Survival in the game world begins with Biochemical 2

Chapter 865 The Ruined Vanaheim

Vanaheim, the home of the Vanir gods, and also Freya's hometown.

Each of the nine kingdoms has its own unique character: Midgard is vast and inclusive, Alfheim is magnificent and ethereal, Jotunheim is both desolate and breathtakingly beautiful, while Asgard is a place of outward peace and prosperity.

As for Vanaheim, it presents a completely different picture.

Stepping out of the mysterious gate, Li You had set foot in the penultimate realm of the Nine Realms, a realm he had not yet visited.

Before they could even get a good look at the scene, a damp smell hit them, and an astonishing heat enveloped them.

Even Li You frowned slightly.

It wasn't the temperature that made him uncomfortable, but the humid air was mixed with a peculiar, fishy odor that was extremely unpleasant.

Looking ahead, Li You, his companions, and Freya emerged from the mysterious door into a jungle that resembled a tropical rainforest. The roads on the ground were rugged and winding, and all sorts of tropical plants grew everywhere, including some local species that were clearly aggressive.

In the jungle, the remains of a few man-made structures can be vaguely seen, but they seem to have long been abandoned.

"Finally back...Vanaheim."

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar scene before her, Freya was somewhat lost in thought, muttering to herself.

However, she quickly regained her composure, suppressed her nostalgic feelings, and looked at Li You and the others: "This is Vanaheim. Judging from the reaction of the spell within me, we are still some distance away from the location to break the spell... Let's go, I'll lead the way."

In the game, Freya hadn't let go of her inner turmoil when she brought Kratos and Brock back here, so she spent most of the journey arguing with Mimir and Brock, and occasionally saying a few words about Kratos.

However, it was here that Kratos told her about how he had been deceived by God in the past and had killed his wife and daughter.

Kratos's past undoubtedly touched Freya, but she still didn't truly change her attitude towards Kratos until the curse was broken.

Freya, of course, would not have that attitude now. Her tone was gentle the whole way as she told Li You and the others about the situation in Vanaheim and guided them.

However, compared to the game's storyline, some things remain unchanged. For example, Freya hadn't gone far in Vanaheim when she sensed the effects of Odin's curse taking hold, trying to banish her from the realm.

She considered whether to take out the magic stone she had prepared to fight the curse, but in the end she put it away and chose to transform into a bird to avoid it.

The bird she transformed into appeared to be some kind of raptor, though it was small in size and had beautiful orange feathers that matched the color of her Valkyrie wings.

In fact, Li You had seen through her condition. Although he had never dealt with this kind of curse before, he should be able to help her temporarily slow down its effects.

But Freya was a goddess with a high sense of self-respect, and since she didn't bring it up herself, Li You didn't say anything more.

Besides this similar plot, when Freya arrived at a certain group of ruins, she also uttered the same exclamation as in the game:
"There's not a soul here. This used to be one of the liveliest neighborhoods in Vanaheim, but now..."

At this moment, Li You asked, "Your people have all hidden themselves, haven't they? Faced with Odin's army pressing in, it is the right thing for them to do, as they are not good at fighting, to choose to hide in the jungle."

Freya nodded in agreement, but then said in a low voice, "...They are no longer my people."

The Aesir and Vanir were once locked in a war of attrition. Finally, at Mimir's suggestion, they made peace by uniting Odin and Freya.

Unfortunately, Odin's ambition never ceased, and he was unwilling to give up on everything in Vanaheim. The fragile peace did not last long and was broken again after Freya was banished by Odin.

Meanwhile, Freya, who agreed to the marriage in order to protect Vanaheim, was regarded as a traitor by some of her people and was scorned. Even her own brother broke off relations with her.

Unfortunately, Odin imprisoned Freya in Midgard, preventing her from ever returning to her homeland and resolving the misunderstandings with her blood relatives.

In Freya's cottage in Midgard, beyond the window that couldn't be opened, lay the view of Vanaheim, her homeland which she longed for but could never return to.

If it weren't for the arrival of Fimbulwinter, which weakened most of the curses on Freya, even with Siegrun's help, it wouldn't have been so easy for her to regain her fighting power, and it would have been impossible for her to return to Vanaheim, avoiding the curses as she is now.

But the price of Fimbulb Winter was...

Therefore, Freya's fate was indeed tragic. At least in Li You's opinion, the Valkyrie Gna's accusations, while not entirely unreasonable, were certainly biased and too subjective.

Now, Freya is able to set aside most of her hatred and target Odin directly, which shows that she has indeed clarified her goal.

