Way of the Knights

---

"Welcome to my Kingdom, Puny Human."

"Thank you, Ugly."

An overwhelming aura sudden exploded from the Winter Troll. It was a very threatening act and it sure as hell wasn't bothering to hide it. The Troll King summoned his oppressive aura and pressure to press Vendrick down but the human didn't even look bothered.. 

"You Vile Pest!!" 

A scream erupted from one of the Troll's concubines. She looked extremely offended and openly bared her fangs against Vendrick. 

"How dare you spout insults in my King's face!!" The same concubine screeched some more and strode forwards, wanting to rip Vendrick into shreds. 

Vendrick acted as if he hadn't heard anything, he blatantly ignored the concubine and just stood there foolishly as if he couldn't be bothered at all. 

Seeing this, all the concubines were pissed, more so the one that's already striding towards Vendrick. However, the moment she entered ten meters away from Vendrick, a shocking scene suddenly occurred. 

All they heard was startling crackle. After that, the concubine froze on the spot and under their disbelieving eyes, she started disintegrating. 

"Sister!!!"

The concubines were alarmed. They couldn't wrap their head around what just happened to their Sister. All they witnessed was her getting close to the human and the she sudden turned into dusts, disappearing before it even hit the snow. 

"Gotta say...this place sure is nice, not counting the horrible stench though." Vendrick looked around and mused. He talked as if he didn't just killed the concubine of the North's ruler. 

"You are very daring human." The Winter Troll King's voice was just as cold as the temperature here. Its large eyes narrowed dangerously as it inspected the human. 

"Why thank you." Vendrick smiled, "Your pets are a little undisciplined though, you might want to tighten the leash around them. If not, things like that can happen you know?" 

As if he has a skin as thick and as hard as steel, Vendrick shameless lectured the Winter Troll King in a sagely voice. He sounded as if he was talking to a kid. 

The Troll King's face darkened even further at those words. Behind it, the concubines were trembling but inwardly, they were rejoicing since this stupid human seems hell-bent on courting death. 

All of a sudden, the ground beneath them rumbled. This was caused by the Troll King standing up from his bony throne. 

Standing nearly fifteen meters tall, the hulking menace glared at Vendrick, looking down on him as if he was a bug. The Troll King reached out for the stone shard which served as its club. 

"Woah. You grew." Vendrick sounded impressed as he looked up at the beast. 

Apparently, the Troll King can alter its size, it grew taller and larger the moment it started to stand up. Despite the size difference, Vendrick didn't look afraid nor concerned even, he still looked carefree and unbothered. 

"I don't know what you did to my concubine but you shouldn't have touched her." The Winter Troll King's booming voice echoed all around the continent, sending every demonic beast into panic. 

The Winter Troll King lifted its club and swung it down with a shocking speed. The impact scattered the snow, caused the ground to form a massive dent. The shockwaves rippled far enough to cause an avalanche all over the entire continent. 

"Hmph!" The Troll King snorted. It couldn't feel the presence of the human anymore neither did it see any traces of the human's body. With all of this, the beast arrived at its nearest conclusion which is that - it hit the human too hard that not even a trace of his body remained. 

"Woah. That's impressive for someone at your size." 

Those words, was a rude awakening to the troll and its concubines' reverie. The Troll King was alarmed. It heard the human's voice nearby, in fact very close, but it can't seem to find where he is. 

"My King!! H-he...the Human! He's on your shoulder!!!" The Troll King heard ones of its concubines shout in distress. 

The Troll King was surprised, it lifted its hands and grabbed it's left shoulder. It then brought its hand to its face and opened it but it didn't see the human there. 

"Wrong side, dumbass." 

The voice of human sounded on its ears, causing the Troll King's face to darken. 

"...god, Trolls. The stronger they got, the dumber they are. Geez." 

The human sounded exasperated, as if he was extremely disappointed with how things are turning out. The Troll King could feel its temper being tested greatly, something that doesn't occur very often, it also didn't help that it could understand human language. 

Right before the Troll King could anything, it caught a vague silhouette flashing past its face. The troll followed it with its gaze and saw that it was the human. 

The human was now standing on thin air as if it was something solid. There's a despondent expression on the human's face as it looked at the Troll. 

"So far, you're the most disappointing out of them." Vendrick uttered in a bored tone. 

The Troll King's eyes widened. Though its species doesn't posses great intellect, it could more or less guess what the human was talking about. Saying that those words were the greatest insult the Troll King had ever heard, no less from a race it deemed lower than it, would be an understatement. 

"Die!!!"

What remained of the Troll's patience was gone. It now turned berserk and would not stop unless it saw Vendrick torn apart. 

"You're big. I'll give you that." Vendrick muttered as he summoned his spear. Lightning coursed through his body as he continued: "But you see, you're nothing more than that."

*Bzzt!!* *Boom!*

Everything within the eye of the storm quaked. A flash of lightning was seen. It was only a single one but it's as wide as building. It contained a terrifying might that rocked the continent. It evaporated the snow around the eye of the storm and caused a massive crater, greater than the one that the troll king left when it struck the ground earlier, to appear. 

At the center of that crater, a sizzling corpse of giant could be seen. It's eyes were dull and lifeless and its body was charred black. It didn't take long before it slowly started to disintegrate along with other smaller corpses near it. 

"...I've taken down things that are several times bigger than you so you're not really a big deal." Vendrick muttered this before turning around and leaving the eye of the storm.

---

Dealing with the Winter Troll King was easy. After all, Vendrick had plenty of experience dealing with them in the past. 

In addition to that, his recent breakthrough made this task even easier for him. 

His work here is done, and it didn't take him that long. If he wanted to, he could leave right away but decided to not do so. He stayed for a couple of days, relaxing and taking it easy.

During these days, an interesting thing happened. 

The Hailstorm that constantly plagued the core of the Northern Continent was gone. The overall temperature increased and the place seen the first rays of sunshine after quite sometime. He also discovered that the clouds are dissipating at the edges of the continent. 

As it turns out, the Hailstorm was something that the Troll King casted over that area. Why? Vendrick didn't know, but its dead now so that the Hailstorm will follow its wake as well. 

Some of the snow caps were melting. Interestingly enough, most of the snow actually didn't turn into water. If it did, the whole continent will be flooded. Vendrick guessed that some of the snow were fake, something that the Troll King made as well. Of course, there are some snow that are real here but they won't remain here for long.

Most likely, this continent will have its seasons resume its natural cycle. This should change things up a bit for its denizens but honestly, Vendrick couldn't care less. 

He wouldn't stay here for long, probably about two to three weeks in maximum, after that, he'll resume his journey, his next target is the Eastern Continent. 

Vendrick roamed the Northern Continent for a bit. He just wanted to see if there's anything that will catch his interest here. Well, he did saw some wonders here and there but nothing too impressive for his eyes. 

He did think of leaving some things here as foundation for the future when humans arrive at this place but he ended up rejecting the idea. He figured that he'll leave them to their own devices. Let them carve a piece of the land for themselves if they wanted to. 

During his journey, he could see a variety of Demonic Beasts waking up from their hibernation and started hunting. He didn't disturb them since he found no reason to do so. 

After three weeks of touring the Northern Continent, Vendrick felt that he had seen everything that this place has to offer therefore, he decided to leave after a couple of days. 

He's now flying towards the Eastern Continent where the Infernal Dragon awaits for him. 

"I'm looking forward to this."