Episode 132: Great Ruins (1)
“Did you know I was coming?”
Hella, who was sitting by the window, opened her mouth.
Jaehyun nodded his head with a small smile.
“of course.”
In fact, Jaehyun already knew that Hela would come looking for him.
‘That enormous clash of magical powers I felt a while ago. A being with such power would at least not be a human.
Hella and Hugin. Or it would be more correct to see it as a confrontation between Hella and the other Aesir gods.’
a few days ago. Jaehyun felt a wave of powerful magic from the center of the closed city of Daegu.
It was almost the same level of disturbing magic that I felt during the battle between Hela and Hugin the other day.
It was hardly thought to be human.
Hella nodded as if she noticed.
“It looks like you felt a clash of magical powers.”
“Why did you come to see me?”
Jaehyun went straight to the main point.
According to Hella’s words in the past, Jaehyun is still too weak to take the second trial. I thought it would be a while before I met her again.
Why did she suddenly appear?
Hela immediately came down from the window and polymorphed into human form. The steam containing her magical power dyed the surroundings black, and then formed a human form.
Still young, the face of a girl who resembles Hel is revealed after taking off her veil.
“We must take the second trial as soon as possible.”
Jaehyun had no choice but to ponder for a moment at Hella’s incoherent declaration.
Until recently, she had told Jaehyun that she had no qualifications. Why did she suddenly change her words?
Jaehyun cautiously opened his lips.
“You said it before. The second trial is still too early for me.”
Raise your head and make eye contact. Jaehyun spoke in a clear tone.
“Is there a reason you changed your mind?”
At Jaehyun’s words, Hella nodded slightly and replied.
“That’s right. You must have felt it already. That an immortal with great magic has descended to this land.
The schedule has changed. I can’t delay any longer. Odin has started to move.”
“Please explain in detail.”
“Everything around you will be destroyed.”
There was a faint light in Hella’s eyes as she spoke resolutely.
The subtle eyes of two colors spread a strange sense of intimidation.
Hella was biting her lip.
“Even the person next to you… … I mean everything.”
Shockingly, my body trembles. Jaehyun’s eyebrows are twisted, and a clear anger rises.
‘Everything… … Destroyed?’
a day ago. It was only a day before that I saw her mother’s warm smile.
Few days had passed since I felt happiness with my friends by my side.
however.
Odin tries to take everything away from himself again.
As if he had already ruined his life once before returning.
Jaehyun looked at Hella with empty eyes, and Hella was silent.
In the middle of a moment of discomfort, Hella spoke again.
“Heimdall has manifested in Midgard. He’s after you.”
“If it’s Heimdall… … Are you referring to the Gatekeeper of Asgard? The god said to carry a huge horn and live in Bibrost, the rainbow bridge?”
“you’re right. Incidentally, he has a special power to foresee the near future. He is a dangerous foe.”
Hella’s words landed heavily on Jaehyun’s chest.
Jaehyun thought as he licked his lips.
‘Know. That someday you will have to fight the Æsir. but… … It’s too dangerous now. I am still too weak.’
He knows better than anyone that he has grown rapidly recently.
but. It was absurd to deal with Asgard’s immortals with that much power.
‘Now I can’t even defeat Fugin by myself.’
Jaehyun couldn’t help but admit it.
The person he believed to be his father. Hugin.
Even Odin’s raven, Jaehyun couldn’t face it alone.
Even more so, the Aesir god would be several times stronger than that.
Equipped with a complete divinity, their power is truly unfathomable.
Jaehyun now could be crushed with just one gesture.
‘You need to increase your strength. To that end, Hella’s countermeasure was the second trial.’
Jaehyun, who was lost in thought for a moment, clasped his hands and let go.
“The second trial.”
He raised his head and met Hella’s eyes again. An immeasurably deep sadness sinks in her two eyes of different colors.
Jaehyun contemplated this and asked in the most calm voice.
“If you pass that, will you have the strength to face Heimdall?”
Hella shook her head with an exasperated expression.
“It is not. In order to destroy the throne of Aesir, you must clear at least three trials.
Because God’s status is more difficult to handle than imagined. but.”
Hella paused for a moment, then tightened her neck and stood up again.
“All gods can only use 30% of their power in the other 8 worlds other than their own. Same goes for Heimdall.”
30?
It was only then that Jaehyun nodded as if he understood.
“Now I get it. If you clear the second trial, you mean it won’t be impossible to deal with Heimdall, who has limited power, right?”
“you’re right. What’s more, in order for the gods to manifest on the ground, a huge amount of divine power is consumed. It won’t last long either.”
Jaehyun let out a sigh of relief.
‘It’s fortunate that the gods are limited by their power here.’
But not all questions were answered.
Heimdall. Why did he directly manifest in Midgard?
After all, they cannot kill themselves because of the power of prophecy.
Obviously, it is.
Hella added, as if noticing.
“I said it before. The throne of Aesir intends to destroy everything around you.
Heimdall just wants to destroy you. They want to destroy the things they hold dear, so that nothing remains. Because the human heart is much weaker than you think.”
“… … So you’re trying to kill the people around me?”
“The Æsir throne has done many things worse than that.”
There was no hesitation in Hella’s words.
Jaehyun had to clear his mind.
The current situation is difficult to accept hastily, but there is no other way. At this rate, his family and colleagues would be attacked by them.
‘We need to calmly grasp the situation.’
As Jaehyun thought about it, he couldn’t stand the disgust that welled up in his heart.
