Chapter 213: [213] Isak’s Gift

"I am Isak Galand Kristiansen!" His voice boomed over the snow. "And I come bearing gifts!"

[Threat detected! Winter Tribesmen, Level 33 x 50!]

[Threat detected! Winter Tribesmen (Sunborn), Level 33 x 10!]

[Threat detected! Isak Son of Kristian, Level 35 x 1!]

"How did they manage to surround us so fast?" Ragnar asked in disbelief as he took a quick glance at the area.

Dark hissed. "Sneaky bastards!" He summoned his double-edged battle axe, his eyes locked on the tribesmen.

Meanwhile, Ark stared at the screen in front of him in silence. The system had branded them as threats from the very beginning, meaning that although they were NPCs, they had come bearing hostile intentions.

’Sunborn?’ It seemed a specific group among them had been given an additional title, and judging by how few they were, they were definitely special.

’Could it be something similar to awakeners?’

If that was the case, then it would explain how they had managed to mask their presence up until they got close enough to shoot their arrows.

They had been targeting Harold... Was it related to sunborns as well? Almost all of them here had blue eyes, but Ark noticed that both Harold and Isak’s eyes had a faint glow to them...

If Harold was a sunborn, then maybe his survival had not been due to luck or his adaptation to the environment.

It would explain how he managed to not die, even after wandering through the frozen forest for so long...

Ark made a mental note to ask him about it later, but for now, there was something more pressing.

Isak’s gift.

"I’m not the kind of man to take gifts from strangers." Ark regarded him coldly. "How are you sure your gift will be up to standard?"

Isak laughed loudly, then his lips curved up in a wicked smirk. "Oh, I am sure you would love them."

"Them?" Ark glanced at Thalia before turning his attention back to Isak.

"Of course. After all, what kind of man doesn’t like women?!"

?!

The moment he finished speaking, Ark felt a cold pit deep in his bones, one that radiated outwards, encompassing him like the freezing winter.

"W-women?" He stuttered.

Isak chuckled. "Bring them in, boys!"

The tribesmen began dragging something from behind them through the snow, snickering as they brought them to Isak.

"These are newly caught, just the kind of gift any man would appreciate!"

The tribesmen pulled both girls to their feet. And the moment Ark saw them, he felt hollow inside.

The first was Olivia. She had been completely tied up, beaten to unconsciousness, and dried blood clung to her face, radiating down from a deep gash on her head.

Cici was beside her, skin pale from blood loss and cold, her lips blue and her eyes closed. She was...

She was missing an arm.

"What is the problem?! Ahahahaha!" Isak bellowed. "Is your little brother no longer functioning?! Ah, it must be the cold!"

"Olivia..." Thalia’s voice came out as a strangled cry as she saw the state of her friend. From where they stood, she could not even tell if she was even alive.

"Damn these bastards!" Ragnar’s eyes glowed with uncaged fury and livid rage. His claws extended fully, every single hair on his body became spiky, and his voice came out as a growl, as though he had forgotten how to speak.

Dark’s fingers were trembling on his axe. He wanted to go... to cut them to pieces, to bathe in their blood, in Isak’s blood.

But Ark had not given the command. He just stood there, as still as a statue, as emotionless as a piece of wood.

It lasted for a few seconds...

And then a wave of bloodlust suddenly washed over the entire area, causing everyone to stifle a breath.

A few tribesmen even crumpled to their feet, their hands clasped around their heads, unable to bear the brunt of the pain.

Isak gritted his teeth. He said something, but Ark only saw his lips move.

With the last amount of restraint he had, he turned to Ragnar. "Forgive me, I won’t be able to lead the party. For now..."

"Their lives are your responsibility."

Ragnar wanted to speak, but he found himself unable to do so. That intensity in Ark’s tone, that rage that could swallow up a kingdom, it was nothing like anything he had ever seen.

He had observed him and Olivia throughout their journey, and all they ever did was fight. They seemed more like enemies, if anything.

So why was he like this?

Who was that woman, and what did she truly mean to him?

Ark turned around and took a step forward...

Clack!

His helmet appeared, shielding his face behind the harrowing mask, his flaming orbs blurring through the slits.

Step—!

His blue cape billowed behind him as the wind picked up.

Step—!

Isak felt something slide down his face. He reached for it, only to discover it was sweat.

’Me, sweat?’

Since he was a babe, Isak had never known what it meant to sweat. He was the mighty conqueror. There was no way he would be scared of anyone!

"You rat! I have an army of fifty highly trained soldiers, ten sunbringers, and a beast that can rip you to shreds, and yet you dare approach me?!"

The words entered through one ear and slipped through the other.

Ark was not thinking.

He had stopped thinking a long time ago.

"Rise."

The world below their feet darkened, and then one by one, as though arriving from the very depths of hell, Ark’s Summons arrived...

The heretical godslayer, a warrior without compare and king of goblins. The sky walker, the knight that defied nature. The unshakable mountain and master of blades. The stormy Legion who overthrew a kingdom, and finally, the black ice witch.

One by one, these terrible foes arose, and, radiating with an unholy rage that mirrored that of their master, they lunged towards the tribesmen with murder in mind.

"You have one command! Slaughter them all!!"

"No one..." Ark’s voice came out with bitterness and hatred and greif.

He gritted his teeth.

"Not a single one of you will escape!"