The Warrior of Love

The angel was silent for a moment. A breeze blew and pulled down her hood, revealing a beautiful and delicate face. Her soft shoulder-length black hair swayed slightly in the wind. A pair of small gray wings that looked like rabbit ears hung on both sides of her head. Her ruby-like eyes revealed a hint of doubt.

However, she still found the answer Jiang Liu wanted in the ancient underlying data.

Too much time has passed, and this piece of data, which should have been discarded long ago, was somehow retained.

"My real name is... Oltlinde."

"Otlinde..." Jiang Liu's eyes flashed with realization, "It's Jianfeng... You are not an angel, but a Valkyrie."

"Uh..." The girl with black hair and red eyes remained silent.

Valkyrie, what a nostalgic name... However, they have been active as "angels" for thousands of years, and have long forgotten their past duties. Now they only exist as servants of the goddess.

"Hello, Miss Valkyrie, nice to meet you. My name is "Yuan Shan Jiang Liu"."

The man, knowing where he was, smiled softly: "Please take care of me."

Chapter 773: Diseases that only adults can contract

Faced with an opponent far more powerful than herself, the Valkyrie named "Ortlinde" did not continue to launch reckless attacks, but she did not succumb to Jiang Liu either. Except for her real name at the beginning, she did not take the initiative to provide him with any information.

However, just by looking at the name "Ortlinde" and her appearance, Jiang Liu almost understood the background of this world.

Because the black-haired girl is actually quite famous. Her real name means "Sword Edge". She has appeared in Norse mythology and the Vagra Opera. She is one of the nine Valkyries with names (there are more than just nine Valkyries).

Jiang Liu was deeply impressed by this, because Vagla's epic opera can be said to be the most precious artistic wealth left by Norse mythology to future generations. Even a Viennese failed student was deeply attracted by it. The soul-stirring heroic epic greatly influenced his life.

Ortlinde is not the protagonist in the story, at best she is just a background character with a name, so Jiang Liu doesn't know much about her, but her identity is enough to explain a lot of things.

——Valkyrie!

This title is widely used in modern times to refer to "heroic women/goddesses", but its original meaning was a specific reference to a certain ethnic group.

They are the messengers of God in Norse mythology, the daughters of the great god Odin, who will ride on Pegasus to travel around the world, select the heroic souls on the battlefield and take them away to the Valhalla Temple to prepare for the Twilight of the Gods.

In a sense, it is not wrong to call it an "angel".

These Valkyries are Odin's daughters and direct subordinates. No other gods can command them except their father.

And this Ortlinde works for the so-called "God" and is respected as an "angel" by the villagers. The answer behind this is obvious.

"Is this world based mainly on Norse mythology?"

Jiang Liu looked at the black-haired Valkyrie seriously: "Did the great god Odin ask you to collect the souls of the villagers?"

"Uh..." After hearing the pronunciation of "Odin", Ortlinde was obviously absent-minded for a moment. It was probably because she had not heard this extremely important name for a long time.

"Father would never let us do such a thing."

The Valkyrie's eyes dimmed for a moment: "Now, our loyalty is to the Queen."

"Queen?" Jiang Liu thought about it, but couldn't find the corresponding role in Norse mythology.

"She is our mistress, the bride of the gods, the goddess of winter... and the last god left in this twilight world."

-

"What should I do?"

On that day, after the traditional blessing ceremony was interrupted by strangers and even the "angel" was abducted, this was the most common phrase used by the villagers.

They were helpless. In this cruel world, the human body was too weak. Without the protection of the goddess, they would freeze to death or be eaten by monsters if they left the village.

And now the "blessing" ceremony has not been successful. The goddess's blessing should have come earlier, but there has been no movement until now.

The villagers had unrealistically hoped that the goddess would send another angel and everyone's lives would return to normal... but the reality was the opposite of what they had hoped.

This village seemed to have been abandoned by the goddess. It no longer had divine protection, nor did it have the angels who often came to bestow blessings. It just declined.

The crops outside the village were destroyed by the cold weather, and there was no green left in the farmlands. Without the protection, the harsh climate had no scruples and was madly eroding people's vitality.

In the past, as long as you didn’t leave the village, you wouldn’t be in danger. But now, even if you stay in the village obediently, your body temperature and life will be slowly taken away by the winter death.

It seems that it only took two or three days for the quiet and peaceful village to turn into what it is now. The speed of decline is simply unbelievable.

But this is not surprising, because the humans in this world have always survived under the protection of the goddess, and losing these would be like the sky falling for them.