The Æsir gods were thinking of holding a third-rate movie hostage now.
Holding family and colleagues hostage and preventing him from gaining greater power.
It is the thought of killing him in the end.
‘There’s no way I can accept that.’
Jaehyun smiled and got up from his seat.
All decisions had already been made.
“What is the content of the second ordeal?”
Hearing Jaehyun’s words without hesitation raised Hella’s eyebrows subtly.
She lightly bit her lip.
‘this child… … After all, it is different from other humans.’
It was charming.
In Hella’s opinion, Jaehyun had a special feature different from other humans.
Unusual speed of judgment and decisiveness.
Every action was a mysterious boy.
Hella did not reveal her true intentions.
“To take the second trial, you must head to the ruins.”
“… … ruins?”
Jaehyun tilted his head. Hella added quickly.
“You have to clear the ‘Trial of the Giant’ there.”
at the same time. A message floated in Jaehyun’s ear along with a refreshing voice.
[Main Quest]
Hrungnir’s Trial
Hrungnir, the leader of Jotunheim, presents you with an ordeal.
Pass the three Wisdom Trials and clear the trials.
Difficulty: S+
Reward: Hrungnir’s Gift
Time remaining: –
Failure penalty: –
* * *
ruins.
Mysterious burial mounds have suddenly risen all over the world. Unidentified artifacts can be excavated, which encourages many raiders to challenge, but it is also a place that becomes the grave of many awakened people every year.
‘They said that the previously unidentified items obtained from the magic engineering shopping district and Mistiltein were all excavated from the ruins.
Could the ruins have something to do with the circumstances of the gods?’
Hela said that in order to undergo the second ordeal, we must head to the ruins.
Given the circumstances, it would be correct to assume that there is a close relationship between the ruins and the two powers.
“Ruins and giants… … What kind of contact is there between the two?”
At Jaehyun’s words, Hella put her hands together and put them on her knees.
“Perhaps you have thought about it at least once. Who and for what purpose made the ruins that exist around the world? I do.”
“… … The entity that created the ruins?”
“That’s right.”
At Hella’s words, Jaehyun’s forehead wrinkled.
After a while. Jaehyun’s mouth opened, and a sigh of astonishment leaked out slowly.
“no way… … !”
“you’re right. All the ruins that mankind has conquered so far have been left by giants.
It is a legacy left for mankind in preparation for the second Ragnarok.”
Hella added with a light smile.
“A feature that can only be found in ruins-type dungeons. Do you know?”
“… … puzzle.”
After thinking for a moment, Jaehyun raised his head and answered.
I’m starting to understand little by little now.
A puzzle dungeon.
guessing, riddles, etc. It is a dungeon that prepares various puzzles and gives special artifacts to those who clear them.
It is a type of special dungeon and is similar to a themed dungeon, but it has a big difference in that you are not immersed in the character.
It is one of the dungeons with a low clear rate because the dungeon difficulty is quite high.
Together.
One of the biggest features of this dungeon was that it could only be found in the ruins.
This was a part that scholars who study the occurrence of dungeons could not easily come to a conclusion.
‘If, as Hella said, the giant made a ruin-type dungeon… … I can understand why there are so many puzzle-type dungeons only in ruins.’
Childhood. In the fairy tales her mother told her, the giant was always portrayed as a wise being.
The races that troubled Thor and troubled the Aesir gods.
“Certainly, if the giants are described as wise in mythology, it sounds credible that they made a puzzle-type dungeon.”
When Jaehyun crossed his arms and said, Hella elaborated.
“The giants lost their home, Jotunheim, to Odin in the First War. In order to regain it, the anti-Aesir coalition forces must win in the second war.
Because of this, they created ruins. They intended to equip the weakest of humans with their weapons so that they could put a blunt point on Odin.”
“I know. If Jotunheim had been destroyed, even as giants there would have been no other choice but to rely on humans.”
Jaehyun nodded. But there were still parts that I didn’t understand.
“But why did you use the cumbersome method of puzzles? If it’s simply to share power, it’s probably just a matter of sharing artifacts.”
“The giants did not want unwise humans to have their artifacts. Fools are bound to make mistakes and, in the end, make poor judgments.”
“To put it simply, the reason the giants made the ruins and installed the puzzles is to select suitable humans… … What are you saying?”
Hella nodded.
“That’s right.”
Jaehyun thought he was acting like a wise giant.
After a while. Jaehyun, who was worried, opened his mouth again and asked.
“Where are the ruins where I have to undergo the ordeal?”
Hella smiled incomprehensibly at those words.
“It comes just in time.”
The place where her gaze stayed was where the TV was in Jaehyun’s room.
Jaehyun’s expression hardened as he moved his gaze to the TV screen.
A news was playing on the TV.
[…] … Breaking news. Unfortunately, the news is that the 11th raid on the Great Ruins has failed.]
[It was a much-anticipated attack with the European Union’s Ballack directly participating, but this time also failed without clearing the first gateway called ‘credentials’… … .]
[The association’s position is that we cannot be confident of success in the next attack… … .]
Jaehyun, who heard the voice flowing through the screen, immediately shook his head.
‘A great ruin. One of the largest ruins in the world. Certainly, it wouldn’t be strange if the second trial was prepared there.’
There is only one great ruin in the world, and it is located in Iceland.
Iceland is one of the lands of Norse mythology.
The front and rear are definitely aligned.
Jaehyun thinks
Just in time, Hella confirmed the kill and smiled.
“To attack the great ruins of Iceland. That is the second ordeal.”
