Hunting in Niflheim

"Jotuns. Aren't they giants?" Tsufaame looked around. They were in one of the realms connected to the Norse. One of the nine realms of Yggdrasil, it was a place of perpetual frost.

"Indeed, we are here to cull Frost Giants. One of my most common jobs instructed by Odin is to cull their population.

In essence, they can't be killed, but I can destroy their physical bodies over time; they will regenerate." Ullr said as they were rushing through icy wastelands.

"Hmm…"

'If this is like that, then—'

"I assume it's because of the nature of this realm? These ice giants don't have self-awareness until some time passes?"

"Hoho, you catch on quick. Precisely, certain giants develop self-awareness and then personalities. Eventually, they become gods.

That is why we are culling them. If one develops to a certain point, massive armies of them could gather, and another Ragnarok could start."

"The infamous perpetual war of Norse. How peculiar." Raynor commented as he recalled Norse myths cycles.

"Indeed. Now, we are approaching the area.

However, I do warn you that there are some fully developed Jotuns. But since you captured Serafall Leviathan, you should be fine."

Ullr casually told that, which made Raynor's smile twitch. It appears that deed is already well known in Supernatural circles.

"And what kind of Jotuns are we talking about?"

"Well, last time I had a skirmish with Skadi," Ullr explained as the pair stopped at one of the icy ledges and looked down. What they saw were tall blue, blue-skinned men walking around aimlessly.

'This place gives me Bleach vibes…'

Raynor realised that this place was like Hueco Mundo of Bleach. Instead of soul eaters, they have wild frost elements.

"This is a new batch which Niflheim created," Ullr said while he pulled out his bow.

"Are you ready? Impress me, Raynor Valeron, and I will give a good word to my father about you. Having Gods as friends could be helpful to you."

"Does that include hunts like these?"

"Hahaha! That much is given. You should join us on one of the grand hunts!"

'Well, they are Vikings. Parties, wars, and hunts. I can get behind those.'

"Very well, then challenge accepted God Ullr!" Raynor summoned his bow and arrows.

The God of Hunt looked at his weapons with a surprised look.

'This kid is hardcore. Those weapons, if by accident he cut himself, he could potentially damage his soul!'

The Norse God noticed that those daggers and arrows were blood rituals. While powerful, it's a highway which goes both ways.

Raynor is not immune to any of that. Someone could easily pick a weapon of his and use it on him effectively. Well, the weapons look like they are soul-bound, but those sharp edges don't discriminate.

Seconds later, ritual arrows started to fly towards Jotuns. Upon impact, they exploded, causing a massive explosion.

"You using souls as bombs? Damn, you one crazy kid!" Ullr laughed, seeing this as he proceeded to shoot as well.

As they were shooting, they proceeded to descend from the frosted mountain into the snow valley.

The Frost Giants proceeded to rush towards them.

More arrows followed from Raynor, causing more explosions. The explosive arrows were incredibly efficient against the giants.

The explosion itself doesn't do much damage, but what does do the damage is the detonation of the soul in the arrow. Since Frost Giants are like newborn babies soul-wise, the explosion causes the soul, which holds the body to shred into pieces.

As the skiing hunter got close, he dismissed his bow and proceeded to accelerate and then jump into a frost giant with his knives pulled out. He started to 'carve' them.

Stabs followed after. However, he was surprised at how easily they shattered upon stabbing.

Before he even realised they all were dead.

"It would appear we figured out their weaknesses," Ullr said with a pondering look.

"Weapons which damage the soul?"

"Precisely, you might have tipped the balance in our favour." the God of Hunt said with a knowing look.

Who would have thought? But then again, they never considered doing that to souls in the first place. This kid in front of him is as crazy as they get. He is treating life like food.

Like a beast or a predator.

"...Oh, she is here." Ullr then looked away towards a hill.

On top of a hill, overlooking the snow valley, was a woman with long black hair done into a braid. She had icy blue eyes, dressed in white furs.

"Raynor, that's what a frost Jotnar looks like. She is a Goddess. Doesn't look different from us, does she?" The Norse God said with a smile.

"Yeah, and she looks hot, too."

"Ah, modern slang. I suppose the word should be 'cold'."

"Here she comes!"

The Goddess proceeded to shoot arrows at them. Her bow was pure ice, and her arrows were quick and deadly, like frozen glass.

Raynor swiftly proceeded to accelerate towards her to get into close range.

"Be careful, she IS Goddess of Skiing. Her field of expertise is to move in the snow."

'Great. And here I thought she was the Goddess of magic and runes like in FGO!'

As Raynor rose into the hill, he proceeded to fight her in a close range.

"Human, surprise, surprise. You think you can beat me like this?" For a second, she was about to engage in close range but swiftly slid back when she saw his weapons.

"You— I see. That is dangerous."

After confirming the nature of his weapons, she released ice arrows at him.

Raynor slammed his leg down, and ice rose to block the shots.

One of Skadi's eyebrows went up as she just saw water manipulation in the flesh.

