Published at 26th of March 2019 2:27 am

Episode 56, Chapter 2: Starting Point (2)

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Translator: Tsubak

Tae Ho opened his eyes slowly and removed ‘the one that conquers dragons’.

‘So, do you know where that is?’

Cuchulainn asked with an uneasy tone. It was because the information Tae Ho obtained through ‘the one that conquers dragons’ was only transmitted to him so Cuchulainn had no ways to know what he got.

Tae Ho smirked and said.

‘Yes, it remembers the place quite clearly. I was worried that they moved places because it happened too long ago but I don’t really think they moved after looking at the location.’

Tae Ho explained about the dwelling place of Echidna. She was living in a city underground that she made herself and was filled with the monsters she gave birth to.

The place was so big and there were many monsters living in it so they didn’t even think of moving places.

‘That’s fortunate.’

Cuchulainn let out a short sigh of relief. He acted too playfully usually but he worried about the group a lot.

“But master, is he really a male? It looks like its a female after looking at it.”

The voice of Adenmaha interrupted them while the two of them were speaking. She had asked too naturally so Tae Ho was about to answer her but fortunately he was able to shut his mouth before answering.

“Huh? Uh…I wonder. I don’t know well.”

Adenmaha’s eyes sharpened at Tae Ho’s answer and Cuchulainn clicked his tongue.

‘I don’t know my ass. Did you change your eyes of the dragon with candy?’

Cuchulainn was the master of insight. No, at this point anyone could realize it no matter how dull they were.

Tae Ho spoke with an unfair voice.

‘No, actually it’s not important if Hydra is a male or a female. But if I say that its a female everyone looks at me as if i’m a bad guy……this is all for the peace of the family……no, for the residence.’

‘It’s important only because it’s you.’

Cuchulainn summarized Tae Ho’s complains and clicked his tongue. He then looked at Hydra.

‘But is it because the two of them are dragons? I don’t know if she’s a female no matter how much I look at her.’

‘I don’t know either.’

‘I can’t trust you.’

“Master?”

Adenmaha, that couldn’t listen to Tae Ho’s excuse compared to Cuchulainn, asked in a low voice again.

Tae Ho got surprised and changed the subject again.

“I’m glad it’s calm anyways. ALthough it may be because it’s completely tired.”

Even though he had released ‘the one that conquers dragons’ Hydra didn’t show any resistance. It just flinched at times while laying down.

‘It looks like fish that you took out from the water. Tch tch. How did you get caught by this bastard?’

Tae Ho shook his head as Cuchulainn spoke with a tone that it was a poor creature.

‘Ey, didn’t it get to escape thanks to me?’

If Tae Ho hadn’t come then it would still be buried under the mountain.

‘That’s right but I don’t want to admit it’

Just looking at the results it was indeed rescuing but the process was really cruel. In the end, they hadn’t just freed it. They had locked it up with a leash so that they could use it in the future.

‘Does everyone become evil after they become Gods? No, you were already evil.’

Cuchulainn spoke alone wanting Tae Ho to hear him but Tae Ho just ignored him like usual. He rather showed interest towards Nidhogg that was looking at him for some time now.

“Nidhogg? What’s wrong?”

Nidhogg paused for a moment at Tae Ho’s question and then tilted her head.

“Tae Ho master, can’t he transform into a person?”

“Uh…probably not?”

“Poor……”

Nidhogg was about to cry at any moment now. She kept feeling bad for Hydra perhaps because of the sympathy she had towards it.

But it was rather glad for Tae Ho. His good lie would have been exposed if it transformed.

But it was at that moment.

‘You can just transform her. With your rune magic.’

‘Oh, that’s right. There’s certainly magic like that after looking for it.’

Cuchulainn got bewildered at Tae Ho’s answer.

‘Hey, what do you mean that you looked for it? You still haven’t learned it completely?’

‘There’s too many new magic I learned. What do I say? It’s like a book entered my mind as I didn’t learn it naturally?’

The only thing Tae Ho received from Odin wasn’t the seat of the master.

Odin had transmitted Tae Ho the countless magic and knowledge he obtained as the God of magic and wisdom in the shape of a book.

Actually, he hadn’t prepared all of this for Tae Ho. It was prepared for his son Valdur, that he had picked as his successor before him.

But Valdur died in the Great War and Odin chose Tae Ho as his other successor.

So whatever the case, Tae Ho was Odin’s real successor.

‘So anyways, you are saying that you can do it.’

‘I can.’

Only that he didn’t want to.

Tae Ho looked at Adenmaha and Nidhogg in turn. He was bothered at Adenmaha’s eyes getting more similar to Heda or Idun-nim but it was also hard to ignore Nidhogg’s earnest eyes.

“Hm, we will know for certain after it transforms. Nidhogg, master will transform it.”

Adenmaha spoke with a hard tone. It seemed like she realized that Tae Ho could do it but was hesitating.

“Really? Tae Ho master is great!”

Nidhogg jumped in place in happiness. It seemed like it was too late to pull back looking at her.

‘Tch tch, this is all because of your doings.’

