Odin, Lord God of Destruction

The snow-white world darkened, and pillars of fire erupted on all sides.

The being Loki had created as a joke had now appeared in Divine Comedy's Asgard.

Odin, Lord God of Destruction.

A giant ten times larger than Ryu Hwi. One of his eyes was covered by a patch, and his entire body was clad in armor drenched in blood — a true monster.

His mere movements stirred up storms, and the spear in his hand drank in an ominous light, staining the world a deep crimson.

Even before that overwhelming presence, Ryu Hwi did not retreat a single step.

"YggON."

[What is it? My sense of humor has just ascended to the heavens, so please keep it brief.]

"That thing's a hidden boss of some kind, right? If I kill it, does it register as MR?"

[It will.]

If there was a reward waiting, his motivation burned all the hotter. Ryu Hwi strode boldly toward Odin, Lord God of Destruction.

"Why is the thing I made as a joke actually showing up?"

Loki's lips twitched.

Odin, Lord God of Destruction, was something Loki had half-jokingly created for the sole purpose of ensuring no one could ever clear the labyrinth. He had never once imagined a scenario where the thing would actually manifest.

"So this is the human who pulled the one and only UR in existence. A madman beyond imagination, with luck so rotten it's almost impressive……"

At last, that bitter smile melted into laughter brimming with pure delight.

"He's absolutely, gloriously entertaining."

Ryu Hwi immediately unleashed the Shuffle Gun's power.

⟨Mode Change: Bubble Shooter⟩

The Shuffle Gun's shape shifted, and he fired off a barrage of soap bubbles. The bubbles, popping at the slightest touch, clumped together and swelled into ever larger ones.

As if he knew exactly what those bubbles were, Odin refused to approach, instead whipping up a storm in an attempt to burst them all at once.

"Ah, Odin has the 'Power of Wisdom,' so he can see through an enemy's abilities and—"

Loki tried to offer advice, but Ryu Hwi was already moving faster than the words could leave his mouth.

Faster than Odin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could fling the bubbles away with his storm, Ryu Hwi's Shuffle Gun rounds pierced through them. The bubbles detonated in a chain of explosions, cutting off Odin's movement before it even began.

The roar of the blasts was enough to make his ears ring.

"He knew Odin would move to blow the bubbles away, and triggered the explosions before he could?"

Loki clicked his tongue.

"So he read Odin's ability through Intuition? Is he a step above even the wisdom that foresees the future?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't even use Intuition."

Ryu Hwi snorted as if it weren't worth laughing at. The information had said 'foresaw the future,' so he'd used the Bubble Shooter precisely to gauge how far that power reached.

"So you can read the Bubble Shooter, but not the actions that follow it. Big deal."

Ryu Hwi immediately pulled out his bike and activated the Rider-On Air Road system. Roads slicing through empty air traced unpredictable lines, weaving a spiderweb in every direction.

The moment he twisted the throttle, a whirlwind rose from the ground.

Odin, Lord God of Destruction, wielded the power of wind. The ability to conjure storms at will was formidable enough on its own, but an even more sinister aura radiated from the spear gripped in his right hand.

Accelerating his bike, Ryu Hwi slipped out of the storm's reach — and in the same breath, pulled the trigger, spraying the Bubble Shooter's soap bubbles in a continuous stream.

Odin, utterly indifferent to whether he was caught in the blasts, raised a ferocious tempest centered on himself and burst every bubble in a single stroke.

[It doesn't seem to take any real damage from impacts of this level.]

"I wasn't expecting it to."

He'd never believed the Bubble Shooter alone could bring Odin down. He intended to use this battle as an opportunity to test just how effective his own idea of 'combat style' really was.

[Aren't you being a little too relaxed with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a being designed as a hidden boss?]

"That's exactly why it's worth experimenting on."

Even in that moment, he never stopped firing. The bubbles could do little more than momentarily tie the enemy's feet — but that much was enough. Watching for the opening the Bubble Shooter created, he triggered his skills.

Activating Limit Break forced every grimoire to its level cap, and then he bombarded Odin with a storm of spells.

Bolts of lightning, a whirlwind of raging flames, and lances of ice — all incomparably more powerful than what he'd used against Thor — hammered into Odin one after another.

He gave the giant no room to breathe.

Each grimoire, having reached level(ygg), had a usage limit of ten casts. The spells chained together, triggering ferocious explosions.

"No, seriously — I designed him to be flatly impossible to beat."

Loki's concept had been a colossal god whose mere movement birthed storms. An image of a being who bound his enemies helpless in the tempest and annihilated them with his blood-soaked cursed spear, Gungnir.

"Turns out imagination and reality are different things. He's toying with you, isn't he?"

Escape the storm along Air Roads slicing through the sky. Seal the enemy's movement with soap bubbles. Then press the attack with spell after spell.

