In the small parlor next door, a gentle breeze lifted the sheer curtains, and the room was filled with the scent of flowers, as some birds flew past outside the window.
Su Ming casually picked up the wine placed on the table and leaned closer to the fireplace, watching the flames inside.
Nearly every room in Asgard had a fireplace. In truth, the Aesir didn't need the fire; their physique was highly resistant to cold. The fireplace here was merely a means of illumination and decoration, and sometimes it was used for cooking food.
"Currently, apart from Mephisto and the Great Serpent being connected, other forces have nothing to do with it. But the Great Serpent breaking free first is the cause, and contacting the Lord of Hell thereafter is the effect, which rules out Mephisto's suspicion."
He told the two women of the Vanir Race.
"You can't be sure it's the Great Serpent. I still believe the Great Serpent is already dead."
Frigga replied in a low voice, staring seriously at Su Ming with her big eyes, staring at the face of the fake Odin.
At this time, Gin returned, having found her boss, "Boss, the Ancient One has verified that the Great Serpent has already broken free from the seal, and the Hammer of Winter is also not on Earth, both whereabouts unknown."
Su Ming tilted his head and spread his hands towards Frigga, meaning, see for yourself.
Frigga covered her mouth, a massive sense of panic causing her stomach to contract involuntarily. Back in the day, the Vanir Race suffered greatly because of the Great Serpent, and she was filled with terror of that mad creature.
Su Ming sighed, handed her the wine bottle, signaling the queen to take a few sips to calm herself, while he continued questioning Gin.
"What else did the Master say?"
"The Ancient One also said that the Great Serpent must be sealed again, but this time not on Earth."
Gin watched as Frigga lifted her head and downed the liquor, slightly twitching the corner of her mouth. In her memory, the Mother of Gods always appeared dignified, high above the others.
Now she's become just like an ordinary warrior.
Su Ming rubbed his own brow, the Supreme Mage made it sound easy, but to seal the Great Serpent...
He couldn't even cast a Fireball Technique in Marvel, let alone large-scale Magic Seals, probably still need to rely on Odin and the World Tree.
The original plan was to figure out a way to kill the Great Serpent, once and for all.
Su Ming didn't quite believe the saying that the Great Serpent could only die fulfilling prophecy, if it can't be killed, then it must be because the method is wrong.
If they could find the Ultimate Eraser, or perhaps even the Heart of the Universe, the Great Serpent would surely die.
But the Ancient One's opinion now was to maintain the prophecy of the Twilight of the Gods...
It seemed that maintaining the destruction and rebirth of the gods, maintaining this tragic cycle, held a significance greater than Su Ming had anticipated.
Or is it... did the Ancient One see something with the Time Gem?
After a brief moment of contemplation, Su Ming planned to follow the Supreme Mage's advice. Though the Ancient One didn't state specific reasons, Su Ming trusted she would not harm him.
Aside from succeeding the Supreme Mage...
Now both the Great Serpent and the Hammer of Winter were shrouded in mist, no one knew where they were, but the Great Serpent was an ancient relic whose world view remained a millennia-old relic. His target must exist within his perceivable range.
That is, within the Nine Realms.
"Queen Frigga, I need to make a trip to the Netherworld," Su Ming said softly.
Frigga finished a bottle of wine, slowly sitting by the table, "As long as the souls who died without great honor in Asgard will enter the Netherworld."
"Just to let you know, the Eight-legged Celestial Horse will take me there."
"What do you want me to do?" Frigga rubbed her face, feeling at a loss. If Odin remained asleep, how could they counter the Great Serpent?
"Keep an eye on the movements in the Immortal Palace. I've always thought there was an insider in the Great Serpent matter."
Su Ming gave a simple instruction and left with Gin, their footsteps leaving a shallow trail on the carpet.
Gullveig looked at his back, then at her sister.
"You'd best do as he says, I sense he can instill fear in others, yet he himself fears nothing, his actions bear no hesitation or scruples."
Frigga shook her head with a bitter smile, "I know, I'm just worried he might just kill us at any time."
Gullveig placed a laptop on the table, "I don't think he will, look at this piece of technology, he lets us learn from it, which means we're still of some use."
The Queen sighed, softly caressing the black computer. This style was totally out of place with Asgard.
That man carried with him a dark aura, his true motive remained unknown to anyone, which was what instilled the most terror in people's hearts.
Frigga was not afraid of death, she feared the nonexistence of Asgard, the opponent's ability to casually become others was indeed terrifying.
Yet, her sister's leverage was in Deathstroke's hands, and now he was the only one who could help everyone in Warnerheim escape the influence of Flame Power.
As for herself... involuntarily dragged by those around her into the vortex, as though an unseen net enveloped everyone's heads.
..............
"Boss, are you really planning to go to the Netherworld?"
