Chapter 155
Chapter 155
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 155
Chapter Title: Odin's Investment
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Gruk, grrr-.
Krrrar-.
It was just like a beast.
Lee Soo-hyuk stared at the cutscene unfolding before him in bewilderment.
'Thor? Odin?'
The faces were crystal clear.
And there was another familiar face besides those two.
'Brunhilde.'
It was Brunhilde, the warrior maiden who led the Valkyries.
Her face, binding Thor with thick ropes, bore scars and wounds he had never seen before.
"What is this?"
"Should I call it fortunate that you've returned alive...?"
Brunhilde spoke with difficulty, unable to finish her sentence.
Thor, growling like a beast, glared at Odin. Soon, part of the rope binding him snapped with a twang.
Kaboom-!
A bolt of deep blue lightning shot from his fingertips toward Odin.
Brunhilde didn't flinch. She believed Odin wouldn't budge from something like this.
And sure enough, Odin stood unharmed even after the thunder passed.
"Must have been hard to subdue him."
"Fortunately, he was already exhausted."
"Did he fight Surtr?"
"It appears so from the circumstances."
Odin nodded, grasping the situation from their brief exchange.
"You've done well."
"No, Your Majesty. But what should we do with the prince...?"
"Unfortunately, Asgard has neither ropes strong enough to bind him nor cages sturdy enough to hold him."
Thor was Odin's blood. He had been an exceptional fighter since childhood, and after gaining the power of thunder, he became an even greater warrior.
"Then what should we do?"
Twang, snap-.
Even as they spoke, Thor's ropes were snapping one by one.
"Two options. Either I hold him captive, or I kill him."
Those words shattered Brunhilde's icy composure.
"No!"
"No to which? Capturing or killing?"
"We can't let the prince die. There must be another way..."
"The only other way is for me to hold him. And that would be somewhere other than Valhalla."
Only then did Brunhilde seem to grasp the gravity, her lips trembling.
"If I leave too, Surtr will surely target this place. The longer it drags on, the more precarious Asgard becomes."
"...Yes."
"Good that you understand."
Unlike the agitated Brunhilde, Odin—the father himself—gazed at Thor with eyes that seemed impervious to any blade.
The cutscene ended, and Odin appeared before him once more.
It was confusing.
Odin, bowing his head to a mere human like him, pleading to save his son.
Could this really be the same person from the cutscene?
'Is this his true feelings?'
It was a completely different choice.
Whether it was a simple change of heart or his words had always hidden his true intentions, he couldn't tell.
But in any case, Odin wanted Thor to live.
"......Yes."
Lee Soo-hyuk nodded to Odin's request.
"I'll do my best."
Not just treating it as a trial anymore.
From now on, he would help a father save his son.
After that, Lee Soo-hyuk ran along the green path.
A path with no set endpoint, truly infinite as its name suggested.
Lee Soo-hyuk ran at full tilt. It had been a while since he'd pushed himself without using Lightning.
Run, and run some more. Just as his breath reached his throat, he instinctively knew the path had truly begun.
'I need to find a way.'
Regulating his breathing, he pictured Thor in his mind.
'Separating him from Mjolnir... They've probably tried that already. Destroying it? Same thing. Then...'
No matter how he thought about it, Odin must have tried all the obvious methods.
There was only one worth attempting.
'Unite the Hearts of Thunder into one.'
The Heart of Thunder was originally one. It had been split into fragments, creating its current state.
Removing it was useless. Destroying it was either impossible or equally futile.
That left only one option.
Merging the fragments back into one.
'Is it possible?'
He pondered the method.
He wasn't a blacksmith like Kindred. But he doubted the trial's purpose was testing blacksmithing skills.
Unlike other stats, Stamina rose slowly.
Even so, only after several more stats increased did he stop his trembling legs.
No.
He collapsed.
Thud-.
His legs were shredded beyond running anymore.
He had no idea how far he'd run.
No time to calculate, his mind full of other thoughts.
"Hoo, haa-."
'No need to overthink it.'
He instinctively knew what to do.
Having decided, Lee Soo-hyuk raised his head.