Li You glanced at Freya, who was perched on a tree branch ahead, transformed into a bird, and said:

"Although you have nominally become the god of Aesir, the people here will always be connected to you culturally and by blood; they are your people."

"As for Frey, I believe he should have realized by now that he was also wrong in his argument with you."

"After all, you are blood relatives. Once the curse is lifted, go and have a good talk with him. You will definitely be able to understand each other."

Freya glanced at Li You with some surprise upon hearing this, but then seemed to remember something and said, "I almost forgot, you know a lot about the past of the Nine Realms... I didn't expect you to know so much about the story of the Vanir gods."

Li You simply smiled and said nothing more.

Freya had only sighed and had no intention of pressing further. After hearing Li You's words, she composed herself, took a deep breath, and said, "Let's go. No matter what, we have to lift the curse first. I can't go to meet Ingvi looking like this."

Ingvi is Frey, the full name of the god of fertility, by which Freya calls him.

Needless to say, Li You had come here intending to meet this person as well, so he nodded and said, "Let's go."

The two were talking, but Li You's companions weren't very interested in that.

Yuzu, Edge, and V were all more curious about the environment of Waraheim, and when they saw those peculiar local plants, they even wanted to pick a couple of leaves to study.

Freya saw this and had no objection, but she gave them a few pointers about the characteristics of certain dangerous plants.

These plants either spray venom or spit out thorns; they are well hidden in the dense vegetation, and they also have the characteristic of only attacking outsiders, making them natural defensive towers.

Of course, for Yuzu and his friends, these things are nothing.

In the game, Kratos, Freya, and Brock approached Frey's rebel camp first. Brock accidentally stepped into a trap and was dragged into the camp and hung up. Freya had to step in to prevent a conflict between Kratos and Frey.

However, this time, it seemed that the location from which he was teleported was different. Li You tried his best to pay attention along the way, but he did not find any location that resembled Frey's camp.

Not only him, but even Aiji, whom Li You had asked to search the camp locations, couldn't find anything while sightseeing and using all his senses, which surprised Li You.

But Frey's camp was a secondary objective; dealing with Freya's curse first wouldn't hurt. Once Freya regained her freedom, she would surely find a way to locate Frey.

After walking for a while, as they approached the location Freya sensed based on the curse, Li You, Freya, and their companions all noticed something and became alert.

Yuzu and the others stopped sightseeing, and Li You and Freya stopped talking. Everyone looked at the village ruins ahead, where faint sounds could be heard.

After listening from a distance for only a short while, the bird Freya had transformed into trembled involuntarily, its eyes revealing undisguised hatred:

"That voice... it's the Heroic Warriors, Odin's men. Vanaheim has indeed been occupied by them." Li You and Aige also noticed the commotion ahead. The Heroic Warriors were patrolling back and forth in the rather large abandoned village ahead, occasionally conversing in Old Norse, seemingly making no attempt to hide their tracks.

Now that they had confirmed that the people in front of them were heroic warriors, Li You naturally wouldn't hold back and immediately prepared to take action.

“Since they are heroic warriors, then I will take charge,” Li You said directly. “These people are Odin’s pawns in Ragnarok. Reducing some of them here will weaken him.”

Everyone present understood his meaning: the Heroic Warriors were Odin's trump card. They were all formed from the souls of the dead combined with the magic of Asgard and Valhalla. As long as the souls did not perish, they could be reborn repeatedly.

The same soul will not perish unless it is killed several times in a short period of time.

Therefore, it is meaningless to let others deal with these heroic warriors. Only methods that can completely annihilate their souls can effectively kill the army of heroic warriors.

Therefore, Li You planned to take action personally.

However, even though he said that, he wouldn't actually go up and fight with the Mortal Blade. These ordinary heroic spirits were no longer qualified to fight in front of Li You.

So he simply raised his hand and released the black dragon formed from the Mortal Blade, letting it fly out on its own and pounce on the heroic warriors.

Freya was also seeing Li You's Mortal Blade for the first time. As a god, she was also shocked by the terrifying aura it exuded.

But after the initial surprise came overwhelming joy. After all, before this, the only way they could definitively kill the Aesir was by closing the gates and letting Kratos and his son escape.

Now it seems that Li You's move is more effective at dealing with the souls of the Aesir that cannot be easily destroyed.

The Undying Dragon vanished from Li You's sight in a flash, and when it reappeared, it had grown enormous, soaring above the village, its eyes staring emotionlessly at the heroic warriors below.

The heroic warriors patrolling the village naturally noticed the enormous black dragon that had suddenly appeared.

