Some time before that…
Nic went around to every place where the Defense faction had fought earlier.
First, he arrived at Aivar and Fannar's location. Both of them were lying there unconscious.
Nic immediately activated Fusion Health and healed both Fannar and Aivar.
Aivar's broken bones returned to normal. "Uh… I'm really back to normal?"
Fannar opened his eyes and got up. "Yo… your appearance is a bit different, Nic… more terrifying. Thanks for healing us!!"
Nic explained that he was still the same. "Now both of you, head to the highest mountain. Wait until everyone gathers there."
Fannar walked over to Aivar and grabbed his hand to help him up. "Yo, sorry… looks like you got the worst of it after getting slammed by those rocks…"
Aivar just smiled and put an arm around him. "Relax, my friend. That was part of our plan. Now it's time to make them understand."
Seeing them both relaxed, Nic immediately left for the next place—Felicia.
Nic saw Felicia unconscious, sitting while leaning against a tree, with blood marks near her mouth.
Nic sighed. "I made a risky strategy…"
After that, he healed her and gave her energy. Felicia slowly opened her eyes, looking at her hands that still had blood stains from her mouth.
"Am I really okay? Ugh… he hit me really hard," Felicia said.
Nic nodded. "Sorry for putting you through that. You're fine now. Go gather at the highest mountain."
Felicia, who used to be stubborn, let out a small laugh. "Because of this… I realized something. Winnie was never honest. I know deep down she's holding something back behind that wild side."
Nic gently patted her head. "Yeah… you'll be the one to change her later. I'm heading out."
Nic left. Felicia blushed, then quickly headed toward the highest mountain.
---
Nic went to find Fino, but it took quite a while since Fino's location was far—across the sea and unreachable land blocked by orcas.
Eventually, Nic found him. He saw two orcas near the shore—one clearly on the verge of death, and the other staying beside it, holding it in place.
Nic landed and activated God of Animal, interacting with the orca while removing his raven mask.
"Can I heal your partner?" Nic asked.
The orca was shocked—it could clearly understand Nic's words.
"You can speak orca? Humans usually use gestures for us to understand," the orca said as it approached him on land.
Nic smiled and crouched. "Let's just say I care about all animals. So… can I heal your partner?"
The orca looked happy and nodded quickly.
Then it pushed its partner closer to Nic.
Nic was a bit surprised—the injuries were pretty severe. That meant Fino was really that terrifying, even in the ocean.
Nic quickly healed it, though his body felt slightly strained this time since orcas were very different from humans and their wounds were much bigger.
The injured orca slowly began to move again, coming back to life. The two of them swam around happily together.
"Hey, thank that human over there! He's the one who healed you!" said the male orca.
The female orca only responded with gestures, since she didn't know Nic could understand them.
Nic just smiled. "You're welcome."
The female orca was shocked—but Nic had already left, not wanting to stay long.
---
Nic followed the traces of Fino and Cold Orca's battle, but he couldn't find Fino at first.
"Hmm… where is he? Huh?"
Nic noticed a strange pile and started digging—and found Fino buried under the snow.
He quickly pulled him out, healed him, and gave him energy.
"Hey, you okay?" Nic asked while holding Fino's cheeks.
Fino opened his eyes and nodded. "Fuh… I'm used to cold conditions like that. Honestly… can I punch that Cold Orca?"
Nic laughed. "Haha, of course you can. Just follow the plan I told you."
Fino stood up. Usually calm, he now looked irritated after being treated like a useless corpse. He immediately headed toward the highest mountain.
---
Next, Nic went to Veyra's location.
And when he saw her condition… he felt both annoyed and sorry—she was in the worst state.
Nic healed all her wounds until they completely closed. "Veyra…"
Veyra woke up, her expression still cold. "Ah… sorry. At first, I really was going to lose on purpose like you said. But my instincts moved on their own… like they refused to lose, and I kept pushing until I ended up like this."
"No need to apologize. This is all my fault anyway. We could've dominated from the start—"
Nic's mouth was suddenly covered by Veyra's hand.
She looked straight at him. "No. A strategy is supposed to be like this. The easy path exists—but that doesn't mean everything will keep going easily."
Nic laughed—Veyra understood it even better than him.
"In that case, you know the next objective, right?"
Veyra nodded and headed toward the highest mountain.
---
Now Nic prepared for the final place—to save Fang and Bunny.
At the high-caste disposal area…
The men in suits, along with their leader Bjorn, were about to bury Fang and Bunny in the dumping ground.
"Bury those pieces of trash over there," Bjorn said coldly.
Suddenly, the atmosphere turned suffocating.
Bjorn sensed something was wrong. When he turned around…
He saw King Raven, radiating a terrifying aura.
"Kneel." King Raven said coldly.
Instantly, all of them dropped to their knees against their will. Their bodies moved automatically—Nic had activated God of Dictator.
Bjorn panicked. He had never seen someone like this in Northern. He couldn't move his body at all.
King Raven walked over, took Fang and Bunny, healed them, and gave them energy.
Meanwhile, Bjorn and the others were still kneeling.
Fang woke up and stretched his neck. "Hah… we were about to get buried in trash? Damn… what an insult… huh?"
Fang froze when he saw Bjorn and the others kneeling.
Bunny was also confused, but realizing Nic was there, she got cheeky. She crouched in front of Bjorn and lightly flicked his forehead.
"Hey… soon the truth about you and those bastard high-caste people will come out…" Bunny said.
Bjorn looked furious, but his body couldn't resist at all.
Bunny laughed—but Fang quickly picked her up. "Uh, sorry. She's a bit naughty… hey, I'll head there through the secret route you told me."
Fang waved at Nic and left.
Nic then quickly disabled everyone except Bjorn, leaving him the only one kneeling.
Then Nic removed the God of Dictator effect to see his reaction.
The moment Bjorn could move, he tried to run—but Nic instantly appeared beside him and struck his neck, sending him flying into a pile of trash.
"Tell me the location of those bastards hiding the truth," King Raven said coldly.
Bjorn laughed. "HAHA YOU BASTARD! I DON'T CARE! I'D RATHER DIE!"
Nic stayed silent. Then, after some time…
Bjorn's mental state broke. His eyes went empty. Every time King Raven moved, he instinctively flinched, trembling in fear.
Because Nic had been beating him repeatedly—then healing him—over and over until his mind collapsed.
"I could've made you obedient instantly and forced the truth out of you… but wouldn't that be boring? Since you people always prioritize fun over suffering~"
Bjorn immediately begged for mercy and quickly revealed the detailed location of the underground place where the Northern elites were hiding.
King Raven smiled and left, leaving Bjorn curled up, mentally broken.
---
Below the highest mountain, everyone had gathered and was talking when Nic arrived.
"So… are you all ready?" Nic asked.
They all nodded at the same time.
Then Galea fell from above, and they all saw it happen.
"Climb," Nic said.
They all went up, while Nic walked toward Galea.
When Nic looked at her, he saw Galea laughing.
"Hahaha… look, they actually dropped me~" Galea joked.
Nic healed her. "Yeah, thanks for helping. I'll keep my promise to you later."
Galea stood up and wrapped her arm around Nic. "Good boy…"
After that, they prepared to go up as well—but waited for the right timing.
To be continued...