I felt the air tremble and glanced back from the grand staircase. Monsters’ roar echoed across the sky as snow began to swirl through the air. A moment later came a heavy thud as something massive slammed into the ground.
Across the vast snowy plain, the battle between the monsters and the adventurers was still raging.
—Push forward!
—Drive them back!
From more than two stories above the ground, I could finally appreciate just how enormous the Frost Palace really was.
The remains of its outer walls formed a loose perimeter around the entire area. If this temple at the center was the heart of the palace, then perhaps the Frost Palace had once been something like a place of worship—a place dedicated to Ymir, the Primordial Titan.
The voices of the adventurers mingled with the roars of the monsters, dissolving into the pale dawn sky. I tightened my core and readjusted my grip on my short sword. My eyes turned upward. I left the others behind and headed alone toward the towering temple.
Ymir had suffered grievous wounds. And I now carried more of the gods’ blessings than I ever had before. But I still had no idea how good our chances were. Even so, if I wanted to save both my sister and the world, there was only one thing I could do.
I had to win this fight.
“Let’s hurry.”
The words slipped out automatically, an old habit.
Even though there were no longer any gods inside the gold coins in my pocket.
But—
“Status.”
The moment I thought the word, the voice of the goddess Norn echoed inside my head.
The gods are still watching over us. I am sure of it.
| Status: Rion (14 years old, Male) Level: 35 Skill『Alarm』: ➥ 【Wake Up】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Wakes up a sleeping person refreshed. ➥ 【Unseal】 ⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Cancel any type of sleep. [+] Can also analize seals. ➥ 【Master of the Horn】 ⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Fully unlocks the power of the horn. Skill『Sun’s Divine Protection』 ➥ 【White Flame】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Recovery. The blessing of the sun also exorcises curses. ➥ 【Golden Flame】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Improves physical ability. Further effect for a limited time. ➥ 【Sword of the Daughter of the Sun】…… Imbues the Daughter of the Sun in a weapon. ➥ 【Light of the Sun Awakening】…… Imbues the Daughter of the Sun in a weapon. Skill 『God of Thunder’s Divine Protection』 ➥ 【Hammer of the God of Thunder】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Shoots a powerful lightning attack. ➥ 【Will of the War God】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅When facing an enemy stronger than oneself, it increases the power one’s blow. ➥ 【Mjolnir】 ⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Borrows the legendary war hammer from the God of Thunder. Skill 『Divine Protection of the God of Hunting 』 ➥ 【Wild Heart】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Detection. With magical power consumption, effects can be further increased. ➥ 【Hunter’s Steps】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Moves silently without being detected. Skill 『Divine Protection of the God of Medicine』 ➥ 【Valkyria’s Spoon】…… Recovery. Consumes magical power to expand the range. ➥ 【Sigris’ Spear】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅a ranged support. The magical effect is channeled into the spear, delivering it to the target. Skill 『God of Mischief’s Divine Protection』 ➥ 【Duplicity】…… It can be used in combination with the two divine protection. ➥ 【Friend of Spirits】…… Draws upon the power of spirits. ➥ 【God of Mischief’s Deception】……Creates illusions using magical power. |
The blessings and abilities I carried were proof of the bonds I had forged with the gods.
I clenched the gold coin in my pocket.
I also touched the pouch on my right, where the awakening horn, Gjallarhorn, was stored.
In the pouch on my left was the Heart of Frost and Flame.
“Watch over me, gods.”
I glanced toward Freyr, whom I had defeated.
He didn’t move an inch. I don’t know whether he had simply exhausted every last bit of his strength, or whether the body he inhabited had finally died. The blood flowing from him had already frozen solid.
I shook my head and ran up the grand staircase.
At the highest level, where the temple stood, three enormous pillars—each at least five meters wide—towered over the entrance.
An ominous presence emanated from within. There was no doubt about it. The roar I heard from the palace entrance had come from this very temple. Ymir is here.
I activated God of Hunting’s blessing and searched the surroundings.
The first thing I looked for was my sister.
“…Onii…chan…”
The hem of a priestess’s robe was visible from behind the rightmost pillar.
“Lu!”
I rushed over and called out to her.
Lu’s hands were bound behind her back.
