Chapter 500: Chapter 524: Appearing Out of Thin Air Chapter 500: Chapter 524: Appearing Out of Thin Air After making a small cut on the ogre’s arm with “Starlight Strike,” Lancelot waved his hand and untied all the ropes binding the captive. The ogre, now free but unclear about the situation, didn’t dare make another move and immediately ran toward the cave entrance, wanting to get as far away as possible from the formidable human knight.
Just as it was about to dash out of the cave, a dimensional rift leading to an upper plane opened. Despite weighing over five hundred pounds, poor Baru was unable to resist the powerful pull from the rift and was sucked in instantly, with the rift closing immediately after.
The air still carried a bit of the ogre’s foul smell, which smelled like fish that had been rotting for many days, and that was the only evidence that the ogre had been there.
“That was quick,” Bruto said as he dug around in his ear. “I quite liked its cloak with the two bear heads.”
“What do we do next?” Kalalin looked towards the thoughtful Lancelot. “It’s confirmed that the inventory of corpses at our camp is almost depleted, and we’ll surely receive new bodies within ten days. Shall we ambush the transport team?”
“I plan!” the dwarf immediately agreed. “With Kostcheqi not around, that giant crab escaping will surely go unchecked. Let’s take advantage of the chaos among the frost giants and sneak into the Glacial Fortress to steal Dain Frostbeard’s armor!”
“That’s too rash,” Alamir shook his head. “Exactly how far are we from the Prince of Wrath’s den? What kind of obstacles might we encounter on the way? And how are we going to deal with that ancient white dragon?”
“As for the issue of distance, I can answer that.” Old Reap pulled out a dirty map from his chest and spread it on the ground. “If this is indeed the Black Mist Rift, then we are in this area at the top right corner of the map. If we head about three hundred miles towards the bottom left, we’ll leave these mountains and enter the Frost Giant Plains…”
Everyone gathered around, studying the map sewn together from the skins of three or four unknown creatures. The Succubus Lord had a map of this plane as well when she first came to find them, which was of a much better quality than the werewolf’s, but the werewolf’s map was more detailed, marking many hidden paths in addition to the obvious mains roads.
After entering the Frost Giant Plains, if the group continued southwest, they would encounter Gorgiad Fortress, where one of the ten brothers of Solheim, the god of frost giants, was held; and if they turned to the northwest, they would reach Gate of Stroddet in the Iron Ice Plains, a permanent portal connecting to the dimension of giants in Warrior Village.
“When I first came here years ago, the entire plain was a battlefield. Frost giants loyal to Solheim continuously poured out of the portal, engaging in endless battle with the frost giants loyal to the Prince of Wrath,” Old Reap pointed out on the map. “Dead bodies of both sides were everywhere on the plains, with the natives generally having the upper hand. But now that Kostcheqi has been imprisoned by Zariel, the situation might have changed…”
Lancelot’s gaze continued along the map from Gate of Stroddet towards the west, and they would re-enter the mountains. If the scale of the map was correct, after traveling deep into the mountains for five hundred miles, they would finally reach Glacial Fortress, the lair of the Abyssal Lord Kostcheqi, which was the ultimate goal of their journey.
But that was not all there was to this plane. About three hundred miles south of Glacial Fortress lay the lair of White Dragon Svafnir. Based on the scenes previously seen in Tijana’s spells, Svafnir was currently guarding Glacial Fortress. Known for hoarding treasures like diamonds and platinum, perhaps something could be done in its lair to force it to leave Glacial Fortress.
At the foot of the White Dragon’s Lair lay the Bloody Town, Volsdtad, where the chieftains of the Frost Giant Tribe, loyal to Kostcheqi, gathered in perpetual dispute over who was more worthy to serve the Abyssal Lord. Yet, Lancelot had not considered what could potentially be done there unless he could devise a way to eliminate all those Frost Giant chieftains at once.
“Bruto’s envisioned scenario is indeed excellent, we just need to wait for the right moment to act,” Lancelot finally broke the prolonged silence after scanning the map again. “I agree with Alamir’s view. After we reconnoiter the other key locations in this dimension, we will make a comprehensive plan and decide what kind of spiked ‘offering’ to feed that giant crab.”
The others nodded slightly while listening to him. From every aspect, the Human Knight’s plan was the best choice under the current circumstances.
“This cave is quite secluded. Shall we set up a Teleportation Rune here?”
Scholar pulled out several bundles of scrolls from his backpack, markedly different in style from his previous works. These scrolls, provided by Tijana, each corresponded to a unique Teleportation Rune. If the runes were preset, they could activate a temporary portal connecting to the location of the rune through the scrolls, as long as it didn’t cross dimensions.
“We can,” Lancelot nodded in agreement, also taking out a metal ring and several small flags from the Dimensional Bag. “I will also set up some formations to ensure this cave remains hard to discover. The rest of you can go back to the half-plane to rest. We leave first thing tomorrow.”
The next morning, the group once again boarded the sled pulled by the giant werewolf Reap had transformed into, heading southwest. Concerned about encountering patrols, they did not travel directly on the roads built by the Frost Giants but ran several hundred feet away from the road. Thanks to the low temperatures and ceaseless snowstorms of this dimension, the thick layer of snow smoothed out the rugged terrain, allowing the sled unrestricted passage everywhere.
Lancelot continuously used his Spirit Perception to carefully sense what was ahead, so he could avoid any sudden encounters with enemies. They were not afraid of fighting the Frost Giants, and although they had not yet truly engaged such giant creatures taller than twenty feet, Lancelot still preferred to fight them in his own chosen location and manner, if possible.
However, things do not always develop as hoped, especially in the Abyss, a dimension where ‘anything is possible’. Just as their sled was racing forward, a violent spatial fluctuation occurred directly in front of them, and a blue-white colored portal suddenly appeared. It was too late to dodge.
“Prepare for battle!”
Lancelot shouted loudly, and simultaneously leapt into the air from the slowing sled. His True Yuan rapidly circulating within, he expelled it from the end of Frostslash, propelling him toward the forming portal.
Despite this being an ambush, if they could launch a surprise attack before the enemy realized the danger, they could inflict maximal damage and buy time for their companions to don their helmets, draw their weapons, and find cover.