Chapter 135
Chapter 135. Norspelskard (2)
Hair as white and piercingly cold as frost, with eyebrows like rime. He was a young man with a firm, unyielding impression.
No, he only looked young—he seemed to have already lived for a very long time.
Holding a greatsword, he wore an expression as if he were anticipating something.
Yul had quite a few options. He considered this to be control over the flow of battle, something that stemmed from his diverse skills and racial traits.
He could harass the enemy from start to finish or fight in a cunning, underhanded way.
Or he could stop thinking altogether and clash head-on with brute force.
And right now, he simply felt like charging in headfirst.
-Come!
Using his massive body, Yul rushed forward and rammed straight in.
-Such a crude and primal attack……. I like it!!
However, just as he feigned charging straight into the raised greatsword, he twisted his body and shifted into a tail attack.
A horizontal sweep tore across the top of the fortress.
He paid no mind to whatever collapsed in the aftermath.
The Northern Grand Duke deflected Yul’s sweep with his greatsword.
Yul was two to three times larger than the Northern Grand Duke, yet despite the difference in physique, he felt overwhelmed in strength.
‘No, the strength is similar. It’s a difference in technique.’
Though his body was thrown off balance from the deflection, he regained it midair. A wound from the Duke’s strike appeared, but it healed quickly.
So the opponent was skilled with the sword? Then Yul would simply do what he was better at.
Maximize Telekinesis output.
‘As expected, the level of output is on a different scale.’
He could use Telekinesis even in human form, but he didn’t possess this kind of overwhelming force then.
The magic blazing out from his Ultra-Fusion Heart heated his entire body, crushing down with overwhelming violence.
The enemy, who had leapt forward with his greatsword, was slammed into the top of the fortress faster than his own forward momentum.
-Kgh!
He concentrated all the pressure into a single point. Norspelskard felt as though gravity had multiplied several times as he was being compressed.
His body wouldn’t budge. Realizing he couldn’t move, light began to shine from Norspelskard’s entire body.
The tattoo engraved on his chest—it was a Mantra.
[All things are impermanent (諸行無常)……!]
In an instant, the magic Yul was maintaining burst open and scattered in all directions.
‘Loss of control?’
Ever since gaining the Demon Eye of Replication, he could clearly distinguish the phenomena before him; that seemed to forcibly disconnect the opponent's magic structure links.
The remnants of Telekinesis, split into hundreds of strands, slammed into the fortress, punching countless holes into the top and destabilizing the ceiling.
‘Even after taking that force head-on, it’s still fine?’
Rather, it was more surprising that the fortress endured it.
-Tch. You’ve got quite an interesting ability.
-I’ve got more.
Yul evolved a long narwhal horn and struck down with it.
-Weak!
Norspelskard deflected the horn and immediately struck Yul’s left cheek with his greatsword.
Yul dodged quickly, but a long gash remained.
-Oh, really?
He activated the skill 「Madness」. A red aura enveloped his entire body, multiplying his strength and speed several times over.
He had never used Madness before because he had never been pushed back in close combat.
-So you had another trick left! Good!
When the greatsword and the horn collided, a terrifying shockwave erupted, sending the surrounding structures flying into the air.
Normally, with a long horn, a few swings of the head would be enough to tear an opponent apart.
But here was someone who matched his scale. After clashing several times with the greatsword, Norspelskard suddenly grabbed the horn and struck Yul’s head with a thunderous punch.
With a booming explosion, Yul was sent flying far away, and Norspelskard immediately pursued, swinging his greatsword to tear open his forehead.
However, he couldn’t pierce the hardened skull.
Covered in blood, Yul spun and slashed with his fin-turned blade, carving a long wound across Norspelskard’s chest and drenching him in blood.
-Ahahaha! You’re strong! Strong!
Their battle continued for hours. Yul crushed down with his overwhelming size and regenerated his body endlessly.
But the Northern Grand Duke matched him evenly, using his physical prowess and swordsmanship. His stamina never waned, his endurance seemed endless, and even when wounded, he fought on with sheer toughness.
Yul found genuine enjoyment in the battle. Even when he cornered the Duke using Telekinesis traps he devised, the man would break through them in astonishing ways.
He had figured out four of his Mantras. He used them in pairs.
Impermanence (無常). The source that nullified Yul’s Telekinesis. It interfered with part of the magic structure, allowing it to be disrupted.
When using Telekinesis, if he mixed in fake Telekinesis like feints, he could break through Impermanence.
Though after a while, even that was read, turning it into a battle of wits.
The second Mantra was All Phenomena (諸行). It seemed to enhance physical abilities. He was taking all of Yul’s attacks head-on. Despite not having Yul’s overwhelming regeneration, he continued fighting energetically while drenched in blood.
And something Yul realized during the fight: just as Yul had hidden abilities, this man had some as well.
It was likely the remaining four characters of the Mantra.
-You’re not using Mantra Combinations?
-Seems like you’re hiding something, too? I hear the Deep King Tribe can freely wield six Demon Eyes.
-Yeah. I just ended up having fun while fighting.
-I feel the same. My blood boils after having a hand-to-hand fight for the first time in a long while
Yul stopped fighting. It wasn’t because of the hours of battle, but because he had been sensing a gaze for some time now.
-I feel like someone is observing us from afar.
