This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

At this point, Behemoth became the main force pushing forward head-on, while Dick and his men protected him, guarding against enemies attacking from other directions.

They continued on for about an hour, moving much faster than yesterday.

Suddenly, a large clearing appeared in front of them. The clearing appeared abruptly in the middle of the forest, much like the Mediterranean Sea above the programmer's head. All the trees in the central area of ​​the pine forest had mysteriously disappeared, replaced by a white expanse.

Dick reached out and wiped the ground, discovering that it wasn't snow, but rather something more like a thick layer of frost, as solid as ice when stepped on.

In the very center of this frosty land, they finally saw the giant white tree.

At this moment, a few more leaves fell from the tree. As soon as the leaves fell to the ground, they began to merge with the surrounding objects, and soon formed a new "mountain demon". Moreover, its size was even larger than the one seen before. After it took shape, it immediately pounced on the crowd.

However, these guys were only bigger in size, and Behemoth easily took them down.

"Let's go take a look."

Having witnessed the formation of the mountain troll, Dick immediately cast a wind-based levitation spell around the tree to prevent the fallen leaves from touching the ground.

As the group approached, Behemoth reached out to touch him without saying a word, but Dick quickly stopped him.

"Uncle-Master, please take it easy. This is a whole tree, not just a small branch!"

After hearing Dick's reminder, Behemoth thought about it and realized that it did make sense.

Having dissuaded Behemoth from his reckless behavior, Dick was also examining the giant tree. Compared to the description given by the village girl Jasmine, this thing had clearly grown much taller. It had grown from a small tree that was four or five meters tall and as thick as a bowl to a towering tree that was more than twenty meters tall and required two people to hug. Its torch-shaped canopy was enormous, yet strangely, it did not cast any shadows on the ground.

Standing beside the giant tree, Dick could hear a faint whisper that constantly surrounded him, but he did not feel uncomfortable or in pain.

Can you hear me?

What was that sound?

"There's someone talking, but you can't hear what they're saying."

Both Black and White Gunner and Rita said they hadn't heard it, while Behemoth gave Dick a meaningful look before finally speaking after a long while.

"How about... you try touching this tree?"

"Damn it! Uncle-Master, don't mess with me. Even tree branches can kill me. If I actually touch this big tree, I'll go crazy, even if I don't die!"

“But the voice you’re talking about can only be heard by you. Even I, someone who’s already halfway to becoming a demigod, can’t hear it. This means that the tree wants to communicate with people, and you are the chosen one.”

"But what if it doesn't say anything nice?"

Without further ado, Behemoth removed the antler artifact "Wild King's Crown" from his head and placed it directly on Dick's head.

"This is a divine artifact created by the Goddess of Nature. It can protect the soul from pollution. And since you have elven blood, its effectiveness is far greater than that of a human like me. Give it a try, your master will protect you!"

Once the magical artifact was placed on his head, Dick immediately became much more energetic.

The Wild King's Crown is a coveted artifact for many mages. It has no active skills, but it's full of god-tier passive abilities and top-tier buffs. Just wearing it made Dick feel like he had leveled up half a level on the spot, almost touching the threshold of the Saint rank.

Behemoth was so generous as to put this thing on Dick's head without hesitation, even if it was encouraging him to do something reckless!

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Dick took a deep breath and reached out to touch it.

In just a moment of panic, in the blink of an eye, Dick felt as if he were standing still, but all around him suddenly became completely quiet, and his companions had all disappeared.

It was as if he was instantly transported to another dimension the moment he touched the white tree.

Just then, the murmured whisper came again, but this time it was much clearer, and the speaker seemed to be on the other side of the tree.

Dick carefully went around to find a "figure" crouching there.

That's right! It really is a human figure in the literal sense, with a human-like appearance, but its whole body is blurry as if it has been blurred, and you can't see its specific outline clearly. At first glance, you might think it's a ghost!

Because he was so close, Dick was finally able to hear what the other person was saying.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... I didn't want this to happen..."

