[I don’t know why I have to go through this!]
A loud sound echoed from beneath the wings. Even in the rough wind, the man’s voice rang out clearly. Hearing this, Loft chuckled.
“Brother! You should’ve lost some weight over the past thousand years! Your body’s too big to ride Hresvelg’s back!”
[It’s not fat, it’s muscle. Shut up!]
“Wow, telling me to shut up just for talking? Can’t even get a word in!”
Loft giggled as he tapped the hawk’s neck. The hawk let out a sharp cry and changed direction, shaking its body.
[I’m getting motion sick!!]
“An Asir-class being getting motion sick? Should I brew some ash root for you? Huh?”
At Loft’s words, a rumbling sound was heard. A bolt of lightning shot through the clouds and struck Loft’s back. Loft shouted in panic.
“Brother! If Hresvelg drops you, you’re dead!”
[Then I’ll kill this damn beast too!]
Their conversation continued like this throughout the flight. Fernandez shook his head and sighed. The hawk was big enough, but Loft insisted that there was no room on its back for a giant, so the man had to be carried by the hawk’s talons.
The man dangled from the hawk’s claws, occasionally shouting when Loft or the hawk playfully shook their bodies.
Listening to their banter, Kirhas chuckled softly. That was a relief. It meant her soul hadn’t been corrupted by hellish magic.
“Kirhas, are you okay?”
“Yes, this is nothing.”
She’s a tough one. Fernandez reached out to pat Kirhas’ hair but stopped. It was inappropriate, and knowing her feelings, he might end up taking advantage of her.
-What a fool.
‘Isn’t this the age to be foolish?’
Faijashi chuckled. Soon, the hawk soared above the clouds. Thick clouds spread below, looking like a vast plain or ocean bathed in red sunset.
Mid-flight, Loft shouted.
“Get ready!”
“We’re still far, aren’t we?”
“Near Yggdrasil, monsters fly around, making the skies dangerous! Hresvelg and I might survive, but you guys can’t fly!”
Loft said this while patting the hawk’s neck. The hawk let out a long cry and began descending below the clouds.
The speed was dizzying. Fernandez wiped the mist clinging to his cheeks and hair, staring ahead. Rain was falling below the clouds.
-Kurururung!
Lightning scattered everywhere, and a storm raged. Below the clouds, darkness enveloped everything. Not just the night’s darkness, but also the massive shadow cast by Yggdrasil’s towering branches.
And below, in the distance, a shattered plain with flowing lava and countless tents lined up came into view.
The lava flowed like a torch, and the tents gathered around the light source. It wasn’t a style common in the Material World, but it was familiar to Fernandez.
Those were Demidrako’s combat tents. Below them, Demidrako’s military encampment stretched out. The demon legion was preparing for war.
‘It’s the gateway.’
-Not a gateway to the Material World.
‘Probably… a gateway to other demon territories.’
Loft had said that the Bifrost Gateway had the ability to cross dimensions. It wasn’t a one-way gate to a specific dimension but rather a fixed tear in the dimensional wall.
If the target dimension wasn’t just the Material World, the Bifrost Gateway could become the primary means to wage war against other demon territories.
And the Great Demons were never allies. Hell was divided into four major factions, constantly at war, an absolute conflict that remained unchanged even during the apocalypse when demons swept through the Material World.
Across Hell, a war called the Blood War had been raging since creation. An eternal war where different factions of demons fought each other.
And here, Asgard served as Sadarkelisa’s forward base.
‘How is Kaladpelin still keeping Sadarkelisa sealed?’
-Sadarkelisa’s seal is the work of the Temple of the Gods. It’s not something low-level demons can handle.
‘In my past life, the moment Sadarkelisa broke the seal was…’
-Only when Kaladpelin died. Yes, perhaps the life of the Celestial Dragon was the condition for the seal.
As the hawk flew lower, commotion was heard from the ground. Even flying under the thick darkness, they couldn’t escape the demons’ eyes. Horns and trumpets began to sound, following their flight.
“Isn’t this too noisy?”
“Botan’s Castle isn’t far! We’ll be spotted anyway, so let’s break through as fast as possible!”
The hawk increased its speed. Spears and arrows shot from the ground were deflected by the flapping wings or flew off into the night sky.
-Piiiiik!
The hawk let out a sharp cry. Its rough wingbeats shattered the clouds, revealing the sunset. A beam of light stretched across the dark plain, like carving a long path or a meteor skimming the ground.
In the distance, a massive fortress came into view. A towering fortress of stone and steel stood near the base of Yggdrasil. It wasn’t close yet, but at this speed, they would arrive soon.
“Hresvelg! Above!”
-Piiiiik!!
Suddenly, the hawk cried out. A scaled foot burst through the clouds directly above their path. As the hawk twisted sharply to avoid it, the foot swiftly grabbed its neck.
“Nidhogg!! Why is it at this altitude!”
-Kwaaaang!
The sudden stop nearly threw everyone off the hawk’s back. Fernandez gripped the hawk’s feathers tightly with one hand and quickly reached out with his left arm, grabbing Abel behind him. He looked back, his vision shaking from the darkness, rain, and chaos.
‘Damn it.’
It was hard to fully grasp the situation. The hawk’s neck was gripped by…
