From the rift carved into the mountainside, Thor, god of thunder, burst out into the night sky.
His gaze fell downward—where the writhing form of a colossal serpent sprawled.
Behind the mountain stretched a vast forest, with a river winding along the ridge line. Trees snapped and the ground shuddered as the creature dragged its immense body forward, water spray and dust erupting in its aftermath.
Slowly, the serpent raised its head, towering high—its height alone rivaling that of a giant-class monster. Counting the length that slithered along the ground, it was surely even larger than Flamebone Surtr.
Hovering above, Thor stroked his chin, the eyes of a war god measuring the serpent’s size.
“Fifty meters, if it stretched straight? No—closer to a hundred…?”
He snorted. It’s pointless. He had realized there was no meaning in trying to measure it.
“You always did grow stronger with magical power, didn’t you…?”
The seal that once bound the world must have kept that trait suppressed.
Like where Thor, god of thunder, turned his magical power into lightning—
Sigris, the god of medicine, transmuted it into healing—
And Solana, the goddess of the sun, transformed it into light—
This creature poured it all into sheer size.
Resting Mjolnir across his shoulder, Thor gazed down upon the serpent.
“It’s been a long time, World Serpent Jormungandr.”
From the shadowed forest below, golden eyes glared up at him. Thunderclouds gathered around Thor, the hammer’s surface came alive with crackling blue arcs.
——Yes… far too long.
The World Serpent purred. Its voice echoed heavily throughout the area, like an earthquake. Even from the distant city of Alvis came cries of terror—they had seen the monster’s emergence.
Thor’s mouth tightened.
(Just how did Odin intend to end this?)
Thor questioned in his mind.
——Before the Seal, I never did get to finish our battle.
“…Yeah”
The rising gale whipped through Thor’s crimson hair. Before the seal had blanketed the world, Thor and Jormungandr had clashed many times.
“By now we’re surely tired of each other’s faces. Or does a thousand years apart make the sight feel fresh again?”
Jormungandr shook its vast body in laughter. The eerie rumble stirred the midnight forest, and with a great rush of wings, birds scattered far into the distance.
——Hey, Thor… you may be fine, but what of the mortals in the dungeon?
The serpent’s crimson tongue flickered, taunting him.
——While they face Flamebone Surtr—without you, their strongest god—can they truly endure?
Thor kept an expressionless face . As a god of war, he is well aware of his opponent’s tactics.
The World Serpent had revealed itself only to feign interest in the city, baiting a lone god strong enough to oppose it into stepping outside—so that the battle within the dungeon might still tilt in their favor.
In other words, it was a diversion.
And then, once outside, it tried to distract him by making him worry about what is happening inside.
——Mortals are small, weak… and greedy, like serpents themselves.
“Hahaha!”
The thunder god’s laughter split the serpent’s ploy apart.
“I used to think the same. Truly, seeing it thrown in my face by an enemy is enough to make me loathe the thought.”
Thor tightened his grip on Mjolnir and leveled it toward the massive serpent.
“Small? Weak? They may look like it—but don’t underestimate them.”
Thor’s red hair swayed in the storm. The God of War glared at the serpent with wide eyes and raised Mjolnir.
“That boy—he may grow into something far beyond what you imagine.”
(Or rather… he’s already on the midst of it.)
Thor added the thought under his breath.
“Answer me, hero…”
Jormungandr coiled its massive body, its tail snapping like a whip. Waiting for it was the hammer wreathed in thunder.
“I’ve trusted them to hold against Surtr. And, we’ve learned something —we learned to fight side by side.”
◆◆◆
Flamebone Surtr rose to its full height. The golems behind him fell from the impact, and we saw them get crushed by the giant’s foot.
Even from here, the heat seared at our skin—I thought my nose might burn away. Running forward, we all pulled the hoods of our fireproof cloaks lower.
When I looked up, the titan towered nearly twenty meters, like a colossal tree reaching to the sky.
“…The more I look, the more absurd it seems.”
Felix-san muttered, and I couldn’t disagree.
We had forced our way through the hordes of monsters, pressing closer to Surtr than I’d thought possible. But he is still too big.…
“Wake up!”
I called upon Sylph, the wind spirit, and then I hurled wind blades at Surtr. However, all they managed was to scratch the surface of its pillar-like leg.