Hmm... It feels like I've done something wrong and am now filled with regret.

At this moment, the other party seemed to sense Dick's presence and slowly turned its head to look at him. The blurry face had no features, not even eyes, but Dick felt the gaze upon it.

The two locked eyes. Dick instinctively took a half-step back, while the phantom reacted much more violently, screaming and scrambling back seven or eight meters, yelling, "Don't come any closer!" leaving Dick speechless.

Dude! It's clearly your appearance that's more frightening, okay?

Why do you make it seem like I'm the ghost?

Although he was speechless, Dick still tried to calm the "figure" down, quickly assuring it that he meant no harm.

Before entering, his master Behemoth had warned Dick that he could sense a chaotic divinity emanating from the giant tree, and that the being attempting to communicate with him was very likely a god.

Although we don't know why this unknown deity lingers in the mortal realm instead of going to the divine realm, the opportunity for mortals to come into contact with a deity is extremely precious and must be treated with utmost care.

So Dick had expected to see a majestic deity sitting in a magnificent temple, but instead he saw an autistic patient with an incredibly abstract appearance.

I'm... just a little bit disillusioned!

With Dick's constant reassurance, the figure finally calmed down, but still maintained a "safe distance" of nearly ten meters from Dick.

In his own words, he was afraid he would hurt Dick.

Upon hearing this, Dick thought to himself that anyone who could have such thoughts, even if they had made some mistakes, shouldn't be too bad at heart. Anyway, the ten-meter distance wouldn't affect their conversation, so they could still chat.

The first thing Dick needed to figure out was what this god was called.

Although he wasn't a theologian, he knew the names of the gods existing in this world, whether good or bad. Magic schools had specialized theology courses, but the purpose of these courses wasn't to guide students to become followers of any particular god. Rather, they primarily introduced basic information about gods and their related sects, preventing unnecessary conflicts arising from unintentional actions during contact.

Like the goddess of love and the goddess of pleasure, these two are said to be twin sisters, but their personalities are completely opposite.

The god of love advocates pure love and unwavering loyalty, while the god of pleasure favors sexual liberation; they cannot stand each other.

However, the names of these two twin goddesses are very similar and easily mispronounced, which can easily lead to "disrespectful incidents" and incur their divine punishment.

The punishment from Cupid is either "being unable to find a partner" or "arguing with your partner."

The god of pleasure's punishment is: "You cannot come to the orgy!"

Therefore, when dealing with deities, one should first know their name and never make a mistake; this is the most basic etiquette.

Chapter 026: A Winter Elegy

Out of politeness, Dick introduced himself first, and then asked the other person's name.

The illusory figure remained silent for a long time before speaking in a muffled tone.

"I can't remember, I seem to have had many names... Snow, Winter... I can only wake up on days like these... They, they call me..."

It seems that the memory itself brings pain. The voice of the phantom gradually became more irritable from the initial confusion, and finally turned into a hysterical howl.

The key point is that when he yelled like that, Dick's head started to hurt too.

At that moment, Dick touched the Wild King's Crown on his head and suddenly realized that this thing could help people keep their minds from being corrupted. From a magician's point of view, it meant not going astray.

If we put this on the phantom, will it return to normal?

Dick wasn't a psychologist, and he had little experience in counseling others, especially those who had been mentally unstable for who knows how many years. Rather than dragging things out, he figured he might as well take a gamble.

So Dick, clutching the Wild King's Crown, rushed toward the maddened phantom, silently vowing "I'll risk it all," and ripped off the Wild King's Crown, placing it on the other's head.

The wailing phantom suddenly stopped, its emotions gradually calming down, and at the same time, a miraculous scene unfolded.

This guy's body, which looked like it had been pixelated, is now appearing in "high definition" that is visible to the naked eye!

Soon, the creature returned to its original form. Although it was mostly humanoid, it also had very obvious animal characteristics. It had a bear's head, with tusks that were curved and upturned like a wild boar in its mouth, and its body was covered in thick, dark brown fur. Except for the upper third of its thighs, the rest were deer legs.

