Episode 6/Chapter 1: God's precious metal (1)

TL: Tsubak

ED:

"Leave me!"

"Shut up!"

The warrior that got hit in his thigh with an arrow yelled and the warrior next to him pulled on his arm and shouted.

"Hurry up!"

The dwarf that opened the door yelled desperately. And arrows started to pour down again as if his yell was a signal.

"Ugh! I got hit!"

"Run!"

The warriors entered the building one by one. Siri entered the door as fast as a squirrel and then leaned her body on the door's frame and took out the crossbow she had on her back.

"Fire!"

Their objective wasn't to drive back their enemy. It was closer to protecting themselves.

When Siri fired the second arrow, Tae Ho and Rolph rolled together and entered the building. Tae Ho started to breathe as he was holding his breath and then looked beyond the door. The scene of the red letters getting bigger and bigger was horrifying.

"Close the door!"

Siri yelled after firing her fourth arrow. And the warrior that was already on wait closed the door quickly. But it wasn't the time to relax.

"Over here! Enter!"

The dwarf Isaac made a gesture with his hand in a corner of the building. It seemed like there was a secret passage connecting underground that a part of the floor was opened up.

Pababak! Pak! Pak!

The arrows hit the wooden door consecutively. And the similar sound was heard on the roof and the walls as if it was hailing.

"Get in!"

As Siri gave the order, the warriors threw their bodies to the passageway without asking or refuting. Tae Ho threw the furniture near the door instead of running to the passageway immediately to try to buy more time.

"Tae Ho!"

Rolph, that got in first, yelled. And Siri that had stayed until the end pushed Tae Ho's back and the two of them ran towards the passageway.

The passageway that was connected with a ladder instead of stairs was deeper than they thought. Tae Ho and Siri jumped towards it because they didn't have the leisure to climb down the ladder. It seemed to be about 4 meters.

"Ugh!"

"Careful!"

The warriors that had jumped down first groaned and made some space for them. Siri landed swiftly as a squirrel, and Tae Ho landed with a heavy but stable sound.

"Keep going! They will notice it in no time!"

Isaac closed the lid and yelled. He had climbed downstairs quite quickly and urged the warriors. And then, thudding sounds was heard from beyond the lid.

Although the passage wasn't that small, it was quite small for the warriors of Valhalla that easily surpassed 180cm. There were even warriors that reached the ceiling.

The warriors kept going forward when they couldn't see well, and Siri stayed last and waited for Isaac.

"Go! Hurry!"

Isaac yelled towards Siri and then gulped dry saliva and looked up the lid. For the dwarves, that could see on the darkness pretty well, he could see the blades of the axes starting to penetrate the lid.

"Damn it!"

There was no reason. Isaac cursed and then after he told the warriors to keep running he hit the wall.

"Close your ears! I will blow it up!"

Isaac didn't wait for their opinion. Tae Ho closed his eyes immediately, and in that instant, a strong tremor covered the warriors.

Bababababng!

Maybe he had already planned to blow it up, that the explosion only occurred in a small part. The tunnel crumbled and blocked the passageway.

"Cough! Ugh!"

"Kugh."

The warriors coughed and groaned. Siri also coughed a few times as if she was in pain and then yelled.

"Are you okay?! Everyone, call your number! One!"

As Siri started, the other warriors also started to call their numbers.

"Nine!"

Tae Ho yelled in a low voice and shortly and after calming his breath he looked at his surroundings. It seemed that he got a bit more accustomed to the darkness that he could now see the faces of his companions.

"Thirteen!"

The last number was heard. Although several of them didn't have strength in their voices, Siri let out a sigh of relief as there were no casualties.

While the dwarf was looking at the action of the warriors, as the last number was called he approached Siri and said.

"I'm Isaac. Let's go a bit deeper for now. There will be light there and it will be more comfortable to breathe."

They had no reason to refuse. As Siri made an eye gesture, the warriors that were at the front started to go one by one. And after going on from 10 more meters, a wide space appeared just like Isaac had said.

"Oh, Isaac!"

A dwarf that was anxious while looking at the warriors of Valhalla getting out of the tunnel yelled brightly when he saw Isaac. Tae Ho and Siri, that got out last started to look at the room. Although the ceiling was low and there was no furniture, about 20 dwarves were gathered in this place.

'They really are small.'

Although it was more distinctive as the warriors of Valhalla all had big builds, but the dwarves really were small.

'It feels kind of marvelous.'

They were short but their shoulders were broad and their arms were long. Because of that, rather than being similar to middle schoolers they really looked like another species.

'And there are only men here.'

They should all be men as they had grown beards.

While Tae Ho was looking at those dwarves, Siri ordered for treatment of the warriors that were in urgent need of treatment, and then spoke towards Isaac and the dwarves.

"We are warriors of Valhalla. We came because Valkyrie Rasgrid sent us. Just what happened?"

"Our mine got taken."

"By who?"

As Siri asked, Isaac, frowned and then said with a serious expression.

"It happened yesterday at dawn. We were going to eat breakfast and sleep like usual. But there was poison in our food.

"Can't dwarves distinguish poison?"

As one of the warriors asked as if he was talking by himself, Isaac's pointy ears flinched.

"Our olfactory and gustatory senses are indeed sensitive. But it's not to the point that we can distinguish the flavor of a weak poison. And actually, that poison really wasn't much. It just made it hard for you to move, it didn't pose any danger to your life at all."

The dwarves, that had a much stronger body than humans, were resistance towards poison in the first place. They could chew down poisonous mushrooms while laughing.

"But the situation made that poison to be fatal."

Isaac frowned as if he gulped down something bitter and then said towards Siri and the warriors.

