Sword Art Online - Volume 8 - Early and Late by Reki Kawahara
It was no wonder at all. The whole body of Freyja-san, which was clad in a lightning flash, started growing larger. Three meters…… five meters…… and still wouldn’t stop. The arms and legs were sturdy like big trees, the chest had been raised until it had exceeded Þrym’s. The hammer in the right hand had also increased its size in accordance to the owner. In a short time, it had reached such a size that even a Gnome heavy warrior wouldn’t be able to equip it, emitting intense lightning flashes in all directions.
At that point, the phenomenon that gave Klein and I the worst shock happened.
While facing down, from the cheek and jaw that became rugged and strong, appeared a golden brown and long, looong —— beard.
“It’s a……”
“Grandpa!?”
The scream of two men echoed throughout the entire room.
A Japanese term refering to a middle-aged man that combine sportiness and discretion.
So, now, the imprisoned woman who would walk along the bushidō road with Klein no longer exists in this world. The body raised up with an overwhelming force, the fifteen meters tall giant, no matter how you looked at it, wouldn’t be less than forty years old, it was clearly a nice middle.
“OOO……OOOOO————!”
The giant old man released a roar that shook the entire hall with its electric shock-like bass, behind the hall, the King Þrym who had stopped moving turned around, then moved his right leg wrapped in the thick leather boots forward.
I fearfully moved my gaze toward the left edge of my vision, confirming at name carved in the bottom-most of the eight HP/MP gauges.
The letters which had formed [Freyja] just a little while ago had already changed shape.
[Thor]. That, was the name of our new companion.
Part 5
Even for me who was not very knowledgeable in myth and folklore, there were some of which I was somewhat familiar with.
Odin
In Norse mythology, the great god Óthinn, clown god Loki, and a well known —— god of thunder Þórr. Armed with the hammer to call thunder, the figure that defeated giants one after another had been the motif in many films and games.
This was that Lyfa told me later, the proper episode in Norse mythology about «Þórr reclaiming the hammer stolen by the giant king Þrym». In that myth, Þórr had disguised himself as the goddess Freyja in order to trick Þrym into a false marriage, the disguise was almost exposed many times during the banquet, but the cunning of Loki had helped them pass through, finally he reclaimed the hammer and proceeded to kill every giant there except Þrym, it was a cruel story I had never known before this. It was probable that the Cardinal System collected the legend, then arranged it to be used as this quest’s sub route.
In other words, if one knew about this episode, once they heard the name Freyja, they would have immediately understood that she was not Þrym’s spy. So I was very thankful for Klein’s intuition and bushidō at the ice cage that helped Freyja out, however —— with Freyja’s «true identity» revealed, I wondered what his state of mind was like right now.
“Nuuu―n…… you despicable giant, your punishment for stealing my treasure «Mjölnir» will be given right now!”
The god of thunder Þórr brandished the huge golden hammer in his right hand, he rushed into battle using the momentum from kicking the thick floor.
The frost king Þrym standing opposite breathed onto both of his hands, creating a battle axe of ice there. Swinging the axe, he shouted in return,
Asgard
“You small dirty god, you dare trick me! I’ll cut the beard from your face off and send you back to Ásgarthr!”
If we thought about it, Þrym truly believed that the Freyja just now was the real goddess, and was waiting eagerly for the wedding. Even though he was a bad guy, at least he had the right to be angry.
In the center of the open space, the gold moustached and the blue moustached giants shouted and exchanged blows with each other using the golden hammer and the ice battle axe. The impacts that were sent out shook the entire castle. Still not recovering from the shock of Freyja’s change into a giant —— no, into a grandpa, we stood around with eyes wide open in confusion, and before long, Sinon, who already finished recovering her HP, shouted sharply from the back of the room,
“Everyone attack now, while Þórr is the target!”
Yes, that was absolutely correct. There was no guarantee that Þórr would be able to fight until the end. I also swung my sharp swords and raised my voice.
“Alright, full attack! Use sword skills without holding back!”
Then, seven people kicked the floor and approached Þrym from all directions.
“Nuuooooooo————!”
Emitting exceptionally intense fighting spirit, with his katana raised high in his battle stance, it seemed there was something glittering at the corner of Klein’s eyes, but as mercy to the warrior I pretended not to see it. Without worrying about the skill delay, we continued using more than three-hit sword skills on both of Þrym’s legs. Asuna also changed from her wand to her rapier without me noticing, her god speed thrusting attack shook the Achilles tendon. Lisbeth beside her repeatedly hit Þrym’s little finger with the mace held in both hands.
“Gu……numuu……!”
Þrym let a growl leak while his body shook, and finally, his left knee hit the floor. A dazzling yellow light effect circled his crown’s perimeter. It was the stun condition.
“Now’s the chance……!”
According to my call, every member released their highest combo attack. Bright light effects covered the bare upper body of Þrym. In addition, from the sky, orange shining arrows poured down like rain.
“Nuuun! Return to the abyss, giant king!”
In the end, Þórr delivered the final blow by slamming the hammer in his right hand at Þrym’s head. The crown broke and flew off, and the boss monster that once seemed like an iron wall collapsed onto the ground with a loud crash.