Riding together with Su Ming on the back of the Eight-legged Celestial Horse, Gin spoke. At this moment, the horse galloped madly in one direction, as if traversing through the cosmos.
"Yes, first we need to see if Hel has any connection with the Great Serpent, then investigate her intent on attacking the Asgardian army."
Su Ming calmly replied, riding the Celestial Horse didn't require guiding; he simply mounted it and told it where he wanted to go, much like a taxi.
At this moment, he was silently smoothing the Celestial Horse's mane, straightening out some fur balls within it.
"Her strength... is very strong. If combined with Tyr, I'm afraid the two of us won't be enough."
"Hmm? I never said we were going to deal with Hel, we're just dealing with a dog."
"A dog...?"
Su Ming turned to look at Gin, her short hair lifted by the breeze, flickering like pages of a book, a confused expression on her face.
.............
At that moment, Hel was celebrating victory with Tyr.
The army of the Undead had grown once again, and these souls were formerly active warriors of Asgard.
This was different from the endless disposable troops in the Netherworld; this was an elite force.
They traded disposable troops for a new elite army, and even if the disposable ones were shattered into dust on the battlefield, their souls would return to the Netherworld and be reshaped.
It's essentially a no-cost transaction.
However, the celebration in the Netherworld remained none too lively.
Hel and Tyr sat around a small table, with a pot of wine and two small cups on it, speaking quietly and drinking, considering that a celebration.
The entire hall remained silent, cold and death permeated every corner.
Everything accustomed to Asgard was aberrant here, everything here was 'anti-Immortal Palace'.
The fireplaces in the Immortal Palace always burned with warm flames, but in Hel's fireplace, there was only a ghostly green glow.
The Immortal Palace liked to throw wine cups, but here Hel's wine cups were made from human skin, they wouldn't break at all, throwing them to the ground only made a 'squish' sound.
The streets and markets of the Immortal Palace were very prosperous, but the Nether God Palace, which was even larger in scale, always had only two figures visible.
Hel had already sensed that the World Tree catching fire was a farce; she just took advantage of the chaos for a bit, then quietly waited for the real moment to come.
For the Netherworld, the war had already ended, the army had grown, and today was as valuable as several decades in the past.
Anyway, that undying Odin didn't dare to confront her, so Hel was quite at ease.
"How are my two brothers?"
Hel held a wine cup, reclining on her couch, sipping honey wine from the cup while inquiring with Tyr.
The wine in the Netherworld was brewed from the honey of Death Spore Flowers, and just smelling it could instantly kill an ordinary person, turning them into a zombie.
Tyr still bore some charred marks from a hammer, but as an undead, he had no sense of pain, so those injuries were merely like scratching an itch.
"Thor is still a fool, but Loki seems to have gotten smarter. At the beginning of the war, he seemed to have foreseen the outcome."
"...Forget it, time is truly a terrifying force..."
Tyr smiled as he raised his cup to toast the Queen, his smile especially ghastly, as his facial skin after death was difficult to control, leaving all his gums exposed.
"But I find it hard to understand why Odin sent an army to deal with Surtur; the quantity of soldiers is meaningless to that kind of entity."
Hel closed her eyes, her fingers incessantly fidgeting with the cushion beneath her. After a moment, she opened her eyes:
"Odin has done many inexplicable things, like reconciling with Laufey, having amicable relations with countries like Sandaar, and sending Valkyrie to confront me... I just learned from new souls that yesterday Odin proclaimed some Will of Fire, I suspect it was he himself who set the World Tree ablaze."
Tyr shrugged, indeed, as the Queen said, Odin had done too many strange things.
But now wasn't the right time, the Netherworld's army returned here and continued to sleep underground, waiting for the next awakening.
The two drank a few more cups of wine, discussing some ominous topics, with Hel's hand constantly roving over the cushion as if searching for something.
"By the way, where's Fenrir?"
Hel finally remembered, always feeling something was missing at her side, turns out the wolf was absent.
Fenrir was prophesied to be the cause of Odin's death; it was one of Hel's trump cards. One reason Odin didn't dare come to the Netherworld was indeed because the wolf was here, fearing his destiny might prematurely unfold upon him.
Tyr had complex feelings towards the giant wolf that once bit off his hand.
On one hand, it was because he had helped the gods deceive Fenrir, binding it on a lone island for ten thousand years; on the other hand, it had crunched his hand right in front of him.
Just like munching on beans, or some crunchy fruit.
Now Fenrir was another ally of Hel's; Tyr met it every day but still felt very awkward.
"No idea, too many corpses and souls entered the Netherworld today, maybe it's off looking for something to eat."
Hel sighed; the only living creature in the Netherworld was Fenrir, even Hel herself was half-alive, half-dead: "Let it do as it pleases. In times past, the Netherworld was devoid even of bones, it's impressive it endured this long. Go get some more wine."