FVN Chapter 238: Valhalla (4)
Chapter 238: Valhalla (4)
༺ Valhalla (4)༻
Until now the walls had been constantly taking a defensive stance. It was because there was no advantage in leaving the wall and going on the offense.
Actually, part of it was that they didn’t dare leave the gates due to the endless rocks and boulders that were being thrown by the titans.
“The titans aren’t throwing rocks anymore!”
“Now! Now is the time!!”
Thanks to Josephine and Erin stopping the rocks, and the countless supplies of men willing to fight, the wall was still firmly holding on.
Even though it should have fallen in its first encounter against 150,000 northerners, they instead became allies and added on top of that were the reinforcements from the capital.
The waves of monsters could not break through the thousands of knights and mages, and a hundred thousand soldiers, despite their numbers.
And...
“Jormungandr...!”
Standing on their side and fighting with them was the traitor serpent.
Snake of Infinity, Jormungandr. World Serpent, Midgardsormr... The beast of Apocalypse was referred to with several names.
Originally, it was the ‘last resort’ that had been handed over to Miruam by Tates Valtazar as a sign of their alliance.
The baby Midgard Serpent that was hiding in her walking stick, which was originally supposed to devour its owner and fall along with the world, woke up without its destined prerequisites.
“Fuu... It’s eating up mana at a ridiculous speed.”
“Please don’t give up, Lady Dunareff. I will probably die if it’s just me,” said the princess.
“I am trying my best.”
Vampire Marie Dunareff was assisting with the power required to maintain the Snake of Infinity.
She was the child gifted by mana. Her ingenious talents in magic as well as the abundant capacity of mana allowed the serpent to awake and grow.
That was how she was able to control the serpent that was supposed to devour not only Miruam but everything else.
This was the result of two very-different people risking their lives hoping to save one life, and was perhaps a demonstration of his karma.
“It’s incredible. How much mana... Are you really human?”
“Yes I am. Hehe...”
“...Why are you laughing?”
“You are thinking of me as human, right?”
“Hmm...”
Miruam realized that she had unknowingly seen Marie the Vampire as a human like herself.
She had a strong hatred against demi-humans. She detested them; she loathed them and thought of them as demons.
Because they killed her mother, her loved ones and left an inerasable mark on her, she hated them so much... that she had stayed in the cycle of hatred.
[Let’s stop here. This... this isn’t right.]
That cycle was stopped by one man – a man who held her back with his own life on the line.
And she had a feeling this was his second time. Despite having a second chance at life after experiencing the death of his child and his loved ones, he was still risking his life trying to persuade her to stop. ṛA₦ȰΒΕs
Due to that, she let go of her sword of revenge and was able to confront it.
[My daughter died. She was brutally murdered and I couldn’t save a single bone.]
[I wanted to take my revenge. I hated the world, and cursed the humans.]
Looking at the nemesis who was similarly lost in the same cycle of revenge...
[I must have passed the end at one point... I had crossed the line.]
She realized she was no different from them.
“Hmph...”
It was funny how her lifelong hatred had dissipated just from the existence of a single man.
“Please continue pouring in mana. Leave the control to me.”
The serpent opened its gigantic mouth.
The Midgard Serpent, which could grow instantaneously and even devour the world itself, was biting into the neck of the Frost Giant, refusing to let go of it.
Meanwhile, after letting their Einherjars out to fight one another, the Valkyries were glaring at each other.
“...”
“...”
Brunhild, who decided to side with humanity, and Hlokk and other Valkyries who sided with Valtazar – although they were facing each other as enemies of different factions, there was no regret nor remorse on their faces.
“I didn’t think I would fight against a sister in a war.” Brunhild said in a calm voice while facing her opponent.
“Me too,” replied Hlokk. “Against Brunhild-unni at that. More importantly... did you escape your curse?”
Hlokk realized immediately that the curse of the God King had disappeared.
“Yes. Sir Korin overcame the Trial of Fire, but he did not remove my armor.”
“What? But right now you’re...”
“So I removed it myself and handed it over to the most qualified.”
“Hmm...”
Hlokk found it very surprising... and also tempting. The story of a hero who voluntarily let go of the chance to acquire the leader of Valkyries was intriguing after all.
“The ‘man with a spear’... I see, Skuld might have been referring to either one of the two.”
“I firmly believe that Sir Korin is the one prophesied,” Brunhild replied with certainty.
“We will see. Skogul-unni and the Spear Sisters are against him right now. Today will be his fall.”