"I'm sure you saw them, but the ones that attacked us were our companions. They are poor things that got cursed and transformed into monsters. Do you know about ghouls?"

"I know that they are dead corpses that become monsters. They eat human flesh."

As Siri replied with a stiff expression, Isaac nodded.

"That's right. But what's more terrible is that if we die bitten by them we will also become ghouls. Some of the ones that ate the poison and became weakened got bit by them....And then hell unfolded."

It was enough even if he didn't explain further. Tae Ho, that occasionally played zombie games as a hobby, could easily imagine the scene of the ghouls multiplying.

"Are you the only survivors?"

"Probably."

At Siri's question, Isaac answered with a depressed tone. It seemed like the other dwarves also got depressed that they lowered their heads and their shoulders dropped.

Rolph looked at those dwarves and then asked.

"Isaac, is there another passage? One to use to escape."

"The ones connected outside of the village are already in their hands or we destroyed them to stop them from coming in. And....."

"And?"

"Even if that were possible, we can't escape like this?"

"If you are talking about revenge....."

"That's not it. It's more important than taking revenge."

Isaac interrupted Rolph's words and then said while spreading his shoulders confidently.

"An unt has been discovered in the mines about fifteen days ago."

"Unt!"

"My God!"

The warriors raised their voices and exclaimed in admiration. And then Isaac opened his eyes widely as if he was surprised and then asked.

"Oh, you know about Unts?"

"No, we don't."

"What's that?"

The warriors tilted their heads and Tae Ho was the only one to nod.

'Right, this is how it should be.'

It would be weird if they did know about unts.

Tae Ho's satisfaction was secondary, and Isaac that was dumbfounded for a moment cleared his throat and then started to explain.

"An unt is a really precious metal. It's a thing that's called as the essence of the stars or God's precious metal."

"So it's merely a precious metal?"

As Siri asked shortly, Isaac shook his head bluntly.

"It's not merely that. Right! Mjolnir! The thing that was used when making Mjolnir was an unt! The weapons made with an unt are the strongest and most durable in the world! It's even amazing when amplifying the power of your runes!"

"Ohh!"

At the word of Mjolnir, the warriors reacted immediately. Wasn't that weapon the weapon of the strongest warrior of Asgard, Thor?

Mjolnir, that could call thunderclouds and make explosions of thunder was Asgard's strongest weapon. So if it was a precious metal to make that Mjolnir, you wouldn't be able to judge it as being 'merely' a precious metal.

"It's a mystical material that can only be refined by starlight and moonlight. We must find that metal."

"Can't we find it later?"

"We can't. In the first place, the reason they attacked seems to be because of the unt. The wicked vampire that attacked us is corrupting the holy anvil to steal the unt that is being protected by the holy anvil. If we get the unt taken by them, a weapon like Mjolnir may appear in the enemy's hands."

Siri frowned. She had her doubts, but if what he was saying was true, then the ones that attacked the mines were enemies of Asgard.

If they get the unt taken a weapon like Mjolnir may appear in their hands.

Although the process took a huge jump, they couldn't overlook it. And the warriors that knew of Mjolnir's power had their expressions stiffen.

"And in the first place, if we want to escape, we have to destroy them. Just like I said before, the passageway we just got through was the last one connecting to the outside. The one controlling our brothers that became ghouls is the vampire, so if we kill him our brothers won't be able to move as well. So we will have an opportunity to escape!"

As Isaac yelled with strength again, the dwarves clenched their fists and cheered. Isaac approached Siri that still had a stiffened expression and said.

"We know where he is. If we use the passageways he isn't aware of we will be able to approach him comparatively easier. It was impossible by ourselves, but what is there to fear when the warriors of Valhalla are with us?!"

There was some instigation in his words. Siri closed her eyes once instead of answering immediately and then looked at Tae Ho.

"Tae Ho, what do you think?"

Siri's voice became low. Because of that, Tae Ho didn't get flustered at the sudden question and instead thought about the words Isaac said.

They will attack the boss controlling his minions and open a path to escape.

Although the warriors of Valhalla may be satisfied with just that, that wasn't the case for Tae Ho.

"Isaac, don't you have a bit more information? Things such like the vampire we have to kill and the place he is at."

As Tae Ho asked calmly, it seemed like Isaac also became calmer that he replied in a calmer voice.

"Mmm....First, just like you know the vampire is weak towards sunlight. He's the same as us. And....Rather than using magic, it seems like he fights with his body. He's big and looks like a beast, and in addition, his claws became longer or shorter as he wished. His skin was pale...and he didn't have any hear and had black eyes."

"He's like Stragos."

As Rolph said in a low voice, everyone turned to look at Rolph.

"Rolph, do you know something?"

As Siri asked, Rolph put on an awkward smile.

"I don't know the details....But I do know that he's especially strong even among the ghouls. He has great physical capabilities, and there's poison in his claws and teeth. He's a bit bigger than us...And just like Isaac said he's weak at sunshine."

If he said that he was bigger than even the warriors of Valhalla, it was certain that he would be bigger than 2m.

Rolph glanced at Isaac as if asking if he knew more. Isaac understood the meaning almost immediately and then started to explain again.

"The place he's at is the place the unt is. It's a place that was made long ago to refine the unt. It's also been more than ten years since we use it. Anyways, the holy anvil is in that place. And the place is like this."

Isaac spread a big map on the ground. It was similar to a fortress that the paths were all complicated.

The enemy they had to defeat was Stragos.

And the location was the room that had the unt in it.

Tae Ho listened to the given conditions once again and then raised his head. It was because he had thought of something.

"Isaac, will this be possible?"

Tae Ho started to speak.

< Episode 6 - God's precious metal (1) > End

TL note: Thanks for reading~