After seeing Peter ‘summon’ the corpse of the Chaos Warhound, Sif had become utterly convinced that he was the gods’ Champion.

And seeing her destiny in front of her, like any good Sarl, she snatched at her opportunity.

Because even though she knew a cow like her could never be Chosen, she was resolved to play a role in the Great Game all the same.

For the addled mind of a true believer in the gods, being a cow for their Champion was an honor in itself.

To win that honor Sif would be as strong as any warrior of Norsca.

Jumping into the meeting she didn’t falter a step and though she didn’t believe the Champion needed assistance, she would say whatever she needed to in order for him to think that she was helping.

The idea of turning the enemies of mankind against each other was not new, though it almost always failed, it was a common tactic attempted almost once in each generation.

Though, the learned scholars in the Empire of Man would outright proclaim that no one should ever turn monster against monster due to the unforeseen consequences and would rightly point out that the views and customs of ‘monsters’ were not like those of Humans, and it was a mistake for a person to assume that they were.

But for Peter, new to this world and with enough fire in his belly to even match a wizard of the Bright Order, his mindset was still simple, and he still considered Beastmen and Orcs as essentially savage humans instead of the entirely different species that they were.

Plus, he reasoned.

They didn’t need many Greenskin, a few thousand would be more than enough for his aims.

As long as there were enough Goblins and Orcs to keep the Warherd busy, Peter could directly [Recruit] thousands of professional soldiers to attack the rest of the herd from any side.

Once the Beastmen were dealt with, naturally the Greenskins would follow them to the grave.

Liking this plan more and more, Peter began questioning Sif for various details.

Are there any Greenskin territories nearby?

How many were there?

How did large Warherds move?

Was it possible to get the groups to fight to the point of battle?

Except for the last question Sif had solid answers about the rest.

She knew where a known Greenskin territory was, though didn’t know exactly how far away it was without looking at a map. Likewise, she didn’t know exactly how many Greenskins there were but knew that the Jarls would avoid the area most of the time – and that signified more enemies rather than less.

Speaking in this way – which sounded more truthful since she wasn’t pretending to hold all the information – she told them that the herds were unpredictable, but the nature of Beastmen made it clear that they would attack any signs of civilization they crossed.

Finally, when asked if the two groups of monsters would fight to the point of battle, Sif laughed and said that ‘as long as it isn’t the cowardly goblins, them orcs won’t turn down a fight.’

And with that answer, after Peter relayed her words to the Marksmen Lieutenants, the crude map given to them by the Norse Dwarfs was brought out and seeing this, Sif pointed to an area roughly aligned to where the Dwarfs had indicated.

Norsca was a land of tall mountains with valleys of all sizes and pointing to an area probably a 100 miles away, Sif said: “This land is called the Trollheim.”

Then seeing the obvious question mark on Peters face, she continued and pointing to a specific area, Sif said: “Trolls and Greenskins will often times live nearby one another, they fight and eat each other, but no more than they fight and eat their own kinds.”

Indicating that he understood, he asked somewhat hesitantly: “Could you take me to this area? I know it won’t be easy, but I would protect you.”

With a light flashing in her eye, Sif nodded that she could bring him there.

Grinning to her words and relaying the information to the Marksmen present – as they didn’t speak Kislevite he had to translate – they agreed that it was a temping strategy, and after a bit more discussion Peter gave his orders.

“We’ll need more Beastman corpses for the ruse to work, I’ll head back to the Warherd and pick a few off, then come back.”

Not listening to his men’s objections to that, nor to their proclamations that he should take Lezalit or a group of Marksmen along, Peter ended it by commanding them all to get together the best of the men in camp and to train them on how to be either Captains or Lieutenants.

In the battle that was shaping up, it would be impossible to have just a mass of thousands of soldiers taking to the field.

So, the plan was relatively simple.

“While Sif and I stir up a conflict, you all will start training up whoever in camp can learn to lead.” Then turning to Lezalit he said: “Congratulations, you’ve just been promoted to Major.

