Chapter 24: Valkyrie and Odin

Time reverts to a few minutes earlier, when Li Ruoyi fell out of the single-file line of the group.

Feeling a sense of being lost, the magic thread in his hand was severed, followed by a sensation of falling that spread from the soles of his feet throughout his entire body.

He had missed a step; he was falling continuously, the air below carrying a damp touch, and the churning gases made Li Ruoyi’s skin feel slightly uncomfortable.

It was poison!

The bottomless darkness beneath his feet was a sea of poison.

Li Ruoyi’s brain reacted quickly; he plunged his giant scythe into the thick rock wall beside him, and the fall came to a halt.

“Where is this?”

Hanging in the air, Li Ruoyi observed his surroundings.

Just like the passage they had intended to cross, this place was also enveloped in endless darkness.

A sliver of light appeared at the edge of his vision, and the sound of flowing water beneath him gradually faded.

Li Ruoyi wiped away the restraints on his eyes; the Eyes of Life and Death, deeper than the darkness itself, burned with a similarly pitch-black fire, firmly latching onto that final glimmer of light in the pitch-black void.

How much power and mobility could the enhanced Heart of the Human King provide?

Li Ruoyi took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the scythe’s handle, smashed it hard into the wall, and flipped himself upward.

The advantages he held over mortals allowed him to resist the fierce wind blowing from below, moving as if he were on flat ground.

With every breath, he sensed the sounds beneath his feet, the monotonous vibrations.

If any monsters or other things were lurking in the smaller abyss, he would be able to detect them.

He was unwilling to approach the light in the distance unprepared, and even less willing to be surrounded in a confined space.

His weapon was a long scythe with a seven-foot handle, which was difficult to use in narrow spaces.

Although he never feared fighting monsters—many in Berlin even considered him a bloodthirsty demon—since he was already prepared for battle, he had to find the most suitable ground for himself.

The steep rock walls were still seeping water, and drops of it hit his face, cold.

This feeling of being alone in the darkness was truly awful.

But he was really alone here; the abyss was deathly silent.

The feeling of being tense and ready for battle without any opponent appearing was equally bad.

Since entering this place, the inner workings of his Heart of the Human King had been scorching his body; even holding the handle of his giant scythe felt somewhat hot.

He didn’t know if this was a good or bad omen.

A shower of falling debris struck his shoulder, which was far more terrifying than any enemy.

The tunnel seemed unable to withstand the erosion of the poisonous water and was collapsing; more and more rubble fell.

And what Li Ruoyi saw next was like reading a newspaper on an empty, moving subway train, waiting to reach your destination, only to put down the paper and suddenly find the entire carriage full of people, all silently staring at you without making a sound.

Your heart would likely do the same as Li Ruoyi’s—of course, it might just stop instantly!

The space before him was filled with people.

They floated in the absolute darkness, no one speaking, no one moving; everyone floated aimlessly.

Li Ruoyi was in their midst, his breath held.

Those “people” also emitted no breath.

Anyone in this situation would gasp.

‘Dead people?’

Those two words flashed in Li Ruoyi’s mind.

The domain around him suddenly became clear; it was a completely unfamiliar domain, its surface shimmering with unstable, dark red arcs.

At almost the same moment, the silent “dead people,” like a tidal wave swallowing a reef, pressed toward Li Ruoyi from all directions.

Their raised, pale white palms, illuminated by a fluorescence that connected throughout their bodies, lit up the space.

There were no lines on their palms, but even such a faint light made Li Ruoyi, who had been in the darkness for a long time, unable to open his eyes.

They had no intention of attacking; instead, they formed a massive bridge spanning the abyss, leading straight to the light at the end of his vision.

It was a bridge of light.

Li Ruoyi walked along the path of light.

Though he had walked as if on thin ice at first, he was now running at full speed.

The poisonous gas rising from beneath his feet made him quite uncomfortable.

At the end of the path of light sat an old man—a one-eyed old man, his other eye covered by a black eyepatch.

