Episode 35/Chapter 1: Great War (1)
TL: Tsubak
ED: Julsmul
A hundred years had passed since the Great War.
That time wasn't short even for the Gods that could live thousands or tens of thousands of years. Although it was short when compared to their life spans, it wasn't so for the collective races.
As time flowed fairly for both humans and Gods, the Gods also felt the time flowing slowly.
A hundred years.
A period of more than thirty thousand years.
In that time, the Gods of Asgard and the giants of Jotunheim stood at the boundaries of the destroyed Erin and Asgard and glared at each other.
The battle hadn't ended. There had been no big battles that would break the balance of the scale, but the small battles kept occurring repeatedly.
Because of that, the giants now showing some movements at the front lines wasn't that big of a deal. The frost giants had always moved troops tens of times a year and provoked Asgard continuously.
But it was a bit different this time.
It wasn't only because Garmr's soul fragments appeared in a bunch.
The God of Thunder, Thor, stood on the walls of the front lines and glared at the giants, and a grand sound that wasn't inferior to rumbling thunder echoed out.
Thor knew his voice.
The God of Hunting, Ullr, who stood beside Thor, had also heard his voice a long time ago.
The God of Messages, Hermod, rode on the wind. He was riding towards the direction the sound was heard with the eight-legged horse, Sleipnir.
Hermod remembered the day he'd first heard that sound. That day was an unforgettable one.
A hundred years ago.
The day the fire of Muspelheim's king, Surtr, burned down Erin.
The day the Great War started.
The sound of the horn trumpet shook heaven and earth, and it grew even louder as it neared Valhalla.
Hermod looked behind him. Thanks to the speed of Sleipnir, faster than the wind, the walls of the front lines were soon at a great distance.
However, Hermod had eyes that could see thousands of miles away, and he could clearly see the unfolding events at the walls as if they were right before him.
The warriors were moving. They were taking their weapons and forming ranks upon the walls. The Valkyries urged those warriors and raised the flags of their legions.
It was a scene that made one's chest burn, a really trustworthy sight.
However, Hermod gulped dry saliva unconsciously. He forcefully turned his eyes away from the walls as it was hard to see it even with his eyes that could gaze a thousand miles away.
Uneasiness was sprouting from a part of his chest, and this was something he had already been through once.
'The Great War.'
Hermod didn't think anymore. His eyes were looking toward Valhalla.
-
A huge fortress existed on top of the rainbow-like Bifrost that connected Asgard and Midgard.
The protector God that guarded the strong fortress, that was able to easily block tens of thousands of enemies, was Heimdall.
He heard the sound of the horn trumpet from Valhalla.
He, who could even hear the fur of sheeps growing, could know more clearly than anyone where the sound came from and who had blown the horn trumpet.
It was the King of Gods, Odin.
He was blowing the horn trumpet in the lake of Mimir that was connected with a root of the world tree Yggdrasil, and was climbing up.
Heimdall closed his ears for a moment and looked in front of him. The Valkyries were gathering, and the warriors of Heimdall's legion were hurriedly running to several places of the fortress.
The front lines of Asgard weren't the only places that a problem had occurred.
There were also changes occurring in Midgard. Even though they had killed Bress, King of the fomoires, with a great surprise attack and cleaned up their remains, giants were still appearing in several places of Midgard.
The representative Valkyrie of Heimdall's legion, Herpiortr, hit her chest twice and expressed etiquette. She, who had red hair like flames and was the owner of the legion, looked at her master's eyes Heimdall fixedly.
Heimdall nodded to her. He just hit his chest twice instead of saying anything and then went towards the highest place of Bifrost.
The King of Gods, Odin, blew the horn trumpet and transmitted his will, and it then became the turn of Heimdall to make the final declaration.
To use the horn trumpet of war, Gjallarhorn.... They'd hoped they wouldn't ever use it again but knew they'd inevitably have to one day.
Heimdall blew Gjallarhorn.
He notified Asgard and the other realms that the Great War had restarted.
-
Helga raised her head. She, the princess of Kataron, brave shieldmaiden, and a loyal believer of Idun, started to drip cold sweat from her forehead. Her black hair that was always brushed prettily was now disheveled and being shaken by the wind.
"Princess?"
"It's nothing."
She answered at the voice mixed with worry that was heard from next to her and looked at the sky. She thought she had heard the sound of a horn trumpet, but it seemed like it was an illusion.
