Episode 47/Chapter 2: The fastest one (2)
TL: Tsubak
ED: SlowAsLightning
Two hours since leaving Valhalla.
At first the Black Flashes were filled with screams but it was silent when it arrived at its destination. The reason was simple.
“Can’t get……accustomed to it……”
It was because the Black Flash was hard to ride no matter how many times you rode on it. Even if you accumulated runes and increased your stamina, you still felt dizzy so one thought that it wasn’t a physical problem but a mental one.
Tae Ho staggered out of the Black Flash and looked at his surroundings. Siri was crumpled down with a pale face next to Bracky who had started to throw up as soon as he got down. She was praying in thanks for the solidness of the ground.
Ingrid tried hard not to vomit and Gandur concentrated on inhaling some air.
A few minutes passed.
The group barely managed to recover and then started to search their surroundings. The first one that reacted was certainly Gandur.
“I smell blood.”
She was a Valkyrie of the God of hunting Ullr. Siri, who belonged to the same legion as her, nodded. The two people activated the blessing of tracking, one of the blessings of Ullr, and started to chase after the traces.
“How gruesome.”
Bracky said after passing through some bushes. The scene in front of him left him speechless.
They could see the corpses that were estimated to be the warriors that were investigating the surroundings along with Rasgrid. The bodies of the intermediate ranked warriors maintained their shapes even after they died but as for the lowest and inferior ranked warriors, their bodies were to the point you couldn’t recognize who was who.
‘They couldn’t grasp the strength of their opponents.’
Cuchulainn said in a low voice. He frowned while looking at the corpse of an inferior ranked warrior’s exploded body.
‘He’s quite skilled. It doesn’t look like there are several enemies. At most two…..no, this was all done by one person.’
There was no need for Tae Ho to transmit Cuchulainn’s opinion. Gandur, who was checking on the corpses of the warriors, bit her lips and said.
“It’s more than a hunt rather than a proper battle. One enemy ambushed them while travelling and massacred them.”
An idea formed in Gandur’s head. Someone attacked Rasgrid’s group, that was moving in a determined direction, and immediately annihilated them.
“It seems like Rasgrid-nim chose to escape or let some warriors escape while she stopped the enemy…..”
Siri paused after speaking and then looked at a distant place. The traces of blood still continued.
“Angerta!”
Ingrid yelled. Tae Ho hurriedly looked at her direction and then gritted his teeth. The corpse of a Valkyrie that had her chest cut was in the embrace of Ingrid, who was sitting down.
Odin’s Valkyrie Angerta.
Gandur knew her. That’s why a curse came out but she was a Valkyrie of the God of hunting. She couldn’t lose her composure when they were tracking their enemy.
“About two hours passed since the signal of Rasgrid disappeared and we departed. Almost four to five hours passed including the time it took to get here so it’s been more than enough time for the souls of the dead warriors to head to Valhalla.
The souls of the warriors of Valhalla would always return to Valhalla no matter where they died as long as they were inside of Asgard.
So this meant that it was possible to hear the situation directly from the concerned parties.
“They’ll become Steel warriors as soon as they return?”
Bracky asked hurriedly. If that was the case, the current doubts would all be solved.
But Gandur shook her head at his question.
“They need some time. Time to regain their consciousness and get accustomed to their new steel body. It will take at least a few days.”
The reason Freya dispatched an investigation team was also because of that. If she could turn the souls that returned into Steel warriors she wouldn’t have even dispatched an investigation team.
“They didn’t return to Valhalla.”
It was then.
Ingrid, who was holding the corpse of Angerta, said in a low voice. She, who wielded the divine power of Njord in her eyes, carefully placed down the corpse of Angerta and then stood up and turned to look at Tae Ho.
“Commander, it seems like the enemy has retrieved the soul of the warriors. If they returned to Valhalla, a trace should be left in their corpses but I can’t see anything. In addition, the decisive thing is……that the soul of Angerta was forcefully removed from her body. It’s beyond a simple death…..and I’m certain that her soul was taken by them.”
It wasn’t her usual calm and flat voice. There was a grief she couldn’t hide in her voice.
Gandur was surprised at Ingrid’s words and hurriedly checked Angerta’s corpse. She then cursed out.
It was like Ingrid had said. The souls of the warriors didn’t return to Valhalla. They were trapped somewhere or retrieved by the attacker.
‘They put in a lot of effort to hide their identity. There’s a high probability they retrieved the soul of the warriors to prevent them from transmitting information after they became Steel warriors.
Tae Ho also thought the same thing as Cuchulainn. Perhaps, the ambush itself may have been planned beforehand.
While Gandur continued to check on the corpses of the warriors, Siri moved alone to a distant place while following the traces and raised her voice.
“I can’t see the corpse of Rasgrid-nim. In addition the signal got cut off here. I’m certain this trail of blood belongs to her.”
She, was received the favor of the God of hunting Ullr, could use more varied senses compared to other warriors.
Just by bringing the trace of blood to her tongue she could know who it belonged to and in which state they were at.
‘The possibilities I can think of are two…….no, three.’
The attacker killed Rasgrid and took her corpse or kidnapped her just like the Beast king Tiachi did.
And the remaining one.
Rasgrid didn’t leave behind any traces and escaped from the attacker.
The probabilities for it were too low. It should be one of the first two options looking at reality and the one that had the highest possibilities among them was the second as Angerta’s corpse was thrown. There was no reason for the attacker to take the corpse of a Valkyrie.
But Tae Ho thought of something different.
He may be thinking to a favorable side for him but something still bothered him.
The opponent didn’t want his identity to be revealed to the point he retrieved the souls of the warriors of Valhalla but he had left behind the corpses.
However, more traces got left in a corpse than you thought. What weapon they used, what was the height of the attacker, which was the dominant hand, etc.
