Chapter 118. Ragnarök (End) World Tree and Nidhogg (Part 2)

     After multiple sweeps, nothing was found.

     No, there was a discovery: ‘Yggdrasil, the world tree, is a rare plant in Norse mythology that embodies all five elements. It grew from the body of the primeval giant Ymir, absorbing his life force as nourishment, and successfully brought forth the Nine Realms of Norse cosmology.

     Níðhöggr, a creature associated with the world tree, also originated from the life force of the primeval giant Ymir. Just as Yggdrasil embodies all five elements, so too does Níðhöggr.’

     Ye Mo drank a bottle of magic potion that helps stabilize positive emotions, and then took out dried meat, sweet fruit and other food from the space, filled her stomach 80% full, and added 4 free points to the spirit, strength, agility, and physique attributes respectively to maintain the most perfect state.

     Then, step by step, she walked towards the Ginnungagap.

     About 2 miles away from the nearest frost giant, she stopped and closed her eyes.

     A huge hammer suddenly appeared in the sky, and fell down with a bang, hitting the top of a frost giant who was sitting and eating meat and drinking. Because there were spikes on the hammer, blood spilled instantly.

     “Roar!”

     Just as the giants were shocked and puzzled, five more hammers appeared one after another, three of which hit the head and face of the frost giant, and the remaining two were blocked.

     Moreover, two of the huge hammers disappeared without a trace after hitting the frost giant.

   【Survivor Ye Mo’s mental state has reached a breakthrough point, increasing their mental attribute by 1. 】

     “Roar!”

     “%@%@⊕!”

     “!!!”

     At first, the giants thought there was an enemy attack, and looked around the sky and the ground, but they could not see any enemy shadows.

     Then, they discovered that these weapons used to attack the Frost Giants bore the unmistakable symbols of the Mountain Giants. They turned their attention to the Mountain Giants with space equipment.

     The Frost Giants each have a proud and aloof personality. They also hold a leading position in the battle of Ragnarok, and their inquiries to the Mountain Giants carry a clearly condescending tone of questioning, rather than that of a fellow companion.

     But when the end of the world arrives, the Mountain Giants are not afraid of the Frost Giants. They have been wronged, and their defense is justified and confident. As for the Fire Giants, they are hot-tempered and definitely not suitable to be mediators.

     When they communicated with deafening voices, Ye Mo took advantage of their unpreparedness and harvested another wave of blood. This time, her target was also a fire giant, bang bang bang!

     “Roar!”

    Unexpectedly, a dozen frost giants and fire giants exchanged glances. Almost simultaneously, they unleashed their magic upon their respective borders. A frosty mist and a fiery blaze swept across the land, engulfing thousands of miles.

     The two energies clashed in mid-air, causing the realms of Ice and Fire to instantly tremble with a magnitude 7 earthquake.

     No matter how fast Ye Mo was, at this time, she really couldn’t escape or hide.

     Qiong’s hand-made crimson deep robe once again shielded her from a near-fatal blow, a blow that, while preventing death, still left her body with some ice damage. But she had to grit her teeth and bear it, absolutely not making a sound, otherwise it would truly be the end of her.

 

  【Survivor Ye Mo’s agility exceeded the critical value, and the agility attribute was +1. 】

  【Survivor Ye Mo’s spirit exceeded the critical value, and the spirit attribute was +1.】 

 

     Ye Mo melted herself into the ice fog, escaping a distance, stopping at the edge of tens of thousands of miles away, drinking medicine to heal her injuries, while silently said in her heart: “10 free attribute points added to agility.”

     Hawkeye was also stunned at this time.

     Had it not been positioned in the third eye on Ye Mo’s forehead, it might have perished, frozen by a dozen ice giants. It was a near-death experience

…

     The frost giants and the fire giants used their abilities to prove the “non-existence” of foreign enemies. There would be no enemies who would not show up under such an attack, even the Aesir and the Vanir.

     So the enemy is between them.

     The frost giant cast a suspicious glance back at the mountain giants. The mountain giants, feeling wronged by the frost magic’s indiscriminate attack, redirected their anger toward the fire giants, who were struck but unharmed.

     The frost giant thought it made sense, and looked at the intact fire giant. The three giants were of the same origin, but that didn’t mean there were no conflicts. The fire giants had never been content to be considered lesser than the frost giants, and this potential end-time could very well be their chance.

      The fire giants seethed with rage.

     Negative emotions such as anxiety, defense, anger, suspicion, and betrayal spread in the air. Some fire giants’ hair had begun to emit white smoke, which was often a sign of their anger. 

 

   【Complete side quest 17: Kill the Niflheim giant (150/150), mental power attribute +1, free point attribute +1. 】

 

     The calm was broken by the three frost giants who had just been bleeding and fell down one after another, falling into a coma. Their lips were purple, and the poisoned wounds were purple and swollen, and some even foamed at the mouth.

     The giants reflexively looked towards Nidhogg in the Ginnungagap chasm. It is well known that Nidhogg can spray toxins, but they are still some distance from the Ginnungagap chasm.

