Reunion with the Bitch
We arrived in Jotunheim. Towering white statues loomed over the landscape, lending it an imposing grandeur. No matter how you looked at them, their forms were magnificent. You could feel the giants' meticulous craftsmanship, as if dwarven hands had touched every inch.
"Hey!"
I ran into Tirgar sooner than expected.
"Hm? Taesik? What brings you here? Back already after just a month."
"Forget that, Tirgar. Come with me to Niflheim."
I cut straight to the point. Killing Nidhogg as quickly as possible was the priority. At the very least, I couldn't let Yggdrasil be swallowed by the void.
Tirgar set down the massive tree he'd been carrying on his shoulder. Thud! Half the enormous trunk crashed to the ground. It was so huge that even Tirgar's massive frame looked small beside it.
"...What did you say?"
"Come kill Nidhogg with me."
He scratched his head like an idiot.
"What the hell are you spouting all of a sudden? Niflheim? You want us to head into that frozen hell?"
"Not you guys. Just you."
"...Something's happening, isn't it? Related to the void serpents?"
"More than enough. As you know, serpents live in Hvergelmir."
The spring of Niflheim, Hvergelmir. Nidhogg lived near it.
"Nidhogg has been corrupted by the void. I know helping Odin doesn't sit well with you, but do it just this once—for my sake."
"...I don't particularly mind, but why me?"
"Because you're the only one who can stand against that giant body of his."
Think of him like the Hulk from Avengers. With Tirgar's massive frame, he could dodge those venomous fangs and disrupt Nidhogg's movements.
"Hmm."
"I'm begging you. That bastard Odin even bowed his head while asking."
"So in the end, you want me to clean up the shit."
"Not like this is the first or second time."
"Puhaha. No, it's not."
Tirgar sighed and chuckled. The sheer force of the air pressure from his laugh was overwhelming. It hit me all over again just how much of a giant he really was.
"How long will it take?"
"Who knows. As long as we can kill him for good, it doesn't matter how long it takes."
After hearing my answer, Tirgar pondered for a moment.
"Nidhogg, huh... That means the World Tree is being polluted."
"Exactly."
He muttered in a low voice. The collapse of the World Tree meant the collapse of the world itself. It was the final stage of Ragnarok.
He clicked his tongue and dusted off his hands. Leaving the tree to his comrades, he picked up his greatsword.
"What are we waiting for? Let's move."
"You little shit. Thanks."
Tirgar grinned. I grinned back. We bumped fists again.
"By the way..."
"Hm?"
"How did it go?"
"With what?"
"Isabel and Seria. I still remember that bloody scene... From the look of Seria's condition, it seems things got resolved somehow, but what actually happened?"
To that question, I gave a silent answer. A smirk. A bold, noble answer. That was answer enough.
"Good lord... You did it? With both of them?"
Tirgar's face twisted in shock in an instant.
*
Niflheim. An endlessly cold space masquerading as hell. Eleven rivers, the Elivagar, formed its waterways.
"Brr, it's freezing."
"Why are you complaining about this little bit of cold? Endure it, hero."
She sighed as she spoke.
"Didn't you warn Isabel it would be cold when she left?"
"It was unavoidable... It wasn't this bad before."
The cause was probably the void. Its power had grown stronger.
Riana's black fur coat shimmered before my eyes.
"...Hey, that fur looks insanely warm."
Meanwhile, some of us were stuck in bone armor with wind whistling through the gaps. That was cheating.
"Uhehe, call it being well-prepared."
I trudged forward like a zombie and reached for Riana. It was only moderately cold, after all. Ice crystals and freezing snow clung to the fur of her pelt. The overwhelming chill was starting to freeze everything solid. It hurt like hell.
"Hey, hey, come a little closer."
"Hm?"
"...Hurry up."
I wiggled my trembling hand. Riana approached without a shred of suspicion. I immediately tried to snatch her fur coat and drape it over myself, but—
"Hehe."
"...Hey, never mind. Just stay there. Don't come over."
Riana only tilted her head in confusion.
"Why? You look like you've seen a ghost..."
"Don't come any closer! If you do, I'll explode."
"Explode? What will?"
Seria's jealousy, that's what. Sure enough, her eyes had gone dark and sunken as she stared at us. Riana, oblivious, just kept babbling nonsense.
"Hero... Was it really that cold?"
It was, but... that wasn't the point. I wasn't pitiful. Could she stop looking at me like she pitied some poor soul shivering in the cold?
"If that's the case, I understand. Come here! Hurry and throw yourself into my embrace!"
I quietly glanced toward Seria. With a terrifying glare, she sneered.
"Huhu..."
Riana trembled at the sight. Her lips kept twitching upward despite her best efforts to suppress it. A woman with jet-black hair like ebony, firm skin, and a beauty mark beneath her eye that made her strangely alluring. It was hard to believe she was a Viking. In truth, she was a masochist who enjoyed pain. A woman whose exterior and interior were completely at odds. That was why I couldn't help but gape in horror.
"...You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"
"Huu... Huu... No! I absolutely do not want to be kicked by Seria Lionblood or anything like that...!!"
"You're insane. This isn't normal..."
Damn it, why was she slurring her words more and more? Seria didn't care what Riana said. It wasn't reaching her ears anymore. She ground her teeth with a sickening sound.
