Restoring Bifrost

"Teacher..."

Artoria stepped forward, watching Thrud sitting on the ground, crying. A hint of concern appeared in her azure eyes.

"Let her cry for a while." Arkhan crossed his arms and spoke calmly. "Suppressed emotions always need an outlet. It's more troublesome if you keep holding them in."

Artoria nodded silently, standing by his side.

After a while, Thrud gradually stopped crying, sitting quietly on the ground like a homeless little girl.

Arkhan took out a handkerchief from his Rune's space storage and handed it to Thrud.

"...Thank you."

Thrud took the handkerchief and wiped away the tears on her face.

"Don't worry, they just said, death is not the final destination. You will meet them again in the future." Arkhan patted her shoulder.

"Mhm, I believe I will meet them again in the future."

Thrud stood up, looking at the crimson sea before her. A determined look appeared in her deep red eyes.

"Definitely!"

After everyone was ready, Arkhan walked to the front of the crystal bridge. With black and white light swirling in his hands, it transformed into a lance adorned with sacred lily patterns.

He thrust Abyss Flower into the bridge, closed his eyes gently, and chanted in a voice resembling a recitation.

"I am black from the abyss, I am from the white of the sky."

"Before the birth of the world, I existed after the annihilation. I wield the elixir of life, a gift to quench the thirsting soul."

"Abyss Flower, Zeroth Power - Heilige Lanze Welwitschia!"

*Hum—!!!*

The lily patterns on Abyss Flower lit up in an instant, covering the entire lance in pure white radiance. Soon, a vast and powerful life energy surged out, blending with the lance and flowing into the bridge.

The power of creation of the Abyss Flower couldn't be used on non-living beings, but Bifrost, despite appearing as crystal, was not lifeless. It was the network of the World Tree Yggdrasil, connecting the nine realms. In a sense, it could be seen as an organ of Yggdrasil, like blood vessels in the human body.

Feeling the immense life energy, Thrud's eyes showed amazement. In her experience, only Yggdrasil could nurture such a pure and terrifying life energy.

Could it be that her new lord, who inherited the Primordial Rune, also inherited the power of Yggdrasil?

If that's true, it's truly frightening!

The continuous influx of life energy into the crystal bridge, at some point, caused crystalline threads to appear at the damaged parts. They intertwined like a cocoon, and in the blink of an eye, the damaged areas returned to their original state.

One, two, three—more and more gaps were filled, and the crystal bridge was restoring itself at a visible speed.

Arkhan's face turned slightly pale. The magical energy required to repair Bifrost was more terrifying than he had imagined. If not for his awakened Black Dragon Body and the environment in this realm that accelerated his magical energy recovery, he might have almost reached his limit.

Approximately thirty minutes later, with the final gap filled, the crystal bridge suddenly bloomed with various bright colors. Upon closer inspection, there were exactly seven colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Each color was rich and vivid, almost identical to a rainbow.

Arkhan immediately put away Abyss Flower, wrote 'Rune - Devour' in the air, and greedily absorbed the 'True Ether' pervading the air, rapidly replenishing the magical energy lost from his body.

Next, they were about to step into the legendary underworld, Helheim, and there was a high possibility of facing Vortigern or even Crimson Moon. So, Arkhan had to ensure that he was in his peak condition.

Thrud watched her lord's figure, a hint of awe unconsciously appearing in her eyes.

Single-handedly restoring Bifrost to such an extent, even when the Norse Realms were still thriving, gods capable of such feats were scarce.

One could say that based on this alone, Arkhan was already worthy of the title 'Chief God' like All-Father Odin.

'Is he really a human?' Thrud couldn't help but wonder.

After another half hour, once the magical energy in his body had fully recovered, Arkhan nodded to Artoria and Thrud.

"Alright, let's go."

The two women nodded and followed Arkhan onto the Bifrost.

"Our destination, Helheim, activate!"

As soon as the words fell, the surroundings were instantly replaced by various strange and vibrant colors, as if they were all enveloped in a giant cocoon of rainbow, oblivious to the outside world.

