Chapter 146: Three Norns (5)
“To see the great Urd like this. It’s such a sight hard to see.”
From a corner of Urd’s dark holy territory, a snake popped out and turned into a human.
[If you’re gonna say bullshit just leave, Hermes.]
Urd shotued at Hermes with an annoyed voice.
Hermes lightly tapped his staff, Herald, on the floor, and laughed.
[You wicked…..]
As he continued to laugh, Urd became even more annoyed.
Urd was planning on making Yeon-woo feel confused. Because from her perspective, there weren’t a lot of people with this kind of a messy past.
Many players entered the Tower with all kinds of regrets in their past. Of those, Yeon-woo was the best.
Most players lived with a hope.
People who had no other things to achieve came to the Tower to do what they couldn’t here, and others wanted a new life. Some wanted medicine to fix their loved ones.
Whatever the reason was, they climbed the Tower with hope. That was the life they lived. It was their present and future.
But Yeon-woo was different.
He didn’t have a particular hope, and just climbed the Tower. He didn’t escape the shackles of the past. No, he pushed himself into them tighter.
So she stimulated that point. Urd was a god that saw the past. It was easy to pick the past out to test people.
Like she had done in the past, she thought Yeon-woo wouldn’t be able to escape them.
However.
“Don’t you think it’s time you stop misleading people? People like that poor friend over there aren’t your playthings.”
Hermes turned his head to the door. The poor child he was talking about was standing there.
Hepburn. She was fated to be the high elves’ queen, but she couldn’t stand up from the scorn of her species and fell into another hole.
Then, a woman plodded out of the darkness. Every time she moved, her dry leg showed itself and disappeared again.
Hair that came down to her feet, and eyes consisting of just white with no pupils. She was half hidden by the darkness, but she was a beautiful woman.
Urd stood face to face with Hermes with a frustrated face.
Seeing his smiling face, it overlapped with Yeon-woo’s face laughing at her as he left her territory.
He snorted. Yeon-woo dared to snort in front of a god. As if telling her to stop with the bullcrap. No, as if it was hilarious. He snorted like asking if this was all she had and left her territory.
She had forced out a pass that he wanted to avoid using any means. Yeon-woo had experienced something similar that his brother had experienced.
He had been abandoned by his trusted comrades in the middle of enemy territory and forced his injured body to travel 150 km.
From that, Yeon-woo lost all his emotions. He threw away anger, hate, revenge, and became a doll without any emotions. That was when the monster called ‘Cain’ was born.
Later, he learned that it was a slight misunderstanding, but it was too late.
Yeon-woo never looked at them again. Rather, he glowered at them like he would kill them if he saw them again.
And he forgot about it.
She had made him relive that memory. That it would be the same this time. That it wasn’t different, so he should betray before he was betrayed. She whispered in his ear not to trust anyone and live with suspicion and worries his entire life. She told him not to live the same life as his brother.
Urd thought Yeon-woo wouldn’t be able to escape her trap.
Everyone she had met was like that. That was how she met Hepburn, and how she ‘collected’ her other dolls.
But Yeon-woo just kicked it away like that was obvious. And he headed straight to the 17th floor like he wouldn’t ever see her again.
Urd couldn’t read his mind. Just what was he thinking?
Living in the past and not being able to wake up a Mythical Beast because he didn’t have any dreams or hopes. How was such a guy able to escape her?
“Since you make the string of fate, I guess. You might not know. Yeah. Since everything seems like a puppet show for you. Not knowing that people who are connected by the string might be moving on their own will.”
“Don’t make me laugh, Hermes. The string is decided. The beginning, and the end. Fate cannot be avoided. Everything that we saw was right.”
Hermes shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, since the path that we see is different, I guess what we see on it is different too.”
Urd ground her teeth.
“You Olympus fools are always like that. Mere usurpers.”
“Because we overcame it. But you all haven’t. That’s the difference.”
“Ha! Overome, my ass. You’re all only cowards who stuck a sword in your father’s back. And locked him up. But what? Overcome?”
“I always say this, but this conversation only runs in circles.”
Urd bit her lips. Hermes was right. Since their domain was different, what they saw was different. Even if they were the same gods, they were different. From their creation.
“It seemed like you all have been watching that child.”
That child. She meant Yeon-woo.
“It’s not just me. Athena is also interested. Ares and Dionysus as well. No, actually, it’s not just us, but more correct to say that everyone is interested.”
From when Yeon-woo had begun to adjust his inheritance of the Draconic species to his own liking.
From when he had the idea to create a Mugong that would help the Magic Circuit that didn’t flow in his body.
Most of the beings on the 98th floor were interested in Yeon-woo. A few of them seriously thought of how to make him their apostle.
If he had reached the 50th floor, which was the qualification to become an apostle, he would’ve received so many offers that he would’ve been sick of them.
“And same goes for the demon guys,”
“What?”
Urd widened her eyes at the unexpected words. Unlike the gods, who showed an interest in the lower floors, it was hard to guess what the demons were thinking. But they were also targeting Yeon-woo.
“There’s rumors that Agares of the East is drooling.”
“…..”
Agares was the second ranking of the 72 Demon Kings. He symbolized destruction and madness, and had an endless greed even for demons.
But knowing that such a guy had stepped up…..
Something came to Yeon-woo’s mind.
A small piece of a memory that she saw from Yeon-woo. A message from a demon that Laplace delivered. That nameless demon was Agares.
Urd clenched her fist. There were this many beings trying to get her food? She hated her things being taken away from her.
