By the time the Winter's Claw and the Avarosans arrived at the foot of the mountain where the Ice Children were stationed, only silence remained between heaven and earth.
"There's almost no one between the sentry posts?"
Looking at the village with its gates thrown wide open, even the battle-hardened Vrynna could hardly believe it.
The Ice Children were like a tumor, one that had been entrenched in the Freljord all this time. Most Iceborn and half-bloods could not stand what they did, devouring anyone who refused to join them down to the bone, which had made their infamy spread far and wide. Yet because they occupied key terrain, the Ice Children could launch raids down the mountain again and again.
There was an old truth to things like this, thieves only needed to act once, while those guarding against thieves had to stay vigilant forever.
Woska, the place where Ashe had grown up, had been destroyed by the Ice Children.
There had only been nine and a half people in that strike team. Even if they could reach the Ice Children's camp, the Ice Children, renowned for their warriors and herders, were not puppets who would simply let a team of fewer than ten people slaughter them.
So why was it so quiet? Why could they still hear nothing even now?
While hurrying through the night, Vrynna had seen the thunder erupting from the mountain peak. But the Ursine were not especially rare in the Freljord, and the Ice Children must have encountered them once or twice before.
Vrynna found it hard to believe, but the facts were right in front of her.
Along the perilous peaks and passes, there was almost no resistance at all. The Iceborn of the two great tribes had reached the summit with absurd ease.
The top of the mountain was a rare stretch of flat land, and it was also where the main elite force of the Ice Children had been stationed.
Aside from the hearthbound who lived on the outskirts and served their daily needs, most of those who lived here were Iceborn.
And now, corpses littered the ground, and blood ran everywhere.
Well... it could not exactly run like a river, because it had all frozen over.
Even so, the stench of blood remained extremely thick in the cold wind, leaving Vrynna and the remaining Iceborn deeply shaken.
One had to understand that these were Iceborn, not warmbloods who were poor at fighting.
Even if they stood still and let someone kill them, they were not something that could be dealt with in a single strike.
Even for the Warmothers of the two tribes, killing one Iceborn in an instant would indeed not be difficult.
But if it was slaughter that lasted an entire night?
Then neither Ashe nor Sejuani could possibly endure it.
Put simply, this was a mana bar problem.
Just how much killing had they done?
Seeing Vrynna somewhat dazed, Caleb could not help frowning.
"Move quickly. Clean up the battlefield."
Sejuani's cold voice pulled the still-stunned Vrynna back to reality, and she quickly called the Iceborn behind her forward.
These bloodstains would probably be almost impossible to wash clean. They could only shovel up the frozen ice blocks directly, then throw them all into the valley.
"This will make a good base."
Ashe looked around in satisfaction. This was also what she and Sejuani had agreed on beforehand, the Ice Children's camp would be handed over to the Avarosan tribe.
"Heh. Don't celebrate too soon. Someone might sneak in and take this camp from you someday."
What had left the deepest impression on Caleb during last night's fierce battle was Udyr.
He had also seen chief shamans fight before, such as Zev, who worshiped the Wildclaw, and Leanna, who worshiped the mammoth.
Generally speaking, a shaman would only receive the favor of one spirit beast.
But Udyr was different. He had the protection of eight spirit beasts.
Wolf, phoenix, two-headed raven, owl, lion, boar, bear, and ram.
Being able to connect with eight kinds of spirit beasts meant that the enemy's spirit shamans had almost all been rendered useless.
The spirit shamans should have been able to rely on the sharp senses of animals to launch the first counterattack, but in the end, only one or two out of ten had been able to display their true strength.
Add Caleb's initial misdirection to that, along with the second wave of dense, booming thunder, and the entire Ice Children tribe had practically fallen into endless confusion and terror.
During the chaotic brawl that followed, they had basically stopped looking at who they were attacking.
Caleb had charged straight at the central command tent and slaughtered everyone around it.
As long as the shouting was louder than the commanding voice, the tribe's chaos would continue.
When the sentries arrived later, the entire tribe was already caught in a state of fighting among themselves.
The reinforcements that joined in were like oil poured onto a fire. They only made the battle even fiercer.
With all kinds of buffs stacked together, Caleb had originally thought they might have to fight fiercely until dawn. In reality, the battle had already ended before daybreak.
"Who would set their sights on this place? You?"
Ashe maliciously nudged Sejuani in the waist with her elbow.
Sejuani responded by lightly knocking Ashe on the head with the horn on her helmet.
"Are you sure these are two tribes that were supposed to start fighting once spring came?"
Looking at these two Warmothers, who were as close as sisters, Caleb could not wrap his head around how they would eventually clash over ideals, to the point of meeting each other with blades drawn.
Perhaps Ashe had also had that kind of dream?
Caleb could not help sinking into thought.
Indeed, the two of them had somewhat conflicting ideas on how their tribes should develop, but that did not mean they had to fight to the death.
Perhaps here in the Freljord, there was an invisible hand behind the scenes, silently manipulating all of this.
Caleb looked at the still-gloomy sky and only felt as though he was being watched in silence.
"Is it just my imagination?"
Caleb withdrew his gaze and smiled at Kai'Sa.
The Ice Children had been dealt with smoothly, and along with that, both the Avarosans and the Winter's Claw now had a rather favorable impression of Caleb.
In other words, the entire western side of the Freljord could now be considered under control.
With the Avarosans and the Winter's Claw united, the entire west could no longer turn the sky upside down.
If even the Ice Children, who were so capable of maintaining a defensive position, had been wiped out, then what hope did those smaller tribes have?
This success was destined to be both a deterrent and a display of strength.
Aside from Frostguard Citadel and Ursine territory, the Freljord was basically now under the rule of these two sisters.
Yet Caleb felt that the long road ahead had only just begun.
"I hope things go smoothly from here on."
The surviving hearthbound did not speak. They simply crawled out silently from the foot of the mountain and from the surrounding tents, then silently knelt on the ground.
Next, they were about to kneel to Caleb and the others.
"Don't kneel!"
Caleb hated seeing this more than anything. The sight alone made him furious.
This was also why he had always disliked Demacia so much.
A thunderbolt suddenly split down from the sky. Amid the rumbling thunder, the hearthbound looked at this man as though he were a god.
"The Ice Children are gone. There's no one here worth kneeling to!"
After Caleb finished saying the line he wanted to say, he clapped his hands in satisfaction and walked aside.
Strictly speaking, these hearthbound would still be split between the Avarosans and the Winter's Claw.
There were also some prisoners of war who had not yet been dealt with.
However, as descendants of the Ice Children, their surrender could only earn them the same treatment as the hearthbound.
They would not be given combat positions.
"I didn't expect things to go so smoothly."
Sejuani looked at that handsome, refined-looking man and immediately fell into thought again.
Had her invitation for him to become her oathfather last time not been formal enough?
Should she choose a good day and have him try a True Ice weapon?
Sejuani was confident that even if her child was not a pure-blooded Iceborn, under her and Caleb's influence, perhaps that child could become the Freljord's first half-blood Warmother.
"Achoo!"
Caleb could not help sneezing, then shivered twice.
"Did I catch a cold?"
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