They originally didn't have to worry about dealing with the harsh environment, but suddenly they had to face the majesty of nature alone...

If this continues, the whole village will be destroyed!

The villagers realized that they had to fight against the current deadlock in order to survive, but without any relevant experience or knowledge, these young people had no idea how to save themselves.

After repeated discussions and reflections, they came to the following conclusions:

Continue to complete the "Blessing" ceremony!

In order to express their devotion to the goddess and to regain her protection, they must complete this ritual.

The angel has been abducted and there is no one to preside over the ceremony. What should we do?

The villagers do not know any magic and have no way to deal with souls. They can only do what they can - starting from the physical level.

In the past, when the angel took the soul away, the remaining body would be sent outside the village as a sacrifice to the wild spirits, and would disappear after one night.

Wild elves are also part of this world, standing on the other side of the balance. They have far more power than humans, but without the goddess's approval, they cannot invade human villages, so they can only have a chance to let humans return to the "natural cycle" during the "blessing ceremony".

This time, the villagers no longer just transported the bodies out of the village. Instead, they dressed up the five young men who were supposed to be "redeemed" and sent them directly to where the wild elves often appeared.

They hope to symbolically complete the "blessing ceremony" and reconnect with the goddess.

On this day, three men and two women wearing white robes came to the outside of the wall surrounded by villagers.

Compared with their previous pious appearance, this time many people showed hesitation on their faces, and struggle flashed in the eyes of the five sacrifices.

But inertia is terrible. Even if they instinctively realized that something was wrong, they still followed their long-held ideas and chose to go on with the ceremony.

When leaving, a female sacrifice suddenly took off her hood, revealing a tear-stained face. She ran into the crowd like she had collapsed, and eagerly but carefully snatched a baby less than a month old from someone's hands.

"No, no... I still don't want to be separated from you!"

"Uh..." The older villagers looked at each other, helpless and puzzled.

Yes, they cannot understand the behavior of this "mother" because the concept of "family" does not exist for humans in this world.

All young people will undergo a blessing ceremony and go to the "other world" just after they reach adulthood and have offspring.

This also means that all children have no impression of their parents!

They were "raised together" by older boys and girls. They were close brothers and sisters, but they did not have the kind of family affection that parents and children have.

So they didn't know why the mother suddenly broke down, and even she herself... couldn't explain the sudden surge of intense emotions.

These boys and girls without a "future" looked at their older brothers and sisters who had become "adults" one step ahead of them, especially the older sister who was crying inconsolably, and they inexplicably thought in their hearts:

No wonder the goddess gave us "blessings" before we became adults. It turns out that becoming an adult is so painful.

Perhaps, this is a disease that can only be contracted when you grow up.

Chapter 774: Valkyrie of the End of the World

This world is coming to an end!

——This is Jiang Liu’s most intuitive feeling after watching these days.

When one reaches his level, even things that cannot be observed with the naked eye can be sensed in the dark.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this world has entered its end. This is the fact.

The most intuitive evidence is the gradually depleting source of magic power!

In the Type-Moon world, magic sources are divided into large sources and small sources. The small source is the magic (life force) generated by the human body itself, while the large source is the spiritual vein that circulates throughout the surface world, that is, the power of the world itself.

Whether it is the floating energy in the atmosphere or the dragon veins underground, they all belong to the "Great Source".

And in this northern snow-covered world, for some unknown reason, the great source of magic power is drying up... or is on the verge of collapse.

When he was first transferred here, he did not sense any spiritual veins nearby, and when he reached the human village, the land he passed through was barren... He thought it was just a coincidence, or perhaps he had just arrived in an area with a poor spiritual vein.

However, Jiang Liu had released his spiritual perception to explore more distant lands in the past two days, but he only found two or three extremely inferior spiritual veins in the vast land...

The strength is not even comparable to the magic barrier of the human village!

Yes, Jiang Liu did not just wander around, but secretly investigated the secret of how humans could survive in this world.

Simply put, some kind of spell was cast on the land around the village, forming a magical barrier invisible to the naked eye. It can not only change the climate within a limited range, but also drive away wild beasts and pray for a good harvest.

Jiang Liu's level of magic was limited. He could only tell that it was a ritual built with runes as the core, and it seemed to be related to the Earth Mother Goddess, but other than that...

It’s a pity that Athena didn’t come along, otherwise she would have been able to analyze the ins and outs of this ritual clearly.

This magic barrier that protects the village was supposed to be built on a spiritual vein, gathering the essence of the surrounding land to maintain its operation.

