Chapter 187
Chapter 187
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: Odin's Compensation
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My body went limp.
If it weren't for the heavenly horse, I probably would have plummeted straight down to Valhalla below without a second thought.
'I'm gonna die.'
With the intent to settle it in one strike no matter what, I'd squeezed out every last drop of strength. If I couldn't win with this, then it really was impossible.
'Still... the performance has definitely improved.'
That last hit was astonishing even to me. Who would have thought I could unleash a blow of that caliber?
In terms of a single strike, it rivaled the prime Lee Soo-hyuk.
'Must be because it bolstered my stamina that much.'
The Lightning Heart had worked tirelessly, and Selfish Sacrifice reaching level 9 had done its part.
As all strength drained from his body, Soo-hyuk checked Loki's status one final time.
The trial completion message hadn't appeared yet.
He couldn't be unscathed, but maybe he hadn't died just yet.
And sure enough.
"Groan... ugh......"
Loki, still clutching his staff, floated in midair with his eyes half-rolled back.
"Tough bastard."
I'd suspected as much, but he was really still alive. Facing a monster like that, it was no wonder.
Fortunately, he still had enough strength left to move his limbs.
High fatigue situations were familiar territory—he'd even torn half of Kim Il-su's face off in this state before.
Finishing off a guy on the brink of death was well within his capabilities.
"Let's go."
Kihihihng-!
At Soo-hyuk's command, the heavenly horse moved. Having fought together, it had truly become his.
Riding it to close the distance, Soo-hyuk aimed his sword tip at Loki's throat.
"You're one resilient son of a bitch."
The sword raised high.
"Let's end this."
Swoosh-.
The moment the blade swung toward Loki's neck.
Ziiing-.
"......?"
Something gripped the sword at his throat. Loki was still out of it, and it wasn't his magic.
A third party.
"Hold on a moment."
Odin intervened.
"Protecting your son?"
"Embarrassing as it is, yes."
I'd asked half in doubt, but it was true. I hadn't expected the one responsible for this mess to step in like this.
Loki was Odin's second son.
But the Loki known among players wasn't connected to Odin by blood.
To put it simply, he was adopted.
Even so, Odin stepped forward shamelessly before Loki's death.
"Wasn't it you who created this situation?"
"...You're right."
"Rushing in late just to protect your son instead of cleaning up the mess you made. Kinda disappointing."
Soo-hyuk deliberately provoked him.
Odin was the one acting wrongly here.
If he let it slide, Odin would see him as just a convenient pawn from now on.
"Things got complicated."
Odin had sought the one who trapped Thor with Tyr, but Loki became a variable.
Loki had allied with Heimdall to steal the thunder.
No telling when they teamed up. Depending on the timing, Loki's involvement in trapping Thor would be revealed.
"I'll properly uncover this child's crimes and ensure he pays the price."
"The price?"
Soo-hyuk scoffed at his words.
"Is trapping your son the only crime? This isn't it?"
"...No."
The heavenly horses' home was destroyed. If he hadn't won the fight, not just Soo-hyuk, but even the limp Biola in the horse's mouth wouldn't have survived.
"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't, but it's hard to stay rational when it's my son."
There's one relationship that needs no reason or reward: parent and child.
Even the king of gods wasn't free from it. Odin groaned at his own irrationality.
"As compensation for our rudeness and this action..."
Odin's gaze turned to the still-unconscious Loki.
"How about this?"
Tzztztzt-.
Something was pulled from the collapsed Loki's chest.
A thumbnail-sized, angular gem emitted intense blue light.
It felt like thunder.
But different.
Soo-hyuk had seen something similar once.
'A heart?'
It resembled the 'Lightning Heart' obtained by smashing the giant's head that raided Pelius's village in the second layer trial.
"I'm not asking you to forgive with this."
Whoosh-.
At Odin's gesture, it slowly floated toward Soo-hyuk.
"But I promise: this child will pay dearly."
"Sure, whatever... if you say so."
Play along sometimes.
Soo-hyuk nodded and reached out.
"I'll let this one slide..."
The moment he grasped the heart.
Pinggrr-.
