Volume 4 Chapter 1
Translator: SaltyTank
Editor: Chrof
Black castle walls, black palace halls, and a pitch-black floor. The castle made out of obsidian was simply such a place. Loki sat on the throne, keeping his promise; at least he seemed to be doing so.
Some might think, why would the God of Deceit keep his word? That was precisely because he was the God of Deceit. He was not the God of Lies after all.
Inside the large hall, two portals appeared. Karile and Witsen fell from the holes and landed heavily onto the ground. Karile swiftly scrambled to her feet, but for some reason, Witsen simply lay there with his eyes shut as though he was asleep.
“Welcome to the holy hall of the undead, Gustav,” Loki spoke to the two like a king welcoming his visitors.
“Loki! Just what are you planning to do!” Karile roared at Loki.
“I’m not plotting anything, you see. I won’t dare lay my hands on you, esteemed Obsidian Princess. But as for the one besides you, I can’t guarantee anything about his safety.” Loki summoned a staff with his illusion magic and knocked it against the throne. “Undead! Your opponent is right here! Kill him! Then your souls shall be freed!”
After a brief silence, knocking sounds came from the door. It sounded like someone was trying to open up the door forcefully with a battering ram. The low-pitched bangs resounded throughout the hall, seemingly indicating that a tough battle would soon follow.
“How is it, the undead are quite energetic, no? I wonder if I should just let them in?” Loki said with a joyous and arrogant expression. It was the face of a king looking down on a prisoner of war.
“Loki… I shouldn’t have let you keep your worthless life back then!” Karile held up her bow.
“Don’t say such a dreadful thing, I’m still a god at the very least. Karile, I have just one request. Accept it and I’ll let you two walk away unharmed.” Loki stood up from the throne and walked to the front of Karile. “Give me your shard of divinity, as simple as that.”
In this world, one not only had to have considerable power, but also receive a shard of divinity from the Creator in order to become a deity. Only after receiving the acknowledgement of the Creator in the form of the shard of divinity could one proudly call himself or herself a deity. Losing one’s shard of divinity was a deity’s greatest humiliation, one that would last eternally.
Through the promise with the one who was supposed to be king, Loki rightfully received the right to command the powerful undead army. Now, he just had to obtain Karile’s shard of divinity to become the world’s Creator. When that happened, it would be of no use even if all beings in the world waged war against him.
“Don’t even think about it.” Karile’s golden amber eyes were filled with fury, just like when she had been slaughtering the deities before.
“How unfortunate. It can’t be helped then. Come in.” Loki waved at the door and returned to his throne.
Upon Loki’s order, the door slowly opened. Chilly wind carrying flakes of snow rushed in from the opening. The freezing cold was felt like an apocalypse.
The undead scrambled into the palace hall, leaving only the throne’s surrounding clear. The skeletons made creaking noises as they encircled Karile and Witsen. The balls of crystal blue light in their hollow eye sockets gave off a chilling sensation just like the cold.
Karile was prepared for battle, but she couldn’t use her bow in close quarter combat with so many enemies in her proximity. She tossed her bow onto the floor, straightened her posture and unsheathed two daggers from her back.
“Enough bullshit, just come at me.”
Upon Karile’s taunt, the undead held up their weapons and charged at her like wild horses. Karile, on the other hand, stayed put and glared at the charging skeletons, waiting for them to get closer.
The undead continued their charge, and the one at the very front was finally in attacking range. It lifted its longsword up and slashed downwards at Karile.
Right before the sword touched her, she ducked and sidestepped to avoid the attack with unbelievable speed. She then spun and swung her dagger towards the enemy.
Crack!
The dagger rammed against the skeleton’s skull. After suffering from centuries of weathering, the skull had become frail and was shattered from the impact.
However, this was not a duel, but a valiant fight of one against a thousand. The undead swarmed at Karile and attacked like waves, but even so, they were unable to damage the agile opponent.
Karile drew silvery lines in the air with her dual daggers as she zigzagged through the undead. Every skeleton that came into contact with the lines would soon become a pile of bones on the ground.
From how things were going, the tide of battle was in Karile’s favour. She exterminated the skeletons at a rate that far exceeded that of reinforcements coming in through the door. The silvery lines slicing through the undead turned into a chrome tempest, ravaging the poor skeletons. The sounds of daggers clashing against skulls and bones falling to the ground was a symphony that complemented the destructive tempest.
Rather than a battle, this was more of an one-sided slaughter. The group of undead who had long lost their lives were annihilated one after another. For Karile who had been through countless battles, this was just a warm up match, just as how Loki had planned it to be.
The place became more spacious with more and more undead being decimated by the tempest that was still raging on.
“Too strong, too strong.” Loki sighed and took out a longsword from behind. “It seems that I have to join as well.”
He slowly walked towards the silvery storm. The moment before he came into contact with it, he swung his sword.
Clang!
The high-pitched sound of metal clattering against one another resounded throughout the hall. The storm also dissipated after the clash.
Karile was blown away by the strike. Although she had blocked it just in time with her two daggers, the strength of a god could not even be compared to mere undead. The strike also carried a considerable amount of divinity.
Two deities clashing against one another was a terrifying thing, but things were different when one of them only had one tenth of her original divinity.
Karile crashed into a pillar in the hall with great force. The pillar could not withstand the impact and was crushed, the pieces flying to the corner of the hall along with Karile.
“Oh, what a miscalculation. I wanted to end this in one strike, but who would’ve thought you’re so strong with just a tenth of your divinity? Looks like the gods cannot complain about losing their lives to you.”