People back on Earth used to avoid violence. But even then, a few beca so entranced by the thrill of the fight, by the bloodlust of causing harm to others that they gave up any sense of self-preservation. And those few were only the edge cases. A lot more people would love to spread violence if that pesky survival instincts didn't hold them back. But add healing magic, regenerative powers, health potions, and even the occasional resurrection and the inhibition of self-preservation flew out the window.
They taunted and goaded . I ignored the provocations while I sorted my thoughts.
These shieldmaidens, or Valkyries, or whatever these Viking won called themselves fell square in the "it's a flesh wound" side of the equation. The way they eyed , it was like I was ga and they were on the hunt. Given, foxes were hunted for food and sport since ti immorial but still.
They had no idea who they were provoking. If I died to them, all it would happen was that I'd be reborn in the next baby to pop out of their mothers around here. Given that the Dvergar had even slower birth rates than the elves of Yznarian, I would probably beco so critter or...
"Tuisto, am I limited to only becoming humanoids?" I asked in my thoughts.
"Do you wish to activate this limiter? It's off right now."
"No, leave if as is. It matters little what body I'm born as... unless I'd still need to wait for puberty."
"No such restrictions exist. Though your new body might not withstand the full power of your soul."
"For example, if I'm reborn as an ant or a roach?"
"Or as bacterium."
"Can we limit my rebirth to multicellular organisms?"
"Absolutely. Done."
I shifted my focus back to the Viking warriors.
"Is that sword only for show?" One of them asked.
"This is only so Brynn could test my skills. She said she doesn't sell weapons to the uninitiated," I replied.
"And did she pass," inar asked the Dvergar smith.
"Yes," Brynn said curtly, then scowled and laid down the law. "If you guys want to fight, do it in the back. If you ruin my smithy, I'm going to send you to Valhalla earlier."
The Dvergar were a mighty people. Though their proclivities laid in crafting and arts, just a glance at their obsidian bodies told anyone that even their civilians were powerful warriors. Given the realm they inhabited and the vicious neighbors they shared said realm with, they had to. But she ntioned sending them to Valhalla so they weren't Valkyries.
I went on a ntal tangent. Hadn't Loki offered a Valkyrie Class once or twice? He never said why but he did say it was entirely optional.
I refocused on the situation and caught the tail end of a challenge. I stared at inar, their leader.
"I have no problem fighting you ladies," I replied nonchalantly. One on one or all at —"
"Friendly spars only," Brynn cut off. "No Techniques or spells either."
"Fine by ," I shrugged.
*
*
It was decided we should spar with training weapons. I thought about bringing out an Adamantite blade but gave up. That tal would eat away at the enchantnts in the Viking's gear.
I faced Signyi first. She was the shortest Viking, with a height of six-feet-one. She got two dull hand axes while I was ard with only a wooden short sword. No armor or shield.
"I'm gonna break that toothpick," she growled and dashed forward at the sound of her colleagues' jeering.
I parried the first few blows, using my technique to keep the wood from chipping. Each blow from her wooden axes was like a sledgehamr swung by an Olympic champion. It wasn't just strength, Signyi was also fast as fuck. A normal person would need to windmill their arms to swing this fast, or sothing like that. Signyi struck with technique and guile. Each ax swing was intended to put the opponent in the right spot to get cleaved by the next.
We exchanged a few dozen blows. I had so difficulty finding an opening to strike, a gap widened by the reach of our limbs. Still, I had an edge regarding speed. I could move faster and swing faster than Signyi.
Then, when we clinched closer, she swept her boot around my legs in an attempt to trip . My tails lashed around to give the balance I needed. With three dozen of them, I could walk without using my legs.
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"Physical attacks? Really?" I asked as I spared a glance at inar. The Viking leader was unfazed. Then I shifted my attention back to the behemoth of a woman that was so deeply absorbed into her bloodlust I believed she would only stop after one of us was down on the ground.
That's when I stretched my tails, each of them growing longer than six ters (20ft). They went around the sparring area, creating a ring of colorful fur.
The next mont, three tails shot for each of Signyi's limbs and two for the neck, seizing her elbows, knees, and choking her. I pulled as she struggled to keep her body from becoming the Vitruvian Viking.
Next, I stabbed her stomach, sinking the wooden blade just enough to draw blood. Another two tails ca for her practice axes and I overca her will, sending both dull weapons to my item box, making them reappear behind .
"Winner!" Brynn shouted. "Goddess Haru of Yznarian."
inar nodded at as she entered the ring to retrieve her warrior. I withdrew my tails, dropping the woman who promptly fell into a crouch and stood up. With a hand on Signyi's solar plexus, inar kept the Viking berserker from coming at .
Though I'd won, I didn't feel like celebrating. My body was weak, as weak as one of my 1st level incarnations back in Yznarian. Though I had the combined strength of a handful of grown n, when compared to the heroic band of warriors blessed by Odin himself, it was ass-weak. I was even sweating!
Once Signyi got her bearings and cleared her mind, inar left her to the other Vikings and approached .
"We are honored that you granted us this spar, Goddess Haru." The Viking sergeant (I had no idea of their ranks) said respectfully.
