'Is that my armor?! How did she get my armor?! I hid it so well! Ahh… It looks so cool… I guess it does look better on someone that's tall…' Ai's thoughts once again wandered, the treasure seeker inside of her speaking in admiration. Although she had just recovered from her internal reeling from the sudden declaration of love by an NPC, Ai still had an imaginary pain her stomach, which made her feel weak.
The darkness of night Toreii was hovering in was covered in a black sphere of magic, which was the ever-familiar anti-teleportation field Ai saw in Yggdrasil. The hundreds of thousands of dragons which encircled them back off, as the hydra echoed a soft growl from its abdomen.
"YOU DARE! You filthy Players continue to pollute this world, and you have the nerve to consider yourselves righteous?! Your kind are nothing more than harbingers of death!"
'Did he say Players? Does he know something about Players from Yggdrasil? Ahh… He doesn't sound too happy about meeting a Player though… I guess I would have the same reaction if I met another Player too… '
"Oh? You know about Players? Do you mind explaining how you kn-"
"[Triple Maximize Magic – Hellfire Supernova]!"
The darkness of the night was lit up in a bright crimson red, as all the heads on the hydra breathed a chaotic blackish-red flames from their mouths when Toreii was in mid-sentence. Yet, the attack was launched at the armored NPC beside her. The beam of negative energy infused with ever-burning black flames shot out of the hydra, but Toreii instantly jumped into action.
Like a light switch which was suddenly flipped, Ai felt like she was in the backseat along for the ride, as Toreii the PVP veteran instinctively activated her ring's power.
––– [Silent Magic – My Body as a Shield]
Although the spell did not cost her mana, she still had to pay the health costs of using it. Since the battle had just begun, Toreii was currently in 'information phase', where she had to draw out the battle until she knew more about her opponent's moves and abilities. The spell had a flat cost of 10% of her maximum health, but with such a small healthpool, the actual cost of the defensive spell was merely 1 HP. As soon as the cost was paid, she felt her gear quickly regenerating the health she lost. Most of her equipment had been optimized for either increasing her absurd magical attack stat or for flat health regeneration.
Just as the hydra's attack closed half the distance between them, Toreii's shadow leapt in front of Frigga. The shadow then formed itself into a copy of Toreii, which then flew straight into the beam before it could reach them. As the shadow-Toreii collided head on with the attack, it engulfed the clone and formed a blood red sphere of negative energy in the air. Red lightning arched from the surface of the bubble, which promptly imploded on itself and sent out a concussive shockwave in all directions.
This time, Frigga intercepted the outward force by slashing the air to cancel any energy it had left.
"I still think we can talk ab-"
"[Eternal Thunder]! [Lunar Cannon]!"
The elemental heads on the hydra began charging black electricity in their mouths, while the metallic heads absorbed white energy along their necks and focused it. Once again, the hydra let loose an energy beam directly at them. The air heated up, as the lightning and plasma beam spiraled towards them, combining with each other to form a single attack which barreled forward even faster.
––– [Silent Magic – My Body as a Shield]
Once again, Toreii's shadow leapt in front of the attack, canceling the damage which would have gone to her. However, she noticed the agitation Frigga was displaying, as the NPC had wanted to block this attack herself, but Toreii had stopped her from doing so. She had to save mana and to keep information about her own abilities a secret for as long as possible. In a battle between Players, the ones who used their trump card first were always the losers in battle.
If she remembered the spreadsheet she made of the NPCs correctly, it would have been best to station Frigga as a frontline bruiser who wasted their opponents spells and abilities. However, in a new unknown world, where she had just witnessed 3 spells which were not native of Yggdrasil, Toreii was hesitant to send out a unit who could just be easily killed if the opponent had a way to deal with Asgardians she did not know of.
Even if the NPCs of Asgard had higher-than-usual base stats than most Level 100 Players, that did not mean beings of this new world also had level caps like the game did. So far, Toreii estimated the hydra was within the realm of being Level 100 just as she was, with all the straggler dragons among them ranging from Level 40 to 60. With her magical sense to see auras, the hydra did not extrude more magical capabilities than most players she fought with in the past.
If she had to guess, the hydra was not normally a long range spell caster, but was lulling her into believing so, in order to get her to engage in melee combat range where he was probably superior. It was not a terrible strategy, to give your opponent a false set of data about your true build and moveset, but the way the hydra did it was not the least bit subtle. On paper, the strategy might have been fine, but in practice, the giant serpent was not well-versed in PVP combat or very much experienced. It was like Toreii was facing someone who was into theorycrafting, who would optimize gear for the best stat bonuses and resistances against their single opponent, but did not actually practice using the gear itself to see if there was anything else which could be improved.
'I know its rich coming from me, but you can't just win only using higher stats!'
As an educator, she also saw this with her students, where they complained what was taught in lecture was not what they were tested on. There was some truth to that with some professors, but she knew covering the basics and letting yourself expand from there was the best way for one to learn. It was this same mentality when it came to playing Yggdrasil. Toreii took the basic concepts the game had, and explored how far she could go with it, which was why she was able to claim such a high position within the PVP ladder rankings.
When Yggdrasil was officially launched and Players first fought the story raid boss, there was an 'instant death phase' which wiped out almost every party or guild. Very few were able to clear the dungeon, thus increasing the amount of time Players had to play in order to get better data crystals for their gear. The devs had prided themselves on how much gameplay time it took to finish the story, but there was a huge amount of backlash from the community, as well as review-bombing of the game which followed.
