Valhalla Saga

Episode 61/Chapter 3: Great Hero (3)

TL: Tsubak

ED:

[We currently have two methods right now.]

[The first is to conquer all the polises to weaken the sacred force of the enemy and strengthen ourselves and the other one is to attack the mount of Olympus and obtain victory in one attack.]

Odin went straight to the point as soon as he started to speak.

Going straight to the point instead of hitting around the bush was a characteristic of a God of Asgard.

[It’s not an exaggeration to say that Zeus’ sacred force is the entire mount of Olympus, but even so it can only get weaker if most of the land of Olympus become the sacred force of another God. In the other hand, our force will get strengthened so you can say that this is the safe method. But the drawback is that it takes too much time.]

Olympus was wide. The group had already taken over Apollo’s and Artemis’ sacred force but that territory wasn’t even a tenth of all of Olympus.

In addition, they needed quite a lot of time to change the color of a liberated sacred force into theirs. Because of that, if they chose that option they had to get determined to do it for more than a year.

[The Protogenoi exists. If the battle gets prolonged more than this we can’t know how they may interfere in the battle. Zeus will also change completely.]

Odin had acquired a lot of information in only a day since securing the connecting path. He was certain that Zeus still hadn’t turned over.

[The other option doesn’t take that long as victory will be decided in only one battle. It means that we will seek victory before Zeus and the Protogenoi turn sides completely. But it means that we will be striking the base of the enemy. The difficulty level and the danger won’t be easy at all.]

Odin spoke up to that point and looked at Tae Ho through the eyes of Hugin. Actually, he had already transmitted all of this through Scathach.

It was a kind of general debate but it was also to give time for Tae Ho to decide.

Tae Ho received Odin’s gaze and then turned to look at Athena after fixing his posture.

“Athena, what method do you want to choose?”

“I wonder what the master of Asgard thinks.”

Athena spoke with a calm tone but Tae Ho could see through her with the ‘eyes of the dragon’. There was a bit of anxiousness and nervousness in Athena’s voice and eyes.

Tae Ho had asked to respect Athena’s will but Tae Ho and even Athena knew well.

That the one that had the right to decide wasn’t Athena but himself. If Athena’s will split with Tae Ho’s, then Asgard would act as Tae Ho wished no matter what she said.

Athena wanted to hear Tae Ho’s thoughts first.

Tae Ho closed his eyes once and spoke without hesitation.

“Asgard will choose the latter option.”

He had already decided this when he first heard things from Scathach. And this was also good for Olympus.

It was almost impossible for Asgard to conquer Olympus completely just like Cuchulainn remarked.

And after all of this ended and when Asgard fell back, Olympus would have to protect their own world by themselves.

Olympus had already lost strong Gods just like Poseidon and Ares. If Olympus got more devastated than now, Olympus could fall over completely in the battle against the ones that wanted to destroy the world.

Olympus wasn’t an enemy for Asgard but an ally, and it was one of the shields to block the ones that wanted to destroy the world.

“I understand. Olympus will also cooperate with the latter option.”

Athena drew a faint smile and answered. It was because she understood how Tae Ho thought of Olympus aside of the difficulty of the task.

And the latter option was also better for Athena.

The former option was to decrease the sacred force of the enemy and increase thris but Odin didn’t speak about whose sacred force will get increased.

Athena trusted Tae Ho but she couldn’t do the same for Odin. Because of that she welcomed the latter option.

[The story is fast.]

Odin laughed bitterly through Hugin’s beak as Tae Ho and Athena came to an instant conclusion and then spoke while looking at Tae Ho.

[Asgard will follow the will of my successor and the new master of Asgard, Tae Ho.]

[Let’s move the final battle to the mount of Olympus.]

There was light heartedness showing in Odin’s voice. That was because the latter option was the way of Valhalla.

But it was at that moment. Thor, that was listening this time instead of speaking like how he did in all the other conferences, raised his hand and spoke.

“Father, i’m curious about something.”

[Speak.]

“Does Asgard also have existences like the Protogenoi?”

Tae Ho and all the others held their breaths at Thor’s question. If there really were existences like the Protogenoi in Asgard, they couldn’t know when the same situation would occur over there.

