Episode 9/Chapter 1: Svartalfheim (1)

TL: Tsubak

ED:

The space beyond the violet door was humid and heavy.

Tae Ho felt the change of the scenery the moment he took the step and then stopped his breath and looked at his surroundings.

The first thing he saw was the high trees. The trees were lined up like a wall and the branches were interlinked and made a ceiling that covered the sky. The reason it was dark would probably be because of the shadow generated by it.

Tae Ho took one more step. There was dirt and rotting branches and leaves everywhere. As he breathed slowly he could feel the cold and humid air.

And most of all, his body felt heavy. He didn't know if that was the precise expression, but the gravity itself felt different. Although the difference wasn't that great, it's not that there was none. Based on numbers it would be 1.1 times more.

Half of the warriors that had gotten ahead of Tae Ho looked at their surroundings as if it was marvelous, and the other half were just on guard with casual faces as if it wasn't their first trip. Siri, that was the first to cross the door, belonged to the latter category.

'So this is Svartalfheim.'

The land of the dark fairies that had a name that could twist your tongue.

'So the dark fairies are the dark elves?'

As he started to think of slim beauties with copper skin, a laugh was heard from behind him.

"Amazing right? This place is Svartalfheim."

The Valkyrie Gandur, that crossed the door last, walked to the front and then explained to the warriors that came here for the first time.

"Like you can see, almost all of this place is covered by shadows thanks to the branch ceiling. In addition, as this forest is really vast, regardless of it being day or night it's always dark. The reason Svartalfheim is called the world of the endless night is that of this."

As the warriors of Valhalla nodded with impressed faces, Gandur started to explain in more detail as if she was excited.

"The ones living in this forest are mostly dark fairies.....So if you pass the boundaries of this forest it becomes Nidavellir, the land of the dwarves called the dvergr. So two races live in the same place."

"Dwarves also live in forests?"

As one of the warriors asked, Gandur shook her head.

"There is a forest, but Nidavellir is more of an underground world. The place is like a maze because it's built with several tunnels. If you get to go there, be careful not to get lost."

In simple words, the dark fairies live in the forest and the dwarves live underground.

In addition, looking at how she spoke, it seemed like this task was related to the dark fairies and not the dwarves.

"Gandur, what is our task? It's time you told us."

As one of the warriors asked again, Gandur fixed her expression and then started to explain seriously.

"The dark fairies have asked us to defeat some monsters. They say that one of the families of the dark fairies was harvesting a medicinal plant to provide to Valhalla and woke up a Basilisk near here."

"When you say Basilisk, do you mean the king of snakes?"

As Siri asked carefully Gandur nodded.

"It's precisely that Basilisk. The family of dark fairies that got attacked asked for assistance to the dark fairies congress, and the Congress asked Valhalla to defeat it."

"So that's why we came here."

The warriors looked at themselves as if they understood. Gandur also nodded this time.

"Right, our legion specializes in hunting. We are the best for hunting a monster."

Most of the warriors in Ullr's legion were hunters.

"I'm also expecting from you. Listening to Rasgrid it seems like you can handle monsters really well."

Gandur said while looking at Tae Ho and then he realized one thing.

'So Rasgrid was the culprit.'

He wondered why he, that belonged to Ullr's legion, was dragged to a hunter's specialized legion.

As he looked at a far place and laughed Rolph approached and patted his shoulder.

"This is also fate."

His words were consoling him, but his face was smiling. Because if he hadn't come here, Rolph would have been the only one.

Tae Ho returned a complicated smile to Rolph and then concentrated again on Gandur. She continued with fluid words.

"For now you will be coming to the liaison office nearby. I will go to the Congress to take care of some things with the dark fairies so Siri, lead the troop and visit the troubled family."

"Understood>"

Siri hit her chest lightly and expressed her manners. It seemed like Siri would be the actual commander, just like the case of the dwarven mine.

Gandur also hit her chest and talked to the warriors.

"And there's one more thing I have to tell you. The will be especially moving with the white silences on this occasion."

"White silence!"

"Ohh! White silence!"

"I'm finally riding on one!"

Even before Gandur finished speaking, the warriors let out cheers. As they were all inferior ranked warriors, they didn't seem like they cheered without even knowing what it was just like the lowest ranked warriors, but he didn't have the courage to ask.

'Just what is it this time?'

Is it also a firing object that was so like the firing object fetish Valhalla?

Or is it an object that made you silent for eternity?

