Fated Encounter (4)
Fated Encounter (4)
The largest, most luxurious palace located at the center of Asgard, floating in the air.
Inside, many gods are currently gathered in one place.
At the highest seat, sitting on the throne, is the Main God Odin and the goddess of magic and beauty, Freyja, who assists her.
And the rest of the gods are lined up on both sides, standing and facing each other.
The only being in this place who is not a god is Bjorn, who is kneeling on one knee behind Odin.
While everyone waited with bated breath, Freyja opened her mouth.
"Strong magic power reaction confirmed beyond the southern border."
"Finally, he shows up."
Odin, sitting atop Hlidskjalf, her throne and treasure, flicked her finger to use magic.
Then, a huge mirror appeared above the magic circle, reflecting the place where the magic power reaction occurred.
The battlefield seen through the mirror.
In the sky above the place where countless monsters and humans are entangled in battle, there is a black dragon exuding a massive presence.
Nidhogg.
The Dragon of Hatred.
Nidhogg took a deep breath, and his roar made the battlefield freeze for a moment.
The first to move in the place where everyone had stopped were the monsters.
The monsters, who originally acted by following instinct rather than reason, turned around and fled back to the north to avoid the predator that appeared in the air.
It was because they instinctively realized that the threat of Nidhogg was far more dangerous than the threat of the Valkyries.
"What shall we do?"
"It is the land where we will live from now on. It should be properly cleaned up."
At Odin's decision, Freyja used magic to simultaneously command the Valkyries near the front line.
To take care of all the monsters coming back up.
The Valkyries, who had been subjugating all the monsters in the vicinity and holding their positions, moved toward the front line according to the command of their leader, Freyja, and unilaterally slaughtered the monsters fleeing north in terror.
Meanwhile, while Freyja was leading the monster disposal, Odin made eye contact with Nidhogg through the mirror.
Nidhogg had noticed the gaze caused by the magic activated in Asgard.
[You are watching. Odin.]
"It's been a long time. Nidhogg."
The two, meeting after a very long time, exchanged greetings normally.
To the point where anyone watching would think they were old acquaintances.
However, Odin's hand, which was greeting him, was hidden from others and trembling uncontrollably.
It was because the fear she faced in the past had been revived.
That fear was not even calmed by Freyja's medicine.
In the meantime, Nidhogg, who focused magic power in his eyes to check Odin's appearance, had a strange expression.
[...You are Odin?]
"What do you mean by that?"
[The Odin I know is a shifty-looking old geezer.]
"...That's because I usually go around hiding my appearance to avoid fate."
[Isn't it that you've gone senile and are just dressing up to look plausible? Magic isn't meant to be used for that, Odin.]
"Hey!!"
At Nidhogg's slander—which wasn't quite slander—Odin's temper exploded.
"I'm going to kill that thing right now!"
"Calm down, Odin. Calm down for now and let's do as planned."
"Ah, whew... R-right. I should act according to plan."
Odin, who calmed her heart thanks to Freyja, glared intensely at Nidhogg.
"As expected, you've become weaker compared to the past."
[That should be the same for you.]
"Even so, it's not to your extent."
The power of knowledge obtained by hanging from Yggdrasil and offering herself as a human sacrifice to herself.
Utilizing that, Odin noticed roughly how weak Nidhogg had become without even facing him directly.
Of course, it was because he was an avatar, but there was no way to realize that far without facing him directly.
'About half... Good.'
Odin concluded that he only had about half the power compared to when she last met Nidhogg.
She compared her own power with Nidhogg's.
Because she had given up a certain amount of power to create an avatar to deceive fate before crossing over to this world, Odin was also only able to preserve about 80% of her original power.
80% and 50%.
Naturally, the 80% side is more advantageous, but the opponent is Nidhogg.
Even if it was half, the power he possessed far exceeded any standard.
The conclusion reached after such calculations was...
"I can win."
It might be impossible alone.
But if there is help from other gods and Valkyries, it's not to the point where they can't win.
So there is no need to be afraid.
She can face him proudly!
[What did you say?]
"You don't need to know. More importantly, it seems you've been taking our Valkyrie and using her as you please... Did you think you'd be safe after doing that?"
[Are you talking about Linnea? If it's about her, I'm the one with a lot to say. Did you think you'd be safe after daring to spy on me?]
"Huhuhu. You've become quite talkative since I last saw you, Nidhogg. If you're so confident, why don't you try attacking right now? If not, you'll have to return the Valkyrie immediately."
To think she could tease that Nidhogg like this.
Once Odin's mouth opened, she didn't know how to stop.
Her mouth wouldn't stop, as if taking revenge for being scared until now.
