Ymir and the others had taken Lu to a place far to the north of the royal capital—a vast, unexplored tundra. I am pretty sure that is the “base in the north” Freyr had mentioned before, back at the Ruins of the Blood-Red Sunset.
After kidnapping Lu, Ymir and the others were waiting for me to bring the Heart of Frost and Flame to them. We returned to the Temple of Odis once through the rainbow bridge, Bifröst. I wanted to see how things were going on the ground and, if possible, find some reinforcements to send against Ymir and the others.
From what we had seen from the Celestial Realm, the temple had been on the verge of falling under Ymir’s assault. But according to Mia-san and the others, the situation had actually eased later on. Maybe it was because Ymir and the others had disappeared, causing the monsters’ advance to lose its momentum.
Sure enough, when we emerged from the rainbow, there wasn’t a single monster left around the temple. I suppose the tide had turned during the roughly hour we spent fighting in the Celestial Realm. There was a huge amount of white ash covering the ground, as though snow had fallen.
This… must have been the monsters’ ashes.
The monsters had been ordered by the Primordial Titan to charge all the way to the temple at once. They had surged forward with such ferocity that they simply ignored their wounds. But that strength had come at a price. They had been forced to squeeze every last ounce of power from their bodies. Whether it happened when Ymir moved to the Celestial Realm, or sometime even earlier, the monsters had eventually burned through their lives completely. And all that remained of them was ash.
“Rion-san!”
The moment we stepped into the temple courtyard, someone called out to me.
Pauline-sama stood at the entrance to the Great Tower, her eyes wide with surprise. She is still wearing her priestly robes, and several chunks of ice clung to her clothes and staff. She must have been maintaining the seal underground this whole time.
Pauline-sama looked up at the rainbow stretching from the courtyard into the sky. Then her eyes moved between me, Mia-san, and Felix-san as we emerged from the rainbow.
“…So many things have happened that I can hardly begin to comprehend. But first, let us be grateful that you all returned safely.”
The princess approached us, then suddenly furrowed her brow.
“Where is Luisia? Isn’t she with you?”
“Ymir kidnapped her.”
Pauline-sama’s expression stiffened.
She took a step toward me, almost as though desperately clinging to the hope that I would deny it.
“…Ymir has regained the Power of Creation? T-then… there is no longer any way to stop the monsters…”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Right at the very end, Lu created an item that sealed away the Power of Creation.”
Every time I put it into words, my chest ached. I wanted to rescue her as soon as possible… but I couldn’t afford to rush things now.
The area around the temple was still noisy. The cries of monsters could be heard from beyond the walls. The situation was no longer desperate, but that didn’t change the fact that the temple was still surrounded by monsters.
I wanted reinforcements, too. But that would depend on how things were going at the Temple of Odis.
“Please, take a look at this.”
I reached into my pouch and pulled out a chunk of ice roughly the size of two fists. When I removed the cloth covering it, a heart could be seen beating inside the ice.
Pauline-sama recoiled in shock.
“…What is that?”
“Ymir’s heart. I’m not sure how to explain it, but… I think this is the original form of the Power of Creation.”
As though responding to my words, the heart gave a deep, heavy thump.
Pauline-sama took a deep breath before fixing her green eyes on me.
“I’m sorry, but you’ve skipped over far too much. Could you explain everything to me in detail?”
I told Pauline-sama what had happened in the Celestial Realm.
When she learned that the gods had been wounded so badly that they could no longer fight, the princess drew a sharp breath.
“Then… you’re going to rescue Luisia without the gods’ assistance?”
“Only adventurers will be fighting.”
I placed a hand against my chest.
“But it seems Ymir and the others were seriously wounded in the Celestial Realm. If we give them time, their injuries will heal, and we’ll be at an even greater disadvantage.”
I added one more thing.
My mind returned to the moment in the Celestial Realm when all the adventurers had made their resolve together. A colored light—red, purple, and other hues corresponding to the gods’ magical power—had appeared within each adventurer’s chest.
The meaning became clear almost immediately afterward.
“The gods can’t fight directly anymore. But apparently, they’ll be able to lend a small portion of their power to each adventurer who takes part in the battle.”
