IBHJ Chapter 673 (Patreon)

She turned around and ordered the Valkyries to fan out and track down the other six who were still missing.

"If they're your kin, I saw one earlier..." He said regretfully. "Unfortunately she was already dead when I found her."

Thrúd nodded expressionlessly. "To die in battle is the glory of a Valkyrie. But at the very least, let their remains return to Asgard and receive Lady Skadi's divine light."

Shirou nodded in understanding. He knew a great many things, but likewise there was still much he didn't know - resurrection, for one. That was beyond his abilities.

He walked to the edge of the deep pit and stretched out a hand to retrieve the Black Tower.

Nidhogg had been trapped inside for almost an hour now. By this point, the tower should have completely incinerated its corpse.

However, the moment he removed the tower...

The earth shook violently.

"Assemble, now!" Thrúd reacted quickly, commanding the remaining Valkyries without hesitation.

Suddenly, an enormous black shadow burst out from the massive crater.

It was Nidhogg.

Shirou stared at the dragon, stunned. 

Wasn't it dead?

The Black Tower had told him Nidhogg's life signs were gone. That's why he removed it.

Yet here it was, alive and kicking. It must have somehow tricked the tower into thinking it was dead!

At this moment, Nidhogg was a mess, its wings battered and tattered. The black crystal scales that armored its massive body were shattered, leaving only indistinct, charred meat that had been roasted by the Black Tower.

Glaring fiercely at Shirou, Nidhogg turned and fled. It knew it was no match for him. But no matter—as long as it lived, it would have its revenge!

"It's getting away!" Thrúd cried out.

Shirou raised an eyebrow. "It can't escape."

When he decided to end a life, he did so without mercy.

With a thought, the Black Tower emerged from the earth once more.

"You can't stop it from escaping, Your Majesty!" Thrúd shook her head. "No one can!"

"Nothing is absolute." Shirou gestured and the massive Black Tower emitted loud "ka-cha" sounds. Endless True Ether extracted from the Planet's Inner Sea condensed into a cluster, gradually transforming the towering tower into a long, slender spear that radiated black light.

Salter's eyes widened as she recognized the weapon, "Is that...the spear I saw in Paradise?"

The Spear of Endless Light! 

But since it was formed from the Black Tower this time, "endless darkness" fit better than "endless light."

Activating his Clairvoyance EX, Shirou locked onto the escaping Nidhogg. With all his might, he hurled the black spear.

It was like a black star being born on earth. In the blink of an eye, too fast to follow, the black spear pierced the battered dragon's body with a thunderous "boom."

"Graaauuugh--!"

The dragon let out a mournful roar as its massive body finally crashed down from the sky.

With a simple gesture, Shirou recalled the Spear of Endless Darkness and it returned to his hand.

This Grand Servant's power is unbelievable, Thrúd thought to herself. Lady Skadi would be devastated if she knew she had accidentally made an enemy this strong. But luckily this Servant seems to be a bit stupid. She breathed a sigh of relief, glad that her words had fooled him.

After storing away the black spear, Shirou turned his gaze to Nidhogg’s enormous corpse. The dragon’s body faded into spiritrons, leaving only a palm-sized stone disk behind.

He went over for a closer look. The stone disk looked ancient, covered in intricate, cryptic symbols similar to primordial runes. It radiated an enormous magical energy - it was a mana crystal.

"Any idea what this is?" Shirou held it up in front of Thrúd. If it was some important artifact, he should probably hand it over to the Valkyries.

She shook her head. "I don't know."

Guess it's just Nidhogg's mana crystal then, not anything special, Shirou mused. After thinking a moment, he casually tossed the disk into the black mud.

Since it didn't seem an important artifact, no harm feeding it to the black mud. Who knows, maybe consuming Nidhogg's record could help fill Mortal Awakening - Emperor's skill bar.

Unfortunately, consuming the stone didn't fill his Emperor skill bar at all. But it did cause his mana levels to skyrocket tremendously, all the way to A+++ rank. He also gained some of Nidhogg's skills - not a bad haul.

"M-mana readings...4.3 million...!" Thrúd stammered, eyes wide with shock as she sensed the changes in him.

