Episode 35/Chapter 5: Great War (5)
TL: Tsubak
ED: Julsmul
The King of Gods, Odin, had an extreme method.
Deploy the warriors of Valhalla to Midgard after removing the Great Barrier.
It wasn't something that couldn't be understood rationally.
It was because it was a situation that the soul fragments had to be retrieved at once, and one couldn't know how much the barrier was damaged.
Rains of Steel poured down from the sky, and giants and evil spirits surged up from below the ground.
Tae Ho left Helga's corpse and glared at the sky. The things that were now pouring down from the sky weren't only the steel structures. Red words were approaching from a further place.
They were the giants of Jotunheim. Just like Valhalla could deploy warriors with the Rains of Steel, the giants could also do the same with their burning pillars.
But they couldn't do it faster than Valhalla. It was only for now, but there was only one pillar of fire descending on Kataron.
He would solve it quickly.
And not delay any longer.
A picture was drawn in Tae Ho's head and then he kicked forward. The fake Valkyries gathered next to Tae Ho upon heeding his mental command. Precisely speaking, they stood in front of Tae Ho to charge towards the evil spirits and open up a path.
Tae Ho saw while running.
Adenmaha and McLaren were each facing a giant.
A mere lowest-ranked giant couldn't endure Adenmaha who had transformed into a sea serpent and was manifesting several mystical powers.
Adenmaha froze the eyes of the giant by firing an icy breath and then swung her tail to hit his leg. She then stomped on the giant, who fell down, and activated several mystical powers. The giant had his head and vital organs pierced by icy spears and couldn't even scream.
McLaren suppressed the giant in a much simpler fashion. He merely climbed up the giant like a vine around a tree and then took him down.
The reason the knights of Kataron were being pushed back was because of the giants which they could do nothing about with the strength of humans. As the warriors of Valhalla were already eliminating quite a number of evil spirits, they would be able to protect Kataron with just the knights after removing the giants.
Tae Ho kept running and looked at a distant place. He saw Rolo that was facing the last giant.
Rolo, who'd transformed into the Master of Flames, Shooting Star, understood the fighting methods instinctively as a born dragon should. He flew sharply like a predator to catch its food to kick him in the chest and made him fall. He then poured out violent attacks on his head. The flaming breath burnt down the head of the giant.
"Rolo!"
Rolo turned his head at the call of Tae Ho. He checked that he was running to himself and then checked the giant once again. He chewed down his neck roughly as if ensuring the giant's death and then flew backwards towards Tae Ho.
[Saga: The Charge of a Warrior is like a Storm]
Tae Ho kicked the air and surged up. He didn't send a particular signal, but Rolo understood Tae Ho's intention with just that. He flew below Tae Ho so that he could ride on him easily.
Tae Ho landed on Rolo's back, and at that moment, Rolo fluttered his wings once more. He raised his head while being on top of Rolo that was flying up high. He estimated the time left for the fire pillar to land on the ground and the location.
[Strengthened Saga]
[The Eyes of the Dragon see through Everything]
He estimated the strength of the giant inside the pillar and at the same time read the trajectory the fire pillar was drawing.
[Saga: The One that Controls Dragons]
Tae Ho transmitted his thoughts to Rolo. Rolo cursed at the excessive request, but his eyes were smiling.
The giant inside the fire pillar was an intermediate one. He was weaker than Tae Ho but wasn't an enemy that could be defeated easily when fought face to face.
That's why he would save time and take care of him with a single attack!
Rolo fluttered his wings and flew to a different place instead of the fire pillar. He drew a big trajectory in the air and increased his speed.
It wasn't a lance charging. It was something else. Tae Ho put back Caladbolg and took a deep breath. He poured all his concentration on controlling Rolo's flight speed and trajectory.
The fire pillar pierced the clouds and started to head to the ground while burning the land. It finally let out a big sound and got stuck in the ground.
And right at that moment-
Rolo flew low, horizontally. He charged towards the fire pillar.
