Episode 43/Chapter 4: Reunited (4)
TL: Tsubak
ED: Ren
A crack formed on the curtain of light which was emitting seven different colors, like a rainbow.
The fragments of the barrier broke along with the sound of glass breaking and then scattered and fell down.
The inside and the outside which had been isolated were connected once again. You could see the outside from inside and also could see the inside from outside.
Valhalla was huge.
The fortress, which had 540 doors was really huge and the three layers of walls were thick and solid.
Freya recognized that the number of their forces were insufficient to protect all of Valhalla and because of that she gave up entirely on the part of the fog lake that had the islands of the legions in it.
The entire force of Valhalla was about 600,000.
Among that, the army Thor led was 300,000, and the ones that were at the border were 100,000.
If the forces that were scattered in the other worlds were excluded, then the forces that remained in Asgard were about 150,000.
80,000 of them were Steel warriors and the remaining 70,000 could be said to bethe active warriors of Valhalla.
A number of 150,000 wasn’t small at all. The warriors of Valhalla and the Steel warriors decided to think as Vikings.
When you died wasn’t important.
The important thing was how you died.
The warriors of Valhalla stood on the castle wall and the Steel warriors stood shoulder to shoulder with them.
The Valkyries of each legion wore their armor and raised their weapons. They numbered 5,000.
It was the addition of the pre-Valkyries that received training in Freya’s Valkyrie training center.
The Gods were together with the warriors.
There weren’t only the strong warrior Gods like the God of the Sea, Njord, or the watchman God.
Gefion, the Goddess of fertility, led two big, strong white cows that were used to plow the fields and got on the walls. Forseti, the God of Justice, who held conversations to be important, raised his weapon only for this day.
They didn’t discriminate between men and women. Everyone that could fight raised their weapons and became determined to face the giants.
The barrier breaking down was a beautiful thing to witness. The trumpeters looked at the rainbow light scatter and blew their horn trumpets.
They saw the outside view, and shock and silence spread among the grandiose sound of the horn trumpet.
A scenery which was bigger than they had expected awaited the warriors of Valhalla.
A black group of evil spirits covered the entire land. It was impossible to grasp their numbers but they would certainly easily amount to hundreds of thousands.
There were also quite a lot of giants. There were dozens of huge giants that seemed like they would touch the sky and also so many small giants that if their numbers were added, they would amount to several thousands.
There were monsters in the sky and on the ground. The monsters that had been born and that grew in the land of harsh coldness, Jotunheim, smothered the sound of the horn trumpet with their roars.
There was no light in the sky. The flying-type monsters and evil spirits that gathered like clouds were covering the place where the sun should be at.
In the middle of the group which had made the sky turn black was the most evil and powerful frost dark dragon, Balcazar.
Freya, who had climbed to the highest tower of the fortress, gulped saliva down a dry throat. Clenching her fists, she calmed herself down.
Her eyes looked into the distance, to see the magician king Utgard Loki, who was seated in a broken fortress.
Loki also saw Freya. The distance between them was very great but that much of a distance didn’t pose an obstacle to the two masters of magic.
“I will kill you and I will erase Valhalla from the world,” magician king said. It wasn’t a provocation but a simple claim.
Freya just laughed. Her shoulders trembled a bit but she couldn’t do anything about it. She then hit the ground with the staff she was holding and claimed, “Come, king of giants who will soon die.”
The magician king laughed. He made a light gesture and then the giants that were in his surroundings blew their horn trumpets. The army of evil spirits started their attack under the great sound that seemed like it would split the world.
The ground shook and moved.
Only one part of the army of the giants was moving but it seemed like the ground was squirming nevertheless.
The sides of Valhalla were open and the giants were surrounding Valhalla with their great number but the battles weren’t occurring in all of the fortress.
The reason for that was because of the existence of the wide, deep moats that covered the fortress.
However, the evil spirits still charged towards the moat, which was no different from a cliff. Their eyes seemed fearless, as if they were under a magic that removed their consciousness.
