Ch.1249Why Is This Kid So Strong?

The Ancient Gods—or more precisely, the four Primordial Gods said to have existed since creation—each had another name besides their original one.

As tales and anecdotes about the same deity were passed down through various races and nations, they were gradually distorted to fit each culture.

This wasn’t strange. It happened in my original world too.

While gods themselves might exist independently of humans, religion is ultimately a culture and organizational norm created by people.

Therefore, even when worshipping the same deity, interpretations of traditions and doctrines varied greatly depending on the environment and ideology of the worshippers.

Just as ancient Greece and Rome shared the same Olympian mythology yet had differences in the names and status of each god.

Though not exactly identical to their case, these four Ancient Gods were similar.

Yemo, Alfodhr, Gemina, Belliona.

Imir, Wodanaz, Nertus, Skadi.

Just as the Goddess of Life Gemina was called Mother Earth Nertus somewhere else, the Goddess of Death Belliona also had another name.

Skadi.

The epithet of Winter Goddess.

That name was probably given by northerners from frigid regions where terrible cold killed people in droves every winter.

In such places, winter itself was death, so when thinking of the “Goddess of Death,” they naturally associated her with winter.

…So why am I suddenly talking about such random things?

Why indeed.

– Whooooosh…!

“Hah… this is really something else. What now?”

Because that “Winter Goddess” has started living up to her name.

—-

The moment I looked at the whirlwind of corpse fragments rushing toward me in six streams, Belliona’s left arm raised the scythe above her head and drew a massive circle in the air.

【 The waves of Niflheim, Élivágar. 】

Though it came from Erzsebet’s vocal cords, the voice sounded fundamentally different from hers as she muttered something.

It was a declaration, a spell, and a command.

A miracle that slightly twisted the principles and laws of the world by commanding it with divine words and divine will, making the impossible possible.

A reality-distorting ability granted only to those with divinity like gods and their apostles, and those who awakened the blessings scattered by Ausrine’s self-sacrifice.

Authority. Mental technique. Tale of Heros. Unique magic.

Though their forms and names differed slightly, the essence of this transcendent power twisted reality as it unfolded. Through the massive black circle that Death’s left arm carved in the air.

– Whooooosh…

The first anomaly was the wind.

A gentle breeze with a chill like midwinter’s biting wind, fundamentally different from the hot winds of battle or the foul gusts carrying the stench of corpses.

‘…Cold? I’m feeling cold?’

An intense chill that made even me—who had become extremely insensitive to cold and heat since awakening my divinity—shudder momentarily, was gradually spreading through the air.

From the black circle that had formed above Erzsebet’s head, as if an invisible waterfall were pouring down.

This coldness was a harbinger.

A harbinger that something so intensely cold that it spread such terrible chill merely by existing would soon reveal itself to the world.

There was no need to consider how to respond, nor was there time.

“Kenaz! Hagalaz!”

Flames enveloping my entire body like a robe. A destructive force shot from my left arm like a cannon.

The warmth of the flickering flames offset the surrounding chill, and the whirling force of destruction collided with the whirlwind of corpses with a thunderous roar.

“Kyaaaah!”

Without even confirming the result of that collision, immediately after throwing my punch, I kicked off the air and charged toward Erzsebet with flames wrapped around my entire body.

I didn’t know what trick she was trying to pull, but I needed to stop it regardless. My instinct, almost like foresight, guided me.

‘Damn, too late…!’

With the certainty that I was already a step behind.

– Screeeech!

With a tearing sound that split the air, Death’s scythe was suddenly before my eyes in the blink of an eye.

Not confident I could block it successfully, I clicked my tongue and had to dodge to the side.

That caused a slight but fatal delay.

– Kwaaaaa—!

The next moment, a waterfall poured from a hole in the sky.

With a pale, hazy light like a foggy riverbank, and an extreme cold that even dampened the flames surrounding my body.

‘River water?’

It was a collection of cold energy that looked like a vertical waterfall of nearly frozen river water.

Cold energy so dense that it went beyond mere visibility to flow like an actual river.

It poured down toward the ground like a waterfall, then split into eleven streams just before reaching the damaged tower spire, spreading sideways before rising again.