[Saga: His Pocket is Connected with a Treasure Vault]
Tae Ho gripped the air, and at that moment, a huge hilt of a sword was grabbed. Rolo continued to charge forward and Tae Ho pulled out a huge sword from the air as if unsheathing it.
[Nodachi for Giants]
[Fragarach's Prototype]
Merlin hadn't remained idle during the time Tae Ho was in the Tower of Shadows. He made a new sword meant to deal with giants as he battled them frequently.
The fire pillar broke down and the giant appeared while howling. Rolo flew behind that giant just like an arrow trying to pierce its target.
[Saga: Giant Killer]
[Saga: The Hammer of the Blacksmith doesn't Slip Off]
Light appeared on top of the huge sword that was half pulled from the air. Tae Ho activated the sentence of the Milesians and completely pulled it out while roaring. It was a really huge sword where only the hilt was 1 meter long and the blade was 7 meters long.
The fire pillar broke down completely and the giant tried to roar as if to announce its presence, but the huge sword reached the neck of that giant a second later. It slashed his neck even before he could open his mouth!
Chkwaaaak!
Blood spurted out, but it didn't reach Tae Ho. It was because of the speed Rolo flew at as they was charging. He fluttered his wings to increase their height, and Tae Ho looked at the ground while holding the huge sword. The head of the giant got separated from its body and was rolling on the ground.
The warriors of Valhalla couldn't understand instantly what had happened. Because everything ended while they blinked a few times after the fire pillar descended.
Because of that, they needed some time. A few more seconds of silence had to be added to it. Rolo turned in the air completely and only then did the cheer explode in the ground.
"Idun's warrior!"
"Dragon knight!"
Tae Ho didn't ignore those cheers. He put back his huge sword and then scattered the magic powder he took out. And then, the shape of a golden apple tree appeared behind him.
"Idun!"
"Idun!"
"Goddess of Youth!"
The warriors went wild once again. Adenmaha laughed, and Cuchulainn feigned a laugh as if it was absurd.
'Bragi's rune is meaningless here.'
In the first place, it didn't have much place to intervene in Tae Ho's promotion.
Tae Ho looked at a distant place. The half materialized Valkyries were leading the souls of the warriors to Valhalla. It seemed like they were lacking in numbers as several battles occurred at the same place that they were carrying several warriors, and most of them were apprentice Valkyries.
Tae Ho relaxed when he found Helga among them. He then checked the land and inspected the situation.
There were still many evil spirits remaining in Kataron, but the situation had changed completely. The evil spirits that witnessed the giants' defeat in front of them fled in consecution rather than continuing to battle.
Because of that, Tae Ho looked away from Kataron and peered into a farther place.
In the first place, the reason superior-ranked warriors descended everywhere in a scattered way wasn't only to face the giants and evil spirits. No matter what the warriors thought, the most important thing Valhalla had determined was retrieving the soul fragments.
They guessed that there would be four soul fragments in Midgard.
A catastrophe could occur if even one of them fell in the hands of the giants.
Tae Ho first looked at the winter tree forest. There was a low probability that it would be there as a soul fragment had already appeared there in the past, but he didn't come to a hasty conclusion. It was because there was no way a superior-ranked warrior would have been dispatched to a place that had no probabilities to have Garmr's soul fragment in it.
[Strengthened Saga]
[The Eyes of the Dragon See through Everything]
He flew towards the winter tree forest and concentrated. There were shining words deep in the forest that still couldn't recover completely from the wound of the past. It was certainly a soul fragment of Garmr.
Tae Ho transmitted his thought to Rolo once again and he started to fly towards the forest.
But it was at that moment that the voice of Adenmaha rang in his head.
'Master! It's approaching!'
It was a magical message. Tae Ho raised his head in response. He still couldn't feel it well, but as soon as he activated the mystical power that strengthened his eyesight, he could see what Adenmaha was speaking about.
They were fire pillars, several of them this time. In addition, one of them was so big it couldn't be compared to the others.
Tae Ho released his mystical power and judged quickly.
