Hero of Darkness

Kahn was astonished after finding out that the 4th Hero of Life was also from the Earth just like him. And he was a Viking at that. 

Kahn himself had seen some people during his time in Flavot City that had appearances influenced by Viking culture. 

The first person that came into Kahn's mind was Stragabor Sigurd. A Grandmaster Rank individual who had tried to kill Kahn in the name of avenging his brother named Illya who tried to ambush and kill Kahn back when he had just entered the world of Vantrea. 

Their entire clan looked like they were descendants of vikings based on their appearance and tattoos. 

[[Author : See how far I had planned even a year and a half ago when I started this novel? This is how you connect all dots in a homogeneous world-building. *pats myself on the shoulder shamelessly*]] 

Later, Kahn killed Stragabor and ate his core to become a Grandmaster himself. 

So Kahn was already aware of the existence of Viking culture in Vantrea. But to find that the supposed viking was actually a summoned Hero of Life in the Elven Empire… 

Somehow, this summoned Hero's influence reached even to Rakos Empire a thousand years later. 

Later, Kahn then checked the records and finally found out the name of this figure who even made the long-living and tenacious elves give up. 

The Viking hero was someone even Kahn in his previous life as Elric had heard of. Because it was one of the most famous viking kings in the history of the earth. The 4th Hero of Life was… 

Bjorn Ironside

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Kahn grasped his forehead as he still found out the name. 

Although as Elric, Kahn hadn't used his Eidetic Memory for making an exceptional life for himself… he had spent his time acquiring a lot of knowledge for his hobbies. 

Other than being a geek, a weeb, a novel reader, a gamer and an otaku… Elric also learned 11 Languages and studied many mythologies varying from country to country. 

So he knew a lot more about historic events, wars, kings and emperors as well as religion and gods of plenty of dominant and renowned cultures. So obviously, he also knew about the Vikings and their famous leaders. 

Who didn't know about the legendary Bjorn Ironside? 

He was the son of King Ragnar Lothbrok who earned the moniker and was renowned as Bjorn Ironside. 

He was the one who led the attack on England in the 9th century along with his brothers and was also an explorer who sailed to the Mediterranean and raided their lands. 

But the biggest highlight being he was also a Norse Chieftain, well respected and also appreciated for his Leadership qualities and his capabilities as a fearless Warrior who also became the first King of Sweden. 

Just like his father, Bjorn Ironside was a true king in his own right. 

"Wait… did it happen after he died? 

Did the God of Life revive him from the dead after summoning him in Vantrea just like God of Darkness reincarnated me?" wondered Kahn. 

Because that would explain why the dead viking king would be alive and kicking ass as a chosen Hero in this world. 

"But the timeline doesn't fit. Does that mean the Gods can summon any world's people from different times? 

Wouldn't that mean there could be or could've been a summoned hero from the earth who lived in my future era?" he kept asking himself. 

But then, Kahn decided to push those Conspiracy Theorist thoughts aside and paid attention to the matter at hand. 

He then did some deep study about why Bjorn Ironside became a colossal figure that even other Heroes and Heroines of Life could not achieve in the past 3 thousand years. 

Unlike the Elves who were proficient in using magic and correlated jobs… Bjorn Ironside had created his own army of fearless warriors who would rather die than run for their lives during a battle. 

These melee and long-range forces were personally trained and managed by him. And during the 400 years of his life in this empire, there had been many times when he personally led the charge and destroyed the empire's enemies when even the emperor of that time failed to protect their borders.

Bjorn Ironside was a war chief with both wisdom and courage at his side and lived a life of war and bloodshed during his time on earth. Thus, he was far more experienced when it came to war even than the high elves who lived for centuries. 

This made him a hero to all the people in the empire, not only in name but also in their hearts. 

However, being a hero who wasn't an Elf… he was not allowed to become royalty, get a major position of power in the empire or marry someone from the imperial family because of Endogamy practices. 

Bjorn Ironside on the other end had greatly influenced people so he also started spreading his cultural beliefs and their customs, rituals, his language and many more things. 

Throughout his life here, he had been with more than hundred females including elves, humans and demi-human, as well as many species Kahn heard about for the first time. 

The 4th Hero of Life spread his genes extensively and now, at least 10% of the entire population of the Elven Empire were the descendants of the viking king in one way or another. 

However, this phenomenon led to great fear among the High Elves whose only merit was that they were the descendants of the people who founded this empire.

But after a battle with the Demon God back then, Bjorn Ironside was gravely injured and died a couple of years later. 

The details of that battle were hidden by the imperial family and nothing was ever revealed about what exactly happened. 

"He didn't die due to injuries. They assassinated him to preserve their power and authority." spoke Kahn. 

He himself was a sovereign albeit for a short time. He knew how big of a threat a different ruler was to an already established power structure. Kahn had also been conspired against many times already so he knew that the 4th Hero had the chance to survive but was betrayed and killed by the High Elves in the end. 

"May you drink ale from the curved horns and battle amongst great warriors and gods in the glorious halls of Valhalla." said Kahn as he paid respect to Bjorn Ironside. 

As for the impact on the Elven Empire left by the 4th Hero's death… 

Kahn was going to exploit it for his own benefit.