In addition he was skilled to the point he massacred several intermediate ranked warriors by himself. So naturally, the range of suspects could only shorten. If a warrior had a saga that specialized in getting all of this information it may have been possible to grasp exactly who was the perpetrator.
But regardless of that the attacker still left behind the corpses.
Why?
How so?
Because he had something more urgent to take care of. Something more important than having his identity exposed through the corpses.
Tae Ho thought of the possibility of Rasgrid having escaped. If she had escaped alive, the attacker would certainly target her since she was alive rather than the already dead warriors.
[Saga: The warrior that had a Goddess meet him]
He activated his saga one more time. He couldn’t call Rasgrid like when he activated his saga as soon as he got down from the Black Flash.
But he knew something thanks to using his saga continuously.
Rasgrid was alive. She wasn’t dead. And the reason she didn’t get summoned wasn’t because she was too far away.
There was something blocking Tae Ho and Rasgrid. Tae Ho could sense the direction she was at.
“Olympus.”
The place Rasgrid was at. The thing blocking her summoning was the boundary wall between Asgard and Olympus.
Tae Ho didn’t hesitate. He started to walk towards Olympus.
&
“Are you awake?”
Rasgrid opened her eyes. Her head hurt and couldn’t see well because her vision was blurry.
“I will give you a healing medicine. It’s a bit bitter but endure it.”
Something entered her mouth followed by the voice. It was a potion that was bitter just as the owner of the voice, the man said.
After she gulped some of it forcefully, some energy returned to her body even if it was little. Her head still hurt but she could now see because her eyes were cleared.
She was in the embrace of a handsome man. It seemed like he held her and gave her the medicine in her mouth. Their surroundings was filled with olive tree so they were probably in a forest.
“Are you able to speak?”
The voice of the man, who had a dense blonde hair and blue eyes, was really low and careful. Rasgrid exhaled with difficulty and nodded slowly.
“This is……”
“Olympus. We could only flee to this place to trick him.”
The man spoke once again. Rasgrid let out a rough sigh while leaning her head on the chest of the man. Her body felt hot perhaps because of the effects of the medicine and then remembered.
What she saw before she lost consciousness.
The man blocked her mouth with his hands and because of that Rasgrid’s attempt to scream was stopped. The man hurriedly covered her mouth and spoke quickly.
“I rescued you. Can’t you remember?”
The moment she was about to get done by the spear of the enemy.
Someone tore the barrier and entered. He made the enemy bewildered just with his entrance and then took Rasgrid and left.
She remembered. Rasgrid nodded slowly.
“I will put my hands off from your mouth. Don’t scream as he may still be nearby.”
Rasgrid nodded once again. The man took his hand off from Rasgrid’s mouth with a nervous face.
“What….what happened? Why did he……no, first of all you…….?”
Rasgrid was a wise person but her questions could only get tangled because the situation and her state were a mess. The man tried to answer each of her questions calmly.
But it was right at that moment.
The man hurriedly turned to look at one direction and Rasgrid flinched and also looked at the same direction.
He was approaching.
She couldn’t hear his footsteps and the smell wasn’t felt but she could know.
The nasty killing intent.
It was coming this way. He didn’t even think of hiding it. It seemed like he was proclaiming that he would never let go of her now that he had chased her this far.
The man gritted his teeth and Rasgrid tried to stand up with her own strength.
The bushes split.
She could now see his appearance clearly.
Rasgrid held a breath. She hadn’t seen wrong. It really was him. HE massacred the warriors of Valhalla, killed Angerta and also tried to kill her.
Why? How? Because of what!
It was when she was about to yell and was taking a fighting stance however she could.
[Saga: The warrior that had a Goddess meet him]
A familiar aura covered Rasgrid’s body.
&
“Rasgrid!”
Rasgrid blinked at the call. This person also had a handsome face but this time it was someone she knew.
Black hair and black eyes.
Idun’s warrior. The commander of Idun!
“Are you fine? Can you recognize me?”
She felt at ease at his voice filled with worry. She felt like tears would drop now that her nervousness had disappeared. She took a breath and checked her surroundings.
It wasn’t only Tae Ho. There were more familiar faces.
Siri, Bracky, Ingrid and Gandur.
And Rasgrid could understand at that moment. This place was inside the connection between Olympus and Asgard.
“Rasgrid, are you okay? Can you tell us what happened?”
Gandur spoke quickly. Her eyes were looking at the big wound Rasgrid had in her stomach. It seemed like she did first aid treatment on it but couldn’t heal it completely since the bandages covering it were dyed in red.
Rasgrid nodded. She had to transmit the information even if she was in a worse state.
The one that attacked the warriors of Valhalla.
The one that attacked herself and her benefactor in a not distant place.
Rasgrid opened her mouth. At that moment, Tae Ho and all the others looked at the same direction. They could only do so.
A strong power that shook the entire place.
It swelled up big and made his existence clear.
Gandur and Ingrid were bewildered. SIri opened her eyes sharply and took out the Bow of Tristan. Bracky enhanced his fighting spirit so that his strength surpassed that of normal giant kings.
It seemed like the enemy also noticed them. The strong aura started to move towards them.
In addition there were several of them. They weren’t as strong as the strongest aura but were auras that couldn’t be ignored at all. Each one of them was really fast.
Rasgrid was certain of it once again and that’s why she yelled.
The one approaching them. The one that bared his fangs towards Asgard.
“Achilles!”
The great hero of Olympus.
The one that had the fastest speed among people along with Atalante.
The one that received the number one spear technique of Olympus from his master Chiron.
He crossed the wind and showed himself while holding a spear.
< Episode 47 – The fastest one (2) > End
TL note: Thanks for reading~