However, given their skill level, they couldn't detect the origin of the unsettling aura emanating from the black dragon. Being warlike, they simply drew their weapons and began attacking the black dragon with crude and rudimentary methods, shouting and yelling.

Naturally, this attack couldn't even hurt the black dragon, let alone break through its protective black aura.

Looking at this group of overconfident heroic warriors, the black dragon even revealed a hint of human disdain in its eyes. It opened its mouth and spewed out a stream of black and red flames that instantly swept across the land, engulfing all the heroic warriors in one go.

When the dark red flames dissipated, everything else in the village remained the same, except that the heroic warriors were nowhere to be found.

Freya was both surprised and delighted to see the Mortal Blade Dragon's terrifying power.

She could certainly sense that the souls of those heroic warriors had been completely annihilated by the black and red flames.

"This is what you did to kill Heimdall..."

Li You nodded: "That's right. Let's go, the heroic warriors blocking our way are gone."

After engulfing all the enemies, the Immortal Blade Dragon flew back to Li You's side. Its size had shrunk from being so large that it blotted out the sky to less than a meter long. It swam around Li You, seemingly trying to curry favor with him.

Li You chuckled, reached out and patted the little dragon's head, but didn't take it back, leaving it outside, since he might have to deal with other heroic warriors later.

The group then entered the abandoned village.

Upon arriving in the village, a hint of sadness appeared in Freya's beady black eyes: "My village... I almost didn't recognize it."

This is the settlement where Freya used to live. Although it is now dilapidated and deserted, the round wooden houses built with tree branches and leaves, which have a strong Vanaheim style, still evoke Freya's nostalgia.

It is conceivable that this settlement was abandoned because of Odin's army's attack.

Of course, the group had seen many similar scenes on their way here, but this place was where Freya was born and raised, which is why it stirred up her sadness again.

However, with her firm will, she would not waver, nor would she wallow in sorrow.

She came here to lift the curse Odin had placed on her, so that she could avenge herself, her son, and her people against Odin.

So after only a moment of sadness, Freya flapped her wings and said, "Let's go, the source of the curse is inside."

As she spoke, she prepared to fly towards the center of the village.

But at that moment, Aiji was the first to notice something was wrong, followed by Li You.

"Wait, Freya!"

Through the pre-established mental link, the two immediately spoke up to warn Freya, who was also startled and immediately dodged, narrowly avoiding an incoming indigo beam of light that terrified her and disrupted her flight path.

If she were to take such a blow in this form, it would truly be a serious injury.

However, she soon discovered that a light blue barrier had enveloped her, so even if she hadn't dodged the attack, she would have been fine.

Freya looked at Li You with gratitude in her eyes, and Li You nodded: "Your curse has not been lifted yet, so you should step aside for now. As for this heroic spirit captain, leave him to us."

Everyone, including Freya herself, had realized that the one who launched the sneak attack was a Heroic Spirit captain who had walked out of the hall at their target location.

However, unlike the many heroic captains Li You had seen before, this one's armor clearly bore a lot of personal characteristics, and the weapon in his hand was a peculiar large scythe.

The fact that this person stands out so much among the Heroic Spirits only proves one thing: their combat prowess is absolutely extraordinary.

Having had considerable contact with the Heroic Spirit Warriors, Li You concluded that this person's combat strength was probably similar to that of the Valkyries ranked lower.

Hearing Li You's assessment, the others were fine, but V's eyes lit up: "In that case, why don't we let me deal with this guy? I learned a few moves from Tyr and I'm looking forward to trying them out."

Li You glanced at her, but didn't seem to have any objections. With V's current strength, she shouldn't be unable to handle a Heroic Spirit captain. However, she needed to be careful about how to ensure that this person's soul couldn't escape either.

So Li You thought for a moment, then took out a dagger with several deformed blades from his backpack and handed it to V: "Take this."

V immediately recognized the weapon: "A black knife?"

Yes, this is the black sword that V used in the past, but hasn't been used in a long time. It is also a weapon that contains the power of destined death.

However, compared to Li You's current Mortal Blade, the Black Blade contains far too little power of destined death, making it practically useless in the land of Norse mythology where foreign divine power is heavily suppressed. Therefore, Li You had never used it before.

But now, this problem is easily solved.

Li You had the little dragon that was still hovering around him exhale a breath toward the black blade, and a deeper black-red flame immediately poured into the black blade. The black patterns on the dagger flashed, and the black aura even began to flow slowly.

V understood; this meant she had to execute her opponent with a black knife after defeating them.

So she took the black knife without ceremony, tucked it into her waistband, and then grasped the broken knife and the lightning moon shadow that were already hanging on her waist: "Leave it to me."

(End of this chapter)