The Warrior of Love

Just as he thought, the world was at the last moment of destruction. Except for this piece of land, other places were completely covered by flames.

However, Jiang Liu was sure that this was not due to reasons such as "burning of human principles". After all, the so-called "burning of human principles" was not really burning by flames. Whether it was the fire that engulfed the city or the human embers flying all over the sky... it was just a manifestation of the destruction of human principles.

But what destroyed this place was definitely "pure fire"!

With Jiang Liu's level of cultivation, he could naturally see that the cause of all this should be a kind of "power", which could not be achieved simply by relying on huge magic power or tyrannical force.

In the Type-Moon world, there are very few "powerful bricks flying" situations. The larger the scale of the phenomenon, the more it needs "conceptual" support, especially this kind of doomsday level...

The end of the world burned by flames - this element, combined with keywords such as Nordic, Valkyrie, and Giant, can already make people think of many things.

Jiang Liu had some knowledge of mythology, so he could roughly determine how everything in front of him was caused, but this could not answer another question in his mind: How did things develop to this point?

There is "Ragnarok" in Norse mythology, so it is not surprising even if it is destroyed. However, in Type-Moon, the so-called Ragnarok is merely the demise of the Norse pantheon, which is an important node in the farewell to the Age of Gods, but it is not the end of the entire world.

What happened that caused its scale to get out of control and turned the outside world into that terrible state?

With this question in mind, Jiang Liu came to the ruins of the palace.

In the ruins of these buildings, one can vaguely see the former glory of the gods, but now there is only a pile of ruins.

Jiang Liu searched and advanced, but he did not find any clues, but he did see some debris...

It was not until he walked into a circular palace ruin that looked like a theater and his eyes swept across the empty stage that he realized something was wrong. He suddenly turned his head and stared at a corner, unable to move his eyes away for a long time.

In the shadowed corner of the stage, a body covered with tattered clothes sat quietly...

No, if you look carefully, it is not a wreckage, but a living human being, but the face is too scary, as if it is just a skeleton covered with a layer of skin...

He stayed quietly in the corner for a long time without making any sound, quieter than a real dead person.

Jiang Liu frowned slightly, secretly circulated his magic power, and then slowly approached him.

"Excuse me, are you still alive?"

After thinking it over again and again, Jiang Liu actually asked such an inappropriate question, but the other party's answer was also very interesting.

"Probably dead."

Unexpectedly, I got a response from the old man very smoothly. His voice was not as hoarse and dry as I had imagined. Instead, it was very normal. There was a sense of strength under his calm and peaceful tone, which was completely different from his frail appearance.

Coming closer, Jiang Liu looked down at the old man, and it was a long time before he spoke again.

But he did not ask for the most important information, which was the old man's identity. He got straight to the point and asked, "Can you tell me what happened here?"

"Those who should have died... did not die, those who should have lived became corpses, and those who should have revived fell into eternal sleep... The thread spun by the goddess of fate was disturbed, and all things went off track. The unstoppable disaster brought this world to its end."

The old man said slowly: "However...if it can really be ended, it would be good."

"It didn't end?"

Night comes only after dusk, and dawn comes only after the night - this seems to need no further explanation.

If any one of these links deviates from the predetermined route, the world will be unbalanced.

"No……"

The old man raised his head, half of his face hidden in the shadows. His skull-like face revealed only one dry eye, with only the eye socket almost visible. He stared deeply at Jiang Liu.

“She was too persistent…she took on unnecessary responsibilities and did many things she was not good at.

Maybe it’s because she is the only one left.

Without anyone to rely on, and without the chance to escape, she was left alone without realizing it, supporting the world with her own strength. That posture was fragile yet beautiful... I'm sure that one day this burden will destroy her."

"Who... are you?" Jiang Liu asked solemnly.

"I'm not a big shot, you may be disappointed, the gods are dead in the past, and the queen is the last descendant.

I have no power and cannot change anything. I am just a homeless vagrant.

You... stranger, if you want to know everything, go to the center of this world, all the answers are there. And please don't misunderstand Skadi, she is actually a gentle child..."

Just like a purified evil spirit, the old man's body began to emit spiritual light after he finished speaking.

