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IBHJ Chapter 675
🕑 Added 2024-01-18 05:38:34 +0000 UTCDespite only Skaði and Hildr being present in the spacious Great Temple, a loud shriek suddenly rang out. The eagle stone tablet embedded in the wall glowed faintly, buzzing. A giant eagle emerged, glanced at Skaði, then flew out of the temple.
Perched atop the towering spires of Asgard, the eagle's piercing golden eyes flickered across the land.
"Lady Skaði, your magical energy..." Hildr looked at Skaði worriedly.
"It's fine," Skaði shook her head, though her face looked tired. "I'm going back to sleep... Pay attention to any updates from the other Valkyries."
"Yes, Lady Skaði!" Hildr responded.
Skaði then fell silent.
Hildr raised her eyes to see Skaði had already drifted off again.
After thinking for a bit, Hildr removed her white cloak and draped it over her mistress. She carefully took two steps back, careful not to disturb her slumber.
She knew Skaði was extremely exhausted. In the two thousand years since Odin and the other gods disappeared, only Skaði's suppression kept the giants from overturning the world.
Using her divinity and mana, she formed a grand bounded field enveloping Asgard and Midgard, keeping the giants at bay. And she had maintained that suppression for over two thousand years.
Having maintained the grand bounded field for millennia, Skaði was utterly exhausted. Hildr was determined not to disturb her rest.
She knew Skaði always dreamed the same dream, of the same person, whenever she slept. Skaði suspected it was the influence of Scáthach, the Queen of the Shadow Lands, whose existence overlapped with hers.
But Hildr didn't care about any of that. As long as Skaði could find respite and temporarily escape the mortal world’s burdens, that was enough.
...
Shirou's group returned to Village 23, where the villagers warmly welcomed him, Thrud, and the others.
Thrud didn't expose Shirou and Salter's true identities, so the villagers still enthusiastically addressed them as divine envoys.
"Has the black calamity disappeared, Sir Envoy?" Gelda asked, looking at his face.
He nodded. "It won't come anymore."
"I see..." she nodded.
He asked puzzlingly, "Why do you and the villagers seem almost disappointed the calamity is gone?"
"Huh?" Gelda tilted her head. "No, Sir Envoy, we have no feelings about it either way. Because it never came to our village before."
Shirou understood - it was an issue of lacking experience.
Nidhogg had never passed through Village 23, so the villagers had no real concept of its terror, only a vague notion of a "black calamity."
Without concrete awareness, there was no actual experience. And without experience, whether Nidhogg disappeared or not was irrelevant to them.
In fact, it was very abnormal for Nidhogg to appear in Midgard at all. According to Thrud, it normally dwelled in Yggdrasil's lower layers, gnawing at the roots of the World Tree. It wouldn't go out until those roots were fully gnawed through.
So Nidhogg appearing in Midgard was definitely an anomaly. Of course, over the past two millennia since the gods vanished, Nidhogg did occasionally leave its habitat to wreak havoc - causing severe damage on those occasions.
Fortunately, Thrud and the others had moved quickly to stop it this time, and Shirou landed the finishing blow, eliminating the threat for good.
As they chatted, Thrud was taken aback to hear about the village's human sacrifices.
"Giants were showing up here? Could they have breached Jötunheimr's gate? That seems impossible - it's incredibly sturdy. And with Lady Skaði's bounded field still active, they couldn't have broken through to get here!" Thrud's brow furrowed as she resolved to inspect the gate right away.
Shirou offered to join them and asked Salter to remain in Village 23 for now.
...
"Nidhogg was hunted down?!" the robed Council member exclaimed with a frown. "Was this Skaði's doing? Impossible - she has to stay in Asgard to maintain the grand bounded field. Could it have been Surtr then? This is bad... If it was him, he'll become the strongest being in this world. And that madman's goal is to destroy everything! If he succeeds, this anchor is finished!"
The Council member was visibly irritated, clenching their fist tightly before slamming it on the table.
