In the vast, snowbound plains before the Frost Palace, adventurers and an army of monsters clashed. Shouts of fury and savage roars echoed across the battlefield, and even the freezing air seemed to carry a faint warmth.
Snow had begun to fall. Felix tightened his grip around his staff and steadied his breathing. Each exhale spilled from his lips formed white mist before drifting away.
Separated from the main battle raging between the two armies, Felix stood facing an enormous wolf. At his side were only three members of the warrior corps.
Crimson eyes stared down at them.
The mage spoke casually, as though they had merely run into an old acquaintance.
“Funny how fate keeps bringing us together, isn’t it?”
The great wolf narrowed its eyes.
“Kuku. Indeed, it does.”
Felix and his companions had one task, keep the monsters’ main force occupied.
Some fifty meters away, the adventurers’ formation was locked in battle with the monster army. It was a clash of organized forces, and if they allowed this monster from the age of myth to launch a surprise attack, their entire formation could collapse in an instant. That was why the mage began by drawing its attention with words.
Perhaps his ability to rely on such underhanded tactics was precisely why he had been granted the magical power of Loki.
The great wolf spoke, its voice making the frigid air tremble.
“You defeated my companion, Wolfbone Hati.”
Felix never lost his smile. He bent at the waist in a courteous bow.
“If I may be so bold, monster of myth, I have felt a certain connection with you in other ways as well.”
He continued.
“You once used the word ‘pack’ as a metaphor. I must admit, it struck rather close to home. The idea that nothing matters beyond one’s own pack… it reminded me of the man I once was.”
Felix is a member of the Raven Warrior Corps, but he had been born into nobility. Because of that, he had initially found the very existence of adventurers distasteful. After meeting Rion’s father, the adventurer Rutger, those prejudices had faded. Even so, he still had trouble dealing with rough and uncouth adventurers.
For example—
A certain red-haired wielder of an axe.
“We place ourselves on a pedestal and look down on everyone else. I have heard that the gods themselves once had such a side to them. But nobles, warrior corps—and above all, I myself—were no different.”
He had no right to laugh at monsters who sought to destroy all others.
Felix smiled faintly.
“But through our journey, the warrior corps changed as well. Especially in the way we view adventurers.”
Their travels with Rion and Mia seemed to have changed the corps more than anything else.
The great wolf Fenrir let out a low rumble.
“I see. You’re more sentimental than I expected.”
Fenrir’s pale blue fur rippled in the icy wind. A blast of freezing air slammed into Felix and his companions, forcing them to shield their faces.
“My magical power freezes the air and drains the strength from your bodies.”
The great wolf grinned, revealing fangs sharp as swords.
“Were you hoping to buy time with conversation?”
Frost spread visibly across their bodies, stealing away their vitality. Even the air they breathed felt cold enough to freeze their lungs.
“Felix-sama!”
As the members of the warrior corps began to panic, Felix calmly replied,
“There’s no need for concern. We have already prepared for this.”
Felix and his companions had concealed items inside their clothing. Thanks to Loki’s power, the items radiated heat, warming their bodies against the cold.
Readjusting his grip on his staff, Felix brushed the icy grains from his face.
“We’ve already taken precautions.”
One of the warriors protested uneasily.
“B-but this isn’t ordinary cold…”
He is right. It’s still unnaturally freezing. Even with the warming items tucked against their bodies, they could not afford to leave the great wolf undefeated for long.
“I have another strategy as well.”
Felix gave a quiet chuckle.
“Endure it.”
His three subordinates stared at him, mouths hanging open.
“E-endure it…?”
“The adventurer way, you see? After that, we simply wait and trust that either the adventurers’ formation—or Mia-san—will turn the tide of the battle.”
Smiling, Felix looked back at his companions, then at the great wolf.
He planted his staff firmly against the ground.
“Now then—let us begin!”
He placed his trust in the adventurers.
In Mia.
And entrusted everything to them.
Amid the freezing air, Felix’s laughter rang out—bright, crisp, and refreshingly clear.
◆◆◆
Mia wiped her brow.
Her arm came away smeared with blood.
“…Tch.”
A gigantic serpent, dozens of meters long, twisted across the snowy plain at tremendous speed. Mia and three members of the warrior corps raced after it.