"Really? If it ends at dusk... at least the ending will be beautiful."

Even after the old man left for a long time, Jiang Liu was still digesting the information he gave him, and he had a better understanding of the truth of this world.

By the way, I also learned that the queen’s real name is “Skadi”—as expected, she is a goddess with a connection to the Celtic “Scathach”.

As for who the old man who appeared just now was, to be honest, Jiang Liu didn't care. It didn't matter whether he was the remnant of a god's thoughts, a surviving god, or even just a homeless person.

All he has to do now is to find out the truth and prevent the destruction of the two worlds.

Just as the old man said, Jiang Liu began to head towards the center of this world, which was surrounded by palaces and mountains, and then he saw——

In a huge crater that could hold a city, a kilometer-high "tree stump" was burning with flames, but its roots were deeply buried in the earth, and the exposed part was rolling like mountains.

[World Tree o Yggdrasil]!

Chapter 790: False Sky

All the answers are here - the moment Jiang Liu saw the remains of the World Tree, he understood the meaning of this sentence.

After carefully observing the broken part of the World Tree, the flames that were still burning were daunting.

But this naturally did not scare Jiang Liu. He did not stay for long and walked directly down the deep pit and headed towards the roots of the World Tree.

This extremely huge tree naturally has a very developed root system, but among the roots that are spread in all directions, only three are "main trunks", and the rest are branches that have split out.

On one of the main trunks, there are dilapidated palace ruins, which are very similar in style to those outside, but they exist alone and are not a continuous complex of buildings.

This act of building on the roots of trees reminded Jiang Liu of the Sabaody Archipelago. He had lived there for a period of time and was no stranger to this type of building, so he was not too surprised.

The magic barrier that was once considered an absolute defense had long been destroyed with the defeat of the gods. This temple, which was of vital importance to the Norse pantheon, was now completely defenseless and wide open to Jiang Liu.

Jiang Liu jumped onto the tree root and walked into this famous palace in mythology. Looking around, it was still a ruin, which seemed to be no different from the outside. But Jiang Liu knew the specialness of this place, so he did not look frustrated, but started to search seriously.

Then, naturally, a spring was found in a corner of the palace.

The spring is surrounded by steps made of jade blocks. Looking down from the edge, you can no longer see the rippling water. Only a little spring water remains at the bottom. It looks no bigger than a washbasin, gleaming faintly between the slight waves.

Jiang Liu stared at the spring that was about to dry up, and his mental strength gradually focused. The flickering light reflected in his eyes, creating all kinds of wonderful scenes.

Inexplicably, an illusion that was completely different from reality appeared before Jiang Liu's eyes——

The huge fire giant pulled out the burning magic sword from the magma under the earth's crust, killing the enemies that blocked its way one after another, burning everything in sight to ashes, and dragging the world into purgatory.

Humans, gods, elves, dwarves... no intelligent creature can escape this fate of destruction.

In the end, even the huge world tree planted in the sky was cut in half by the blazing magic sword!

Marked by the fall of the World Tree, the world began to collapse... and then became what it is today.

The fire giant who slaughtered the gods has long since disappeared, but the flames that burn everything continue to this day.

——This is the "answer".

"call!"

Jiang Liu let out a long breath and woke up from his meditation. His breathing became a little heavy. Looking around again, he found that the spring water was no longer special. It seemed like just an ordinary pool of spring water.

"How long has it been... It feels like several days... Never mind..."

——"Ulder's Fountain".

According to legend, one of the three main roots of the World Tree goes deep into Asgard, the realm of the gods, and is called "Ulder's Well".

Every day the gods would gather beside the spring to hold meetings and discussions. Also living there were the three goddesses of Norn, the goddesses in charge of fate.

Although things like the loom had been taken away by a goddess, items like the spring, which were immovable and had special significance, were left behind.

This spring water does not have any remarkable effects. It can neither grant eternal life to those who drink it, nor grant others the wisdom of runes, nor can it strengthen the body into one of steel.

But it has a very interesting ability, which is why the three goddesses of fate favor this place:

Record……

The spring witnessed everything that happened around it, and also recorded every move of the gods, including the last moment...