Oh. Right. I stared at the Dvergar blacksmith, feeling betrayed.
Brynn shrugged. "Every Dvergar in Nidavellir knows you ca escorted by none other than Loki of Asgard. Just as every talsmith in this city knows Loki spent the better part of the day pestering Sindri to slt him an Orichalcon bauble for you."
I wiped the sweat off my brow with my Water-affinity tail. Then I looked at the awestruck eyes of the Viking won.
"Okay, okay. It's not like it's a secret anyway. Back in my howorld, I was worshipped and wielded the powers of a goddess."
inar then knelt though I sensed it was just to bring our eyes to the sa height and not adoration, subservience, or any passive bullshit.
"Goddess Haru, I believe our eting is not a coincidence, then. Loki is Wise and he surely foresaw this."
Loki was an asshole but I wouldn't spit in the won's faith. I kept my opinions to myself. inar sounded like she wanted to ask sothing.
"Are there any tasks you need my aid for?"
inar laid her sales pitch on . Boy, oh, boy. Did she had that rehearsed to a tee.
*
*
"Ragnarök is coming," inar said ominously. Her voice had that halo of certainty, desperation, and defiance. I had no doubt she truly believed that Ragnarök was coming, like, tomorrow. "And it falls upon our shoulders to stop it. At any cost."
"I sense you need my help with a quest," I suggested. When the battle-hardened woman's eyes shone, I broke into a faint smile. "What is it?"
"We need to slay the Böggdra Bögvar," inar confessed. In the corner of my perception, I saw Brynn wince.
"I'm sorry, but what is a Böggdra Bögvar?"
"It's a worm from Niflheim, one that has a thousand legs and an appetite for people. It can burrow through almost any stone with the ease of a fish in a still pond. The Böggdra Bögvar strikes from surprise, appearing from the tunnel walls. We need a magician who can sense the Böggdra Bögvar before it strikes."
"The Böggdra Bögvar is a thorn in Nidavellir's arse," Brynn said and spat on the ground. "The geomancers' magic protects the city but trade through the tunnels beca harder after it moved here."
"King Hrothgar," inar continued, "tasked us with this quest. To prove our worth to the Dvergar, we need to slay the Böggdra Bögvar. Only then will he grant us the ore we need. We must take the ore to Midgard to forge arms and armor for our brethren."
"Why not forge the equipnt and then transport it?" I asked.
"We will use the ores for other purposes," inar said.
"What the Vikings request is no ordinary ore. Magically infused ore needs to be forged right after slting else they lose their properties."
"Fair enough," I conceded. "Tell about the Böggdra Bögvar."
"It is a worm that's as thick as a house is wide from the underworld realm of ice," inar lectured. "It is covered in white fur and has a thousand bear legs. Its main attacks are to co out of a tunnel by surprise and bite down so unfortunate soul, then dive into the rock while the thousand legs claw at whoever is nearby. Its re presence freezes any water within seconds, even in a fur canteen. Many warriors who attempted to kill the beast were frozen and then raked into chunks."
"How fast does it move?"
"Inside rock, as fast as a galloping horse. Out in the open, it actually becos slower. In one of our early attempts, we lured it to an open cave. The legs aren't oriented just below the monster. They grow in all directions."
That would explain why it was faster while tunneling through solid rock.
"What spell do your geomancers use to keep the Böggdra Bögvar from tunneling into the city?"
"It's a ward against all monsters," Brynn said. "But I do not know the details. Not my job to know."
"Sure. Can we ward a tunnel?"
"Probably. Do you know how to ward a tunnel? Because I don't, and the Vikings know only slaughter."
So of the Norse won grinned with pride.
"I can help. Let's go hunt us so Böggdra Bögvar."
*
*
I went back to the library and asked so acolytes for information.
Turns out that the warding spell the geomancers used was a state secret. Those who knew how to cast the wards also knew how to bypass them. It let little choice. Our best bet to kill the monster was to trap it in a tunnel, and then hack at it until it was dead.
Next, I researched about this monster. It wasn't a unique creature but this particular specin journeyed all the way from the underworld of Niflheim to Myrkheim and has been eating rchants and wanderers and monsters for quite so ti. As it grew, its appetite also grew and the now ravenous and humongous monster beca more and more active and aggressive. I didn't doubt the books for a mont when I learned it had a powerful regeneration or even a way to discard injured segnts of its body. If the section wasn't injured enough and was long enough, a new Böggdra Bögvar would be born from the discarded part.
it was a common property of so worms, like those flat ones that kids cut in half at school and then watched the halves beco full individuals. What were they nad again? I forgot.
Anyway, as I studied the monster, I made a plan to defeat it. If the Böggdra Bögvar was an inexorable force, All I needed to defeat it was an unmovable object. But the monster wasn't dumb. So scholars even theorized it had gained sentience. So, it could go around the immovable object. I needed to do better than that. After a day of study and design, I finally had sothing that might work.
I went back to Brynn's forge and asked to use the back area. There, I conjured my [Shadow Workshop] and set myself to forge a weapon to defeat the Böggdra Bögvar.
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