The Glory of Noxus

The edge of the frozen river.

Led by the war masons, the Noxian soldiers quickly built a series of military facilities with a solemn style based on trenches.

Guard towers, ramparts, tents and other buildings rose from the ground and stood on the ice field.

In the center of the camp.

Darius stopped in front of the heavy fur tent and looked to the north.

The dim starlight illuminated the high slope of the Winter Thorn Mountain Road.

He could see a bonfire burning above, and the smoke rose through the treetops. It was the advance troops of the Winter Claw tribe.

They were waiting!

Darius smelled the strong smell of blood from his nose, turned his head and saw the returning Captain Faron and Shimmering Olo.

"General, what are you looking at?"

Shimmering Olo walked behind Darius. His tall body could bring a farther field of vision. He also saw the stationed Winter Claw tribe.

"Do you want me to lead my soldiers to deal with these bastards?"

The victory just now seemed to have aroused the desire of the shining horn Oro to fight. He looked at Darius eagerly, wanting to rush to the enemy again.

"No need!"

Darius shook his head and refused, looking at the world covered with ice and snow, the biting cold permeated the clouds.

"Isn't this mountain road after the avalanche the place for the decisive battle we long for?"

"I don't think Sejuani will refuse!"

Darius thought of the failure of the first Freljord campaign, and his expression became more solemn.

He needed the victory of this war to restore the glory of the empire and suppress the chaos within the empire, especially the separatists, who couldn't wait to see the empire fall apart.

"Pass my order down, all the war groups will assemble towards the Winter Thorn Mountain Road!"

"Yes, General!"

Behind Darius, the scout cavalry who heard the order replied respectfully and turned away immediately.

Soon, the neighing of war horses gradually faded into the snowy mountain road as the winter night wore on.

The leaves of the pine trees high above were all the color of blood, forming a sharp contrast with the pale snow around them.

Udyr watched a scarlet leaf fall and realized how much he had misunderstood the color red.

In his hometown, this color would only splash on the white snow.

But in Freljord, red symbolizes violence and death is approaching.

But in fact, red symbolizes life. Anyone or any animal, as long as they are still alive, has red in their bodies.

Udyr opened his eyes.

The candle used for meditation burned a red spot in his sight, and the rain made a hissing sound on the dying campfire.

The strong wind shook the loose leather wall tent of the hut, as if it was going to blow it down before dawn. The cold rain seeped through the gaps between the fur carpets inside the tent.

Udyr realized that he was not sitting cross-legged with the monks on the top of a distant Ionian mountain, but here was a corner of Sejuani's camp.

This is my home! Udyr felt a bitter pride.

It had been weeks since Udyr managed to meditate again, but he couldn't be happy now.

He had just begun to see clearly what was around him... and the voices were back.

The thoughts of the nearby Enuk, Juvask boars, and horses overwhelmed his self-awareness, filling his mind with foreign sensations -

A thunderous sound that only he and the most powerful beast walkers could hear, and it was impossible to quiet it.

It was followed by human emotions, a thousand fragmented thoughts mixed together: anger, fear, resentment, coldness, and so on.

Udyr thrust the silver thorn into his palm again and again, and the impact of the metal amplified the pain thousands of times, but he was willing to pay any price to drive away the voices.

Any price!

"Shaman, the War Mother invites you to come!"

The voice outside the tent brought Udyr back to his mind. He looked down at his bloody palm, wiped it hastily, and stood up to go out.

Following the blood warriors in front of him, Udyr came to Sejuani.

Compared with the relaxed atmosphere before, the Winter Claw Warmother looked solemn, sitting on the steel-brided saddle.

Perhaps sensing something, the huge Juvask boar snorted nervously, the ice around its claws shattered, and its huge eyes stared into the darkness.

There, in front of the burning bonfire.

The bear spirit's acolyte waved the bear paw map across his chest, and the many oath-singers around him began to respond.

Countless voices overlapped each other, singing different tones at the same time, creating an unnatural human elegy that resonated harmoniously with the roar of the flames.

This sound made Udyr feel spiritually lost again.

As time passed, Sejuani formed a horn along the woods along the river bank.

Everyone prepared their weapons and waited for the arrival of the bear tribe.

The blood warriors, who were veterans, beat their shields and beat the drums.

This is the custom in the Freljord: you must prove yourself a friend before you lay down your weapons.

Tiny sparks of static electricity began to appear on the warriors' armor, swords, and axes.

Udyr saw the warriors were at a loss for what to do with this strange phenomenon. The arcs continued to jump and wander between their weapons. He could feel their fear.

At the front of the army, Sejuani waved her cloak away.

No doubt reminding their tribe that this war mother is a true ice blood.

The power of ice flows in her blood. Fighting is the only warmth she needs. Even the bear spirit cannot make her afraid.

Udyr followed Sejuani to the edge of the woods, his face stretching and deforming, his teeth stretching outward into huge fangs and then shrinking back to their original shape.

The hair on his skin rippled and flowed all over his body, covering him, and then retreated like the tide in a small inlet, as if responding to some unknown wave.

He growled and barked, and drool dripped from the corners of his mouth.

Suddenly, Udyr's eyes widened and he spoke in a concentrated voice: "They are coming!"

Silence swept everything.

The first bears flashed silently from the shadows between the trees—the wildlings.

Their skin was brown with blood. Their hair was matted with dirt. Some were naked, while others were covered in bear skins or rags.

Next came the beasts, mostly bears, of various sizes and fur colors.

Some of the species Udyr recognized, and some he had never seen before.

They were all once spirit walkers, now trapped in the form of ruthless giant bears.

They had long forgotten that they were once human.

Then came the monsters.

They were all strange hybrids of bears and other creatures, things from legends, nightmares, and folk tales.

And they were all human once.

But now they have been completely devoured by the True Beast Spirit, and no longer have the appearance of normal animals.

The bears stood in a messy row opposite Sejuani's army. They did not pose for attack, did not make any sound, just waiting.

Udyr's rapid breathing gradually slowed down, and his trembling turned into a drowsy sway. He recognized many souls from the opposite line: students, masters, and former oath-singers.

There were clan shamans he met while drinking, and warriors he met on the battlefield.

They had almost no self-awareness left, and most of them had forgotten that they were once human.

Some people even had their souls torn apart, leaving only the only emotion of the Unyielding Bear Spirit, a kind of infinite self-confidence close to rage.

A man walked out of the woods, wearing only a huge crow feather hood and a bear skin cloak.

The Lord of the Hunt!

"Why did you summon us, Winter's Claw?"

"I ask for the power of the bear people." Sejuani took a deep breath and said word by word. "I ask you to fight alongside my tribe, Lord of the Hunt."

The Lord of the Hunt looked at Sejuani, his lifeless eyes motionless in his eye sockets, until he saw Udyr beside him, his eyes flashed with color.

"You asked the wrong person, I just conveyed the voice of Volibear on his behalf."

"As his representative, I can accept your promise-"

"I can't represent him, I'm just his tool." The Lord of the Hunt interrupted her. He seemed to be staring at the distance behind Sejuani.

"Our Lord is with us."

Compared to the others present, Udyr felt its power first.

Those voices, those beast spirits in his mind, those lingering consciousness...all began to weaken.

Even Sejuani, who was close at hand, could not sense it, and the anger and impatience around her disappeared.

The sound of thunder sounded!

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