By reading its "records", Jiang Liu has fully understood the nature of this world.

This world, covered in flames and already burned out, was originally ignited by the giants, the enemies of the gods!

That was at the beginning of "Ragnarok", when the Fire Giant King Surtur surpassed his own destiny, devoured the God-killing Wolf Fenrir, and became the strongest natural disaster that ushered in Ragnarok.

Powerful gods fell before him one after another. The Flame Giant King wielded his magic sword and destroyed the world wantonly. The more things he destroyed, the more powerful he became.

Even the World Tree was cut down by it, instead of being bitten by the black dragon Nidhogg as in the myth.

In the end, the God King Odin sacrificed himself and sealed the Fire Giant King in return.

——However, this did not put an end to "Ragnarok".

There was a spirit that survived the dusk and saved the world from destruction. She was "Skadi".

Or "Skadi Scathach", just as Jiang Liu expected, this goddess has a very deep connection with the Celtic hero Scathach, and has also integrated some of each other's characteristics.

Skadi used her own way to prevent the demise of civilization and kept this hopeless world going for thousands of years, until today...

It can be said that she is worthy of the name "Goddess". In a sense, she independently bears the rise and fall of the entire world...but she has gradually reached her limit.

(Initially, the 10,000 surviving humans were divided into 100 villages, but now there are only 5,000 or 6,000 left.)

"The Fountain of Urd" told Jiang Liu everything that happened that year, which solved most of the confusion in his heart.

However, the "record" of the spring stopped at the moment when the Fire Giant King destroyed the world, so how Skadi continued to rule the world later... there is no record of this, and Jiang Liu supplemented it based on his own associations based on the existing information.

As for why the two worlds are now approaching and colliding with each other, the answer will naturally not appear in the spring water.

But Jiang Liu has already found the answer to this question himself!

After calming down, Jiang Liu raised his head and looked at the half of the World Tree that was as tall as a mountain, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Although he didn't understand some of the details, he was sure:

Askr Yggdrasills is the culprit!

"Buzz!"

In the darkness generated in the palm of his hand, a platinum blade was slowly pulled out. It was a broadsword with a plain appearance and no real name, but Jiang Liu usually called it the "divine sword" or "mandala".

“Lightning!”

Rotating magic circles were generated one after another, swords, sticks, crossbows, shields...

Various divine tools appeared in it, and then turned into uncertain thunder. Under Jiang Liu's will, they flew towards the sky above the World Tree like thousands of silver dragons.

Boom! !

One after another, the world-saving divine thunders exploded in the void, as if they were hitting a solid entity, making a dull roar, and the entire sky began to "shake".

Finally, at the moment when the lightning was the brightest—

Ka!

The sky cracked!

Chapter 791: Flame Giant King

The sky cracked - this should have been a very abstract statement, because the sky is a concept that does not exist physically.

The place called "sky" is simply the atmosphere and clouds. It is only because of human cognition that we define the blue world as "sky".

However, at this moment, cracks appeared in the place that should have been empty, and then pieces of it fell off like shattered glass...

The bloody sky soon collapsed completely under the continuous bombardment of thunder, and billions of fragments flashing with distorted light fell to the earth.

But the truth revealed behind this bloody scene is the vast and boundless brilliant starry sky!

"Sure enough!" Jiang Liu raised his eyebrows, his guess was confirmed.

"This is a small world bordering the inner sea of ​​the star!"

Originally, when the Age of Gods declined, the Phantasma would return to the inner sea of ​​the star, that is, the inner side of the world, in the form of spiritual bodies, and the gods would have a similar fate.

But in this world, before returning to the inner sea of ​​the star, the giant Surut destroyed the world. This disaster not only destroyed the Age of Gods, but also permanently changed the physical laws of the surface of the earth, and even affected the inner sea of ​​the star, closing the gate prematurely and completely destroying the "mystery" of the surface.

(For thousands of years thereafter, no new "mysteries" appeared, and only Skadi and her God-era heritage supported the world.)

"Asgard", which was supposed to sink into the inner sea of ​​the star - that is, this world, was stuck between the inner sea of ​​the star and the surface world along with the remains of the world tree.

Originally, this world would slowly and quietly go to destruction...