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Chapter 188: Ragnarök (3)
"Whoa. Thanks, Kim Jiho, for coming all the way here."
Loki appeared before me, extending a handshake with a welcoming smile.
"Other pantheons are dragging their feet, but our creditor here came to the rescue right away. Thanks to the information you uncovered, we managed to buy some time to prepare."
"The other divine realms didn’t even show up? What about Christianity or Buddhism?"
"They say they'll send someone, but they're not taking any real action. You’d think they'd realize they won't be safe if we fall... I don’t get what they’re thinking."
Loki shook his head.
"That might actually be a blessing in disguise."
"You... Did you develop a weird hobby after becoming a god? What’s with that guy—just a floating head?"
"That's Odysseus, who’s switched to our side."
"Odysseus? From Homer’s epic? He's a notable hero, sure, but I don’t think he’s at the level to meddle in divine wars."
"You're right, I’m nothing but a lowly being. But a lowly one can still have sharp ears. I’ve gathered bits of intel here and there."
Odysseus floated toward us, just a head bobbing in the air.
"Intel? What kind?"
"I heard there’s an interesting device installed in a building near Yggdrasil."
"A building near the World Tree?"
"Yes, Lord Loki."
"Hmm... That seems unlikely."
Loki tilted his head, skeptical.
But when Odysseus insisted, he turns to look at me.
"Can we trust him?"
"He’s my apostle, for now."
"Apostle? Well... I guess that's trustworthy enough. Alright, come with me."
Following Loki, we soon laid eyes on an enormous tree.
A massive tree stretching from the earth to the sky.
Even from a distance, its presence is overwhelming.
"Yggdrasil, the World Tree... It really is massive."
"And surrounded by buildings. The divine realm looks quite like a modern city."
As Kuuga said, there were several buildings around the World Tree.
Compared to Seoul, the layout felt more spacious, but the architecture was distinctly modern.
Just like Hwanung’s realm, this divine world must have modernized too.
"Nowadays, divine realms have to modernize to survive. Otherwise, they get left behind."
"Who owns that building? The one glowing gold to the left of the World Tree?"
"That? That’s Baldr’s building. He doesn’t stay in his heavenly palace anymore, prefers to stay there now."
"Baldr?"
"Odin’s son and the god of light."
"Baldr... That’s the place. That’s where Olympus’ trap is hidden."
Odysseus spoke with absolute certainty.
"Baldr’s building?"
"Yes. We need to investigate."
"He’s kind of a touchy guy though..."
"Why?"
"You know about Ragnarök?"
Loki suddenly asked me.
"The Twilight of the Gods, the fall of Asgard, right?"
"Do you know how it starts?"
"Not really."
"It began because I killed Baldr."
The god of light, Baldr.
Loki briefly explained that although Baldr was originally invulnerable, Loki discovered his only weakness and caused his death out of jealousy.
"That’s Norse mythology. You didn’t actually kill him in this divine realm, right?"
"Right. He’s still around, like the rest of us. But because of that story, things are a little awkward between me and him. I don’t care much, but Baldr’s always wary of me."
"That’s exactly what we’re counting on."
"Counting on that?"
"A member of the Asgardian pantheon who could prepare a contingency without raising suspicion—even if he was cautious of you. That’s why it’s hidden under his building."
"Hmm..."
Loki narrowed his eyes at Odysseus, listening to his passionate explanation.
He had gone along with him earlier because I said he was my apostle, but now he's clearly starting to doubt again.
"Show me some proof that you’re really an apostle."
"Hmm. What could I do?"
"Swear at Zeus. Blasphemy against the creator is taboo for gods, right?"
Wait, that’s how you prove it?
People always talk trash about leaders behind their backs...
"Ohh. That’s a clever test."
"As expected from Loki—always thinking of sneaky tricks."
Oddly enough, Artemis and Kuuga are impressed by the idea.
I guess this method actually works here.
