Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga
Inside a hut in a quiet forest.
Since the moment Nidhogg entered the Gate with his party, Baba Yaga, who had been secretly observing him, wiped the cold sweat trickling down her forehead.
Her eyes, secretly observing the inside of the Gate, were shaking uncontrollably.
It was because the development was flowing so differently from the scenario she had anticipated.
If things had gone according to Baba Yaga's original plan, after choosing a faction, Nidhogg would have quickly cleared the Gate with his power, and the moment he received the blessing, she intended to use the power of the opposing god to lay a curse upon him.
But the scene unfolding before her eyes now was beyond just an apostle appearing; gods were descending into the bodies of those apostles, and instead of fighting Nidhogg, they were coming to catch Baba Yaga, who had orchestrated this whole setup.
Wuuung-!
At that moment, Chernobog's Holy Relic, placed beside her, glowed briefly in black.
And Chernobog's head snapped around, her gaze locking onto the magic Baba Yaga was using to monitor the inside of the Gate.
Even though she had used every spell she could to hide it, Chernobog had noticed her gaze through the connection with the Holy Relic.
Chernobog, having made eye contact, grinned.
[You. You were watching.]
"Is that Baba Yaga?"
[Yes. M-magic, you've been watching the whole time. Q-quite a skilled witch.]
One must say a god is a god.
Chernobog, who had pierced through her skill just by seeing the magic, raised her hand, and a wriggling shadow stretched out like a tentacle, piercing through the magic.
"Ugh!"
Due to the rebound of her magic being forcibly destroyed, Baba Yaga clutched one of her eyes.
Blood flowed between the fingers covering her eye.
"T-this is dangerous."
Two supreme gods governing light and darkness, and one dragon comparable to those gods.
The pursuit of the three instilled a sense of crisis in her.
Therefore, the first thing she did upon noticing the pursuit was to abandon the Holy Relic.
"To think they would track me by piercing through the Triple Sealing Ritual... Was something like this even possible with a Holy Relic containing one's own power?"
Baba Yaga snapped her fingers.
Her bloodshot eye returned to normal, and as she gestured, the blood that had been flowing down rose into the air.
The blood floating in the air soon became lines, drawing a magic circle in the void.
The magic circle, having drained her magic power, glowed red, and a black hole formed in the center of the magic circle.
As soon as the hole appeared, she threw Chernobog's Holy Relic into it.
As the Holy Relic disappeared into the hole, which was randomly connected to somewhere in this world, she cut off the magic power maintaining the spell and closed the hole.
And she hurriedly went to the laboratory prepared in the basement of the hut and quickly packed only what was absolutely necessary.
To survive, she had to hurry.
[Oh my. It cut off...]
[You let her get away?]
[B-but she even threw away the Holy Relic...]
[Honestly, you can't do anything right. If you found the location, you should have suppressed her immediately...]
"Stop! Honestly, you two try to fight every chance you get."
Belobog, as if she had been waiting for the right moment, flared up and scolded Chernobog at the news that they had lost Baba Yaga.
However, this time, the opponent's response was thorough and fast, so it was ambiguous to blame only Chernobog, so I intervened and stopped the quarrel.
To think she would throw away Chernobog's Holy Relic the moment she realized she was being tracked.
Recalling the conversation with Koschei earlier, it seemed like a quite valuable item; for someone who hides in the back and just orchestrates things, she has good decisiveness.
"Still, you at least confirmed the last location, right?"
[O-of course I did.]
"Then tell me at least that."
[B-but we can't leave here.]
"Ah, right."
I've been meeting so many guys lately who come out of Gates so naturally that I forgot.
These guys descended into apostles, they aren't the main bodies, and since it's a newly formed Gate, they couldn't leave the Gate, right?
Then they wouldn't be able to guide me to Baba Yaga's location either, so what should I do?
Just as I was pondering for a moment.
Chernobog grabbed one of the shadow tentacles wriggling beneath her and tore off the tip.
The tentacle, about 30cm long, wriggled for a moment after being torn from the shadow and then stopped.
[T-take this.]
[Ugh. Disgusting.]
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
[I-I embedded a function to track my power into this tentacle. If you i-infuse it with magic power, it will track my p-power and scent.]
I accepted the tentacle Chernobog handed over.
Although it had stopped after being separated from the main body, the cold, squishy sensation wasn't very pleasant.
Infuse magic power to track Chernobog's power, huh.
But didn't they say Baba Yaga threw away the Holy Relic?
Then isn't this completely useless?
When I asked Chernobog about that, she grinned and answered.
[I said p-power and scent. From what I heard, it seems she has been carrying my stuff for quite a long time. There should still be traces all over it, right?]
