]
For him, helping these beasts yielded considerable benefits.
"Woo!"
Hearing this, Siflin nodded without hesitation and howled.
Then it nudged its head, forcefully tossing Uma onto the top of its skull.
"Awoo!"
It let out a howl, then turned and sprinted wildly in another direction.
"Eh? Wait!" x3
Seeing this, the three Giants, who hadn't quite reacted yet, hurriedly shouted and chased after them.
Thus, they quickly traversed the frozen wasteland of the Underworld—in the far distance, they could faintly see the massive tree trunk resembling a pillar of heaven, and the unprecedentedly massive blizzard beneath it.
"That's the direction of 'Jotun Snow Mountain'!"
The three Giants naturally realized immediately—that direction was exactly one of the targets of their trip, the location of the 'Spring of the Underworld', Hvergelmir!
Jotun Snow Mountain, meaning the 'First Snow Mountain'.
This place is shrouded year-round by the most violent blizzards in the Underworld. Even Giant warriors find it difficult to set foot here easily, let alone glimpse the landscape inside.
And the Spring of the Underworld, along with its guardian 'Loki', reside within the snow mountain behind this blizzard.
"Wait, entering Jotun Snow Mountain requires the permission of the 'Guard' Lord Loki—this is an ancient tradition!"
"Stop! Siflin! We will go see Lord Loki, but right now..."
"Mr. Saul."
Saul shouted loudly.
But his voice was quickly cut short by Uma.
Uma's gaze fell on the giant wolf beneath him.
To be honest, the wolf's movements were clearly somewhat sluggish and stumbling.
And Uma knew the reason—from the looks of it, these giant beasts of the Underworld named 'Lords of the Mountain' were essentially creations of the Source Energy of Lineage Factor.
They possessed extraordinary power surpassing normal creatures, even exceeding ordinary Giants.
The reason lay in their Source Energy of Lineage Factor.
But the disordered Source Energy of Lineage Factor on this giant wolf had just been completely absorbed by Uma—this certainly helped it escape that 'berserk' state, but it also left it weakened.
In such a weakened condition, the wolf still insisted on coming here rather than having Uma help the other Lords of the Mountain... the implication was simple.
"The matter here is the crux of the problem."
While Uma murmured softly, the giant wolf had already leaped without hesitation into the blizzard.
"Awoo."
The intense storm instantly battered the wolf's body, causing its figure to tremble uncontrollably.
But at the same time...
Uma merely casually opened the pages of the book in his hand again, gently raising his pen to write.
"The blizzard will stop."
"The truth will be revealed."
As the words were written, the blizzard that the weakened wolf found unbearable instantly began to change.
From within the storm, invisible forces seemed to rise up—formed by the snow itself, creating a massive passage through the blizzard.
"Woo?"
Seeing this, the giant wolf let out a low whimper, then unhesitatingly passed through the passage.
The three Giants following close behind couldn't afford to hesitate either, and leaped in after them.
And through that passage formed by wind and snow parting—
They could finally see the massive snow mountain, its figure revealed at last from behind the blizzard.
But therein lay the problem.
"..." x3
The eyes of all three Giants widened simultaneously.
And even Saul, who had just been talking about 'tradition', instantly clenched his fists.
"Sure enough..."
Uma, looking at the scene on that snow mountain, felt his suspicions confirmed even further.
The snow mountain before them was indeed as massive as described in the legends of Elbaf.
It was almost adjacent to the trunk of the World Tree, and its height reached nearly half the tree trunk's span in this part of the Underworld—a behemoth countless times larger than even the ancient Giants.
But what was even more conspicuous than the snow mountain itself was the enormously vast 'spring' at its base.
It surrounded the snow mountain—or perhaps the spring itself was formed by the mountain's meltwater.
Beside the spring, a towering ancient castle could be faintly seen.
But none of this was the key.
The true key was the snow mountain itself.
That incredibly massive snow mountain had already fallen apart.
On its surface, one could see hideous slash marks, as well as massive hollow cavities.
Yes.
This place called a forbidden ground, Elbaf's first snow mountain, had clearly been shattered.
And what shattered it was...
"Axe marks... terrifying power—left by a warrior powerful to the extreme?"
Brogy, the most skilled with an axe among them, had already made his judgment.
"Judging from the traces, this was a battle that occurred not long ago."
"It's Mr. Mountain's 'axe strike'."
Yes.
Just as mentioned before—Scopper Gaban had the nickname 'Mountain Devourer'. The reason was that he once chopped an entire mountain, along with all the trees on it, to pieces during a battle.
And during the long years he lived in seclusion among the Giant race, many Giant warriors had witnessed the power of this legendary pirate firsthand.
Brogy, for instance, had excitedly sparred with Gaban after returning to Elbaf.
So he was certain that this Haki and these axe marks were definitely Gaban's handiwork.
But the key lay in those bizarre 'cavities' on the mountain.
"These are marks from hammer strikes."
"There are scorch marks from lightning, and traces of freezing and fire are obvious as well..."
Dorry also gritted his teeth: "It's Prince Loki."
Saul's expression turned equally grim.
Although they had already arrived at the answer in their hearts, the three Giants clearly couldn't bring themselves to believe it.
"Not long ago, Mr. Mountain and Prince Loki engaged in a fierce battle here."
"Not a sparring match, but a fight to the death... launched against a true enemy!"
(End of Chapter)
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