Episode 141: Hrungnir’s Memories (2)
“Don’t try to judge your worth so easily.
It is only you who determines your worth.”
Hrungnir’s horse. It must have been heard somewhere.
Jaehyun recalled what he had just said during the battle with Smir.
[I decide the value of my actions.]
I just realized
Then why was Smir so surprised by his words?
“Why did Smir open up to you? I get it now.”
Hella curled her tail and looked at Jaehyun.
“It must be because it reminded me of my father’s words that I had forgotten.”
“I think so too.”
Jaehyun nodded.
Perhaps Smir had forgotten his father’s words due to some incident.
over the past 10,000 years. He erased Hrungnir’s worn words from his mind.
That’s probably why he was so shaken when Jaehyun reminded him of his father’s will.
“father… … !”
Meanwhile, when young Smir looked up at his father with a moved expression.
bang! bang! bang!
Suddenly there was a knock on the door from outside.
An urgent cry followed.
“Hrungnir! Big deal! It is an attack by Thor and the Aesir gods!”
“Thor… … ! Got it! I’ll be right there!”
Hrungnir hurriedly stood up, holding the whetstone hanging on the wall in his hand.
It was a weapon that he usually used when fighting enemies.
Hrungnir knelt down and made eye contact with his son for a moment.
“Smir. Don’t go.”
“But Father, it is too dangerous! Thor’s hammer to the giants… … !”
“I cannot let my own people die.”
a heavy horse.
With that said, Hrungnir went outside before he knew it.
Soon after, the conversation between the two giant soldiers outside and Hrungnir began to be heard.
“What about the military? How many are left?”
“Only twenty survived. My brother has already… … .”
“Calm down and believe in yourself. I can block it enough.”
Hrungnir encouraged the soldier who had lost the will to fight.
However, another soldier with a gloomy expression next to him opened his mouth.
“but… … If this continues, all giants may die.
Furthermore, news is coming that Odin and his followers are preparing for the ‘Apocalypse’ war. I’d rather surrender… … .”
“It might be easier if you surrender.”
Hrungnir put strength into the whetstone in his hand.
“However, you cannot change anything by doing that. Have you forgotten the purpose of Asgard, including Odin and Thor? They want to have all of Jotunheim in their hands, as well as all the Nine Realms at their feet. We must fight now.
After losing the noble value, even if you live, you will not live.”
However, despite Hrungnir’s words, the soldier remained silent with his head bowed.
Hrungnir put on a pitiful expression and added calmly.
“Don’t worry. I, Hrungnir, will protect my people no matter what.”
Smir, who was looking at his father’s growing back from afar, turned his head.
The time when Jaehyun was about to move after Hrungnir.
A sudden message rang in my ears.
―You have finished playing the first memory.
―Replay Hrungnir’s second memory.
* * *
Shaaaaa… … !
After all playback of the first memory has ended.
The place where Jaehyun and Hella arrived was familiar, but it was a different place.
city of giants.
It was near Hrungnir’s house a while ago.
‘But something is different. I feel a sense of incongruity.’
Sabak-.
Jaehyun walked briskly forward, stepping on the deep snow beneath his feet.
The more slowly he took his steps, the more Jaehyun could understand the identity of the sense of incongruity he felt.
The neighborhood they passed through was already in ruins due to the war.
There are no solid buildings. A truly miserable landscape.
The corpses of giants lined up on the streets were also about to be hit by their feet.
‘Bodies all show signs of bruises. It’s a massacre during the war.’
Jaehyun licked his lips and looked around.
“It’s already after Ragnarok happened.”
“That’s right. It is the situation right before signing the treaty after the war.”
Hella nodded her head with a heavy expression. Judging by the slightly pensive tone of her voice, she too seemed perplexed to look at the scene again.
It was a natural reaction. The horrors of war leave deep scars on everyone.
Jaehyun doesn’t ask anymore and walks down the street.
“… … !!”
Suddenly, a voice came from somewhere.
Jaehyun turned his gaze to the direction where the sound came from.
‘It feels strange. Something is going on.’