     The fire giant began to suspect that there were internal conflicts within the frost giant. Only Loki had ever gotten close to Nidhogg, and did so by brazenly cutting off a branch of Yggdrasil right in front of it.

     At this time, an injured giant standing there also felt that something was wrong with him. He felt dizzy and dazed. They didn’t care who the enemy was. They roared to the sky and used all their magic power to spit out a tornado-like ice mist in the direction of several mountain giants.

     Several mountain giants protected their weak parts and dodged flexibly. One of them reflexively threw the giant weapon in his hand at the attacking frost giant.

     Bang——

     The frost giant fell down. The frontal hit plus the poison killed him instantly, and the force was much greater than the free gravity. Of course, this death was not counted on Ye Mo.

     “!!!”

     The situation was out of control.

     All the giants present were not afraid of death. clashed with the full force of their might. As the violet flames and azure ice storms collided in the air, the fire giants from the opposing side joined the fray.

     Between the borders of the Fire realm and the Ice realm lay the Ginnungagap, a vast chasm that seemed boundless to the eyes of Ye Mo. Yet, to the giants, it was but a mere river, easily traversed by the frost giants as they surged into the Fire realm.

     When the fire giants went from the Fire realm to the Ice realm, they did not cross the river in a straight line, but took a small detour.

     Due to the status of the frost giants, the mountain giants and the fire giants unconsciously joined forces. Of course, they also attacked each other.

     Ye Mo was utterly unable to approach the battlefield, could not even get close. She could only watch everything from a distance with HawkEye vision, as firestorms raged, icebergs clashed, the earth trembled, and rivers of blood flowed – a battle of epic, mythic proportions.”

     …

     After an hour, a giant was finally seen approaching the Ginnungagap, the territory of Níðhöggr and the World Tree. Níðhöggr, who was gnawing at the World Tree, would spew black mist from its mouth.

     However, when it spewed out the black mist, Níðhöggr’s mouth did not move away from the World Tree trunk, and it continued to gnaw. Even though it hated the intruder to death, it seemed as if once it interrupted its gnawing, it would have to start all over again.

     The toxins of Nidhogg and the toxins of elves are different. This toxin is not a blood attack, but like Nidhogg attacking the World Tree, it devours the internal aura of the life form and disrupts the five elements.

     On the edge of the Ginnungagap, the frost giants and fire giants are spell-type giants, and they react more strongly to Nidhogg’s toxins, but the mountain giants are better.

     The two mountain giants who deliberately escaped here finally gained the advantage, and their eyes were fierce.

     A frost giant was smashed down into the Ginnungagap, and his body was devoured by the ice and snow gushing out of the chasm, and exploded to death, when a fire giant also fell into the Ginnungagap, their bodies were devoured by the flames, and exploded to death.

     The two mountain giants were also inevitably attacked by the fire and ice forces of the other two races, and they also fell into the Ginnungagap.

     One who had just touched the chasm’s water, faced with the dual onslaught of fire and ice, was instantly reduced to dust and ashes; one who had grasped the Nidhoggr coiling around the tree roots, was swept away by its tail and still fell.

     The energy of Ginnungagap was too potent for even the mightiest of the giants to withstand. Only the primeval Ymir and Þrúðgelmir^[1]Þrúðgelmir: A giant, the son of Ymir. He was so powerful that he could only be contained by a magical iron glove. Þrúðgelmir is a relatively obscure figure in Norse mythology, mentioned in only … Continue reading, along with Yggdrasil and Níðhöggr, could endure it.

     Ye Mo continued to wait patiently.

     Only when the giants’ civil war had resulted in numerous deaths and left them mostly wounded did she take out the last half-bottle of poison from her storage space, shooting arrow after arrow into the wounds of the surviving giants.

     “!!!”

     “???”

     The giants who saw the pocket arrows realized that they were definitely being used. They were so angry that they exploded, but they still couldn’t see the transparent killer and could only attack the air randomly.

     ….8, 7, 6…

     Some giants tried to feign death to lure her, but she was not fooled. What awaited them was still poison… 4, 3, only the giants who died within 1 meter of her saw that the one who killed their three major tribes, over a hundred giants, was actually a – Midgardian!

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     Níðhöggr, in the chasm of Gnipahellir^[2]Gnipahellir: The cave where Níðhöggr resides. It is described as a dark and fearsome place., was somewhat agitated. He had personally witnessed the death of these giants, but what made him anxious was that he, like them, could not see this invisible being.

     The last time he was so furious was when Loki, the trickster god, brazenly stole the world tree Yggdrasil branch right before his very eyes. But this time, his enemy is formless! The unknown is always more terrifying than the known.

     …

     Still encased in ice, Ye Mo entered the Ginnungagap and immediately felt the venom of Níðhöggr. Her super powers were yet to awaken, and her Five Elements Balanced physique made her surprisingly resistant to such toxins.

     Of course, she was fully armed and had taken an antidote that would alleviate the symptoms within half an hour.

     Jumping into the Ginnungagap was a dead end.

