Chapter 83 - 83: « I Ask For Your Hands In Marriage [4] »
[Bonus Chapter for 70 Golden Tickets ~ refer to the Author's Reward system.]
He tossed the head slightly in his hand, looking at the peaceful, dead face of the blue-haired woman.
"I will keep this."
Gunnar said, his voice booming with renewed vitality.
He pulled a leather cord from his belt and tied it through the woman's hair, fastening the head to his waist like a morbid trophy.
"A commemoration for such a fight! The warrior women of this floor... they had spirits of fire.
It was the best fight I have ever had!
This South Korean tower... it is proving to be something else entirely! Hahaha!"
He picked up his axe and turned toward the tree itself.
With a roar of exertion, he swung the weapon into the base of the white trunk.
CRUNCH.
The wood was hard as diamond, but Gunnar's axe was fueled by the energy of the Aesir.
He struck again and again, the white bark flying off in huge chunks.
On the fifth strike, a massive crack groaned through the grove.
The World Tree tilted.
Then, with a thunderous THUD that shook the entire sinkhole, the fifty-meter behemoth collapsed, its blue leaves shattering like glass as they hit the ground.
The room grew dim as the primary light source of the floor was extinguished.
Gunnar walked through the wreckage, his eyes searching the fallen branches.
He stopped at a specific limb.
It wad one that bore a cluster of small, glowing white flowers amidst the blue leaves.
He snapped the branch off.
"You!"
Gunnar barked, turning toward the huddle of players.
The maroon-clad ranker was still lying on the stretcher, his face a pale shade of violet as the soul-corruption from the first floor ate away at his vitals.
He looked up, his eyes glassy.
Gunnar raised the branch.
『[SKILL ACTIVATION]: 「SYNTHESIZE」』
Gunnar's hands began to glow with a soft, white light.
The branch in his grip vibrated, the leaves and flowers dissolving into pure energy.
The wood itself began to compress, turning into a liquid state.
Within seconds, the branch was gone, replaced by a small, crystalline vial filled with a swirling, incandescent blue liquid.
He tossed the vial across the clearing.
It spun through the air, landing perfectly on Kim Jin's chest.
"Drink it."
Gunnar commanded.
Kim Jin looked at the vial as he picked it up.
He looked at the German giant who was currently covered in the blood of twelve women.
He hesitated.
"I know I am a brute."
Gunnar growled, his arms crossed over his bare chest.
"And I know I look like a demon right now...but my skill is much more accurate than making the thing manually...
...or do you not understand English?
Drink, or die of the rot.
It makes no difference to me."
Kim Jin took a ragged breath.
He uncorked the vial the scent of the second floor's essence filling the air and downed it in a single gulp.
The effect was instantaneous.
The purple smoke leaking from Jin's abdomen turned white and then evaporated.
The black veins receding from his neck like a retreating tide.
He let out a long, shuddering gasp as his color returned.
The gaping wound from the angel's scythe closed and vanished, leaving behind smooth, unscarred skin.
『[NOTICE]: PLAYER 'KIM JIN' HAS BEEN PURIFIED.』
『[STATUS]: SOUL CORRUPTION REMOVED. ALL VITAL FUNCTIONS RESTORED.』
Kim Jin sat up, his hands pressing against his stomach in disbelief.
He looked at Gunnar, his usual stoic mask wavering for a brief second.
"...thank you."
Gunnar laughed.
A loud, booming sound that echoed through the dark, fallen grove.
"Don't thank me yet, little man!
We have one floor left!
The bottom of the sinkhole is calling, and I can smell the blood of the final guardian from here!"
He grabbed his discarded armor and fur mantle, throwing them over his shoulder as he strode toward the dark aperture at the far end of the chamber.
"Forward!"
Gunnar urged, his voice ringing with the madness of the hunt.
"The third floor awaits! Let us see if the Abyss has anything left that can make me bleed!"
"HAHAHAA!"
---
"How is he supposed to marry them? He literally just butchered the entire unit.
Is he actually insane, or is it just the blood loss talking?"
"You're thinking like a modern man.
To him, that wasn't a slaughter but a courtship.
He believes those warrior women were sent straight to Valhalla because they died with weapons in their hands.
In his mind, the deal is already struck."
"I don't follow.
They're dead. Gone. Dissolved into mana and ash."
"Not to a Viking.
He believes that if he eventually falls on a battlefield conquered by someone even stronger than himself he'll earn his own seat in those same halls.
He thinks that by showing them his 'valor' and defeating them in a fair, brutal fight, he's earned their respect for eternity.
He's not planning a wedding in Berlin... he's planning one in the afterlife."
"What a strange man.
Seriously, what a terrifyingly strange man."
『 LIVE STREAM CHAT』
-DID HE JUST DRINK THE BOSS BLOOD?
-400 billion won ticket was worth it just for this lore drop.
-"I ask for your hands in marriage" proceeds to trigger a thunderstorm
-The ultimate "I only like women who can actually kill me" energy.
-That wasn't a fight, that was a Viking speed-dating event.
-RIP to the warrior ladies, but honestly, what a way to go.
-Is nobody talking about how he just healed the Korean Ranker with a bunch of flowers and a branch?
-My man is a literal walking cheat code.
-EU servers are built different.
-I used to think the 'Viking' gimmick was cringe, but I am now a believer.
-The way he prayed for each one though... that's actually kind of noble in a twisted way.
-"To the halls of your fathers" I'm literally crying in the club right now.
-Respect to the Shield-Maidens, they almost had him in the first half.
-If Gunnar is the groom, who is the best man? Odin?
-Imagine going to the afterlife and your ex-husband is the guy who chopped your head off. Awkward.
-That spinning axe move was insane.
-I need a muscular warrior woman in my life too, Gunnar is so real for that.
-THE HEAD IS ON HIS BELT. HE ACTUALLY KEPT IT.
-This stream is getting age-restricted for sure.
-"The South Korean tower is proving to be something else" - HE'S HAVING FUN???
-Someone tell him there's a third floor, I want to see what he does to the final boss.
-If he marries the final boss too, I'm quitting my job and becoming a porter.
-This is the peak of human entertainment.