I stepped into the tower alongside Solana.
The white walls stretched inward as far as the eye could see, every surface pure and immaculate. Despite being a structure over a thousand years old, the craftsmanship and decoration were so majestic that I felt as if I had wandered into a grand cathedral.
Thick pillars soared high above, vanishing into the ceiling. On either side, staircases wound endlessly upward, folding back upon themselves in a spiral.
With a heavy thud, the entrance closed behind us.
I walked with the goddess. The white floor beneath us was unlike anything I could imagine—its material, its polish, entirely foreign. Here and there, small holes resembling drains punctuated the surface. Straight ahead us, a circular podium awaited. Near it stood Nils—or rather, the god of abundance, Freyr.
“I’ve been expecting you.”
We stopped roughly ten meters away, and Freyr smiled.
His narrow eyes flicked between Solana and me. The dull gold of his hair now shimmered like ripe summer wheat.
“…We’ve come to awaken Freyja-sama!”
I cast my gaze around the chamber. There was no ice in sight. Perhaps Freyja-sama was sealed on a higher floor.
I drew my short sword and lowered my stance.
“God… please step aside.”
Freyr turned his back to me, walking toward the podium.
I hesitated, caught off guard by the deliberate display of an opening.
“This tower was built and hidden by our faithful. Even if ruin cannot be avoided, my sister Freyja alone must escape to the heavens. That was the purpose of creating a tower of this magnitude.”
There was something almost wistful in his tone.
When I first saw the tower, a rainbow had stretched skyward. That must have been the Rainbow Bridge, Bifrost—the bridge to the realm of the gods.
Now that I think back, even when I first came to Flocia, I saw light beneath the lake. That light marked the tower sealed beneath the water I guess. The key to lifting the seal had always lain at the bottom of the lake.
“That is precisely why the defense mechanisms exist.”
Freyr turned to face us.
“Like this.”
I hadn’t seen him draw the sword.
From the tip already in motion, a blade of raw magic shot toward us.
“Solana!”
I shoved the goddess out of the way. Freyr raised a necklace in his left hand.
“In the name of the God of Abundance! Raise the barrier! Open the floodgates!”
The entire tower vibrated. From floors far above, water came crashing down in a blinding torrent. Jets of water erupted from the drains beneath our feet like a fountain.
“W-water…!?”
This… A water attack!
Freyr stepped onto the podium. Slowly, the platform began to rise.
So it was a lift all along.
“Rion, let’s pursue him!”
“Yeah!”
Solana and I tried to move together, but some invisible force pushed us back. The water had risen to my shoulders when I fell. The tower echoed with the groans of Sahagin and little water drakes—they’d been drawn up along with the flood.
Solana pressed her hand against the empty air.
I couldn’t see it, but… there was a wall.
“This is a barrier of magic. It prevents passage.”
The magical barrier separated Solana and me. I had to climb alone, and she had to climb alone. I scanned my surroundings. A staircase wound endlessly up the wall, folding back on itself in a spiral.
The path existed—it wasn’t impossible.
Solana called out.
“Rion!”
Through the transparent wall, she pressed her palm against it. I matched her hand with mine, our eyes meeting for a brief, grounding moment.
“See you at the top!”
And then we parted.
I climbed the stairs as fast as I could, determined to reach the top before the goddess. The water surging from below pressed on my chest. The spot I had just left was submerged, and monsters swam in the flood. Of course, some of them had climbed the stairs too.
“Gyaah!”
A Sahagin thrust its trident forward. A small water drake unleashed a jet of water. I dodged each attack and unleashed my own.
“Thunder God’s… hammer!”
Lightning streaked through the two monsters. Even at this distance, the god’s blessing remained with me. Naturally, so did the Golden Flame.
The water pressed closer, urging me onward.
“Solana…”
The transparent barrier prevented me from joining her on the other side. The staircase spiraled up in short folds, never allowing passage to the opposite side of the tower where Solana climbed.