     Ye Mo gazed into the abyss of death, retreated more than ten steps, gathered her energy, and faced the direction of Yggdrasil.

     Charge! Jump!

     She hurled her massive weapon as a foothold, leaped again, and clung to it desperately!

     What a close call!

     Ye Mo finally perched on Yggdrasil like Níðhöggr. Due to the smooth trunk, she slid down a considerable distance until she used the weapon provided by the dwarves to finally stabilize herself.

     The moment she touched Yggdrasil, she truly felt the distinct sensation of the Five Elements energy entering her body. Every 10 minutes, she could feel herself breaking through a critical point in her physical attributes.

     When Ye Mo used her spiritual power to observe the World Tree, images of the World Tree’s journey from seed to world automatically appeared in her mind. Her entire body unconsciously followed the most simple and fundamental ‘Gold generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Gold’ world laws.

     If they cannot generate each other, they often counteract each other.

     World Tree (Yggdrasil): Gold generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Gold.

     Nidhogg: Gold counters Wood, Wood counters Earth, Earth counters Water, Water counters Fire, Fire counters Gold.

     The World Tree and Níðhöggr not only absorbed Ymir’s energy, but also that of the divine giant Þrúðrgelmir, whom Ymir had consumed.

     Because Ymir was killed by Odin, the growth of the World Tree and the growth of Nidhogg are exactly opposite to the five elements energy. The former maintains the new rules of the world, while the latter attempts to restore the original chaos.

     The process of Nidhogg “biting” the World Tree is to block and destroy the five elements energy circulation rules of the World Tree, thereby destroying its living conditions and causing the Nine Realms to collapse.

     But Yggdrasil, the world tree, was not entirely without power. The cycle of life force in the Nine Realms provided it with the environment to grow. Níðhöggr, the dragon who gnawed at its roots for tens of thousands of years, never managed to destroy it, but instead remained in a perpetual stalemate, ultimately becoming trapped at the base of the tree.

     It was the giants who emerged to break this balance. The energy of sentient beings, capable of bringing about the world’s end, was the true threat. In the eyes of many giants, Níðhöggr represented the will of their ancestor Ymir in his final moments – to destroy the world created by Odin.

     So, we have the current situation.

     When Ye Mo opened her eyes again, it was two hours later.

     The World Tree really only had half its bark left. The entire trunk was trembling, and perhaps the Nine Realms could feel it too.

     If it weren’t for this, she really would have liked to stay here longer. This tree was truly perfect for her. Níðhöggr was so powerful, surely the World Tree, as it ‘companion beast,’ played a role in that.

     But Níðhöggr, beneath the tree trunk, didn’t think so. After a period of restlessness, he resumed his eons-long routine, lonely in his consumption of the World Tree.

     …

     Ye Mo had already determined the location of the World Tree seed.

     If Yggdrasil, the World Tree, were to bear new seeds, they could only emerge where the forces of creation and destruction collide. The sole point of such a clash lies within the very jaws of Níðhöggr, the monstrous serpent gnawing at Yggdrasil’s roots.

     The seed’s moment of birth would be the instant the old World Tree breaks. Yet, the World Tree’s demise is already within her mind, like a process of existence from birth to destruction just experienced.

     Ye Mo’s body was sliding down little by little. Because the World Tree was shaking violently, she couldn’t let herself fall or disturb Nidhogg again.

     From the perspective of the HawkEye, a creature was perched in Nidhogg’s gaping maw, rhythmically opening and closing its jaws like an unfathomable abyss. Within the abyss, two enormous, sharp fangs protruded, purplish-black, while tiny ants crawled into the maw.

     Ye Mo was already a hundred meters from Nidhogg’s mouth. Just as Nidhogg was about to tear through the last bit of the World Tree’s bark, the five elements of energy in the air suddenly erupted. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, Thor’s hammer fell.

     Nidhogg’s tail swept out.

     Boom!

     Mjolnir struck the waters of Ginnungagap, and the ice and fire instantly engulfed them, but at the same time, the light and sound of the lightning basically made HawkEye, Ye Mo, and Nidhogg instantly blind and deaf.

     Also in this instant, Ye Mo fell straight down, and along with her fell Odin’s Eternal Spear, Nidhogg was still reflexively opening and closing its mouth, and the World Tree finally broke.

     “Roar!”

     With only Nidhogg’s fleshy wall before her eyes, Ye Mo grasped the seed of Yggdrasil, barely managing to retrieve the corpse of the Goddess of Fate before her vision blurred. She seemed to hear Níðhöggr’s pained roar.

     Before she fell unconscious from poisoning, she was still wondering whether the World Tree seed had entered the Goddess of Fate’s corpse or Nidhogg’s living body.

     Oh, right, Qiong’s deep red garment was completely ruined…

 

   【Congratulations to survivor Ye Mo for completing the hidden quest and preserving the spark of Norse mythology civilization. 】

   【Congratulations to the survivor Ye Mo for completing all the main tasks and exiting the ‘World Tree’ copy. 】

   【The system is updating…】

   【Settlement in progress…】