Since it was obvious the situation with their player base was going to get worse before it got better, the devs had caved in and immediately released a hotfix patch. Ever since then, every character within the game, new or old, including transferred accounts, all had a passive skill [Second Wind]. Thus, when one was at full health, even if an opponent used an attack whose calculated damage exceeded their maximum health, they would only drop down to 10% of their maximum health afterwards. Since the patch, Players had coined the use of the skill as 'health gating'. Now, during raids, healers would prioritize healing their party before the 'instant death phase' so everyone would survive.
After the passive skill was added in, Toreii had run many tests and experiments to see how far she could take the ability. The devs had not included a minimum amount of health in order for the skill to activate, since low level Players had a lower base health stat than higher level Players. Thus, she was able to build her character around a smaller healthpool and invest the rest of her stat growth into magical attack.
In fact, during her own theorycrafting, no matter how high her resistances were, she would always lose at least 1 health, which with her minuscule healthpool was a 10% loss. So, instead of building any resistances or bigger base health, Toreii bet on Players trying to finish her with a single ability or spell and health gating in order to live. With such a small base health, she could quickly heal herself and be back within health gating range at little to no cost due to her gear, or a low loss where she could apply a low level healing spell, since she did not need higher-tier spells.
She had used this same strategy to win herself the Asgardian World Championship tournament. The lower bracket of Players who entered did not even bother to check her health in battle, so she was able to sneak her winning tactic into the quarter-/semi-finals without being found out. Only after facing the first real opponent was she discovered, but by then, the match was over and she had moved onto the semi-finals. However, during the finale was when the complaints of her defeated opponents had reached the judges of the matches.
Although the finale was delayed in order to review Toreii's match history, the referees had ruled in her favor as technically she did nothing wrong. There were not cheating software which allowed her to live indefinitely, but merely a game mechanic everyone had. A third page would be added to her Wikipedia page after winning the championship, where many Players had either put her on a blacklist or a KOS (kill on sight) for some guilds. Even the devs had to send out a newsletter about the death threats Ai received for being an unfair cheater.
At the time Ai did not consider the backlash was all that important, but now looking back, she was very much the bane of a balancing team. Memorizing the patch notes allowed her to predict what would become meta or allowed her to abuse buffs to items and spells which had no business getting a buff in the first place.
Her mentality was, 'If the devs release a broken game, then I'm going to play a broken game.' Thus, her mechanics in the game were above and beyond the threshold of what a normal Player is capable of; however, her in-game knowledge was lacking. Instead of knowing every spell and their effects, she instead had it all installed onto her ring. She was the type of Player who put all her eggs into a single basket, then proceed to throw said basket at her opponents. At least, that's what she considers her past self to be.
Staring down at the hydra now, it definitely reminded her of how she played the game every day. 'Ah~! How nostalgic… Those we-'
"[Ray of Permafrost]!"
––– [Silent Magic – My Body as a Shield]
'-re some fun days… There was so much to explore… It's no fun playing against amateurs though… '
"Parley please!" Toreii shouted with her cute and young voice. Frigga was ready for action right behind her, but attacking and killing the first contact of a new world was quite hostile.
"PARLEY?!" With a thunderous howl, the other dragons obeyed the hydra's command and began mobilizing towards the duo.
'Hmm… Adds phase already… What a pain!'
"Frigga, would you kindly deal with the small fries? I'd like to talk with this hydra by myself."
"If that is your will, my beloved," the Queen of Asgard answered with joy, "I will rush to your side at once if you need my presence!"
'Please stop calling me that… Ugg… I feel like I was forced into a marriage… Is this what those isekai protagonist feel? All of a sudden there is a love interest out of nowhere when coming into a new world…? Tch… Are there other Players here too then…?'
Frigga broke off from where Toreii was floating, disappearing within a blink of an eye. In fact, she was barely able to keep up with the silhouette of the platinum armor's aftershadow, but the trail of dragon corpses left a clear indication of where Frigga had been. Their bodies dropped lifelessly to the snowy ground below, staining the pure white land with a crimson red, as the air smelled more and more metallic. Each of them had a single slash mark, clean through their tough and resilient torso like a hot knife through butter. The dragons did not even have time to react to their kin being killed before Frigga got to the next one.
Though their numbers began to dwindle down, the hydra was unfazed before Toreii. A giant red flag blew up inside her mind as the number of heads on the giant beast increased just as fast as the number of dragon corpses on the group. The more Frigga massacred the horde, the faster the hydra had a new head to join its collection. Each new head grew from the base of its body, the bones jutting out and leaving a trail of blood where it had cut through the thick hide of the hydra. Next, the blood vessels and muscles would wrap themselves around the bones and finally the protective scales would grow rapidly over the newly formed skin. The process of a new head growing took less than 10 seconds, but each time, Toreii could definitely tell the body was also growing in size, bit by bit.
'A raid boss who gets stronger if you clear the adds… Geez… Why does this feel like something the shitty devs would put in… How is this balanced?! Am I stuck in a permanent hard mode? Don't hydras already have supernatural regeneration?! Hmm… '
"Are you the king of your kin? May I ask for your name?"
"Why should I answer a question to the likes of your kind?! There is no rea-"
"BECAUSE!" Toreii enunciated, cutting off the hydra, "As one king to another, it is only natural that we behave as such in the name of those who call us king."
"AND YET YOUR PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY STARTED TO KILL MINE! [Volcanic Disaster]!"
The air around the hydra grew bright, as the black scales covering its muscular body glowed a faint shade of red, becoming stronger each second. Toreii watched as the vein underneath its body pulse with crimson energy, lighting up the entire blood system of the hydra. The intricate trails traveling through it all concentrated on 6 points within is body, pulsing like a heart. From its hearts, the dangerous-looking energy concentrated once again at the ends of the hydra's heads. As it channeled the energy of the spell through its body, Toreii raised her divine spear in the air.
"[Absolute Zero]."
