Chapter 366 |
With the strike of the evil greatsword, no bloody scene appeared.
Because the moment the greatsword touched Hilda’s body, several tentacles formed, wrapping her up completely.
The blackened Hilda naturally resisted; a massive dark power surged from the Nibelungen Ring on her hand, trying to push back the tentacles.
But the tentacles formed by the greatsword emitted a darkness even stronger than the Nibelungen Ring’s power. Not only were they unafraid of the ring, they instantly absorbed all the dark energy it unleashed. The tentacles became more active, tightly binding Hilda, while their energy began to invade the Nibelungen Ring itself!
Seeing that the tentacles formed by the greatsword had indeed subdued Hilda, the main culprit Loki couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Josh’s judgment was correct; the power of the ancient gods had successfully suppressed the Nibelungen Ring—this greatsword Loki wielded was the divine weapon Josh had mentioned earlier to both Loki and Hilda.
However, this divine weapon was not forged from any metal, but was crafted by the Ancient One severing several tentacles of Yogg-Saron and inscribing countless dark runes. It contained nearly one-third of Yogg-Saron’s energy essence!
In fact, without the Ancient One’s help, even if Loki obtained Loken’s power, he would be unable to wield this weapon.
Although the Nibelungen Ring was also a divine artifact, it was created during the ancient god wars of the Saint Seiya world by weaker gods pooling their power together, and for some powerful gods, it was merely a toy.
This meant that the gods in that world might be stronger than Marvel’s Asgardian line, but compared to cosmic-level gods like the Celestials, they were still far weaker.
According to Josh’s analysis, with the power of the ancient gods, Loki should be able to move freely in this world as long as he does not directly confront the very top-tier gods or the five overpowered warriors.
Now, the fact that the tentacle sword easily subdued the blackened Hilda basically proved this point.
As the dark power of the tentacle sword eroded the Nibelungen Ring, the ring’s defenses soon collapsed.
Though both wielded dark power, the tentacle sword’s level was clearly higher, since the essence of the ancient gods was darkness itself.
Under Loki’s control, the tentacle sword did not completely destroy the Nibelungen Ring like Odin’s sword did in the storyline. Instead, it thoroughly absorbed and replaced the ring’s dark energy.
This allowed the recovered Hilda to simulate using the dark power inside the ring, avoiding early detection by the lurking Sea Warriors.
Actually, the commotion since Loki entered the room had not been small.
But because blackened Hilda had already set up a barrier in her residence to conceal her abnormality, the noise never spread outside.
Now, with the original power of the Nibelungen Ring dissipated, Hilda regained control of her body.
“Thank you, Lord Loken!” Hilda exhaled heavily after recovering and thanked Loki.
“It’s just my duty. But Your Highness should be careful. The Sea Witch Shulante has been watching you. To avoid alerting her, you must continue to maintain your disguise,” Loki said after sizing her up and confirming she was free.
“Of course!” After multiple discussions with Josh, Hilda ultimately agreed with Josh’s proposal to continue the war, pulling the Sanctuary into the vortex.
Although Hilda had some saintly traits, most of those were directed at the people of Asgard.
Facing the super-strong enemy from the sea realm, she could only drag the Sanctuary down with her in a ‘better to die with friends than survive alone’ stance.
“This is my insignia. With this insignia, you can act freely in Asgard!” Hilda took out an insignia ring and handed it to Loki.
“Thank you very much, Your Highness!” Loki accepted the ring without hesitation.
Hilda giving Loki her insignia was another part of the deal between her and Josh.
“You will likely have many things to do next, so I won’t disturb you further!” Wearing the insignia ring, Loki smiled faintly, then vanished. After confirming Hilda’s barrier was intact, he easily left her palace.
After leaving, Loki stayed within Asgard’s borders. Using the information Hilda provided and the insignia’s power in the area, he acquired a horse and headed towards a remote region.
Along the way, Loki observed the environment of this Asgard.
Although it shared the same name, gods’ names, and similar legends, this Asgard was vastly different from the one in his own universe.
Of course, Marvel’s Asgard was its own realm, so it was not quite suitable to compare it with this world.
The problem was that this Asgard’s environment was much worse than even some of the harshest places on Earth in the Marvel universe. Naturally, Loki looked down on it a hundred times over.
But who cared? Here was where what he wanted was.
Thanks to Hilda’s insignia, Loki encountered no trouble on the way and eventually arrived at an extremely remote village.
The entire village was very quiet, with almost no people or smoke in sight.
However Loki’s gaze was not on the village itself, but on an abandoned temple behind it.
As Loki rode his horse through the village’s silent streets, the door of a house ahead opened. A beautifully handsome youth with shabby but clean clothes stepped out, accompanied by a—Husky?
The beautiful youth seemed surprised by the sudden stranger, but soon smiled and greeted Loki, asking, “Sir, is there something you need in the village?”
“None of your business!” Looking at the youth who seemed to be bathed in light, Loki felt a wave of dislike and frowned as he replied.
“Sorry…” Sensing Loki’s displeasure, the youth showed no resentment, only apologizing before quietly moving aside with his dog to clear the narrow path.
Seeing this, Loki did not immediately leave but continued to examine the youth and then asked, “What is your name?”
“Baldr!” The youth was a bit surprised by Loki’s question but answered honestly.
Upon hearing the name, Loki’s expression involuntarily changed.