Episode 321: The Golden Labyrinth (1)
[You have reached the first floor of the Yggdrasil Spiral Tower.]
[Every time the tower is successfully attacked, the tower gives appropriate rewards to the climber.]
Seo In-na and Jae-hyun reached the first level with the halo.
What lay in front of the two was a huge, shady maze.
“Where are you?”
Jaehyun immediately asked the squirrel next to him to figure out the location.
Ratatosque rubbed his front paws and said.
“My dear—this is the first layer—. Maze—this is where the maze is!”
“maze?”
“G-g-yes! If you clear the way and reach the end, you can go to the next floor.
Depending on your skills—you can even get treasures in hidden rooms in the maze!”
“Mirror.”
Jaehyun looked around quietly.
A labyrinth composed of seemingly enormous magical energy.
It seemed that it was designed so that it would not break even with its own magical power or divine power.
I tested it with strength just in case, but the result was as expected.
“Because the hardness is ridiculously millet-level, it will be uh-difficult to break!”
“I have to find a way. Ratatosk. Have you memorized all the roads?”
“Ah-a-a-a-a-sorry, but every time I come here, the location changes-changes-I don’t know the details either-.”
“Okay, so be quiet for now. Inaya, I’ll find the way, so could you help me look around?”
“… huh! Leave it to me.”
At Jaehyun’s instructions, Ina nodded with a clear expression.
Inside, she seemed happy that she came here with Jaehyun.
It was only for the sake of proper distribution of power, but it was all the more so because the opportunity for the two to be together was rare.
Didn’t you stay together for a long time because Jaehyun quickly recovered during the last hospitalization?
‘… Of course, if you lie down for a long time, that’s just a concern.’
Seo Ina thought about that with a wry smile.
Fortunately, Jaehyun quickly found his way. It seemed to be the effect of the skill that allowed him to sense magical power, which he had told his colleagues and himself last time.
Ratatosque also detects persistent mana and finds his own way.
Poppy was sniffing hard at the floor because Jaehyun had put it on the floor a while ago.
“I think it’s this way. But there seems to be something strange on the other side. Rather, the magic power is felt more on the other side than on this side. Ratatosk, is there a reason?”
“That’s because the legacy of the Golden King is over there!”
“The Golden King?”
“That—yes!”
Jaehyun put on a slightly embarrassed expression at the name he had never heard before.
I thought I had thoroughly studied Norse mythology. It seemed that there were beings he didn’t know yet.
“A man called the Golden King… What the hell was he doing?”
“He was—truly mad about gold—crazy! In the past, Barbaba—a Viking tribe—wandered around in search of gold with countless people—.
I’ve heard that he died while tampering with the treasury of the gods!”
“hmm.”
What the golden king stole from the treasury of the gods.
That is the legacy of the Golden King, said Ratatosque.
Trying to touch the treasure house of the gods? I thought I had a lot of guts.
‘Hella told me before. A warehouse that stores the treasures of the gods of Asgard. It is called the treasure house of the gods, and there are a lot of artifacts of an enormous level hidden there.’
But the doubts remained.
“Why is a guy like that in Yggdrasil?”
“It’s because Odin stuffed him here in order to punish those who have ta-greed.”
To sum up Ratatosque’s words: In the end, it was said that the golden king was stuffed here because he was caught by Odin while robbing the treasure house of the gods.
Ratatosque added that this labyrinth is also called the golden labyrinth, and many races who tried to climb Yggdrasil in the past lost their lives here.
Suddenly curious, Jaehyun asked.
“Golden King. What the heck did he stole from the treasury of the gods?”
It is not difficult to pass through the maze like this.
However, I wondered what the golden king was trying to take away by sacrificing his life so much.
Ratatosque said with a worried expression.
“Well, I don’t know either, but at least I think it’s a mythical artifact.”
A mythical artifact?
Jaehyun felt his eyes light up.
At that moment, Ratatosque must have felt the magic rising from his eyes, and quickly put his hands together and shook his head.
“Ha ha ha—but, the golden king endowed with power by Odin must be strong! At least the third stage of liberation—maybe even more—!”
Jaehyun wondered why humans could have such strong power, but Ratatosque quickly solved it.
“Hwahwahwa—the golden king wasn’t strong from the beginning—!
I heard that after being stuffed in Yggdrasil by Odin, he received power from him and got the same sense-ability as he does now!”
Ratatosque was relieved, as if he thought Jaehyun would not fight the Golden King, but Jaehyun’s answer was completely different from what he expected.
“It’s worth a try.”
Jaehyun nodded his head confidently.
It is a mythical artifact hidden in Yggdrasil.
If you get it, won’t it make your later journey a lot easier?
In addition, now I have a new S+ class artifact, a glove. It was a stronger reenactment than when he was fighting Modi and Magni.
There was no reason to hesitate.
Seo Ina also nodded.
“… Nothing is gained without risk.”
“Now, it looks like you know the conditions to reach the Golden King’s legacy. Why don’t you guide me when I say good things?”
Even if it’s a maze that changes its position every time you come, if it’s to the point where he calls himself a guide.
