Chapter 72

Chapter 72. The Avatar of Force Majeure

"......"

The Fortress of Eternal Winter.

Skadi sat upon her throne, grinding her teeth.

CRACK.

The bone-chilling sound of grinding reverberated through the fortress.

Her eyes were bloodshot with fury.

'How am I supposed to endure this humiliation?'

She'd been mocked in front of hundreds of gods.

Heimdal -- that arrogant bastard's sneer still echoed in her ears.

This was the second time already.

Cryos, the chess piece she'd raised, had been devoured by the rat from Floor 7.

And today, her direct Apostle God Akan had been forced to his knees at the creature's feet.

"Lady Skadi......"

Below the throne.

Akan lay prostrate on the ground, drenched in blood.

He couldn't bring himself to raise his head.

A voice torn between shame and fear.

"I have no excuse. However......"

Akan clenched his fist as though the injustice was unbearable.

"If only my Divine Power had been intact! I would've ripped that lesser god apart in a heartbeat! If not for those cursed shackles......!"

Excuses.

Skadi's eyes sank to a frigid calm.

"And?"

Her voice was still cold as a sheet of ice.

"Does that change the fact that you lost?"

"......!"

"The conditions were the same for him. No -- your body should have been far stronger by every right. And yet you lost. A defeat born of your shallow martial skills and complacency."

Akan's body trembled like aspen leaves.

The chill Skadi radiated was freezing the fortress's pillars solid.

"And of all opponents...... to the dog of that bastard Heimdal."

Skadi clenched the armrest.

CRACK.

The ice-formed armrest fissured.

Her Winter Flame had been stolen, and now she'd been thoroughly humiliated in the proxy battle as well.

This brand of defeat would haunt Skadi for a long time.

The gods of Asgard might bow their heads to her outwardly, but in private they'd praise Heimdal's victory and mock her.

"Lady Skadi! Please, just one more chance!"

Akan cried out urgently.

"I'll march on Floor 55 this instant! I'll unleash my full Divine Power, reduce Rag's territory to ash, and bring you his severed head! Declare war!"

A declaration of war.

An all-out offensive by a high-ranking god.

But the moment Skadi heard it, she let out a hollow laugh.

"......You've lost your mind."

Skadi's gaze filled with contempt.

"A high-ranking god declaring war on a mere lesser god? And after losing once, you'd attack driven by spite?"

She rose from her throne.

"Don't you see how much more humiliating that would be?! Do you truly not understand how monumentally stupid it is to let those words leave your mouth?!"

"......Eek!"

Akan slammed his head to the floor in terror.

Skadi's fury had peaked.

She was right.

A high-ranking god declaring war on a lesser god was unprecedented.

Even if they won, they'd be ridiculed as one-sided butchers. And in the astronomically unlikely event --

The truly astronomically unlikely event -- that they were caught out like Cryos?

That would be a fatal disgrace capable of collapsing Skadi's entire faction.

And behind Rag stood Heimdal.

Hadn't Heimdal publicly declared that touching Rag would invite his typhoon to tear the offender's territory to shreds?

"Shut your mouth and get out."

Skadi commanded coldly.

"Never show that disgraceful face of yours before me again."

Akan bit his lip and fled the audience chamber as if running for his life.

BANG.

The door slammed shut.

Skadi slumped back into her throne.

'Am I supposed to just sit here with the brand of a loser?'

Frustration boiled over.

She wanted revenge.

She wanted to wring Rag's impudent neck and rip apart Heimdal's arrogant smile.

But the chains of the Tower's rules and justification held her ankles fast.

That was when it happened.

A memory flickered through Skadi's mind.

The final moments of the Banquet.

What Hod, the Dark God among the Twelve Sovereign Gods, had said.

-All Twelve Sovereign Gods have resolved to create Avatars on Earth.

The Twelve Sovereign Gods descending with Avatars.

Extraordinary.

Unprecedented.

'What's the reason?'

Skadi narrowed her eyes.

The Twelve Sovereign Gods don't move without cause.

Their openly announcing a collective entry into the Game had a purpose.

'They're luring the others in.'

A strange smile flickered across Skadi's lips.

A measure to guide every god into creating Avatars and heading to Earth.

Which meant something was hidden on Earth that even the Twelve Sovereign Gods found tempting -- or perhaps something so massive that even they couldn't handle it alone.

"......Heimdal."

Skadi murmured softly.

Had Heimdal also made an Avatar?

And Rag?

'Of course they have.'

Those greedy, arrogant creatures would never let such sweet prey slip away.

They were certainly sculpting their shells somewhere on Earth and enjoying the Game.

"Yes."

Skadi rose to her feet.

Color returned to her frozen expression.

"All I have to do is win, whatever it takes."

If the battle for justification inside the Tower was too hard, she'd settle things outside it.

Earth.

On that lawless game board, rank and justification and Heimdal's protection were all meaningless.

Only the one who finds first and kills first wins.