But Odin laughed bitterly once again through Hugin’s beak and spoke as if telling him not to worry.

[If you are talking about the generation of Gods previous to us, they did exist. But their character and scale is different to the Protogenoi. All of them were beings that wanted to maintain the world…and the decisive fact is that none of them are alive right now.]

“Are you saying that all the primeval Gods perished?”

[That’s right. All of them died. And……i’m not trying to boast but I have lived longer than Zeus. There is only one genealogy above me compared to Zeus, that has to climb up a few times.]

Odin didn’t speak more than that.

Tae Ho felt a sense of incongruity at Odin affirming that all of them had died but he didn’t ask. It was because he didn’t feel like Odin was lying.

[Let’s return to the subject.]

[The army of Asgard, that has currently taken over the connecting path, will move to the sacred forces of Apollo and Artemis that has already been conquered by Tae Ho. It seems like they will take five days to move as it’s a huge army.]

“If we are planning to attack the mount of Olympus immediately…….are we going to gather in Delphos?”

Hugin nodded at Athena’s question.

[That’s the plan for now.]

The place that was closest to the mount of Olympus inside of Tae Ho’s sphere of influence was Delphos.

It was actually devastated because two battles took place there but there were still some polises between Delphos and the mount of Olympus so it didn’t have that much meaning. It was merely a passing point.

[The Gods of Olympus that remain in the enemy camp will try to hinder us but they will only be able to gather in the mount of Olympus if we march straight to the mount. We will hold the initiative as attackers and not defenders.]

The debate had started ten minutes ago but they had already reached to a conclusion. Because of that, Athena asked about various matters instead of the things that had been decided.

“Odin, can you tell me the names of the Gods of Asgard that have come over to Olympus?”

[Me, Thor that is over there, Freya, Tir and Ullr. These five.]

“Father, will Freya also accompany us?”

Hugin clicked its tongue as Thor asked with round eyes.

[She was acting stubbornly saying that she would fight together in this battle. She also wanted to fight with Aphrodite.]

It seemed like she bothered her because the both of them were Gods of beauty.

Cuchulainn laughed and admired.

‘Indeed, Freya-nim is also a Goddess of Asgard.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It’s a good meaning. Anyways, you also became a God of Asgard completely. Looking that you get angry about matters regarding Asgard.’

‘Men are blind in their own causes.’

While Tae Ho and Cuchulainn were joking among themselves, Hugin turned to look at Athena.

[Is it fine if I thought that your forces consist of Echidna, Hephaestus and yourself? The injuries Hermes and Hestia suffered were serious.]

“It is for now.”

The force was poor compared to Asgard but she couldn’t get dispirited because of it. This land was Olympus and currently, the God representing it was herself.

Odin laughed as there was a solid resolution in Athena’s face.

And this time Tae Ho opened his mouth.

“Odin, while the army of Asgard is marching I will go to rescue Demeter.”

[Those are right words looking at the efficiency but…..are you planning to move yourself?]

Tae Ho was the master of Asgard. In addition, the force of Asgard also joined him so there was no need to move directly.

He could move Siri or Bracky or could also send Thor.

But Tae Ho spoke with a clear tone.

“Yes, I want to go rescue her myself.”

‘You devil of meetings. No- evil God of meetings. you are saying that you want to clearly have the meeting rights by making her indebted to you.’

Cuchulainn clicked his tongue as if he could see Tae Ho’s black heart and Odin nodded. Just like he said before, it was better for Tae Ho to go rescue Demeter just looking at the efficiency.

[I understand. I have the commanding right over the army but the final decision lies on you so I will follow you.]

[Sleipnir will accompany you.]

He had already retrieved Talaria from Poseidon but there was no reason to decline something that was given to him. Tae Ho nodded once again.

[Tae Ho master, did it end now?]

Nidhogg, that was putting a hard expression during all the conference, asked with a sloppy mystical magic. She did participate in the conference without thinking much of it as she just followed Adenmaha but it seemed like it bothered her that she was just absent minded during it.

When Tae Ho smiled bitterly and grabbed her hand.

Thor checked Echidna, that was sitting with a hardened expression due to her exhaustion, and then asked Athena quickly.

“Athena, there’s something I want to ask lastly.”

“I will listen to you.”

