Brynhildr takes us to the roots of Yggdrasil, where I see a beautiful clear spring.
When I touch it, I can tell there is an immense amount of magic energy here.
“This spring is called Hvergelmir. There are others, but this is where the whole island gets its magic energy.”
“And that’s…”
“Yes, Nidhogg.”
It looks less like a snake, and more like a crocodile with its limbs.
It’s big enough to easily swallow a person whole, but still smaller than I imagined.
There are countless snakes around Yggdrasil, gnawing at its roots.
“Nidhogg’s familiars won’t die, won’t get pried off, and will continue biting holes into Yggdrasil.”
Elga grabs one and pulls, but it’s like it was always attached to Yggdrasil.
Hitting doesn’t work either, as the concept of taking damage doesn’t apply to them, so they keep eating the roots.
“This is pretty bad uh…”
“…”
If even a great warrior of the divine beast people can’t do it, I don’t think raw power’s going to cut it.
I also try to grab one, and…
“Oh? It just came off.”
I didn’t even pull that hard…
“Eh? That should not be possible.”
Brynhildr is surprised, and when she tries to do the same, it doesn’t work.
Elga also tries to pull another one to no avail.
“You didn’t pull at full power or anythin’?”
“No no, it was like this.”
I grab another one, and pull it off like that’s what it wanted anyway.
The snake coils around me and bites me a little, but it doesn’t seem to really be trying.
Elga is surprised when I show him the snakes biting me and dangling, without any real sign of resistance.
“They shouldn’t be interested in anything except Yggdrasil…”
“They’re biting me though… Am I just tasty?”
I dangle the snakes in front of them, and Brynhildr looks on with a serious expression.
“Then… Father!”
“Ah, yes!”
“Can you kill these snakes!?”
From her point of view, they are harmful beasts attacking Yggdrasil.
It makes sense for her to propose that, and I have no sympathy towards them either, so I drop one on the ground and step on it.
I don’t know if there’s a special kind of barrier or what, but it’s like I can’t feel it.
It doesn’t seem to feel pain, and it doesn’t look like I can kill it by hitting or stepping on it.
“It doesn’t look like I can kill them.”
“I see…”
That would solve the problem, so that’s too bad.
But if I can pry them off, then maybe their boss…
“I’ll go try it with that one.”
I grab the tail of the big snake gnawing the roots, and feel resistance. But that in itself tells me I can do it, so…
“O-oooooh!”
The giant root creaks as it’s lifted off the ground, but being the size that it is, it doesn’t go up a lot.
Nidhogg tries to hang on with its arms and legs, but gradually loses to my strength.
“Raaaaah!”
I yell, and pull it off Yggdrasil.
I hear a strange high pitched groan, and it tries to run back to Yggdrasil, but I don’t let it.
I drag it by the tail to where Brynhildr and Elga are waiting.
“It worked!”
“A-amazing…”
“Hey hey, you’re doin’ something crazy again.”
Both are surprised as they look at it, but I don’t think it was my strength that did it. I think there’s a special power at play.
Elga attacks it a couple of times, but deals no damage.
So am I really the only one who can pry it off?
I don’t know why, but at least that takes care of more than half of our problems.
“…!?”
I guess Nidhogg is mad, and it bites me.
Unlike the other snakes, this one opens its big mouth wide like it wants to eat me whole, and when it pierces me with its sharp fangs, I feel a little pain.
Pain?
I look at my arm. It doesn’t hurt all that much, but there’s practically nothing on this island that can hurt me.
Even something on the same level as Wil would have to get serious…
Well, I’m not going to find any answers right now anyway.
“Is there anything I have to do with this thing?”
“Well… This is all very new…”
I think about throwing it in a cage, but if it was that easy, they wouldn’t be in so much trouble.
And since I can’t put living beings in my Storage Magic…
“Ah, I know.”
I know magic that can imprison even great spirits.
The darkness prison. The one that Miss Sheryl used was an inexplicable space.
“Yes!”
I’ve been thrown in it a few times, so I have a good feel for it.
Then again, it wouldn’t be good if it failed right now, so I fly while holding on to Nidhogg’s tail.
“How’s that!?”
A black hole opens in the air, and when I throw Nidhogg into it, it starts kicking about again.
But as I know from experience, there’s no footing in there.
There’s no up and down or left and right. It’s a weightless area with darkness all around.
And you can’t even create magic energy unless you’re really powerful.
I can hear it scream as it’s sucked into the darkness.
After a while, there’s no sign that it will jump out.
“Ahh… Good.”
Since Nidhogg would come out if I undid the darkness prison, I leave it active in the air.
“I never thought something like this…”
Brynhildr is too surprised to even react, but Elga knows me, so he’s just exasperated.
“I know it’s too late to even question these things, but how did you do it?”
“I don’t know…”
Even I can’t respond. It really is all about feeling.
Ah, and my arm isn’t bleeding anymore. That’s my divine cheat body at work.
“Oh well, I’ll just clean up the other snakes.”
Much like the stags earlier, this isn’t a permanent solution, but it should improve this situation a lot.
I can hear Brynhildr and Elga talking while I throw the snakes into the darkness prison.
“…Can father really turn this situation around?”
“I know you high elves hate getting other races to help, but I think he will if you just ask.”
“Elga… Yes, I see.”
That’s the first I’m hearing of it, but I do have this feeling that elves are exclusionary.
I’m assuming they’re only willing to listen to me because I’m the father of a great spirit, and I’m with Elga, since they have a good relationship with divine beast people.
It really goes to show that no matter how great a race is, cooperation is good.
I’m suddenly reminded of Reina. Unlike me, she’s a regular human, and weak compared to other people on this island.
And yet, no one who knows her here looks down on her at this point.
That’s because she’s been using the abilities she has cultivated throughout her life to establish a position for herself.
“It’s incredible. She didn’t just get cheats from god like me.”
And like her, the other members of the seven great mages and the hero’s party are getting used to this island too.
That’s pretty incredible. I need to make sure I don’t fall behind either.
“Is that all of them?”
I’m done throwing the snakes into the darkness prison, and I go back to the other two, who are talking about something.
Suddenly, I feel eyes on me.
I turn and see a squirrel with a surprised expression.
I get a bad feeling from it, so I try to catch it, but it dashes up Yggdrasil incredibly fast.
“What was that?”
“That was Ratatoskr, another harmful beast that nests in Yggdrasil.”
“Can we leave it alone?”
“It alone has no power to harm Yggdrasil… But it is surely informing Víðópnir of what happened.”
So Ratatoskr is the informant of the being at the top.
“But these beasts were never friends, so it won’t seek retribution for their defeat.”
I was getting wary, but they’re beings that only sap magic energy from Yggdrasil, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”
“Maybe Miss Miriel and the others will be able to return…”
Brynhildr says to no one in particular.
I feel sadness and loneliness in her voice. And since I want to save Snow, I also want to finish this as soon as possible.
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