But with his powerful perception, Arkhan could distinctly feel the external space undergoing rapid changes.

After who knows how long—maybe an instant, maybe centuries—when all the colors gradually faded, they found that the surrounding scenery had undergone a drastic transformation.

Now, the surrounding area was no longer the magma-like crimson sea but an endless black plain, filled with various bizarre rocks and skeletons oozing a faint pale color from the cracks in the soil. The sky was covered by gloomy, dark clouds, and the wind brought a piercing chill.

There was no sign of any life here; the entire world was permeated with the aura of 'death'.

"So, this is Helheim. It truly lives up to its name..." Arkhan exclaimed.

"The environment in Helheim is extremely corrosive to all living beings. If we stay here for too long, our bodies will undergo some unpleasant changes, just like those monsters earlier." Thrud said with a serious expression.

"Don't worry; that won't happen." Arkhan smiled and pulled out a necklace with a golden cross from inside his armor.

An invisible force emanated from him, immediately suppressing the aura of death belonging to the underworld in the surroundings.

"This is... the same power as before."

Thrud's eyes showed a hint of surprise. This familiar power made her instantly recall the golden chain that bound and made her unable to exert any strength earlier.

Unexpectedly, this power could even suppress the rules of the underworld. Thrud couldn't help but sigh inwardly. It seemed that no matter what challenges they faced, her new lord always found a way to resolve them.

He was truly omnipotent, even more so than a god.

"Remember not to stray too far from me." Arkhan cautioned, then turned and walked ahead.

Artoria and Thrud quickly followed in his footsteps.

Following Nidhogg's instructions, Arkhan advanced towards her body.

Along the way, they encountered numerous underworld monsters. Despite their fearsome appearance, these creatures were no match for Arkhan, even Artoria and Thrud easily took care of them.

Thrud, having strengthened her resolve, finally restored the power of the Valkyrie. It seemed she wanted to impress Arkhan, as her every move in battle was decisive and fierce, showcasing remarkable combat skills.

As Odin's specially created Valkyries, they possessed innate talents in combat. The runic symbols, understood by mages only after a lifetime of study, were a natural power for them.

Additionally, Odin bestowed upon them a special authority. Their weapon, 'Gungnir: Declaration of the Great God (Fake)', was a degraded replica of Odin's exclusive weapon, Gungnir, possessing formidable power and the characteristic of unfailing accuracy once thrown just like Gae Bolg.

As warrior maidens created for battle, Valkyries were almost flawless compared to Arkhan's Godslayer Knights.

Unfortunately, with the demise of the Age of Gods, such miracles were no longer possible in this era.

*Goo~~~*

Hearing the sudden sound, Arkhan abruptly stopped, casting a slightly surprised look at Artoria behind him.

She blushed, wishing she could find a hole to hide in.

"Sorry, Teacher. I've been trying hard to hold back, but..." Artoria apologetically lowered her head while touching her stomach. 

"No, it's not your fault. I was careless..." Arkhan sighed, realizing he had been too preoccupied with Nidhogg's matter since entering the Norse Realms, completely forgetting Artoria's food supply issues.

Though both were dragons, Arkhan, being a mage and master of Rune, could choose to activate or deactivate his Black Dragon Body at will, and with some tricks he had developed, his energy consumption was not significant.

However, Artoria had to consume large amounts of food regularly to meet her body's needs. The problem now was that, due to the haste of their journey, he hadn't had time to prepare any food.

Glancing at the desolate surroundings, he wondered if there was any food around.

"Nidhogg, do you know if there's anything to eat here?"

"To eat? Of course, it's the roots of Yggdrasil!" Nidhogg replied without hesitation.

Arkhan facepalmed.

"I meant something that regular people can eat."

"Hmm... if I remember correctly, there's a plant called 'Netherflower' in Helheim. It usually grows on the corpses of powerful monsters. Regular humans can eat it, and it's quite filling. But I heard it might be poisonous."

Arkhan shrugged it off; a little poison was nothing. He could always purify it with the power of Abyss Flower if needed.