"If you return the Valkyrie in one piece right now and come to me to bow that oversized head of yours, I might even give you the honor of coming under Asgard, you know? Hu, huhuhuhu!!"
[Has this one taken the wrong medicine? Or has she really gone senile? You didn't say that thinking I'd actually accept such a suggestion, did you?]
Nidhogg, of course, didn't even pretend to listen to Odin's ridiculous suggestion.
In addition to that, he even went as far as to worry about her despite their hostile relationship.
That was how absurd Odin's suggestion was.
Odin also hadn't made the suggestion thinking he would accept it from the start, and since she intended to subdue Nidhogg and work him to the bone, she was actually happy that the suggestion was rejected.
"Huhuhu, then it can't be helped. It's war, Nidhogg! I'll bring you to your knees with all my might and squeeze everything out of you down to your very marrow!"
[Same here. I'll take this opportunity to correct that rotten personality of yours.]
The two growled at each other without backing down an inch.
A situation where it wouldn't be strange if they clashed right away.
At that moment, Freyja intervened in the conversation between the two.
"Odin. Most of the monsters inside the territory have been dealt with. The remaining ones are only a few, to the point where they can be slowly tracked and removed."
"Really? Then now..."
Let's go catch Nidhogg.
Odin, who was about to say that, suddenly sensed something that entered her detection range.
"What is that?"
As she waved her hand, a new screen appeared next to the screen showing Nidhogg, reflecting an object flying toward Asgard.
The identity of the streamlined object was none other than a missile.
At Odin's question, the other gods, who didn't know much about missiles, couldn't answer, and Bjorn, who was prostrating behind her, stepped forward to explain.
"It appears to be a Magic Core Missile."
"Ah, that thing?"
Odin, who already remembered hearing explanations about modern weapons, recalled the Magic Core Missile at Bjorn's explanation.
On Earth, after the Gates appeared, a new energy called magic power emerged.
The monsters appearing from the Gates, and the Awakened as well, use this energy called magic power.
In other words, the core of the power used by monsters and the Awakened lies in magic power.
What was devised from that is the Magic Core Missile.
A new type of weapon that combines magic power and nuclear fission reactions to intentionally induce an explosive reaction of magic power.
Odin, who usually enjoyed using throwing spears, instantly tracked where the Magic Core Missile flew from and found out that it was fired from the North Korean side.
"They're doing something interesting."
North Korea, which hadn't shown any reaction even when the Valkyries were slaughtering the monsters inside the territory, only then attacked Asgard once most of the monsters were removed.
Is it that they don't want their territory taken away, or do they think they can take on something like Asgard?
Either way is fine.
Odin stood up from her throne.
"I'll be out for a moment."
"Wait... Odin!"
Freyja, who noticed what Odin was trying to do, called out to her, but she didn't even pretend to hear and vanished from the spot.
And the place where Odin reappeared was the sky outside Asgard.
Right in front of the missile, no less.
Just before the missile and Odin collided.
She reached out her hand toward the flying missile.
"【Stop】"
At the single word muttered quietly, the missile stopped on the spot.
"【Disassemble】"
This time, the missile was disassembled into each part.
"【Analyze】"
She understood the structure and function of the missile.
"【Assemble】"
It was reborn into a new form.
The appearance of the newly born missile was a long and giant spear.
The appearance of the spear resembled Gungnir, which Odin used to favor before Nidhogg picked it up, and magic power of incredible density gathered, exuding an extraordinary aura.
"【Heavenly Punishment】"
Spear throw.
As Odin flicked her finger, the giant spear became a streak of light and flew toward the direction the missile had come from.
A speed that could not be properly seen even with the eyes of a decent Awakened, let alone human eyes.
The spear, which reached the target point before the North Korean side could even react, pierced the ground and directly hit the place where North Korea stored its missiles.
Kwaaaaaang!!
The magic power dwelling in the spear exploded, and the flames swallowed the missile base and even Pyongyang, the only city in North Korea.
The flames that swallowed the entire city in an instant swirled, melting and burning everything inside.
A power hard to believe originated from a single spear throw.
A moment later, when the flames cleared and disappeared.
Only ashes remained in the place where Pyongyang originally stood.
Odin looked down with satisfaction at the miserable sight where no trace of a person could be found even if one looked closely.
"Since you dared to challenge a god, you must receive a fitting punishment."
Just as Odin, who had blown away a city and a nation in a single blow, was about to return to Asgard.
A thick shadow fell over her head.
As Odin raised her head at the thick shadow that covered the sky beyond the sun, Nidhogg, who had arrived at some point, was looking down at Odin.
"You've come?"
"The prank went too far. Odin."
"I'm the one who decides that. Nidhogg."
The two boiled up powerful magic power toward each other, without either being the first to start.