I cut through the ropes with my short sword, then placed the Brísingamen necklace I’d taken from Freyr into her small hands.
“Are you okay?”
My sister slowly opened her eyes. One of them had turned green, and magic of the same color began to envelop her.
“…Yeah…”
“Hold on to this. Freyja will draw power from the divine artifact and protect you.”
Lu gave a small nod.
“Can you move?”
“…A little.”
My sister tried to stand, but she immediately staggered.
I hurriedly caught her by the shoulders.
Then a voice echoed inside my head.
『Rion, may I speak with you?』
“Freyja?”
『I know that both Luisia and I were restrained through the use of my divine artifact.』
『But Luisia has expended an extraordinary amount of power in a very short time. She used her ability, Creation to make unstable magic take physical form—and even created the Heart of Frost and Flame.』
『.…There was no way she could have done that without suffering a backlash.』
A chill ran down my spine.
“W-what will happen to her?”
『She won’t be able to move for a while.』
『It was fortunate that the creation of the world was interrupted before it could be completed.』
『There is still a great deal of magical power remaining within Luisia. If I draw upon it, I can protect her from the aftermath of the battle.』
I lowered my chin.
The goddess’s voice began to tremble.
『—I’m sorry, Rion.』
『The actions of us gods have drawn you and your sister… no, so many people into a far greater battle than you ever should have had to fight.』
…She might have been right.
If Freyja had never taken up residence within Lu, perhaps our lives would have followed a completely different path. But I couldn’t bring myself to blame her. Freyr had told me how much she had sacrificed, and how much resolve she had carried all this time.
『I know this may not be the right time, but… may I ask about my brother?』
The moment I heard her voice, both Lu and I stiffened.
“…I defeated him.”
Lu lowered her eyes.
For a long while, there was no response from Freyja.
『He…. was such a fool….』
『In the end, I could never understand the kind of brother he was trying to become.』
I couldn’t see Freyja’s form. But tears were streaming down Lu’s face. For a moment, they almost seemed like Freyja’s tears flowing through her.
『Even if he was weak… even if he lost… even if he wasn’t strong… he was still my brother.』
I looked down at the staircase where Freyr had fallen. The blizzard was growing stronger. The swordsman’s figure had already vanished from sight.
I wanted to say more.
But we couldn’t stay here forever.
“I’ll go now.”
I rose to my feet.
Lu looked up at me, her eyes glistening with tears.
“Come back, okay?”
“Yeah. I promise. No matter what, I’ll come back and say, I’m home.”
I stepped away from Lu and Freyja.
『Rion! Please be careful.』
『Ymir has been consuming the magic of Creation.』
The magic that had appeared within the Water Mirror—the power that was supposed to become an entirely new world.
Ymir had consumed roughly half of it in the heavens.
『He suffered grievous injuries, but now that the heart he has sought for so long is finally within reach, he is converting the magic of Creation into his own power at a terrifying rate.』
My arm trembled.
The hope we clung to had been that, even if Ymir consumed such immense amounts of magic, it would take time for him to convert it into usable power. Even for a Primordial titan, it seemed that neither a Skill nor a physical object could simply be transformed into magical power instantaneously.
Something had to be broken down first.
For a human, that might mean taking away their consciousness. For an object, it might mean destroying it. It was perhaps like chewing something up after putting it in your mouth, before swallowing it. And the magic that was supposed to become the new world was still in the midst of Creation.
In other words, it was on the verge of becoming physical matter.
Ymir had consumed it in the heavens, but in order to make that power truly his own, he should have needed to reverse the process—to turn magic that was on the verge of becoming matter back into magic.
That was what we’d learned from Odin and the others.
But had something changed?
『This is probably not the Ymir we knew before.』
My father used to say it, too.
A wounded monster was the most dangerous kind.
『It is still before dawn here, but he may even be capable of tearing open a rift as enormous as the one that appeared over the royal capital.』
『I cannot imagine what will happen to this place if space itself is torn apart on that scale.』
“Understood.”
I never expected this to go smoothly in the first place.
As I walked, I slapped my cheek once, steeling myself.
I continued through a forest of enormous pillars. The ceiling was so high it made me dizzy just looking up. The black stone pillars were crude yet imposing, lending the temple a solemn grandeur.