Just like how the air was a bright magma red, burning hot with heat waves pulsing from the epicenter of the hydra, Toreii was encompassed by a calm, protective aura of gentle blue. Back in the game, environmental changes were nothing more than status effects, but now, she could actually feel the raging, hot fire burning inside the hydra as he channeled his power. If she were human, the air would have been toxic to breathe in, as plumes of black vapor dispensed from the hydra's nostrils as lava poured from their mouths.
Toreii's spell reached its crescendo when the frost blue aura transferred itself to her divine spear. With her dainty little body, she positioned her body like a javelin thrower, the muscles in her tiny arm flexing underneath carefully trained tension. Taking long, steady breaths, the pounding heartbeat she felt in her flush ears slowed down into a peaceful rhythm. Even if she was a [Deity] and was holding [Gungnir], physically throwing the spear would not even harm an armored footsoldier, let alone a hydra with plated scales and thick hide.
That is, if she actually physically threw the spear.
"[Triple Maximize Magic – Heart of Nature]!"
"[Triple Maximize Magic – Atomic Acceleration]!"
From its hundreds of mouths erupted streams of lava, boiling hot steam, hell fire, blood freezing winds, black lighting, red lightning, crystal clear ice, black ice, holy energy, negative energy, black death, rotting decay, meteors, draconic flames, concentrated brine, acidic venom, diseased poison, enchanted earth, rock crystals, molten lead, and nuclear fire – yet the one Toreii felt most guarded against was from the central head, the ethereal one. The celestial head had charged a dangerous energy in its mouth she was very familiar with from Yggdrasil. It was the most feared ability among the Player base, which was exclusive to a World-Class item, [Longinus], which completely wiped the data of any character.
Yet the hydra seemed able to use the same effective spell power without the need to possess the World-Class item. If she were still in the game world, Ai would have surely complained about how the devs made it possible to lose your entire account just for trying a raid boss. Something like this in Yggdrasil would mean no Players would even attempt the raid at all. Not even the top guilds would want to risk their members or NPCs, especially when the ability was an AoE beam the hydra was preparing.
Even Ai was fearful of losing everything she had worked so hard to achieve during her play time. Toreii was more than just some character she built over the last decade of her life – she was the [Deity] who stat-checked the upper echelon of the rank ladder. Toreii was Rank 2 pan-Japan, Rank 5 pan-Asia, and Rank 8 globally. Something like the hydra might have scared her enough instantly run away and log off, but that was a past version of herself. She was not like every other Player in Yggdrasil. She might have once feared [Longinus] being used on her, but that was before she claimed the title of [Allfather].
Toreii's delicate fingers lightly brushed against the metal sigils engraved she shaft. The magical Uru metal was densely packed with mana she had spent the past year infusing into. The reflective silver now ebbed with glints of an icy blue river trapped within the spear. As she charged her spell longer, the calm steady blue hue inside reached its breaking point, and the mana broke through the surface of the Uru metal, engulfing the entire shaft of the divine weapon with a magical flame. Behind the tip of the spear was a raging blue flame which contrasted brightly against the blood red light the hydra produced.
Between Toreii and the Dragon King, it was a battle of the likes of David and Goliath.
In the sea of crimson red light, an equally strong blue gently made its own presence known. The dragon horde who was being silently massacred all gave their attention to the battle between kings. Frigga was still at attention, keeping her distance close by to her husband should she need to raise her sword to protect her beloved. The darkness of night was gone, the blinding red light shining as far as the eye could see. The king of dragons was intending to wipe out everything in his quest to vanquish his most hated enemy, his killing intent made known very clearly.
Normally, Toreii would have stopped the hydra after the 3rd or so spell, but since she was in a new world with different rules, she decided to see what kind of magic the new world had to offer. So far, magic seemed to work for the inhabitants in the same way it worked for her. Although being able to use a single spell but firing it with a thousand different heads was something she thought should have been nerfed – or at least a bit more balanced. Had the hydra been more innovative or creative with their magic casting, Toreii would have given him a bit of praise, but the execution was very much cut-and-dry. Not to mention the hydra was able to use consecutive spells and decide which heads used which spell. That would have been a killer advantage to any Player in Yggdrasil.
Perhaps if she handled things differently, or negotiated better, she could have befriended the hydra and gotten more knowledge and information about the new world, as well as learning about what new magic there was. She was a bit regretful for that, but she should not let her guard down in the face of such a massive being. If he still had a trump card behind the big show of high-tier spells, Toreii had to be watching out for it.
That was the only reason she had allowed the hydra to go as far as he did. In a PVP battle, there would have been 3 rounds, but this would have been more of an instant death match. After stalling out the first round and ending in a draw, Toreii would have begun her offensive at the start of round 2. Toreii was not the kind of opponent to let other Players buff or heal themselves during battle. She was built for hyper-focused damage output in rapid succession. Most of her spells had little to no cast time, or she was able to channel the cast time during the active time of her other spells. At one point, she was a contender for fastest raid boss clear time against the pro speedrunner guilds.
Toreii stalling and holding her Super-Tier spell was very much herself humoring the hydra. Had this been a normal PVP match, she would have allocated 10 minutes to gathering info about the opponent's equipment and moveset, and the last 5 minutes to stall for round 2. The hydra had gotten a full hour out of her since the start of the battle. It was like he thought it was normal for people to wait their turn for the other person to attack like a turn-based RPG. Toreii was being quite polite to play along, but the hydra did not seem to notice in the slightest.
This was the difference between a low- to mid-tier Player and someone of high-tier. There was no efficiency in being flashy or showboating, which was detrimental to any Player inside the top 100 rank ladder. Which was why Toreii was on her highest guard should the hydra be feigning his amateur experience. It was one thing to be a noob – it was another to be smurfing. A show of a lack of battle knowledge was just as tough to fight against as a well-planned campaign. Toreii planned her movements in order to read through her opponent's intentions, but there was no point in reading a book with no contents. A bitter aftertaste tickled the tip of her tongue, as memories of her early PVP days surfaced through the recesses of her mind. She hated smurf accounts with a burning passion, since she thought it ruined the experience of the game for new, incoming players.