The magician king moved his finger. The flying-type evil spirits that were covering the sky split in two and the sky opened up and then a catastrophe started to fall down from the huge sky.
Meteorite summoning magic.
It had been controlled so that it fell the moment the barrier of Valhalla broke.
Freya looked at the huge burning meteorite and recited a chant. She also had been prepared for attacks like this.
Freya started to sweat. The sky swayed at her chant and a huge space door opened up and engulfed the meteorite. It then made the meteorite fall on the heads of the evil spirits instead of Valhalla.
The meteorite fell in the outer ranges, where the evil spirits were charging at. Much of its speed was lessened after it passed through the space door but it was still a huge catastrophe from the sky. It easily erased thousands of evil spirits from this world.
However, it was a really small loss compared to their overall force.
The magician king laughed and rolled his finger. He activated the real trump card he had prepared for Freya, who had concentrated solely on opening the space door, wouldn’t be able to stop.
The ground shook and then started to rise up from the moats.
It was a huge scale of magic that not even the magician king would be able to execute easily, but he still accomplished it.
Part of it was thanks to him having prepared it beforehand but it was also because he had offered sacrifices suitable to it.
The magic continued for about ten seconds.
About 10,000 evil spirits, which were standing on the magic circle prepared by the magician king, faced their deaths without even knowing the cause. Their lives and magic forces were drained from them and they fell down and became withered lumber.
Freya tried desperately to stop the magic of the magician king but she couldn’t. It was a magic that had been executed with a time difference and Freya couldn’t offer sacrifices, unlike the magician king. There was a limit to her obstruction because the difference in their magic was also great.
The ground that rose up filled up one-fourth of the moats but that was enough. The evil spirits started to advance towards the fortress, like a wave.
Attacks also started from the sky. Countless evil spirits and monsters began to fall down like rain the moment the black frost dragon, Balcazar, roared.
Freya breathed roughly. She moved her fingers and activated the several defensive magics that were installed in Valhalla.
The Valkyries flew up. Their charge whilst magical wings was really valiant and beautiful, but they were like moths flying towards a fierce fire.
Battles started in the walls as well.
The evil spirits hung on the stairs and threw hooks towards the wall but the warriors of Valhalla activated their various sagas and stopped the evil spirits.
Lightning fell and flames arose. Strong gales and blades of wind swept upwards on the walls of the fortress.
However, the fortress was just too wide and there were a lot of evil spirits. The giants and monsters bodies’ were hit with the attacks of the warriors of Valhalla.
Ragnar, who was making commands at the walls instead of Freya, who was drawing up magic circles, admitted that defeat was sure if they kept going like this.
It was only a matter of time.
But even so, they couldn’t just give up. The warriors of Valhalla and the Gods were struggling, even though they knew that only destruction was waiting for them.
Balcazar opened its huge mouth. He bit the air and the evil spirits and Valkyries were crushed.
Balcazar closed its mouth again. It crushed the things that had gotten stuck in its teeth and then looked at the Valkyries and Steel warriors, which were flying up like moths.
Balcazar, which had experience from participating in the Great War, discovered the one that was more eye-catching than the others.
It thought of the name of the woman that emanated a particularly bright light among the beautifully shining Valkyries.
The Queen of the land of Darkness, Scathach.
Just why was she here? Why was she wearing the same uniform as the Valkyries?
It wasn’t important. Balcazar laughed and then started to fly towards Scathach.
The Goddess of Life and Youth, Idun, was in the middle of the second wall of the three layers. She spread her arms and released her divine power.
An aura of life covered the warriors of Valhalla. It gave them the energy and strength to fight.
But it wasn’t enough. Heda, who was more proficient in battle than Idun, knew it but she remained silent. Idun also concentrated solely on releasing divine power silently.
How long had passed since the battle started?
Only tens of minutes had passed but death overflowed from the sky and the ground.
The evil spirits only looked forwards; and the giants also did the same.
The monsters in the sky also looked at Valhalla.
That’s why they couldn’t see it.
The warriors on the fortress couldn’t recognize it at first.
“For Asgard and the nine realms!”