'Huh?'
His vision shook wildly. Balance lost, he couldn't tell sky from earth.
He couldn't even stay atop the heavenly horse anymore. His blurring vision darkened, and even the strength to hold onto consciousness vanished.
Come to think of it, the fatigue level was insane.
That was Soo-hyuk's final conscious thought.
I didn't know how much time passed with my consciousness cut off.
Slowly, like a body rising from deep water, very gradually, Soo-hyuk's awareness surfaced.
"I didn't expect you to arrive so soon."
Around then, a voice echoed.
It bounced off narrow walls like an echo.
Soo-hyuk unconsciously perked up his ears.
"I thought I knew everything about you, but apparently not."
"It's been over ten thousand years since we fought together. Change is natural."
"Unfair. I've weakened like this, yet you're up even higher."
His vision gradually cleared.
Soo-hyuk stood in a prison. It felt like a deep underground dungeon, dark and profound.
'Cutscene?'
Before him, two men conversed through bars thicker than a handspan.
Heimdall, wrapped head to toe in hundreds of chains. Odin looked down at him with bitter eyes.
No one could have imagined them meeting like this.
"Why did you do it?"
"It was something that had to be destroyed."
Heimdall repeated his old claim.
"Something that shouldn't exist in this world. Something that will one day lead not just Asgard, but all worlds to ruin."
"So you meant to destroy it?"
"Yes."
"How?"
No answer came.
Had he started without a plan? Or found one but kept silent?
Either way, it fit. Odin sighed regretfully.
"I gave him the heart."
"......!"
Heimdall, head half-lowered, stared straight at Odin.
One might doubt he was truly blind. Even without eyes, he saw whatever he wished.
"Really... did you?"
"Would lies work on you?"
"He already wields a complete thunder. Why...!"
"That's why."
Odin's thoughts ended in a completely different direction from Heimdall's.
"I believe it must be passed on unbroken. We need to find its rightful master to prepare for that day which may come."
'That day which may come?'
Soo-hyuk's eyes widened at the cutscene dialogue.
The day that would come. It was etched into every player's soul, including his.
Soo-hyuk had long anticipated it, but found no clues anywhere—until now, from Odin's lips.
"Thor failed."
"Yes. He did."
"You expect a human to succeed where your son failed?"
"Surely you haven't forgotten who blinded you in the war between gods and men."
Heimdall had lost his eye in the gods-versus-humans battle.
"He's plenty strong even now. And his thunder mastery surpasses Thor's. What do you think? Worth expecting?"
"...That's the problem."
Their views didn't converge. The parallel conversation ended in Odin's regret.
"That day... we should have ended it."
"Then we wouldn't be separated by these bars now."
"True."
Heimdall stopped Odin as he turned to leave after ending the talk.
"I hope you don't regret this."
Odin paused his steps, then resumed.
"That depends on that human."
The cutscene faded, and his mind sharpened.
A cozy sensation accompanied slowly opening eyes. Was he a full streamer now? Chat came to mind unconsciously.
The rapidly scrolling chats suggested he'd been out for quite a while.
He hadn't blacked out this long with the stream on recently.
"Groan-."
He sat up first and surveyed his surroundings.
Lying in a bed, it seemed somewhere in Valhalla.
'Odin brought me here.'
He was the last one with him, so probably.
No sense of debt. Odin and Tyr had used him, no matter what grand item he got in return.
The cutscene lingered in his mind.
It mentioned "that day." No chat mentions meant viewers hadn't seen it.
Hwang Gyu-seong's dying words resurfaced.
"If you get the chance... meet the Three Demons. Then... you might understand."
He'd planned to anyway; now one more reason.
'Not in this state, though.'
The Three Demons were demon kings, the so-called Demon Lords.
Challenging them with middling skill? Ten lives wouldn't suffice.
Pondering the cutscene, Soo-hyuk suddenly asked.
"How long was I out?"
He thought no one was around, addressing viewers.
"About half a day."
The reply came from elsewhere.
"......?"
How long had he been there?
Turning his head, Thor waved at Soo-hyuk.
"Nice to see you. Are we acquaintances now?"