A cold gust whistled through the ruins. Walls and sections of the ceiling had collapsed in places, leaving glimpses of the sky before dawn.
I had gone perhaps fifty meters when—
A crimson-black light flickered to life at the very back of the temple.
An altar.
Candlestands stood on either side, casting long shadows from the massive figure standing before them.
“Ymir…”
I whispered the name.
I already knew he was waiting at the far end.
With God of the Hunting’s blessing, I could sense a crimson magical presence there—an aura more immense than anything I had ever felt before.
I stopped and searched the surrounding area.
There were no other monsters. Ymir had kept every other monster away from him, unwilling to entrust the Heart to anyone else.
—Then a deep voice reverberated through the temple.
It sounded like the earth itself was growling.
“The heart.”
The words made my stomach tremble, like the distant rumble of thunder. It was the feeling of standing before an overwhelming force of nature.
So this was what it meant to stand face-to-face with Ymir—
The first living creature in the world.
“The heart. Did you bring it?”
I nodded.
I pulled the Heart of Frost and Flame from my pouch and held it up for him to see.
“It’s here!”
A gust of wind swept between us.
Ymir began walking toward me, slowly.
My instincts automatically measured the distance.
Forty meters.
Thirty.
Twenty.
Ten—
At five meters, right at the edge of striking range, Ymir stopped.
His golden eyes looked down at me.
“Rion.”
Ymir spoke my name.
I was startled.
Then again, he had once been the leader of the slave traders. It wasn’t strange that he would know my name.
I put the heart back into my pouch and met his gaze.
“What is the source of your strength?”
I noticed that Ymir’s face had changed.
His features were as rough and rugged as if they had been carved from stone. Cracks ran from his cheeks and forehead toward the center of his face. Something dark red—probably magical energy—flowed through them, throbbing like veins.
The change extended to his long golden hair, which reached down his back. Two dark-red streaks ran from his forehead all the way to the tips of his hair, like horns that had suddenly sprouted.
His once-fine clothing had been reduced to tatters, the remnants hanging from his body like a ragged cloak. His bare torso was covered in countless wounds. Even now, whenever a dark-red, lump-like mass spread over one of them, it pulsed as the wound slowly healed.
“Strength…?”
Something glinted on Ymir’s left arm.
A bracelet. It was the left half of the manacle that had been placed on him when Lu had sealed him in Flocia.
“I have never created anything this strong. This hard.”
Ymir stared at me as he traced a finger over the icy bracelet.
“If I consume something, I understand it. I can make it mine. But—”
The howls of monsters and the cries of adventurers drifted in on the wind from outside.
Ymir’s golden hair streamed behind him. For the first time, the giant’s expression was laid completely bare.
“If I learn the secret of it, perhaps this hunger will finally ease.”
I fought desperately against the urge to step backward.
Just standing there and exchanging words with him was enough to make my body want to faint from instinctive terror. Every word he spoke struck me like a bolt of lightning.
“Hunger…?”
Ymir had consumed everything.
His own magical power. And by returning to himself the world created through his ability, Creation, he had tried to reclaim everything that had been taken from him.
But—
“You’re still hungry?”
“I did the same thing a thousand years ago. I consumed a great deal. And yet, I am looking at the same scene I saw a thousand years ago.”
Ymir pointed at me with a finger like a piece of firewood.
“You and your sister. You are the only things different from a thousand years ago. If I consume the strength your sister unleashed, I may finally understand the reason for this hunger that never goes away.”
His words echoed dully through my head, passing over me without making sense.
The sheer pressure of his presence made it difficult to grasp their meaning.
The icy bracelet on Ymir’s left arm glinted.
“Do you understand?”
The titan stepped forward.
The temple shook.
“My hunger.”
Another step. The distance between us closed.
“Do you understand?”
Ymir spoke again.
“The hardness of this bracelet.”
I clenched my teeth.
Don’t let him swallow you!
He was a monster intent on destroying the world. He had targeted Lu. He had killed Dad. There was no way I could forgive him.
“Haah!”
I lunged first.
My short sword was caught by a barrier of magical energy. A shrill clang rang through the darkness.
“I see.”
Ymir spoke calmly.
