Chapter 100
Chapter 100
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: The Valkyrie's Plea
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Soo-hyuk followed Viola into the cave.
She had invited him inside because their conversation was dragging on longer than expected.
A bed, desk, and chair carved neatly from rock. Torches blazing with oil on the walls, and piles of fruits and other foodstuffs in one corner.
The cave was surprisingly well-suited for living, better than he'd imagined.
Not that he understood why a Valkyrie would hole up in a place like this.
"It's a bit shabby for entertaining a guest."
Viola checked over the wounded warrior's body from their earlier fight. Light poured from her hand, enveloping him, and his pained groans gradually faded.
"S-sorry... Lady Valkyrie..."
"No need to apologize. It's partly my fault for stepping in too late."
Listening to their exchange, Soo-hyuk felt like he'd committed some crime.
All he'd done was sock the guy who came at him swinging out of nowhere.
The viewers, predictably, sided with the pretty girl.
Not for the same reasons, but even Soo-hyuk bowed his head at Viola's sad expression.
"Sorry. He misunderstood..."
As he spoke, Soo-hyuk's gaze flicked toward the prone Vigo.
Viola shook her head.
"No. Vigo was too quick to jump to conclusions without thinking."
Soo-hyuk scratched his head sheepishly and looked around before asking,
"So what brings a Valkyrie like you here? To such a humble spot."
A Valkyrie was a noble warrior who served Odin, after all. It felt wrong for someone so exalted to be stuck in a dingy cave.
"I could ask you the same."
Viola eyed Soo-hyuk up and down.
"Why is the wielder of thunder's power lurking around here?"
Under her gaze and the flood of chats, Soo-hyuk glanced at his own appearance.
Sure enough, he'd been too busy spending points to equip himself properly.
His strength could one-shot Vigo, but his rags told a different story.
A stark mismatch.
"I don't really know either."
"You don't?"
"I just came to and found myself here."
Soo-hyuk's answer was the plain truth.
The trial had dumped him here the moment it started.
No good explanation for why he was here.
"Where'd you get the power of thunder?"
"From slaying a certain giant."
"You slew a giant?"
Viola's eyes widened in surprise.
The chat exploded again at her shocked expression.
Soo-hyuk listened closely.
"Not one from Muspelheim... Then maybe..."
She glanced at him cautiously, then clammed up.
Seemed like a touchy subject.
He doubted she'd spill, but he asked anyway.
"Maybe what?"
"Nothing. Forget it."
"Tell me anyway. It concerns me."
"Sorry. It's a pact with gods from another world. I can't say it, even if I wanted to."
Her polite refusal left Soo-hyuk with no room to press.
"Can't say it" meant some filter blocked it.
Nothing he could do about that.
He knew info was restricted on layer 5. Pushing further was a waste of time.
"My turn to ask, then."
"I haven't heard much..."
"I'll answer what I can."
Short of admitting he was a Player, that was all he could offer.
"Fine. I'm the one who needs help right now anyway."
Viola nodded, so Soo-hyuk asked,
"What's this mission of yours?"
A Valkyrie's mission wouldn't be trivial.
And from the situation, it tied into the trial.
"It involves you too."
"Me?"
"Yes."
Viola nodded and continued.
"The Throne of Thunder. We're here to protect it."
The words had barely left her mouth.
Shoooo—.
The scenery before them began to shift slowly.
The scenery changed.
The temperature, humidity, and air's scent enveloping his body stayed the same. Only the view ahead shifted.
He'd seen this phenomenon plenty of times before.
The first thing in view was Viola's back.
She knelt on one knee alongside two other Valkyries before a man.
'Three Valkyries?'
Viola wasn't alone.
"We're here to protect it."
Us.
There were three Valkyries total. And the one commanding them stood right there.
His face was obscured.
Like it wasn't time to reveal him yet, the cutscene shadowed half his features.
But Soo-hyuk recognized him anyway.
The silhouette was familiar.
'That guy from before.'
The man from the layer 3 trial, Thunder Cave conquest cutscene.
The one who stepped down from the prepared throne. He stood before the three Valkyries.
'Commands Valkyries, huh?'
Few could. And he held a hammer then and now.
'I can guess who.'
As Soo-hyuk pieced it together inwardly,
"Sorry."
The man bowed apologetically to the Valkyries.
For the task he was about to assign them.
"No need."
Viola spoke.
"Just give the word, and we'll charge to our graves in a heartbeat."
The other two Valkyries nodded silently in agreement.
Gazing at them, the man slowly bowed his head.
"...Thank you for saying that."
He rose without lifting his gaze.
As if resolved.
"Until I take that seat."
The man looked at Viola and the other two Valkyries.
"Protect the Heart of Thunder."
Shoooo—.
The cutscene ended, and vision returned to normal.
The viewers had seen it too, judging by the reactions.
Of course, they cared more about the other Valkyries than the mystery man.
The two others tasked with Viola were key to the trial, but Soo-hyuk's top priority was elsewhere.
'Heart of Thunder?'
A familiar name.
No wonder—he had it already.
One sponsorship sparked it, and viewers recalled Soo-hyuk's reward.
The Empty Heart of Thunder.
A reward whose use was unknown then, now featured in the cutscene.
Protected by Valkyries, no less.
Viewers caught on quick.
This trial stemmed from the Empty Heart of Thunder from Thunder Cave.
After the cutscene wrapped,
"...That's why we're here. To hide the Heart of Thunder and protect it."
The explanation had been covered by the cutscene.
Soo-hyuk masked his confusion under the mask. One thing was missing from both.
"Protect it from what?"
Hiding and protecting it implied someone was after it.
"Muspelheim."
She spat the name like it burned her tongue.
"From the giants allied with demons."
Muspelheim.
A world of a unique race.
Neither the demons called fiends in Soo-hyuk's world, nor the gods' direct foes, the giants.
Yet both at once.
Belonging to neither side, yet both. That was Muspelheim's demons.
'Scale's bigger than expected.'
Valkyries and now Muspelheim.
Soo-hyuk's brow twitched. Too high-level for layer 5.
No way it dragged him into Asgard-Muspelheim war, right?
'Nah. That's an 8th layer scenario. Doesn't add up.'
God-related trials were rare even in his prime. Muspelheim info came from following Lightning's traits.
No full war on layer 5.
Soo-hyuk focused on Viola's words.
"They sniffed it out. That our little lord entrusted the Heart of Thunder here."
"How many?"
Viola hesitated before answering.
"As long as the system holds, we can't rampage freely here. Coming down isn't easy."
"System?"
The familiar term from her lips.
"Yes. The system restricts gods, demons, and giants from deep interference in the human realm. It protects the human world, essentially."
"So that's why..."
"Three Valkyries and three subordinates. Six total, straight here."
Asgard's limits capped Valkyries at three, so Muspelheim likely matched.
Forces even.
"What happened to the Heart of Thunder?"
"Stolen."
Viola bit her lip, forcing out the words.
"...By the demons."
As expected.
Soo-hyuk nodded knowingly and asked,
"So I just need to get it back?"
"No."
Not the answer he expected.
Viola shook her head.
"Impossible."
"What?"
"Oh, right—I skipped your earlier question. How many there are."
She sighed deeply, like it was hard to explain, and changed tack.
"What I need is something else."
He'd assumed retrieving it was the goal.
"Save my comrades. Lend us your strength."
She'd already given up on the Heart of Thunder.