It might be similar to the first “Oath” Solana and I had made. Deepening our bond with a god and receiving their strength in return. The battles that had taken place on the surface and in the Celestial Realm had only strengthened the bonds between the adventurers and the gods.
Pauline-sama asked in surprise,
“Did you receive multiple blessings, like Rion-san?”
Mia-san shook her head, her red hair swaying.
“No. The blessings didn’t show up on our ‘Status’ like that. Having multiple skills is something only Rion can do, after all.”
“It’s probably closer to a temporary enhancement, like the Golden Flame.”
As she spoke, she drew her chain axe. Pale blue lightning crackled across its surface.
Felix-san took over. He leaned on his staff, one hand holding the small coronet on his forehead in place.
“In other words, the gods have divided up the magical power they have left and bestowed it upon the adventurers who will be storming the enemy’s stronghold.”
Pauline-sama was speechless for a while.
If someone suddenly dumped all of this on me, I probably would have felt the same way. It seemed like the decisive battle had only just taken place on the surface, and then Odin had kidnapped Lu, moving the battlefield to the Celestial Realm.
And now, after all that, Ymir had kidnapped Lu as well.
I couldn’t help feeling overwhelmed.
I looked toward the western sky.
That was the direction of the royal capital.
It wasn’t so long ago that I could have imagined spending my entire life in that city. Yet over the past few months, I’d traveled to a mining town, a city by a lake, the Celestial Realm, and now this frozen tundra at the very edge of the world.
It felt like I’d covered enough ground for an entire lifetime in just a few months.
Pauline-sama shrugged and gave a wry smile.
“…So, warriors blessed with the power of the gods. It’s straight out of mythology huh.”
She wasn’t wrong. The gods really did exist, after all. In that sense, then this truly was a page from a myth.
And if so… where would we be going next?
I could only hope that the northern tundra would be the end of our story.
“Pauline-sama.”
I shook my head, pulling myself back to reality.
Then I turned to the princess with a request.
“I know things must be difficult here on the surface as well. But we need reinforcements to pursue Ymir and the others from the Celestial Realm.”
“Understood. I’ll see what I can spare from the temple’s warriors, but… how many people do you need?”
“About fifty.”
I gave her the number. There was a reason I knew exactly how many we needed.
“The gods’ magical power is limited. It seems fifty is about the maximum number of people they can bestow their power upon.”
“I understand.”
Pauline-sama nodded.
“I’ll immediately gather warriors and our most skilled adventurers and have them report to the rainbow bridge, Bifröst, in the courtyard. So this is the decisive battle, then. Only this time… we’ll be the ones attacking.”
Mia-san, Felix-san, and I exchanged glances.
With that, we had everything we needed to launch our assault on Ymir and the others.
We also contacted the adventurers in the Celestial Realm. Through Bifröst, we exchanged weapons and armor, while those who had been wounded were treated in the cathedral.
With the help of Safi and the dwarves, we even had the damaged equipment reforged with magical runes.
When Safi heard about Lu and Solana, tears streamed down her face. Even so, she cheerfully declared, “Leave it to me!” and swung her tiny hammer with all her might.
We waited for the reinforcements to assemble before making our way toward Bifröst. Our destination was the northern land where Ymir and the others were waiting for us.
◆◆◆
After Rion and the others departed to face Ymir and her forces, only the gods remained in the Celestial Realm. An almost unnaturally peaceful breeze swept across the land, gently brushing against the gods who had been left behind.
Thor’s massive body, Heimdall, Loki in their black robes, Uru in his hunting garb, Sigris clad in blue armor, and even Solana in her white dress—all of them remained with their heads bowed, leaning against the rubble and fallen trees.
Odin’s colossal castle had collapsed as well, while the once-beautiful Water Mirror lay half-buried beneath the ruins. The scene looked as though everything had been destroyed and the gods themselves had perished.
But then Loki was the first to open his eyes.
“They’re gone.”
The wind swept past, sending Loki’s black hair fluttering.
“Fufu. We’ve done everything we could. We protected them from the blast of magical energy, and we gave them every last bit of power we had left. Which means the gods are now completely and utterly useless, aren’t they?”
Loki laughed.
Heimdall’s shoulders shook with a chuckle.
“Indeed. There’s nothing left for us to do now. We’ll just have to entrust everything to Rion and the others.”
