Chapter 372: A Sledgehammer

Chapter 372: A Sledgehammer

Early Afternoon - Early Spring : The Tree of Prayer | Siratha

-----T/his chapter is updated by nov(ê(l)biin.co/m

*Vwoop* Instantaneously exiting the void, my body felt cold and tense, with the excitement of my achievement dwindling into nonexistence. -W..what the fuck was that...- It was something staring at me from deep within the void with a predatory yet curious gaze.. but instead of calling it a creature, it felt more apt to call it the void itself.

With no distinguishable features besides its huge, glowing purple eyes reminiscent of black holes, it felt more like a machination of my own exhausted mind than anything.

A mere misinterpretation of blurry shapes at the edge of my vision.

However, as I tried to forcefully ease my nerves, and the gate started dissipating... *WOOP* The beams of light shining into the gate suddenly vanished, and the gate was resealed.

*VWOOM* In a fit of panic, a colossal mass of mana exploded out of me, instantly blowing the gate to pieces.

But instead of seeing myself in front of the tree of prayer, I found myself once again listless floating in the void.

At that moment, all conscious thought purged itself from my mind.

I felt like a human who walked into a dragon's den...

Helpless...

And weak...

But as my panicked mind did everything it could to find the threat.. I found nothing.

-W..what...- There were no eyes.. and there was no creature.

It made me feel like an insane man fighting his hallucinations. -But that gate couldn't have closed itself...-

Continuing to look around, I started looking deeper and deeper into the void, trying to find anything that could resemble something like what I saw, but it did nothing except further cloud my mind with doubt.

But that was when I saw it.. the faint silhouette of a colossal 'thing' slowly winding through the void like a crocodile swimming through water.

It had to be at least a few hundred thousand kilometers from me, almost invisible thanks to the color of its body, but at the same time, it was so large it made my mind go blank.

With a long, dark body akin to a sea serpent, it had to be at least over ten thousand kilometers from head to tail. -I knew I wasn't crazy...-

Almost immediately, I recognized it as the thing that I caught a glimpse of... -But.. it doesn't seem to know I'm here...- When I got dragged back into the void, I thought that it was the thing that somehow pulled me through, wanting to hunt or eat me, but instead.. it seemed to pay me no mind, as if it didn't know I was there. -But if it wasn't the thing to pull me through.. what was it?-

I knew for certain such a phenomenon couldn't happen on its own, but besides thoughtlessly throwing blame at the creature in front of me, I was at a loss.

At least that was before one name came to mind. -Dagr...- "Tch..." Clicking my tongue, I snarled slightly. -He must have possessed Ilios again and sent me back...- But at the same time, I couldn't understand why. The only moderately plausible reason I could think of was that he didn't want me to see something in reality. -Because he definitely isn't the type to throw his food to someone else...-

But even though I had my doubts, I didn't have a choice but to go with it...

-Let's just get out of here for now...- Looking back down toward the horrifyingly large creature still cruising through the void, I calculated where the Gods' Abode would be and began forming the gate to return. *Vwoom* -I shouldn't test my luck in here any longer...-

However, just as the gate was completed, and I compressed it on myself to return to reality, my senses suddenly blurred, vision ceased, and all conscious thoughts were drowned in a sea of static.

I was hit by something.

-H..huh...- By the time my consciousness started returning, my senses had somewhat returned, and I not only felt myself being moved, but I felt my disfigured face being dragged over small grooves in the ground, trailing blood as my exposed, shattered skull tried to dig into the wooden floor. -I'm.. in the Tree of Prayer..?-

I wasn't dead.. even if it felt like it. From what I could tell, I was actually healing incredibly rapidly, with my mind becoming clearer with each passing moment.

Continuing forward, all the way to the back wall of the church, I felt a hint of lethargy come over my mind before the wall opened up to let me through.

Inside, there appeared to be nothing; a complete, indescribable darkness.

But deep down, I knew there was a massive throne before me, with a woman sitting atop a grand throne.

*Pat* Lethargically kneeling down, I lowered my head. "I am sorry, M-"

"~Don't be.~" She spoke bluntly in a fashion that sounded stressed. "~I am simply glad you are alive. However, you must explain what happened in detail...~"

I tensed slightly as I tried to look up toward her. "Were you not.. looking through my eyes like you said."

"~How could I...~" Her tone slowly warped with a mix of worry and fear. "~Had I used my tether connected to you, you would have died, and I wouldn't have escaped harm either.~" I felt as if she leaned back and interlocked her fingers as she spoke. "~As much as it may seem that we own the world here in Voldukirk, none of us do. Not me.. not Freya.. and not Odin... We are simply living in the world left by its owners, like a rat in an abandoned tavern.~"

Thinking it was perhaps the dragons, I looked up, but even though I saw nothing, I could physically feel a gaze piercing mine.

"~It isn't the dragons.. nor the thunderbirds... No.. they are more like children given permission to play in someone else's field...~"

"T..then..."

"~You already met one of them... Even if he was in a new body, with a new mind...~"

The image of the colossal, winged Fenrir instantly appeared in my mind. "Who- no... What.. is he..?"

"~The one you met was the creator.. and the other half was the conqueror... Odin always says they were the ones to invade our world, but.. even if they were, we were naive to interfere with them...~"

I felt my soul itself tense as she spoke.

"~I know Elizabeth left already.. and she was right to... If you wish to follow after her once we finish talking, I will release you.~" Her voice slowly stiffened. "~However, if you wish to stay and work as my hands and feet, I would be forever grateful...~"

A weight of responsibility unlike anything I had ever felt instantly came crashing down onto my shoulders.

But instead of being crushed, my gaze became firm, and the slight trembling in my hands ceased. "Please use me as you wish, Master."

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