It was a low voice; and that voice started from behind the battlefield. Precisely speaking, it rang from below the earth.
Part of the group of evil spirits looked at their feet. The ground started to shake and at some point it split downwards, as if a monster had opened its mouth.
The evil spirits fell down that hole but then surged up once again. It was the result of having been hit by an overwhelmingly huge ship…
…A ship made with the toenails and claws of the dead, the Naglfar.
Several huge ships appeared behind the evil spirits and an army of the dead, which numbered a hundred thousand, poured out of the split earth.
The dead spirits roared and charged forward. They fought fiercely to secure the space that had opened up.
The magician king looked at the army of the dead that had appeared in the rear. He just nodded lightly, instead of getting bewildered.
He had expected this much when he heard that Hrumbak was defeated, and the army of the dead was as he had expected. They were a lot, simply looking at their numbers, but even so they couldn’t be compared to the evil spirits. In addition, the army of the dead was at a level that could barely be compared to the warriors of Midgard. There was nothing to fear at all.
The magician king gave some orders with a gesture of his hand and looked at Valhalla once again but it only for a moment.
“For Asgard and the nine realms!”
It wasn’t the voice of Galeon leading the army of the dead.
Ratatoskr passed through an invisible branch of the world tree and opened up a door. A new army appeared right next to the place where the army of the dead had appeared from.
They were the dwarves of Nidavelir. Totally armed, they hit their drums and charged.
They were small in number’ about 10,000, which was really few compared to the army of the dead.
But it wasn’t the end.
A rain of arrows smothered the charge of the dwarves.
“For Asgard and the nine realms!”
Arianmina of the Kali family, who stood on the battlefield while representing the association of the families of Svartalfheim, whispered in a low voice. The fairies of light that came from Alfheim stood next to her and hit their chests.
Elementals charged from between the rain of arrows. They were the familiars of the light fairies.
Nidavellir, Svartalfheim and Alfheim.
But that wasn’t all. There was another army that had come from a far place through the lake of fog that Freya had given up on and the magician king had cut off.
The ones that stood at the front were warriors riding on unicorns, and behind them were warriors riding on rhinos.
The Captain guard of Vanaheim, Hador, exclaimed. The army composed by Gods opened up a new path with their valor.
The magician king didn’t become bewildered. He tried not to, and regained his normal composure by breathing deeply once. He then made a judgement.
The big picture didn’t change that greatly.
The ones that he had thought wouldn’t be able to gather in one place were gathered but they wouldn’t be able to change the situation with them alone. Excluding the army of the dead, they were only a sheaf of straw that barely amounted to 10,000 or 20,000.
The giant of Night, Avalt. and the giant of Sea. Grund, each commanded a part of the force. They tried to sweep down the forces that appeared in the rear.
But it was impossible.
It was because there was still another force remaining. A group that had just arrived!
“Valhalla!”
They weren’t the fairies.
Nor the Gods.
And also not the dead.
They were people that were alive.
The warriors of Midgard!
The tens of thousands of warriors followed at the back of the dwarves. At the front of them was someone that had ascended to heaven in the day that the Great War occurred but was unable to enter Valhalla by a hair’s breadth. The princess of Kataron, Helga, stood with the Valkyrie that had tried to ascend to heaven on that day and roared.
The existences that belonged to Asgard could descend to Midgard.
So was the opposite not possible? Who said so?
The magician king felt dizzy.
It was a situation he couldn’t understand.
He could understand the army of the dead and the Vanir. But even if he tried to concede and understand how the dwarves, dark fairies and light fairies came to this place, he would need to try a hundred times; however, it was utterly impossible to do so with the warriors of Midgard.
The humans of Midgard were split in groups of ten and a hundred and were baring their swords at each other. It was impossible to gather them to one union and make them fight together.
“It’s not impossible,” Loki, who was hanging on the walls of the fortress, said. He couldn’t even open his eyes properly, as his magical power had been squeezed out by the magician king, but he still spoke with his thin voice and smiled.
“You should also know the one that made this possible.”
