Daphne had seen the Giant King. Even when the "Gigir Who Moved Mountains" stood upright, he only reached up to the knees of Alsuga. Behind the thick ice, the majestic body lay in slumber, with the iron-blue armor still neatly worn. It was unimaginable how much iron and charcoal would have been consumed to forge a suit of armor for such a being. Alsuga was a huge corpse. At the almost invisible highest point, theA ghostly blue undead flame. (the faint blue undead flames) were lit from the depths of the eye sockets, and the King of the Ice Tomb was looking down on those who came to pay their respects.
"The Mother Goddess asked me to bring a message." Daphne remained calm, her breath steady. "Or rather, an instruction."
"Mother? Oseriel? Her?" Alsuga asked three questions in a row. He seemed skeptical. "She has already left Nokatia. This is a world without hope."
"You don't believe it?" Daphne feigned calmness and countered.
"On you, there is indeed the scent of Mother." The Skeleton King paused for a moment. "From the eternally sealed stone coffin. I know you emerged from there, so you were able to obtain the sigil and the cloak."
"And I also know the way to meet your true form. Who do you think told me?" Daphne snorted coldly.
"Hmm—" Alsuga pondered, and then a deep voice drifted from behind the ice. "I believe you, the messenger of the Great Mother. But things have come to this. Destruction is fated. What more does she want me to do?"
This somewhat surprised Daphne. After all, in the game, the earthly incarnation of this character would start ranting as soon as he landed, saying things like "This world will be destroyed eventually. Why can't I be the one to bring about the destruction!?" and "Stupid insects! I have protected you for ten thousand years. Now, you will repay all the pain I have endured!" and other crazy lines. But now, seeing his true form, he seemed more like a wise man who was good at contemplation, calm, steady, and logical, not at all like a madman driven insane by the Chaos Demons.
"She wants you to uphold your duty, the King of the Ice Tomb." Daphne tried to correct his thinking using the name of the Mother Goddess. "Even during the coldest nights of winter, you should do so."
Alsuga fell silent. The faint blue undead flames floating high up went out and then reignited.
A heavy sigh.
Pieces of ice fell from the ceiling that seemed to have no top, like a moderate hail storm. Fortunately, Melville's fur could melt the ice and snow for her, and these ice chips couldn't harm Daphne.
"If it's just an instruction, I don't have to follow it." After a long while, Alsuga said in a low voice. "Hopeless resistance is futile. One can't hold up alone."
"Tell me, the messenger of the Great Mother, after this, will you go south to pay your respects to other deities?" he asked.
Now it was Daphne's turn to be silent.
"Mother knows very well. She knows better than anyone. That's why she chose to leave." Alsuga said in a solemn voice. "The souls of Vanitaya, Meyekase, and Gregory have dissipated, leaving only their bodies and concepts. Lamia has fallen into depravity, decay, and corruption. Mother had long predicted that we siblings would turn against each other and be broken apart. The future was crystal clear in her eyes. This world is doomed—"
"So she sent me here." Daphne interrupted Alsuga.
Even though her voice was so faint that it couldn't compare to Alsuga's breathing, it still made the skeletal giant behind the ice fall silent instantly.
"You?" Alsuga was puzzled.
A half-blood girl who was almost invisible, why would the Great Mother choose her as a messenger? What was so special about this girl? Alsuga couldn't see it for the moment.
But how could he fathom or see through the power of the Great Mother? The scent of Mother was genuine. This girl must have received the care and enlightenment of the Great Mother to possess such a strong mind and spirit. Perhaps this was a test before the Great Mother's return...
Alsuga didn't dare to be negligent anymore. "What can you do? What does the Mother Goddess ask you to do?"
"On the second day after dusk, I will bring every ray of dawn and the morning sun to Nokatia. The Great Mother has asked me to bring victory and redemption to this world." Daphne looked up and met Alsuga's gaze, her tone firm.
Her voice was delicate, but it was deafening.
This silence lasted even longer.
The ice surface began to shake again, and another hail storm fell from the air. The entire Ice Tomb was shaking violently.
The former leader of the Snowfield Gray Wolves galloped down from the flying snow crystals and revealed its huge body. The undead ice-boned beast raised its head and crouched in front of the Ice Tomb's throne.
The King of the Dead suddenly burst into loud laughter, as if the entire mountain range was going to tremble.
Daphne was convinced that she hadn't said anything wrong. She still maintained her expression, looking at Alsuga neither arrogantly nor humbly.
"Then pass my test first, the messenger of the Great Mother." After laughing, Alsuga's voice was even deeper and more powerful. "Klogtia has protected this world for long enough. But if you can't even stop my army of the dead, how can you talk about bringing victory and redemption to the world?"
The Frost Giant Sword roared loudly with his words. Violent snowstorms were released and whirled from the ice-blue blade, blowing Daphne's hair and cloak up and fluttering.
"I am the night and winter! To see the dawn and warm spring, you must first step over my body!" The King of the Ice Tomb declared.
Daphne thought for a moment and then replied: "Ten years. Ten years from now, I will come back here to challenge your earthly incarnation and then pay my respects to you again."
Under the joint gaze of Alsuga and Melville, she made the agreement.
"But Klogtia won't stop. The Archlich will lead the army of the dead to continue seizing territories." Alsuga didn't comment either way.
"Whatever is lost today will be regained tomorrow. The Empire isn't as fragile as you think. Good luck to your Archlich." Daphne didn't back down.
She hadn't expected things to turn out like this. There was a lot of tension, but she didn't feel any danger.
Daphne always felt that Alsuga was almost convinced by her. It was just that he was too proud to agree directly. But it might also be just an illusion. The thinking of deities was vastly different from that of ordinary people and couldn't be casually guessed.
But it didn't matter anymore. It was time to show her hand.
"The Great Mother said you would have something to give me." She said.
"I thought she had forgotten that thing. I have been guarding and preserving it for too long." Alsuga wasn't secretive about it either.
As his powerful voice faded, a small door opened in the center of the Ice Tomb. A faint light shone from inside, as if asking Daphne to go in and get it herself.
"The exit is also there. I don't need to send you back." Melville added.
Daphne didn't know what Oseriel had left with Alsuga. She had just made it up. Anyway, getting something was good. This trip wasn't in vain.
Melville watched as the half-blood girl walked step by step and disappeared behind the door. "This isn't like you, Al."
Alsuga on the Ice Tomb's throne was silent for a moment. After a while, he said in a low voice: "I should go back to sleep. Return to your post, Mel."
"See you in ten years." The skeletal gray wolf jumped a few steps and then dissipated again, turning into flying snow crystals.
Only Alsuga was left, as it had been for a thousand years.
That shrill and cunning voice rang in his ears again without surprise: "Don't be fooled by that girl! Your mother has long abandoned this world! What you need is a great revenge! Let this world and those stupid insects taste the pain you have endured!"
The noisy chatter always lingered in his ears, and Alsuga was on the verge offall apart (breaking down).
"Enough! Get out of my head, damn Tzeentch!" He roared gloomily, like a low thunder.