'Who charges their Super-Tier spell for 10 minutes?! Did he expect the adds to cover for him?! He's a giant target! It would be harder for me to not hit him! This is a terrible raid boss… Ahh… It's like Yggdrasil all over again… Maybe I should thi-'
––– SHUNK-CLINK-CLANK!
A meter from her neck, her peripheral vision caught the gleam of a polished emerald colored blade, intercepted by the familiar crimson tint of [Rungnir]. The air still hummed with the metallic ringing, as Frigga swiftly blocked and parried the would-be assassination attempt. Both sharpened edges of their blades drew yellow sparks as the metals continue to clash against one another, neither side willing to give in. Just as Frigga was clad head-to-toe in metal armor, so too was the new challenger. In the blood red light of the hydra's luminescence, the warrior before her was equipped with a chromatic black armor, forged in the semblance of a dragon. Where the eye sockets were, Toreii saw amber colored eyes staring right back at her with hateful disdain.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM! NOW!"
Relinquishing the energies the hydra had built up within its heads, the huge forearms sprung forward towards Toreii. Two arms with clawed hands clenched into a fist, hurtling towards her tiny body at supersonic speed.
"Please keep this one alive, Frigga. Bring him back to Asgard, but do not let anyone know about it. I'll finish on my end and meet you back home."
"By your will, my beloved!"
'Please stop calling me that… Ugg… my headache is getting worse…'
"[Parallel Convergence]!"
Despite his best efforts, despite flying as fast as he could, despite specifically warning his firstborn to not leave the safety of their mountain fortress, the world around Nyx Al-Shun disappeared into an abyss of darkness. Light blurred in a kaleidoscope of color, as if the world itself was twisting into something completely different. Everything but himself and the tiny Player distorted and swirled into nothingness, leaving the two completely alone with each other.
"Where is my daughter?!" Nyx roared with every fiber of his being, as a small knot began to form at the base of all his necks.
"I'm bored. You're boring me."
Several of Nyx's heads with living flesh had veins along their necks bulging from his increased blood pressure. Some of his undead heads with emotional suppression skills, along with heads consisting of plants, which had calming statuses or mechanized/non-living heads with no emotions at all, did nothing to impede the blazing eruption of fury which burned inside each of his 6 hearts.
"I will silence your insolence once and for all!"
"Well? I'm wai-"
"[Light of A Thou-"
"Engage [Gungnir], begin Autonomic Systems!"
The air reverberated with a metallic hum piercing through the void of nothingness between them, reaching not just the ears of Nyx, but deep within his own armored body, seeping into the reaches of his well-protected hearts. His entire body shook from the shockwave which was just the spear releasing its initial magic. An electrical spark ran from the bottom of his long spiraling tail all the way up to his massive chest, down his muscular forearms to the tips of his razor-sharp talons. Each of his heads which were still alive had shivers run down their long necks, while his more magically-talented heads felt an almighty pulsation of mana burst, with his more primal heads sending immediate warning signals to his being, their instincts in the back of his consciousness telling him to flee if he could.
It was now that his more draconic heads had their treasure senses tell him of the incredible value being held in the tiny palm of the Player before him. It was not just any magical weapon being wielded, but one of a divine scale, a true god slayer. Never in his 300 years of life had he ever encountered anything of the same pedigree – never in his 200 years building his mountain fortress and his dragon horde had he faced something which could strike him down – never in his 100-year war against the Players had he felt his life was going to end.
"I was being very polite earlier, giving you all the time you needed for your spells, but I can only take so much disrespect from such an incompetent Pla- err… being. I thought there would be something special about you, but you're more boring than half of the raid bosses I've cleared. Do you honestly think people are just waiting around for their turn to attack one another?"
Nyx was dumbstruck, with nothing coming to mind for a retort – at least, his more rational heads could not. All of his other emotionally-capable heads were brimming with rage for the Player and their kind, while all his dragon heads were arguing with him to seek more information about the treasures which could still be found. If there were downsides to his special ability to absorb the power and memories of the dragonkin who fell around him, it was that they all still had some semblance of their original personality and he could not control whether or not to grow a new head. However, there did seem to be a majority consensus among all of his heads.
"Where did you get that spear?"
"At the sun."
In and out, 10 minute PVP match. That was what she had told herself when she teleported away the entire city of Asgard. Yet, the death match became turn-based RPG, had taken well over an hour of her time. Although she did not consider herself to be an impatient person in general, the absurdity of waiting for your opponent to make a move in a real life fight was baffling. Frigga demonstrated NPCs who used to operate on a set routine were no longer bound to just a basic attack/defend mode.
'Now that I think about it, raid bosses aren't exactly known for interactive gameplay… Should I just think of him as a bullet sponge? Ahh… but the boss concept seemed cool though… I used so many buffs for this...'
With [Gungnir] on autopilot, the divine spear propelled itself forward at lightning speed, leaving a sonic boom trail behind. Making a beeline for center mass of the hydra, the sigils on the shaft ignited a gentle blue flame as it drew closer. Like a blazing meteor hurtling towards the planet at extinction-causing speed, [Gungnir] aimed itself for a killing blow to the heart.