“There’s someone that has been bothering me the most while I got to march over to Olympus. Do you know about his whereabouts?”

He didn’t say his name but it was clear who he was referring to.

Athena dropped her shoulders slightly and answered.

“I don’t know precisely but….I can only think of one reason looking that the Gigantes aren’t attacking Olympus right now.”

The reason the Titans couldn’t join actively was because Hades had sealed the underworld and was stopping them.

The reason the Gigantes weren’t able to come out would be of a similar reason.

The one protecting Olympus from the Gigantes. The one that would save Olympus from the Gigantomachy.

The strongest battle God of Olympus.

Thor closed his eyes. He felt regret and relief at the same time and showed a smile to Athena.

“Is that so? I understand. I will pray for Olympus so that we don’t fight him in the future.”

“Thank you.”

Athena relaxed a bit at Thor’s sincere words. It was because she sensed that Thor was more similar to Tae Ho than Odin.

[It seems like the general story has ended.]

[Asgard will march to Delphos. Let’s meet over there in five days.]

Odin concluded the conference. He looked at Tae Ho through Hugin’s eyes and the meaning his eyes had was clear.

Tae Ho hit his chest and said.

“For Asgard and the nine realms.”

“For Asgard and the nine realms.”

[For Asgard and the nine realms.]

Everyone excluding Echidna did the same, as the was looking at her surroundings asking what they were doing, and Hugin flew away through the window after hitting its chest with its wing.

The conference ended. Odin should be ordering the army of Asgard to march right now.

That’s why they shouldn’t stay still either.

“Let’s depart right now.”

They would rescue Demeter and contact with the primeval God of earth, Gaia.

The battle would start in five days.

They didn’t have much time.

&

Aphrodite and Dionysus were gathered in one place.

This was the first time they met since they turned sides.

“It didn’t turn well.”

“Right.”

Aphrodite answered Dionysus. Their looks could only be dark after having sensed the invasion of Asgard, the death of Poseidon and the destruction of the connecting path.

It was the worst of the worst.

The reason Poseidon had rushed off alone instead of joining with Aphrodite was to avoid a situation like this.

Destroying the advance party of Asgard with Athena before the reinforcements of Asgard destroyed the connecting path was the best option they had.

But Poseidon had failed.

The master of Asgard was between the advance party of Asgard and he defeated Poseidon.

“What will they do now?”

“There’s a high probability they march to the mount of Olympus.”

“Can’t you seduce Thor?”

“It may be possible if i’m alone with him. But that bitch Freya won’t stay still.”

Aphrodite frowned. You could resist a seduction with another seduction just like Tae Ho proved with Adenmaha.

Aphrodite didn’t think that she fell behind Freya but she still couldn’t see Freya as being easy to deal with.

“What about the master of Asgard?”

“I don’t know. I think something’s wrong with his eyes that the seduction doesn’t work on him at all. I’m sure his preferences are weird or he’s an eunuch.”

Dionysus smiled bitterly as Aphrodite got mad. Aphrodite’s charm was so overwhelming that she still looked lovely when she was being that angry. If she went out to seduce with resolution, sexes and preferences didn’t matter. Her power allowed to seduce even asexual people.

But it still didn’t work.

In addition, her seduction executed in the core of her sacred force had failed so she thought that it was impossible to actually seduce Tae Ho.

“In the end, we can only place our expectations on them.”

“I could have never imagined that this day would come.”

Dionysus and Aphrodite looked at each other and smiled bitterly and then turned to look at another place. There was still some distance with it but they could see it clearly. The endless shaking of the ground was proving their existence.

Gigantes.

The giants of destruction.

And the one standing at their front.

The strongest warrior of Olympus that had stopped them until now but was now leading them.

He was wearing the fur of a huge lion and was holding a huge club which he used to kill countless monsters and giants.

“Heracles.”

The glory of Hera, the son of Zeus.

He wasn’t alone. The heroes of the Argo were at his side.

Heracles looked at a distant place. He looked beyond Dionysius and Aphrodite and at the west of the mount of Olympus.

“Asgard.”

The enemy of Olympus.

The Gigantes marched. They advanced towards the mount of Olympus that would become the land of the decisive battle.

< Episode 61 – Great Hero (3) > End