"Aaaah...!"
TAP!
Odin managed to land smoothly at the bottom of the pit with Kai on his shoulder.
"I'm falling...! I'm falling...! I —"
Hearing Kai's cries, Odin let out a long sigh and immediately dropped Kai's body.
THUD!
"— fell, huh?" Kai then looked up at Odin who was standing behind him.
"Why did you drop me?!"
Odin rolled his eyes and replied, "Tsk, you are so noisy brat! You won't die as long as I'm here."
"Why are you so proud? It's just a dream after all, so I'll definitely wake up if I die here," said Kai in a dismissive tone.
Hearing that, Odin snorted and replied, "Whatever."
"Woah! Look! How detailed the structure of this place in my dreamscape is," Kai said as he walked slowly and gazed around in amazement.
As for Odin, he looked resigned. Occasionally he looked up as he thought of ways to get back up there.
"Hm, this place isn't too deep. I think we can —"
"Hey look, I found a way," Kai's voice accidentally cut off Odin's muttering.
Odin raised one eyebrow when he heard the echo of Kai's voice far away from him, on the other side of the dark hole. How could that boy already be there? — Odin asked himself.
"If you step carelessly, you might just activate —"
"Woah! This is really amazing!" The echo of Kai's voice rang out.
Seeing Kai's act make Odin was speechless. Does that kid think this place is some kind of tourist attraction or something? — Odin thought incredulously.
"Hey, alter ego! Come here and see how beautiful this place is! I've never seen anything like this, even on the internet," Kai said again and his voice sounded even smaller.
Odin grunted in annoyance as he made a tired face. He had completely given up on the human boy he was with.
A second later, Odin caught up with hurried steps. It was a dark and damp passage. It wasn't that cold here, but it should be cold enough for a normal human.
Luckily, Odin had created a temperature veil with his [Divinity] around Kai's body to protect him — Odin thought in relief.
Not long into the passage, Odin saw a bright light at the end of the passage. He quickened his pace and when he reached the end, Odin fell silent.
Before him was a large cave that was entirely made of crystal with a ceiling covered in sharp ice. It looked so beautiful, however Odin was not amazed with that.
"You must be amazed at how great my imagination is, right? I didn't realize I had such good taste in art either," Kai said confidently.
"..."
"In that case, I'm thinking of becoming an artist. What do you think?"
What nonsense is that boy talking — Odin thought.
After that Odin closed his eyes for a moment while sighing. This situation was hard enough for him.
The thought crossed his mind to leave the boy and just go straight back to Valhalla. However, for some reason he felt pity and chose to stay with that boy even though he was tired with this situation. Moreover, [System] as if completely disappeared.
"Tsk, damn [System], why doesn't it show up immediately when in this situation," Odin said in frustration.
This was the first time he had ever waited for the [System] notification.
"This [System] ... Can't you say something about this? At least, tell me some clue about this place," Odin shouted and suddenly the [System] screen appeared in front of him.
DING!
[System Reset Successfully]
[Resynchronization 2%]
Odin tapped his forehead as he read the [System] screen in front of him. This really can't be — Odin thought.
While Odin seemed to be busy with his frustration, Kai was exploring the place while endlessly chuckling in amazement. Until, his pair of blue eyes caught an object in the center of the cave.
Kai squinted his eyes and approached the object. When he was a few meters away, he could see what was in front of him.
It was a lotus flower with white crystal petals and a golden aura all over. The lotus seems still in bud.
For a moment Kai was mesmerized by the lotus before him and as if he couldn't take his eyes off it. He knelt down and grasped the stalk of the lotus, then pulled it with all his might.
"Ugh! Why is this so hard to pull out?!" grumbled Kai in his efforts.
On the other hand, Odin still seemed to be waiting for the processing of [System] which was already running at over 70%.
[Resynchronization 76%]
"Tsk, why is this taking so long?!" grumbled Odin as he stared impatiently at the [System] screen in front of him.
Odin snorted and looked away in the other direction. But a moment later, his eyes squinted when he looked at Kai who seemed to pull something there. His eyes focused on an object that Kai had been trying to pull out.
"Hey, kid! Don't be careless —"
THUD
"— touching."
Instantly, Odin tapped his forehead when he saw Kai who managed to pull out the object.
With a big smile, Kai raised the object in his hand high and shouted, "Look what I got here!"
"Tsk, stop messing around and come here! We ..."
RUMBLED! RUMBLED! RUMBLED!
Odin instantly stopped what he was saying when he felt a tremor beneath his feet. The crystal floor he was standing on cracked and the sharp rocks on the ceiling of the cave fell down, blocking their path before.
Odin swiftly ran to Kai and lifted the boy up. He then looked around him, searching for an opening to get out of the place that would soon be destroyed.
"You don't have to panic so much, I'm sure we will get up soon. It's just a dream after all," Kai said casually.
As for Odin, he ignored Kai and instead seemed to be busy running away from the falling sharp rocks while looking around him, looking for an opening for him to get out of here. Occasionally he also smashed the ice rocks he couldn't avoid.
"Look! I found something good! But anyway —"
CRASH!
"Tsk, shut up!" Odin immediately interrupted Kai, just as a moment after he managed to crush the ice boulder that almost fell on them.
Until finally, Odin saw a hole that had just formed from a collapsed cave roof. He took a stance and leaped fastly toward the hole.
"Finally ..." said Odin who felt relieved when he landed on the big ice rock outside of the cave.
But his relief immediately disappears when Odin sees a pair of big red eyes in the thick mist.
Shortly after, a snake-headed tentacle suddenly attacked them from within the mist. Odin quickly dodged, and then it crashed into the ice he had been standing on.
CRASH!
"W-What the hell was that? This is starting to get scary. Can't I just get up?" said Kai with a stammer.
"Tsk! Stop babbling. We're not in a good situation now," said Odin quickly.
A second later, it struck again and Odin swiftly dodged. He chuckled in annoyance and finally decided to use one of his [Authority] powers again.
Just hope that his [Authority] power hasn't been detected by Heimdall or Heaven Judges — said Odin in himself.
"Void Authority: Heavenly Raven's Eyes," Odin muttered and his golden eyes turned to purple.
A second later, Odin widened his eyes when he saw something behind the fog. At the same time, the [System] notification sound was heard.
DING!
[User coordinates successfully found]
[Forbidden Fortress of Audhol]
[Update mission status]
"N-No way ..."
Odin stared in disbelief at the giant-sized figure in front of him. He was also shocked when he heard the [System] saying that they were at the Forbidden Fortress of Audhol.
The Forbidden Fortress had several regions within it, one of them was Audhol which is a region inhabited by millions of dangerous monsters within.
And what he was currently facing was ...
DING!
[Penalty Daily Mission: Let's Survive on Tundra!]
[Mission Detail Changed!]
[Mission Details: Defeat Echidna the Mother of Monster]
[Danger Level Mission: Lv. 6
[Time: 2 hour]
[Time Remaining 01:59:59]
[Success Reward: Heart of Echidna]
[Failure Penalty: Death]
"Mother of monsters..."
"..."
"... Echidna."