“Mia-dono!”
One of the warriors shouted.
Mia reeled in her chain axe and threw herself into a forward roll. The giant soldier’s axe came roaring past, grazing her back.
“Damn it…!”
There were simply too many enemies. And drawing the attention of one of the great monsters—the World Serpent, Jörmungandr—was a daunting task even for Mia.
—What’s wrong, little axewielder?
The World Serpent’s voice rang across the sky, as though deliberately mocking her.
The other great monster, Fenrir, had been taken care of by the mage Felix. Even so, Mia was barely holding her own.
The snowfield was swarming with goblins, orcs, and giant soldiers. None of them were particularly formidable on their own, but no matter how many Mia cut down, more came rushing in. There seemed to be no end to them.
One of the warriors called out.
“Mia-dono! Should we fall back to the formation for a moment?!”
“That won’t work! If we let this snake run wild, it’ll surround the formation!”
The battle had split into two fronts.
To the left of the grand staircase leading to their destination—the temple—the adventurers’ square formation was locked in a fierce struggle against the monster army. There were roughly a hundred adventurers, while the monsters outnumbered them by about three to one.
Mia and her team were stationed some fifty meters away from that formation, serving as the mobile strike team.
In terms of individual strength, the adventurers had the advantage. That was why they had managed to avoid being surrounded despite the monsters’ overwhelming numbers.
But if either the giant serpent Mia was holding back or the great wolf facing Felix broke through and reached the main formation, the adventurers’ ranks would be thrown into disarray—and they would be surrounded.
“The guys in the formation are holding out pretty well. So is Felix! Then we’ve gotta do our part too…!”
Mia cut herself off.
The great serpent twisted its enormous body and reared high into the sky.
“So we can’t afford to fall back—wait…!”
The color drained from Mia’s face.
The dark-colored serpent came hurtling straight toward them, charging headlong with its enormous body.
“Scatter!”
She shouted on instinct.
Mia threw herself sideways with all her strength, narrowly avoiding the attack.
With a thunderous roar, the monster’s colossal body plunged into the snow, disappearing beneath the surface in an instant.
“It burrowed underground…!”
Mia clicked her tongue as she got back to her feet.
They had already been caught in danger several times by the serpent’s unpredictable attacks. Every so often, it even shifted its target to the main formation, leaving several adventurers incapacitated.
The struggle was getting to her.
“Rion….”
Her eyes flicked toward the grand staircase.
The reason she hadn’t been able to stop trembling was the overwhelming presence she could feel coming from the temple at the top of those stairs. Whether she wanted to or not, she could tell what Rion was fighting—and just how terrifying the being he was facing must be.
She wanted to go to him. Now.
It felt like only yesterday that she and the boy had shaken hands after joining the same party.
“I can’t stop here…!”
Mia focused even harder, straining to sense the vibrations and impacts traveling through the ground.
A faint tremor drew closer.
“Mia-dono! Left!”
One of the warriors was about five meters away.
Snow exploded beneath his feet. The warrior, clad in raven warrior’s cloak, was launched nearly ten meters into the air.
Mia gritted her teeth.
“Damn it!”
The World Serpent, Jörmungandr, immediately wheeled around. Spotting Mia, it narrowed its golden eyes and grinned. Its long tongue flicked through the dark sky.
—Well, then. What will you do?
The colossal serpent writhed, and the shockwave sent another warrior flying as clouds of snow billowed into the air. The great serpent curved its massive body into a wide arc and came rushing toward Mia.
“Don’t underestimate me…!”
Mia leapt sideways, narrowly evading the attack. The agility that had earned her the nickname Axe Cat was her greatest weapon.
With a metallic rattle, she tightened her grip on the chain and hurled it with all her strength. The crimson axe sank deep into the serpent’s dark scales.
“Immovable!”
A binding technique of the Axeman skill.
Jörmungandr’s enormous body was slammed into the ground.
—What…?!
It was as though an enormous palm had crushed the several-dozen-meter-long serpent into the earth.
A thunderous roar echoed in the distance. Felix and the others were fighting an equally fierce battle, and apparently they had just barely managed to evade another barrage of falling icicles.
“Mia!”
