The next morning came but the sky was still overcast. The heavy rains didn''t stop.


    "Pack everything essential. Don''t overburden yourselves," back in his human disguise, Ragnar ordered the women around.


    The battle between Thor and Jormungandr grew heated and the land tremors more intense. The dvergar Lorekeeper wasn''t trusting that Hereford''s hundred-sixty feet above sea level would keep the human city dry. They needed to get to high ground faster.


    "We need to go hiking. If we aren''t a hundred feet higher than we are now by nightfall, we are all doomed!" He shouted.


    In the living room, Sylvie was tying a few trunks together to make a gigantic backpack.


    "Are you sure you can carry this?"


    The Lorekeeper scoffed, "In my normal shape? Easily. I''ve used the Magic Cores of the monsters, I''m full of mana again."


    Half an hour later, they left Sylvie''s house. Ragnar in all his dvergar glory, Sylvie with the princess strapped in some sort of baby carrier that kept her close to the chest, the triplets, and their mother. all of them had a water protection spell on them. On the front lawn, he hefted the massive pack by the ropes and passed his arms around the straps. After a few tugs and jumps, he was certain that Sylvie''s knots would hold their luggage. He grabbed his battle-ax and the group started to walk under the heavy and cold rain.


    Jormungandr''s tail was dominating the sky to the east and south. Their plan was to walk northeast along the A438 and hike eleven miles to Blakemere today. After camping in the parish, they would go to Moccas Park and settle on the highest spot around there, at comfortable nine hundred feet of altitude.


    "You''re tall for a dwarf!" Crystal said with admiration.


    "Thanks."


    "I thought that dwarves..." Kelly mused but was cut off by her older sister.


    Sylvie silenced her little sister with a glare, "Kelly, the short stout folk are gnomes. Don''t bother Mr. Ragnar."


    Ragnar chuckled spiritedly. Dvergar''s ratio of male to female is around four hundred to one. Going on a journey with this many females was refreshing for the old Lorekeeper. He went ahead to remove the dead bodies from the girls'' path. A lot of humans died. The odds that the women knew these people were great, this town was not that big. A few dead froskakrisly too. He removed their cores before tossing the bodies over fences and inside buildings.


    The shops were raided, especially grocery stores and supermarkets. Sylvie made a point of stopping at a drugstore and loot some off-the-counter medicine. Clever girl. Stocking up on medicine would surely pay off. They did find some "energy-bars", which was just a fancy name for high-calorie processed food and not really energy in the way Ragnar thought of.


    When he found more dead froskakrisly, he was sure of it. That meant a few humans awakened magical powers. Without imbuing a weapon, killing these was impossible. Good for Midgard. They needed to learn how to defend themselves fast if they wanted to survive. And get to higher ground, because Jormungandr would flood the lowlands.


    The massive serpent lived in Midgard but not in the physical realm. That''s why these humans never saw the beast. But now it was slowly phasing into this dimension as Thor wounded it more and more. Upon its death, the twenty-five thousand miles long serpent will crash into the physical ocean and cause two things. One, displace water and flood the lowlands. Two, poison the oceans with its blood. It will take thousands of years to cleanse the water enough for life to return. Humanity needed to survive that long.


    Princess Hesliheidr needed to survive that long. All else was secondary.


    They left the city and started to hike along the highway. Ragnar had twelve cores, a fortune considering the mana levels in Midgard. Rising, truly, but still abysmal. The way was fortunately free of other humans. There was no reason to linger around.


    Six miles and as many hours out of the city, they reached the side road that would take them to bridge Sollers. The nearby river Wye, however, decided against that. The day of heavy rains everywhere caused the river to flood and destroy the bridge.


    Sandra, Sylvie''s other, pointed back, "There''s a church here. we could camp and find another way to cross the river tomorrow."


    "No. Too close to the river," Sylvie said. "A flash flood could wash us away in our sleep."


    "Let''s go there to eat lunch, at least. Lord Ragnar?"


    "Agreed. Let''s rest and plan our next move. Crossing over is impossible. We need to find another spot."


    The church was empty and locked. To Ragnar, the flimsy wooden door needed just a little nudge to break open. They settled on the pews and Sylvie spread a map of Hereford on the altar after praying for forgiveness.


    "There''s Garnon''s Hill two miles from here," She suggested to the dvergar. "It sits two hundred feet lower than our intended destination, but as you said, there''s no way we''re crossing the Wye."


    "Can we make it there today?" Ragnar was skeptical of these women''s endurance. They walked too slow and complained all the time. A troop of dwarven warriors would''ve run twenty laps around the same distance in the time they took to reach this church.


    "Sure. It''s only two miles. A third of what we walked already."


    "But it is uphill."


    "There''s a camping cabin up there. I bet sleeping on clean linens will motivate everyone," Sylvie commented.