'In that case.'

She jumped into the air and released arrows where she sensed Raynor should be.

But there was no one there!

'What the—!'

Instinctually, she pulled her head back as the knife passed a few metres from her face. She then kicked him away and made some distance.

With a flip, the pair landed on the snow.

"Not bad. You were able to cut me." Skadi said that as she looked at her cut sleeve. There was some blood there. It's just a small cut.

"You hit hard," Raynor commented as he held his stomach. This goddess is a compressed giant into a small human form.

That means her casual hits are like getting punched by a giant.

"You are durable for a human."

"Heh, this is only the beginning. I still have a few tricks to play." the Shaman sheathed his knives before making a hand motion. He pulled out a sheathed sword from space.

With a pull, Raynor pulled out his sword from the sheath. The sheath disappeared, and he pointed his left hand at the ghost.

'What is he doing? That sword is a blood ritual of some sort.' Skadi was confused by this human's actions.

The ghost turned into particles and then blurred and formed into a ball in Raynor's hand.

Then he placed the orb in his sword.

At that moment, the Hunter's powers spiked. Skadi's eyes widened for a second as she jumped into the air as she sensed a threat.

A torrent of water shaped like a sea dragon slammed into her previous location.

"You are a shaman! To think your kind still walks on the lands of Earth!"

"Heh, I am glad that such a beautiful woman knows what I am."

With another hand motion, he summoned another sword. This one was strange. It was a wooden hilt with a liquid blade!

However, Skadi felt a chill rushing through her back when she sensed the blade's true nature.

'Fuck! That's a Godslayer! By Ymir, this human came prepared!'

With a right-hand sword, snakes of water surrounded Raynor, erupting him into the air. He then pointed his left sword at Skadi, who was in midair.

The goddess clicked her tongue as she created a pillar of ice, kicking herself away from Raynor's path.

"Not so fast, darling!"

The shaman's Leviathan sword glowed.

A massive sea dragon silhouette appeared behind him. Becoming ghostly, torrents of water rose from the snow. Since he was in the realm of ice, in other words, water, Raynor's sword became much more potent in such a situation.

"Serpent of the End!" He pointed the right blade at Skadi, who looked at him wide-eyed.

"How in Ymir's name has your power spiked that much!!?"

The serpent riding a wave slammed into Skadi, sending her flying into the valley.

Raynor landed on the group, feeling that he was out of juice. The fusion finished. At that moment, he paled and collapsed on his knees.

Sweat started to roll down from his forehead.

"Be careful with my power. Utilising that much power from outside damages your body." Tsufaame said to him as she appeared next to him.

"It's not outside power, you dofus. It's my soul energy which manifests your power. The fastest way to train my soul is to do just that."

As he said that, he proceeded to slide where Skadi crash-landed.

"She is gone," Ullr said to him. He watched the whole thing.

"...Bummer. I wanted to capture her." Raynor said with a tired sigh.

"Ha! Are you sure you were not a Viking in your past life? She was trying to kill you, you know, but all you did was bang her up." The God of Hunt said with a joking tone.

"I did try to kill her, but the longer the fight lasted, the more I wanted to bind her to myself," Raynor said with a disappointed tone.

"Hmm, how about this? We stay on this plane. Kill all the Jotuns we can. Skadi will return. But she will be more eager to deal with you. The next round will be even harder." Ullr said with a slight smirk.

Skadi was always a pain in his neck. In a sense, this will be the ultimate challenge for Raynor.

"You are not saying something, Ullr. I can sense that she has been around here for a while."

"She is. We have exchanged arrows for centuries. She is just as good a hunter as I am. You got her by surprise this time, but next time, she will be ready. That is where your real challenge will start.

Oh, and I won't be helping you in capturing her." God of Hunt said the last part with a smile.

"Are you sure you want to deal with that Goddess? She is far stronger than I am."

"He is, and Skadi has a target on your back. She will want revenge for the humiliation she experienced here today." Ullr said with crossed arms.

"It's fine. For now, we need to find a place to camp and hunt some animals."

"Aye. Follow me. I have known several locations where I usually camp."

~~~~~~Skadi~~~~~~

The black-haired Goddess was leaning against the wall as she was breathing heavily.

"Ugh…"

With a groan, Skadi's legs gave in, and she slid to the ground. Her left hand was holding her right-hand shoulder.

"That attack had soul attributes, too. No, it was a pure soul which manifested water as secondary. To think that a human can dish that much damage."

The Goddess said that to herself as she looked at her shaking hand.

"I have no actual wounds, but I feel weak."

After saying that, her eyes narrowed, and a tint of blue glow appeared in those eyes.

"I will get back at you for this defeat!"

For now, she focused her divine energy and started to recuperate.

It will take a while. Soul damage isn't easy for her to heal.

~~~

The pair of hunters and a ghost arrived at a cave.

"So how does this even work? There is no wood. How will we make a fire? What do animals eat in this place?" Raynor asked the God he was travelling with.

"Mana."