Felix shouted from afar.
Mia smiled.
“This side’s nothing to worry about!”
As if to prove her words, Mia drove her feet hard into the ground.
“Ha!”
She pulled on the chain, using the thrashing serpent’s momentum to launch herself into the air. Combined with the powerful legs of a seasoned adventurer, Mia soared nearly ten meters skyward in a single bound.
For one fleeting moment, she hung suspended in midair. The great serpent looked almost small from above. Its golden eyes flew wide as they locked onto Mia.
She felt as though a red light had kindled within her chest.
And ringing in her ears was the thunderous laughter of the god Thor.
—Not bad!
—Now, what are you gonna do?!
Mia grinned and drew her axe back as far as she could.
“Lend me your strength, God!”
She could almost feel the Thunder God’s palm slam against her back, as if urging her on.
—Go get ’em.
Mia yanked on the chain connecting her to the great serpent, accelerating even further as she shouted—
“Thunder God’s Hammer…!”
The blow she had imitated from Rion had taken on a life of its own, fused with the divine power of the Thunder God.
Lightning raced through the great serpent’s body.
“Graaah!”
Mia landed atop the writhing monster and let out a roar of her own.
“You thought a bunch of humans without gods would be an easy win?!”
She flashed a wide grin and jabbed a thumb against her chest.
“Too bad. We’re still connected to the gods—right here.”
She tapped her chest.
“And besides…”
Rion’s face flashed through her mind.
“We’re not inferior to the gods, either!”
Mia raised her voice and stood tall atop the great serpent, shouting toward the adventurers’ formation struggling against the monsters.
“You think we’re gonna lose to the likes of these guys?! We’re heroes too! It’s not like we’re chasing the title of hero just because some god told us to!”
Her voice rang across the snowfield before fading into the distance.
“We’re heroes because we’re adventurers!”
To adventurers, even gigantic monsters and threats capable of endangering the world were simply part of the life they had chosen. They had always yearned for a life that meant throwing themselves into danger and venturing beyond the unknown.
“So let’s become heroes!”
The formation that had been pushed back by the monsters began to move again.
The inspired vanguard dug their heels in. Their retreat stopped. Then the formation began to advance.
Forward.
And forward.
“—Huh?”
From her lofty position atop the great serpent, Mia could see across the entire snowfield.
The monsters were attempting to envelop the adventurers’ square formation. But as the formation advanced, the monsters’ battle line had been stretched dangerously thin.
Their numbers weren’t nearly as overwhelming as they had been in the Royal Capital. If they continued extending their line like this—
There were bound to be weak points.
The great serpent began to recover its strength and thrashed its massive body.
Mia’s eyes widened.
“Lloyd-san! Right in front of you! The enemy line is thin there!”
She bellowed the words from the depths of her lungs.
“Advance!”
The various colored lights—red, blue, and others—glowing from the adventurers’ chests began to burn brighter.
“Front line! Focus on breaking through the wall!”
“Don’t worry if the formation gets a little messy!”
“Pair up with whoever’s closest!”
The hundred elite adventurers resumed their coordinated assault.
A group centered around Lloyd, charged straight toward the weak point in the enemy line.
The enemy ranks broke. The adventurers began fighting in smaller groups—parties of several members each.
Mia smiled.
“…Heh. Not bad.”
The World Serpent, Jörmungandr, coiled its enormous body.
—You’re getting on my nerves!
The great serpent whipped its body upward and plunged back underground.
Mia was thrown through the air and went tumbling across the snowy plain.
As she pushed herself upright, a giant soldier was already standing before her, raising its axe overhead.
“Crap…!”
A spear of flame pierced the giant soldier.
It was Felix.
Forty meters away, he stood with the tip of his staff pointed directly toward Mia. It was an incredibly precise shot for a spell cast from such a distance.
A roar of cheers swept across the snowfield.
The formation had regained its momentum, and the entire tide of battle was beginning to shift.
When the great wolf Fenrir attempted to charge toward the formation, Felix and his companions intercepted it with waves of fire magic.
The formation itself was beginning to lose its shape, but the adventurers continued their advance, driving the monsters back and tearing through their ranks.
“The snake’s underground!”
“It’s heading toward the formation!”