Even Mia-san’s chainaxe clanged uselessly off the titan’s hide.
“Felix-san, what about your spells!?”
“I am casting them but their effect is weak.”
Right now, the only ones managing to land real attacks on Surtr were the dwarves. From the platforms circling the chamber, ballistae and spell-cannons kept unleashing volley after volley. Yet even their bombardment broke again and again upon the titan’s shimmering barrier.
We kept running in a wide arc, careful not to interfere with the dwarves’ assault.
If Surtr was the “fortress,” then the dwarves were the siege force with their many engines and device. That made us the raiding party, circling and waiting for the opening.
——Hooooo!
Surtr roared. The entire dungeon shook, and the sound made my eardrums feel like they might burst.
“W–what!?”
Safi staggered, only to be caught in Loki’s arms.
“…Hmm.”
The god narrowed his eyes.
“Looks like it’s Surtr’s turn to go on the offensive.”
The flame titan lifted one of his colossal leg high.
——OOOOOH!
It was only a single stomp. And yet, that alone sent a furnace wind surging through the chamber.
I hastily awakened Salamander, and the gods Loki and Solana wrapped their protection around me. Even so, the raging storm of heat blasted away the Garmrs and wave after wave of golems.
The merciless destruction sent chills down my spine.
“H-he’s striking his allies too…?”
“If they mattered to him, he wouldn’t let people mine ore straight out of his body in the first place!”
Mia-san was right.
Whether we liked it or not, this proved what we were up against was no person, but a monster.
Surtr’s crimson eyes blazed. The titan raised his fist high, then brought it down upon one of the platforms. A colossal ballista shattered into fragments, its debris falling alongside the dwarves who had manned it. Even Sigris and Uru, who guarded the platforms, couldn’t shield them all.
Surtr’s booming laughter echoed.
——Born of fire, return to fire!
The collapsing platform seemed to fall in agonizing slow motion.
Safi screamed.
——OOOOOH…
Surtr rumbled low in his throat, his enormous face twisting into a grin. When his jaws parted, I glimpsed jagged fangs, glowing red-black like molten iron. Even now, terror threatened to make me shake.
I slapped my own cheek.
Get it together. Don’t look away.
If I falter here, then surely, not just me, but my companions, the dwarves, Lu, and even Mother would all be swallowed by fire.
“Please… Uru’s blessing—!”
Calling on the Blessing of the Hunter God, I stretched my senses with magical detection.
“…T-there has to be some weakness…!”
That’s when I noticed something strange. At first, I thought it was only the heat and tears warping my vision. But no—there, near Surtr’s knee, gleamed a red light. A light eerily similar to a golem’s core. But before he had stood up, I was sure nothing like that had been there.
“S–Safi…”
Still held in Loki’s arms, Safi wiped her tears away.
“What is it?”
“There’s a magical reaction in Surtr’s knee. It looks almost exactly like a golem core…”
Her eyes widened—then blinked, as though some forgotten memory had just stirred.
“Come to think of it… when I arrived here, there was a golem master. I couldn’t figure out why he was there, but now…?”
Something clicked in my mind as well. That Incarnation of Rage we had fought earlier.
If one could forge a giant golem, then maybe—just maybe—a titan’s very body parts could be built the same way…?
“Rion, don’t stop running! Treat it like any other giant-type monster!”
The voice of a senior adventurer snapped me back to my senses.
“R–right!”
I forced my legs to move again.
Surtr hurled a fireball. Towering pillars of flame roared up around us, scattering fleeing figures in every direction. Flying rubble tore a gash across my cheek. Without the dwarves’ covering fire, even attacks like this would have crushed us in relentless succession.
Through the gaps between the explosions, we caught glimpses of him—
“…Around the legs, the flames seem weaker?”
Mia-san’s words earned a quick nod from me.
“Yes. There, it almost looks like it’s made of soil and stone…”
“Ah!”
Safi suddenly cried out.
“…The legs—it matches that spot. At the very beginning, that giant’s feet were bound in sealing ice. And then… one leg still had an ancient ballista bolt lodged in it, from ages ago…”
Safi pressed a hand to her lips as she murmured.
“Could it be… they reinforced the injured leg with golem technology?”
Loki narrowed his eyes, agreeing. Even in a moment like this, he raised a finger as if lecturing.