“Soon enough, I will understand once I consume them. The heart. You. And your sister.”
His lips curled back into a twisted grin.
With that wicked smile on his face, Ymir took a massive step forward.
BOOM.
The impact hit like the air itself had exploded, sending me flying backward. I planted a foot against one of the great pillars and used it to kill my momentum.
“That just now…!”
Ymir had slammed the edge of his hand into the floor.
That was just an impact!?
Dark red flames began to engulf his enormous body.
I remembered the form of another giant.
“Surtr…?”
“I remember everything I consume.”
I froze.
Surtr. The fire titan whose dark-red flames had melted the seal. He had been a creature of flame, too.
“How strange. Sometimes, the things I create acquire powers even I do not possess. You and your sister are the same…”
“Ha!”
I hurled myself forward, carried by the momentum of the Golden Flame.
Ymir counterattacked.
Black flames seared my arm, but I gritted my teeth and shouted—
“I’m borrowing your power, Uru…!”
| Skill 『Divine Protection of the God of Hunting 』has been used. 【Hunter’s Steps】⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Moves silently without being detected. [+] Effect increased by the God of Hunting’s magic. |
I circled around using Hunter’s Steps. The slash hit Ymir’s leg.
Reached!
“Hmm…”
The enemy’s magic barrier is unable to cope with the speed and surprise attack.
Ymir swung her arm. The unleashed explosion shattered a large pillar.
Conversely, this is an opportunity.
“Loki, please…!”
| Skill 『God of Mischief’s Divine Protection』has been used. 【God of Mischief’s Deception】……Creates illusions using magical power. [+] Effect increased by the God of Mischief’s magic. |
Countless copies of me appeared within the cloud of dust. Using magic, I projected images of myself into the smoke. Loki’s “Illusion” had grown far more powerful than before.
“Damn it!”
Ymir tore through several of my doubles.
But by then, I had already slipped beneath him.
“Wake up!”
I swung my short sword, awakening the wind spirit Sylph from the crystal.
“Woof!”
The dog-shaped spirit sprang forth and raced past Ymir’s side. A blade of wind sliced into his right arm.
“Guh…!”
Dark-red flames spread over the wound, forming grotesque lumps that began to heal the damage.
It’s working.
I am definitely wearing him down.
The gods’ blessings—their power—burned within my chest.
“Next!”
To finish him, I would need power on the level of Thor’s blessing, Mjölnir. For now, I had to keep chipping away at him, endure, and create an opening for one decisive blow.
My target is his left leg!
“There!”
The moment I lunged, Ymir roared.
“OOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH!”
The sound made me feel like my head was splitting apart. If my level had still been as low as before, my eardrums would have burst for sure.
The ceiling and pillars trembled, sending small pieces of rubble raining down. Blown backward, I used my hands and feet to catch myself and roll with the impact.
Ymir, wrapped in dark-red flames, stared back at me.
“Guh… ngh…”
The dark-red magical energy running across his face pulsed violently.
He was probably forcing himself beyond his limits to turn the power of Creation into his own.
The lump covering the wound on his right arm suddenly bursted.
“—Eh?”
It became a “mouth”.
The wound had transformed into a mouth, complete with lips and teeth. It cackled grotesquely, and Ymir smashed it with the palm of his hand.
The creatures Ymir had twisted into monsters flashed through my mind.
Perhaps to gain more power, they had distorted their own bodies, growing bizarre mouths and horns all over themselves.
The giant bear that had appeared in the royal capital. The boar from the Ruins of the Blood-Red Sunset. Those monsters.
“Is he… distorting his own body so that it can absorb even more magical power?”
Could something like that really be possible?
To alter his own body with his own power?
No—perhaps that was precisely why he was so far beyond the norm.
Perhaps that was why he was the first living creature in the world.
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Ymir opened his enormous mouth and bit down on space itself.
The world warped and cracked. The fissure that appeared spread in an instant, tearing through the air and all the way down to the floor.
The temple shook with a deep, earth-shaking rumble. One massive pillar after another collapsed, swallowed by the cracks splitting open beneath them.
This is bad!
I ran, desperately trying to put some distance between us, but the fissure reached my feet.
The sensation of solid ground vanished.
I am being dragged down into overwhelming darkness…!
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next