"But don't think Odin will fall that easily. How do you plan to deal with Gungnir, Master of the UR?"

The abilities Loki had given the cursed spear Gungnir were [Throw], [Homing], [Sure-Hit], and [Sure-Kill]. Once hurled, it pursued its target until the target was dead.

"Hm?"

Loki noticed something strange.

"Why isn't he throwing Gungnir?"

Under this much pressure, any normal design would have hurled the spear long ago — yet Odin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠simply took hit after hit without retaliating.

Watching the situation unfold for a moment, Loki realized a certain truth and held his breath.

"That guy — he's canceling Odin's attacks?!"

Ryu Hwi was putting Intuition to full use.

Every time he 'sensed' Odin about to strike with the spear, he concentrated his fire on the hand gripping it. And each time, Odin faltered and aborted the attack.

[It'll be hard to keep this up. You've only got a few casts of your spells left.]

"I know."

Ryu Hwi's offensive was about to run dry. Even pouring out spells boosted by Limit Break without pause hadn't been enough to fell Odin.

Then, a new card was drawn. Checking that card, Ryu Hwi grinned.

"Shall we wrap this up, then?"

The instant Ice Lance's remaining casts hit zero, Odin finally moved his massive frame. The mere act of taking a throwing stance whipped up a furious storm that shook everything around them.

The cursed spear, Gungnir.

The moment Odin hurled it, the spear closed the distance in the blink of an eye. Fast — far too fast. An ordinary player would have been skewered before even thinking to dodge.

But Ryu Hwi, wielding Intuition, had pulled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Shuffle Gun's trigger before Odin had even finished the throw.

⟨Mode Change: Warp Gun⟩

With the Warp Gun's power to link space to space, Ryu Hwi vanished and reappeared elsewhere in an instant, evading Gungnir.

The spear immediately banked and came screaming back at him.

Intuition had read Gungnir's power. The homing ability of Sure-Hit. Get hit, and it's a guaranteed kill.

"You really did pick out nothing but the most obnoxious settings imaginable."

Future sight that read the enemy. A storm erupting with every movement, dealing area damage all around. Durability that wouldn't budge no matter how much you pounded it. A spear that chased you until you died.

This was never a boss Loki had built to be cleared. Just a final boss made on a whim, as a joke.

Ryu Hwi kept pulling the Warp Gun's trigger, evading the spear that pursued him relentlessly. No matter how far he fled, it was on him in moments.

Yet even with Gungnir bearing down on him, Ryu Hwi smiled without a trace of fear. The cards were in hand — now all that remained was to bring down the boss Loki had declared unbeatable: Odin.

"There's no such thing as an unbeatable boss."

Two rounds remained in the Warp Gun. He fired one of them at Odin.

The instant he warped above Odin's chest, Gungnir was already at his nose.

That was the moment he played the card he'd been holding.

[Time Snip]

⟨2 seconds⟩

Ryu Hwi's body snapped back to where he'd stood two seconds earlier. With Ryu Hwi gone, Gungnir hurtled toward Odin's chest — and froze dead in place, poised to pierce it.

"Planning to take Odin down with Gungnir? As if I'd fall for such an antiquated trick. Naturally, I prepared for exactly that. With Gungnir's auto-tracking, you can't target Odin himsel—"

Loki's words never reached their end.

As if he'd anticipated even this, Ryu Hwi aimed the Warp Gun at the tip of the shaft of Longinus — the spear haft standing frozen before Odin.

What the Warp Gun had targeted was the very tip of Gungnir's shaft, halted mid-air before Odin. Reaching it in an instant through warped space, Ryu Hwi thrust his fist skyward.

"No way—?!"

Loki swallowed hard.

"Let me offer one piece of advice……"

"Don't go slapping on sure-kill options so carelessly!"

With a fist charged with the Heavenly Demon's power, he smashed down onto the tip of Gungnir's shaft. The spear, frozen just before Odin's chest, was driven backward by the impact of Ryu Hwi's Heavenly Demon fist.

Thud.

Gungnir plunged straight through Odin's chest.

⟪KRAAAAAAAAAGH!!⟫

Odin — who until now had taken every attack without so much as a scratch — let out a scream.

As the giant convulsed, storms raged on all sides, sweeping away everything in their path. Ryu Hwi gripped the tip of Gungnir's shaft with all his strength, refusing to be torn away by the gale.

Before long, Odin breathed his last and dissolved into particles, scattering into nothing.

"Ha—hahaha. Hahahahaha!"

Loki laughed. It was the only way he could express the emotion surging up inside him.

"Incredible. Truly incredible! He analyzes the enemy's patterns and builds a strategy that leads to victory! That's not the power of a UR. Does he simply have a genius talent for reading the flow of battle?"

Once Gungnir, too, vanished, Ryu Hwi — who had been clinging to its shaft — leapt lightly down and landed on his feet.

"Cleared."