The Rune's True Meaning
The rune that had grasped its true meaning. In other words, it meant I could now learn a rune that activated simply by chanting, just like Veronica. For some reason, the rune curses that afflicted humans had no effect on me. I could only assume it was because I hailed from Earth. ‘Of course, if a rune doesn’t suit your aptitude, you still can’t use it.’
The limits of magical aptitude were no different for runes. Just as Veronica could not converse with souls through ᚨ (Ansuz), I would never be able to wield transformation magic at her level. Still, discovering how to awaken a rune’s true meaning was a worthwhile harvest. Until now, I had no clear idea how to strengthen them. I had obtained ᚨ (Ansuz) by bargaining with the souls trapped inside the golem, after all.
‘Come to think of it, the amount I absorbed back then was no joke either.’
The souls sealed within the golem had clung to me and found salvation. In the process, they had shared the mana of the runes they carried. That must have been what allowed the newly acquired rune to awaken. I tried to gauge the mana stored inside the seal.
‘One, two, three…… enough for nine runes?’
It seemed that the mana required to learn nine ordinary runes could instead be used to strengthen a single rune. ‘I still don’t know why that giant was carrying rune mana.’ As far as I knew, the bastard had never used runes at all. ‘Is this another mystery of the Succession phenomenon?’
Perhaps the divine mana the giant once held had been converted into rune mana. In modern magic, divine mana was usually obtained through runes. Maybe that was why I had mistakenly believed Succession only occurred with rune sorcerers. Since Succession was the phenomenon of ‘absorbing similar mana,’ it wouldn’t be strange if divine mana resonated with itself.
‘……I’ll decide which rune to strengthen later.’
I tucked the seal into my pocket and took a deep breath. Being surrounded by unknowns was nothing new. There was no point agonizing over questions without answers. I might as well just enjoy the massive windfall.
“My lord. Is there a way to skin the giant’s hide?” Veronica, who had followed me, asked.
Ah, shit. She had a point. Even swinging a spear hadn’t left a scratch on this bastard’s skin.
“Huu…… Just a moment. I’ll give it a try.”
I poured what little mana I had left into raising the claws of Beast Regression. ‘Normally a spear is sharper, but……’ When the output of Beast Regression increased, the claws grew sharper as well. That much was obvious. I simply avoided using it because the efficiency was terrible. For the same mana cost, a full buff state offered far better value. In short, it consumed more mana than the already inefficient double-buff combination.
─Shwaaaaaak!!
To conserve mana, I activated Beast Regression only on the thumb of my right hand. The mana I had absorbed from the giant had slightly expanded my mana capacity, but it had not restored any. I had already performed two full recoveries today; any more would trigger side effects. It would be like sprinting at full speed three times in a single day with one finger. At worst, I might end up crossing the rainbow bridge.
“Please cut…… just cut……”
I pressed the enlarged thumbnail against the skin like a box cutter.
─Slice.
“Oh!”
The skin yielded to the Beast Regression claw. Before I could even feel relief, my complexion darkened at the rapid mana drain. Goddamn it, I was terrible at this kind of work.
─Slice, slice.
I kept scraping away, determined to salvage as much of the blue hide as possible. Though the creature had limbs, the task felt no different from skinning a kangaroo. It didn’t even resemble a human, so there was no real revulsion. ‘Still, its face is even more fucked up.’
Shit. While cutting around the neck, I met its eyes. I felt like vomiting. The mask had melted off after it died. A face with one ruptured eyeball was a hundred times more grotesque than peeling the membrane between hide and flesh. ‘Could I shrink this and use it like Medusa’s head in a dungeon?’ The thought crossed my mind, but even if it were smaller, I had no desire to carry something like that around. Just looking at a corpse made my skin crawl; anyone who would stuff this in their bag had serious mental issues.
─Rumble!!
After stripping the hide completely, I poured lightning over the giant’s now-bare body. Plenty of water mana still lingered in the corpse, so the Magic Guild might have bought it, but explaining where it came from would be a hassle. I simply burned it.
Hissssss……
Once the skin was gone, the giant burned readily. If it had remained unharmed after I channeled electricity through its water mana, that would have been far stranger. Its defense had come entirely from the hide.
“Nngh……”
I slung the heavy bundle of hide—large enough to fill two or three wardrobes—onto my back. Maybe because my mana was depleted, my waist felt ready to snap. Even folded neatly, it was a nightmare to carry.
Veronica gave a wry smile.
“Why not leave it here and retrieve it on the way back? We have yet to accomplish the purpose that brought us here.”
“Damn it. You’re right.”
I still had to collect the Burning Branch. I set the bundle down.
─Thud!
Listen to that sound, for fuck’s sake. It was like a boulder. Could this be processed into armor? Well, if I paid enough, someone would handle it.
“By the way, Veronica. The exit’s blocked. What do we do?”
“We must descend further. There should be another path.”
Veronica spoke while floating the orichalcum pillar. The radar was pointing that way.
─Swoosh.
After searching for about ten minutes, her words proved true. A hidden illusion barrier had been concealed in what I had thought was a dead end. Once again, it was visible only to me.
“Shit, I’m out of energy.”
“You can do it, Master.”
She only called me Master at times like this. With a sigh, I clenched my fists and braced myself.
──Beast Regression 140%.
“Urdiluid, Smash!!!”
─Boom!!
I shattered the barrier with a partial activation of Beast Regression. Thank god the barriers weren’t getting progressively stronger. If their strength had increased with each stage, I would have had to retreat immediately.
We passed through the cave, steam rising from the heat. Without the Frozen Punch to make ice packs, the heat was even more grueling.
