I Killed the Player of the Academy

༺ Valhalla (5)༻

Danann of Justice, Erin Danua.

She was one of the few gods who still possessed their own divinity. As one who had been alive ever since the era of gods, she certainly deserved the title of being one.

– KWAAAA!!

Rune Magic.

It was widely known that rune magic, despite having the merit that each of its letters contained supernatural powers and were therefore easy to cast, had a limitation to its output.

But that didn’t apply to the strongest Rune Mage alive.

[ ᛊ ] — Sowilo

[ ᚲ ] — Kenaz

[ ᚺ ] — Hagalaz

[ ᛟ ] — Othala

[ ᚹ ] — Wynn

The letters led to the next and rapidly formed a sentence.

Due to the fall of the era where rune letters acted as the main writing script, and since its usage fell to that of sorcery and spells, it was inevitable for the original purpose of rune letters to diminish.

A rune was generally activated as soon as it was engraved.

Unless it was engraved for later use through special means, rune letters were hard to use in a real battle and in addition to that, it was also hard to write runes in the middle of a fight, because that required one of the hands to be free.

Writing runes in a sentence instead of single letters meant you had to connect it to a different rune letter before it was even activated.

The level of proficiency required to make that happen was unimaginable, and there weren’t enough primordial beings left behind to spread the word of its might.

– KWAAAAAH!!

The Einherjars were swept away by the magic storms of runes. Most of the thousand warriors were unable to approach any closer than what they were permitted.

“GURAAAA!”

But despite being in the bodies of warped and rotten skeletons, they were still warriors of gods. Some of them were able to gather aura and break through the storm.

“Magnificent.”

However, Erin wasn’t a goddess of magic – she was the all-powerful God of Heroes, who taught countless heroes about the ways of various weapons.

Whether it be swords, axes or spears that the Einherjars were swinging, each flash of Erin’s spear reduced it to ashes.

Even whilst writing rune sentences, she was fighting them with her spear as her eyes took in everything around the battlefield.

She was in a different realm in both speed and strength.

Her 1,000 years of history in martial arts and the experience engraved in her body allowed her to respond to the enemy’s numbers, movements, footsteps and aura without even needing her to think.

– Garuk?!

Erin crushed her opponent—

– Kak!

And she sliced them down—

– Kwak!

— One after another.

Why? The Einherjars wondered.

They had the advantage in terms of both numbers and their combined might, so why were they being pushed back?

“Only a few in this era will be able to stand against me. The likes of former warriors of gods are not enough.”

She was the King of Gods.

The Queen of Paradise.

****

The battle in Valhalla came to an end.

“Are you okay?”

“Haha… Thank you for your help at the end. I wanted to deal with it all by myself though.”

“Fufu. I’m sure you would have been able to.”

Master saw through my bluff but played along with a benevolent smile.

“You… look different today.”

“I borrowed it from Brunhild,” Master replied.

“I like how you tied your hair, but you look pretty either way.”

She scratched her cheeks after hearing my compliment before whispering in a faint voice.

“If you really think so… then I can show you more later.”

“Ohh…”

It was an intriguing offer, but it was for later.

“Let’s go back with Ran… and the valkyries that are still alive,” I said while looking at half of the valkyries that were still breathing.

“Are you not going to finish them off?” Master asked in a cold tone of voice.

“They become compliant after being defeated. In that sense, it’ll be helpful because they are not the type to hold grudges.”

It was an experience from my last iteration and also, it was a shame to discard all the Einherjars that were under their lead.

Being killed, after all, meant that the hundreds of Einherjars locked behind their gates would be sealed forever.

Thinking that, I was carrying Geirahoo and Olrun, who were still alive, when I suddenly remembered the problem.

“How do we leave by the way?”

“I have received the right to open the gates from Brunhild. Let’s go back now.”

Master opened the dimension leading back to reality.

In the game, we had to take a rather tedious route of going to a different Valhalla through another Valkyrie and returning to the real world from there but… it seemed that this time we would be able to leave at once.

Like that we returned to the real world. I briefly heard about the complicated situation of the battlefield from Master but…

“…”

“…”

When we came back to the real world, we realized that the Frost Giant… was no longer there.

“Again, huh…”

****

In the original game, the fight against the Frost Giant was one with a lot of controversy.

First off, the battle itself was a rather complicated process.

After defeating the middle bosses, the two Wolves of Apocalypse, the Serpent of Infinity and the valkyries, you had to start a long fight against the Frost Giant that had 5 different phases.