-It’s White Crux. That white dragon enjoys spying on others. And the movements of this Eternal Fortress and myself, Norspelskard, are his top priority for surveillance.
-Why?
-Because I am the one preventing him from moving south from the Sacred Land.
He grinned.
Yul, feeling uncomfortable from the voyeur who had been watching for a while, decided to stop the fight.
-Let’s take a look inside. It’s annoying being watched like this.
-Hehehe. Come in.
Yul descended below the fortress. It was so massive that it seemed designed for giants.
He could have stayed in his true form, but he returned to human form using Polymorph.
-Do you find that small form more comfortable?
-So what?
-To prefer a human form… you’re quite the odd one. Then I’ll do the same.
Norspelskard’s size visibly shrank as well, becoming smaller.
“There’s a shrinking spell among the magic of our ancient ancestors.”
“Why would something like that exist?”
“To mate with humans.”
“…?”
“The further one gets from the Sacred Land, the shorter the Giants are born, and those kinds of humans kept increasing. How else do you think the current northerners could have been born?”
“Then the northerners really are descendants of giants?”
“Of course they are.”
So the legends passed down weren’t just legends—they were facts. Yul pulled his backpack from afar using Telekinesis and casually put on the clothes Ryollo had given him.
“That backpack… I sense a strange aura from it.”
“It contains a branch of the World Tree. Something that guy called White Crux was after.”
“Ah. Seems he’s trying to gather the mysteries of the North using his subordinates.”
“Why?”
“To break the barrier sealing him. He’s bound to the Sacred Land, you see.”
As Norspelskard said that, attendants approached from afar.
A butler with rabbit ears, one of the beastfolk, appeared, followed by servants carrying cloths to wipe away the blood.
Even after shrinking, Norspelskard was still drenched in wounds.
“There’s an advantage to shrinking. It takes less cloth to wipe the blood.”
The rabbit beastfolk looked tense from the earth-shaking battle, and every time they glanced at Yul, fear flickered in their eyes.
“I won’t kill you.”
As Yul grinned, one rabbit beastfolk’s ears curled up tightly.
“Haha. Don’t scare my poor subordinates. I’ll treat you to a fine meal.”
“I didn’t scare them. I’ll gladly take the meal.”
While the top of the fortress had been completely devastated, the inside looked as if no battle had ever taken place.
“It’s an incredibly sturdy castle.”
“It’s the culmination of our ancestors’ construction techniques. This castle they built is called Eternal.”
“The Eternal Fortress…….”
Inside the banquet hall he was invited into, an enormous amount of food was laid out.
“Now, eat! I haven't put any poison in it.”
Without a word, Yul sat down and started tearing into a massive chicken leg. As he kept eating, all kinds of strange and unrecognizable meat dishes were brought out in abundance.
“Why did you end up fighting that guy called Crux?”
As Yul spoke while chewing meat, Norspelskard, who was also stuffing his mouth, replied:
“I’m waiting for someone to come out from in there. My woman.”
“Your wife?”
“My fiancée.”
“What do you mean by ‘in there’?”
“Have you ever seen further north from here?”
“When I looked down from above, it was completely white.”
“That’s right. That place is the final land all races call the ‘Sacred Land.’ The place where Creation will begin.”
“I see.”
“…You don’t seem very surprised. Looks like you already know something?”
“If a new universe is going to be created, it would have to be the Arctic.”
“Hehe. Exactly. My fiancée went to the Sacred Land long ago to overcome the weakness of our giant race.”
“Weakness?”
“The farther we are from the Sacred Land, the smaller giants are born. No one knew why. They just became smaller. So she went to retrieve the Fire of Creation to save our race—so giants could live anywhere.”
“What about White Crux?”
“An ancient one that dwells in… no, to be precise, an ancient one trapped in the Sacred Land. And when the time of Creation arrives, it will be annihilated by the aftermath, so it’s desperately trying to break free.”
“Why are you stopping him?”
“There’s only one being that can emerge from the Sacred Land. There is but a single path.”
“Hmm? So if someone passes through that path, the path closes…… is that it?”
“Exactly. You understand perfectly.”
After swallowing an entire giant boar leg in one bite, Norspelskard continued:
“And those floating stones you saw—that’s also something White Crux set up.”
“Oh, those? I was curious. What were they?”
He pointed in all directions.
“There’s one of those floating stones in each direction of the Arctic. Each one contains embedded magic. And when all four are combined, they activate the grand spell—‘Core of the End.’”
Just hearing it made it sound like a terrifying spell.
“So he planned to use that to blow you away.”
“Exactly.”
It seemed Yul had gotten caught in the middle of a conspiracy on an enormous scale.
“So you threw spears in each direction?”
“That’s right. I drove the frost spears in one by one and froze the formula itself with the Mantra Impermanence (無常).”
“What if I had pulled one out?”
“I would have gone to kill you. Hahahaha!”
At that point, it really would have been a fight to the death.
Yul felt relieved that he hadn’t ended up fighting Norspelskard to the bitter end.
There weren’t many beings who could match him like this. It even felt like talking to an old friend.
“By the way, are you interested in doing some work?”
“Work?”
“Yeah. I can’t leave the Eternal Fortress, so there are quite a few things I’ve been putting off. I’d like you to handle them.”
Yul picked a piece of meat stuck between his teeth with his nail and replied:
“What are you offering in return?”