While Cuchulainn snickered and showed a weird talent for putting a solemn voice, Tae Ho resoluted himself.

‘Right, who cares if Hydra is a male or a female?’

The only thing that matters is that it fights well.

Tae Ho started to draw rune magic in the air. It was a strong magic that made the adversary change by using their soul as a reference.

As Tae Ho added runes in the air without stopping, Adenmaha let out an admiring voice. It was because the proficiency Tae Ho had in magic wasn’t normal.

He didn’t seem lacking even if he was compared to Adenmaha, that had received harsh training under Scathach.

“Tae Ho master is cool.”

Nidhogg’s eyes also shone as she also started to learn mystical magic under Scathach although only the basics.

Tae Ho got in a good mood and finished the magic without saving magic power at all. When he retrieved his finger after drawing the last rune, ten runes took place in Hydra’s body.

“Transform.”

When he recited the short chant, light started to emanate from Hydra’s body. And then, the 30 meter long body started to shrink down in an instant.

‘Oh, this is also good as its fresh.’

Cuchulainn was expecting a slim beauty but still let out a sigh of admiration instead of disappointment.

Hydra transformed into a girl that had long green hair. Just by looking at her looks she looked to be about 12 years old.

“Wow.”

Nidhogg admired and Adenmaha let out a sigh of relief.

Siri and Bracky got bewildered as the monster they had been cutting the head of became a girl.

And Hydra blinked a few times and looked at her body as she got exposed to the gazes of everyone. She touched her neck with her long and slender fingers and let out a voice.

“Ah.”

The voice of a person came out. She became able to freely manifest words thanks to Tae Ho having added a rune that translated voices.

What will she say first?

Hydra opened her mouth once again while everyone was looking at her. She burst in tears and yelled.

“Hey! You bad bastard!”

&

“Huaaang! I, I wanted to pay you back…but you cut down my head mercilessly! I still haven’t become evil! I didn’t reach to that point yet!”

Hydra cried sorrowfully in Nidhogg’s embrace. Nidhogg held her more tightly and also started to cry.

Tae Ho decided to just leave them be. Rather than ignoring them it was a kind of solution. She had to release all her pent up emotions as she had been trapped for more than a hundred years so she didn’t have any settlements.

‘I feel like you are distorting the reason she’s crying.’

Tae Ho ignored Cuchulainn’s inquiry and then he cleared his throat to calm down the situation and started to speak. It wasn’t to ignore the sharp gaze of Adenmaha at all.

“The location of Echidna is just like I told you. We will have to know if it’s a place we can go with Hermes’ magic circle but we may be able to go there as it’s not the territory of the ones wanting to destroy the world.”

“Mm, but it will still be good to use the magic circle if possible.”

“Drakon Ismenios, can you tell us about Echidna?”

Followed by Bracky, Siri looked at Ismenios and said. It was because he was the only one in the group to be considered a native.

Drakon Ismenios turned to look at Tae Ho before answering. Tae Ho nodded at his eyes asking for permission and then started to explain.

“Echidna is a being that is called as the mother of all monsters. You can say that she’s a God for the monsters.”

They already knew this. That’s why Bracky asked a different thing.

“There should be many famous monsters among her children, right?”

“Of course. Even the siblings of Hydra are amazing. The Nemean Lion, Chimera, Orthrus, Cerberus are all children of Echidna.”

“Cerberus is the big dog we saw at the entrance of the underworld?”

“Yes, she bore to many more children aside of them. Actually, if you climb the genealogy tree of the famous monsters all of them have Echidna’s blood flowing in them be it small or large.”

Actually, Echidna didn’t only have many children. She has had relationships with several men to have diverse children.

“The most famous one for being Echidna’s husband is Typhon. He’s an overwhelming monster that has even defeated Zeus-nim once.”

“Is he alive?”

Bracky’s eyes shone and asked. It was because he would certainly be of great help if it was a monster that had defeated Zeus once.

But Drakon Ismenios smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“He is but he’s in a state that’s no different from being dead. Zeus-nim pressed him down with a big mountain and sealed him up but he became one with that mountain and became a volcano. It’s a bad tempered volcano that erupts a few times in a year.”

In addition, Typhon was born as a being wanting to destroy the world. He wouldn’t be able to side with them.

“What about the other husbands?”

Drakon Ismenios spread his fingers at Adenmaha’s question and then smirked.

“She also had many children with the Great hero Heracles. It seemed like Echidna asked that as compensation because Heracles killed many of her children including the Nemean Lion. There’s a saying that she stole Heracles’ horse and returned it back……But anyways, she had three children with Heracles. I think that it’s because of his blood that they aren’t monsters but humans.”

If you briefed it up, Heracles had let her bare his children in compensation for having killed her children.

Adenmaha blinked at the absurd explanation and even Bracky and Siri couldn’t hide their bewilderment.

‘What do I say. The more I listen from this place the more absurd it feels.’

When Tae Ho mumbled in a low voice Cuchulainn smiled bitterly and said.

‘There are more similar stories in Olympus. That’s why it would be good for you to get accustomed to it.’

Cuchulainn made an advice that was of help aside of battles in a long time.

