Episode 37/Chapter 2: The one that conquers (2)

TL: Tsubak

ED: Julsmul

"What, did I say something wrong? It's important."

"What is?! It's the same anyways!"

Tae Ho talked back strongly as Cuchulainn spoke with a casual face.

Whatever the case, he wasn't lying.

The number of draconic races Tae Ho had suppressed with the 'One that Controls Dragons' were few, but most of them were male.

The demon he first captured in the mine of the dwarves, the wyvern he handled in the Black Fortress, Rolo, who he had turned into his underling, and McLaren, who got to accompany him in Nidavelir.

"What, all of them were male excluding Adenmaha!"

"Hey, so Siri and Rasgrid aren't female?"

"Well, the two of them fought together with me as comrades, not as beings that were suppressed. It's completely different."

The ability of the 'One that Controls Dragons' didn't only stop at suppressing draconic races. It also had the ability to synchronize one's consciousness with them and share their senses and thoughts.

Cuchulainn revealed eyes stewn with complaints, but he soon grew surprised and said,

"Huk, for most of them to be male.....you, do you.....you didn't look at me with those eyes until now, right? Um.... it's not that I dislike you, but....I'm sorry. I don't think I will be able to respond to your feelings."

Tae Ho was completely lost for words as Cuchulainn apologized with a serious face. He just let out a sigh and called the name of Idun.

"Oh, my Idun."

"It's a joke. A joke. Do you think I don't know of your preferences?"

Cuchulainn laughed as if it was really fun.

It seemed like he'd meant to lighten up the atmosphere, and it had actually grown noticeably livelier, but Tae Ho felt rather pitiful now. For this kind of person to be the Prince of Light, just what kind of place was Erin?

As he was thinking about things that would repulse Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table if they got to know what he was thinking about, the one that was being excluded in the conversation opened his mouth.

"I want to know what you are talking about."

It was Odin. As Tae Ho became embarrassed and didn't know what to say, Cuchulainn spoke in his stead.

"Odin, we were talking about the saga this guy possesses."

"Saga?"

"Yes, it's a saga called 'The One that Controls Dragons'''.

Cuchulainn erased all his playfulness and started to explain details of Tae Ho's saga.

Odin nodded after hearing everything.

"The one that controls dragons....So, it's a saga that can employ resistance towards draconic races?"

"Yes but only...I've never used it on a real dragon."

Tae Ho answered with a dark expression. Part of it was because of Cuchulainn's provocation, but whatever the case, he had never suppressed a real dragon once with 'The One that Controls Dragons'.

The ones that belonged to the draconic race were Adenmaha and McLaren, but both of them were merely serpents, a subspecies of dragon. There was quite a distance between them.

Odin shook his head at Tae Ho's preoccupation.

"There won't be any problems, and perhaps, it may bring out a bigger effect. For the title of the saga to have 'dragon' in it instead of monster or demon means that all of the power of the saga is concentrated on dragons as a species. It's more logical for it to show a stronger effect on a real dragon rather than upon....subspecies like a sea serpent or a rock serpent."

It was the opinion of none other than Odin. Although the saga was a granted power of a world, Asgard, the one that had moulded it and diffused it to the warriors was the King of Gods and the God of magic, Odin.

Actually, no one could disagree with his opinion as the conclusion came from the one that had the most profound knowledge about the saga.

"Indeed....."

Cuchulainn nodded with an admiring expression. it was because he realized that the saga of a title had more meaning than he'd previously thought.

And that was the same for Tae Ho.

'So was it because of that?'

There were two sagas that belonged to Tae Ho that had changed titles.

'The Warrior's Equipment' and 'The One that Controls Dragons'.

The original name of the two sagas were 'Sword of the Warrior' and 'The One that Handles Dragons', respectively.

When it was 'Sword of the Warrior', Tae Ho could only recreate weapons with it, but after it became the 'Warrior's Equipment', Tae Ho was able to also make defensive gear.

It was the same for 'The One That Controls Dragons'. As the one that controls is naturally stronger than the one that handles, the controlling power towards a dragon became stronger.

"The title of a saga isn't created randomly. You could say that the title is a kind of essence that resumes the story behind it."

No cases existed that the title of the saga was different to its effect.

"The more detailed a title is, the more detailed the effects, but instead, its effects get easier to narrow down. Normally, titles that come in the form of a sentence are such cases. On the other hand, if it's an abstract title, even if its immediate effects are vague, if you investigate and develop it more, there's a possibility you may be able to use several abilities at once."