The player had to defeat the enormous giant, chase after the boss who morphs into the shape of a young man, and break through a strange dimension of time.

At last, right when the player re-encountered with the Frost Giant, it disappeared.

Right – it would suddenly disappear, and marked a dumbfoundingly anti-climactic end that earned the dissatisfaction of all players worldwide.

‘It turned out differently in the last iteration though.’

[Hmm…]

In the last iteration, the giant looked at Park Sihu with a strange look on his face and grunted before disappearing into thin air. Park Sihu’s spells like Dimensional Isolation couldn’t stop it from running away.

“But how could it just run away without even seeing my face?”

Both in the game and last iteration, although strange, the Frost Giant at least had an encounter with the player. It didn’t even come see me, which… I truly couldn’t understand.

****

With the Frost Giant gone, the battle quickly turned to our favor.

The titans all escaped as if following the trace of the Frost Giant, and the hordes of monsters were annihilated by the human army.

Biggest factor of them all was that Hua Ran’s powers and the Sun came back.

“WAAAAAH…!”

“It’s the Sun! Sir Korin! Champion of the Sun!”

[Battlefront Flag Bearer]

– You are the symbol of the battlefield. You are the brightest flag bearer of every war, and a central figure that must not fall.

– You will be at the center of attention during a war. Your stats will change depending on your ally’s faith.

– All your allies will become psychologically anxious if you fall.

※ The Attention towards you has reached 75%. All your abilities increase by 30%

The return of the Sun and the absence of the key named enemies quickly shifted the tides of war. The waves of demonic beasts without a leader were nothing but large numbers of mobs.

With the battle over, I was standing on the walls looking at the sun setting in the horizon.

“In the end… even the Wolves of Apocalypse didn’t reveal themselves again.”

It was strange. They all disappeared rapidly as if there was no need for them to be here anymore.

‘Is this another Butterfly Effect? But… I don’t see any connection.’

Until now, I had done many things that went against the original plot of the game. I saved Marie, Hua Ran and defeated the Tower of Mages and the Old Faith…

Most importantly, Master was still alive even though she should have been killed by Tates Valtazar already. Even that was because Valtazar himself didn’t show up.

At least that much I could understand.

Unlike the last iteration and the game, Valtazar had lost many of his allies.

The ones hoping for the Advent of Paradise in the New Faith were all purged by Saintess Estelle, and the Tower of Mages had met its demise.

Although the fall of the Tower of Mages was predestined, the key personnel including the Tower Lord were supposed to be able to escape alive.

Valtazar’s strongest subordinates, Dun Scaith and Fermack Daman were dead; Miruam failed to eradicate Mound; and he failed to acquire Ren and Ron, the golden wolves that could host the Wolves of Apocalypse.

The current Valtazar was weaker than both the game and the last iteration, back when Park Sihu was praised as the God of Magic.

Therefore, it wasn’t strange – at least not that strange – that Valtazar and his weakened group didn’t show up to destroy the Academy.

However…

‘It makes no sense that the Frost Giant left just like that.’

The battle against the Frost Giant, which was supposed to be one of the hardest battles of the game, being foundered just like this? At this point, it was even concerning.

“Korin. What are you doing?”

That was when Marie came up and sat down next to me.

“I was thinking a bit about what the enemies’ plans are…”

“Is it because the Frost Giant disappeared?”

“…Yeah.”

“Maybe it just left because the battle wasn’t going to their favor.”

“But it gave up way too easily for that to be the case.”

“Hmm…”

I was scared.

What if all this was a trick? What if the path we had been going till now would lead us to a pit of flames; what if it was a cliff waiting ahead of us…?

There was this uneasiness inside me… that this might be trap to give us the greatest despair at the end.

“I’m sure it’ll all work out well.”

Marie placed her warm hand over mine. With her other hand, she pulled me in towards her by the shoulder.

“I know you will do something about it, Korin. I believe you.”

“Don’t believe me too much. I’ve failed already.”

“No.”

She shook her head in denial. There was a radiant and bright smile on her face that didn’t seem like it would ever leave.

“You are still here, Korin. Failing doesn’t matter; there are all kinds of people you have already saved. There is me, Alicia and Hua Ran.

“Everyone nearby is the outcome of everything you have done until now.

“So don’t worry. I’m sure you are doing a great job, Korin.”

It was… a beautiful set of words that really meant a lot.

