The ravings of that Norse scholar brought the people back to their senses, only to be followed by an even more frightening revelation.
Twilight of the Gods?!
Just hearing this term was enough to shake their psyches.
Everyone looked toward him. Under the reflection of the azure sea, each and every one of their eyes seemed to be asking him — is it really the twilight of the gods?
The researcher nodded slowly, his hand trembling as he pointed toward the massive ice pillar before them. He said, "Th-that should be the legendary fire giant that resided in Muspelheim!"
Within that ice pillar, the object that horrified everyone was a giant standing over hundreds of meters tall. This giant was entwined with molten lava, and surging magma flowed within the ice pillar over its body. The impression it gave was that this terrifying giant was not merely some specimen sealed within the ice, but instead temporarily bound and sealed.
The expert slowly stepped away, both in excitement and respect, but also in fear. He approached the ice pillar and saw that at the bottom of this pillar, there were slabs of ancient stone tablets with runic inscriptions.
As an expert in the study of Norse mythology, this opportunity was the crowning moment of his career.
“Indeed, these inscriptions are undoubtedly from Norse mythology. According to the legend, at the beginning of the world's creation, the region located at the southern end of the Ginnungagap was filled with fire and heat. In the 'Land of Fire' known as Muspelheim, and the 'Land of Mist' called Niflheim, life originated amidst the alternating heat and cold. Ruling over this region was the Fire Giant, Surtr, who was an enemy of the Aesir gods. When the Twilight of the Gods arrives, he will stride across the Rainbow Bridge and kill the Norse deities!”
The expert murmured the legends as if he were expressing his dreams.
When Gui Bin heard him talk about the ‘Land of Fire’ and the ‘Land of Mist’, for some reason the first thing that came to mind was actually 'Naruto'.
‘Damn, I’ve been too deeply poisoned by the world of anime and manga!’
Gui Bin pretended to wipe the sweat on his forehead. Luckily, no one knew what he was thinking.
“Surtr is a mythical fire giant, featured in both ‘Old Edda’ and ‘New Edda.’ He plays a crucial role in bringing about the twilight of the gods, known as Ragnarok. Surtr wields a fiery magic sword called ‘Laevateinn’, which is known as the Sword of Victory, the Sword of Flames, and the Invincible Sword in mythology. It is said that anyone, whether mortal or god, who faces Laevateinn will meet their end in defeat, but the sword itself will never fail!”
“That weapon, which was meant to be the weapon of the God of Plenty, ended up in the hands of Surtur, who cast the sword into the sky, and caused great flames to engulf the earth!”
This expert gradually lost his excitement. As he explained the story of Norse mythology to the crowd, his eyes slowly lost light as if the spirit had been sucked out of him.
As he spoke of the fiery magic sword, the magma in that ice pillar flowed even faster, as if telling the crowd the power of the magic sword of annihilation!
Everyone was captivated by the expert’s words, and no one noticed that this expert was unconsciously walking up to that ice pillar and touching it.
The unimaginable cold seeped into his fingertips, causing his right hand to lose blacken in an instant. However, this expert seemed to be devoid of pain, as if the extreme cold had numbed his nerve responses. His face displayed a fanatical expression, and his fingers started to carve something on the surface of the ice pillar.
Those mysterious runes were of an indescribable language, but after his fingers drew two runes on the surface of the ice, a ‘click’ sound came from the ice pillar.
A crack had appeared on the pillar.
“What are you doing!!”
“Om my god, have you gone crazy!”
“.......”
The crowd came back to their senses after the click. They screamed in shock and quickly ran over to pull the expert away from the ice pillar.
The major looked at the expert’s frenzied face and disoriented eyes and slapped him hard.
“Slap—”
The crisp sound of applause brought the expert back to his senses. He looked around in bewilderment, then exclaimed in terror, “What... What was I doing just now? Oh God, what on earth happened?!”
It was then that he realized that he had lost consciousness, and someone was bandaging his hand.
“That's what I should be asking you! What did you do!”
Someone yelled and tanked him by the collar.
“I… I felt that I had just seen the twilight of the gods. I think I saw the terrible monster fighting against the Aesir Gods. I saw the spirits of the Hall of Valor fighting on the Rainbow Bridge, and the beautiful valkyries doing their best to stop the monsters from raging.”
“Then, then a lot of strange runes popped into my head. That seemed to… to be the rune of the great gods… Did I just draw the rune on that ice pillar!”
After shouting, he pushed aside the people around him and looked at the ice pillar. He saw that although there were cracks on the surface, they were not significant, and the fire giant inside the post remained motionless.
“Thank God… Thank God… this monster did not come out. This monster could burn the Earth into glass!”
He sat on his butt and cried out in fear.
The others looked at each other and quickly pulled him backward from this ice pillar.
For a while, the entire temple became silent. Everyone was creeped out, as if there were countless tentacles hidden in the darkness around them, hiding terrifying monsters that were watching them. The atmosphere gradually became Lovecraftian.
“Look here! Everyone look here!”
Suddenly, that novel reader who researched the Cthulhu mythos let out a scream.
The crowd was startled by this cry and shuddered. Following his finger's direction, they saw a series of stone carvings appearing in the pitch-black surroundings. The most prominent one depicted the same image they had seen in the research station in Antarctica earlier: an upside-down mountain that was taller than Mount Everest!
The people quickly glanced at the entire painting that appeared. It recorded an ancient story in great detail.
“In the long past, there were alien beings that descended on Earth. They inhabited the Antarctic continent that had not yet been frozen and gained a place on this planet with their own technology.”
“Then, almost all of these alien beings died under their own terrible creations. Their creations were so abhorrent that if they were allowed to run amok, all life on the planet would cease to exist.”
“The Olympus Gods and the Aesir Gods sensed the danger of these monsters and joined together to build this city to suppress all those monsters and alien life underground.”
Some scholars interpreted the contents of these images and translated them into a simple yet ancient story.
“It’s an Elder Thing. My guess was right, this must be an Elder Thing!!”
That Cthulhu-loving reader shouted in surprise.
Gui Bin also knew about this Elder Thing, but looking at this story, the first thing that came to his mind was the movie ‘Alien’, where the creator ended up dying of his own creation.
“The Elder Thing… the Elder Thing is… us!!!”
Suddenly, a mysterious voice that no one had ever heard before came from the mysterious temple. It was a horse with a low voice!
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