The adventurers’ shouts reached Mia’s ears.
Among them were those who possessed skills such as Thief and Ranger. The God of Hunting, Uru, had bestowed his power upon them, enhancing their natural ability to detect their surroundings. Using that heightened perception, they could warn Mia of where the World Serpent Jörmungandr would emerge next.
“Healing’s over here!”
Those blessed with the power of the Medicine God, Sigris, had enhanced healing abilities, and—
“Flame Line!”
Those who had received the power of Loki had their magical prowess greatly enhanced.
At the very front of the formation, adventurers had taken up the role of shields. Those blessed with the divine power of war gods such as Thor and Heimdall stood among them, holding the line.
The World Serpent Jörmungandr burst from the center of the formation, as though tearing straight through it.
—You insignificant humans!
But the adventurers had already read its movements. Not a single one was caught in the direct impact. Instead, spells and arrows rained down upon the great serpent.
Jörmungandr arced through the sky like a bridge, breaking free from the formation.
Mia tracked its movement.
“There!”
She hurled her chain axe. Infused with magical power, the axe slammed into Jörmungandr’s belly with tremendous force.
“Heavy Strike!”
The power of the Thunder God and the power of the Axeman skill overlapped. Jörmungandr writhed violently, sweeping up monsters in its massive body as it retreated toward the grand staircase. A thick cloud of snow billowed into the air.
Mia groaned.
“Uu…..”
Perhaps she had used too much magical power. Her vision was beginning to blur. Apparently, the power of the gods came with a tremendous backlash.
The great serpent’s ability to spew poison into the air seemed to have been kept under control as well. Since it never remained in one place for long, and thanks to the divine magic flowing through them, its effects had been greatly diminished.
Someone caught Mia as she staggered.
“You’re quite something, Mia.”
It was Felix.
His entire body was covered in ice, a testament to the terrifying power of the great wolf’s freezing magic.
“You okay yourself?”
“Yes.”
Felix wiped the frost from his face and smiled through narrowed eyes.
“Just as I expected, Mia.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, nothing. Just something I was thinking about.”
Mia made a mental note to force the answer out of him later.
At some point, Fenrir had circled around the formation and moved to its rear. Felix must have come to join Mia and the formation so they could face the great wolf now that it had put some distance between itself and the others.
“WOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Fenrir threw back its head and howled, summoning wolves from all across the battlefield.
“It seems our coordination is superior after all.”
Felix received something from one of the support workers handling supplies.
A radiant crystal.
Mia recognized it immediately.
“An elemental stone…?”
It was an ancient artifact containing a spirit sealed within it.
Icicles began raining down from Fenrir. After disrupting the adventurers’ formation, the great wolf charged alongside its pack, wrapped in a howling blast of icy wind.
Felix murmured a quiet incantation.
“Spirit.”
Green, blue, and red lights burst forth from the stone.
Mia’s eyes widened.
“Spirits…?”
“I cannot use it more than once, since I lack the means to release the seal. But if I had a power that could rouse the spirits as Loki’s power did, much like the ability Rion possessed, then…”
The three lights unleashed torrents of water, flames, and wind upon the great wolf Fenrir.
The smaller wolves were reduced to ash in an instant, while an explosion of fire halted Fenrir’s charge. The great wolf bared its teeth with a vicious snarl. Blood streamed from the spot between its eyes as it leapt over the formation and raced toward the grand staircase.
“The great wolf uses magic that generates intense cold. We endured it by keeping fire elemental stones close to our bodies.”
Mia smiled.
“…Heh. Somehow, it feels more natural when I’m fighting alongside you.”
“Likewise.”
The formation’s defenses were secure. If they pressed the attack now, their chances of victory would only increase.
Mia and the others accelerated—
Then a sinister growl brushed against their ears.
Fenrir’s and Jörmungandr’s eyes began to glow a dark, blood-red.
—Lord Ymir… please… please obtain the heart…!
The World Serpent’s anguished voice echoed across the dawn sky.
Jörmungandr’s body began to swell, growing larger and larger. Beside it, Fenrir let out a similar growl, whipping up a storm of snow around itself.
Mia stopped dead and whispered,
“…Is it the same as that Hati bastard?”
