Chapter 188 – Legend of the Snow Monster

The decision to think about buying more clothes while in Dalaran was so wise.

Jace hadn’t felt anything for most of the day traveling along Lake Lordanmere, and by the time he reached up to the snowy peaks of the Outlander in the afternoon, reaching out to feel the wind blowing in his face, Jace already had a somewhat ominous feeling.

After passing the abandoned Waddus Post, which rests on a cliff, the caravan followed a river of melting snow that runs straight into Lodenmühl towards the summit.

As they got deeper and deeper into the Otterbank Valley, the snow drifting down from the mountaintops had gradually formed an uninterrupted snowstorm, and the air currents rolling around the mountain were so wild and fast that they blew the pine forests on the mountainside with an uncontrollable whimpering whine.

The whole caravan was traveling so hard that Jace was still sitting in the car and then had to get out and walk on his own as well.

He would have had to help push the cart as well as Grider if his shoulder injury hadn’t healed.

But it wouldn’t have cost anything to follow the church’s caravan, and they were just there to be able to have company.

The journey from Dalaran to the city of Outlander wasn’t too far, but it was a path filled with all sorts of hardships.

If two people climbed the mountain once something went wrong, they would probably lose their lives. It was much safer to have a group of priests helping out, and the priests welcomed as many travelers as possible to join the group, after all, fewer and fewer people were trying to get to the city of Outlander these days. Looking ahead at the narrow path up the mountain, the crags and snowy valleys around them, Jace thought to himself that if an ogre or a pack of frostwolf orcs jumped out from the side it would be a killer.

But other than the frozen bodies found on the hillside, nothing else disturbing has appeared, at least until now.

The ogre seems to have not been able to enter this snowy mountain, and the Frost Wolf Clan …… of the power of the Ottoman group of mountains is still struggling for survival, and the probability is that it will not risk attrition to clash head on with this kind of dozens of travel groups.

During the night, the caravan rested in a naturally occurring cave halfway up the mountain, and it was only after entering that Jace noticed the many words written on the walls of this place.

There was Dwarven, there was Elvish, and of course the most common language, but there were many of these common language scripts that Jace didn’t recognize at all.

The Outlander Mountains are one of the oldest abodes of mankind, and after the human tribes of Arash were unified, the first battle of foreign conquest was against the human tribes of the Outlander Mountains.

The war between the tribes of Alasor and the tribes of the Outlander is one of the main historical memories of human civilization, and the most famous legend from that war is undoubtedly that of Emperor Thoradin versus the leader of the Outlander, Ignus, a mythical duel that laid down the main map of the vast empire.

Otterbank has witnessed the rise and fall of mankind, and at one time she could almost be said to be the holy mountain of all mankind.

It was only with the splitting of the Alassor Empire away from this mountain group of Kul Tiras, the Storm Kingdom’s unwillingness to emphasize their heritage ties to their northern counterparts, and the unwillingness of either Lordaeron, Gilneas, or even Outlander itself to be bound by the notion of a unified great empire symbolized by the mountain range that the meaning gradually fell into oblivion.

Over the past ten years, countless travelers had left their mark on this ancient mountain road from the Dalaran region to the city of Outlander, and this cave seemed to have become a stagecoach-like existence.

“I’ve heard that the Wendigo of Outlander inhabits caves like this one, Jace.” Grid leaned into the corner and whispered, “Do you think it’s possible that this cave has been inhabited by Wendigo before?”

“How should I know, I’ve never climbed the snowy mountains of Otterland.” Jace replied in a small voice, shaking his cloak.

Most of the people in the cave had already packed up, each hiding among their clothes and luggage in preparation for rest, and at this point there was hardly a sound of movement in the cave, except for the occasional sound of the wind blowing in from outside.

“Wait another ten days or so when this road is completely impassable, Dwarf.” A reclining priest sitting next to him whispered, “This will be a wendigo’s dwelling place, we’re just borrowing it for a while while they don’t need to hide here.”

“The kingdom of Otterland has ruled this mountain for ten years and has yet to conquer the snow monsters that come here?” Grid asked.

“Conquer?” The priest coughed and asked, “You can conquer a country, but can you conquer the wolves of Cajun Modan?”

“That is, you think the Wendigo is a beast.” Grid said.

“There are certainly differences between a Wendigo and a Coyote.” The priest said, “But the differences between them may not be as great if compared to us.”

“But as far as I know.” Grid moved his butt toward the priest and said curiously, “The ancestors of both humans and wendigo were ancient giants who lived in Tirisfa and Arash.”

“A load of crap.” The priest sat up and said, “Not only do yetis have lots of long hair all over their bodies, but they also have goat-like horns on their heads, and the air they exhale can even freeze your hair …… Humans don’t have any of those features at all, especially the horns and the hoof-cold breath that borders on magical ability. “

The Dwarf said, “It is nothing strange that you have gained wisdom and your kin have stronger and taller flesh that allows them to adapt to the snowy mountains and wild lands. It is as if I and my black iron kin were like us, we grow tall and they have dark skin ……”

The priest sighed helplessly and said, “Have you ever heard of Thoradin the Great, the Barbarian Hammer Dwarf?”

The dwarf said, “Of course I know!”

The priest says, “When Emperor Thoradin fought Ignus in a duel on these mountains, he won the final victory with the holy sword Stormcar in his hand. This sword, also known as the Sword of the Giants, is the very same legendary sword crafted by the giants who walked Alahi in ancient times. And the Yeti hasn’t built a real weapon even to this day, could it be that the giants have evolved from generation to generation but have become more and more wannabe stupid?”

Grid nodded, “That’s …… true, but change doesn’t necessarily mean getting stronger, like those giants getting shorter and turning into you guys, getting stupid and turning into wendigos, or something like that.”

“Ah …… dwarves.”

The priest sighed and looked to have conceded defeat on the topic.

“However, the reason why there are still Wendigo’s here is not because the humans here haven’t driven them away, but because the kingdom of Otterlake has …… ceased to exist, and the Wendigo’s, the wildlings, have returned here, and I’ve heard that there are also orcs who have taken advantage of this opportunity to hide in the mountains. Perhaps some still believe that the kingdom still exists, but from what I have seen, the city of Outlander is on the verge of collapse, and more than two thirds of the people left wherever they were when the war ended, heading to surrounding villages and towns, to Lordaeron, or further afield, such as Aelwyn and Gilneas.”