“My strength is draining…… It’s getting hotter……”
“The heat is intensifying. It means we are close to our destination. Endure a little longer.”
“Nghhh……”
As we pressed on, another barrier appeared. This time it was one only Veronica could see. Just what the hell was the criteria for these things? While I cursed everything in existence, Veronica’s expression brightened as she wiped her sweat.
“My lord. I have analyzed the barrier and bring good news.”
“Get to the point before I pass out from the heat.”
“Passing through this barrier will grant resistance to high temperatures. Once we cross, you will no longer feel the heat.”
“Hell yeah!!!!”
I raised my arms in triumph and charged forward, only to crash headfirst into the barrier and fall flat. My first meeting with the ground was disastrous. Otherworld Hot Plate Dogeza, activate.
“Gyaaaaaaaah!!!”
─Leap!!
Twisting like an octopus on a hot plate, I flailed until Veronica laughed.
“Hehe. You should listen to the explanation until the end. You cannot pass through alone.”
She chuckled at a Korean’s impatience, then extended her hand.
“Come here. Take my hand and let us cross together.”
“Hey, when we cross this, lava isn’t going to come pouring out or anything……?”
“It might. There must be a reason they placed a heat-resistance spell on the barrier.”
Damn it. Muttering curses, I crossed the barrier while holding her hand like a kindergartener being led across a crosswalk by his mother.
─Rumble.
My spear, which rejected mana, thrashed for about a second before falling silent. Faced with the intricate spellwork and sheer volume of mana in the barrier, even my temper had been forced to behave. My spear had turned into a total pushover. Like a tattooed thug going quiet in front of a real gangster.
─Step. Step.
We lit the way and continued through the stalactite cave until another wide space opened up. This one was different from the giant’s resting place.
─Fwoooosh.
This place was a literal inferno. ‘Holy shit. There really is lava down here.’
Veronica and I stared in astonishment at the underground lava waterfall. It was exactly what the name implied. A pitch-black, scorched wall stretched across one side, with red heat racing across it like neon wiring. Wherever the heat touched, the rock melted and cascaded downward like a waterfall.
‘And there’s something like this underground, yet the volcano isn’t active?’ This wasn’t the sort of natural wonder that made you feel awed. It made me want to quit archaeology altogether. Even in another world, wasn’t this a bit too fantastical? If a National Geographic producer were told to film here, they’d write their resignation on the spot.
Without the barrier granting heat resistance, breathing would have been difficult. ‘The fact that they placed a buff means they expected someone to come here.’ The prophet of the Bicorn clan had hoped someone would reach this place. There was another reason I thought so.
A stone tablet made of different material from the surrounding rock stood where the waterfall fell. Veronica and I exchanged glances and approached it. The tablet bore no inscriptions. Still, it clearly wasn’t a natural formation; it looked like an open book carved from stone.
─Flash!
As we drew closer, light erupted from the tablet. We reflexively raised our guard. I even prepared to draw mana from the seal. But the light was not an offensive spell.
──You are the first to reach this place.
The light projected by the tablet formed a familiar hologram. A person──no, a member of the divine race. A female Bicorn. Her two horns were longer than Veronica’s, and she appeared to be in her twenties. She wore simple cloth garments, reminiscent of the Romania dress Veronica wore.
“A rune stone?” Veronica murmured.
It seemed this tablet was a rune-stone message box used around the mythological era. Its size had made it hard to notice at first.
That is correct. This recording is stored within the rune stone. Think of me as an artificial spirit left behind to answer the questions of my descendants.
“……Wow, the recording can actually answer.”
I marveled at the automatic response. Veronica examined the tablet with her eyes and spoke.
“It uses a combination of spirit manifestation and avatar magic. Quite an advanced technique.”
“Spirit manifestation?”
“You have seen it a few times yourself. The avatar of the Celestial God you witnessed in your dreams, and Franc’s sparrow-shaped golem. The elf Yerna also employed a similar magic for her avatar.”
“Ah, that’s what it is.”
Since it could converse even without its original body present, it felt most similar to Odin’s avatar. I glanced at the Bicorn’s projection and asked,
“What exactly is this magic?”
“Crudely put, it is a spirit-type golem that carries a soul, mind, or knowledge. Even I cannot create one that moves without its master.”
“……That spirit over there doesn’t seem particularly advanced, though?”
It showed no reaction to our conversation. Standing with hands clasped politely and remaining completely still, it resembled an NPC. If it had been Odin’s avatar, it would have spoken at least twenty lines by now. Veronica observed the hologram intently.
“It probably only responds to Germanic. The only avatar I know of that answers as smoothly as a real person is the Celestial God’s avatar you showed me.”
Speak in Germanic, you say? Very well.
I cleared my throat and addressed the hologram.
Ah, um. Greetings.
Yes. Greetings to you as well.
The holographic Bicorn returned a smile. At a glance she seemed truly alive, yet the way her expression instantly reverted to neutral confirmed she was indeed an automatic responder.
I am Veronica Eclipse, descendant of the Aesir. It is an honor to meet you, honored ancestor.
Veronica greeted her with a light curtsy. She could not help but adopt a respectful tone toward an elder. If our guess was correct, this being was indeed Veronica’s ancestor on the family tree. Perhaps that was why, even though she was addressing nothing more than an avatar, Veronica asked carefully.
I understand that even asking this question may be presumptuous, but…… might I inquire as to your name?
──────.
The hologram paused for several seconds, as though processing, before answering.
──The name of my true body is Astoria Magidora.
A name I had never heard before. Yet the title that followed was familiar even to me.
The sole prophet (Volva) of the Bicorn clan to survive after Ragnarok.