Chapter 101: The Dragon’s Spine
Wade commanded the skeletons to form a circular formation around him, the undead gripping swords firmly before them.
Wade remembered the military sword style those skeleton soldiers used on the wasteland. During the eighteen days he spent expanding the underground fortress there, he attempted to restore that ancient sword technique by copying and piecing it together.
He had personally studied that sword style, so he could direct the souls to perform the same movements with him.
Including Wade, the eight skeletons moved in perfect unison.
It was as if they were one entity, like different doppelgangers of the same person.
The Viking swords in the undead’s hands stood upright against their chests; the eight sword tips all pointed to a single spot. From above, the cold steel blades resembled a blooming flower made of iron.
They used the two-horn sword style, thrusting simultaneously.
The sword tips pressed against the same center point; if a mosquito flew through that spot, it would be pierced by all eight swords at once.
It was nearly impossible for humans to train such tacit understanding and coordination. The skeletons swung their swords like dancers.
They formed a circular attack formation and could rotate backward for defense.
That ancient military sword style, when used in large groups, combined offense and defense, allowing weaker individuals to unleash combat power far beyond their own strength.
Amidst the sword light, Wade completed a simple drill.
Sheathing his sword, he looked toward the distant mountains on the snowfield.
He had already seen the maps York kept in the warehouse. The Prague River was the widest and longest river in the northern territory, and most of the Icelanders’ forces should be transported along it.
Avoiding the river’s route meant he wouldn’t encounter the Icelanders’ main army.
His current position was at the border of Tania, and the mountain range to the west should be the “Dragon’s Spine.”
It was the highest mountain range in North Tia, a natural boundary mountain stretching over fifteen hundred kilometers. Legend said that on the Dragon’s Spine’s highest Dragonbone Plateau, a colony of white dragons dwelled. Frost giants also hibernated in that icy world. It was a forbidden zone for humans, an unclimbable peak.
On the opposite side of the mountain range lay many small nations.
The coastal area north of the Dragon’s Spine was very chaotic, with numerous secret ports where many criminals hid.
Sven’s pirate group had traveled over the frozen rivers from the other side of the mountains using snow sleds, establishing a camp in one of those hideouts.
They maintained several outposts. In past winters, Sven’s pirate group would return to Iceland to hold a court in their homeland. But this year, probably after receiving some intelligence, Sven chose not to return to Iceland and instead wintered at a criminal port near the Dragon’s Spine.
He must have contacted the military’s higher-ups during that time. A famous Viking pirate like Sven often had connections with the army. In fact, the Viking pirates were essentially mercenaries under the Ice King’s command.
Sven probably received a summoning brand related to the Flame Imp around then, which led Wade to encounter that fiery little demon after Sven’s death.
As a notorious Silver-rank pirate, Sven was qualified to sign secret agreements with the army, perhaps even promising to assist in siege battles once the war began. That was likely why he chose to winter near this port.
From these fragmented pieces of information, Wade could tell this war was very planned and strategic.
Even though the Icelanders were a barbaric people who valued strength above all, they should know that consorting with demons would make them enemies of nearly all human nations and bring the church’s wrath.
Yet they still chose to join the demons’ ranks with such confidence that even the rank-and-file soldiers showed no fear. Wade wondered what preparations they had made in secret.
He wanted to avoid the Icelanders’ army as much as possible, as the evil lurking there was probably beyond his ability to resist.
His main goal this time was to leave the frontlines of war, to get far away from the fiercest battle zones.
If he encountered some rogue squads on the border areas, he could fight back, but meeting elite forces at the heart of the battlefield would only result in his utter defeat.
Even if he wished to join the church and Tania’s army to resist the demons, before he managed to explain himself, both humans and church soldiers would attack him to destroy him.
He was temporarily powerless to change the course of the war, so he intended to drive this snow vehicle to the secret ports near the Dragon’s Spine.
He had chosen a direction and headed west.
Going east would still be within Tania’s borders, but after crossing the forest, it would no longer be under Viscount Colton Quentin’s domain. That area belonged to the Earl of Northumbria, another frontier noble.
That territory was likely also invaded. Wade had no detailed knowledge of it and did not even know what the map there looked like.
York only kept maps of the viscount’s domain. In this era, maps were strategic assets, especially accurate maps marking castles, which were military properties. Purchasing or leaking such maps privately was considered criminal.
Low-level nobles holding military maps would be seen as engaging in severe espionage, punishable by execution if discovered.
Maritime charts and port maps were monopolized by merchants.
Maps of various countries and sea routes were impossible for ordinary people to obtain.
At least when Wade was a baker, he had never obtained a reliable detailed map.
He only learned about the continent’s general layout from scattered book fragments.
In this world, geographic books were kept secret.
York’s maps were only those used by adventurers, marking the Adventurers Guild, some towns, and monster habitats—maps exclusive to adventurers.
Wade wanted to first get a detailed map, so he planned to go to those secret western ports.
Such lawless places hiding criminals and bandits must contain many prohibited items.
From a long-term plan perspective, when the icy sea melted around March or April, Wade might find a way to acquire a sea vessel and sail to the ocean.
Of course, he did not intend to sail to Iceland.
He wanted to return once more to Nidran, to Helburg, where he had died.
According to his will, his remains should have been buried in Helburg’s church cemetery.
But why did he appear on the wasteland ten years after his death?
He wanted to know whether his body had been properly buried there.
If not, what had happened during those lost ten years?
Why had an ordinary baker been caught up in such events?
Was it merely coincidence?
Or, as the elf prophet had said, was everything predestined by a vague and elusive force called fate?
Returning to Nidran might reveal some clues.
As for when and where he would reunite with the Silver Moon Elves, that was up to fate.
Wade had chosen a direction and had a vehicle suitable for traveling on the snowfield.
Now all that remained was to pull the sled with reindeer or horses. He had neither reindeer nor horses on hand, but fortunately, he had a little ghost who had mastered necromantic magic.
Mia had absorbed Quasimodo’s soul fragments and practiced those spells on the wasteland.
She could animate countless lifeless bones and control dead servants. This magic usually required trapping the dead’s souls inside the corpse to instinctively drive the body’s movements.
But if a necromancer had leisure, they could also use their spiritual and magical power to control a dead servant like a marionette.