Chapter 152
Thump.
He heard the sound of his heart.
He knew it. The heart relentlessly beats every day, every moment, never taking a rest.
But this heart was not his own.
“The gods and giants. Great beings that mere human strength can never hope to contend with.”
“This is an object created to fight and win against them.”
Ferius’s voice echoed in his mind.
‘Is this what he meant?’
Lee Suhyuk felt as if he had been drawn into the center of a vast whirlpool.
Thump.
What on Earth was this heart?
Who was the human that possessed this heart…
And then, what was the lightning he had been wielding until now?
“No need to be so tense.”
Sss-.
The scenery returned.
It was as if the hell he had just witnessed had been a lie.
As the world regained its perfect, near-peaceful beauty, some of the tension that had frozen him began to melt.
“It happened so long ago, you see. Moreover, it wasn’t you who did it, right?”
There was no way to read his thoughts.
Lee Suhyuk suddenly realized that he didn’t even know the man’s name, though he had been facing him directly.
However, from what he had just seen, one name came to mind.
“Are you Odin, by any chance?”
Odin.
The great king of Asgard and a legendary god.
He possessed a past where he had sealed Bergelmir alongside Tyr.
“Correct.”
“I never expected you to answer so straightforwardly.”
“Why would I use grand words to state who I am?”
It was a valid point, leaving Lee Suhyuk unable to respond. Surely, the fact that this man was Odin was shocking only to him.
“May I ask one more question?”
“What is it?”
“What was the cause of that fight?”
The battle between gods and humans.
It was a story from quite some time ago.
Ferius only knew it as a legend, and Viola seemed completely ignorant of it.
What possibly could have happened to spill so much blood?
In the end, humanity lost. Judging by the heart now beating within his own chest, that much was clear.
“You’re a bit hasty.”
“Hasty?”
“You’re trying to know too much. This problem doesn’t just involve Asgard, but others too. I can’t tell you.”
Suhyuk swallowed his disappointment at the refusal.
If he could discern the cause of the fight, it might give him more clues about lightning.
“You said I have the same heart as that human, right?”
Lee Suhyuk asked, thinking there was nothing left to lose.
“Is this the same as well?”
He raised his hand, revealing the Gauntlet of Thunder.
As expected, Odin nodded.
“That must indeed be because of it.”
“Because of this?”
“The reason Tyr sent you here.”
It was Tyr who sent Suhyuk to this place. To be precise, the fragment of a sword that Tyr gave him led Suhyuk here.
“So that the same thing doesn’t happen again.”
“What do you mean?”
“We decided to test you. To see if you can handle it or not. And if you do, in what way you will use it.”
The words were still difficult to understand.
Seeing the complex expression on Suhyuk’s face, Odin faintly smiled and continued.
“To put it simply, it means to become a being fitting for thunder.”
Rumble-.
The ground Suhyuk stood on shook. Petals fell, and an ominous feeling engulfed his entire body.
The source of that ominous feeling was revealed in the next moment.
Crack-!
As if it had been prepared from the start, the ground suddenly gave way.
As Suhyuk fell deep into the ground, he stared at Odin’s face.
“Do not rely on thunder. That is the way to control thunder.”
He could step on lightning to ascend, just as he had done in the fight against Baldur.
‘There’s no need for that.’
Suhyuk didn’t do that.
He felt himself falling rapidly. The sunken ground and deep underground were probably a stage prepared for him.
In that case…
‘I must willingly accept it.’
This was a test.
Just as Tyr had acknowledged him, it was a test to be acknowledged by Odin.
『The Sixth Trial of Asgard begins.』
Suhyuk had a gut feeling.
This trial would not be short. If it was this difficult just to enter Valhalla, the road ahead was very long.
It seemed he had made the right choice to tell Un Hyang to wait.
* * *
The place where Suhyuk disappeared.
In this place filled with clear skies and fragrant flowers, Odin looked down into the deep pit.
Crunch-.
A second guest, arriving a bit late.
Odin didn’t need to see to know who it was from the footsteps.
“I thought you sent him alone. So a guardian is accompanying him.”
“What guardian? I just came because I was curious.”
Tyr scoffed at Odin’s words.
Glancing at Odin’s expression, Tyr noticed that Odin was looking at the human who had made it here alive with curiosity.
“Why didn’t you kill him?”
Tyr was a god who hated humans more than anyone. It was difficult to understand what his intentions were in letting a human live and sending him here.
“Because of him, we were able to prevent Bergelmir from being unleashed.”
“You owe him?”
“Something like that.”
“If the worst happens, he could become an even greater monster than Bergelmir.”
At Odin’s warning, Tyr nodded.
“Like Thor?”
At those words, Odin’s shoulders flinched. That was the reason Odin had left his throne and was here.
“You chose Thor, didn’t you? I’m choosing that guy. He has potential.”
