Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Reunion of Thunder
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Trickle, trickle...
Reflected above the gently flowing spring waters.
Lee Soo-hyuk stood there with his eyes closed.
Tyr, who had been watching the scene alongside him, curled up the corner of his mouth as if finding it amusing.
"No greed? Or quick on the uptake? Either way, he's a lucky bastard."
Tyr, who had been standing with one arm behind his back, glanced at Odin.
"What were you thinking, preparing something like that as a final gift? All ten of them would have lost their eyes."
Mimir's Spring.
It was a mystery even the gods of Asgard knew little about.
But Odin and Tyr, who had discovered the spring together, knew the truth.
Mimir's wisdom was exceedingly capricious and cruel, claiming both eyes of those who coveted it.
"If he'd coveted the spring, he'd have lost both eyes. If he'd abandoned greed and taken a handful, he'd have lost one."
Mimir grants no wisdom to those who desire nothing, yet shows no mercy to the greedy either. Thus, Mimir was a cruel existence.
The correct answer was exactly one drop.
Just as Lee Soo-hyuk had done.
"Thor knew how to control his greed. He wouldn't have lost both eyes."
"Probably. He's your son, after all. But why? Seeing your son as a one-eyed monster makes you think one eye is enough to live on?"
"Doesn't a one-armed man live too?"
"You always have to get the last word."
Tsk. Tyr clicked his tongue in annoyance and muttered.
"Anyway, that guy's taken it all."
Lee Soo-hyuk's reflection in the spring opened its eyes.
Tyr, confirming his appearance on the surface, couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
"He's a different guy from before he came here."
"Of course. He's devoured what you prepared to pass on to Thor."
"True. He's taken half of the arrangements you made for your son..."
In a way, the human before their eyes had received a greater blessing than a lifetime of luck combined.
"I thought you were a guy with no blood or tears."
"..."
"A father who doesn't bat an eye at his son becoming one-eyed, yet offers up a Yggdrasil leaf to save him and even bows his head to a human."
Until recently, Odin truly had been that way.
He was the first to suggest killing Thor over his disposition, and it seemed like he really would.
But in the end, Odin did not.
To imprison Thor, he created a new Asgard and settled here.
Leaving the all-important Valhalla Palace empty, no less.
"No need for excuses."
Tyr respected such capricious choices of his.
"I can't understand without a son of my own, but no subject will throw stones at you."
"...Why?"
"Because before this one wrong choice, you've made thousands, tens of thousands of right ones."
Asgard exists because of Odin. No subject was likely unaware of that.
Thus, Tyr was certain.
No one would fail to respect Odin's choice.
Odin, silent for a long while at Tyr's words, finally spoke.
"I had no intention of excusing myself."
Lee Soo-hyuk's image slowly opening his eyes fully reflected in the spring.
He had claimed all the treasures prepared for Thor and shed his human shell, becoming a new human.
"If the day comes when this choice proves wrong..."
If he.
Became once more the monster who ravaged the old Asgard and the gods.
"I'll take responsibility then."
His eyes felt clear.
His field of vision seemed to have expanded by more than half, almost illusory.
His body's vitality was incomparable to before.
'Drugs really are something.'
He'd lost count of how many times he'd marveled already.
Gaining so many stats in such a short time was a first even across his past lives.
It felt like he'd become a completely different person in that brief moment.
Rumble—.
Right after firing a blue spear strike high into the sky, he sensed Thor's energy heading this way.
The same energies began to resonate. Thor offered no resistance and approached.
Gulp.
Tension mounted as he drew slowly nearer.
But it was fine.
Now, at least.
'No need to fight and win.'
Whooo—.
He exhaled long, easing the tension appropriately.
'If it could be solved by fighting and winning, Odin would've done it already. He wouldn't have asked for my help.'
The most obvious line of thinking.
But consciously bringing it to mind helped greatly.
The tension ebbed away. As the blue monster entered his view, Lee Soo-hyuk widened his eyes.
"You here?"
His tone had changed.
Until now, he'd treated it as Thor.
"—Monster."
From now on, he had to regard it as a malevolent spirit needing exorcism.
Crackle—.
Answering Lee Soo-hyuk's words was the hammer in Thor's hand.
The item named Mjolnir, forged from the heart of thunder.
That was the culprit that had ruined Thor.
'I can handle it.'
Thump, thump—.
His heart pounded fiercely.
No matter the changes to his body through Odin's arrangements, he still wasn't as strong as Thor.
But he wasn't without something to rely on.
'The legend Pelius told me was true.'
Thump—.
As if responding to his thoughts, the lightning heart throbbed even more violently.