...Soon, a fist tracing an arc came into view.
Amid the chilling atmosphere, I shifted my gaze. Tirgar approached, eyebrows twitching.
"You've got quite the popularity."
"...I wouldn't exactly call it popularity..."
Tirgar narrowed his eyes.
"Taesik, you shouldn't be spouting that kind of bullshit in front of me."
[That's right, hero. Shut your damn mouth.]
"I teased you about having two wives before we left, but I didn't think you'd actually go through with it!"
[Giant, do you know what this bastard did? He deceived us, the lonely dead who died in solitude! He mocked us, calling us losers!]
"W-What!?"
Bete screamed while Tirgar shouted. Their pent-up frustration was palpable even through their skin. Bete was one thing, but why the hell was that bastard Tirgar acting like this? Hadn't he been the one cheering me on to get both Isabel and me into the same bed from the start? The academic consensus was that he was just jealous.
Ptui.
"What the hell is wrong with you guys all of a sudden?"
[Giant! Did you see that? This bastard just spat. He spat!]
"Taesik. You've crossed the line!"
I was so dumbfounded I felt dizzy.
"Solo heaven"
"Couple hell"
Oh, look who showed up. No wonder they got along so well with Slim's friend. Tirgar and Bete were perfectly in sync.
I chuckled as I looked at the Shield of Frost. I was certain the Frost Giant commander, Thrym, was watching.
"Seria. That's enough."
"B-But that fox-like wench—!"
"The more Seria acts like that, the happier Riana gets."
Look at her. Twisting her body and panting like that. Crazy bitch... Crazy bitch, crazy bitch, crazy bitch... The shock filling my mind showed no signs of fading even after a month. It was because of Riana's M tendencies. Every single day was a new surprise.
"I... I like it...♡"
"Riana. Should I leave you behind?"
"N-Neglect play..!!"
I sighed and spoke to Seria.
"See?"
"...Ugh."
Her reaction came from an obsession that had clearly "crossed the line." I didn't know the exact reason, and I had no desire to find out. She'd tell me eventually. Our first meeting that only she remembered.
I gently pulled Seria into an embrace.
...It was warm. I felt like I was about to freeze to death, but maybe staying like this for a while wasn't so bad.
"It's warm."
"Haa... I love being in your arms, hero."
It was the same warmth I felt every day, but here in the bitter cold of Niflheim, its value shone even brighter.
"Taesik, go die."
[Solitude is the only truth. Hero, I curse you to become like Bete.]
This bastard. Had he still not come to his senses?
We walked along the roots for a while. Gradually, the purple energy of the void began to emanate from Yggdrasil's roots. A large village appeared before us. Cold, yet somehow warm—this was one of only two safe zones in Niflheim. Nidavellir.
I'd never been here before, but I could tell at a glance. The traces of warriors were blatantly obvious. The northern mountain range of Niflheim's middle realm. Even though Niflheim was a hell like Helheim, decent people lived in Nidavellir.
"You folks still alive?"
"For now, yeah."
Well, technically they were dead. We arrived at the village right below the mountain range and decided to spend the night here. I didn't know the exact path to Hvergelmir. Maybe if we followed Yggdrasil's roots, we'd get there. That was the only thought in my head as we walked aimlessly. These people might know a more precise route. If they were residents of Niflheim—not the dead who became monsters that harmed the living, but those living a second life—then perhaps they knew something. That was why I'd led everyone here.
"How strange. You're the first ones to come this far in recent times."
"Were there others before?"
"There were warriors who fled from Helheim. But they all froze to death."
"...I see."
After thinking for a moment, an exclamation mark popped up in my mind.
"Ah! Come to think of it, a saintess came here as well."
"A saintess?"
"She said she came to find a way to restore her lover's memories or something like that."
Thankfully, it wasn't Fina. I thought this while warming my shivering body with Seria's heat.
"Achoo!"
This cold was definitely intense. It was fortunate I had Odin's blessing and wouldn't freeze to death. Sorry for punching you, Odin. But it couldn't be helped. You understand, right? I winked at the sky.
"Oh dear, come inside first. We can't leave guests standing out in the cold."
We followed the dead man into a cabin. Since multiple races lived here, there were houses large enough for Tirgar as well. We unpacked our things and followed the resident back outside. They looked no different from living humans, but the boundary between their legs and feet was blurred. They were what people called ghosts. Those who had done good deeds and didn't become demonic beings even after death. Beings living an eternal life. It wasn't my first time seeing ghosts, but these were different from the usual ones. Above all, they were kind! As expected of people who had accumulated virtue. Even as ghosts, they retained their living appearances. Bete, that idiot—how lonely had he been? Lonely enough to become a withered skeleton?
Feeling pity, I turned my gaze to Riana.
"W-Why are you looking at me like that! What's with those eyes?"
"Not you. Bete."
[...You picking a fight? If we fight again, I'll rip your guts out once more.]
"Your next meal, you mean."
Had I gone crazy? I didn't want to get dragged to the brink of death again. At his vicious words, I burst out laughing. The axe couldn't even move, yet he talked so much. I covered my snickering mouth and followed the resident's guidance. And there—
"...Taesik-ssi?"
"Fina?"
I had reunited with the bitch.