Demon (3)
Demon (3)
Odin, who had been sitting on her throne with her eyes closed, opened them in response to something unexpected.
She stared into the empty air, muttering to herself.
"She was alive?"
Just moments ago, Odin had sensed a connection with Linnea, whom she had assumed was long dead at the hands of Nidhogg. Fearing the connection might break at any moment, she hurried to track her location.
Through magic, she followed the link and discovered the place where Linnea, the one she had been searching for, was fighting Sahwi, whose face was hidden by a mask.
It was a completely different situation from what she had imagined—she had expected Linnea to be held captive by Nidhogg.
Even though she had finally found Linnea, Odin's gaze remained fixed on Sahwi.
To Odin's eyes, which possessed a portion of omniscience, it was visible.
The fragments of fate dwelling within Sahwi's body.
"So, there was one on this side as well."
She had expected it, but she hadn't thought she would find it like this.
Odin observed the fight between Linnea and Sahwi until the end.
And the moment Sahwi fled into the Gate to escape Linnea, Odin swung her fist toward the air.
"Yes! As expected of the Valkyrie I chose!"
Feeling a rare sense of gratification at the sight of her chosen Valkyrie defeating a fragment of fate, Odin wondered if she was being too undignified. She checked her surroundings before sitting back down gracefully on her throne.
Only then did she notice something strange.
"Where did Nidhogg go?"
It was definitely Nidhogg who had taken Linnea, but even though she searched every corner centered around the Valkyrie, Nidhogg was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, she found a human wearing Valkyrie armor she had never given out, and another human who faintly radiated Nidhogg's energy.
"Who the hell is that girl wearing our outfit, and who is that other girl possessing power similar to Nidhogg?"
After Sahwi left, Odin observed the humans, focusing on Linnea, Shin Su-ah, and Baek Yeon.
Suddenly, she sensed her magic being dispelled by a massive force.
It wasn't that the magic was intentionally canceled; it was simply crushed by an overwhelming power. Odin knew this power all too well.
Dark and viscous in a different sense than the fragments of fate, and seemingly lacking compared to what she originally knew, the owner of this power was none other than...
"Ni, ni, ni, ni, Nidhoggggg...!"
Budul-budul—
Trembling all over from the creeping terror, Odin reached into her robe with shaking hands and took some medicine.
The effects of the medicine, personally crafted by Freyja, kicked in quickly, forcibly calming Odin down.
As the tension eased, Odin's brilliant mind began to process and organize the situation.
Having sorted her thoughts in an instant, Odin muttered.
"Well, seeing as she's still alive, she won't be dying for a while."
Odin didn't know why Nidhogg had spared Linnea, but since she was still alive, there must be a reason.
And the Nidhogg Odin knew wasn't particularly fastidious or fickle, so things should be fine for the time being.
Having made her judgment, she used magic to call for Freyja.
The living Linnea, the fragments of fate appearing here as well, and the reconstruction of Asgard, which was in its final stages.
There was much for the two of them to discuss.
Leaving the aftermath to the Association, I entered the Gate where my main body resided for the first time in a while.
The Nidhogg Gate was an unmeasurable Gate that couldn't even be entered without the Association's permission, so the interior was deserted.
On the way to the main body, I had already relayed the situation of what happened outside to Ratatoskr through the main body.
Luckily, Ratatoskr replied that he was also confident in tracking.
In exchange, the number of Giant's Cores he demanded increased from three to four, but since I already had twenty, I didn't particularly mind.
As the three of us passed through the forest and went deep into the Gate, the trees vanished, revealing a wide plain and my massive main body.
Ratatoskr, who had been hiding behind the main body, stepped forward and held out his hand.
"Give them to me, quickly."
"Did I owe them to you or something?"
His confident attitude was a bit annoying, but there was no reason to delay, so I had Shin Su-ah hand over four Giant's Hearts.
"And the rest?"
"I'm going to eat them."
"They won't be very useful to you."
"Still, they'll be good as a health supplement."
"Then I'll condense the essence into one for you, so give me the rest for now."
"Well, I was going to have them checked before eating anyway..."
When I handed over the rest of the Giant's Hearts to Ratatoskr, he sat down and began to examine the Giant's Cores one by one as if appraising them.
Then, he picked out two of them.
"Those two can eat these."
"Isn't it too early for them?"
"The magic power inside is lower than the other cores, so it's fine."
"Is that so?"
They all look the same to me, so I can't really tell.
Come to think of it, when we were hunting giants, there were a few individuals that were smaller than the others.
Is it one of them?
Ratatoskr threw the essences he had extracted from the Giant's Cores to Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon respectively.
"If you eat this, it'll be quite useful."
"I'll eat well?"
"Thank you."