If she destroyed Heimdal's and Rag's Avatars, and went further to monopolize whatever the Twelve Sovereign Gods were seeking?

The true victor would be her.

"Akan."

Skadi summoned Akan again.

Akan, who'd been waiting outside the door, rushed in and dropped to his knees.

"You called, Lady Skadi?"

"We go to Earth."

Skadi declared.

Akan's eyes went wide.

"Immediately. You and all of my Apostle Gods -- create Avatars on Earth. Spare nothing. Pour Nectar without limit and raise them. I intend to do the same."

Killing intent glinted in her eyes.

No matter how high those two could fly, there were only two of them.

Skadi, on the other hand, had many Apostle Gods.

And that wasn't all.

She knew how to wield a faction.

Unlike the lone-wolf Heimdal, she had plenty of gods who would follow her.

On Earth, too, she could form a faction and grow stronger faster.

The unspoken rule about hiding one's Avatar?

To hell with it.

Picking and choosing would make revenge against Heimdal and Rag impossible.

"You must track down Heimdal's and Rag's trails on Earth."

Skadi clenched her fist.

"And the moment you find them, tear them to shreds."

"By your command!"

Akan answered in a fervent voice, head bowed.

Skadi wasn't the only one.

From this day onward.

The upper-tier and Supreme Tier gods who'd previously shown little interest in the lower realms' Game.

Every last one of them, as if by prior arrangement, began sculpting their Avatars on Earth.

Spurred by the Twelve Sovereign Gods' declaration of entry, or driven to claim the hidden treasure.

Each carrying their own greed and thirst for vengeance.

***

"Mmnh......"

My head felt like it was splitting apart.

Every bone in my body seemed to be screaming.

My eyelids were as heavy as lead.

That was when it happened.

'......?'

Something damp and slippery grazed my face.

Something was licking my cheek over and over.

A warm, slightly rough sensation.

I forced my eyes open.

"KYAAAH!"

The first thing in my field of vision was a pitch-black snout shoved right against my nose.

Angragon.

The creature called the Dragon of Catastrophe.

Was wagging its tail like a puppy and nuzzling its face against my cheek.

"......I'm fine now."

I barely managed to lift an arm and push the beast's head away.

It burrowed into my chest and let out a whimpering sound.

It must have been quite worried after seeing me collapse.

"Master!"

The door burst open, and someone rushed in.

Seria.

The rims of her eyes were red.

When our eyes met, her face flooded with color.

"M-Master has awakened!"

She shouted a cry of joy toward the corridor.

Heavy, thundering footsteps echoed from outside.

The Four Barbarian Brothers and the Frost Tribe elves, all racing to get here first.

I gingerly straightened my aching back and propped myself up against the headboard.

"How long was I out?"

Seria knelt beside my bed and answered.

"Two days."

"......Two whole days."

Longer than I'd expected.

Fighting twenty-three Apostle Gods in shackles at the Banquet -- small wonder my body had given out.

"Lord Heimdal personally carried you back."

At Seria's words, I raised an eyebrow.

"Heimdal? In person?"

"Yes. He even left rare divine medicine for your treatment before he departed."

Unexpected.

That arrogant, cold Ruler of All Things had personally carried his unconscious Apostle God all the way back to his territory.

And even provided medicine?

'What's gotten into him?'

Was he moved by my fighting spirit at the Banquet?

Or was he simply that pleased by the resounding victory over Skadi's faction?

Either way, it wasn't bad.

The more he trusted me, the more cards I had to play.

"Um......"

Seria peeked at me and hesitated.

Her expression was oddly contorted.

Something like embarrassment.

No -- closer to bewilderment.

"What is it?"

When I asked, Seria's lips parted slightly.

"It's about...... the people who came with you from the Banquet."

"The Banquet?"

"Those women."

Ah.

I remembered.

'The divine maidens.'

At the Banquet's conclusion, Aigis had pawned them off on me as the victor's spoils.

Dozens -- no, roughly a hundred of them, by conservative count.

While I'd been unconscious, Seria must have taken them in and sheltered them.

"Did they cause some kind of trouble?"

"Not exactly trouble, but......"

Seria's face reddened as she averted her gaze.

"It might be faster if you see for yourself."

Unable to shake an uneasy feeling, I got out of bed.

I straightened my shoes and followed Seria out.

Floor 55. The annex of the golden temple.

Before a grand, ornate palace.

"Open it."

At my order, Seria carefully pushed open the massive golden doors.

CREEEAK.

The instant the doors parted, a warm, sweet fragrance washed over me.

But.

The moment I saw the scene unfolding beyond the gap.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"......Kh."

Inwardly, I was caught off guard.

An involuntary cough escaped me.

After that, I couldn't utter a word.

Inside the palace, roughly a hundred divine maidens were packed in, as expected.

Their ages varied, and among them were exotic races like elves and beast-folk.

And yet.

Every single divine maiden.

Without a single exception.

......Was kneeling, without a stitch of clothing.