    "Then there''s our destination for today. I don''t think two hundred feet will make any difference," Ragnar commented.


    it would be better to go the distance and climb some taller hills, but that''s what they had to work with. Even the dvergar would be troubled to cross the river, even alone. He couldn''t risk the princess''s life. All else was secondary.


    They ate and rested for half an hour. The girls complained a bit but he was adamant they should loot the church. They found some cushions and blankets in a storeroom. Ragnar was sure the building would be washed away by the river if the rains continued for a few more days and with Thor''s ongoing battle with Jormungandr, that was almost granted. The titanic struggle between the thunder god and his nephew was supposed to destroy Midgard, after all.


    One mile on the highway and they turned right on a side road, past a smaller roadside chapel, and into a narrow path that was still covered in "asphalt". Grasslands and a few sparse birch trees dotted the rural landscape. Sylvie guided them through the bifurcations. At the foot of the hill, they found a computer shop.


    "I bet they have a generator. We should come back to check tomorrow," Sylvie commented.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    As they climbed the packed dirt road uphill, Ragnar kept an eye out for any monsters. Now that whatever kept mana out of Midgard was breached, they would start to spawn. He would have to train these women in spellcasting, hand-to-hand combat, and imbuing weapons if they would be more than a drain on their resources.


    He wasn''t looking down on these humans. They helped him and Sylvie trusted him right away. He half-expected her to scream and do something stupid when he revealed his true form. Now he can see how silly he was to underestimate these humans.


    Yes, that''s what he would do. Turn these women into princess Hesliheidr''s honor guard. The legacy of an entire realm rested on the young dvergar''s survival.


    Halfway to the cabin, they found an abandoned vehicle. Steam rose from the front. Sylvie approached it and looked through the glass windows.


    "This car was recently abandoned. There''s nobody around so the driver and passengers should be somewhere around here."


    "Milady, do you think they went to the same cabin as us?" Ragnar asked.


    "Probably, yes. The cabin is somewhat famous around here. They were featured in a big newspaper last year, and it boomed in popularity," she answered. "It was a hunting lodge in the first half of the last century, and then an old widow lived there until she died. A rental company bought it and put it up for rent after renovating it."


    Ragnar was worried. They needed the cabin, and they would have it even if he had to evict the humans that got there before them. The nine realms were a harsh place, especially during a crisis. And there will never be a bigger crisis than Ragnarok. He glanced over his shoulder. The titanic serpent was still under constant fire by lightning. Somewhere in this world, Thor was surely hitting it on the head with Mjollnir.


    The rain and constant earthquakes were but a byproduct of their struggle.


    "Get in the vehicle. I''ll need to lift the spell keeping the rain off of you," Ragnar ordered.


    "What are you going to do?"


    "Scout."


    The humans boarded the vehicle with the princess. Ragnar removed the tied up luggage from his back. Although he could hike carrying it forever, he would prefer a bit more mobility during combat. As he turned to go, Sylvie called him back.


    "Ragnar!"


    She showed him a glass tube with a spherical bulb. The bulb had an opening. By the way, Sylvie was distressed, it was bad news.


    "What''s wrong. What is that thing?"


    She tossed it out of the vehicle along with a few bags made of... what''s the name? Plastic.


    "That''s a meth pipe, Ragnar. It is bad, very bad. It means the people that rode in this vehicle used it."


    "What is ''meth''?"


    She thought for a while before answering, "A poison people use to hallucinate. We call it a ''drug''."


    "And drugs are bad, I presume."


    "You bet. Whoever came here is not a good person."


    Ragnar nodded. "I''ll be careful," he said trying to keep his expression neutral.


    He was already intending on forcefully evicting whoever was up in the cabin. Now that they were drug users? It would be easier to explain to them. Ragnar was sure the human women would frown upon killing others. Their society was too peaceful. They weren''t prepared for a total collapse like this one.


    The Lorekeeper placed concealment wards around the ''car''. It would cloak the vehicle against those that couldn''t sense magic. Monsters like the froskakrisly wouldn''t be fooled but he sensed no miasma around the hill. Monsters depended on miasma to spawn and live. Miasma was produced naturally in the Lower Realms and artificially whenever great suffering took place. That was one of the reasons why the town wasn''t safe anymore. With that many human deaths and the survivors'' anguish, dozens of monsters would spawn there.


    The other reason was that in a few hours or days, the entire town will be underwater. Then this whole valley would be too salty to grow any plants for centuries.


    With the vehicle hidden by his ward, Ragnar used body enhancement magic on himself. Make him faster, stronger, sturdier. The humans'' guns might have no effect on the froskakrisly but Ragnar was as much flesh and blood as the inhabitants of Midgard. He had no doubt a well-placed shot from these guns would kill him.