She was now riding on a horse, and the shield maidens and warriors that were riding next to her were the elites of Kataron. They, who had participated on the subjugation of the evil fomoires following the warrior of Idun, were now hurriedly returning to the castle of Kataron.
Originally, it had to be an enjoyable trip. Helga had set up quite a lot of military exploits in the expeditions she had been together with Idun's warrior. But of course, they were so small that was embarrassing to compare them to the achievements made by the great warriors of Valhalla, although it was because they were the ones being compared.
The warriors of King Ivar that had accompanied Helga were proud of the achievements set by their princess. Helga couldn't say it in front of others, but she was waiting for the day she could boast of her achievements in front of the warrior of Idun.
It was regrettable that she couldn't enter Valhalla, but she had won and was returning with her loved ones. She also had her siblings to boast about her achievements.
However, Helga placed all of that in a corner of her heart. It was because something more urgent and important was happening in front of them.
Giants appeared in the mountains and rivers.
The evil spirits that were born from Ymir's blood climbed up from under the ground and attacked the villages and cities.
It wasn't something that was happening in one place but in all the region. Someone had even said that Ragnarok had started.
What would have happened with her hometown, Kataron? Was her father, King Ivar, safe?
Helga thought of the faces of her siblings and the citizens and then gritted her teeth and kicked her horse.
She had to hurry.
-
Siri and Bracky followed Ingrid. The three people that departed from the wooden dock went for one of the rooms located in the middle hall of Valhalla.
The sound of a horn trumpet was heard by the three people that were running hurriedly. One was heard from inside of Valhalla, and the other one was heard from outside.
Siri and Bracky knew instinctively what the two sounds meant.
Ingrid gulped the silence at the fact that the things she had heard from her senior Valkyries was happening once again right now.
The sound that was heard from outside was certainly the sound of the trumpet of war, Gjallarhorn.
Gjallarhorn was a really special horn trumpet. The sound of it had rang out once throughout the long history of Valhalla.
And it could only be like that. Because Gjallarhorn wasn't simply a horn trumpet that notified of an urgent situation.
Mobilizing all the forces of Valhalla.
Starting from the lowest-ranked warriors to the top rank and even the oldest Steel Warriors that had been slumbering for a long time all without exception.
The fuss at their surroundings became amplified. The sounds of chains were heard endlessly at a far away place, and toothed wheels clashed with each other and made a machine-like sound.
The door was opening.
The 540 gates that were covering Valhalla in a circle, those located at the walls.
Ingrid, who had stopped for a moment, urged Siri and Bracky on once more. It wasn't the time to be absentminded.
"Let's go. We have to hurry."
Siri didn't ask where they were going to, and Bracky realized instinctively why he had also gotten called with Siri when he belonged to another legion.
There were already people that had arrived on the path that connected to Heimdall's fortress. They were faces that Siri and Bracky already knew well.
Notung, the warrior of Heimdall's legion.
Harabal, the warrior of Njord's legion.
But there weren't only the two of them. All the intermediate-ranked warriors that had been in the expedition of Midgard were gathered.
"We will hurriedly go to Midgard."
Ingrid said.
The warriors of Valhalla didn't speak anymore and followed her.
The sound of Gjallarhorn was approaching.
-
Freya, who was riding on the cat carriage, was a mess. She was wearing a pijama that revealed underneath as she had just woken up after hearing the sound of the horn trumpet. She couldn't fix her plentiful and pretty hair and it flowed down her shoulders instead.
But of course, she was still the Goddess of Beauty. She was emitting a different charm as it wasn't her usual self.
But it wasn't the time to be minding about that.
Freya covered herself roughly with the black coat a Valkyrie brought her and then hit the air with a whip made with the skin of a sea serpent. The cats became surprised at that sound and started to run in the air.
'Ugh, really.'
Freya bit her lips. She did expect that something would happen, but for Gjallarhorn to be the one to ring....
In addition, Odin was also another case. There was no way for him, the God of Magic and Prophecy, to not have seen anything coming.
'He should have told me something!'
He is always stuck in the lake of Mimir!
But of course, Freya herself knew that venting her anger was useless as Odin also wasn't omniscient.
The thread of fate made by the three sisters and the result the head of Mimir came up after calculating countless variables wasn't absolute.
The Gods of Asgard were like that.
