Nordic: I Created a Forbidden Land for the Gods

Hawthorne kept hacking at the attacking behemoth, and although he was anxious, he couldn't help but feel a sense of...exhilaration.

After being frustrated and exhausted for so long, I've now switched to easy mode.

A restless energy, fueled by a thirst for unleashing devastating power, is stirring within me...

His lips unconsciously curled up, but he quickly suppressed his impulse and rushed to the city.

Then he saw a scene that shocked him.

The city wall has clearly collapsed, but the "gate" is wide open, right in the straight line ahead.

None of the giant beasts dared to enter; they all avoided it.

"Those are nightwing locusts, were they also deceived?"

Upon seeing the massive swarm of locusts, Hawthorne's expression suddenly changed, and he couldn't help but take a half-step back.

These locusts were half a meter in size, with jet-black wings and an aura of fierce power. Even a single one would make the hybrid giant wary, let alone hundreds gathered together.

There are many records in the kingdom that every time a swarm of Nightwing Locusts appears, it is accompanied by a large amount of blood, and even the streets of hybrids are filled with screams, which gives the rulers a great headache.

However, when the locusts approached towns, they deliberately avoided them, even though their favorite prey, blood, was right in front of them.

This scene surprised Hawthorne; he had lived for over a hundred years and this was the first time he had ever seen anything like it.

"This forest is much stranger than I imagined."

He murmured to himself, but quickly tensed up and realized that not all the giant beasts were bewitched.

A massive, blood-red wolf, several meters long, initially wanted to detour, but its sniffing suddenly stopped, and it hesitated before heading towards the broken city wall.

This ferocious wolf possessed an extremely strong aura, and its bloodline had already undergone a transformation. It was only a hair's breadth away from reaching the Heroic Spirit level, and even a level two rune would find it difficult to bewitch it.

Through the shattered hole, Hawthorne could see the crowd inside, each with a look of terror on their face, and some children even collapsed to the ground.

He held his breath, wanting to make a rescue, but suddenly streaks of different colors came rushing closer from all around.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

Bake. Bake. Bake.

*Pfft.* *Pfft.* *Pfft.*

Due to the effects of the terrain, movement is greatly reduced, and arrows either pierce or embed themselves in the giant beasts, unleashing various effects.

The ferocious wolf roared and howled, twisting its massive body to fight back while shouting commands at the beasts that followed it, but none of them could hear it.

Even if each rune's attack level is not high, there are also high-quality types. When combined with each other, even those approaching the level of a Heroic Spirit would find it difficult to withstand, and they would fall to the ground with a final wail and lose their breath.

Hawthorne, who witnessed everything, was stunned, then gasped in disbelief.

This overlord-level monster is arguably the most formidable creature in this beast tide.

That's it...?

Hawthorne hesitated, looked around, and found that the "leader" had fallen, but most of the giant beasts were nowhere to be found.

Or perhaps some have special bloodlines, or others of the same level notice something amiss.

But as they saw the massive wolf carcass fall, their expressions gradually shifted from anthropomorphic confusion to fear, and their blood-red beast eyes became clearer.

They continued to surge forward, but even when they discovered some problems, they acted as if they hadn't noticed anything and simply followed the crowd and detoured.

Even after the giant beasts surged away and completely disappeared from the basin, Hawthorne's expression remained stiff, and he hadn't fully recovered.

The disaster that had filled him with fear and made him run around trying to deal with it for so long was easily overcome.

Even after a long while, he still didn't feel like it was real.

But soon, he realized something and turned to look at the distant direction where the beast tide was rushing.

That was the only way to the capital, and also the way to Dreddo.

"The beast tide should be reaching there soon."

"And that steward, he's probably over there too, waiting to watch the show, right?"

Hawthorne's expression suddenly became somewhat strange.

When he went to find help, the first person he approached was Dredo, using the excuse that they would also be in trouble if the basin fell, hoping to get some assistance.

But whether it was the city lord or the mercenaries and adventurers at the bottom, they all scoffed and showed no intention of helping.

Some city officials even turned away his guests after accepting his gifts.

He was naturally aware of the arrangements made above, using mortal cities as pawns to test and verify the beast tide, and had already achieved some results.

According to his understanding, the steward in charge of all this should be watching the show in Dreddo.

However, the beast tide left the basin ahead of time and headed towards Dredor even faster.

This completely disrupted that grand plan.

The defenses there are probably not fully organized yet.

In this situation, how much loss would there be in fighting the beast tide?

How much responsibility will the steward who abandoned and manipulated himself bear, and will he be injured in the chaos?

Just thinking about it made Hawthorne's usually honest face turn into a mocking and sarcastic expression.

Neil had no idea what Hawthorne was thinking.

After applying "Concealment" to the forest, he checked his panel again, but aside from a few critical situations, he didn't pay much attention to anything else.

After all, even a level two "hidden" forest can affect a powerful evil dragon with many heroic spirits, causing heavy casualties.

Although this beast tide is far larger than the Evil Dragon, there are basically no high-level beings among it, so there's nothing to be afraid of.

"One crystal provides 93 faith points. After deducting the 20 points from adding runes, there are 73 points left."

"It's enough for now as an emergency reserve."

"Actually, we should have acted sooner. After all, some crystals were consumed when the city wall collapsed. But if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have known there were crystals here."

Neil reviewed the game, focusing his mind on the panel, and noticed that the icon for the "Concealment" rune seemed to have more complete and complex patterns.

Neil was somewhat surprised, but quickly realized what was happening.

"Although it can't compare to the situation on Winterfell Island, it should have been a deception of a certain scale of beast tide, which increased my experience in the area."

"Although some of them were not fooled, they made up for it through other means, forcing the other beings of the same level to accept the status quo and thus completing their corresponding experiences."

"In that case, with three or four more deceptions and the speed boost from Winterfell Island, the 'stealth' might actually reach level three."

On Winterfell, Neil's eyes opened and closed, a strange expression on his face.

After all, Slud was injured back then, and when she helped me upgrade the runes, she did it to the bare minimum, just enough to make them usable.

But only a short time has passed before we're ready to improve again.

Of course, this is due to the interconnectedness of buildings and the advantage of sharing experience points.

Even though he'd practically cheated, Neil wasn't proud.

But this speed was something that those who had stayed at the Heroic Spirit level for decades or even centuries knew about.

I wonder what kind of expression they'll have?

Neil looked puzzled, but his expression returned as his waist suddenly swayed.

He raised his hand, took out the vibrating communication stone, examined it, and his expression changed again, becoming somewhat stiff.

It was a call from Slud.

Oh no, there are other goddesses on the island!