It was over in a sliver of a second. From where Toreii was floating, [Gungnir] pierced through the hydra dead center, leaving a swelling mass of frozen flesh. The azure flames which engulfed her spear was a truthful life. The Uru metal had an ice enchantment aptly named [Ghost Fire], which was a permafrost so cold, it actually felt like being burned alive. A gaping hole was left in the hydra's chest cavity where [Gungnir] had exited clean through. His dripping blood became chunky at first, which then froze to crystalline shapes as it came into contact with the freezing air. On the hydra's backside, [Gungnir] was still clean and pristine, like the giant mass of thickly armored hide and muscle was nothing but thin air to it.
Yet, Toreii had no time to bask in victory. Despite such a devastating blow to the huge target, the hydra was regenerating the wound slowly but surely. His backbone, which was jagged like shrapnel with splits and bits of bone embedded in his body, straightened out as the tiny white particles reformed into a proper skeletal system. Hanging entrails leaking bodily fluid and leftover, half-digested raw meat reattached themselves to form a cohesive body. Piece by piece, bits by bits, his body healed what it could and regrew everything else. The 3 forearms he had used to guard himself against the attack were nothing more than pieces of meat loosely hanging from tendons and torn muscle, but within seconds, new bones had regrown, as well as muscle mass forming over his arms and appendages.
'I hate tank meta… Who thought it would be a good idea to give tanks damage and self-healing?! So unbalanced… I know it's rich coming from me, but your powers are bullshit!'
The most damning fact was how unfazed the hydra was in reaction to getting his innards disemboweled. Although Toreii was sure there would be at least be pain, it seemed hydras really were known for their healing factor. It simply roared in anger, at the humiliation he felt from that single attack. Had the devs actually released something like this in Yggdrasil, many of the lower-skilled guilds would never even come close to clearing it. So, with all the information she had gathered thus far, she reached her small hand into the void which was her inventory. Feeling around for a bit, she grasped a laced handle and pulled the weapon out.
Even with armor-ignoring properties, [Gungnir] failed when it came to specialized beings who needed more than just raw stats to take down. The weapon she pulled out was a katana, wrapped in a red string along its wooden sheath, whose length was just twice as long as her forearm. This was a blade she kept personally close to herself, only bringing out for certain Players.
By her count, the katana was going to experience its second battle in the last 8 years since its creation. Unbinding the protective covering, the curved metal edge underneath shone a pristine chrome. Very few of these types of katanas were ever created since their data crystals were not only rare, but also only needed in very niche situation. Back in Yggdrasil, Ai would watch very closely every time one of these katanas were made, keeping tabs on their creators and their current owners. Within the small community who owned theses blades, herself included, Players had decided to name these types of swords as [Muramasa Blades].
As she had made sure to keep the blades from getting into public hands, very few knew of the existence of the weapon, with only rumors going around about what the swords actually do. The rumors themselves were falsified, as she had spread them onto online forums in order to keep the actual effect from being learned. In truth, she had spent so much effort to mystifying these swords, only to end up being the one to collect all of them in the end. Being part of the small community which forged these weapons, everyone knew each other and were on friendly terms with one another. Having been the last remaining member, many either gave their version of the sword to her for safekeeping, or take it to their virtual grave when they logged off for one last time.
The reason she had been so keen on keeping watch over the blades were because of their niche effect from the data crystals which produced them. Each and every katana had the special ability to stop any and all forms of healing, including self-healing like health regeneration. Naturally, to a player like her, a single swipe from any of these swords would be enough to kill her. Not only did it impede healing, but it also inflicted a crippling status on the wounded, where the player could no longer use the limb the sword had cut. Thus, with such a devilish effect, these blades were considered cursed, rightfully earning the name of [Muramasa]. Although these katanas were her bane, in a battle of attrition, Toreii weighed the risk of using the sword very carefully.
With her dimensional spell having almost run all of its duration, cracks of white light spread throughout the black sphere encasing the both of them. The seams grew larger and larger as the light pouring in grew brighter and brighter. The hydra was almost fully healed from his fatal wound as her divine spear returned to her side. In one hand she gripped her [Muramasa Blade], and in the other, [Gungnir].
There were no longer any words exchanged by Toreii and the hydra. As the spell finally released the last bits of its energy, the two of them were enveloped by a deafening silence. The bleak night air brimming with the smell of blood was gone, as was every other familiar scene the two of them were previously in. Instead of dimples of light scattered across the black sky, the hydra was blinded by a golden yellow light shining behind where Toreii floated.
––– Static.
Just as fast as their new battlefield took shape, Nyx felt an intense, unknown pressure pulling him toward the blinding light. However, inside him, his lungs burned with agitation, yet his outer skin felt like it was freezing. His elemental heads, which burned with living flames, extinguished themselves, leaving nothing but a bone husk behind, whereas his aquatic heads froze in place, becoming icicles. Meanwhile, his plant-based heads were all covered in a layer of ice, with some of them bursting from the sudden temperature drop. Yet the worse to react to the new scene were all of his living heads, which all writhed in a panic state, roaring their discomfort, but nothing of their terror could be heard. All his ethereal head could hear was a quiet silence, like it was impossible for sound to even exist.
––– STATIC! STATIC! STATIC!
Pain.
Nyx's body of living flesh and blood twisted and cried out in suffering, his lungs no longer carrying any breathable air for his hearts. Every part of his being was dying slowly, as he could no longer fight against the oppressive force acting on his body. He was hurtling toward the yellow light faster and faster, where the coldness of the unknown air became scorching hot the closer he got.
Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain- Pain!
Ai was glad her risk assessment was on point, and the devs were not shitty when programing the racial abilities of her character during the beta. She always wanted to test out the upper limitations of what a [Deity] was capable of, yet Ai had never imagined Toreii actually surviving in the vacuum of space. [Deities] were beings capable of living without air or sustenance, but testing out that limit in the deadliest environment was like a child making parallels between riding a bike and flying a plane. But the vacuum of space was the least worrying part about their destination. Behind her was bright G-class star, a yellow dwarf sun, which gave birth to all life on the new world she was teleported to.
