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Last Embryo Volume 7 Chapter 1 Part 4

「…What is it? Did I say something strange?」

「No….I was just surprised because for a moment you looked exactly like that man.」

「That’s why it is such a pity that you didn’t wake up sooner. If you did, then maybe things would not have turned out the way they did.」

Hercules sadly folded his arms on his chest and closed his eyes.

Izayoi noticed the discomfort between the two of them and the disturbing atmosphere that they were giving off. It almost seemed like they were as wary of the man who commands this fortress as they are of the 「Youngest Child of Gaia」.

「Hmm… so this guy is someone who has exactly the same point of view as me, huh? Or that his theories are based on similar theories to mine, at the very least. Well, that is certainly interesting, but we will talk more about him later. For the time being there is one more thing left to check.」

Izayoi’s gaze became much more severe.

If 「The Youngest Child of Gaia」 has infiltrated the Game by posing as one of the participating Players, then the most useful information about the enemy should already be officially released. Five days have already passed since Izayoi’s battle with him, so both Heracles and Asterios should already have access to that information, so Izayoi asked them both with a polite smile:

「… So, I have a question about 「The Youngest Child of Gaia」. Which Community did he join in order to slip into the Game and get to Atlantis?」

「Listen and be surprised. It was an unexpected information even for us.」

「The name of the Community that he belongs to is apparently 『Yggdrasil』, the Community that takes its name after the World Tree Yggdrasil of the Norse Mythology from the Northern Europe, and that Community is also the one that managed to pass the qualifying round on the Giant Spirit Train by finishing in the first place.」

「Come to think of it, you have never heard that 『Yggdrasil』was the Community that finished the preliminary round in the first place while 『Avatara』finished in the second place, right?」

「Hou?」

Izayoi’s eyes began to sparkle with curiosity that was welling up.

「Gaia’s Youngest Child」called himself the Demon Lord of the Greek Mythology. However, no matter how you would try to think about it or justify it, the group of gods associated with 『Yggdrasil』 can only be found in the Norse Mythology.

At first glance, the most logical conclusion would be that the Sponsor of this Community should be Odin, the Chief God of the Norse Mythology, but it is still unclear whether they should be looking at the connection between the two in such a straightforward sense.

The World Tree Yggdrasil, which is said to cast shadows over the nine realms.

In the etymology of the word, 「Ygg」, the first segment of the word 「Yggdrasil」 is an old word that stands for 「terrifying person」or 「The Terrifying One」and it is used as the other name of Odin, the Allfather of the Aesir and the Chief God of Scandinavia, who gained infinite wisdom and the secrets of the rune magic by hanging himself on the Yggdrasil’s branches and gouging one of his eyes out. And in Europe, he is sometimes depicted as a member of the Wild Hunt riding a dead horse, and 「Drasil」means 「Horse」.

In other words, 「World Tree Yggdrasil」can also have a meaning of 「Odin’s Gallows」, which begs the question: is 『Yggdrasil’s』Sponsor Odin, or perhaps someone who is harboring anti-Odin intentions?

(Looks like it might be necessary for me to read through 「Odin’s Proverbs」and 「Grimnir’s Song」one more time.)
Izayoi doesn’t dislike Norse mythology. Rather, it’s his favorite kind of myths, so he should wait with his judgment until after the rereading is done.

「What if that name was just a bluff?」

「No, they are named like that precisely because there are members of the Norse Mythology among them. If there were not, then naming themselves like that would make no sense.」

「There have been several clashes involving them in the last five days. There are faces I know among them, and quite a few big names belong to them as well.」

「That’s another hot topic. I feel so happy that my head hurts.」

In other words, the enemy’s main force is not only「The Youngest Child of Gaia」himself, but also an entire group of Gods who call themselves 『Yggdrasil』. It looks like their task won’t be as easy as finding 「The Youngest Child of Gaia」, surrounding him with their strongest fighters and simply beating the everliving shit out of him.

「So how about some of the big-shots belonging to their ranks? Do we know anything about them? Is it someone that I know personally?」
「Perhaps. According to King Asterios, one of their members is an excellent warrior who had a flawless record during the preliminary round on the Spirit Train.」

「His name is Vidar. He is a half-god, half-giant warrior who hunts the Beast of the End. I have heard that he is supposed to be one of the greatest and strongest warriors of the entire pantheon of the Norse Mythology.」

「Oh, is he now?」

Izayoi’s eyes began to shine with a dangerous light.

He had heard about the Beasts of the End from Indra two years ago.

Beasts of the End, also known as the Beasts of Apocalypse. They are supposed to be inhumanely strong monsters resembling Divine Spirits tha are said to be the embodiments of the sound of the horns that herald the twilight of the Gods. It is said that they were once infamous as the most terrifying of the Godslayers, until they were eventually taken out of the picture thanks to the special 『Host Master Authority』that has been created and designed for the express purpose of sealing them off for good. And as for 「The Youngest Child of Gaia」… or Demon Lord Typhon, as he called himself, Izayoi suspected that he might actually be the same as them, or a kind of being that is similar to them.

However, that would mean that in the current setting, a warrior-god who hunts the Beasts of the End is fighting side by side with a Demon Lord similar to his chosen prey.

「Vidar….. I think I have actually heard about him. I believe he was the warrior-god who was responsible for defeating Fenrir, the god-eating monster wolf that ate Odin at the end of Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods in Norse Mytholohy, right?」

「Yes, that is correct. If the tale of him defeating Fenrir is actually true, then I think that achievement alone is enough to place him as the most powerful warrior from the entire Nordic world.」

「I agree. Across the history of mankind, there is only a handful of heroes who are strong enough to fight and actually defeat the Beasts of the End, and that would make them the pinnacle of heroes who can be said to not be inferior to Heracles in any way.」

「I see… However, no matter how powerful these guys might actually be, then as long as they are Players participating in this Gift Game, the rules of the Game prevent them from outright killing us. Still, I guess that small technicality does not do much to decrease their overall level of threat, huh?」

「Yeah. The Second War for the Sun’s Authority is the height of all the Gift Games with the highest of stakes. It has even been ruled that in order to remove any and all violators of the rules, the gods with three digits or more would be allowed to have all the restrictions placed upon them removed so that they could appear on the battlefield to punish them.」

「I think that it is safe for us to assume that as long as he won’t be revived with his full power, Demon Lord Typhon is not going to actually kill any of the other Players. Still, with the level of Divinity he currently has, starting a war right now would probably not be much of a problem for him either.」

「Yeah. I don’t know how serious he was when I thought him, but he definitely threw 『Another Cosmology』at me. I don’t know what caused him to become so pissed, but at that moment, he was definitely shooting it with the intent to kill. You said that the have participated in a number of Skirmishes since then, right? If so, then do we know anything about the other members of the 『Yggdrasil』Community?」