Jaehyun immediately started running. All the while, the sound didn’t stop.
Soon after arriving at the source, Jaehyun’s forehead twisted.
“What is this… … !”
A landscape that is indescribable.
What unfolded at the place we arrived was truly unbelievably brutal.
Numerous corpses of already dead giants and bloody Smir.
The exhausted figure of Hrungnir is seen on one knee, powerless.
Jaehyun’s expression hardened more than ever.
“This is one of the many things the Æsir throne has done to the anti-Æsir forces.”
Hella’s voice from the side.
Jaehyun couldn’t help but clenched his fist.
The fate of one world and giants. Was it so easily destroyed in just one war?
It was absolutely unbelievable.
However, that wasn’t all that made Jaehyun angry.
A man with a sullen expression stepping on the corpse of a dead female giant.
Jaehyun quickly figured out the identity of Aesir’s evil god who slaughtered the giant in the war.
A hammer that kills giants. Thunder God carrying Mjolnir.
Thor.
Jaehyun’s murderous gaze was directed at him.
* * *
Thor.
There are probably few people in the world who do not know this name.
Thunder God Thor. Son of Odin, legendary god with Mjolnir.
There is a person who is described as being close to the actual protagonist of Norse mythology beyond the twisted memory.
Jaehyun was lost in thought for a moment as he looked at the god scattering the sense of intimidation in front of him.
‘strong. Incredibly… … .’
His current self was so overwhelming that he couldn’t even compete with him.
difference in class. The difference between basic strength and horsepower was too great.
In the first place, Thor, who exists in memory, is in a situation where he can use all his full power.
Even if Jaehyun’s skills reached S-class, he was strong enough to be crushed in an instant.
“how… … How far do you have to work to become as strong as me?”
Jaehyun’s difficult question. However, Hella had no answer.
Just a reminder of one unshakable fact.
“Take all five trials. All of them will guide you on the right path and eventually make you a god slayer so you can kill Odin.”
The answer on the plate. Jaehyun couldn’t believe it.
main quest. the path of the slayer.
Will I be able to defeat the monster in front of me by doing that?
That time when Jaehyun’s worries continued. Suddenly, Thor’s lips opened.
A voice full of levity and bitterness.
“haha. After all, giants are stupid. If you had surrendered earlier, wouldn’t you have gone this far?”
“shut up! my mother… … Save her mother!”
Smir cried out, bleeding profusely.
Jaehyun’s eyes narrowed.
At the cry of young Smir, Jaehyun’s gaze immediately turned to Hela.
“Certainly, the giant called Smir’s mother… … .”
Eyes demanding an explanation. Hella parted her lips as if she couldn’t help it.
“you’re right. The woman Thor is stepping on is the wife of Hrungnir.”
Jaehyun stopped breathing for a moment. Distant pain that comes like a flood.
‘Why are the anti-Aesir forces trying to stop Asgard? Now I understand.’
He also has vivid memories of losing his mother.
still. It is painful to think of that day, and every day is painful.
However, even he did not witness his mother’s death right in front of his eyes.
However, Smir was different.
He lost his mother right in front of his eyes and eventually lost Hrungnir as well.
‘It’s disgusting.’
I was genuinely angry.
Do you want to get your hands on the Nine Worlds like this?
Why is Odin so obsessed with it?
However, Jaehyun was still too weak to answer the question.
Because he is weak, he cannot stand face to face and cannot ask.
‘At first I thought Before the regression, why did I have to go through this pain? Why do I always have to suffer from such a terrible fate?’
But the reality was different.
There were more people than I thought who had gone through the same pain as myself.
Dying by the greed of Odin and the Aesir gods, losing loved ones.
In the end, there will be countless people who even lost themselves.
“This is the end of the war. It is Ragnarok.”
Aloof, yet sharp-edged, Hella’s words.
However, Thor did not pay attention to Smir’s howls.
“Little giant. Why is it my fault that your mother died? It’s funny, it’s nonsense. blame your father If he had fought a duel with me long ago, your mother and many of my own people would have been able to live.
everything is yours It’s Hrungnir’s fault.”