"Heh. Is that all you need? Zeus, you #$!#& piece of #$%!"
Odysseus began spewing curses.
He cussed so colorfully it felt like he’d been holding it in forever and was finally letting loose.
Loki listened with his arms crossed.
“Seriously, everything was fine, and then he suddenly wants to be the creator god and screws everything up. Got thrashed by Yahweh and now all he does is come up with useless schemes!”
When Odysseus got to that part, Loki uncrossed his arms.
"Hoo. Seems legit. Alright, let’s go."
"You believe him because of that?"
"Zeus has trauma from Yahweh. He hates hearing about that incident a hundred times more than people swearing at him."
"Exactly. Heehee. He gets so mad the moment anyone brings that up. Total petty behavior. Back then, Christianity was a joke compared to us, but he partied away with goddesses and got wrecked... Isn’t that right, Lady Artemis?"
Odysseus turned to Artemis with a question.
She looked flustered but ends up defending Zeus.
"Well, that’s true... But back then, Zeus knelt before Yahweh to save us all. He accepted humiliation for the sake of preserving the divine realms. At that time, he was worthy of respect."
"That’s just basic responsibility. It was like an adult picking a fight with a child—and losing! Ugh. Just thinking about it still makes me mad."
Odysseus kept ranting and swearing at Zeus, until Loki finally told him to shut up.
"Enough with the swearing, it’s getting annoying. So about the trap—is Baldr himself part of it, or is it just under his building with no involvement from him?"
"I don’t know. I only know it’s underground."
"That makes it tricky to ask him directly. If he is involved, notifying him would ruin everything."
"Exactly."
"Then we’ll have to sneak in. Kim Jiho, I can’t bring all your apostles. Send everyone back except the floating head."
"Alright, got it."
I sent Artemis and Kuuga back to the Apostles' Garden, and Loki reached out toward us.
"Invisibility."
[The Trickster God ‘Loki’ uses his authority on the user.]
[Loki’s Invisibility includes concealment attributes. Immune to detection below SS-rank.]
[Do you accept Loki’s authority?]
After hitting "Yes," my entire body turned transparent.
Looking to the side, I saw that most of Odysseus’s head had turned invisible too.
He should be fully invisible, but maybe because he’s my apostle, I can still see a faint outline of him.
[Let’s go.]
Loki sent a message after activating invisibility and took the lead, walking ahead.
He took the first step.
At first, he ran quickly, but upon reaching Baldr's building, he moved cautiously.
A golden, gleaming building.
The golden revolving door spun beautifully.
[Heading underground.]
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Just as it seemed he was entering through the door, his body suddenly sank straight into the ground.
From there, Loki continued to lead us.
Even the golden wall underground opened into a door with just a wave of his hand.
I knew he was good at this kind of thing, but he's incredibly smooth.
[Where exactly is it underground?]
[I'm not entirely sure either...]
[Tch. Let's start searching on foot. Let me know if you guys find anything.]
What are we even supposed to find here?
On the surface, there's nothing visible.
Unlike the shimmering golden walls, the interior is a dark cavern.
Like an underground parking lot with the lights turned off.
[Hmm... I definitely heard it was beneath Baldr's building...]
[Who even gave you that info? You sure you weren’t duped?]
[I heard it while working at Ares's Command HQ. That 'a massive bomb is hidden beneath Baldr's building'... Do you think the HQ would tell such a lie just to deceive me alone?]
[If you were high enough in the ranks of Ares’s HQ to hear that, why’d you betray them and go to Kim Jiho?]
Maybe because nothing’s showing up, Loki kept questioning Odysseus.
I can’t tell anything by sight either...
So I tried using the Soul Disassembly skill.
Still, not much changes in the landscape.
But since we’re already in here, I scanned every inch from the ceiling to the floor, desperate to find anything.
[It’s been quite some time since Zeus became the Creator. We thought everything would be resolved once he did, but the situation among the Olympian gods has only worsened.]