When she first acquired [Gungnir], gravitational effect negation was one of the abilities she scribed to her memory, but testing it out against a star which was hundreds of times bigger than a planet was lunacy, to say the least. Not to mention the elemental damage from the harsh environment which teleporting to the upper atmosphere of a giant ball of atomic fusion would cause.
Although she had jokingly answered the hydra's question about her spear, she did not think her spell would end after she said a destination out loud. The spell, [Parallel Convergence], was meant to isolate a single player from a group or party if one were to ever be ambushed, and the caster was able to set a destination both of them would teleport to afterwards. However, the spell scaled in distance the caster wanted to travel based on their magical stat. Having said, "At the sun," as a reference to the origins of [Gungnir], Ai was quite blindsided when she felt the drop in atmospheric pressure.
As Toreii exited the dimensional sphere, she exhaled every last breath she still had. The giant mass of swelling flesh spiraling toward her was the reason why. The muscular torso with chiseled abs and stone hard pectoral grew taut against his reptilian skin. Like a balloon growing bigger and bigger, so did the leftover air inside of the hydra's lungs. With no atmosphere to keep the gasses in place, the tiny particles inside threw themselves against his internal organs like a frag grenade. Having grown thrice in size, he looked more like an anaconda who had swallowed an elephant.
She could hear him mentally groan, more from the physical exertion than his vocal chords, which had certainly gone in this condition. Even without a satisfying 'pop' in the silence of space, Ai still played the sound effect in her head. Chunks of blood, guts, innards and entrails alike exploded out in every which way, all of them freezing in the ever-compassing entropy of space. Despite all of these things against the hydra, his healing still kicked in just as fast as his organs were being destroyed. Ai was quite jealous of how well his healing factor was working, since she had to limit herself to a minuscule healthpool in order to achieve the same effect.
She would file that thought for later. The gravity of a planet, multiplied a hundredfold or more, pulled the pieces of frozen flesh toward her. Toreii gripped the embroiled handle of her [Muramasa Blade] gently, feeling the tendons and muscles inside her arm working in conjunction as she positioned herself for a clean slice. Gold amber eyes locked themselves onto the single head of the hydra, as he continued to close the distance between them. The single head which was unaffected by dead of space, the single head which sparkled just as majestically as the night sky. Toreii readied her cursed blade and shot out like a railgun at the hydra.
A trail of gold lightning followed behind Toreii, along with a calm, cold blue glow on the metal spearhead of [Gungnir] from her mana being channeled through the magic metal. She knew for sure the divine spear was capable of hurting corporeal beings, but only the katana had the special ability to suppress the hydra's self-healing. A faint hue of silver shone on the blade, just as Toreii casted her final spell of the fight.
––– [Atomic Acceleration]
The steady beat of her heart matched with the rhythm of the mana pulsing in [Gungnir]. She arched her back, tensing her arm muscles like an Olympic athlete ready for the javelin throw. Faster than she could perceive, the heavenly spear disappeared from her hand, shooting out like a beam of light. Her spell acted like a projectile accelerator, which was often utilized by sniper archers or long-range mages. However, the devs had made the spell scale with one's magical prowess. The game of Yggdrasil had an upper limit of how much these spells could scale like her teleportation magic. Servers which hosted the game and did real-time calculations for spells were no longer running. As far as she knew, the only limit was her imagination.
As fast as time would allow, [Gungnir] was in her grasp and then it was gone, shooting like an arrow shot out of a particle collider. The hoard of dragon heads was sliced cleanly and evenly, as simple and practiced as a master butcher would do with his cleaver. The spear rocketed forth beyond them, shooting straight back toward the planet.
However, Toreii had no time to observe the damages, as the severed necks were already regrowing its bone structure. The cursed blade in her left hand reflected the solar light behind her, as she propelled herself forward beyond escape velocity. Toreii's eyes locked on the single head which did not grow itself back, but was trying to reattach itself.
The single ethereal head was drifting toward the sun along with its massive body. Having entered the heliosphere, a crimson orange cone of solar fire covered the hydra's black body, burning the flesh as fast as the body tried to repair itself. Even with no need to breathe, even with gravitational protection, and even with an ice shield as cold as Jötunheimr itself, she was not immune to the ferocity of space. The light, soft white skin on her body burned from the gamma radiation, as vertigo started to set in from the radiation sickness. Even with a body of a [Deity], Toreii could not compete against the unrelenting force of a lifeless environment. Every cell in her body was being cooked inside out, while her outer body was freezing.
If she was back in Yggdrasil, Toreii would have had been under negative effects such as poisoned, blindness, freezing, burning, and confusion. Yet the main difference between the game and now was the agonizing pain which kept building inside of her pubescent body. There might have been simulated pain which was nothing more hurtful than a tiny pinch on the skin, but that was more of an indicator the player was taking damage. Being cooked alive just above the surface of the sun as she also froze on the outside was bloodcurdling.
Ai thought her imaginary migraine was causing her to lose her mentality, but that paled in comparison to trying to escape the solar winds of the sun. Never once in her sheltered life did she experience pain more severe than scratching her knee. Now, she wanted nothing more than to writhe on the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs, pulling her hair off of her scalp, and to scratch at her burning flesh until every last piece of inflamed skin was torn off in a bloody mess. Her bones felt brittle enough that flying any faster would cause her entire endoskeleton to shatter into a billion tiny pieces smaller than grains of sand.
Even though Toreii had a greater pain tolerance than a regular human, the young [Deity] still had the mental limitation of a human. Ai's consciousness was ebbing in and out, as she willed herself to remain in control. The single shining head of the hydra was her light at the end of the tunnel. Two sets of huge muscular arms swiped at her, but with such a small body, she had easily evaded the last-ditch effort to bring her down.