They were called as Gods but weren't absolute. They were existences that couldn't maintain eternal life without the golden apple of Idun.
Mortal instead of immortal.
Incomplete instead of complete.
That's why they could only fear the future. They could live on fierce lives like the existences in Midgard.
Freya shook her head. Thinking about useless things on urgent situations was one of her old weaknesses.
She took a deep breath and then rolled her fingers. She obtained information through the several magical networks she had spread in Asgard.
"It's an utter mess."
She cursed out unconsciously.
The battle in the front lines still hadn't started, but it was like a kettle that was about to overflow.
Giants and evil spirits were appearing in Midgard. In addition, their number was overwhelming.
'Damn it. It's full of holes just like a torn rag. Just who the hell made it!'
Freya cursed the Great Barrier of Midgard for a moment and then had a moment of self criticism and rolled her fingers again.
It was certain that a bunch of Garmr's soul fragments had appeared in the front lines, and it was seen that a few of them also appeared in Midgard.
'World wolf.'
Freya bit her lips. She called out the nickname of the existence that was uneasy and scary to say out loud.
She pondered. She used her intelligent head to think about what she should do from now on.
She had to first meet Odin.
Freya was the landlady of Asgard. The conversation she was to have with Odin wasn't about how they would fight in the front lines.
'Midgard.'
They had to stop the resurrection of the world wolf. They had to dispatch warriors to Midgard and retrieve all of the soul fragments.
'Loki.'
It would probably be his doing. She didn't know how the soul fragments appeared in Midgard at the same time, but she could understand the giants that appeared right after that.
It was clearly Loki. He had certainly made a hole in the Great Barrier which he and Odin had made.
Freya turned her head. The representative Valkyrie of Freya's legion, Aherid, who was riding on the cat carriage with her, noticed the eyes of her master and hurriedly faced her.
"Up to where did the commander of Idun get?"
Freya was usually gentle and kind to the people below her, but her voice right now was sharp because of the situation.
Aherid hurriedly said,
"He's vigorously flying over here with a coffin of Vanaheim."
It wasn't easy to use communication magic because of the sea of Ymir that was between Vanaheim and Asgard, but this was an emergency situation.
They had already transmitted to him the situation's urgency with a really strong magic. As the sound of Gjallarhorn transcended time and space, Vanaheim would also act without pause.
He would come flying.
Freya nodded as she knew what that meant. It wouldn't take too long then.
"Let's meet the King for now."
She talked to himself as if trying to calm herself down and then hit the air with the whip once again. The cats increased their speed.
-
Hildegarde remained in Vanaheim.
And that was the same for the legion of Freya that had come with her.
The only one that was allowed to move with Idun's commander was Adenmaha, a Valkyrie of Idun's legion.
Hildegarde breathed roughly after hearing the sound of Gjallarhorn. Skuld, who'd arrived almost at the same time as the emergency notice, looked up the sky next to her.
A black thing was crossing the sky.
The thing that departed from Vanaheim was like a thread of a Black Flash.
'Let him reach in time.'
Skuld prayed inwardly, and Hildegarde and the warriors of Freya's legion did the same.
And high in the sky, where the hopes of everyone reached, Adenmaha was letting out a scream.
"Kyaaaaaaak!"
'Don't you think her scream is mixed with happiness?'
Because both Tae Ho and Adenmaha were packed in a coffin meant for only one person.
However, Cuchulainn was wrong this time. Adenmaha was sincerely crying and screaming. Tears flowed down from her white face that had become pale because of the fright.
Tae Ho embraced her tightly so that she could calm down and perhaps, a part of her scream was because it hurt.
However, Tae Ho didn't plan on letting go of Adenmaha. No, precisely speaking he couldn't even think.
Because it was too fast.
It was a pain that they felt like they would die because of the increase in gravity, but a vague feeling was sweeping up his body that couldn't be explained by words.
The thing Tae Ho and Adenmaha were riding on was a prototype of the Black Flash.
It was faster than the Black Flash made after that, but it didn't take into account the comfortability of the passenger even by a little and was a test prototype that made one doubt if it really was made for a person.
Tae Ho put more strength in his arms and yelled unconsciously.
"M-my lower body feels weiiiiiiiiiird!"
The scream of despair he had once heard from a warrior.
The prototype of the Black Flash crossed the sea of Ymir.
< Episode 35 - Great War (1) > End
TL note: Thanks for reading~