Chapter 908 – 908. God’S Atlantis
“Little one, you’re having blasphemous thoughts, aren’t you?”
Hel looked at me with a chilling smile.
The cold from the floor crept up my legs, traveled up my spine, and chilled my head. I quickly shook my head, denying it.
“Ah, no, that’s not it. How could I ever dare to think such a thing!”
“The reactions of humans who see me fall into two broad categories. They either fear me or despise me. You are the latter.”
“Absolutely not!”
“Enough. Don’t make excuses. I don’t care either way.”
“……”
Since she told me not to make excuses, I didn’t.
Hel’s eyebrows twitched. Soon, her laughter echoed through the palace.
“You’re an interesting human. You really don’t fear me.”
“No. I am afraid. I’d lose if we fought.”
“You don’t seem to have any intention of fighting? What brings you here?”
“We want to leave the hell zone.”
“You wish to use the gates of Niflheim. Fortunately, you are qualified.”
I knew what those qualifications were.
One was being alive, not dead.
The other was being a noble of hell.
As a noble of hell, I could rightfully request this of her. This was also why I was talking to Hel in front of Elena.
“It seems you came knowing everything, so I won’t waste words. What will you offer in return?”
“We will pay with AP.”
Atlantis Points.
For a god, it was influence and power.
“I have no need for that. I already have enough AP.”
“……We only came thinking of AP as payment. We’re taken aback that you don’t need it. What kind of payment do you want?”
“Originally, I do not rule all of Niflheim.”
“Yes. I know you rule Helheim, which is part of Niflheim.”
“But this time, for Atlantis, I’ve been put in charge of all of Niflheim. Niflheim is vast. So vast that it’s giving me a headache.”
“……”
“So, I want you to manage it for me.”
“We want to leave the hell zone.”
“Once you finish managing, I will let you out immediately.”
“……What kind of work is it?”
I didn’t like it, but I had no choice but to do what Hel wanted. Hel was in the position of power right now.
“Niflheim is so vast that there are places my power doesn’t reach. Clever wraiths and dead frost giants avoid me there. Go there, clean up the wraiths, and pluck their fingernails and toenails, and bring them to me. Ten thousand. The giant’s fingernails and toenails must be at least three thousand.”
It was a quest that took my breath away.
This was Niflheim. The longer we stayed here, the faster time would flow outside.
“Ten thousand… that seems like too many. Please reduce it a little.”
“No. If you don’t like it, give up. I don’t care if you stay here for ten thousand years. Ah, do you know that the cold of Niflheim freezes even time?”
“…I know.”
“Good to know. Now, go to work. Be careful not to be too late.”
We were dismissed.
Before Elena and I could even move, we were outside Hel’s palace. Hel had used her power to send us out.
“I feel like a slave. Wouldn’t it be better to fight that goddess?”
Elena said, getting up. She didn’t mean it seriously. It was just a lament.
“Even if you have complete recovery, you can’t win. At least we have to fight somewhere else.”
“Do you know where that goddess’s power doesn’t reach?”
“It’s obvious. You saw it on the way here, didn’t you?”
“I saw it…? Ah, indeed. Is it there?”
We had looked around as we came to Hel’s palace. And we found something peculiar. In some places, it was snowing heavily, and in others, it was cold, but it wasn’t snowing.
“It doesn’t snow in the goddess’s territory.”
“Right. And we haven’t been attacked by any wraiths even when we made eye contact on the way here, right? The places where it doesn’t snow are completely dominated by Hel.”
“Now that we have a goal, we should act. I’ll use spatial movement since we don’t have much time.”
“Is that possible?”
“I’m not confident in magic other than illusions, but my illusions are mostly omnipotent.”
Elena snapped her fingers.
Ten blue butterflies appeared. The butterflies fluttered around Elena and me. The space around the butterflies distorted.
In the blink of an eye, the space changed. Strong winds and heavy snow blew. The ground was covered in snow.
“Are you okay? I can give you the Hecate Cape if you want.”
“It’s okay. I already gave it to you. And I have something else.”
I summoned a red cloak from my inventory.
「Ermita’s Cloak
A cloak made by transforming the properties of ironwood into fibers.
It has excellent durability and does not get dirty easily.
It has high cold resistance.
Rank: A」
It was a cloak I had made in the past by asking the Ironroot Dwarves.
As soon as I put on the cloak, the biting cold disappeared. I stopped shivering.
“All that’s left is to find and eliminate the wraiths. Ten thousand fingernails and toenails. Hmm. Eugene, how many days do you think it will take?”
“I don’t know. If we’re lucky, we can finish it within a month. Humans have 20 fingernails and toenails, right?”
We could get 2,000 fingernails and toenails from 100 wraiths. 10,000 would be a piece of cake with 500 wraiths.
“The annoying part will be collecting 3,000 fingernails and toenails from dead frost giants.”
“Wraiths.”
Elena pointed straight ahead. There was no need to delay. I summoned the Stormbreaker in the form of a longsword, grabbed it, and charged at the wraith.
The wraith was a walking corpse. The skin was peeled off, and parts of the body were bone. Yet, it moved. It lunged at me, raising its fingernails.
‘Thunder.’
Crackling.
I created lightning and sword energy on the blade and cut through the wraith’s torso.
“Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
The wraith let out a horrible scream. It felt like being stabbed in the brain with an awl.
「The wraith curses you.」
「Your high mental fortitude shakes off the wraith’s curse.」
“Kieeeeeee! Kieeeeeeek! Kieeeee!”
“You’re too noisy for a low-level wraith. Just die.”
I cut off its head. But the wraith’s scream didn’t stop. After smashing its skull and tearing its body to pieces, the wraith finally fell silent.
