He concluded at last.
"Vijaya is the most chaotic, and the easiest to take."
"You strike from the south and I from the north, using Trivaxin's occupied territory as the boundary."
"Once both wings are fully developed, this backbone stretching across the continent's northeast will take shape."
"Then, whether we turn south toward Khergit and Saland, or west toward Swadia and Rhodok, we will possess the power to move the continent."
Ragnar listened in silence, wind and snow lashing his sharply defined face.
Zong Shen's analysis was like a precise scalpel.
He peeled apart the tangled situation in the continent's northeast.
Revealing both its tempting fruits and fatal traps.
Even Ragnar had to admit that this young man's vision was sharp and far-reaching, far beyond his expectations.
His grasp of the details of every faction—especially his insight into other people's minds, even the secrets around Ragnar himself—sent a chill through him.
Yet it also made him all the more certain of the value of this gamble.
Vijaya's frozen earth, Avalon's granaries, Trivaxin's downfall... these images intertwined, ultimately becoming the strength in his grip around the Bloodhowl battle-axe.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
The intensity of the second phase remained in a stable period.
With no more demigod-level targets appearing, things became rather boring for Zong Shen.
The biting north wind swept along shards of ice, scraping against the Winter God's mountain-heavy steel deck with sharp rattling sounds.
The iron-gray banner symbolizing Nord royalty whipped wildly atop the mast, stretched taut.
Yet in the middle of the deck, a small patch of utterly out-of-place "spring" had been set up.
A huge square table nailed together from rough logs stood firmly rooted in place.
A thick snow bear pelt covered the tabletop, its edges pinned down