Its HP gauge had already disappeared. The tip of its limbs and its moustache turned into ice as it made a creaking sound.
Its jet black eye sockets with the blinking blue phosphorescence faded and vanished. At that time, the tangled moustache moved, and a low laugh flowed out,
“Nu huhuhu…… you little bugs can enjoy your triumph now. But let your guard against the æsir down and you’ll see painful experience…… Because they are the true…”
Zumun! the sound of Þórr’s intense stomp exploded, he then tread onto the almost completely frozen Þrym.
A tremendously large scaled End Flame occurred, as the frost giant king turned into countless numbers of ice shards and scattered. Due to the pressure of the effect, we involuntarily held up our hands and took a few steps back, the god of thunder Þórr glared at the scene with his golden eyes from high above.
“…………Hmmm, I give you my thanks, Fairy Warriors. I was also able to wash away the disgrace of my treasure being stolen. ——Now, there must be a reward.”
He then lifted his left hand and touched the handle of the gorgeous giant hammer in his right hand. One of the inlaid jewels came out easily, emitted light and turned into a small, human-sized hammer.
Þórr then dropped the scaled down version of the real golden hammer to Klein.
“«Thunder Hammer Mjölnir», use it well in battle. And —— farewell.”
Þórr held up his right hand and the pale lightning immediately penetrated the wide open space. We closed our eyes reflexively, and when we opened our eyelids, he was no longer there. The member withdrawal dialog floated up, and the eighth HP/MP gauge soundlessly disappeared.
On the spot where Þrym had disappeared, a bunch of drop items rolled down like a waterfall, which then automatically disappeared into the party’s temporary storage.
At the same time, an intense light shone in the boss room, driving away the darkness. Regretfully, the mountain of golden objects by the wall also faded away. Well, all of ou
“…………Phew……”
I let out a small breath, then walked to Klein’s side, then placed my hand on his shoulder and said,
“Legendary weapon get, congratulations.”
“…………I don’t have any hammer skills though.”
Gripping the one-handed battle hammer glittering with an aura effect, the katana user who had a sad smile earlier returned to his usual energetic smile.
“Then, I’d be glad to give it to Lis. Ah― but don’t dissolve this into ingots……”
“Wait! No matter how many ingots I can get I won’t do something as wasteful as that anyway!”
Next to Lisbeth who was objecting, Asuna said seriously,
“But Lis, dissolving legendary items seems to yield a lot of Orichalcum ingots.”
“Eh, really?”
“O-Oi! stop talking about dissolving it already!”
Everyone laughed at Klein who shouted while hugging the hammer tightly to his chest——
At that moment,
The ice floor shook violently along with a heavy bass sound at such a high volume that it could shake the core of the body.
“Kyaa!”
Silica screamed with her triangular ears faced down. Sinon next to her, who had her tail bent into an S shape, shouted,
“It……it’s moving!? No, it’s floating……!”
I might be a bit late, but I noticed too.
The giant castle Þrymheimr shuddered like a living thing, and seemed to rise slightly, little by little. Why is this —— no —— could it be, when I thought until this point,
Lyfa took a peek at the medallion under her neck then gushed out in a high-pitched voice,
“O……Onii-chan! The quest is still ongoing!!”
“W……What!?”
Shouted Klein. It was the same feeling I had. With the chief of the frost giant tribe dead, normally the quest would have been completed too —— but, my memory started recalling what «Queen of the Lake Urth» said when we were asked to do the quest.
Invading Þrymheimr and removing the holy sword Excaliber from the pedestal. Defeating Þrym wasn’t the objective. In other words, Þrym, the formidable enemy, was just one of the hurdles for the quest’s progression——
“L-Last light is flashing now!”
In a voice similar to Lyfa’s scream, Yui responded sharply,
“Papa, stairs appeared behind the throne!”
“……………!!”
Without sparing any time to reply, I furiously kicked the floor and dashed toward the throne.
As I approached, in the shape of a chair, aside from it being fifteen meters tall as it was for the frost king Þrym’s exclusive use, the throne looked like a small hut. If we weren’t in an emergency, we would try to climb up to the seat, however, I ran to its left side without looking up at all.
When I turned to the throne’s back, just as Yui said, the ice floor had opened, showing a small descending staircase. It was clearly the size one from the frost giant tribe wouldn’t be able to pass, the size was for a human —— no, a single fairy was barely able to pass. While hearing the approaching footsteps of my companions, I plunged into the dim entrance without hesitation.
While running down the spiral staircase skipping three steps at a time, I thought in a corner of my mind. If we failed the quest we received from Urth —— and at the same time, the large number of the players on the ground were successful in the slaughter quest, the giant ice castle Þrymheimr would float up and surface in the middle of the capital city Aarun; however, Þrym, who had the ambition of invading Alfheim was no longer there. Well, the «came back to life as if nothing had happened» line was also not impossible, but I didn’t think the Cardinal System which had always stuck profusely to details would expand the story in such an aggressive manner.