And then, the next moment.

– Whooooosh…!

The world transformed.

The ceiling blocked by glowing crystal gems and rocks, the ground torn to shreds and turned to bloody mud, the crumbling burning fortress and warriors fighting desperately.

All of it disappeared like an illusion, and a foggy snowfield with eleven winding river streams spread out beneath my feet.

“…This is really something else. What now?”

A snowfield where glacial rivers flowed between frozen mountains. Snowstorms howling like ghostly wails. A dark blue sun emitting cold instead of warmth.

Everything before my eyes had completely changed from moments before.

‘Spatial movement? Illusion? No, no. This is…’

I instinctively realized that this wasn’t teleportation to somewhere else, nor was it showing me a well-crafted illusion.

This was a world.

An alternate dimension created by divine miracle, like Hersella’s “Field of Mortality” that creates a realm of slaughter covered in bloody mist, or my Defying Fate that creates an overlapping world where time stops.

The snowy field of death that the Goddess of Death Belliona created under the name of Winter Goddess Skadi. Somehow, the enemy and I had been dropped right in the middle of it.

– Crack crack crack!

“Kuh…!?”

A frozen hell of extreme cold where even flickering flames froze and shattered.

—-

What could counter this transcendental cold that could freeze even the phenomenon of fire? A cold beyond the laws of nature, the winter of a god?

“KENAAAAAAAAZ—!”

The answer was obviously more firepower. Flames at maximum output that I had never used before because they risked burning not just enemies but all allies across the battlefield.

The moment I raised my right hand and released that power, flames so intense they deserved to be called infernal erupted in all directions.

– Kwararara!

A torrent—or rather a tsunami—of crimson flames.

The flames swelled, devouring the surrounding snowstorm like it was nothing, and condensed around me to form a massive sphere.

A red sphere that steamed, froze, and crumbled yet continued to burn fiercely without yielding. A second sun had risen in the sky.

‘Good, with this…!’

I smiled as I felt a faint warmth at the center of that sphere. Rejoicing that the cold that had threatened to freeze even my breath and cells had temporarily retreated.

Of course, I couldn’t hold out for long.

Despite the massive firepower showing no outward signs of weakening, the sun of flames surrounding me was being eroded at a terrifying rate.

[ You can’t hold out for long! ]

‘I know that!’

This meant the duel with the enemy had become a race against time that needed to end as quickly as possible… but when you think about it, wasn’t it always that way?

Even if the enemy had become more dangerous than I expected, nothing had changed. It was always a fight that couldn’t be dragged out.

“Kyaaaah!”

I charged toward the god with the sun of fire surrounding me, cutting through the snowstorm.

– Kwaaaaa!

A whirlwind of steam trailing behind me froze and scattered, sparkling with light, while the scythe steeped in dark blue cold energy sliced through the air, sending waves of cold and death.

Flickering flames and swirling steam, scattered light and snowstorms obscured my vision so I could barely see an inch in front of me.

I relied not on my eyes but on my sense of energy to pursue Erzsebet and the enemy’s left arm, rampaging like an incarnation of fire and destruction.

Air impossible to breathe. The crimson flames growing smaller. My body slowing as I got closer to the enemy. Defying Fate still impossible to cast.

And still intact, the scythe that nullified every attack without exception.

Objectively speaking, the situation was disadvantageous in many ways… but I didn’t feel like I would lose.

“How long can you maintain this snowfield?”

If this world was similar to Defying Fate or Field of Mortality, just maintaining it would be causing massive power to leak away.

Belliona herself might manage, but with just a left arm’s worth of power, it couldn’t be sustained for long. Especially while wielding the scythe of death.

In contrast, the rune inscriptions consume very little power.

Though somewhat enhanced by divine power, they fundamentally draw on the power contained in the inscriptions and external mana.

Thanks to that, I could hold out for a while. Though ultimately my fire would be extinguished first.

Moreover, even that scythe had its weakness.

It was a weakness I couldn’t exploit yet in this world—where my attacks froze and shattered the moment they approached the enemy—but it existed.

‘I’ll stick close and make it waste power. Eventually, this will break!’

For now, I would fight until this snow world shattered. That was the best and only strategy available.