They wore fur armor, just like the giant Arthur met back on the battlefield. Their features were also similar, but these giants were moving alive, not pale like the last one.

Arthur followed a group of four giants, which were actively looking for monsters to hunt and bring back to wherever they lived.

Some of these giants shared words with each other, and Arthur understood it as he had learned the language after entering inside the mind of that giant back in that laboratory.

“Where are the beasts? We have to bring back some or else the leader will get pissed.”

“Calm down. We are just starting. Look, footprints.”

One of these giants was younger, and it got nervous when thinking of the possibility where they would not bring back any food. He said the leader would get angry, and Arthur guessed the leader’s power might be similar or even stronger to that of an official mage.

Arthur was not confident in facing that, at least not yet. The group of giants got their ** back together and continued their hunting trip, finding a decent amount of beasts, those that were not that different from what Arthur had seen.

Most of the beasts there were mutations of the beasts one could find in normal places. Those beasts adapted to survive in snow during all year, and most had a white fur, ideal to camouflage using the ground snow.

Some were so hidden that Arthur almost missed them. If he was alone, then maybe he would get a surprise attack coming from the enemy.

Anyway, the most important part was to follow them and learn more about where they lived. As the group of giants got closer to their village, Arthur had a bad feeling inside.

He saw the village from afar, but did not dare to enter with the strength giant that protected those people.

“So this is the place… I wonder where the Doom Order is hiding. If my guess is correct, then it should be there!”

Arthur left, going toward the location he thought the Doom Order might be, and that was far away from where the village was.

The Doom Order had to be far from there, or else the leader of the giants would realize their presence there, and then everything was over.

Another aspect to be considerate was a escaping route. If anything went wrong, the Doom Order had to have a way of leaving, which made Arthur believe they would choose a place near the shore where a ship would be ready to rescue them.

After pondering of all these ideas, Arthur walked to the opposite direction where the giants were, going straight to the shore.

~~~~

Signy and Helga separated from the rest of the group, which caused a fight, as Bram and Sven wanted them close.

“What nonsense are you speaking? This is a dangerous place, and we all must stay together.”

“Stay together with this guy I don’t even know? I can see you two are up to something, and I will not be fool enough to fall for it!”

“I agree with Signy. This is getting weird, and I don’t trust you. Not even you, Bram.”

“You bitch. When I say you will stay here, it is an order. Sven.”

Both of them got their weapons ready and moved towards the direction where Signy and Helga were. Even Finn, who did not know what side to take, agreed with Bram, and he also draws his weapon to go against Signy.

Signy was getting anxious, and even with her new gained power, it was difficult to win against them. Not because of Bram and Finn, but Sven!

She had a better sense of things after getting to the next rank, and that man was a peak seventh circle mage. It was something Signy could not handle, at least not at that moment, so she had to do something or else they would get caught by those crazy men.

“Arthur, are you listening to me? Sven, Finn and Bram are attacking us, can you help me?”

Arthur saw everything using the mark he placed on Signy and wondered if he should help or not. There was something off about the situation, as if Bram and Sven needed those two witches for something else.

“The only way for me to find out more is to speak with Sven himself.”

When the thought was solidified inside his mind, Arthur vanished from where he was. Within seconds, he was right in front of Signy.

The men that were approaching her were surprised to see an old man appearing out of nowhere, and Sven was the most shocked. He sensed danger coming from that old man, and did not want to act rashly, so he placed his hand on Bram’s arm, signalizing for him to step back.

“Who are you?” Sven said.

Arthur still had the looks of a crazy old man. He stroked his beard, looking at them and said, “I don’t see any of you having the rights to know me.”

“Bull**! Let me teach you a lesson old man!” Bram said.

He was someone that easily got pissed, and was already going towards Arthur wielding two sharp axes.

Sven thought for a moment and let the situation unfold. His plan was to use Bram to make the old man show some of his strengths.

“Hahaha, kid. You should train for at least one hundred years before facing me.”

Bram was red like a tomato. He swung his axes with a lot of force, aiming for Arthur’s neck.

Arthur was not even concerned about the attack, and his gaze never left Sven, who was already sweating cold.

With the tip of his fingers, Arthur stopped both axes, and then kicked Bram away, who went flying with at least 5 broken ribs.

Sven now was sure the old man was good in melee combat, but what about ranged? Still, he was not confident in cast a spell, as he was almost sure the old man would get to him before he could finish it.

“What do you want?” Sven said.

No matter the scenario, there was no way he would win against the old man. So, Sven gave up, at least for the moment.

“What I want? Hum. Why don’t you tell me the reason you are here, young man?”

“For the treasures, of course. This is an unexplored place, so it must have lots of treasures.”

“Oh? Really? Is that the reason you ‘betrayed’ the Doom Order in order to get some human sacrifices? I am sure they are eagerly waiting for you near the shore.”

The time seemed to stop, and Sven did not mutter a word for quite some time. The shock was clear on his face, and Arthur was feeling proud of himself for guessing everything correctly.

“How do you know that? Are you also from the Doom Order? This is the only explanation, right? You are here to help me, hahaha!”

Sven had a mental breakdown after having all of his plans seemed through by the other party.

“Human sacrifice, hum. You and the rest of your order should work just fine.”

“What- “

Arthur vanished and appeared in front of Sven, and with just a palm attack, the man was unconscious.

Only after all of that was over was that Signy and Helga sighed in relief. Finn was scared, thinking he would be the next target.

“Don’t worry, young man. I can see you are not a bad person, and only did this or else Bram would kill you. He must already told you some information about it, right?”

Finn had his face down, and said, “correct. What do you want to know?”

“First, what type of sacrifice it needs and why?”

“The Doom Order found a palace that belonged to whatever lived in this place before the giants came. There is a door that needs the sacrifice of one with a decent amount of mana.”

“Meaning it only accepts sacrifices from strong mages, like Signy and Helga?”

“Correct.”

“Hum. We can sacrifice Sven, so it is all good. Now, tell me. What do you think is behind that door?”

“From what I heard from Sven, there is an item there that makes this place gets snowy during all the year. The Doom Order guessed it is some powerful treasure of the ice attribute.”

“Oh? Good, good. What else? I am sure Sven spoke lots of things to get even you to his side.”

“Well, he said there are lots of treasures there, so I could take some. As for the reason he is there, well, he said something about bloodline but I did not understand what he was talking about.” Finn said.

Arthur, who’s expression did not change during the entire process, finally did. From what George had said, the Doom Order was basically puppets from a bloodline family from a higher realm. So if a powerful family like that one is trying to get something, then it is surely good.

“And do you know where the palace is? Or where the Doom Order is?”

“The Doom Order is inside the palace. As for where it is, I am afraid only Sven will know.”

Arthur looked at Sven, and said, “Sven, it seems you and I will have a fun time.”