The frontier is in shambles

Getting over the fast-flowing river before us wasn't much of a challenge. I just walked right through and Sven flew over it. On the other side, I stepped on a giant road. This thing was so broad and sturdy that it seemed somewhat out of place.

'Why is there a road all the way out here?'

"You don't know? This is the Bifröst, the rainbow road."

'Looks pretty grey to me... Where's the rainbow?'

"Originally, this road began in Asgard and should end in Midgard. It was made with rainbow-colored crystals to show the Aesir's superiority but even they couldn't sustain the expanse. Halfway through they went to war with the Jotuns and redirected the road to Jotunheim. It's become a border between the volcanic mountains and your forest."

'Those Aesir really did put a lot of importance on boasting about their financial prowess. They have a golden city, a giant fortress, and now a crystal rainbow road.'

"Yeah, that golden city is not so golden anymore."

'Really? I feel there is a story behind this. Do tell!'

"Magni, Thor's son, wanted to obtain your lightning origin fruit. He was only a newly minted grand duke magus and thought he could break through to king magus early with it. He feared Völsung's interference and paid a huge sum of gold to bribe all of us to stay out of it."

'Did he succeed? I can hardly imagine him being unable to get new gold after becoming a king magus.'

"Well, he didn't account for Ratatoskr's strength. He marched up with the empire's remaining elites and attacked Ratatoskr when he tried to get the fruit. More than 2000 spells crashed into that squirrel and it didn't even get a scratch. They did royally piss him off though. Ratatoskr went into a frenzy and wiped out half the Aesir present, including Magni. Throughout the whole thing, that monster got hit by so many attacks but remained completely unharmed. Actually, do you know what level he is at?"

'I have no clue. Rat's definitely on par with a king magus but if it really ate all those apples, he might be a lot stronger now.'

Just at that moment, a red flare burst in the skies to the north.

"This is bad! Majorly bad!"

'Why, what's happening?'

"That flare is the distress signal from the frontier. Red means the main defense line has been breached and the reserves don't think they can hold on for long. We have to go there right away! You are faster than me, go ahead. We can't let the undead get out!"

That serious?

I was a bit uneasy after Sven's words. I jumped up into the sky and summoned my innate understanding of lightning.

'Electric moon! The crackling current flows past all places you shine upon. I am the current and my existence is omnipresent below the heavens. Lightning domain, shift!'

I could feel the fabric of the world ripple as my domain spread out around me. In the blink of an eye, the surroundings around me had changed and I was only a short distance away from where the flare had come.

I was still in the air and could see the chaos below. The main defensive line was still roughly visible.

Due to the mountainous terrain, the undead were driven to certain chokepoints where a valley let them pass the otherwise unpassable, natural barrier.

This place was one such valley and a makeshift wall had been built to hold them back.

From the air, however, I noticed a fatal flaw in the wall's defensive capabilities. There was a gaping hole in the wall and masses of undead were charging through. Above the broken part of the wall, I spied the perpetrators of this catastrophe.

Two figures in gray cloaks were giving of eerie vibes while fighting a human king magus. Evidently, the two undead king magi held the upper hand in the whole fight and one of them had probably used this opportunity to blast the wall.

Behind the breached wall, the reserve forces were desperately trying to contain the mass of undead. However, the undead fought without concern for their own body and wore down those few reserve troops quickly.

This was really bothersome! I was now on a higher level than in my previous life and most of the spells I knew wouldn't be able to bring out my full strength. The only spell I knew was a fundamental domain application. The signature move of mages in the grey empire, moon domain.

It couldn't be helped. Domain application was very useful due to its variety. Before, I had used my lightning domain to move here at an incredible speed. Now I needed to turn this battle around.