No-one could beat the Spear Sisters by themselves. They were the strongest elites among Valkyries who hunted down countless Frost Giants and Flame Giants. There was no way that they would lose to an individual who wasn’t even a giant—
“They did lose to him, Tates Valtazar. Didn’t they?”
“...He doesn’t count. He is not an existence that mere demi-gods like us can fathom.”
Everyone saw the radiant light he had demonstrated – the intense heat ravishing the ground with its might.
“You seem tired. Let’s end it in one strike.”
The two of them clenched onto their spears. There was no room for any petty tricks – no runes or magic.
There was only thing they had to show each other.
Their fastest stab and the quickest step forward.
Ominous Snake—
Korin Lork entered the black world and unleashed his quickest stab. Only a few were permitted to tread in this dark dimension.
“Don’t look down on me!”
Skogul, however, was the pinnacle of spears among Valkyries and took the same step forward. She treaded through the Domain just like Korin Lork.
Kak—!
Their Domains collided as the dimensions cried out in pain. Physical matter disintegrated and only the most resilient of metals were able to hold on.
Inside the Domain of destruction with everything disintegrating to nothing, Skogul witnessed it.
Korin retried the spear before stabbing again. Between those two attacks there was—
‘No gap?’
When Skogul came to herself, a spear tainted in black was penetrating through her chest.
“...”
“...”
What kind of fallacy was this? There was not a sliver of gap between the retrieval and the second stab. What was she supposed to do against such irrational and illogical attack.
Skogul didn’t bother questioning whether that was possible or not. There was no meaning in denying what she saw with her own very eyes.
Unbeknownst to her, what she witnessed was the final move of Six Ways of the Spear, Void.
The pinnacle of spearmanship that Erin Danua reached had been demonstrated by her disciple.
This ‘Void’ as well as ‘that thing’ he used to overcome the final attack of the Valkyries. This man...
“Remarkable... You combined two truths into one...”
Not only one but two... How was that even possible?
“They’re not my originals. It’s all thanks to a great master and a hero who gave everything he had.”
“Even then...”
Putting that to action was a different matter altogether.
Erin Danua and Sebancia Duke. The profound truth reached by those two people had been combined by this young man. Who could be called a genius if not him?
“Perhaps... You really are the one prophesied...”
Did they make the wrong choice then?
Regardless, that didn’t matter to her anymore. Skogul decided not to worry about something that was already too late.
– GURAAAAAAAA!
The cries of the dead echoed from all around. The souls of warriors were crying after witnessing the deaths of their respected skjaldmaers.
“Sorry but... you’re too dangerous. You really might... be able to defeat that man.”
“...”
Skogul crumbled down after taking out the spear digging into her chest. She was throwing up blood but was still looking straight at Korin’s eyes.
“You will die here today. The era of gods... will return.”
The reason for their betrayal and their obsession was all because of the warriors under their lead.
As such, Korin Lork had to die here, whether the Frost Giant or Tates Valtazar wanted it or not...
“Please die here. For my glorious warriors... who I couldn’t save until the end.”
“Sorry. I can’t do that.”
The legion was fast approaching. All Korin Lork had was a powerless jiangshi girl and his dying body, but even then, there was no giving up in his dictionary.
“I have vowed to save the world, you see.”
He lifted his spear.
Despite losing the Sun and his arms shaking from injuries... he knew no retreat.
“A thousand Einherjar huh. Let’s give it a shot.”
——!!!!!!
That was when the sky opened above the Valhalla.
The sky opened as light descended onto the darkened world. Her light was so radiant that it certainly wouldn’t be insufficient even when compared to the Sun or Light.
“I, Erin Danua, Divinity of Justice.”
It was the Light of Justice.
“Am the one enraged by injustice, follower of rules, and the teacher of what is right. You shall all kneel before righteousness. And most importantly—
“For my beloved disciple.”
The final Ard Ri, the Queen of Paradise descended into Valhalla.
****
Meanwhile, as the Valkyries under the lead of Brunhild were fighting against Hlokk,
Josephine was able to open Hlokk’s ‘gates’ with advice from Brunhild. It was because her dimensional spell operated under the same principles as the Valkyries’.
“We need to send reinforcements this way as well, but we can only send a small number inside.”
“In that case...”
Everyone turned their eyes to one person. Due to the ongoing war with the titans and the hordes of monsters, they had to rely on someone who could fight at their full potential even when fighting alone.
They turned to the strongest person in their group, who soon opened her mouth.
“I will go inside alone. I will leave the outside in your hands.”
Erin Danua threw herself into the fissure heading into Valhalla.