Tae Ho looked at Rolph cheering together with the others and in the end, he approached Siri and asked.

"Siri, what's the white silence?"

"It's a really cool thing. You will also like it."

Siri answered like a warrior of Valhalla and so Tae Ho looked at Gandur with an uneasy face.

&

"Wow!"

"It's the real thing!"

"It's really big!"

The dark fairies liaison office was made by carving a really big tree and a really marvelous one, but no one paid attention to it. It was because they were all busy with the white silences Gandur had called.

'It's really cool.'

Even if Siri was a warrior of Valhalla, it seemed like reason and logic worked with her. Because white silence was a really cool obj- no, beast, even in Tae Ho's eyes.

There were huge wolves with white fur in front of the warriors. It was so big he couldn't even compare it to the tigers or lions he saw at the zoo. They were so big they could even handle the warriors of Valhalla, that had their respective sizes.

The number of the wolves was exactly 10. Just like the warriors.

"There will be people that see them for the first time so explaining it briefly, they are one of the prideful summons of our Ullr's legion. It can obviously walk and when it runs it doesn't make any noise, that's the reason why they are called as white silences. They will also be of great help in battle."

Just like Gandur had explained, they white silences were really silent. It was a really marvelous feeling seeing at those big things moving without making any noise.

'Do all legions have their summons?'

So what could Idun's legion summon be?"

'Wait, do we even have one?'

Heda hadn't told him anything, and Ullr's legion was a hunters legion, so it was understandable for them to have wolves but that wasn't the case with Idun's legion. The only thing he could think of right now was an apple tree.

'What kind of animals would Odin's legion have?'

Wouldn't it be a really cool animal as he's the king of Gods?

While Tae Ho was thinking of a different thing, the Warriors got on the white silences one by one. Although they were hunters through and thorough, excluding Siri and a few others the remaining ones rode on the wolves quite awkwardly.

"Tae Ho, hurry up and ride them. It feels really great to mount it."

Rolph, that had a sloppy posture, said with a face that said that he would die of happiness. Tae Ho nodded once and then got on the white silence.

[Saga: The one that can handle dragons]

The white silence that was on his side in the first place didn't resist him. And the moment he activated the saga his posture was fixed automatically.

"You really are skilled. It's just like Rasgrid and Reginleif said. I really want you."

Gandur said in a low voice, but as he was close to her he could hear everything she had said. Perhaps, the one Heda had to worry about wasn't Rasgrid but Gandur.

In addition, Siri was making the same eyes as Gandur. Rolph also seemed to think that it would be good if he was in the same legion as Tae Ho.

As Tae Ho thought of Heda's face and turned his eyes, Gandur smirked and said.

"A guide, from the fairies side, will come with you. Follow him."

As soon as she finished speaking a dark fairy riding on a black horse approached them. She wasn't the slim beauty with copper skin Tae Ho expected, he was a handsome youth with light violet skin.

'Even so, he's similar to the dark elves I know of.'

His ears were pointy, the face was handsome and his body was slim. His skin had a light violet color that had gave a pale feeling and is silver hair that was close to being white-suited well with his skin.

The dark fairy that was wearing brown leather armor placed his right hand on his left chest and saluted, perhaps because everyone else was riding their wolves.

"I'm Tollaris of the Mollo family. I will be leading you to our family's house"

"I'm Siri, of Ullr's legion. Treat us well."

As Siri also hit her chest as expressing her manners, Tollaris nodded and looked back at Gandur.

"Valkyrie Gandur, we will depart immediately."

"Let Ullr's blessing be with you."

"Let Ullr's blessing be with Gandur!"

"The Valkyrie of our legion is certainly the best!"

"We will be going!"

"We will bring you the leather of the basilisk as a gift!"

As Gandur waved her hand and sent them off, the warriors of Ullr's legion raised their voices and answered back. It was rough, but you could feel their affection towards Gandur, the Valkyrie of Ullr's legion.

Tollaris just looked at them silently and then charged forward. As Siri followed him back, the warriors also started to follow them.

The white silences weren't only silent, but fast. Tollaris's horse rode really quickly, but no wolf fell behind. No, rather, it seemed like they were faster than the horse in bulky places that had roots sprouting.

However, the best thing was how it felt when you boarded them. It hurt your butt when you rode on a horse even when it had a saddle, but you didn't feel any of that with the white silences when it changed direction suddenly or changed speed abruptly, perhaps because of its cushiony fur.