In the end, this mess was caused by the Council's nonsensical rules preventing caretakers of the anchors from interfering with each other.
They're idiots! If the whole Council could have just flooded the anchors right from the beginning instead of taking this passive approach, they could have achieved their objective long ago!
"No, they weren't like idiots - those Council members were absolute fools!" they fumed. "Otherwise, they could've just directly destroyed that resistance group Chaldea from the beginning instead of allowing them to keep restoring those connection points and anchors." They truly couldn't comprehend what had possibly been going through those people's minds!
But there was no use dwelling on that now. The priority was figuring out how to lift this anchor as quickly as possible.
Just thinking about it made them extremely frustrated again. Their original plan had been to summon Eternal King, have him hunt down Nidhogg and retrieve its origin wheel. But someone had clearly beaten them to the punch, hunting Nidhogg first and claiming the loot.
"If Eternal King was under my control, there'd be no need for this passive bullshit," they muttered. "But now...where exactly was Nidhogg hunted down and by whom?" They clenched their fists. "There's no other way. I'll have to find Hel and get her to summon another Heroic Spirits with the Black Grail."
They headed into the dark depths of the underworld Jötunheimr.
Here stood a temple permeated by the stench of decay and death.
As they walked in, a noble goddess elegantly looked down at them from her throne of death, interest glinting in her eyes. "Oh my, how rare. Instead of scheming, you've come to stare death in the face. Has Nidhogg's death shaken you that badly?"
"Father didn't bring you back to this godforsaken land just to spout nonsense."
"I'll carry out the mission he gave me, of course." Hel twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "But the Council's ambitions have nothing to do with me."
"I know," they nodded.
Hel lazily reclined on her throne, narrow bright eyes peering at the Council member as she narrowed them slightly. After a pause, she smiled. "Hmm... Nidhogg being hunted is quite troublesome, indeed."
"That's why you need to quickly use the black Grail to summon Heroic Spirits," they replied. "The giants and magical beasts are strong, but lack intelligence. With Alter Servants summoned by the Black Grail, getting through the gates will be much easier."
Hel gave a dismissive humph. "If I waited for your reminder, Skaði would have defeated me long ago. Look around you."
The Council member startled. In the next moment...
"RAAAARRR!!!"
They whipped around as a deafening roar exploded behind them. A two-meter-tall muscular man wielding a bloody axe now stood there, though they had no idea when he arrived.
The muscular man stared at them with eyes filled with violence and brutality, like a predatory beast seeking prey. His brawny, bulging frame emitted an aura as fierce as a wild animal's.
The Council member seemed frightened by this Heroic Spirit, subconsciously taking a step back.
"Berserker, don't scare our guest," came a refined, gentle voice.
The Council member turned to see a slender youth scratching his own face in distress. Noticing their gaze, the youth politely greeted, “Hello.”
The Council member frowned, now realizing there were several Heroic Spirits standing unnoticed behind them.
There was Berserker, bloodied axe in hand, a sword-wielding Saber, a Caster holding a book, and the smiling youth.
The Council member frowned and turned back to the listless goddess. "Why are there only four Servants? You should be able to summon seven!"
"I don't know, go ask your Grail," Hel lazily replied.
The Council member knitted their brows, puzzled. Something wasn’t right - why were there only four Servants summoned?
Come to think of it, something strange had happened at the connection point as well when he summoned Servants there. Only six appeared, with Caster missing. And now, even though Caster was summoned, three others were missing.
"Let me introduce them to you." said the slender youth with a gentle smile, gesturing to each Servant.
“This is Berserker, Mr. Eric Bloodaxe.”
“Here we have Saber, Mr. Sigurd.”
“This is Caster, Mr. Hans Christian Andersen.”
“And I am...” The youth smiled and pointed to himself. “Adam, Ruler. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Comments
DatPerson
Adam the goat
JeanMartin Freites
That last line was one hell of a bombshell.
Azelios Rosemile
Bro, Adam is already in the enemies's nest