She remembered the battle in the Royal Capital.
The feeling of dread was eerily similar to that of the Wolf-Boned Hati—a monster that had risen again from a body reduced to ash, compelled to obey its creator, Ymir.
Felix shook his head.
“I cannot hear Ymir’s voice. It does not seem as though they are being forced to expend their magical power. Rather, they are trying to draw out the very last reserves of their own strength.”
Jörmungandr’s entire body began to tremble.
With creaking, grinding sounds, the serpent’s body continued to swell until it towered above them.
Its massive head rose higher and higher, perhaps a hundred meters into the sky.
If it coiled itself completely, its enormous body could probably engulf an entire fortress.
—Behold the World Serpent, Jörmungandr!
The more magical power it drew upon, the larger the World Serpent became.
Mia realized that she was staggering. The monster before her had grown so enormous that it nearly blocked out her entire field of vision. It was like something out of a myth.
And yet Mia and the others were just human beings.
Before long, the colossal creature, nearly ten meters thick even in girth, slowly began to lean toward them. Its head was so high that they couldn’t even see what it was doing up there.
Mia’s face went pale.
“I-it’s falling on us!”
At Mia’s scream, every adventurer instinctively sprang into action, scrambling to get out of the way.
“Fall back! Fall back!”
“Jump to the side!”
“Magic won’t stop it!”
“Run!”
Mia and Felix sprinted across the snowfield with everything they had. Any monsters that tried to get in their way were shoved aside with axe and staff.
Then—
A deafening crash erupted behind them.
The World Serpent slammed into the snowfield, sending an enormous wave of snow into the air. Everything turned white. Mia and Felix were swept away by the snow and the sheer force of the impact, hurled dozens of meters through the air.
Next, a sharp, beastly breath sounded nearby.
“Hahp!”
“—!”
Mia and Felix both leapt to the left.
Fenrir’s jaws snapped shut with a bone-rattling clang. Had they failed to dodge, their bodies would have been torn apart.
Through the snow-choked haze, Fenrir’s blood-red eyes emerged.
Blood streamed freely from the great wolf’s eyes and mouth, yet its fighting spirit remained undiminished.
“Felix…”
“Mia, stay behind me.”
“Hah? What’s a mage like you telling me to—”
“Stay behind me.”
Felix planted his staff and stepped forward.
Perhaps from having expended too much magical power, Mia could barely get back on her feet. At best, she could use her axe as a crutch and force herself halfway upright.
She let out a low groan.
“Why the hell… are you guys pushing yourselves this far…?!”
Her vision flickered.
They had thought they had driven the monsters into a corner, only for the situation to be overturned in an instant. Even though they were both wounded. Was this what it meant to be a monster that had once fought on equal terms with the gods?
Giant soldiers and orcs began closing in around them.
“Mia!”
“Shut up! We’re a party, aren’t we? If you’re going, then so am I.”
Just then, the adventurers from the main formation caught up with them.
“Go!”
“Become heroes!”
“Defeat the World Serpent, Jörmungandr!”
The adventurers’ voices pushed them onward.
Mia glanced over.
The World Serpent Jörmungandr was lying motionless on the ground.
“So its wounds really had been that severe.”
Mia exhaled and helped Felix, who had lowered himself to the ground, back to his feet.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Supporting each other, the two managed to stand.
“Think you can run one more time?”
“If we don’t, we won’t make it through this.”
The party set off.
Felix blasted apart the formation protecting the great serpent with his magic.
Mia hooked her chain axe into Jörmungandr and began climbing the enormous dark-scaled serpent by sheer force.
She glanced back toward the battlefield below.
Felix had turned around and was exchanging spells with the great wolf. The relentless assault, bolstered by the elemental stones being supplied by the support runners, was gradually beginning to overwhelm Fenrir.
Mia breathed out a plume of white mist.
She walked toward the serpent’s head, following its body as though traversing the ridgeline of a mountain.
The serpent had grown to roughly a hundred meters in length.
And yet, for some reason, it felt far less threatening than it had moments ago. The calm, rational part of Mia’s mind—the part that had survived countless battles as an adventurer—was telling her so.
—This monster will be dead soon.
Lightning crackled across Mia’s hand.