However, the earth veins in this world have severely deteriorated, and the magic barrier cannot be self-sufficient, so it needs to be re-injected with magic power every once in a while.

In this regard, Ortlinde said that it was these "angels" who regularly visited the villages on the ground and filled them with magic crystals made by the "Queen" to keep them running.

And taking away the souls of adults... is just a side job.

By the way, since we mentioned Ortlinde, we have to introduce this famous Valkyrie.

Her loyalty to the "Queen"... or her obedience to her superior is beyond doubt. Even if Jiang Liu cut her into pieces, he probably wouldn't be able to do anything to her.

However, this Valkyrie only looks indifferent, but she is actually not a taciturn person. She is just simply not good at speaking and a little introverted. In popular terms, she is "cute and silly."

She was determined not to reveal any information about the "Queen" to Jiang Liu, but there was no need to keep anything else secret. Basically, she would answer whatever Jiang Liu asked.

Of course, when it comes to some more "core" things, Ortlinde will keep silent, no matter whether Jiang Liu threatens or tries to please her, she will remain silent.

However, everything is causally related, and nothing exists in isolation.

The information that the Valkyrie told Jiang Liu seemed to have nothing to do with the Queen, but as long as it was combined with Jiang Liu's own experience and knowledge, he could deduce a lot of things... This was something that Ortlinde could not have predicted.

Therefore, Jiang Liu learned from her that the whole world is now covered in ice and snow, and mankind is almost extinct. There are only about 5,000 people left, divided into nearly a hundred villages of various sizes scattered everywhere, relying on the magic barrier set up by the goddess to survive.

This order of magnitude is undoubtedly extremely insufficient for a group of people, and it can hardly even be called a "civilization". They can only barely survive but cannot develop and move forward.

It is said that thousands of years ago the population was larger than it is now, but because humans could not adapt to such a harsh environment and the shelter capacity provided by the goddess was limited, the population size has never expanded.

Not only that, as the great source of magic gradually dried up, the power of the goddess also continued to weaken, and ultimately only about 5,000 people could survive.

The "blessing" ceremony emerged in this context.

In order to control the population, the wild elves obtained the flesh by asking adults and offspring to sacrifice themselves.

The monsters would give up attacking human villages, and the magic power used for defense could be saved to raise young children... thus maintaining a fragile balance.

Therefore, not only has the level of civilization not improved at all compared to thousands of years ago (it has even regressed), but the population is also decreasing and the environment is becoming increasingly harsh. In the foreseeable future, in about two hundred years, this world will completely become a forbidden zone for life, and all traces of humanity will be wiped out.

——After understanding this, Jiang Liu suddenly understood something.

Why would the mastermind who draws the two worlds together and wants to destroy humanity want to destroy one world at the cost of another?

The answer is different values.

Although it is cruel, this world has no future, which means it is completely worthless.

Only when used as a "cannonball" can it perish together with another world, which in a sense improves its strategic value in disguise.

Losing this doomsday world covered in ice and snow is not a big loss for the mastermind behind the scenes, but the consequences are unacceptable to Jiang Liu and others.

"Oh..." After figuring it out, Jiang Liu slowly breathed a sigh of relief, but then shook his head.

In any case, although he sympathizes with the plight of this parallel world, his first priority is to protect the safety of the earth. If things develop to a serious point where they cannot be resolved, he may have to make a painful decision.

"what are you doing?"

Ortlinde was wearing the standard hooded robe of a Valkyrie. The pure white robe was embellished with gold ornaments. The exposed area was not large, but it was inexplicably attractive.

She was not wearing any kind of shackles, but she did not run away, nor did she send a distress signal to other machines - probably because she was worried that her sisters would get hurt.

The black-haired Valkyrie knew very well that Jiang Liu's strength was far greater than that of the other Valkyries. Even the strongest of the sisters, "Slude", would most likely be defeated. Even the Queen...

Therefore, after waking up, Ortlinde took the initiative to cut off the connection with the other machines to prevent her sisters from receiving the information and coming to die... In order to monitor Jiang Liu, the Valkyrie stayed by his side all the time.

Even though Jiang Liu gave her freedom after getting the information, she did not leave.

At this time, Jiang Liu, who had been "monitored" by the Valkyrie, did something that was difficult for her to understand.

For some reason, this guy who is powerful enough to surpass gods would be interested in a group of creatures that will eventually perish.

I don't know what he thinks of these "immature" people. He actually has the leisure to observe the sacrifices of the flesh to the wild elves...

Watching these absurd things happening right before his eyes, Jiang Liu couldn't help but laugh - but there was no smile in his eyes.