"C... carried away?"

What do you mean carried away? -- was what Lorei wanted to say. The market that was previously filled with items was now showered by the blood and guts of her kind. What if she didn't say anything, would Van have continued his massacre?

Lorei was a little confused. The forest giant had a point, Van was the only one who saw the old man and there was a possibility that Van lied and that he himself was the one who blew up the River's gate. But why did he stop when Lorei told him to? And in the first place, why did he tell her not to stand up, if not to accidentally kill her along with the others?

Lorei was at a loss for words; and when she finally had something to say, her eyes wandered towards an arm that was scattered near her. And without even a second, she quickly recognized the tattoo that was printed on it. It was a unique tattoo, highly recognizable by even children.

It was a tattoo of a 6-legged horse. Her initial theory was right. She wondered why there were fewer giants here than usual, it turns out that these people were part of an army called the Sleipner.

They were a gathering of giants that wanted to overthrow the Aesirs. And judging by the weapons they were holding earlier, they have probably overthrown the local base of the dwarves, forcing them to make weapons.

If so, then all of these giants were highly trained combatants-- trained to defeat the Aesir. But if a whole army of them couldn't even last even a minute against Van, a High Human, how would they even expect to match up against an Aesir?

Was all of their training meaningless? Or was Van just... too strong?

Lorei then once again looked at Van, who now, for some reason, casually walking towards the field of blood he created, stopping every now and then as if he was grabbing something from the empty air.

Lorei was seeing empty air, Van's eyes, however, were currently shining. He could see God Souls all over the place, as each othe the giants he killed seemed to have one. He tried to see if a window will pop up in front of him once he absorbed one, but his System was still nonexistent.

He could feel himself absorbing the God Soul, and he could also feel himself getting stronger-- the same feeling as him distributing his Status Points, but this time, it felt random. His System's absence, was it because he was in a completely different universe?

But if that was the case, then it should have also been different whenever he entered Portals to the Olympians' world.

No, his System is not important right now, Van thought as he started absorbing the remaining God Souls that were scattered all over the place. Does this mean that the giants were actually also gods? If so, why were they so weak? Is it because they have been suppressed by the Aesirs for more than a thousand years? When Artemis and Athena still had their God Souls, their strength was almost immeasurable.

Van doesn't even know where he is, and more and more questions keep popping out. If only there was someone like Athena or Angela here with him right now who seemed to have all the answers for him. With this thought, Van could not help but look towards his current companion, who seemed even more confused than him for some reason.

"Are you alright?" With Van finally absorbing all of the God Souls, he removed the roots and vines that covered his body like armor and approached the dazed Lorei, "Did you... perhaps knew anyone here?"

"N... no," Lorei stuttered as she finally gained the strength to stand up, "They're a part of a private army known around these parts."

"An... army?" Van blinked a couple of times as he looked at the wreck he made, before looking up to look at Lorei, "Are they a big one?"

"Yes," Lorei nodded without any hesitation, "They are perhaps Jotunheim's only army, there are probably hundreds of thousands of them."

"Hm," Van slightly squinted his eyes. He doesn't know how big Jotunheim is exactly, but considering the time they used to get from the hamlet of the Ash tribe, as well as the River, it was probably as big as a continent back in his world as there seemed to be a lot more to explore. It made sense that their secret army would be at that number.

"But Van... are you really not the one who blew up the gate of the River?"

"No," Van could not help but blink a couple of times from Lorei's question, "Why would I even do that? I needed to get to the other realms to find my friends. Besides, if I planned to blow it up, why would I need you to guide me there in the first place? Wouldn't someone who planned to blow it up have a map of some kind already?"

"...Right."

Hearing Van's reasons, Lorei could only let out a sigh as she nodded firmly, "Sorry for doubting you, High Human Van. I hope you do not take it against me."

"...Not at all," Van also let out a sigh, "Sorry for killing your kind."

"It's... alright. They deserved it for threatening a Vanir."

"I... see. You seem to really worship Vanirs," Van could not help but slightly be taken aback by Lorei's words.

"Of course. Even with them having the same strength as the Aesirs, they do not treat us like we're any lesser," Lorei let out a small smile, "And the members of the Sleipner are not really that welcomed here, as they usually think they're above all of us. They think that we're fine with just letting the Aesir treat us like this... and now that I have seen what you did to them, it would seem that our ancestors were right to fear and follow them."

"You know... I really am not one of the Vanirs, Lorei," Van then let out a long and deep sigh as he looked her straight in the eyes, "I came from another universe, I didn't die in Midgard and was resurrected into a High Human."

"Other universe? You have a very vivid imagination, High Human Van." Lorei shook her head adamantly, "You are probably just confused. I have heard that some humans who have recently become a Vanir would lose his memories."

"Are newly awakened High Humans capable of doing what I did just now?"

"That's..." Lorei could not help but slightly furrow her eyebrows from Van's words, "You might be a very special High Human, then? Maybe even a full Vanir!?"

"..." Seeing the excited look on Lorei's face elevate even further, the only thing that Van could do was shake his head and sigh. It would seem there was no getting through to her head, "How long until the Branch gets here? Although I do want to wait for Sleipnir's retaliation, finding my friends comes first."

"Any minute now, I reckon," Lorei said as she carefully stepped over the remains of the members of Sleipnir, "We could buy something to eat while we wait, but... as you can see."

Lorei once again let out a sigh as she pointed towards the stalls in the market. There weren't any more people, as they all ran away as soon as Van started killing the members of the Sleipnir. "But don't worry, we can just buy one on the Branch."

"...There are stalls in the Branch?"

"Oh yes," Lorei excitedly nodded her head, "You need to try Alfheim's dragon fruit, they melt right on your-- Ah, it's coming!"

Lorei did not really need to tell Van, as the sound of the horn that suddenly whistled through the air almost pierced his ears from how loud it was. Van then quickly looked towards the horizon in which this side of Jotunheim ended, only to see something colossal approaching them from the right side of the almost endless horizon.

Van could not help but widen his eyes in awe from the sight. It almost made him feel nauseous, as the Branch was probably the biggest object he had ever seen in his life-- probably even bigger than Jotunheim itself, except elongated in nature.

It didn't help that it was approaching them. There was this sudden sense of fear inside Van; what if the Branch hits Jotunheim? However, he quickly shook the thought from his head as the Branch gently and slowly stopped in front of them, its edge growing and attaching itself to the edges of Jotunheim.

"You're telling me... Midgard is at the end of this long Branch?"

"Yes," Lorei nodded, "That's why every other Realm can visit Midgard if they wish, but the reverse could not be said the same. We can wait after the influx of visitors steps off... but I don't really want to be seen surrounded by corpses."

"...Right, let's go."

The two quickly rushed inside as the people that were on the Branch started stepping out. Van could not help but slightly slow his steps as he looked at all the different races that revealed themselves to him. However, even with all the rainbow of races, the one that looked awfully normal was the one that most captured Van's attention-- a human.

If he didn't see it back in Africa, then he probably wouldn't have recognized her. She looked a lot younger now for some reason, but Van was sure it was her as he saw her younger self in a video back when he was in Africa.

And seeing the look of shock she was giving to Van, she recognized him too.

It was Charlotte.