“Eugene. We have to collect the fingernails and toenails.”
“I know. I don’t want to touch the corpse with my hands, but… I have no choice. …Damn it.”
“What’s wrong?”
“This bastard only has three fingernails and toenails.”
“Since the corpse is a mess, it doesn’t have any intact fingernails and toenails. It seems like this will take longer than we thought.”
I clicked my tongue and collected the fingernails and toenails.
We wandered around looking for wraiths. In the process, we also encountered dead frost giants. The frost giants were over 10 meters tall on average. As big as they were, they were incomparably stronger than ordinary wraiths. It took at least three minutes of one-on-one combat to defeat a dead frost giant. Of course, if Elena helped, we could defeat them faster, but Elena had to focus on finding wraiths.
“This won’t work.”
“Have you given up? Keep moving instead of complaining.”
“This won’t do. It’s taking too long. It’s not efficient.”
“I agree with that, but this is the only way. This place called Niflheim. It’s not ordinary, so my illusions don’t work well either.”
“Fifty fingernails a day. Is that even possible? At this rate, at least three years will have passed when we get out.”
“……I can’t think of any other way either. We have no choice but to move diligently.”
“Wait a minute.”
In times like this, it’s best to look through the items I have. There might be an item with an effect that’s helpful in this situation.
‘The Lure Fishing Hook… it doesn’t work on wraiths, so it’s useless…. Found it! This might work…!’
「Tutankhamun’s Golden Mask
When wearing the golden mask, no curse can affect you.
You become a dead person.
Mana increases by 50.
You can control the undead according to your mana level. However, you can control mummies regardless.
It destroys the wearer’s mind. If your mind is intact, you can become the true owner. But if your mind is destroyed, you will turn into a mummy.
Rank: SSS」
I held up the golden mask.
Wraiths were undead. They were moving corpses, no different from zombies or ghouls. Perhaps it was the influence of Niflheim, but they were a bit too strong for zombies.
“You’ve pulled out another strange item.”
“Now, wraiths are nothing!”
I put on the majestic golden mask of Tutankhamun. My mana increased by 50, and my whole body was filled with power.
At the same time, my energy spread in all directions.
Wraiths buried in the snow, wraiths wandering aimlessly, frost giant wraiths quietly sharpening their weapons.
I could feel the presence of the wraiths. I knew instinctively. I could control these wraiths.
‘It’s not enough. I need to expand my range a little more…. Ah, that’s right!’
[Opening the Heavenly Eye.]
I activated the Heavenly Eye.
The range of my senses more than doubled. The blizzard, scattered by the strong wind, couldn’t block my vision.
“Wraiths! Come here!”
I commanded the wraiths I had identified. The ordinary wraiths accepted my control without a word. The dead frost giants resisted, but eventually, they were placed under my control.
A total of 34. Among them, only 4 were frost giants.
“Oh. This will increase efficiency.”
“Heh heh. You stupid wraiths. Hurry up and pluck your fingernails and toenails and offer them to me!”
Uwooooooo….
The wraiths couldn’t refuse my command. They plucked their fingernails and toenails and offered them to me politely.
“A total of 337. Among them, the frost giant’s fingernails and toenails are not even 50. Eugene, now get rid of the wraiths.”
“No. It’s too wasteful to get rid of these useful guys like this.”
“Be honest. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“That too.”
Thwack!
I pointed straight ahead with my finger. The wraiths walked forward.
“You slowpokes, move faster! You there, the one without front teeth! You’re too slow. What are you doing, wraiths? Eat that wraith without front teeth!”
“Kieeeeeee!”
“Uwooooooooo….”
The wraiths rushed at the wraith I pointed at. They tore at the wraith’s arms, neck, and shoulders. Cannibalism! It wasn’t scary, but rather like a cheap B-grade movie.
‘As expected. The wraiths got stronger by eating other wraiths. This is fun. Heh heh.’
It reminded me of a raising game. A simple but incredibly addictive raising game.
“I see a group of wraiths wandering over there. Kill them. Offer me their fingernails and toenails, and eat their bodies.”
The wraiths I controlled and the wandering wraith groups got into a fight. Elena and I just stood back and watched. The wraiths’ battle was quite a sight.
The ones who won were the wraiths I controlled. They had more numbers from the start.
「The Black Pharaoh is watching you.」
Perhaps it was because I was wearing Tutankhamun’s golden mask, but some god was watching me. Since he wasn’t doing anything else, I ignored him. There were many gods watching me besides the Black Pharaoh.
Elena narrowed her eyes, looking at me as if she couldn’t understand.
“No matter how I think about it, it’s a meaningless act. You should be thinking about collecting fingernails and toenails quickly… um!”
Elena, who had been complaining, suddenly widened her eyes.
“I see your intention. It’s to prepare for when we encounter strong frost giant wraiths. Since there are few frost giant wraiths, stronger ones will appear over time.”
Wraiths get stronger by eating other wraiths.
That wasn’t just true for the wraiths I controlled.
“…Yeah. You’re right. Since there are few frost giant wraiths, there will be many strong ones. We need to increase our power to deal with them. There’s a limit to what you and I can do alone.”
“You had it all planned out. You’re quite something.”
Elena smiled and stroked my arm, looking at me proudly. She seemed to have realized my greatness. I wrapped my arm around Elena’s waist.
“Elena. Let’s make a warm carriage with your illusions. We’ll have the wraiths pull the carriage… and we’ll eat… snacks.”
“Not bad. I understand. But do you really have to wear that mask? It’s unpleasant to look at.”
“I have to keep wearing this to control the wraiths. The moment I take it off, the wraiths will try to kill us.”
“I guess there’s no choice then.”