Tollaris ran for a quarter a day while resting at times. As their surroundings was a complete forest and even the sky was covered, you couldn't grasp your location or direction well, but they were certain that they came quite far from the starting point.

"It's over there."

Tollaris lowered his speed to the point it was almost walking and pointed to a far place. Tae Ho, that had gotten accustomed to the forest while coming all the way here, could discover the village that was composed of tree houses.

'It's like a village of a single family.'

The dark fairy had said that everyone that resided here had the bloodline of the Mollo family. The dark fairies guarding the entrance looked at the warriors of Valhalla with vigilant eyes, and the kids took peeks while hiding behind the trees.

And the warriors of Valhalla looked at the village with curious eyes instead of shrinking down by the many gazes, just like how a warrior of Valhalla should be.

As they entered deep into the forest, a house covered by fences appeared.

"Let's go in."

As Tollaris got down the horse, Siri and the other warriors also got down the white silences.

"You can just place them in the stables. Only place them far away from the horses."

Siri said towards the dark fairies that were putting on troubled faces and were pondering what to do. Although they were summons, it seemed like the Valkyrie was the only one that could call them as she pleased.

After they passed the gates, they saw a huge house that had a wide yard. It was marvelous that they were still being covered by branches when there was that huge of a house.

"You have troubled yourselves by coming this far. I'm Mallus, the head of the Mollo family."

A slim man with a sharp impression welcomed them from the yard. As the man waved his hand lightly, beautiful dark fairies appeared and gave the warriors one cup each. It seemed like they were telling them to ease their thirst for having come a long way.

There was no reason for the warriors of Valhalla to refuse it when they went wild over alcohol. Siri also received it while thinking that one cup wouldn't do harm.

Tae Ho also did the same. But it was when he was about to place his lips on it.

He activated the dragon's eyes just like every time he faced someone.

Tollaris's name was green. There were many dark fairies that were in the village that had grey names, that meant neutrality. But anyways, most of them were green or grey.

But it was different for the house.

[Utgard Loki's underling]

[Dark fairy: Mallus]

Clear red words. In addition, he had already seen the name of Utgard's Loki.

'The giant of Black Fortress!'

Utgard Loki's warrior Hgut.

There was no time to think. There was an enemy right in front of them, and they were currently drinking alcohol given by the enemy.

"Captain Siri!"

Tae Ho yelled and threw his cup. The warriors that had already taken a sip got surprised and turned to look at Tae Ho, and Rolph opened his eyes wide as if he was flustered. However, Siri was different. She threw away her cup and also spat the alcohol into her mouth.

Mallus looked at Tae Ho. He didn't know Tae Ho's saga. However, the moment he saw Tae Ho's eyes that were filled with certainess he made a quick judgment. He raised his arm instead of making a sloppy excuse. Red words started to appear on the walls.

"Hit them!"

"Shield wall!"

Mallus and Siri yelled at the same time. The warriors of Valhalla raised their shields hurriedly and the dark fairies that appeared from everywhere fired their bows.

Tollaris and the dark fairy ladies that were near them looked at their surroundings with flustered faces and got hit by the arrows and fell.

The dark fairies screamed. The house was filled with green words, grey words, and red words.

"Seal the door!"

"We are escaping!"

Mallus and Siri yelled at the same time again. The dark fairies that were named in grey ran towards the gate, and some of the warriors hid in the shields and fired their crossbows towards the dark fairies that were trying to close the gate. Siri pulled back the shield wall and then blew her horn trumpet.

The white silences reacted to that sound that resembled the wind. They bit down or slammed the dark fairies that tried to tie them down and ran the yard and arrived in front of the group.

"Tae Ho! Take lead!"

Siri said while getting on the white silence hurriedly. It was because she trusted in Tae Ho's eyes.

"Let's go!"

Tae Ho glared at the half closed gates and yelled. The white silences charged soundlessly.

"Close the gates!"

Mallus yelled again. The dark fairies ran towards the entrance, and Rolph and the warriors raised their crossbows again. A rain of arrows was still being poured down their heads.

Tae Ho just looked in front of him and charged. He didn't dodge the arrows coming from the front. He charged towards the gate and extended his left hand. He activated the carved rune magic!

"Gant!"

Rune of wind.

A strong wind surged from Tae Ho's left arm.

< Episode 9 - Svartalfheim (1) > End

TL note: Thanks for reading~