Run, run faster, I told myself.
Rata and Freyr had already kicked off the walls and climbed atop the building. When I finally reached the roof, they were about fifty meters ahead. And beyond them—looming in the distance—stood the tower of the Odis Temple.
A massive hole gaped in the side of the tower. From it poured a torrent of blazing red flames and blinding white light. The two forces collided, and the shockwaves thundered through the air like rolling cannons.
Solana’s voice came through.
『They said… Ymir has arrived…!』
I cast the Golden Flame again and sprinted along the rooftops. The deep wound on my shoulder,which hadn’t fully healed, hurt. But there was no time to care. There were still roughly three hundred meters between me and the temple.
The moment I leapt onto the next roof, the tower’s wall erupted again.
From the gaping hole, red and white light spilled out, each intensifying the other’s brilliance. Like a giant explosion, the blast sent a circular wind rippling outward from the tower through the sky. From below came screams. The city of Flocia was in utter chaos.
The gale tore past my ears alongside the cries, roaring like some living thing. Far ahead, I could see the temple’s tower.
Through the gaping hole in the building, I could catch a faint glimpse inside.
There were people.
Somehow… I just knew it was Mia-san and Felix-san.
The white light, coming from the cold aura of the Frost Orb. My companions were fighting to protect the sacred relic. Solana’s words echoed in my mind, carried from the gold coin.
『Rion! Hurry!』
“Yes!”
Around the tower, the cold spread with alarming speed. The rooftops near the temple were instantly coated in frost, shimmering under the light.
From the coin came Loki’s voice as well.
『The Frost Orb… is resisting, isn’t it…』
Such intense cold…
Even the gods themselves were concerned, but more importantly—
The Frost Orb was the very thing that protected the dungeon’s seal. If the enemy was attacking it, we had to stop them, and we had to be fast!
“Wake up!”
A burst of light to shatter the nightmare poured forth from the coin.
The gods leapt into the air.
Solana pointed toward the tower.
“The tower… it’s going to collapse!”
Perhaps because the wall had been blasted away, the upper portion of the tower was on the verge of crumbling. The chamber with the orb was on the fourth floor. What was about to collapse was the floor above it—the topmost fifth floor.
If this continued, our companions would be crushed under the ruins of the upper level.
“Hooraaah!”
Thor hurled his mighty hammer, Mjolnir. It struck the unstable fifth floor and smashed it apart, sending shards flying outward, away from the tower. Loki and Solana raised their hands toward the temple, slowing the fall of debris.
But something caught my eye.
Some of the fragments burst into light—and then seemed to be drawn into the tower, straight toward the massive figure standing amid the dust.
It was as if… they had been swallowed.
“The primordial titan… is he here…?”
A shiver ran through me.
Memories of the myth surfaced in my mind. The titan that devoured the ancestors of the gods flashed across my mind. The cold and the fear crawled over me, and a sound escaped my lips.
“Ymir…!”
Beside me, Sigris nodded gravely.
“Mm. There’s no mistake.”
By now, the orb chamber at the top of the tower had lost both ceiling and walls, completely exposed.
The clash of heat and cold raged unabated. I could see Mia-san’s red hair. Felix-san, Safi, and even some of the temple’s people were there too.
And there, beyond the orb, stood the fire-wreathed giant—Ymir. The flames that cloaked his body whipped and flickered in the gusting wind, occasionally revealing glimpses of its form. Its tousled blond hair danced violently in the storm.
I ran toward the tower alongside the gods.
Freyr, moving ahead, was already right beside the tower. Rata was nowhere in sight—perhaps having hidden somewhere.
Loki spoke beside me.
“That fire… I see. It seems Ymir somehow devoured and absorbed the power of Flamebone Surtr. In other words, he gained the strength to resist the ‘seal’ that the subordinates had worn…”
Indeed, the red-black flames reminded me unmistakably of Surtr.
“So it’s not just skills… he can devour the power of monsters too.”
But… that meant cannibalism, right?
Not just gods or humans… even monsters?
The possibility had never crossed my mind. Regret stabbed at my chest. Still, there was nothing I could do now but push forward.
Solana shouted.
“Rion, we’ll hold it off!”
The gods concentrated their attacks on the colossal figure. Thor’s hammer, Solana’s light, Uru’s bow, Sigris’s spear, and Loki’s flames—all struck in unison.
The attacks pierced through the cold that enshrouded the tower, closing in on Ymir.
Uru’s voice pressed against my back, urging me onward.
“You, head for the tower!”
Hurry… I have to hurry.
With his left arm wreathed in flames, the colossal figure deflected Solana’s light. His right arm caught Thor’s hammer, and all other attacks were blocked by a magical barrier.
I kicked off rooftop after rooftop, finally reaching the cathedral’s ceiling. While the Golden Flame still lingered, I leapt off the wall and climbed toward the fourth floor of the tower.
Hot blasts and icy gusts hit me at the same time. With no walls or ceiling to shield me, the fierce wind from the lake tore straight at me. It felt as if I had leapt straight into a tornado.
Amid it all, the giant radiating fire—Ymir—stood waiting.
“You… you’re…”
My voice trembled.
“Ymir?”
Freyr was there too, standing beside the man.
