Chapter 141
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: Valkyrie - 3
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Unlike Hestia, Taranis hadn't become a god on his own—he'd ascended through human sacrifice. The divinity he oversaw was lightning and retribution.
Unlike the primal divinity of lightning, retribution was a characteristic he'd created himself.
And its effect was...
'Heavy.'
The spear of lightning, infused with the divinity of the 'Lowliest Wanderer' and hurled at the Valkyrie, struck her perfectly.
'Seems like retribution can't be dodged, no matter the divine resistance. Does retribution itself ignore divine resistance?'
It was pretty decent power.
Unlike Hestia's divinity, which could only be used crudely, and the 'Lowliest Wanderer' divinity, which he'd only tapped twice in combat, Taranis's divinity packed a punch and had solid utility.
On top of that, blending it with the 'Lowliest Wanderer' let him ignore divine resistance entirely.
'Good. If this keeps up without a hitch... Huh?'
Was it because one had vanished?
Suddenly, a powerful surge of divinity erupted from the remaining Valkyries.
Anyone could see their combat power had spiked.
'This is insane.'
The eleven strengthening wasn't the real problem—something else was far more headache-inducing.
'I'm hungry.'
His appetite was stirring at the divinity laid bare before him.
'I've fully turned Titan now.'
He worried he might devour them all.
'Gotta hold back as much as possible.'
Suppressing the Titan-specific hunger, he kept hurling lightning at the Valkyries orbiting him.
No matter how much their divine power had grown, they couldn't escape <Retribution>—another Valkyrie froze in time.
[Analyzing target's divinity characteristics]
[Unavoidable ability]
[Ignores divine resistance]
[Confirmed: Halts target's functions upon hit]
[Defense and evasion blocked, all forces shifted to offense]
Having learned it couldn't be dodged, the Valkyrie switched to stationary bombardment mode right there.
'This just got annoying.'
One hit back meant ten in return.
He'd have the edge as time passed, but he had to survive until then.
'Not sure I can hold out.'
According to Allie, these were at least as strong as second-rank Valkyries.
A full barrage from them would overwhelm even him, empowered by Taranis's divine essence.
'Wait, these things run on divinity too, right?'
On a hunch, he recalled the sensation from healing his first apostle, Klak's disc, and prayed.
"Make it for me, Hestia."
He condensed Hestia's divinity into a ring shape.
Then wore it atop his head like the nymphs.
[Immeasurable Hestia divinity detected]
[Target identified as nymph]
[Cease attack]
[Escort nymph safely]
As expected, disguising himself as a nymph with Hestia's divinity short-circuited the Valkyries—they couldn't function properly.
'That's why they didn't use the Valkyries against Taranis.'
Twelve Valkyries could've crushed Taranis easily.
Yet they hadn't deployed them at the council, meaning they had a critical flaw for real combat.
'Limits of artificial intelligence.'
If the Pope commanded them directly, it'd be different, but without an administrator, the Valkyries were just gullible golems.
Of course, fighting them at all was his own blunder.
"Haa... What a hassle."
With a sigh, he froze each halted Valkyrie with black lightning one by one.
They twitched as if resisting, but seeing him as a nymph left them helpless.
...
"Waaah! Thank goodness! What a relief!"
Once he'd safely returned all twelve Valkyries.
A dwarf woman slightly larger than a nymph tearfully thanked him.
"Thank you so much. Truly, thank you, Hero!"
"...No, I'm sorry. I caused the mess."
"Right! This is all your fault, Sian!"
"You're the last one to talk."
Allie tried shoving the blame during the opening, but he shut her down instantly.
Thwack!
"Kyaa! It hurts! That hurts!"
"It's supposed to hurt!"
Allie clutched her head, now sporting a lump, while the dwarf woman stared in delight and burst into bright laughter.
"Kyahaha, Hero, hit Senior Allie more!"
"???"
Allie looked utterly bewildered at her words.
Your senior status must be a joke.
"Ahem, Pleta? Before that, shouldn't you introduce yourself to Sian first?"
"Oh, right, I forgot. Senior Trouble-Maker's been giving me amnesia lately."
"How's that my fault?"
"I never called you senior."
"Hey."
Ignoring Senior Allie completely, the dwarf woman bowed politely at the waist and introduced herself.
"I'm Pleta, the fifth apostle serving Inanna, Goddess of Earth and Development. As you can see, I manage Asgard."
"Sian T. Atlas, hero of Hestia. As I said, I'm truly sorry."
"It's fine. All the Valkyries are intact, and the only damage was to the Tower of Wisdom."
"Pleta! There's emotion in that last bit!"
"Shut up, Senior, and write your incident report."
"...Fine."
Pleta glared murderously, and Allie went quiet as if nothing happened.
Watching that, he cautiously gauged the mood.
"I share the blame, so let me help if there's anything."
"No need, Hero. You're our guest—no need to mind me."
"Then it bothers me."
The dark circles under Pleta's eyes caught his attention.
She seemed busy enough already; he hated adding to her workload.
"You must have your own duties, Hero. I'll just accept your kind thoughts."
"In that case, it might not help much, but I'll ease your fatigue at least."
He infused her with vitality.
It wouldn't be as effective on a non-nymph, but it'd relieve some exhaustion.
"Oh my?"
Pleta was startled by the energy entering her body, but only briefly. She soon welcomed it warmly.
"Vitality handled by Hestia's nymphs."
"Your first time?"
"Yes, only Helen and Helia serve Hestia among the nymphs right now."
"Pleta, your complexion's improved?"
"Looks like vitality has skincare benefits too."
"I want some."
Allie brazenly extended her spindly hand, demanding it, leaving him dumbfounded.
"You don't need it. As a nymph, you're never tired."
"That's nymph discrimination! And nymphs do feel fatigue!"
"Who's discriminating? You lot who force the same labor laws on all nymphs?"
Pleta nodded vigorously in agreement.
She must've suffered plenty.
"Anyway, I didn't ask to relieve fatigue. Purely for academic research."
"Research on Hestia divinity?"
"You think high-purity divinity like this is easy to get? Not everyone's got your mana reserves."
"Fair. Share the research notes with me later."
"Obviously."
"Here."
"Yay~"
Allie, receiving Hestia's divinity from him.
Acting all nymph-like, she stored it away, then bottled it in a special vial.
"Whoa, too much."
"More samples are better for research."
"It's overflowing."
"Check now."
"Hmm... Okay."
Allie began tasting Hestia's divinity directly and started fussing dramatically.
"Oh, so that's why the young nymphs love it."
"Any changes? Like getting a bit stronger?"
"Nymphs aren't a combat race—getting divinity doesn't make us stronger... Huh?"
Suddenly, her pupils shrank like a cat spotting prey.
What's wrong? Kinda creepy.
"I... I felt a weird sensation for the first time."
"What nonsense... Hey! Hey! What are you doing?!"
Allie bit his hand and began greedily craving Hestia's divinity like she was drugged.
"More! You have tons!"
"Hey, you psycho."
Just like Helen losing her mind to Hestia's divinity before, Allie had lost hers too.
'Thought it was just Hestia's nymphs, but all nymphs are like this.'
Confirming the new fact, he swiftly chopped the back of Allie's neck.
Thud!
"Guh!"
"Finally quiet."
He supported the fainted Allie. He'd dump her in some nearby office.
Then his eyes met Pleta's.
"Ah, sorry."
"It's fine. All karma from Senior Allie."
He'd openly struck a nymph in a country with nymph protection laws, but Pleta grinned innocently, as if thrilled.
This woman's not right either.