There is an immortal monster whose reason of being is to eat Yggdrasil, and seems to show no interest in anything else.
A snake, that seems to be more of a conceptual being, that is apparently impossible to pry off it.
“Why does a monster like that exist?”
“Yggdrasil is like a pillar of the world. Apparently god wanted to have it eat Yggdrasil and end the world when he wanted to start over.”
“God…”
There are beings on this island with enough power to be called gods, but I assume he’s talking about the creator.
It’s said it was this god that created Wil as a perfect being, so I can see why even the great spirits would be troubled.
I don’t know for sure if it’s the same god that reincarnated me, but one thing’s for sure, this god has incredible power.
“But that’s not the only problem.”
“The four stags?”
I don’t remember their names, but I know they’re the ones who eat Yggdrasil’s sprouts.
“Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór.”
Says Brynhildr after leaving the house.
She’s changed from a white one piece dress to something war-like. She’s holding a big spear, and no longer looks like what you’d expect from a nature loving elf.
Now the words war goddess seem to fit her better.
“What is that outfit?”
“I am going to take down the stags. They can only be attacked when they eat sprouts.”
She says before taking off running towards Yggdrasil.
“Should we go too?”
“Yes.”
Elga and I go after her, and I think back and try to summarize everything.
“Hum, so Nidhogg gnaws at the base of Yggdrasil, and magic energy leaks.”
“Yes. And if we don’t take it down or pry it off, it’s just gonna keep eating.”
Yggdrasil has high regeneration abilities, but it’s being eaten too fast for it to catch up, so magic energy keeps leaking.
“And the stags we’re about to fight are eating young buds, right?”
“Yep. They don’t die, and apparently we can’t even touch them unless they’re eating Yggdrasil buds.”
I guess beings created specifically to destroy the world would be troubling like that.
All we can do is smack them off the branches as soon as they start eating, but it looks like we can at least get them away.
“But the biggest problem is that over there.”
Says Elga while pointing at the light on top of Yggdrasil.
The light that robs magic energy and illuminates the world, the rooster Víðópnir.
That was the last monster Brynhildr mentioned.
It keeps robbing Yggdrasil of its magic energy, and like the others, it cannot be beaten.
“So we want to seal these monsters again, but apparently the high elves aren’t strong enough to do that.”
“Yes. Nidhogg and the stags were sealed too.”
They were revived when the barrier around this island became unstable, but is there any sort of countermeasure against them?
If they’re not sealed again, magic energy is going to keep being sapped away.
The great spirits are infusing magic energy, stopping Yggdrasil from going berserk, but that’s just a stopgap measure.
“If we noticed they revived sooner, it’d be a bit better.”
“…”
Once we reach Yggdrasil, we see high elves gathered, and smacking the stags that are trying to climb the tree.
“They look like normal stags…”
“But ones that are okay after falling from that height.”
They just keep trying to get up there.
When they stop, because I guess they found buds, the magic fired by high elves brings them down again.
This keeps repeating, so I guess they’ve been protecting Yggdrasil like this.
“Nidhogg is eating the roots, but apparently it can recover magic energy if they protect the buds like that.”
“I see…”
I try hitting a stag, but my attack doesn’t connect. It passes right through it.
It looks like they really are invincible unless they’re eating buds.
“The high elves look pretty tired.”
“Yes. They’ve been taking turns, but they’ve been at it for about a month now…”
It’s like a castle being sieged. And since they don’t have reinforcements, all they can do is keep doing what they’ve been doing.
I’m pretty sure this was already going on the last time we were here. They were fighting monsters that won’t die no matter what.
“All right!”
“Hn? What are you up to?”
“I’ll do something about those stags.”
I follow a stag climbing the tree. A high elf looks at me with a puzzled expression, but doesn’t interfere.
And just as the stag is about to eat…
“Eat thiiiiiis!”
I punch it with full force.
I once sent an emperor boar flying far away, but this time, I’m putting even more strength into it.
The stag flies away incredibly fast, and it takes a second for it to be out of my sight.
“All right! This should buy a lot of time!”
They don’t have much of a consciousness besides the urge to eat Yggdrasil buds, so I imagine they’ll walk back here without much of a rush.
I don’t know how far the edge of this world is, but I can only imagine it won’t be back today.
“…”
The high elves look at me dumbfounded, but I’m moving on to the next one.
I hit the stags one after the other, sending them flying in four directions.
This isn’t a real solution, but at least the high elves can rest.
I jump down to the ground, and go back to where Elga is.
“Are you stronger than before?”
“Am I?”
I don’t usually use my full strength, so I wouldn’t know. What I do know is that I’m angry over Snow disappearing.
“Thank you, father.”
The high elves come down from Yggdrasil, and Brynhildr thanks me on behalf of all of them.
She looks tired, and I’m assuming she hasn’t had a proper rest in a long time.
The others also look relieved, but while I sympathize, what I care about right now is Snow.
“How do I help Snow?”
“If the monsters attacking Yggdrasil are sealed, or…”
Defeated? That doesn’t seem likely.
According to Brynhildr, we need the power of multiple great spirits to seal them again.
Just how bad are these magic beasts this world’s god created…
“But there’s no danger for the time being?”
“That much is certain. They are only infusing Yggrasil with magic energy. But if they reach the limit…”
“Then I’ll take action right away.”
With the stags blown far away, Yggdrasil can recover a little.
“Take me to the roots.”
“Do you intend to defeat Nidhogg? That is an undying magic beast, and cannot be pried off like the stags.”
“We won’t know until we try.”
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Thanks for the treat.