Neither of them spoke, and that silent confidence made itself known to me whether I wanted to notice it or not. Cloaked in fire—this man, no, this monster—was Ymir.
The one who had targeted Lu, killed my father, and now seemed intent on devouring the world all over again.
I readied my short sword. He wasn’t an opponent I could recklessly rush at—but maybe I could shoulder a fraction of his attention, just enough to give the others a chance.
The gods continued their assault, hovering around the tower. Even surrounded, neither Ymir nor Freyr showed the slightest sign of hesitation.
“Ri…on.”
The voice at my side snapped me back.
Mia-san was on her knees. Felix-san and Safi were crouched in the same way. Behind them, the head priestess of the temple had fallen as well. Everyone was smeared with soot and bruises, but thankfully, no one appeared to be gravely injured.
Even in a moment like this… I felt a fleeting sense of relief.
“Thank goodness….!”
Felix-san breathed out.
“Pauline-sama is—”
He pointed toward the Frost Orb. Through the glare of light and the swirling dust, the orb at the center of the chamber was hard to make out.
Still, squinting carefully, I noticed two figures hovering in the air.
“…Huh?”
It was Pauline-san and Lu.
The two of them hovered faintly above the orb, their forms woven from magic. I had seen the same phenomenon when I spoke with the princess in this very room before. Unlike that time, however, both were now fully life-sized.
Felix-san continued.
“From the royal capital, she’s using the Seal skill to resist them with cold…!”
Pauline-san pressed both hands toward the orb, wincing with effort. She was channeling the magic of her skill from far away in the capital. That must be what was holding Ymir back.
The gods’ assault continued relentlessly.
“Rion, stay back!”
“Got it! I’ll make sure this monster goes down outside the tower!”
Even just protecting Mia-san and the others from the shockwaves was all I could manage. I unleashed the spirits to counter the orb, shielding my friends from flames and falling debris.
The gods’ offensive was overwhelming. If I got any closer, I would probably turn to dust in an instant.
Ymir endured it all.
No…. was he waiting?
“Ugh….”
A groan came. It’s the first sign of someone reaching their limit. It came from the only human taking part in the battle—Pauline-san. Her face was twisted in pain. Her outstretched hands trembled uncontrollably.
“Ah…”
Pauline-san’s form wavered. She was thrown backward, disappearing from above the orb.
Ymir let out a savage laugh. The flames cloaking him roared violently.
From above, Solana shouted.
“This is bad!”
We tried to push Ymir back with the Golden Light.
But the cold radiating from the orb was rapidly weakening. The fist-sized orb from Flocia simply couldn’t match Ymir!
Seizing that fleeting moment, Ymir took a step forward.
A shout burst from my throat.
“Stop!”
His bear-like hand clamped down on the Frost Orb.
Just watching, I could feel the overwhelming force in that grip. A cracking sound, like ice shattering, echoed through the chamber. The shattered orb exploded into white light, scattering across the room.
“No……!”
Lu screamed.
Ymir opened his massive mouth, and like a vortex, the remaining shards of light were sucked in.
The chaos around us fell silent. The cold that had been clashing with the heat vanished, and the wind began to settle.
His mouth was bone-dry. The sheer scale of what had just happened rang in my ears, and I couldn’t move a finger.
Ymir wiped his mouth as if savoring the taste.
“Hmm…. so this is the <Seal> skill.”
Through the gaps in the flames that cloaked him, the giant let a faint smile slip.
“I’ve learned it.”
Safi whispered, her face pale as a sheet.
“T-the orb is the keystone of the seal, right? If it’s gone…. what’s going to happen to Flocia dungeon?”
I stared in shock at Ymir, and then at the lake.
The newly formed bridge connected Dungeon Island to the city of Flocia. If the seal were to weaken like it did with the Eastern Dungeon, monsters would spill out from a labyrinth rated for level thirty adventurers.
And now, Ymir had devoured the orb. He had absorbed the <Seal> skill—gaining resistance, perhaps even immunity.
“This is bad.”
Thor’s face twisted with concern.
Mia-san and the others were battered and bruised. The gods were here, but they couldn’t fight freely. They had to protect the city at the same time after all.
My short sword trembled in my hand.
Ymir’s flames flickered, revealing the thick chest and massive neck beneath his robes. His face was like it had been carved from solid rock. Now, utterly unreadable, it showed no hint of emotion. To us—creations made by others—it seemed as if he felt nothing at all.
His tousled blond hair whipped wildly in the gale.
Despair gripped my chest. Still, I tightened my grip on my short sword. Even if it was only a bluff, I had to become at least a fragment of protection for someone, anything.
And for the first time, it felt as if Ymir’s enormous eyes turned toward me—dark, endless pits that seemed to swallow all light.
“Oniichan!”
Lu’s voice rang out.
The orb was gone, but her form still hovered in the air.
“Lu.…?”
“Don’t give up.”
Her eyes blazed with determination as she raised both hands into the air. Beneath them, light began to gather—converging where the orb’s pedestal had once stood.
“Skill 『Miko』…. Creation…!”
At her whispered words, Freyr’s eyes widened, and Ymir’s brow furrowed.
A miracle had begun.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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