Golden light danced above. Watching me and thinning out the monsters in her path, the goddess is also ascending.
“Goddess…”
She was always there, like a gentle sun at my side. Yet a slicing attack skimmed across her shoulder. I looked up. From the ascending lift, Freyr was launching his assault.
Heat flared in my chest.
“Ku!”
I scolded my legs. There was no time to falter!
Ahead, a massive Sahagin blocked the way. Nearly three meters tall, it wielded a club like a stone pillar. It occupied the landing at the turn of the stairs.
| Skill 『God of Thunder’s Divine Protection』was used. 【Will of the War God】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅When facing an enemy stronger than oneself, it increases the power one’s blow. |
With Thor’s courage guiding me, I drove the enemy back. Using the enhanced Thunder God’s Hammer, I struck down the massive Sahagin.
I moved my legs and raced to catch up with Freyr’s ascending lift. To keep Solana from being struck, I dashed faster. Soon, I reached the same height as Freyr.
Kicking off the staircase, I leapt.
Since his attack is going through, there was no magical barrier between him and the goddess!
Freyr, who had been aiming at the goddess, turned his body toward me.
“Twin Slash!”
The moment I landed on the lift, twin slashes came from both sides.
If I fall, I would plunge straight into the water teeming with monsters below. I didn’t block the strikes. Instead, I weaved under them, sliding close to the floor as if swimming through the air.
“Ha!”
Freyr’s upward-sweeping dagger was met by my sword. A high-pitched clang echoed.
“Not bad.”
Freyr commented, raising an eyebrow.
In a swift motion, he switched his stance and swept at my legs.
“Kuu…”
I fell. But fortunately—toward the side where the goddess waited.
“Thank you, Rion,”
Dodging the flurry of slashes, she soared upward. At the same moment, Freyr reached the topmost floor of the tower.
The space resembled a grand temple, with rows of massive pillars rising into the ceiling. Tall, narrow gaps in the walls let the wind stream through. Outside, a thunderstorm had finally begun.
The sound of water striking against the walls echoed all around.
“Hmph… a tie, huh.”
The humid wind whipped through Freyr’s golden hair.
Lightning illuminated his profile, sharp and divine.
Why does my chest sometimes tighten on windy days?
Freyr stood upon the lift-like pedestal, and what I saw behind him stole my breath away.
“Freyj-sama…”
Far more beautiful than any likeness, and exactly as I had seen her in my dreams. The goddess lay sleeping, encased in ice. I felt heat and tremors from the pouch at my side, and I drew the awakening horn, Gjallarhorn.
The horn trembled and blazed with fierce light, as if eager for the encounter, for the liberation.
It was as if I could hear the goddess herself shouting: “Use me!”
“Yes… that’s right…”
I had come all the way to Flocia to unleash the true power of this horn.
But when Freyr raised the necklace, the horn fell silent.
“…The horn has been sealed by Seiðr magic. This tower is the stronghold of us siblings, skilled in Seiðr. You will not be able to use it unless you defeat me.”
Freyr continued, voice calm but resolute.
“If I win, I will claim this horn. And if I feed it to Ymir…”
His gaze shifted to the ice behind him.
“With his awakening power, we can lift the seal on Freyja.”
Solana shouted at him,
“What about Freyja’s will? Even if she awakens, will she cooperated with the monsters?”
“None of that concerns you.”
Freyr answered so, his smile unbroken.
I have questions I want to ask as well.
“Your sister… Freyja-sama, what would she think of you now?”
Freyr did not answer. No further words could pass between us.
Because at that moment, golden light began to envelop Freyr’s body.
I recognized it. Memories connected the dots. The shadow of my father, overlaid onto this person, passed clearly through my mind.
“『Awakening』…?”
At last, I understood what Ymir had handed to Freyr in the chamber where the orb was.
“Do you remember now? What defeated your father?”
Skill『 Awakening』.
Freyr spoke the name of my father’s ability aloud.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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