“Mmm, I see. The grievous wounds he suffered from the dwarves before the sealing never healed. So, with his flesh missing, they patched him up with soil and stone using golem technology.”
Odin’s seal had been dragging Surtr’s legs down all along. A wound sustained a thousand years ago, kept under the seal—perhaps not even a monster’s regeneration could mend it.
“Uh—let me sort this out…”
The truth lined up in my mind.
A golem core was reinforcing Surtr’s crippled leg with stone and earth. Both legs had been pierced by the dwarves’ great ballista bolts—this was, in effect, a kind of prosthetic limb. That was why, once he stood upright, the Blessing of the Hunt God had reacted.
And Safi had seen the golem engineer. If it was for emergency measures like this, it all made sense.
“We… we might’ve found his weak point!”
Circling behind Surtr, I fixed my eyes on the golem cores.
Just as I thought—both his knees glowed with a crimson light. If we destroyed them, even that colossus would surely falter. Standing on two legs was the same weakness for giants as it was for us.
That was when Mia-san suddenly pointed straight upward, her face gone pale.
“Y—you’ve got to be kidding me!”
Surtr’s fist was already raised. The ground shook under his forward step. Loki and Felix-san hurled spells to deflect the blow, but stopping it outright was impossible.
The fist came down.
The floor bent like liquid under the impact, launching all of us into the air. The goddess stepped forward, spreading her arms to shield us. Her golden hair streamed straight back in the scorching gale.
“H-here it comes, Rion! The magic shockwave—!”
Together with Solana, we were blasted high into the air.
“Wah—!”
We must’ve been launched a good ten meters up.
Yet we didn’t crash into the walls or floor. The fall was strangely gentle. That was when I saw them—pale dwarves with delicate, feather like wings. White dwarves, catching us in their arms, softening our descent. One by one, they lowered us gently back to the ground.
“Th-thank you…!”
I called out in gratitude, but the white dwarves only gave a small nod before gliding back to the platforms.
I turned again toward the flame giant.
Surtr had dropped to one knee, coiling himself like a spring, gathering strength.
My chest pounded. His movements had stilled—and that made it feel like the perfect chance. His knees, his weakness, were pressed firmly against the ground, hardly shifting at all.
My heart raced like a drum.
Was this a chance—or a trap?
“Solana!”
I chose to gamble.
The blast had hurled us far away, leaving thirty meters between us. At that range, only one option had the power we needed.
Solana’s golden eyes flared as she nodded.
“I understand!”
| Skill, 『Sun’s Divine Protection』was used. Sword of the daughter of the Sun has been created. ―――――――――――――――――――― 【Sword of the Daughter of the Sun】 ……The daughter of the Sun imbues herself into the weapon. |
The goddess sank into the blue crystal short sword in my hand. The gold coin leapt from my pouch, fusing with the blade. The light-forged sword—the same that once felled Wolfbone Skoll —blazed to life, its radiance surging upward until it nearly brushed the cavern’s ceiling.
――Oooohhh!
Surtr roared.
Even as he knelt, Surtr pressed his massive palms together. Between them, fire swelled—gathering and thickening until it surged outward into form. It turned into a blade.
A sword of flame.
“—!”
That sword of flame caught the Sword of the Daughter of the Sun head-on.
The clash rang like the tolling of giant bells.
In the vast chamber, golden sparks and red-black embers scattered in showers so blinding they stabbed at my eyes. Goddess and giant, light and flame—locked in equal measure. Their magic was evenly matched.
What tipped the balance was skill.
Still bracing against the divine blade, Surtr rose slowly to his full towering height. His burning weapon slid upward against mine, then he twisted it in a swift, fluid arc. It was a technique called “Maki otoshi,” in which one releases his sword from the sword lock and launches a counterattack.
My opponent was so huge that it was foolish to compare to him. After all, Surtr’s strength and technique could not be pushed back!
——Oooohhh!
With a roar, he wrenched the blades apart.
——Burn, and turn to ash!
From a sweeping stance, Surtr’s flaming sword scythed across, aimed to cut us all down.
I raised the Sword of the Daughter of the Sun as a shield, bracing to protect the others.
“Rion!”
“Solana—protect everyone!”
I couldn’t hold my ground. My feet lost contact with the ground, and in that instant the heatwave struck me like a hammer.
I was blown away.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next
Yume Neiji's Works 