The magician king gritted his teeth. He glared at the army that had appeared at the rear and yelled in indignation.
“Odin!”
The king of Gods.
The one who could lead the warriors of various worlds. The one who could gather the warriors of Midgard that had been fighting among themselves and raising feuds in one.
“This is the battle of a king.”
Standing at the front and fighting wasn’t the only battle a king could do.
A king was someone that led. Someone that gathered existences that would otherwise be weak alone but strong when they were together.
Odin was sitting on the head of Ratatoskr in a curled-up position. He then waved his hand once again instead of going out to fight directly. This was the moment that the trump card should appear.
Balcazar, which was charging towards Scathach, turned to look back unconsciously. It was because a shadow had been cast over its head.
A place higher than the sky had been taken over by the monsters.
A strong gale occurred and that alone made the hundreds of flying evil spirits dizzy, and they crashed down.
It was an existence bigger than the frost black dragon.
The real supreme ruler of the sky.
“Damned bastards,” the king of birds, Hraesvelg, snorted and said. Countless predatory birds flew behind his huge original body and attacked the heads of the evil spirits as if they were snatching their prey.
And right at that moment…
…That moment, the gale Hraesvelg created scattered Balcazar’s ice breath.
Idun felt her chest beat.
Heda clenched her chest roughly.
Idun saw it.
Heda felt it.
What was connected to them.
That they were becoming one.
[Saga: Idun’s Warrior]
It was coming from farther than the army of the dead. It was surging up from between the hundreds of warriors and dozens of Valkyries.
The black dragon Nidhogg.
But it wasn’t alone.
[Saga: The Warrior That Had a Valkyrie Meet Him]
[Saga: The Master of Flames]
[Saga: The Master of Frost]
Another black dragon roared.
Two white frost dragons and one red dragon held their icy and fiery breaths in their mouths.
Five dragons.
It was an overwhelming existence that couldn’t be looked away from.
Someone pulled his sword from the head of those dragons, no, from the army of dragons.
He glared at the army of the giants and ordered, “Kill them.”
Short words.
The dragons obeyed his words and at the same time opened their mouths.
Five streaks of light.
Five flashes.
That was the authority of a king.
The symbol of strength that only real dragons could use.
Dragon breath.
It swept through the battlefield and opened up a path forcefully.
The five dragons fluttered their wings simultaneously and no one could dare to block their path. They just stared dumbfoundedly.
Heda breathed roughly and Idun looked at the one that was approaching while crying, “It wasn’t a prince riding on a white horse but a black dragon, huh!”
Freya laughed and the five dragons turned after stopping in front of the fortress. They put the fortress behind them and faced the army of the giants.
There were still a lot of enemies.
They overwhelmed Valhalla’s forces.
But Ragnar laughed out loud. He could only do that.
The one standing on the head of the black dragon raised his sword and activated another one of his sagas.
Another legend that obtained its form and shape as it became known by many and has surpassed the level of mystic!
[Legendary ranked saga: The Goddess of Youth Smiles Below the Golden Apple Tree]
The most beautiful Goddess.
And the most gentle Goddess.
There is fortune to the one that believes!
An illusion of a huge golden apple tree surged up. The illusion, which was even bigger than the black dragon, grabbed the attention of everyone on the battlefield.
The warriors of Valhalla could feel themselves getting heated up. Strength and courage surged up from deep inside their chests.
On the other hand, the evil spirits felt haunted. The holy power of the golden apple tree took away their strength and courage.
And right at that moment…
The princess of Kataron Helga flushed. She yelled out loud with the emotions she couldn’t contain.
“Idun’s warrior!”
It was the start. The battlefield started to shake once again.
The warriors of Valhalla held their tribute and praise and the evil spirits yelled in fear and rage.
Idun’s warrior.
The commander of Idun.
“Idun, Heda.”
For the peace of his family – no, of the legion.
Tae Ho whispered in a low voice. He felt Idun and Heda, who had been connected into one and gripped Caliburn.
He glared at the army of the magician king.
< Episode 43 – Reunited (4) > End
TL note: Thanks for reading~