Behind her, as the hydra burned up even faster as it got closer to the bright, hot orange surface, several of the non-living heads which were immune to living status effects shot beams of lightning, frost, and fire at her with panicked, yet impeccable mechanical aim. In the corner of her eye, the magical attacks were fast approaching her, but at the same time, it also accelerated the hydra further towards its own demise. Maneuvering herself, bobbing and weaving, the trio of elemental beams instead found their mark on the decapitated heads instead, spewing blood and grey matter everywhere.
She could feel his frustration at being toyed around. Yes, that's exactly what she's doing – playing around with a murderous, Level-100 hydra. Finally reaching her destination, the ethereal head was very much still alive, flailing desperately in the zero-g environment. From the back of the neck to the front snout, the entire head itself was almost twice as tall as Toreii's body was. Despite the disparity in size, she still gripped the ghost-like horns on the back of the head to avoid the flesh-ripping fangs in the front.
Just as she got a firm grip, 100 beams of lighting, fire and arcane magic silently flew past her, hitting more floating, decapitated heads. She felt pain from her exposed flesh touching him, but she guessed he felt even worse – having someone right at one's blind spot could be incredibly discomforting, after all.
On the surface of the sun, a giant black body, which was half-melted with its organs spilling out, was regrowing them just as fast. The thousands of heads which were chopped off had already regenerated, while its muscular forearms clawed their way through the immense gravity pulling the hydra down to the core of the star. Each passing second, more and more arcs of magic and elemental spells were shot at her. The most regrettable part was the mechanical heads began a mechanized transformation of themselves, as metal wires sprouted from their machine necks and tethered itself onto the hot, energy-filled surface. The orange-yellow matter pulsed their way up the spiny necks, gathering at the base of the throat where the solar energy was now being charged to fire on her. Dozens of heads, one by one, fired scathing hot rays in her direction.
'WHY WON'T YOU DIE?! THAT'S LITERALLY THE SURFACE OF THE SUN!'
Dodging the projectiles, Toreii flew in an unorthodox manner as to create as chaotic a movement as she could. However, she deliberately moved while gripping the main head to shield herself from the few unavoidable blasts. Tension from underneath her told of the silent pain the main head endured under the assault from its own body, but he could not shake her off. She silently counted upwards the time since she threw her spear, while the mystical head thrashed about in her hand as to loosen her grip on his horn. All Ai could focus on now was surviving. If the sun, a giant ball of nuclear gas, was unable to kill the hydra, very few things in her arsenal would be able to handle such a fast healing factor.
'ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! YOUR POWERS ARE BULLSHIT!'
Having launched the spear at light speed just about 7 minutes ago, Ai hoped her math and judgement were on point. Although she knew for sure she aimed the spear in the general direction of the new world, she did not know the exact distance [Gungnir] would have to travel. If she teleported to her spear too early, she would have to face the protective layer of the atmosphere upon reentry. Teleporting too late, and the divine spear would have enough momentum to cut through the planet. Of course, one of these outcomes was better than the other.
A sigil burned a cool blue on the back of her right hand. Toreii would try her luck with misjudging the distance back home. The fact the hydra was out-healing being burned alive by the surface of the sun, as well as using the power of the star to fire at her, did not bode well for her chances of winning. From her massive mana reserves, like an ocean of power at its calmest, Toreii felt the warm magical essence flow through her veins to the sigil, despite being numb throughout her entire body. From her peripherals, a dozen more solar beams were on their way to hitting their mark on her, but she had already channeled the magic in her sigil.
––– Pfwwt!
In a flash of neon gold, a tiny young girl holding the head of ethereal dragon head twice her size vanished, alongside said appendix. The everlasting silence of space raged on for Toreii, as her eyes adjust from having blinding yellow light burning her retinas to a calmer scene of a giant blue marble. Letting go of the head, her right hand once again grasped the familial shaft of [Gungnir]. The air was very thin, but there was still enough for her lungs to get a small breath in.
Never was she so glad to be back to Earth, or at least a version of her home planet.
No, this planet was vastly different from the one she grew up in. The black skies where everything was covered with acidic clouds was nowhere to be seen, replaced by blotches of puffy white clouds lazily drifting to the will of the wind. Land which was once covered by grey metropolitan cities as far as the horizon went were gone, like they never existed in the first place. The new Earth was lush, green, and filled with life as far as her eyes could see. Mountains, plateaus, valleys, jungles, deserts, and the bluest ocean she had ever seen in her entire life.
The dawn was slowly creeping across the land below her, life below mobilizing in response to the warmth. Birds flying in V-formations, herds of wild horses roaming the flatland, while villages of every kind of species were beginning their day. Orcs, ogres, trolls, giants, centaurs, goblins, harpies, dragons, but most importantly, humans had formed some form of society within their respective kin. However, there were no skyscrapers towering above the cloud line, no mega homes which crammed as many families into it as possible, no dust storms which wiped out all life in its path, and no dark cities where the poor was segregated in.
Humans seemed to have simple lives, farmers and ranchers who tended to their crops and animals. Small settlements were formed around the edges of the forest with dirt trails connecting to one another. Horse drawn carriages moved to-and-fro between farms, but they all seem to head towards what Ai assumed was a capital city. Stone walls covered the exterior, while smaller homes littered the outer ring. Said houses increased in build quality as her eyes crept closer to the epicenter, where a castle stood tall, or at least a bigger-than-usual fortress.
Ai might have a bias towards the human architecture, having lived in the flying castle of Asgard, but the small city was just that, a small city. Nothing was of note about it beside the increased size compared to the other farming villages. In fact, this world seemed to be a downgrade in terms of technology. There were no signs of electricity having been fully implemented or utilized. At most, she saw irrigation systems, but even those were rudimentary.