Until Father Anderson arrives, you’re in charge of the camp and any potential promotions have to be signed off by you. Understood?”

Of course, the military title of ‘Major’ didn’t exist in Calradia, but after hearing the responsibilities, Lezalit knew he was being selected for higher leadership and so saluted with a serious look on his face.

“I’ll do you proud and whip them into shape, my Lord.”

Accepting the man’s salute, Peter decided not to waste any time I directly left the tent.

He hadn’t taken more than 3 steps before another voice called out to him: “Lord Ivankov, before you go, I’d just like to have a word!”

Turning his head, Peter saw Vara and told her that time was of the essence, and to hurry.

“I… I just don’t think you should listen to that Nord… I don’t have proof of anything, but I can just tell that she’s scheming…” seeing Peter not speak, Vara hurried and continued: “You know how we all came here? Sir Peter, my life was spent in one mercenary camp after another, and I know what it sounds like… but living that kind of life forces you to learn how to read people.

And she’s just not good.”

Listening to Vara speak, Peter was neither annoyed at her nor moved by her argument.

He knew Vara had also been listening in to the meeting, but he didn’t stop her, or any of the others ‘conveniently’ standing near the tent, since there was no secret being discussed.

They were discussing an attack against the Beastmen, and it was literally impossible for any of the Calradians to be on the side of those man-eating monsters.

When it came to Vara in particular, he didn’t know whether she was jealous of Sif or not, but he didn’t think that was it.

No, he thought that Vara probably really did have bad vibes when it came to the rescued Sarl woman.

But so, what?

Looking at his lover for a long few seconds, Peter admired her brown hair and while looking into her blue eyes, started to say: “The Warherd we saw was over 10 thousand strong, we could defeat them, but it would cost the lives of thousands.”

After saying this, Peter walked closer to Vara and explained lowly that he had given thought on how to destroy the Beastmen without any sort of schemes, but the only way to he believed that they could win was by Recruiting more and more soldiers while they lost people by the hundred.

So, it was possible to beat the Beastmen, but not at a price that Peter was willing to easily pay.

Hearing this and understanding his reasoning from, despite her misgivings, the Camp Defender said that she understood and thanked him for hearing her concern.

Of course, Peter knew he would always have the final say – perhaps his confidence came due to the [Super Soldier Serum] – but that didn’t mean he would never allow anyone to question him.

So long as that ‘anyone’ didn’t become ‘everyone’, he fundamentally believed that a leader should be approachable and inspire confidence as far as he was able.

Having set the record clear with Vara, Peter didn’t hesitate any longer.

After making sure his Inventory was mostly empty, and the Leviathan Axe was secure on his back, he dashed off into the wilderness.

Moving like the wind, if Peter had to say which of his new abilities was the most pronounced it wouldn’t be his 5,000lb strength, his ability to run 60pmh, his bullet-speed reaction time, nor even his increased memory and problem-solving skills.

No, while all of that was incredible, Peter reckoned that his pure endurance was actually the ability that he could most hang his hat on.

To put it simply, since the very first day that he arrived in this new world and selected the [Super Soldier Serum] in a rush, Peter had never felt physically ‘exhausted’.

And after that first week he had never even felt mentally exhausted, either.

This was what he believed allowed him, a mere high-school graduate and former brewery worker, to gain a vast new skillset in just the period of 7 months or so.

It was true that now he never forgot anything that he didn’t want to, but even that was only useful so far as his mind and body could keep going.

Definitely, he still needed sleep, but with just 4 hours of sleep each night he was fully rested.

And for how long he could go without sleep? Well, he was about to find out.

Running over the hills without having Lezalit to worry about and already having seen the way once before, Peter crossed the distance in just over 2 hours.

Looking over the wide valley, Peters eyes had long adjusted to the darkness.