Thinking while running down at full speed, as if she could read my thought, the voice of Lyfa came from behind me,
“……Well, Onii-chan. I can’t recall it clearly…… but what if the master of Þrymheimr isn’t Þrym in the real Norse mythology?”
“E……Eh!? But, the name……”
“I think so too. But, in the legend is certainly……Th……Th……”
While Lyfa was mumbling, Yui on my head who referred to the outside network immediately replied,
Þjazi (anglicized as Thiazi, Thjazi, Tjasse or Thiassi) was a son of the giant Olvaldi, brother of giants Idi and Gangr, and the father of Skaði. His most notable misdeed was the kidnapping of the goddess Iðunn.
“It’s «Þjazi». In the legend, the one who wants the golden apple that Urth mentioned was him, not Þrym. And next is the information from within ALO, the request of the problematic slaughter quest came from the biggest castle on Jötunheimr ground, was from an NPC named «Archduke Thjazi».”
“……In other words, the successor was there since the beginning then……”
Perhaps when Þrymheimr floated up into Aarun, Þjazi would be in the throne room above, giving out commands like a last boss. But letting the Cardinal’s intention of destroying the capital city and invading the Aarun plateau wasn’t on my mind, I didn’t come this far to just surrender here. Rather than not obtaining Excaliber, I wouldn’t be able to face our friend Tonkii. Of course if the sword was there along the way, I wouldn’t hesitate to grab it either……
While I was thinking those various thoughts, the tremor that wrapped around the castle became increasingly violent. Sometimes the change in G force could be felt intensely, it was clear that the castle was piercing the canopy. I held my breath and continued throwing my momentum down the spiral staircase which I didn’t know how far down it went.
“————Papa, five more seconds until we reach the exit!”
“OK!”
I shouted, just as the bright light up ahead entered my field of vision, I jumped ahead at full force.
What was there was a regular ice octahedron, or a hollowed room in the shape of a superimposed upper and lower parts of a pyramid. The so-called «Burial Chamber».
The wall was quite thin, the entire Jötunheimr field could be seen from the lower part of the ice. On the surroundings, fragments of rock and crystal continued falling down from the canopy. The spiral staircase pierced the center of the burial chamber and continued down toward the bottom.
Then, at that point —— was a deep pure golden light.
There is no mistake, when Lyfa and I rode on Tonkii’s back to escape from Jötunheimr, this was the same twinkling light we saw inside the bottom of the ice castle. Nearly a year had passed and we finally made it here.
When all seven people came down the staircase, we surrounded «that» in a half circle.
At the very center of the circular floor, a 50cm dimensioned ice cube was enshrined. Something small seemed to be trapped inside. When I stared at it closer, it seemed to be thin and delicate tree roots. The countless number of threads that looked like capillary gathered and huddled thicker toward the single main root.
The main root had a diameter of around five centimeters, however, it was cleanly cut. At the place it was cut was a thin and sharp blade inscribed with the detailed runes —— the sword. The shining golden long sword extended vertically, half of the blade was exposed from the ice plinth. It had a detailed knuckle guard and black leather was tightly knitted around the hilt. Its pommel was shining with a big iridescent jewel.
I once saw the very same sword, no I had grabbed it before.
The man who used ALO as a tool for his own ambition, in order to cut me, tried to create it using the GM’s power. However, that power was transferred to me by the person who had higher authority than him, I generated the sword and gave it to him in order to settle it all.
At that time, I had produced the world’s strongest sword with just a single command, but I had a strong sense of aversion to it. Without the challenge to obtain the sword by proper means, the feeling o
……Sorry for the wait.
As I whispered in my mind, I made a step forward, my right hand grabbed the hilt of the long sword —— the legendary class weapon «Holy Sword Excaliber».
“…………!!”
I put all my strength into pulling it out of the pedestal.
However, it felt like the sword and the plinth, no, the entire castle had become a single object, as it didn’t even creak a little. With my left hand helping, both legs firmly planted, mustering all my strength.
“Nu……o…………!!”
But the result was the same. Bad vibes caused a chill to go down my spine.
In ALO, unlike in SAO and GGO; strength, agility and other numerical stats weren’t shown in the system window. The boundary if a certain weapon or armor could be equipped was also vague, from «Easy to handle», «Somewhat challenging», «Body would be swayed», to «Difficult to lift up», changing in non-gradual stages. So among the players, there were many that even though the weapon obtained by sheer luck was so overweight, they still didn’t give up, but wore it, causing their combat power to be lowered as a result.
But even so, the system needed to handle those stats in numerical values, in other words, they were «hidden parameters». The basic value was determined by race and constitution, then applied with boosts from skills and bonuses from magic equipments, and supporting magics could adjust the value even further. Comparing Klein as a Salamander against me as a Spriggan, Klein would have only a slightly higher base value.
But as he loved katana techniques, all his skill and equipment adjustments were based on agility. On the other hand, with the tendency of «loving heavy swords», my adjustment was focused mainly on strength. As a result, among the seven people here, I was without doubt the one with the highest strength. So if I couldn’t pull the sword out with my strength, no one else would be able to either. As everyone seemed to understand this, no one asked for an attempt.