“Haha…”

She gave me this feeling of relief which I had never once experienced in the last iteration, where I was even busier than now.

“Let me borrow your shoulder.”

“Haht…! A, any time!”

I leaned my head on her shoulder and showed how much I relied on her.

“You really mean a lot to me, sunbae.”

“R, really?”

“Half of the reason I was able to come this far is you. It’s all thanks to you that I could do all I did.”

“T, that’s not the case! You would have been able to do it regardless, Korin.”

“Not at all.”

Even during this battle – the acceptance of the barbarians would have been impossible without the full-on support from Marie, because we wouldn’t have had enough food to sustain all of them.

It was hard to fathom just how much money it would have cost her.

And yet Marie withstood all that cost, all because I wanted to do so.

“Marie-sunbae…”

“K, Korin…”

Her beautiful, flickering golden eyes were even brighter than usual under the setting sun.

I was absorbed in looking at that entrancingly beautiful set of eyes, when she suddenly closed her eyes.

‘Hmm?’

Is this… that? The sign that… everyone agrees on?

Unconsciously I gulped as my heart started to race.

This is… okay right?

I was no fool. In this kind of atmosphere and that sign…

– Gulp!

Her light pink lips appeared ever so attractive. I unknowingly reached my hands out towards her body which was as soft as a marshmallow no matter where I touched.

“Sunbae…”

“Korin…”

Our lips drew closer and closer. I also closed my eyes and —

– Grit!

Her lips were as rough as the hairs of a chimpanzee… huh?

Opening my eyes, I found that a massive hand was separating me from Marie right when our lips were about to come together.

“Doggo?”

“Krrh…!”

After popping out of Marie’s shadows before I realized it, Doggo gripped my face with its enormous hand and…

“GURAAAAAA…!”

He tossed me down the wall.

“Korinnn?!”

“You can’t— do this— to me———!!”

That is not what I raised you to do, Doggo!!

****

Barren lands of the north.

The Frost Giant could still remember the days when this used to be the radiant sanctuary of gods.

An enormous evergreen tree used to reach all the way to the sky with its branches creating a shelter for the world of gods. Its roots had been covering the entirety of the ground, making it flourish.

But that was nothing but a story of the past.

The Well of Mimir had dried up; the branches were scorched and the tree had long fallen. One of the key symbols of the mythology was gone and the world had been deprived of its gods.

The era of mythology had come to an end.

Waiting in this place, which had turned barren after the apocalypse, was a man.

“You are here already. As fast as always.”

“Nothing can be faster than myself,” replied Utgard Loki in the shape of a young man.

“How was it?”

“I could feel it, and there was no need to even see it with my own eyes. You were right – he had a similar karma and obligation to you.”

“Right?”

Even though the enemy becoming stronger shouldn’t be something to be happy with, there was still a smile on Valtazar’s lips.

“And as such we will be removing ourselves from this fight. The result will be the same no matter which of you two win, so I see no need to stand on one side. We old ones will stay out of it.”

Utgard Loki declared that he and the Wolves of Apocalypse will be dropping out from Valtazar’s faction.

They were a powerful ally. The Wolves of Apocalypse, for example, were a great counter to Valtazar’s own contender, Korin. If Tates Valtazar was a smart leader – in fact even a young child would know better than to allow them to leave the faction but…

“Sure. Do as you wish.”

Despite that, Valtazar easily let them go.

“Not even trying to have us stay?”

“Who would possibly be able to force you to stay, mysterious giant?”

The nature of Frost Giants was different from gods, and especially so was this Utgard Loki.

He was the mysterious giant, who escaped alive even after making a fool of the God of Lightning and the God of Mischief.

He was the mountain too big, ‘Skrymir’, a ‘thought’ faster than anyone, ‘Hugi’, and an ‘old age’ that no-one would defeat, ‘Elli’ – he wasn’t a being who fought others but gave tests. He did not have divinity but was of the concept of ‘story’; a riddle that tested ‘gods’.

“Both of you have passed my test. You are strong, so do not come to my realm ever again.”

The next moment, he vanished from sight. In the form of ‘Hugi’, he was faster than anything in existence and might even be on the other side of the world.

“It’s a first, that someone apart from me has passed the Frost Giant’s test.”

Valtazar stepped forward over the ‘branches’. After reaching the end of the branches, he stood facing down at the world from the tip of the world tree and muttered to himself.

“Come, Korin Lork. I am here waiting for you.”

The final war was about to begin.

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