“…… Basis?”
“He’s human. He even beat Baldur.”
“Barely beating Baldur?”
“Yes, barely. That’s why we’re raising him now, aren’t we? It’ll be a big problem if he gets consumed by thunder later.”
Tyr, with a meaningful gaze, looked down at the ground where Lee Suhyuk had fallen.
“It might be much better to be swallowed now, if you’re going to be swallowed anyway.”
* * *
How long would he keep falling?
After about ten minutes had passed, Suhyuk realized that he wasn’t just falling.
‘Was it magic?’
He had thought he was simply plummeting.
But then he realized it, he was being moved somewhere by magic.
No.
It might even be that the world around him was changing instead of him moving.
“I guess I won’t just keep falling like this…”
Perhaps influenced by the streaming, talking to himself had become a habit.
A while later, the sensation of falling gradually slowed down.
‘Have I arrived?’
Plop-.
His back gently touched the ground as if gravity had become lighter. At that moment, the scenery around him transformed dramatically.
It was as if the sky was filled with stars; colorful lights illuminated the world above his head. In front of him stretched a road, seemingly endless.
『’Path of Strength’ begins.』
『Your strength will be tested and tested again.』
Watching the world transform around him, Suhyuk once again felt the power of Odin.
‘They did say he was the greatest wizard.’
It was hard to distinguish whether what he was seeing was reality or illusion.
Indeed, it was a power that could reshape the Heavens and the Earth. Odin was an existence fitting the name of a god more than anyone.
Step-.
Path of Strength.
He still didn’t understand how this path would test him.
If there was something distinctive, it was just one thing.
At the beginning of the path, there was a red line drawn.
“What lies beyond this line?”
No need to overthink. He would find out by crossing over.
Instinctively, he felt it. This test didn’t require any complex calculations.
Suhyuk was already familiar with similar kinds of tests.
Step-.
Rumble-.
As he crossed the red line, he heard a heavy thud, as if something had fallen near his ears.
But this wasn’t a sound.
The weight on his body changed. Gravity increased, making his whole body feel sluggish as if he had plunged deep underwater.
‘It is indeed a path of strength…’
A test that perfectly matched its name.
Where would it end? He was certain that as he progressed further, the gravitational force would increase more and more.
Just like how the ‘Path of Lightning’ he walked through on the second floor was.
Suddenly, Odin’s words before he fell here echoed in his mind.
“I have decided to test you. To see whether or not you can handle it, and if you handle it, how you will use it.”
“In simple terms, it means you have to become someone worthy of thunder.”
The purpose of this place was twofold: a test and training.
What would emerge from walking this path? It was hard to believe that just walking would make him someone who fits thunder.
Nevertheless, there was only one thing he had to do now.
“Let’s go.”
Huff-.
He filled his belly with strength.
Thud—
Lee Suhyuk started to walk down the path.
* * *
The road was largely as Suhyuk had expected.
Thud—
With each step, it felt like the ground was shaking. The gravity increased so much that he had to put forth all his strength to take even a single step.
“Huff, huff—”
Sweat poured as if it were raining. It seemed as though all the moisture in his body was being drained. Just standing still made it hard for him to breathe, and he felt his limits approaching.
There was only one reason he managed to get this far.
‘I’m fortunate to have high stamina.’
He wanted to use Lightning. If he had, he would have been able to run down this path much more easily.
However, Suhyuk chose not to do so.
“Do not rely on thunder. That is the way to master the thunder.”
These were the words Odin had told him when he had fallen.
And there was another reason.
『Strength increased by 1.』
Because of these messages that chimed in just when he was about to forget.
‘That’s the fourth one already.’
He had felt he was lacking in stats anyway.
Though stamina was the most important stat for Suhyuk, recently he needed all his stats balanced. It was tough, but it was also a welcome trial.
Thud—
He continued to move forward.
“Is that… it?”
Far ahead, he saw a red line, similar to the starting point.
‘They’re pushing me just to the point of not dying.’
The distance was considerable—about two kilometers, it seemed.
Considering the labored steps he was taking, it would take him hours to reach there.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t make it. He had enough stamina; he just needed willpower.
Then—
“……?”
Beyond the red line, there was a man with unkempt, long blonde hair.
Was there someone else here as well?
Thud—
The man crossed the red line as if gravity meant nothing to him.
He approached quickly with confident strides.
‘That’s…’
What surprised Suhyuk wasn’t the ease of the man’s steps.
It wasn’t the vivid red eyes that became clearer as he got closer, nor the sharp teeth akin to those of a beast.
It was the silver hammer in the man’s hand that reacted to the Gauntlets of Thunder on Suhyuk’s hand.
Perhaps.
No, certainly.
‘Mjolnir?’
The reason why Suhyuk had come all the way to this distant Valhalla was now in the stranger’s hand.