Tae Ho nodded a few times and looked at Nidhogg and the Hydra. It seemed like the two of them were exhausted of crying that they were sleeping while embracing each other.

“Let’s return for now.”

Tae Ho said and everyone agreed.

&

The group recovered their fatigue after they returned and waited for Hermes.

When Hermes arrived late in the night he told one good news and one bad news to the group. The bad one was that he still hasn’t found out about Demeter’s and Hephaestus’ whereabouts and the good one was that he could create the magic circle leading to the entrance of Echidna’s lair.

The next morning, the group woke up early in the morning and moved through the transference magic circle like when they left to capture Hydra.

What changed this time was that the three Valkyries and the Hydra was added to the group.

Echidna’s lair wasn’t that far away from Typhon’s volcano. It was a place that was filled with ashes thanks to the volcano trying to erupt at all times.

“The crack over there is the entrance.”

Hydra pointed at the distant place and said. You could feel hesitation in her voice rather than grief.

“Hydra, aren’t you happy? You are returning home.”

When Nidhogg embraced Hydra from behind and asked Hydra answered with a depressed voice once again.

“It’s been so long…and mother doesn’t mind about her children after they independize. That’s why she didn’t come to save me……”

There was no way Echidna didn’t know what had happened to Hydra, where she was trapped.

But regardless of that, she just left her be and didn’t come to her rescue. Was that all? She even had children with Heracles that had killed her brother, the Nemean Lion.

Her mother Echidna had thrown her away. She didn’t come to her rescue even though she had been trapped for a hundred years. Hydra was a thrown child.

Hydra’s eyes reddened but compared to usual Nidhogg was at her side.

“It’s fine. If something similar happens Tae Ho master and I will rescue you. I promise.”

Nidhogg smiled brightly and raised her pinky finger. She was making a promise just like she had learned from Tae Ho.

Hydra hesitated for a moment but then also raised her pinky and crossed it with Nidhogg’s finger. After they made a stamp with their thumbs, Nidhogg smiled brightly again and in the end Hydra also smiled.

“Thank you.”

“Yes, yes. You can call me unnie. Call me unnie. I want to be called unnie.”

Hydra opened her eyes roundly at Nidhogg’s words that was filled with eagerness and then giggled.

‘How warm. To harass that nice kid. You are really a bad guy. I realized it since you first met Nidhogg.’

‘Yes, I should just die.’

Tae Ho admitted it cleanly and then moved to the crack first. When he approached it he noticed that it was 10 meters big and the length was so long that even dragons could easily enter it.

Tae Ho, Adenmaha and Rasgrid made light with their mystical magic or runes and brightened up their surroundings. When they got down a few hundred meters like rock-climbing they saw a really big place appear.

‘Indeed, the underground city.’

There were shiny rocks stuck in the ceiling and it made it resemble the sky at night. It wasn’t as bright as the afternoon but you could plentily live under it.

‘It connects quite deeply inside.’

Tae Ho said after looking with his ‘eyes of the dragon’.

And after that.

He saw red words appear. All of them were monsters and more than half of them were of the dragon race.

As their surroundings got filled with monsters, Tae Ho’s group put nervous expressions and took on battle stances.

Gandur asked Hydra.

“If you look at it they are all your siblings. Can’t you do something?”

“That’s impossible. It’s the first time I see any of them.”

That was obvious as it had already been more than a hundred years since Hydra left Echidna’s lair.

Tae Ho looked at a distant place once again with his ‘eyes of the dragon’. Someone that possessed strength that was incomparable to Hydra was observing them.

The mother of monsters Echidna.

She was an existence that could be called as a dragon God just like Nidhogg. The dragons that appeared now were all Echidna’s children and her heroes.

The heroes of Olympus were all under the subordination of the Gods they served and it wasn’t different for Echidna’s children. They were subordinates of Echidna differently from Hydra that had independize herself.

[If you want to meet me come here.]

[I will be waiting for you.]

The bewitching voice of a woman rang in his head. It was the same method Apollo used with the voices of the Gods.

Echidna’s children started to release their sharp auras and started to grown. When they started to stand up one by one to block the path of the group their number reached a dozen.

The monsters were quite diverse. And more than a half were strong dragons.

Even if you were a strong hero you could only get nervous in this situation but Tae Ho showed interest instead of fear.

He even smiled in front of the battle like a warrior of Valhalla.

“At least one thing is certain.”

If he gained control over Echidna he would get an army of dozens of dragons.

“That’s a grand sight.”

Bracky also smirked and said. Cuchulainn and SIri agreed to his words.

“Um, don’t we have to gain control over her first and then speak?”

Adenmaha spoke in a low voice and Tae Ho nodded. Adenmaha was always right just like Heda.

‘They are coming.’

Cuchulainn said. The monsters roared to the point the cave shook and then charged towards the group.

Tae Ho looked at them and surged up his dark blue divinity. He charged forward instead of falling back and activated his saga.

[Hall of Valhalla.]

This land would become Asgard’s from now on.

The dark blue divinity of the God of conquer spread in the cave.

< Episode 56 - Starting point (2) > End

Share