Mythology: Ragnarok

Chapter 219 Return to the World Tree

Tiga respectfully replied, "It's ready, Master. There are a total of 20,000 lizardmen, and they all have a high tolerance for high temperatures and dryness, just like me. The equipment worn by the male lizardmen warriors is also specially customized and prepared specifically for the desert climate."

Agreed nodded and praised, "Good! This afternoon I need you to personally lead this group of troops to settle in the Death Desert on another continent, take root there, and eventually rule that place for me. Remember, don't rush to expand outwards, and prioritize stability. After I finish everything and come back, I will help you deal with the local dragons and undead."

Tiga nodded in agreement, saying, "As you command."

Tiga then led the lizardman warriors to the Death Desert to expand Agreed's territory, while his brothers Glock and Tarog were in charge of managing the Oasis Forest. After arranging everything, Agreed finally decided that it was time to return to the World Tree to plunder the nutrients needed for his growth.

Agreed had long ago finished digesting the divine power within him, and now he was just one crucial step away from fully maturing and becoming a true Nidhogg. This forced Agreed to once again take the risk of robbing food from under the noses of the gods. Before leaving, Agreed made arrangements for his subordinates, made long-term plans, and gave them several clever strategies as contingency measures. Afterwards, Agreed temporarily left Mussurida and, through spatial teleportation magic, once again entered the World Tree after a long absence.

Argreed used the spatial beacon he left in Niflheim to instantly return to the roots of the World Tree. However, the space he had created earlier had already been re-frozen by the extreme cold here. But Argreed was prepared for this. The moment he arrived, he entered the Shadow Dimension and used phase shift to traverse through the ice. Otherwise, Argreed would probably have merged with the ice the moment he was teleported here, and it would have been troublesome to get out later.

This time, Agreed used his dragon claws to pry out the ice bit by bit and swallow it into his dimensional stomach. This allowed the space he created inside the ice to remain unfilled for a long time. After creating enough space, Agreed finally began to devour the World Tree root in front of him. This time, Agreed did not intend to digest while eating. He planned to absorb as much of the World Tree's energy as possible as quickly as possible and then return to his own world to digest it. This would save a lot of time and greatly reduce the probability of him being discovered.

Unbeknownst to Agreed, on the ice of Niflheim, Odin's Valkyrie army, also known as the "Warriors," was rushing through this realm belonging only to the giants. Loki's daughter, Hela, led the Valkyries to Niflheim as their guide. After bringing them to the vicinity of Olympus, the home of the giants, Hela abruptly said, "I have brought you here as ordered by the Allfather. Alright, I should go back now. Good luck, little girls." With that, Hela instantly transformed into black mist and vanished from the spot.

The Valkyrie leader, Brunhilde, frowned upon seeing this. Ever since the giants occupied Niflheim as their home, Niflheim, under Zeus's influence, no longer accepted any undead to enter and reincarnate. As a result, the undead flooded into Helheim, killing all the living beings there and turning it into an extremely cold land of death. To prevent the situation from worsening, Odin's brother Loki proposed to him that his creation, Hela, could help the gods manage the undead. Thus, Hela naturally became the nominal master of Helheim and renamed the world Helheim. The undead did indeed calm down under her management. However, Brunhilde did not like her, because Brunhilde always felt that Hela was increasingly ignoring Asgard. She was afraid that Helheim would soon become the next Niflheim, but now they could only nurture a tiger that would threaten them.

So Brunhilde could only sullenly ride her mount and lead her subordinates into the Olympus Mountains. Zeus, who already knew of their arrival, simply opened all the barriers and let Odin's royal guards come before him.

Zeus lay languidly on his throne, his marble-white skin and imposing aura putting an invisible pressure on the Valkyries.

Brunhilde stepped forward and addressed Zeus, saying, "Great Lightning Titan, I come with the goodwill of Odin, the Allfather. He hopes that we can put aside our past prejudices and join hands to face the disaster. We must gather all possible strength. Please allow us to take over the souls of the giants here."

Zeus sneered, sat up, and shouted, "You lowly spirits, have you forgotten your own status and position? Or have you been so flattered by those mortals that you've even lost your last shred of wisdom? Even Odin wouldn't dare to be so insolent before me, Father of the Gods? Don't forget, I am your origin! Kneel down!!"

In an instant, dark clouds gathered over Mount Olympus, Zeus's skin turned black and his face became furious. World-destroying lightning roared around him, and the terrifying divine pressure swept over the Valkyrie army in the blink of an eye. The Valkyries, who had been so arrogant before, were all forced to kneel on the ground under the terrifying pressure.

The Valkyries are not goddesses or female deities as we imagine. In fact, they are a group of special undead with god-like combat power created by Odin to expand Asgard's army. Their value lies in their ability to collect the souls and vengeful spirits of the gods who died in the great war and use them to expand the army.

As an aside, here's a common-sense point: deities do not have a clear gender distinction; in fact, they are asexual beings without a clear gender classification. Gender is actually a prejudice imposed on them by the subjective assumptions of lower life forms, and it is also our biggest misunderstanding of them.

The Valkyries have existed for millions of years. They also travel to the Prime Material Universe to harvest the souls of the strong and bring them to Asgard to serve as 'military personnel'. However, the beings in the Prime Material Universe quite like this conscription ceremony, which is no different from drafting men. They even claim that only heroes who die gloriously in battle will be selected by them and join them.

This situation can only be described as one party willing to give and the other willing to receive. However, the people of the other eight worlds, apart from Asgard, were not happy. Your blatant recruitment of soldiers and the acquisition of the souls of the gods who died on the battlefield of the gods were really going too far. Who wouldn't be afraid of such a militaristic military operation?

Furthermore, Baldr's sudden military campaign to conquer Alfheim must have given Zeus and the other gods pause for thought.

What's even more outrageous this time is that the Valkyries dared to openly challenge Zeus's authority. No matter how down on his luck he is, he is still on par with Odin. This is, after all, Zeus's territory. These lowly spirits came here to meet him without kneeling, bowing, or offering any greetings. Instead, they immediately tried to intimidate him by invoking Odin's name. Such blatant disrespect would have been met with Zeus's usual temper, and they would have been obliterated long ago. If it weren't for Odin's sake and the basic courtesy of "even when beating a dog, one should consider its owner," these insignificant Valkyries wouldn't even be qualified to enter Mount Olympus.

Zeus gritted his teeth, glaring at the kneeling Valkyries, wishing he could devour them alive. But he suppressed his murderous intent and roared, "Tell Odin, I don't care what absurd his reasons are, I will absolutely not allow you to lay a hand on the souls of my people! And tell Odin that if I find any of you bitches making any trouble in Niflheim, I will lead all the giants to Asgard to demand an explanation from Odin. I want to see if Asgard, which barely managed to defeat us millions of years ago by uniting the eight worlds, can withstand our wrath now that it has lost the support of the people and the other six worlds!"

Brunhilde raised his head with difficulty and cried out earnestly, "The gods... Odin, the king of the gods, saw the future with his prophetic eye. He saw the gods fall in the twilight, and we perish in the night. We must unite to resist fate and change the future."