"Then what about this invasion?" she asked darkly.
"That can't be helped. They've been hungry for ages upon ages. The fences and shepherds protecting the flock have fallen - surely a generous goddess like yourself wouldn't mind, eh Lady Hel?" Surtr asked, still smiling.
"The lives and deaths of the humans in this world don't concern me," she suppressed her anger. "But you'd better show some restraint - provoking me has severe consequences!"
"Of course," Surtr replied, still smiling. "Now that you've overthrown Skadi and hold three origin wheels... And I assume Nidhogg, who died inexplicably, met his end by your hand as well? That means you already had four wheels. You've gathered most of the power of our ancestor. How could I dare provoke you!"
"Make sure you remember that," she said gloomily.
She didn't want to turn Surtr against her if possible. Otherwise, Ogelmir would likely catch on to her plans and become her enemy. She couldn't let that happen or she would have no way to break free of this world. So she held back her fury and ended the call with Surtr.
...
"Her temper is still as fiery as ever," Surtr said with a bizarre smile, seeing the projection dismissed by Hel.
"My king, will Hel take action against us?" a fire giant asked.
"Not for now."
"Why?" the fire giant was puzzled. "She has overthrown Skadi and rules over most of the land as the owner of Asgard. If she wants to become the ruler of this world, shouldn't she take action against us?"
"What she really wants isn't this world, but to enter pan-human history," Surtr explained as he stood up. "And to get there, she needs to borrow our ancestor's power to bypass the Counter Force's protection and cross through the Black Ring."
Surtr stood gazing up at the black ring in the sky. "Remember, our ancestor summoned Hel to deal with Skadi—to recover the six wheels and revive him. But once he realizes her true intentions, or discovers she's massacring his people, do you think she can still escape this world?" Surtr turned, smiling thinly at the fire giant.
"I see. So she won't attack us, right my king?"
Surtr simply smiled, then sat back on his throne. He reached out and took a piece of fragrant meat from the plate, stuffing it into his mouth. Still chewing, Surtr asked with a grin, "Do you know when prey fights back against predators?"
"When?" the giant asked.
"Only when they're about to become a meal do prey find the will to fight back. Hel's the same," Surtr said with a laugh.
But then his brows suddenly furrowed. He spat out the meat in his mouth, looking angry. "Who did this? Don't they know I only eat women? He actually mixed men in! Does he want to become food for the clan?"
Seeing Surtr's anger, a fire giant beside him shivered in fear. Noticing the giant's silence and trembling, Surtr took a deep breath. "Let it go. Conditions are harsh. Just forget it. Have the tribesmen broken through Skadi's gate yet?"
"Y-yes, my king," the nervous fire giant replied. "They were very excited when they heard they could eat humans. They charged fast and have already killed their way inside, otherwise Hel wouldn't have contacted you either."
"Mm. For the past two thousand years, we've survived by eating our dead. Our once vast tribe now only has 300,000 people left. Soon we may become so weak that we'll be completely extinct."
He sighed. "However, now that Hel has overthrown Skadi, we do have to thank her in that regard. It's just that even though we can eat humans now, we can't eat them all at once. This world is doomed to die eventually, but it won't happen anytime soon. Our only chance to survive and prevent our numbers from dwindling further is to rely on the ancestor's power to go to the pan-human history."
He added, "Go down and tell the tribesmen they need to restrain themselves more. And appoint some people specifically responsible for breeding fresh livestock. Those humans need to be protected and nourished - we can't drain the pond to catch all the fish."
"I understand, my king," the fire giant nodded.
The tribesmen will definitely agree. After all, pan-human history was where the real beautiful Asgard was - the place they should live. It's said there are humans everywhere and over six billion of them with short, quick growth cycles. When they really enter pan-human history, the tribesmen won't ever have to worry about starving again, or rely on eating the old, weak, sick, disabled or their own dead just to survive.
The fire giant walked away with a smile. Watching him go, Surtr looked at Skadi's broken wall silently and thought: My tribesmen! I will surely lead you all to survival!
...
Boom! Boom! Boom! The thundering, earth-shaking sounds of the Fire Giant horde continuously rushed in through the enormous hole they had smashed open in the towering wall. Their booming footfalls and feral cries shook the earth as the giants poured like an avalanche, charging en masse into the fragile world inside the wall.
Among the ravenous, rampaging horde of Giants, a large group of about two hundred giants set their sights on Village 16 in particular, thundering toward it with malicious intent. The very ground itself shook and trembled, snow and earth flying in all directions, as the group neared the defenseless village.
Once again, raw fear itself broke through the supposedly secure wall that the villagers had believed would protect them, the sheer terror seeping inevitably into this formerly peaceful world of lambs.
The helpless people who had been wandering innocently outside the village fled desperately in panic, but how could mere humans ever hope to outrun motivated Giants? They were quickly and mercilessly run down and snatched up in drooling, hungry mouths ready to devour flesh and end lives.
Everywhere, the formerly peaceful village was now filled with the nightmarish sounds of crunching and cracking as the Giants voraciously chewed and swallowed their long-denied feast of human prey. The scenes of bloody carnage were desperate and gruesome, as the Giants relished their first true, substantial meal after untold years of deprivation.
Their faces were lit with sadistic joy and twisted excitement, eyes brimming with crazed tears - like the unhinged reactions of shipwrecked survivors who had subsisted on nothing but fishes for years, now finally tasting the most delicious fine cuisine and deeply moved by the decadent experience after endless suffering. The Giants tearfully savored the bounty of flesh and blood before them, unleashing pent-up frustration and hunger on the helpless humans in a frenzy.
Seeing their brethren reveling in such a decadent, delicious meal, the hunger of the other fire giants grew even more ravenous. With an intensely greedy, green glow of desperate craving in their eyes, the Giants raced toward the vulnerable village even faster, determined not to miss their chance at the first proper feast they'd seen in countless years.
Massive feet pounded the earth as they picked up speed, bellowing and roaring with anticipatory excitement at the bounty of flesh awaiting them.
"Save me! Someone save me!" People shouted in panic as they fled everywhere.
Village No. 6 descended into utter chaos and pandemonium as the horde of giants stormed through, unstoppable in their frenzied hunger. Their lumbering feet trampled and crushed the humble wooden houses as if they were mere matchsticks, kicking over even towering blueberry trees like they were saplings.
They ripped the roofs off houses with ease, carelessly reaching their huge hands inside to pull out the terrified villagers cowering within. The giants then popped the helpless people into their drooling maws, crunching and cracking them mercilessly between teeth.
Any last, desperate hope of survival or escape was utterly lost for the doomed villagers in the frenzied wake of the giant attack. All that remained was the nightmare sounds of bones splitting, houses and lives being smashed and demolished.
At this time, some of the villagers had calmed down. The middle-aged man with one leg missing who had previous contact with Shirou shouted, "Stop running! Everyone, stop running! You can't escape!"
"Then what should we do?!" someone asked desperately.
"The envoy! Go to the divine envoy! Ask for his help!"