“no! that… … !”
Smir’s parted words were unfinished.
Whole body covered in blood. It was because the body was reaching its limit.
He collapsed and his upper body, which was barely holding up, bent over, and his chest touched the floor.
Hrungnir, who had been watching it, finally. he hung his head.
“Thor… … Are you really going to save all the rest of your people if you just fight me?”
“of course.”
Thor responded immediately as if he had been waiting. he chuckled and added.
“I swear in the name of God. If you agree to fight with me, I will not kill any more giants. Of course, Jotunheim will have to be handed over to Asgard.”
Hrungnir closed his lips at Thor’s words and looked around.
Numerous corpses of giants are piled up nearby.
Your friends, family, and even your wife.
We cannot continue this war any longer.
It did not surrender, but it could no longer sacrifice precious beings.
After a while. Having finally come to a conclusion, Hrungnir parted his lips.
“… … i get it.”
“father!”
Smir shouted with his head on the floor, but Hrungnir had already made up his mind.
Thor said, raising an eyebrow.
“good. Then, sooner or later, I’ll send you a schedule through the soldier. See you then.”
After those words, all of Thor and Aesir’s army disappeared.
Hrungnir hugged his son, who fell helplessly to the floor, and looked at his wife with empty eyes. She did, but she couldn’t cry.
The meaning of fighting Thor was clear.
death.
Hrungnir would inevitably die there.
―You have finished replaying the second memory.
―Replays Hrungnir’s last memory.
* * *
Gyyyy… … .
With the noise of clashing magical powers, Jaehyun and Hella move on to the next memory.
The two arrive in a world with a completely different atmosphere from before.
Jaehyun’s eyes narrowed as he looked around for a moment.
A straight rainbow bridge on the road leading to the sky.
middle earth. Unlike Midgard, it is a world where you can feel the enormous magical energy that exists in the air.
“… … Asgard.”
Those were the words that suddenly came out of Jaehyun’s mouth.
Hella nodded.
“That’s right. This is Asgard. It is a world inhabited by the Aesir gods, whom you must kill, including Odin.”
Asgard.
As Hella said, it was a world inhabited by Odin and Thor, as well as various Ars gods.
That time when Jaehyun ruminated and nodded at the same time.
Suddenly, the scenery changed again.
The following pure white light flickers the vision. Soon they arrived at a stadium resembling a gigantic Colosseum. Hundreds of circular windows pour out light in a dizzying way.
Jae-hyun is standing in front of a long aisle where players pass by, not in the audience seats.
The familiar voices of the two giants came from there. Jaehyun listened involuntarily.
“father… … do you really have to go? You know. That’s a trap! Thor only wants to instill fear in the giants by killing his father!”
Smir’s furious voice. Jaehyun held his breath and focused on the ensuing conversation.
said Hrungnir, admonishing his son.
“Know. Smir. But now I have to go.”
“… … why!”
Smir couldn’t convince Hrungnir in the end.
He was in tears.
“Why are you doing this? why! I already lost my mother too. There is only one father left in the family! But why!”
“Smir. Do you remember what I said earlier?”
Hrungnir placed both hands on Smir’s shoulders and continued.
“You can do well without me. Don’t worry too much.”
“but… … .”
The ends of Smir’s sleeves were burnt black. Even the vision was unclear, and I couldn’t see what was ahead.
Should I lose my mother and then my father as well?
Am I really going to be left alone?
Unfortunately, however, the father’s subsequent words were different from what he expected.
“The opponent of the prophecy will come to you someday.”
“Prophecy… … Adversary?”
“He will liberate all races, including us giants, from the Ars gods. Smir. I have a favor to ask of you.
The ruins I left for him… … keep it Give him strength.”
That was my last goodbye.
With those words, Hrungnir left Smir behind and stepped out into the arena.
The hot shouts from the audience and the primary color criticism pouring towards himself.
Hrungnir murmured softly.
“O antagonist of the prophecy. I know you will be looking at this memory now.
my child… … Help Smir.”