He was acting like he was doing them a big favor, even though those two were the ones who caught most of them.
The two of them swallowed the essence in one gulp and immediately sat down to control the magic power that felt like it was about to explode inside them.
In the meantime, Ratatoskr set aside the five Giant's Cores he would use for himself and merged the rest into one.
"Wait. Five?"
"I'm making it easy for you to eat. Think of it as a service fee."
It felt like the amount he was taking was gradually increasing, but this was the essence of power extracted from the remaining thirteen Giant's Cores.
Ratatoskr picked it up and tossed it straight into the main body's mouth.
Ggul-ggeok
Even though they were just giants, merging thirteen of them provided a decent amount of power.
I smiled with satisfaction at the feeling of my stomach being full.
"It's still a bit lacking, though."
"Pig lizard. No matter how you look at me, I'm not giving you these."
"I didn't even ask for them..."
Ratatoskr hid the remaining Giant's Cores behind his back.
I wasn't asking for those.
"You just keep an eye on them. I'll handle the tracking myself."
"Ah, take this too."
"Ugh, the smell..."
I handed over the dried-up corpse of the Man in Black I had brought with me to Ratatoskr, who was about to move elsewhere with the Giant's Cores.
Ratatoskr picked up the corpse with his fingertips as if touching filthy trash and moved a short distance away.
I turned my head to look, but Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon were busy trying to control their increased magic power, and although Linnea looked fine on the outside, she was still terrified of me, so she wasn't someone I could talk to comfortably.
According to Ratatoskr, tracking would take at least three days.
Hmm, then what should I do in the meantime?
Surprisingly, three days passed in a flash.
While Ratatoskr recovered his strength with the Giant's Cores and tracked the Fiends, Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon spent their time adapting to their increased magic power and physical abilities.
In Linnea's case, she helped the two of them adapt, and thanks to her, both were able to adjust quickly.
And finally, I sat down with my avatar and had an important conversation.
The topic of the conversation was 'how much power to give to the avatar'.
The second Asgard centered around Odin and Freyja, whom I learned about through the Valkyrie; the gods and monsters of the Olympus world that Bia mentioned could cross over at any time; and even the group of Fiends who received power from the fate of destruction.
Unlike what I had heard from Shin Su-ah, too many entities were appearing, and the power they possessed was also extraordinary.
Therefore, the power the avatar currently possessed felt somewhat insufficient, so I was thinking of giving it additional power, but I was worried about how much more to give.
"I should be stronger than Odin, right?"
"That's obvious, but the problem is how strong Odin is right now..."
"We ate Gungnir, after all."
"Then she must be weaker than when she was over there."
"Still, we shouldn't let our guard down."
"Because that devious old woman is our opponent."
The conversation flowed naturally.
Since the avatar shared memories and could return to the main body at any time if desired, it was more accurate to call this conversation a monologue.
"And we have to think about Freyja too."
"How strong is she?"
"They say she's the leader of the Valkyries, so she must be stronger than most gods."
"What about the other Valkyries?"
"Is there a need to worry about them?"
"That's true too."
Odin and Freyja were certainly gods to be wary of, but no matter how strong a Valkyrie was, she was still just a Valkyrie.
Besides, if I had to take such a detour to barely come out as an avatar, there was no way Odin and Freyja could roam around outside in a perfect state.
Still, they weren't opponents to be taken lightly, and there was no telling what kind of tricks Odin might have played.
After much deliberation, I decided how much power to give the avatar.
"Then should I just go big?"
"I think it would be good to give as much as the limit allows?"
"Yeah, more is better than not enough."
While riding on top of the main body's head, I approached Ratatoskr.
"What's up?"
"I was wondering how much power I can give to the avatar."
"Hmm... based on your current state, about 40% would be the limit?"
"Eh."
"What do you mean 'eh'? Even that much is plenty."
The decision I made after much thought became meaningless.
Could I guarantee a certain victory against Odin and Freyja with only 40%?
It felt like I needed at least 60%.
This was also a guess based on the assumption that Odin had lost Gungnir and her power was restricted by the System's penalty.
When I told Ratatoskr this, he let out a sigh.
"Sigh... why do you think I set aside those Giant's Cores?"
"Oh, could it be?"
"Yes. I found a way to widen the passage and transfer power to the avatar using the Giant's Cores, even if only for a short time."
"You prepared something like this while also tracking the Fiends?"
"Unlike you, stupid lizard, I'm smart."
"As expected of Ratatoskr. I knew I could count on you."
After giving Ratatoskr some moderate praise, I decided to first put in enough power for the avatar to produce a maximum output of about 40%.
And on the fourth day, one day past the promised three days.
Ratatoskr, who had been handling several tasks simultaneously, finally discovered the Fiends' hideout.