And at that moment.
"Urp-!"
He'd run too much; his stomach churned and he vomited.
Odin's third arrangement was a single small leaf fragment.
The moment he wondered what it was, a message appeared.
Seeing the item's name, Lee Soo-hyuk doubted his eyes.
Yggdrasil.
Also known as the World Tree, it was the massive tree supporting Asgard and several other worlds.
'This tiny thing?'
How had Odin shrunk a leaf from that colossal tree? Odin’s power felt astounding anew.
Crunch-.
He popped the leaf into his mouth and chewed.
It was astringent and bitterly intense—nearly made him vomit again.
But once the bitterness faded, a clear, vibrant sensation enveloped his body.
Vitality surged.
It felt like all his old blood had been drained and replaced with fresh transfusion.
Proof: several more Stamina points rose.
And that wasn't all.
This alert held value beyond mere stats.
Resistance to all attributes, curses, and status ailments.
It would be immense power against magic skills or enemies.
"......This is too much."
His depleted Stamina recovered as if it had never happened.
Fatigue: 0.
Condition: the best since arriving at the top.
"And the last... this, I suppose."
Trickle, trickle-.
At the path's end, where he arrived collapsing, was a small underground spring.
An unfamiliar spring's name. Lee Soo-hyuk approached it.
The water was so clear it mirrored his face. Wondering its effects, he hesitated as he reached out.
'As much as I desire, huh...'
Normally, he'd gulp it greedily.
Might even dive in and swim.
The greedier, the greater the reward. The riskier, the bigger the return—that was a trial.
But.
Drip-.
This time, he did the opposite.
He took just one drop. Tasteless like plain water, and the chance was once only.
The spring dried up instantly, like a drought had hit. No more greed possible.
And the next moment, another change stirred within him.
Shhh-.
Just one drop.
That drop seeped deeply into his body.
His insides burned like strong liquor. His mind plunged into a cozy, deep slumber.
How much time passed?
When Lee Soo-hyuk opened his eyes, foul-smelling liquids surrounded him.
'From my body?'
It felt like he'd blinked once.
But he was certain he'd lost significant time.
Proof: a new energy flowed through his entire body.
He opened his status window to confirm the bodily changes.
Indeed, Magic Power and Concentration had risen markedly since blacking out. Level was still low, but overall stats weren't lacking.
Especially Stamina, uniquely high thanks to Jinwoon's treatment.
'Didn't expect to solve my dilemma this quickly.'
His recent worry was Lightning dependency from low level and stats.
Past Lee Soo-hyuk used Lightning as a main skill, but not exclusively.
Now was different.
High Stamina and Selfish Sacrifice fueled Lightning usage.
Over-reliance stemmed from relatively low other stats.
'Not fully resolved, but...'
That would come with levels.
No.
Truthfully, half-solved already. Dissatisfaction just from his high standards.
"Took too much advance payment."
Seeing the boosted stats, he truly felt Odin's preparations' worth.
Mimir's Spring. Yggdrasil's leaf. Clothes from Asgard's holy water and primordial wind.
Odin had 'invested' all in him.
To reclaim his son.
Kaboom-!
Rumble-.
Thunder rumbled distantly. Faint, but vibrations reached through the ground.
Asgard's depths shook. Signal that Thor, barely maintaining sanity, was rampaging.
'Can I do it?'
Same question, different answer.
The distance to the once-unapproachable Thor felt slightly bridged.
'Let's do it.'
No.
I must.
These gifts weren't given out of fondness.
All to boost even slightly the chance of saving Thor.
Exorbitant investments.
He had to prove they weren't wrong.
Rumble-.
Thunder shot from Thor's Mjolnir skyward again.
And responding.
Crackle-.
Blue lightning formed in Lee Soo-hyuk's hand.
"I'm ready."
A blue spear in his palm.
He hurled it skyward with all his might.
Kwarung-!
A deafening roar filling the depths, like swinging Mjolnir.
Creating a soaring blue pillar, Lee Soo-hyuk moved his lips toward the distant, directionless madman.
I'm here.