It was only natural that Ratatosque knew at least a hint about the Golden King.
Jaehyun was almost certain.
He must know something about the hidden room.
Meanwhile, Ratatosque broke into a cold sweat and opened his mouth to deny Jaehyun’s words.
“Well, I don’t know-.”
―The subordination effect is activated. Subject is lying.
At the sound of the system, Ratatosque lowered his head, thinking that he would die.
“Ah-ah! I’m sorry. I know-.”
“Look at this. It’s because lies don’t work, right? Let’s not lose our strength.”
At Jaehyun’s words, Ratatosque’s expression turned thin, as if shed tears at any moment.
However, looking at Jaehyun, Seo Eana just thought that he was the same as usual.
‘… Jaehyun seems to be in good shape today.’
She thought so and smiled like a good thing.
* * *
Odin’s golden palace, located right in the center of Asgard.
You can see Odin sitting on the throne and Thor bending down below him.
Conversation between father and son. However, the conversation between the father and son continued in a colder atmosphere than usual.
The reason was simple.
“It’s not enough that you didn’t even dare to give the mission, but you messed up the job. Did you mean that you dedicated two of Asgard’s sacred objects to the enemy?”
The heavy fall of the words and godhead put pressure on Thor’s entire body.
Thor bowed his head.
“… I have no face.”
Thor lamented having to apologize.
In fact, for him who had lost his son, he was in a difficult situation even if he was comforted.
However, now that the war broke out, it was not enough to consume the divine power arbitrarily, so the sacred object was taken away.
others.
In particular, it was natural to be criticized by Odin, the leader of the Aesir.
unavoidable.
Thor endured this while looking at Odin and speaking calmly.
“As much as I disappointed you, I will bring more glory to Asgard. I beg you. Give me a chance.”
“What do you mean by chance?”
Odin narrowed his eyes. It was as if Thor had been waiting.
“Adversary. Please let me take care of him with my own hands.”
“Not now. I haven’t fully recovered my sanity yet.
You must have learned from the deaths of your lowly sons that he is not someone you can deal with with a hasty spirit.”
humble son.
Odin looked at his two sons and said so.
Thor gritted it.
He was a dead son to himself, but to Odin, he was nothing more than an expendable item of the Æsir.
In fact, even that wasn’t the right thing.
Didn’t he think so too?
The two of them are just things that only serve one person when they are together.
“Wait until all your spiritual power is restored. Then, I will give you one last chance.”
“thank you.”
It was around the end of the conversation between Odin and Thor.
Suddenly, the floor shook black and a being crawled up.
Odin asked in a nervous voice.
“Hugin, what’s going on?”
“Something went wrong.”
problem.
It wasn’t a word that Hugin, cold-hearted in everything, uttered often.
Odin quickly realized the seriousness of the word and asked.
“Is it related to the adversary?”
“yes. The news is that the adversary and his companions have begun climbing the Tower of Yggdrasil. They say you have already reached the first floor.”
“I started climbing Yggdrasil… Is that really true!”
Odin asked, rarely showing emotion.
Hugin only nodded silently.
“That’s right. Even with both portals active, it seems he already knows how to climb Yggdrasil.”
“No way… .”
Thor, who had been listening to the story beside him, shook his head.
The anti-Aesir gods were not even allowed to climb Yggdrasil for a while.
Besides, haven’t the conditions for climbing Yggdrasil changed recently?
But the adversary knows how to climb the spiral tower to the upper level?
This was obviously impossible.
at that time. Odin cut off his words and raised his head.
“Ratatosk. That’s what he did.”
“Certainly, that squirrel seems to have potential. Because you are one of the few who will defy the will of the Great One.”
Hugin agreed and nodded.
Ratatosk.
He was born with the birth of Yggdrasil, and during the war 10,000 years ago, he did not stand on either side.
What could the little squirrel do in the first place?
Because of this, Odin didn’t even pay much attention to him.
But this was a mistake.
He knew the structure of Yggdrasil better than Odin did, and he knew how to climb the newly remodeled tower.
So, when I tried to kill him recently, it seemed that I was on the side of the enemy in the end.
Odin’s concern deepened.
Yggdrasil.
No matter how strong he was, there was a limit to his ability to interfere with the foundations connecting the world.
It might be possible to go up to the 2nd or 3rd floor at most, but it would be difficult beyond that.
It was not very likely that the adversary would reach the top floor, but it was true that it was a serious problem.
‘I don’t know why the adversary moves toward the world tree. But he hadn’t moved meaninglessly until now. There must be a reason.’
“First, find out why he is moving. Thor, you move too.”
“All right.”
For some reason, Odin couldn’t get rid of the ominous feeling.
Why the adversary climbs the tower at this point.
He had recently grown to the point where he could kill Modi and Magni, so why is he doing something close to such an eccentricity?
The top of Yggdrasil’s Tower.
hidden layer.
Odin was going to kill him anyway, if the opponent was aiming for it, he would take this opportunity anyway.
at any risk.
He will keep the secret there.