[It is certainly a good method. It won't be as dense a power as the Holy Relic, but the opinion that traces will remain is valid.]
[S-she's a quite skilled witch. You never know when she'll notice and erase even the traces. S-so you should track her immediately.]
Chernobog's advice is valid.
Considering her decisiveness—using a Holy Relic to artificially create a Gate, setting traps, and throwing the Holy Relic away the moment she got caught—she might notice this tracking and erase the traces at any time.
"Then, for the sake of tracking, I think I should get going... Aren't you two leaving?"
[We were just about to leave anyway. If we maintain this descent state any longer, my child's body won't be able to hold out.]
[I-I'm the same.]
[If we happen to meet again, I hope it's as allies, not enemies. We shall greet each other properly then.]
[As for that w-witch, I hope you p-punish her, including for trying to use me.]
"Sure. If we can see each other again. And don't worry, I'll handle Baba Yaga myself."
Immediately after finishing the conversation, the two gods disappeared with light, just as they had when they first descended.
Seeing as the apostles disappeared together, it seems they took them back.
And as the two gods disappeared, a message appeared before my eyes simultaneously.
[You have cleared the quest through a new option, not the given one.]
[Hidden Route - Reversing Heaven]
[Hidden reward is being given....#@%#$ERROR#@$#]
"What the?"
Where did my reward go?
The message that was appearing fine suddenly glitched.
And the hidden reward disappeared.
No. This isn't right.
I waited to see if it would fix itself, but the message floating in front of me disappeared, and nothing appeared.
Afraid that Baba Yaga might run away if I waited any longer, I swallowed my disappointment and flew to Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon, who were waiting for me.
Even though I arrived, the two were staring at the empty air.
"What are you two doing?"
"Ah, Nidhogg-nim. Suddenly, something called a hidden reward appeared..."
"What? Hidden reward?"
My hidden reward that flew away right in front of me.
Unlike me, whose text glitched and caused an error, it seems it was normally given to them.
I was the one who cleared the Gate, yet only the two of them get the reward.
I asked, hiding my frustration.
"What did you get?"
"Didn't Nidhogg-nim receive it too?"
"I wish I had. It seems the guys managing the Gate have no intention of giving me a reward."
As I spoke, letting my wings droop at the unfair treatment, Baek Yeon panicked and comforted me.
"...I-is that so? Even without a reward, Nidhogg-nim is strong enough, so I hope you don't feel too aggrieved."
"Yeah. It's fortunate that at least you two got it. If they hadn't given it to you either, I would have flipped the place over, whoever is managing it."
They presented an option that would have been impossible to clear if not for me, and then didn't give a reward after I cleared it?
From that point on, I might just become the Surtr to those managers.
I briefly imagined myself flying through the sky and burning the world, and it suited me better than I thought, which was actually unsettling.
"So, what is that reward?"
"The reward name is Reversing Heaven. The effect is a skill that triples the damage dealt to stronger beings for 5 minutes, once every 24 hours."
"Oh. Better than I thought?"
A skill with the same name as the hidden route.
A skill that deals additional damage to stronger beings.
"It's a useless skill even if I had it."
"Perhaps that's why they didn't give it to you."
The only beings stronger than me are The Eagle or Surtr, whom I saw at the time of Yggdrasil's destruction.
Or is it?
Even those two, if I fight seriously with my life on the line, I think I could give it a go.
Anyway, the skill called Reversing Heaven that the two received was not very useful to me.
And right now, there is something more important than that.
"Ah, I have to go catch Baba Yaga. Let's head outside first."
"Did you find the location?"
"No. This will guide us."
I lifted the tentacle I received from Chernobog and showed it to Baek Yeon.
"Ugh..."
"The visual is a bit much, right? But it should be effective. Let's go."
"Understood."
I took the two and came out of the Gate.
Outside the Gate was the same as before we entered.
The Awakened were maintaining ironclad security, likely because Shin Su-ah had done a proper handover before leaving.
Among them, the Awakened whom Shin Su-ah had spoken to last approached us.
"How did the Gate go?"
"Thanks to Nidhogg-nim, we cleared it without any damage. And we found out the culprit behind this Gate incident, so we're going to go catch them now. Please convey this to the higher-ups."
"Is that true? Understood. I will tell the Branch Manager."
After the on-site person in charge left, I lifted the tentacle I received from Chernobog.
And as I infused my magic power into it, it began to wriggle as if the tentacle were alive.
The tentacle, which had been wriggling here and there for a moment, soon bent its tip and pointed in one direction.
Is this what I should follow?
I'll have to go and see if Baba Yaga is really at the end of this, but for now, this is the only clue.
I grew in size, carried the two, and flew up into the sky.
I'll make them pay the price for daring to open a Gate in my front yard.