That was his answer.

It was weird how Ullr brought several blocks of strange ice and used several runes to make it burn!

The flames were white, and it was warm, but the ice around the source didn't melt.

Whatever he was seeing, normal physics doesn't apply to this place.

"And the food?"

"Skadi is not the only being this place has produced. As you noticed earlier, this is a realm where elementals come to exist. Not everyone becomes a frost giant. A lesser concentration of mana applies as well.

We have frost hounds, frost dragons and other beings. Sometimes, even frost serpents similar to your Leviathan get born." Ullr said while tending to the white fire.

"Nice! Now that is something to look forward to."

"Yes. Now, on another thing." He stopped tending to the fire and looked at Raynor.

"Your arrows. What do you need to make them?" Ullr asked the shaman.

"The explosive ones?" To his question, the Norse God nodded.

"The key is the carvings and a soul. The material can be anything. More preferably wood. But since we are in a plane without wood." The Hunter pondered on this as he then remembered something.

He then recalled how Skadi used literal ice as a bow, arrows and even for skating and skiing.

"Didn't Skadi use ice for everything?"

"She is a Frost Giant. But I see your point. We could use your magic weaving to make those arrows."

As Ullr said that, he lifted his hand, and snow started to gather in his hand, compressing slowly, turning into ice.

"It takes a while for me to make, but I can create ice arrows like this."

Raynor nodded. He used his water manipulation as well. Only for him, it's like using a massive bucket to fill up a teacup.

It was bad.

"Well, this is shit. I suppose using the old carving style will make better arrows."

"Mana weaving. That could work. Besides, I want to see you do it." Ullr motioned for him to start.

"I will do it after eating."

With a hand motion, Raynor started pulling out stuff from his inventory.

The Norse God was surprised to see the shaman pulling out stuff from some sort of storage space.

Minutes later, the cave was like a temporary hunters' lodge with fur carpets and wooden beds.

"...you are prepared. Do you have some sort of hammerspace to keep things stored away?" The Hunter God looked around. He could feel magic weaving everywhere.

If he didn't know any better, he would say this teen has some strange power to make things like that.

"Yes. I do. It helps with travelling."

"No doubt."

~~~~~~Later~~~~~~

After getting his food, Raynor went outside, pulled out his carving knife, and started cutting ice blocks.

It didn't take long for him to confirm his suspicion about this place.

Mana was fermenting the ice and snow and the fog—perfect conditions for the birth of living mana.

First, the shaman cuts in slices the ice before starting to carve the shape and then begins the process of making explosive arrows.

As he was doing that, Ullr was simply watching him.

The hunter knows that one of the reasons the Norse God took him to this place was to figure him out.

It's like a test run before admitting to the guild. Hell, the Norse pantheon is similar to warriors' and hunters' lodges.

"Here." Raynor finished the arrow and handed it over to the Hunter God.

Ullr took it and inspected it from different angles, checking the sharpness and then the runic carvings.

"What interesting form of runic letters? You are using animalistic symbols of old. Who taught you this? These are old. Maybe even older than Norse runes."

"...before this, I was spirited away to another world. I learned it there."

*...I see— but this is intriguing. Do you know that Primordial runes are around a similar age to the ones you use? Our Pantheon lives in cycles. This cycle is around 2 to 4 thousand years old. For a specific date, ask my grandfather.

But what you use is similar, maybe even older. Have you ever seen drawings in caves? From the bronze age and older?"

"...now that you mentioned it." Raynor inspected the carving on his carving tool.

"You are saying that they are similar?"

"No. It's a different type. Your runic carving style focuses on life, and it's a cycle. Your knives tell a tale of impending death. Your carving knife tells a tale of a creation and gives form to it.

While Primordial runes are different, it's language. I would say yours are primal life while Primordial runes are first language."

"...Cool…"

Raynor didn't expect to get a history lesson on his carving gut feeling.

"Strange, isn't it? What you carve is not actual letters. But a gut feeling. To do what you do, you synchronise your body and mind to the very nature. Once you achieve that, you allow it to flow and give form to what you want.

What you do is closely related to the Gods of Nature. I suppose it's the only reason you could tank that kick from Skadi. That kick could have killed an elephant."

"...Yeah, well, my armour tanked most of it."

"No doubt, but be careful of close encounters with giants. They are mighty. There is a reason why I am the one who engages them in this place. I take them down from range. At close range, a punch from one is like receiving a slap from an iceberg."

"I doubt he cares. It only makes him more excited with the prospect of a hunt." Tsufaame, who was lazily listening to this, commented offhandedly.

"Hahaha! Don't worry. You will end up in Valhalla when you die. That much is certain!"

"Hahaha! Fantastic! That's what I wanted to hear! Endless fighting and hunting!"

"Indeed!"

The pair laughed some more while Tsufaame just groaned. Seeing this, it appeared she ended up with a handful person. At first, she thought he was mad and crazy from blood and soul magic, but it was worse in a different kind of way!

'Men!'

~~~

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