[It got worse?]
[Yes. Despite becoming the Creator, he’s been reducing SP distributions. Instead, he takes SP from us, and now he’s even encouraging gods to become "Black Thunder" voluntarily. Once we become Black Thunder, we’re no longer affiliated with Olympus, so they can use us to attack Asgard.]
[Huh. And yet you didn’t become one? Feels like Zeus would’ve forced you.]
[If you become Black Thunder, you cease to exist. We’re not his apostles or anything... Who’d willingly walk to their death? Even if he’s EX-rank, Zeus can’t force that on us gods.]
[He can’t force it...]
[Exactly. So Zeus is trying to...]
Messages between the two flowed rapidly in front of my eyes.
Like a chatroom with multiple participants — they’re going back and forth non-stop while I stay mostly silent.
[It’s too much, really. Instead of giving us SP, he just keeps taking. Faith is fading on Earth, so it’s harder to generate SP. We’re scraping by, breaking into our savings from the last regression cycle just to survive each day.]
[So even you guys are struggling.]
[Probably only Zeus is doing well.]
Being affiliated with Olympus, Odysseus vividly explained their situation.
Reading all this, I realised I won’t get anything done if I stay distracted by these messages, so I hid them from view and re-focused on exploring the underground space.
No changes over here...
No changes over there...
Maybe this just isn’t the place?
“Huh?”
Just as I was about to give up and pull up the message screen again, I sensed a faint flow of SP.
Its source—starting from the golden wall.
Not wanting to lose the thread, I hurriedly approached the wall.
[Huh. This twig… It wasn’t there earlier...?]
A tiny twig stuck in the golden wall.
Leafless and barren, it clings like a fossil.
[A twig?]
[Where do you see that?]
[Ah. Wait. A twig, you say? Could it be mistletoe?]
[I’m not sure if it’s mistletoe. But... it's starting to grow.]
The tiny twig embedded in the golden wall starts to elongate, then splits into two.
Then four.
And the flow of SP grew stronger as it did.
[You said the twig is multiplying, right?]
[Yeah. Still stuck in the wall, but growing. There are eight now.]
[...Kim Jiho. Do you remember what I said earlier about the beginning of Ragnarok?]
[That it started with you exploiting Baldr’s weakness and killing him?]
[Exactly. Baldr, the god of light. Loved by all creation. Due to a prophecy about his death, Odin's wife, Frigg, had all things promise not to harm him. But... she left one thing out.]
Loki’s messages flood the screen with unprecedented speed.
It’s the fastest I’ve ever seen.
[Mistletoe. Frigg thought mistletoe was too weak to harm anyone.]
[Mistletoe…]
[A small parasitic plant that lives off trees. The arrow crafted from its branch is called ‘Mistilteinn.’ A divine relic so insignificant it marked the start of Ragnarok.]
Mistilteinn.
As Loki mentioned it in a message, the twig spreading from the golden wall began to grow at an explosive rate.
“Ugh. I can see it too now... We have to destroy that! Whatever their plan is, we can’t let Mistilteinn be completed!”
“Soul Energy Emission.”
Loki cancelled his invisibility and drew his dagger.
But before he could move, I swung my soul sword at the wall.
Chiiik.
The golden wall was pierced.
The branch, which had been doubling in number, was sliced diagonally.
One slash isn’t enough.
I followed up with more strikes without pause.
Chiik. Chiik. Chiiiiiik.
The golden wall was shredded in an instant.
I left no surface for the multiplying branches to cling to.
Once the wall was completely destroyed, a new message pops up.
[You have destroyed the divine relic Mistilteinn.]
[The soul sword begins absorbing Mistilteinn’s power...]
[The soul sword has completely absorbed the power of the divine relic Mistilteinn.]
[You have fulfilled one of the requirements for the sword’s evolution.]
[Absorb more divine relics.]
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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