Dick wondered to himself, "Why is this a fortune teller?!"

After regaining consciousness, the other person touched the wild crown on their head, looked at Dick in front of them, and gave a sad smile.

"Thank you, stranger."

"You're welcome. May I ask your name?"

"I am the lord of the snowfields, the singer in the blizzard, the guide of winter. People call me Ajax, the god of the East."

Announcing one's full name isn't about showing off; it's a basic etiquette for a deity to introduce themselves. However, Dick noticed that Ajax's expression grew increasingly dejected as he spoke these titles, looking as if he might burst into tears at any moment.

After thinking for a long time, Dick finally remembered where he had seen the name "Ajax".

This is the legendary winter god, enshrined in the Northern Kingdom, who perished in a blizzard.

Legend has it that when the winter god Ajax died, his followers chose to be buried with their ancient god and go together to the paradise of the dead.

But just like many folk tales, which are distorted in the process of being passed down due to intentional or unintentional slips of the tongue, myths are sometimes not to be taken literally and may be quite different from the truth.

Dick guessed that the extreme cold that had plagued Ragug for so long might be related to the ancient god's occasional fits of madness. If he could really cure this crazy mental illness, Ragug's life would be much easier in the future.

Moreover, based on his current observation, this Ajax is probably not some kind of evil god, but rather seems to have suffered some kind of cruel mental blow, which has made him somewhat irritable.

Dick suddenly regretted not bringing wine and peanuts with him.

So Dick and Ajax sat down face to face on the floor, and Dick tried to comfort him while asking him what was wrong with him.

Ajax paused for a moment, as if he had been suffering for many years and finally had someone to confide in, and began to tell Dick about his past experiences.

Just like the beginning of the legend, Ajax, the god of winter, was once the state god worshipped by the northern snow kingdom. However, that was a relatively primitive era, and the so-called country was more like a huge tribal collective.

Because this primitive kingdom lived in the north, they faced harsh winters every year. Out of awe of the blizzards, they gradually developed a belief that there was a god who could control the blizzards. Therefore, they would hold sacrificial ceremonies on the days when the wind and snow were heavy, praying that the wind and snow would end soon and that the great winter god would stop being angry.

Ajax was born from this belief, and tragedy ensued from it.

The folly of mortals leads them to believe that gods created the world, that they are ancient and great, yet they do not know that gods are born of faith. Ajax was born in the primitive worship of a barbaric land, but even then, his self-awareness was not clear, and he took on this demigod-like appearance due to the delusions of mortals.

Ajax, like a bewildered newborn, observes his followers.

He liked these people, but like a child learning to speak, He misunderstood his believers.

The Snow Country held a sacrificial ceremony during a blizzard because they prayed for the blizzard to stop quickly. However, Ajax mistakenly interpreted this as "his followers liked blizzards," so he used his divine power to increase the dosage, making the blizzard even more intense.

Thus began a cycle that was both laughable and absurd, yet destined to end in tragedy.

The newly born Ajax, upon gaining divine power, would unleash blizzards to "please" his followers. When the blizzards came, the snow kingdom would begin sacrificial rituals, further strengthening Ajax's divine power, and thus the snow would fall even heavier.

A small portion of the Snow Kingdom could not withstand the onslaught and fled to the warmer south by crossing the high mountains. The remaining believers felt that the Lord of Blizzard was angry and that their sacrifices were not sincere, so they began to carry out bloody and cruel human sacrifices.

Ajax was horrified by what he saw. He thought his followers were unhappy because he hadn't created a strong enough blizzard and had started killing each other. At that time, he didn't even understand the meaning of human sacrifice.

Ultimately, Ajax, whose divine power grew stronger and stronger, unleashed an apocalyptic snowstorm upon his followers, annihilating hundreds of thousands of people in the snow country.

This horrific super sacrifice granted Ajax unimaginable divine power, allowing him to advance to a higher level of consciousness. However, he also came to understand the terrible tragedy he had caused due to his previous misunderstandings. Unable to bear this blow, Ajax went mad.