He wore an eagle-headed helmet and golden armor, holding a long spear in one hand and wearing the treasure Draupnir, a golden ring, on the other.

His entire body was covered in patterns like gilded gold, and he sat on the highest throne, from which he could see the great road of light.

At his feet were two ferocious wolves, and on his shoulders perched two ravens.

Behind the throne was an eight-legged horse with a body the size of a small mountain.

“Hello, young man,” the old man spoke.

“I have long known of your arrival through prophecy; I have been waiting here for several thousand years.”

“Welcome to Nibelungen, our temple of Valhalla.”

The old man stood up, and the long spear in his hand emitted a dazzling golden light.

The surrounding braziers were all lit; like the fires of the dwarves, this was the sacred fire of the Norse world that would never be extinguished.

“You said this is Valhalla?”

Li Ruoyi found it hard to believe; he slowly raised his long scythe, clearly not letting down his guard against the old man.

“I personally ordered and supervised its construction.”

The old man pointed to the magnificent building behind him, with five hundred and forty great gates, each of which could allow at least eight hundred warriors to pass through side-by-side.

On the gates were the head of a boar and a hawk; undoubtedly, in that era, both hawks and boars represented a spirit of martial prowess and ferocity, and this place truly needed such a spirit.

“This is the resting place of warriors, Valhalla.”

The old man stroked his beard.

“And this place, of course, belongs to me—Odin, whom you call the king of the Norse gods.”

“You also belong here; here lies the knowledge you seek! Mixed-breed.”

‘Mixed-breed’—that word with its vague meaning was brought up once again, startling Li Ruoyi.

He quickly understood that this was the mystical realm Alestasia had spoken of.

“But before you enter here, you must be tested by the Valkyries.”

The old man struck the hard floor heavily with the long spear in his left hand, and the three stone statues in front of the main hall came to life.

As stones fell from their bodies, they were revealed to be wearing golden or silver helmets decorated with feathers or bird wings, tight-fitting, blood-red battle robes, and holding glowing spears and shields.

Golden light shot from their eyes, and the gilded patterns extending throughout their bodies also began to shine.

“Hey, hey! My respected Odin, I haven’t heard that Valkyries were made from stone statues.”

Li Ruoyi spun the long scythe around his body, and a strong, murderous aura rushed toward Odin and the Valkyries.

“Successor, please forgive me; this is a necessary test.”

Odin struck the ground with his spear once more, and the Valkyries turned, aiming their sharp spear tips at Li Ruoyi’s chest.

“Thrud, process complete, activation finished.”

“Hildr, process complete, activation finished.”

“Ortlinde, process complete, activation finished.”

As the announcements ended, a rain of light mingled with thrusts indiscernible to the naked eye came at Li Ruoyi like a storm.

Li Ruoyi’s Eyes of Life and Death, which would not be extinguished even in the boundless darkness, became particularly conspicuous at this moment.

Almost the instant the Valkyries thrust their spears, he had already calculated the trajectory of the light spears.

The light spears, having lost their target, pierced the rock wall beside them.

The violent vibrations caused the bridge built by the souls of the dead to collapse with a roar.

Li Ruoyi knew very well that even with the sturdy body of a Human King, being struck by that light spear would likely be fatal.

In the distance, the proudly standing Valkyrie named Thrud began to chant softly.

It was an ancient language, long lost, with a completely unrecognizable grammatical structure, yet it possessed an extraordinary melodic beauty.

It was the strongest killing move of Norse mythology—Runes.

Li Ruoyi instantly felt as if his body had been filled with a large amount of lead, making movement incredibly difficult, yet he still had to deal with the light spears that were now thrusting faster than before.

Usually, when Runes were chanted by magicians, it was as if a giant bell had been struck, the sound echoing repeatedly throughout the entire domain.

But when the Valkyrie before him released the primordial Runes, it was like singing a short, hypnotic song.

The boundary of the magical domain expanded rapidly, and Li Ruoyi had no time to dodge before being enveloped within it.

He had prepared for everything, yet he could not feel a single trace of killing intent from the Valkyrie’s Runes.