Then.
“And most of all.”
Hermes smiled and brought down Herald on the ground again.
Then, a deep crack was made where Herald was, and it began to spread all over the ground. The holy territory filled with Urd’s energy started to collapse.
In its place, there was a new ashy world.
And tens of colossal boa constrictors lifted their heads to look down.
Hiss. Hiss. Their sharp tongues glistened.
“…..!”
In front of the tens of snakes, Urd stiffened.
Boa constrictors were magical creatures that swallowed dragons and gods in a bite. They were Hermes’s symbol and signified his great strength.
“I hope you don’t forget about me. I picked him first. I was feeling a bit annoyed because others were trying to take him. But cutting in line like this isn’t nice, right?”
Urd clenched her fist. Hermes was one of the only gods who could move as he wished along the land of the living and the land of the dead.
So he could appear in the lower floors himself. Although it required a lot of energy.
If she got on his bad side, then everything was over. He could make the boa constrictors eat her and she wouldn’t be able to say anything.
Eventually Urd had to step back. Even if she was humiliated, Hermes had the power.
“That’s a relief. Since you understand what I’m saying.”
Hermes brightly smiled and the snakes disappeared back into the ground. The boa constrictors glared at Urd and disappeared after them.
The holy territory turned back into the black that symbolized Urd. But her pride didn’t come back.
“Hepburn.”
“Yes, master.”
At Urd’s command, Hepburn appeared from the dark with her head bowed.
Because Yeon-woo was gone, the shadow under her chin was gone.
“Swallow that child. Using whatever means.”
If she couldn’t have it, she would break it. That was the stubbornness that Urd had retained for a long time.
And Urd felt strange at what Hermes had said about Yeon-woo, that he had called dibs on him.
The Hermes she knew was like the wind. He was free, and hated being tied down. So even though he became stronger, he had no greed for possession.
But she felt uneasy seeing Hermes so alert.
The gaze she saw in his eyes wasn’t material greed.
‘The eyes when one wants to protect someone.’
It was a gaze when trying to hide something from the public. Hiding something tightly under wraps so something important wouldn’t be stolen.
‘There’s something about it.’
Urd thought there was a reason why Hermes was so protective of Yeon-woo. And she didn’t like that Athena and Dionysus were interested in Yeon-woo.
They were the second generation that hadn’t committed any crimes amidst the Olympus full of dethroners.
Since Urd was able to see a god’s past as well, she felt that something was wrong.
Hermes shouldn’t have spoken for so long.
Hepburn bowed at the command. When Urd was lost deep in thought, she closed the door and quietly left.
At that moment.
Urd felt something sharp from the side and whipped her head. Right when she was able to tell her to stop.
Before she could speak, Hepburn’s body was separated from her body on the floor.
A long shadow carried Hepburn’s soul and disappeared into nothingness. The Monster Portent that she thought went with Yeon-woo was hiding in Hepburn’s shadow all this time.
So if Urd had ordered Hepburn to hurt him, the Monster Portent would immediately act.
It was hidden so well that Urd didn’t notice it. No, because the power left behind by Hermes was so strong that she should feel anything with her dulled senses. She had been too lax.
And the result of that laxness. Came back too severely.
“Ackkk!!”
Urd couldn’t chase after the Monster Portent. A terrible pain shook her holy power.
Apostles were connected to their gods, and their spiritual body. Now that it was forcefully ripped away, it could only be painful.
And Hepburn was a precious high elf that Urd had obtained after struggling for a long time. Since she was a Superior species, she was that priceless. The backlash from it was immense.
Her divine power was unraveling. Urd had to protect herself in the world alone.
Shiver.
The darkness shook.
And that day, the 16th floor was upheaved at the halt of an oracle.
***
[This is the 17th floor, the gate of ‘White Air and Blue Water.’]
Yeon-woo moved to the next floor through a blue portal.
He had officially begun his climb, and his head was filled with annoyance from Urd.
But the moment he saw the Monster Portent through the Black Bracelet with Hepburn’s soul, his annoyance melted away like snow.
The soul of a Superior species was as hard to get as a high ranker. No, it was much harder. Especially if it had the power of a god.
He wasn’t sure but Hepburn’s soul was probably full of holy power forced from Urd.
Yeon-woo already started to think about where to use that power.
‘Of course, now I’m completely made enemies with the Three Norns. It’ll be a nuisance for the time being.’
The three temples would begin to create a search team to look for Urd’s holy power. They might use mercenaries or assassins.
It was going to be annoying, but it actually might be for the better.
Since he used all the souls that he had from Red Dragon and Cheonghwado to strengthen Shanon and others. It was an opportunity to replenish.
Actually, Yeon-woo thought he knew why Urd was trying to get to him. She was trying to get revenge for her younger sister and play with him like he was her toy.
So Yeon-woo felt offended, and he kicked the door open on the way out. He decided to leave the Monster Portent hidden in the shadows.
Also.
What Urd had pointed out in her holy territory were things he was aware of as well.
His experience in the past and what happened to his brother. They were all things that made Yeon-woo be suspicious of people.
Even when he was in Africa, he hadn’t been able to easily trust others. When he entered the Tower, he suspected everyone.
But now, it was different.
He had met many people, and his mind had changed.
But the last two lines in his brother’s diary were imprinted in his mind deeply like a stamp.
You were like my hero. I hope you don’t lose that side of you because I’m hurt.
With these words, there was no way he would change.
Since he couldn’t become an embarrassing brother to his little brother.