The entire story, from beginning to end, is a tragedy caused by a misunderstanding.

Ajax is not a bad god; He loves His followers and wants them to be happy. However, the newborn god is as ignorant as a child, yet His behavior is like that of a parent who blindly buys strange things without understanding their child's preferences.

By the time he realized his mistake, it was too late for regrets.

Even gods are not always omnipotent. Ajax tried to resurrect the believers of the Snow Kingdom whom he had personally killed, but he soon discovered in despair that the souls of those who voluntarily accepted the sacrifice had long since transformed into divine power and merged into his body, and a body without a soul could not be resurrected.

Ajax tells his story, which may not sound very long, but the whole story spans more than two hundred years. The increasingly harsh winter has long driven away the ordinary people, leaving only the most devout believers in the winter god Ajax. In addition, the priests deceive the believers, and eventually a doomsday snow disaster will destroy the entire northern world, and these devout people will go to the kingdom of the winter god.

So when Ajax really brought down a blizzard powerful enough to destroy the entire Snow Kingdom, the believers who had voluntarily stayed behind did not panic. Instead, they felt that the prophecy had come true and that they could finally be freed.

This is the story of Ajax and the Land of Snows. The truth is completely different from the embellished legend. The people of the Land of Snows who escaped gradually forgot their traditions, and some ancient legends were distorted in the process of being passed down, to the point that even the name Ajax was forgotten, and could only be found in some ancient mythological books.

As for the local legend of the mountain demon in Laguge, it is actually a variation of the story of the Winter God. The twisted monster is the Winter God who has gone mad, or rather, the embodiment of the Winter God, whose image is so distorted that it is unrecognizable.

It is worth mentioning that other gods once approached Ajax, the god of winter, and invited him to settle in the already established divine realm.

The power of the gods is simply too great; it would be best if they did not remain in the mortal realm, as this would cause trouble for humankind. Therefore, the benevolent gods and the malevolent gods reached a rare consensus: each would establish their own divine and demonic realms, and then withdraw from the mortal realm to only offer enlightenment to humankind, but without interfering with their own development.

To put it simply, mortals are the wheat of the gods, and the mortal world is the wheat field. Regardless of whether the gods are good or evil, they all depend on the wheat in this field for food. Therefore, if there are enemies or grudges, they cannot fight in the field.

But Ajax did not want to leave the Land of Snow, nor did he want to cause trouble for other mortals, so he asked other gods to seal him away, and they sealed him in the land that the Land of Snow once belonged to.

Because Ajax accepted the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of people, his power grew to an unprecedented level. Even if all his followers were wiped out, he could live for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. Moreover, gods cannot commit suicide.

Seeing this, the gods who came to persuade him to go to the realm of the gods did not say much. They thought that since it was Ajax's own request, they would grant his wish and joined forces to seal him here.

However, it's clear that their seal isn't very secure, or rather, Ajax, who is sealed within, isn't sleeping very soundly. He experiences a minor bout of madness every ten years or so, and a major bout every hundred years. This is how the super winter and the apocalyptic winter came about. The white tree on the surface is the physical manifestation of Ajax's divine power leaking out after the seal loosened.

“Actually, all these years, I’ve been having the same nightmare: the day I awaken my senses, only to lose everything. I can feel that the world is constantly distorting my story, and I’m becoming more and more eccentric, but I feel that I deserve it all.”

As he spoke, Ajax suddenly turned to look at Dick across from him and said in an apologetic tone.

"Thank you for putting this magical device on me. I'm much more sober now. I... I've probably caused you quite a bit of trouble. I'm sorry!"

"I cannot forgive you on behalf of those who lost their lives to the extreme cold and cold-induced illness in the past, but seeing that there were reasons for it and that you are genuinely repentant, I personally do not harbor much hostility towards you. However, I sincerely beg you, sir, to stop using your supernatural powers!"

"……it is good."