    With stealth that wasn''t compatible with his massive body, the dvergar made his way up. Once he came around a bend in the road, he saw the cottage. It was a two-story building made of glazed bricks with a tall double chimney. One of the pipes was letting smoke out. As he approached, he saw what Sylvie meant.


    The cottage was well-decorated, with a stone table and an open-air bath. It had an entrance to the lower floor downhill and another access to the upper floor uphill.


    He heard voices inside. The occupants were talking nonsense and he picked up the scent of the drugs. As he approached the window to look inside, one of the occupants leaned to spit at the exact moment Ragnar was underneath.


    "What the fu--"


    Ragnar grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and tossed him downhill into a copse of trees. He heard the sound of bones breaking and a grunt.


    "Jack, what is wrong, dude?"


    Another human approached the window. This one reeked of drugs. He looked outside but didn''t see Ragnar. The dvergar was glued to the wall to the side, behind the wooden shutter.


    "Fuck! Somehow Jack ended up in the trees below!" The man shouted inside. He probably saw his companion crumpled against the trees.


    He tried to count the voices. Three humans, one male, and two females. He went around the cottage corner and crouched. He kept one eye around the corner to see.


    The door opened and one female run ahead calling Jack''s name. The male came after her with a gun in his hand. The other female stood by the door with a bigger gun. None of them looked his way.


    The couple that went downhill reached Jack''s body. Ragnar held his battle-ax on the left hand and readied a throwing dagger on his right. He took his time to aim at the woman with the bigger gun''s temple.


    "Clari! Jack is dead," the woman downhill shouted. The distress in her voice was easy to understand. She was probably Jack''s lover.


    "Damn!" Clari, the one still by the cottage door, cursed. "How did he end up there?" She asked nobody.


    Ragnar tossed his dagger. It lodged itself in the woman''s ear and she fell down immediately. The ''gun'' rocked with the sound of thunder repeated times as she fell down. Ragnar could see clumps of dirt spraying around the business end of the gun.


    That alerted the two humans downhill.


    "What the fuck is that!" the male shouted in surprise, pointing at Ragnar. From where they stood, he wasn''t hidden.


    Ragnar''s answer was to toss the battle-ax at him. The man dodged and the ax split a tree in half. The human pointed his gun at Ragnar and fired. The dvergar tried to dodge but the gun''s projectile was way faster than a crossbow bolt. he felt a sting on his left arm as he rolled sideways. Back on his feet, Ragnar ran up the hill and around the cottage.


    "The monster killed Clari, Roger!"


    "Let go, Tara! I can''t shoot the damn ogre with you clinging to my arm!"


    "Why are you so sure it is an ogre?" The female asked.


    Ragnar assessed his wound. There was a piece of metal lodged inside his arm. He focused and chanted a basic metal manipulation spell. A piece of lead popped out of the wound and Ragnar examined it. The projectile was roughly conical and had a copper jacket around a lead core. It went right through one of his maille rings, busting it.


    Guns were dangerous. Ragnar took two daggers from his belt and planned his attack. He had to use an illusion spell to displace his image. Then he would go around the cottage and toss a dagger to distract the human. The human proved to have good marksmanship with that gun. He would fire at Ragnar''s displaced image and then he would be close enough to finish him with the second dagger.


    The second female didn''t seem like a threat to him.


    He rehearsed his plan twice in his head. With everything set, he cast his illusion and got out of his cover around the cottage. He threw the first dagger and the man dodged. The human shot at his illusion and the projectile went straight through the head. Ragnar smirked and tossed the second dagger. It struck the man right in the eye. That''s when the second female did what Ragnar would later learn as "spray and pray". She shot wildly, missing his illusion but striking the dvergar in the knee.


    Ragnar tumbled and rolled down the hill. He had the presence of mind to aim at the screaming woman. His body slammed her and the two went straight into a tree. The female human was crushed between the massive dvergar and the evergreen.


    Ragnar groaned and grunted as he rolled back and away from the crash site. Once more he used his metal magic to remove the projectile from his knee and checked the damage. Even with his resilience and recovery ability, it would take a few months to fully heal.


    Damned guns. If the weapon was imbued with magic, it would''ve severed his leg.


    He limped to the tree his battle-ax split. He took the wet handle and shook the water away from his weapon. Using the ax as a makeshift crutch, he collected the humans'' weapons and searched the bodies for any interesting objects. Then he took the bodies and tossed them further down the hill. The ceaseless rain would take care of cleaning the blood. He cut down the damaged trees as well. No need to have them ruining the scenic view from the cottage.


    He circulated some mana around his body, feeling his wounds. Although the shot broke his patella, the bone would mend and restore with the proper mana circulation. Another important reason to teach magic to the human women. So they could heal themselves. He scratched his beard. Human ingenuity was amazing. They achieved this much without magic. He wondered what marvels they would obtain with it.


    Little the dvergar knew that regarding humans, less was more. The midgard after Ragnarok never rediscovered the technology they once had.