He had heard something similar from Ragnar.

'My saga, 'King of Vikings', or your 'Idun's Warrior' and 'King of Camelot' are titles that are easy to put anywhere. The reason smaller sagas can be added to my 'King of Vikings' and your 'King of Camelot' is also because of that. This is something that may happen in the future, but 'Idun's Warrior' may be able to grow into an independent saga that can have smaller sagas within it.'

Tae Ho nodded.

But Odin opened his only eye sharply while looking at Tae Ho.

'Idun's warrior.'

The warrior that got called to Valhalla even though he belonged to another world.

It was rare, but there were precedents of this. Idun and other Gods thought that it was a coincidence that occurred at times, but Odin and Freya thought differently.

Not a coincidence, but a necessity.

A result of a work that occurred due to the will of something.

'The One that Controls Dragons' was a really strong saga as the user could control dragons, a species that stood at the top rank of predators in any world.

But Tae Ho had had that kind of saga ever since he'd been a lowest-ranked warrior.

'If there were several warriors of Idun.....if there were two or three of them.'

It wasn't something he thought suddenly. He had thought of this since he got to know of Tae Ho's existence.

But it was also a new thought.

Because Odin had made several experiments after he'd gotten word of Tae Ho's existence.

Odin ordered the God of Messages, Hermod, to forcefully bring the pro gamers to Valhalla.

The results were pitiful. He had brought about ten pro-gamers, but not even one of them could create a saga.

The difference between Tae Ho and them was clear.

Tae Ho was a soul that the system of the world, the system which selected the warriors that would enter Valhalla, had accepted, and the rest of them were souls that Odin had brought forcefully.

Odin didn't tell the results of his experiments to anyone.

In the first place, the only ones that knew the general outline of Tae Ho's abilities and birth place were Idun and Freya, but the two of them couldn't even think of forcefully bringing other pro-gamers to Valhalla.

Because one had to first die to enter it.

It was impossible for Idun and Freya to think about taking the lives of people that were living a good life just to test the results of something they weren't certain about. They were too soft to do that.

Odin organized his thoughts.

He concentrated again on the current objective and opened his mouth.

"But our adversary is the black, venomous dragon, Nidhogg. It's an ancient dragon that accompanied the beginning of the World Tree. Even if you have the power of your saga, it won't be that easy."

"But we still have some possibilities. Right, Tae Ho?"

Tae Ho nodded with a bright expression as Cuchulainn spoke energetically. It was rather better to perceive something as positively as possible when they were going to do it anyway.

Odin put on a faint smile.

"How reliable. And the words of Cuchulainn are right. In the first place, I brought out the name of Nidhogg without taking into account the saga Idun's warrior has."

"Is there an excellent plan to suppress it?"

"I don't know if it's excellent, but I have a way. Look at this."

Odin rolled his fingers and drew a rune at Cuchulainn's question, and then, a clear image of a dragon appeared in front of Cuchulainn and Tae Ho.

"The black dragon, Nidhogg.....It has also been a few hundred years since I last saw it, so it may have gotten bigger in that time, but I made this hologram with what I saw the last time."

It was a black and huge dragon.

There were four legs attached to its long, snake-like body and four pair of wings protruding from its back that were each covered with sharp stakes.

The notion that within its skull were sported a strong jaw and sharp teeth that wouldn't fall behind to the world wolf's was heinous enough. The glitter of its eyes resembled fire and made one fall into the essence of fear. The four horns that sprouted from its head seemed capable of piercing the enemy in front of it at any instant.

It's entire body was being covered by green fog, but this wasn't smoke. It was a terrible poison that made even the roots of the World Tree rot.

Cuchulainn gulped after looking at the strong enemy that made him hold his breath by its own and asked,

"How big is it?"

It was normal for dragons to be tens of meters long in the case of Asgard and Erin.

Fafnir, that was one of the most famous evil dragons in Asgard, measured a hundred meters.

But they were talking about Nidhogg. He thought that it may reach two hundred meters as it was an ancient dragon.

He asked while thinking like that.

Odin smiled bitterly at Cuchulainn's question and answered with a calm tone,

"If we used the system in the world Idun's warrior used, from it's head to the tip of its tail, it would amount to a little more than 2 kilometers in length."

Cuchulainn couldn't understand Odin's words instantly. Instead, the one that was shocked was Tae Ho.