"T-This mana fluctuation... Another Queen Hel!?"

...

It was strange - after defeating the Black Dragon, it dropped an item like some video game boss: a stone disk engraved with a dragon shape.

But he went ahead and swallowed it anyway. And now the mana he possessed had greatly increased, already surpassing the amount the dragon had previously held.

With this enormous amount of mana - though still less than what he'd initially obtained from the Fuyuki Leyline - he now commanded what could only be described as an ocean of magical energy.

To be honest, even with his innate skill [Evil Flower] to quickly gain magical energy, he had never been able to build up much over the years. It was as if he was part of this world, spending mana as soon as it came. But now, with this sudden massive reserve of mana, he couldn't help but wonder if he was dreaming.

Shirou felt a swell of gratitude toward the [Council] member who summoned him. They had been truly kind - not only guiding him when he was lost in the dimensional rift, but even summoning him as the Eternal King and providing ample magical energy. Now he need not worry about expending it. He made a mental note to properly thank them when they met.

Thrúd dispatched the other eight Valkyries to search within a ten kilometer radius. They found the corpses of three slain Valkyries.

Two were long devoid of any signs of life. The third clung to her last breaths, her body cleaved in half at the waist, beyond saving.

The surviving Valkyries gathered around their dying sister. Thrúd crouched down and clasped the hands still retaining some warmth.

Large snowflakes fell from the sky, quickly covering the exposed brown earth below.

Between the sky and earth, everything was obscured in whiteness. No other colors remained.

"Re...report..." the broken Valkyrie lay in the snow, meeting Thrúd's gaze with vacant eyes. "Valkyrie C 11741 sus...sustained heavy damage. On July 4, 2012, re...requesting retirement..."

"Request approved," Thrúd murmured.

The Valkyrie took one last breath, closing her eyes for good. Snowflakes landed softly on her body, draping her in a white veil.

"May Odin be with you," Thrúd said a quick prayer before rising.

The surrounding Valkyries produced three ice coffins, gently placing their fallen sisters inside. Though their faces remained expressionless, gazes stiff and hollow, their actions were filled with care.

Shirou and Salter watched the solemn scene in silence.

Losing someone is always sad, but a warrior's death deserves respect. At least these three Valkyries were found by their friends—the other three would not receive even that small mercy.

Those three ice coffins had a special feature. After the Valkyrie put her companion inside and hit a button, the coffin would shrink down into a little capsule. She picked it up and put it in this box they had for storing a bunch of those capsule coffins.

When she was done with that, Thrúd turned to Shirou and Salter with an apologetic look on her face. "Eternal King, Lady Artoria - please accept our sincere apologies for the long wait."

"It's fine," Shirou assured with a shake of his head. "Saber and I understand this is an important custom for fallen warriors."

"Thank you for being so understanding," Thrúd said, relief in her voice. "We'll also help in finding your Masters. But I believe they'll be at the Gate of Muspelheim."

He raised his eyebrows at the mention of the Gate of Muspelheim. He knew Muspelheim was the land of fire giants in Norse mythology, but a gate? Was that some kind of feature of this Norse Connection Point? He voiced his doubts.

She smiled at his questions. "The Gate is a defensive fortress Lady Skaði created with her power to withstand the giants' attacks."

Shirou nodded slowly as he pieced things together. "So Skaði sent all of us from Chaldea to defend the Gate against the fire giants?"

He wasn't dumb—he just lacked some details. Since she seemed so sure the Chaldea Masters were at this gate, it was reasonable to assume Chaldea had been summoned to garrison the fortress.

And sure enough, she nodded when he asked this.

Good, that's another piece of the puzzle.

The basic situation and their location were becoming clearer. First, this was years before Ragnarök but after the Norse gods including Odin had vanished. The giants had seized the power vacuum to try conquering the world. Then Skaði returned and drove them back. Later, the death goddess Hel also returned and united the giants against Skaði.

And since Chaldea was helping Skaði, Hel and the giants must be receiving help from the Council.

But wait - hadn't Gelda said the Black Rings first appeared 2,000 years ago? His eyes narrowed as a new possibility came to mind. Perhaps the disappearance of Odin and Norse gods was also connected to the Council?