The girls before him were simply singing him an ethereal song—a summoning song to lead him peacefully into death.

He actually became entranced listening to it.

From the chanting of the Runes, he heard the final heartbeat of a warrior at rest, or the lonely falling snow of the Nordic ice fields.

As the Runes began to sing, the aura of the surrounding spirits faded, replaced by the scent of flower fields and vegetation, and the sound of gurgling water came from afar.

In a moment of inattention, a Valkyrie’s light spear grazed the King in Black’s cheek, leaving a faint line of blood.

This was a mental attack Rune; Li Ruoyi gradually understood their method of bestowing a beautiful kiss upon the fallen on the battlefield and leading them to Valhalla.

The Eyes of Life and Death snapped open at this moment, and Li Ruoyi broke free from the mental shackles.

The sound of a mirror shattering echoed in the distant Valkyrie’s mind.

The backlash from the blocked mental attack caused her to fall from the sky.

The Valkyrie rushing toward him clearly did not realize her companion had already failed.

The thrusting light spear once again missed its target by a hair’s breadth.

The black-clad reaper who had dodged to the side raised his scythe high and brought it down heavily.

This giant executioner’s blade tore through the divine iron shield protecting the Valkyrie and plunged deep into her slender body.

The vertical blade directly tore apart the Valkyrie’s core.

She let out a wretched scream, golden light bursting from her seven orifices, and her body collapsed like earth soaked in water.

Li Ruoyi formed a claw with his left hand, cleverly parrying the Valkyrie’s shield bash.

The shockwave from the impact blew Odin’s long hair back, and even his eight-legged celestial steed, Sleipnir, neighed.

The old man watched the life-and-death struggle between Li Ruoyi and the Valkyries with his one eye.

Clearly, the Valkyrie’s strength exceeded Li Ruoyi’s expectations.

The Valkyrie who had suffered the backlash regained her senses and swung her dazzling light spear to cover her companion’s attack.

He dodged the former’s thrust but failed to avoid the latter’s shield bash.

The strong impact sent the King in Black flying to the ground, leaving a bright red mark on his forehead.

Giving him no chance to breathe, the shining long spear once again stabbed down at his face from above.

Although he rolled away in time, the scattered force sent him flying again.

“Is this the power of the daughters of the Allfather, the Valkyries?”

Li Ruoyi stood up, trembling, and wiped the blood from his mouth.

“If I hadn’t been able to take one out first, I really would have had no chance of winning.”

Odin was amazed by Li Ruoyi’s incredible techniques.

The image of him fighting the Valkyries with his life on the line reminded him of Sigurd, who had snatched Brynhildr from him thousands of years ago.

Did this successor before him have the potential to equal or even surpass that “King of Warriors”?

After steadying himself, Li Ruoyi once again parried the attacks of the two Valkyries.

He fought them with a style that was almost suicidal, forgetting the pain from the light spear piercing his shoulder.

A punch with all his might pierced through the Valkyrie’s chest, and another Valkyrie turned into grains of sand on the land of the dead.

Facing the Valkyrie’s shield bash aimed at his face once again, Li Ruoyi did not choose to dodge, but swept his giant scythe horizontally.

The hard divine iron shield broke Li Ruoyi’s nose, and blood flowed freely for a moment.

The sharp scythe tore through the Valkyrie’s slender waist with unstoppable force.

With the final scream of the last Valkyrie, the blood-soaked Li Ruoyi stood before Odin.

Surprise appeared on the face of this king of the Norse gods.

Even Sigurd, who was called the strongest warrior of the Norse, or Thor, the strongest of gods, could not compare to this blood-soaked young man.

Battle-hardened warriors could understand an opponent’s strength from their fighting techniques and style.

This young man had at most mastered such power for half a month, yet he was able to defeat his most prized weapons.

Perhaps this scythe had truly found a suitable successor.

Stroking the fur of the ferocious wolves Geri and Freki, which had stood on end due to Li Ruoyi’s murderous aura, Odin smiled in satisfaction.