Besides the huge central fire there were smaller bonfires scattered here and there with figures all around. By now it was somewhat late into the night, and while the Herd was still more or less active, it had died down a lot compared to before.

Seizing this opportunity, Peter crouched down to get closer.

Relying on his senses he ducked and weaved, killing Gors and Ungors by breaking their necks, and generally doing his best to not be seen.

There was smoke everywhere, and the air stank of animal musk and burning greenery – which would often pop loudly adding to the noise of thousands of Beastmen.

His goal was to get roughly 50 corpses, and things were going well until he felt the ground begin to shake.

It wasn’t the pop from the fires, it was something else.

Boom

Boom

Boom

Crouching even lower, Peter stayed as close to the disgusting ground as he dared to, but the bangs were getting closer.

Before he ran off, like a mouse in the shadows that you could only barely see from the corner of your eye, Peter saw the outline of a monstrous creature.

A Chaos Giant.

Standing perhaps 20 feet in height, it was over 3 times taller than Peter was.

And while he couldn’t make out the finer details, what Peter could see before hightailing it out of there were the beasts massive horns and the massive club it held in his hands.

Even more sure of his plan to use the Greenskins now, Peter kept moving and heading for the tree line he heard a rustle coming from the brush.

Steadying his breathing, he continued to crouch, but now he instinctively grabbed the Leviathan Axe off his back.

He didn’t do so for any other reason than it felt ‘right’ but sneaking closer to the rustling noise, he was glad he had.

There in the woods were 2 Minotaur who for some reason were torturing a trio of Ungors.

Not caring to make sense of why the Minotaur were doing this, or what could be the reason that they were in the woods and not in the valley, all Peter saw was the crème de la crème, the 2 corpses that would really go good with his plan.

Holding the Leviathan Axe tightly, Peter inched forwards.

The backs of Minotaur were towards him, and though the Ungor seemed to be looking in his direction, he couldn’t be bothered with them for now.

Closer and closer.

Just in range for a surefire kill…

Pulling his arm back for a throw, the Minotaur who was about to strike one of the Ungors was caught off guard by another one of his victims grunts.

Turning around in a flash, the Beastman was fast, but not faster than the Leviathan Axe.

Seeing the Beastman turn around, Peter didn’t hesitate and with a massive throw he started booking it to the others.

Not 2 seconds after the axe split one of the monsters head in two, Peter dove on the other beast, sending a flailing kick to the Ungor that grunted – directly caving the side of its skull in and killing it.

Despite his own human size, Peter was about 3 times stronger than the Minotaur, but the creatures size and his desire to keep the corpse mostly intact made it awkward as he grabbed at the things neck to stop it from bellowing out.

Receiving punches and scratches all across his face and arms, it was the first time that Peter had been bloodied despite all that he had been through.

Finally getting behind the monster, he wrapped his right arm around its neck and with his left hand controlled its muzzle.

It was only when he was about to be completely swung off did, he finally got a good position, and with one powerful yank a loud wet ‘pop’ was heard, and the Minotaur stopped resisting.

Breathing heavily and wincing at the smell, because now he thoroughly smelled like a Minotaur, Peter turned to look at the 2 remaining Ungors.

They looked at him with clear fear, and now he realized that these looked slightly more human than most of the others that he had seen.

One even seemed to be begging.

But by now Peter had seen too much to show mercy, and extending his hand, the Leviathan Axe returned to him.

Without even thinking twice, he killed the 2 mutants just like that.

Peter was capable of mercy, but when he said: “Suffer not the Monster to Live…” he meant just that.

Storing away all the corpses, Peter continued on his way.

The entire trip to the Warherd and back took him 12 hours of running as fast as he could.

It was well into the night, but there was Sif, still awake and waiting for him.

Seeing her ready to go, he nodded and bending his back over slightly said: “Jump on.”

Without needing another word, Sif did just that while smiling. Not mentioning his smell or anything else, she just pointed her arm to the right and said: “We go that way, my Jarl.”

And off they went.