She thought she heard a voice from the heavens.
—I’ll leave it to you.
The Thunder God—or rather, the gods themselves—had entrusted the battle to humanity.
And so, seeing this monster through to its end was part of Mia’s role as well.
She stood atop the serpent’s brow. Its golden eyes gazed up at her, vacant and fading.
Mia raised her axe.
“Well then, goodbye, monster of myth!”
She brought the lightning-wreathed axe down between Jörmungandr’s eyes.
“I’m not Rion. I can’t understand how you feel. But—”
Mia tightened her grip.
“I’ll remember you!”
The blow was the fatal strike against the World Serpent Jörmungandr.
Magic exploded somewhere below.
Fenrir’s pale blue fur was swallowed by the flames unleashed by Felix and the others.
The cries of the two great monsters echoed across the dawn sky.
With a thunderous roar, Jörmungandr twisted its enormous body.
“Whoa!”
Mia was flung dozens of meters into the air.
The great serpent began disappearing from the tip of its tail, its colossal body crumbling into pitch-black ash.
Even its enormous golden eyes, each nearly the height of a grown adult, rapidly lost their light.
“—That was tough.”
Felix used his levitation magic to prevent Mia from being slammed into the snowfield.
◆◆◆
Felix stared down at the fallen great wolf.
He could hear the faint sizzle sound of its enormous body turning to ash. The fiery glow had long since faded from its eyes. Now, in a quiet voice, it spoke to him. Its great jaws opened and closed as Fenrir uttered its final words.
—To think… that it would be humans, not gods, who could bring me this far…
Felix leaned on his staff. His warrior corps cloak was torn to shreds, while his staff and entire body were covered in wounds.
Perhaps out of sheer stubbornness, he merely shrugged with his usual nonchalant air.
“To borrow your words, the gods, humans, and even the dwarves have all become one pack, thanks to him.”
The great wolf sighed.
—The boy with the horn…
The magic of the spirits, Felix’s own spells, and countless arrows and javelins hurled by the adventurers had all struck the great wolf.
And now, even the monster of myth had lost its life.
Its red eyes closed. Ash began to spread from the tip of its snout, and blackened flakes drifted across the battlefield.
Then came the rattle of a chain.
Felix turned around.
Mia is walking toward him, having safely made her way down from the great serpent.
“…It’s over.”
“Yes.”
“Why did these two ever follow a monster like Ymir…?”
“You could say that they were simply created to do so.”
As he answered, Felix suddenly thought of Rata.
A monster who had rebelled against Ymir despite being one of his own kind.
If the degree of loyalty varied from monster to monster, perhaps that meant each of them possessed a will of their own—something only they could understand.
No matter how they were created, what they felt afterward depended on the way they chose to live.
“It may be arrogant of me to say this, but…”
Felix paused before continuing.
“They were terrifying monsters worthy of their mythological names. And yet they were also good subordinates. I wonder what their master, Ymir, truly thought of them…”
Felix and Mia looked up at the grand staircase together.
The towering temple beyond was growing hazier as clouds of blowing snow intensified.
“Let’s go.”
They were about to move when a powerful gust of wind swept across the battlefield.
A vast amount of black ash mixed with the snow.
“…Hey.”
Mia’s voice stopped Felix.
He turned around.
And his breath caught.
“This is…”
Where the great wolf Fenrir and the World Serpent Jörmungandr had fallen, two dark magic stones remained.
They were the color of condensed night, each so enormous that a single person could not possibly wrap their arms around it.
The black ash of the two legendary monsters was swept up by the freezing wind, dissolving into the dim sky.
Mia’s voice trembled.
“Magic stones… from legendary monsters…?”
She couldn’t even begin to imagine how much power they contained.
“Oooooooooooooooooooh!”
A tremendous roar erupted from the temple.
The sound boomed like a thunderclap, making the grand staircase tremble beneath their feet. Then came a succession of rumbling crashes, as though something inside the temple was collapsing.
The adventurers came running toward them.
“You two, get up the stairs first!”
“We’ll handle the stragglers here on the snowfield!”
Mia raised a hand to the adventurers, then she and Felix turned and sprinted up the grand staircase toward the temple.Rion was fighting there.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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