Heimdall gazed up at the blue sky. His body was covered in wounds, but there was a peaceful expression on his face.
“…You saw the look on Rion and the others’ faces when they said they were going to fight Ymir. Once Ymir is gone and everything is finally over, perhaps humanity won’t need the gods anymore.”
Heimdall narrowed his eyes with a smile.
None of the other gods disagreed. The relationship between gods and humans had been changing. It was something the gods had all been feeling for a long time.
The gods above. Humanity below.
That hierarchy had existed implicitly since the Age of Myth. And yet now, the fate of the world was being decided by the efforts of humans led by a single boy. The gods who had guided humanity since the Age of Myth—or, to put it less kindly, ruled over them—could do nothing but watch.
Uru, the god of the hunt, finally spoke.
“I wonder what Odin thinks about all this.”
Loki answered.
“He’s certainly come to acknowledge humanity more than he ever did in his original plan.”
The chief god had disappeared. Perhaps Odin still had some thoughts about the abandoned Creation of the World.
But Loki could sense that Odin himself had changed.
“That we were able to empower humans with our own magic is proof enough. The skills Odin bestowed upon humanity even contain an effect that prevents interference from the other gods. It was precisely because he acknowledged that humanity had a chance of winning that we were able to strengthen the adventurers.”
“Even so,” Loki rumbled.
“We can’t afford to let our guard down yet. Especially not until Ymir is defeated. Otherwise, none of this will mean anything.”
One by one, the gods nodded.
The Water Mirror lay half-buried beneath the rubble. In response to the gods’ wishes, its surface began to reflect what was happening on the ground.
Rion and the others descended from the rainbow bridge, Bifröst, and stepped onto the snowy plain. The sky was still dim, and the moon bathed the land in silver.
With the boy at their head, nearly a hundred adventurers marched toward the temple visible in the distance.
Thor, the god of thunder, folded his thick arms across his chest.
“But we’ve got no choice but to believe in them now. The outcome of this battle—and the fate of the world—belongs to humanity.”
Thor had a habit of occasionally saying things that cut straight to the heart of the matter.
Once the battle was over, the relationship between gods and humans would probably change again.
It had to.
“They’re strong.”
Strong gods.
And humans who had grown strong.
Loki silently agreed with the Thunder God.
Perhaps the gods remaining involved with humanity forever would ultimately be good for neither side.
“…I, however…”
Solana alone wasn’t watching the Water Mirror.
She stared intently at her own knees, her delicate lips pressed into a tight line.
“…Even so, I’m frustrated. I swore that I would always be with Rion.”
“Hehe. Is that so?”
Loki deliberately tried to laugh it off, but then something occurred to him.
Before the final battle, the gods had bestowed their magic upon the humans best suited to wield it.
Thor’s power went to those skilled in close-quarters combat.
Loki’s went to those proficient in magic.
Sigris’s went to those gifted in healing.
But Solana had poured nearly all of her remaining magic into a single person: Rion.
Like Luisia, the boy with the horn possessed a body naturally suited to harboring magical power. As a result, he had absorbed a tremendous amount of it this time as well.
But…
“You swore? Not a human swearing an oath to a god, but a goddess swearing one to a human?”
“Y-Yes.”
“When?”
“T-that was… well…”
Solana faltered, her eyes darting from side to side.
Her cheeks rapidly turned crimson.
Loki understood. He didn’t dare say it aloud. It had definitely happened during a date.
He muttered under his breath,
“…Doing all this for the sake of one boy. That’s an awfully human way of thinking for a god.”
Loki had noticed that Solana, more than any of the other gods, had been changing.
She was becoming increasingly human. At first, she hadn’t even known what food was. And now she was going on dates with Rion.
And yet—
“The fate of the world is being entrusted not to the gods, but to humanity. And on top of that, the goddess herself is thinking like a human…?”
To make matters even stranger, the chief god’s presence had once again vanished.
Loki rested his left palm against his chin and nervously bit the tip of one finger, his drooping eyes narrowing even further.
“Just where is this mythology of ours going to end up?”
Loki turned his gaze back toward the Water Mirror.
The final battle that would determine everything was about to begin on the snowy plain.
—OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!
Ymir’s voice, like the howling of the wind itself, echoed from the temple across the snowfield at the break of dawn.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next