A mixture of excitement and wonder made Ai's imaginary heart flutter, like the time Yggdrasil got its Valkyrie expansion. She had no idea how or why she had come to this new world, but thus far, things seemed to follow the same rules and guidelines the game did. Although she was hesitant to ask, the treasure seeker part of Ai wondered what the loot drops in this world were. Even if she did not outright kill the hydra, she felt she still filled the conditions of defeating said raid boss. Yet, no data crystals dropped – nor any kind of reward, for that matter, not even a single coin of gold.
'Did the rewards drop back on the sun…? Am I thinking too much into this? Do I have to turn in the quest somewhere? Ahh… Not having a hud sucks… Maybe the rewards are in the head I brought back?'
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!"
'How are you still talking?! You don't have a neck for a voice! Ahh… I almost forgot…'
––– Swink.
The cold steel of the katana swiped across the severed flesh which hung loosely from the base of the neck for a cleaner cut. Reaching back into her inventory, she placed her cursed blade back into its resting place. Although mythology has stated hydras regrow their heads, Toreii was not taking any changes if a head happen to regrow a body, especially after seeing the hydra's healing powers. Having thought she built her character around a unique concept, Ai was quite envious of someone else doing it better.
"You wouldn't happen to know if some crystals dropped nearby, would you?"
Nyx remained silent, lost in thought. Although he was planets away from his body, he was still able to feel a connection to it, or at least he did until a moment ago. The single-sided blade which sliced his neck left a cold feeling in the back of his mind. His mind which was once filled with thousands of voices was now devoid of everything but his own. It was quiet, almost deafening, like a silence where he was truly alone. The heartbeat he could feel despite being cut off from his body was now nowhere to be heard. He could still command his body even if his own head was decapitated, but that notion was now gone with the wind. The wails from hundreds of living heads starved of air was gone. The black armored body, which survived an onslaught of fire hotter and more ferocious than the blackest hellfire from eldritch demons which he could feel every part of, felt distant, like a forgotten memory. The arrogance he boasted, confidence in his own immortality, was left back with his main body.
"I'll take your silence as a no."
"What… What is that blade made of… My body… I can't feel my body…"
'All heads can't feel their body when they get cut off… Is he talking about my [Muramasa Blade]? Does it have a new effect in this new world? Did all my equipment keep their old effects? Ahh… I should test that out later…'
From the corner of her vision, Asgard came into view. The flying fortress glowed a bright golden brilliance, dwarfing the natural light of the sun in lustrous shine. The once gloomy weather of thunder clouds above the city was no longer there, instead replaced by a thin barrier of magic pulsing with life. Although she did not explicitly call the city forth, it seemed Heimdall had worked the [Bifrost] to teleport Asgard to her location.
The eternal body of Toreii was still in peak conditions, ready for another raid boss fight. Despite sharing the same body with the immortal youth, Ai felt years drag on inside of her mind. The bright, topaz-colored eyes on the adolescent masked what Ai actually felt underneath. Having stayed up all throughout the night, she could feel her phantom body aching. Dark circles felt heavy around her eyes while her arms were like lead bricks which dragged her back down to the ground. Although aging was the least of her concerns now, Ai felt like every minute was akin to a decade passing by.
'Ahh… Now I know why Odin wanted to sleep all the time… Home really is where the bed is…'
Ai's new home floated in the distance. She had never considered herself to reside in anything bigger than her apartment, thus making the sudden change in housing conditions jarring. Closing in on her was the familiar shine of a platinum colored armor with an icy sheath hoisted at the waist.
"My King! You have returned to me, victorious!" Frigga declared with a cheerful voice, "You truly live up to your title of Conqueror of Worlds!"
"Warmonger! All of you! All you players deserved to be eradicated! This land will never know peace until the last of your kind is hunted and killed!"
"Your tongue is quick slick for something about to be made into carpet."
Although the bickering continued on for quite a bit, Ai did not mind it too much. It reminded her of what her classroom of students would do on a daily basis. As an assistant professor, she saw many types of students for whom she formed categories in her mind. Frigga was very much like a student dedicated only school, meeting with the professor in their office constantly. However, tinges of stalker syndrome started to leak into Ai's perception of the Queen of Asgard. Even if there were no obvious signs that Frigga was watching her every action like a big brother government, Ai knew for a fact the devs had programmed in absolute devotion into her backstory, which was why she had no qualms about Frigga being the sole Asgardian to be left behind the city's teleporting.
Still, Ai would have to go back and reread every NPC's backstory and lines of code. Knowing the devs, there would have been something too accurate or a bug that would end up getting her killed. There was usually no middle ground with anything the devs had their hand in, which meant that Ai was in as much danger in Asgard as she was in the new world. In the back of her mind a throbbing started to boom through her skull again, like pin needles sticking themselves into her head were growing to knife size.
The colors of the rising sun over the horizon began blurring, as if their bright, warm hues were leaking. Streaks of orange-yellow sunshine became muted along with the sky losing its lustrous blue. The world around her full of bright colors became a void of blackness as she lost sight in her vision. Her arms which felt as heavy as lead, had the numbing feeling spread to the rest of her imaginary body. It was like Ai was in the middle of winter without a jacket, the cold spreading everywhere until it began to feel warm again. The last thing she saw was Frigga rushing to her with an arm reached out to catch her.
This was a fun dream… I wish it didn't end…
AN: Although I didn't outright say it, I did want to confirm that Nyx is a dragon lord, albeit an inexperienced one. Any thoughts on the battle? Was it what you expected? Did the hydra actually die on the sun? Just things to keep in mind. Sorry that this chapter took so long to put out.