It was impossible with just Tae Ho alone. Now that Garmr's soul fragment was here, it was highly probable that the giants would keep attacking.
"Adenmaha!"
Tae Ho yelled. It would have been normal not to have heard it properly because of the long distance, but Adenmaha understood it in an instant. She transformed into a Goddess once again and transmitted her thought to Merlin with her mystical power.
Merlin recited a chant. It was magic that transmitted news to Valhalla.
A soul fragment of Garmr has been discovered, so dispatch superior-ranked warriors or above that are in reserve.
Tae Ho continued acting. It was to prepare to retrieve Garmr's soul fragment as he still had time before the fire pillars descended completely.
[Saga: Idun's Warrior]
[Saga: King of Camelot]
Tae Ho activated his sagas in consecution. It was to prepare to fight against the giants as a great battle would unleash as soon as the fire pillars descended.
'My warrior, Tae Ho.'
Idun's voice was heard. He could hear her voice clearly just like when he activated his saga in other places, probably because the Great Barrier had been removed.
'He's a superior-ranked giant or above. Perhaps, he may be an existence similar to the Giant of Earth you faced before.'
Cuchulainn spoke quickly. They could now see the fire pillars clearly even without activating their mystical powers.
'They said that they'll depart immediately!'
Adenmaha's voice was heard in his head clearly. It seemed like a reply had come from Valhalla.
Rolo also reached the winter tree forest as the fire pillars were descending there instead of Kataron.
Tae Ho could feel Idun's anxiousness. He felt like he could see her putting on a worried expression and clenching her chest.
Tae Ho kicked Rolo's back and they headed to the ground while kicking off the air. He looked at the soul fragment of Garmr that was emanating a dreary aura in the middle of the trees. It was a big claw of a beast that was stuck in the ground.
Rolo cried and urged Tae Ho. it was because the fire pillars had gotten closer.
Tae Ho hurriedly used the divine power of Idun to try to retrieve the soul fragment.
But it was at that moment.
'Tae Ho!'
Idun yelled hurriedly. Tae Ho could guess what Idun had seen and had gotten surprised at because they were connected with 'Idun's Warrior'. There was someone standing among the trees and looking at him.
He was someone that Tae Ho had met for the first time.
But he could know the moment he saw him.
Idun let out an enraged roar.
'Loki!'
The God of Fire and Lies, Loki.
He was standing there in the open, and that fact made Idun both enraged and fearful at the same time.
The fire pillars were already descending, but Loki appeared in front of them.
Idun yelled at Tae Ho to escape and tried to buy some time even if she ended up expending a lot of her divine power at once.
But Tae Ho didn't move. He stopped Idun that was about to release her divine power and looked at Loki.
[The God of Fire and Lies]
[Loki]
He could only see his name and nothing besides that. The current Tae Ho could only read his name clearly.
But that wasn't all. That's why he stopped Idun.
His words weren't red.
The words that appeared on top of the head of Loki were green!
How?
He couldn't find an answer. He lacked time to do so.
Loki looked at Tae Ho and saw through Tae Ho's 'Eyes of the Dragon' like Heda had done previously. Because of that, he placed his right index finger to his lips instead of saying anything.
He looked at Tae Ho, requesting him to stay silent.
'Stay silent, as it's not the time right now.'
Idun couldn't understand. She thought that Loki was lying Tae Ho with his specialty of trickery and fabrication.
'Master!'
Adenmaha yelled and Tae Ho raised his head. Rolo was crying out as if telling him to hop on with haste. He could see the fire pillars that seemed like they would cover the ground at any moment.
Tae Ho looked at Loki and Loki faced him and hit his chest twice with a fist.
For Asgard and the Nine Realms.
'Tae Ho!'
Tae Ho made a decision. He released Idun's divine power to seal Garmr's soul fragment. He then charged in the air and surged up.
[One of the Five Fingers]
[Giant of Beasts]
[Ortr]
The fire pillars descended on the forest.
< Episode 35 - Great War (5) > End