He had said this heart was made to wield lightning.
At the time, Lee Soo-hyuk and the viewers alike had dismissed it as mere legend, pie in the sky.
But the truths of lightning and thunder he'd learned here in Asgard matched his tale without deviation.
Humans had fought the gods.
'Didn't expect it to be alone.'
The legend existed as history.
But the result was humanity's defeat. The lone human fell to the multitude of gods.
Not that he cared about predetermined victors and vanquished.
Past outcomes couldn't be changed, and he had no intention of battling gods to avenge some nameless, faceless human.
But one thing was certain from the legend.
If someone had done it before.
'Then I can wield it too.'
Thud—.
As his resolve solidified, Thor closed to about ten paces.
Close enough to touch if he reached out. Lee Soo-hyuk's gaze remained fixed on the Mjolnir in his hand.
And Thor was the same.
"Grrr—."
He stared intently at Lee Soo-hyuk's hand.
As if reuniting with his lost half, entranced.
"You want this?"
Feeling the greedy gaze, Lee Soo-hyuk waved his hand.
"Then take it once—."
Whoooosh—.
In that instant, Mjolnir moved.
Boom!!
"...!"
A blue bolt streaked past before his eyes. In the blink of an eye, it smashed into the ceiling.
Rumble—!
The impact traveled from ceiling to floor.
The explosion could shave off a mountain, its speed beyond visual reaction.
Obviously, he hadn't dodged by reacting.
It had missed.
"...What a mess."
The power was immense, but uncontrolled.
It had no choice but to be.
Even in that state, Thor still lived within.
'Shall I trust?'
Grrrrr—.
Lee Soo-hyuk drew a deep breath, facing the beastly Thor emitting even more savage sounds.
And simultaneously.
Crackle, crrackle—.
Dark blue lightning sparked across his body.
Boom—!
A bolt from the heavens crashed atop Lee Soo-hyuk's head. A power unlike before permeated his entire body.
Output cranked to maximum. As if all his accumulated efforts were for naught, the power dwelling in his body resisted.
Output rose, burden grew.
As power welled up, discomfort enveloped his body.
'So this is the feeling.'
Thor must have undergone the exact same process to become what he was now.
Another entity invading the body, ravaging flesh and mind.
Like a drug. The more you indulged, the stronger you became—but equally ruined, ultimately leading to destruction.
Thump—.
Yet knowing that, he couldn't release this power.
Not now, nor in the future.
He had things to do, even if it meant death or ruin.
Crackle—!
Output reached maximum.
No more delay.
Maintaining this state too long was bad for stamina and mind alike.
Step—.
One step forward.
Straight toward Thor.
"I'll trust you."
His tone toward Thor shifted.
In that moment, Thor's eyes cleared, if only briefly.
Boom—!
Almost simultaneously, Lee Soo-hyuk's foot and Thor's Mjolnir moved.
Flash—!
A pillar of lightning shot skyward. Blue, black, and gold intertwined, surging high as a fierce gale whipped around them.
Whoooosh—.
Dust storms rose from the impact-cratered floor. The lightning pillar between them stood like a wall, blocking each other.
And in the dust storm.
Grab—.
A hand thrust forward seized Thor's Mjolnir.
"Grk—?"
Thor's gaze turned to the Mjolnir in his grasp.
His blackened face scorched, Lee Soo-hyuk gripped Mjolnir alongside Thor, staring into his eyes up close.
"Well done."
In the final moment.
There had been hesitation in Thor's hand swinging Mjolnir.
Without that hesitation, piercing the swung thunder would have been impossible.
Sizzle—.
Blue lightning flowed from the hand grasping Mjolnir.
The energy from the Thunder Gauntlet seeped into Mjolnir, detecting the fragment of thunder within.
"Kaaak—!"
Grab—.
Thor's hand seized Lee Soo-hyuk's throat. His windpipe constricted, eyes bulging as if to pop.
Creeeak—.
But the tighter it gripped, the more strength he poured into his hold on Mjolnir.
Once grasped, he couldn't let go. Releasing it would render Thor's hard-created opportunity worthless.
"A...gain......"
Sizzle—!
He squeezed Mjolnir as if to shatter it.
His hand blazed with thunder, scorching as it lured the thunder fragment within.
"Let... us... return... as one......"
No matter how he thought, this was the only way to restore Thor.
Reuniting the thunder heart split in two.
And that was what Lee Soo-hyuk had wanted from the start.
For a brief moment.
As the two thunders clashed, sparking.
Crackle—.
Crackle—.
Faintly through Mjolnir, a voice echoed.