Saying that it was more than 2 kilometers long meant that its head alone was a hundred meters in size.

"In-Indeed. It's a size worthy of an ancient dragon."

Cuchulainn understood Odin's words a bit later and spoke the calmest he could, but he couldn't completely hide his trembling. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that it was a moving city if it was 2 kilometers long.

Odin said once again,

"Right. You could say that its size is our chance of victory."

It was a thing that was hard to understand, but Tae Ho nodded and said,

"If we just get on its back...."

"That's right. It won't be able to attack its enemy directly because of its size."

Because for it, Tae Ho's group would merely be like small insects. It wouldn't be excessive to say that they weren't even that visible for the dragon.

"But of course, it's not that there won't be any dangers. You could say that Nidhogg is a city by itself, and there's a probability that there may be small and big demons upon its back. And we also can't ignore the poison emanated from its body, either."

Tae Ho thought of one of the several dungeons he had conquered in Dark Age. One of them was staged on the back of a really huge monster.

Odin moved his fingers once again, and the part of Nidhogg's chest was amplified with a cross-section view appearing.

"The place we will aim for is its heart room that is hidden in the deepest part of its body."

As Nidhogg was insanely massive in scale, the heart room was also tens of meters big.

"Inside the heart room is the real body of the dragon.....you could say that it is its essence. If you suppress that essence, you will be able to control all of Nidhogg. I thought that it would resist to your words after it got suppressed, but the story changes with your saga. You can just control it after suppressing it."

The situation was different to Adenmaha, who had already had an owner and wanted to get away from them.

He would have to suppress it like he did with Rolo and McLaren and then use his saga.

'So I will weaken it and then throw a monster ball.'

Tae Ho understood it in a game-like way and nodded. Cuchulainn, who was next to him, asked again,

"Odin, are you able to move?"

"I will speak honestly. It seems like I won't be able to infiltrate Nidhogg with you. My external injuries are too severe to do that."

There were several holes in the body of Odin. They were all the tooth marks of the World Wolf.

If it was a normal God of Asgard instead of Odin, they would have died on the spot. Actually, it was marvelous enough that they were sharing a conversation like this.

Tae Ho took out a piece of a golden apple Idun had given him, but Odin shook his head. In the first place, Odin also had a golden apple, but regardless of that, the reason his injuries weren't able to heal was because they weren't normal, they had originated from the teeth of the World Wolf.

The World Wolf was Odin's natural enemy. It wasn't excessive to say that it was Odin's end, a creature that was connected with Odin's fate.

Because of that, it wasn't easy to recover from a wound given by it.

"But it's not that I am not able to do anything. I will give strong rune magic and blessings to you."

"Leave it to me."

He couldn't say anything aside of that in this situation, and Tae Ho was really planning to work with all his strength. He had been suppressing it from before, but he was really worried about Heda. The look of Idun sitting down while clenching her chest passed through his head.

"I'm grateful that you speak like that."

Odin answered while forcing a smile and then erased the image of Nidhogg. He waited for the roar that was heard from far away to subside and spoke to Tae Ho.

"Idun's warrior, you should rest for now. It is a bit sensitive because infiltrators appeared, but night will come soon. I think that it will be good to infiltrate it after it goes to sleep."

Although they were in the root of the World Tree that was covered with fog and that seemed like it wouldn't have night and day, the flow of time still existed.

"Idun's warrior, and Prince of Light-"

Odin looked at the two of them once again and spoke when they turned to look at him.

"You don't have to worry too much about Idun and Scathach. This may sound a bit irresponsible, but.....there's still Freya and Heimdall in Asgard. It won't break down that easily. I believe that is the case."

"I also think the same."

Tae Ho answered immediately. It wasn't only Freya that remained. There was also the God of Thunder left.

In addition, Loki would also assist them, so Asgard won't collapse easily just like Odin had said.

"You should rest now. I will wake you up when night comes."

Odin spoke and closed his eyes first. Tae Ho expressed etiquette and then laid down on the place he had previously been unconscious upon.

'Heda.....'

And Idun.

Tae Ho thought of the faces of the two people and closed his eyes. He then fell in a deep sleep like a lie.

And while Odin and Tae Ho were asleep, Cuchulainn, who'd been left alone, frowned and mumbled,

"So is it a male or a female?"

The black dragon, Nidhogg.

Cuchulainn turned to look in the direction the roar was heard from.

< Episode 37 - The one that conquers (2) > End

TL note: Thanks for reading~