Warhammer 40 A New Hope

"..."

After listening to Mimir's words, Kratos fell silent again. What he said made sense. Maybe Leman Russ was just an explorer as he said, but...

He always felt that something was wrong.

610. Peer

As before, Leman Russ did not lie, he did come for Thormur's chisel, but there was something else he did not say.

Leman Russ was indeed following Kratos' footsteps to pick up the things they didn't want. After all, the things that died at the hands of the God of War were not simple, and they were enough for them to study just by checking them out.

Kratos held the Leviathan Axe in his hand, and after a few swings, he chopped off two conical stones from the chisel that was flashing red light, and then threw one of them to Leman Russ.

"Thanks, brother." Leman Russ took the stone spike and said, then looked at Atreus. "Don't you want to come over and touch it?"

"But Mimir said that this wolf is actually... a part of you?" Atreus asked uncertainly.

"That's fine, but..."

As he spoke, Leman Russ began to stroke his substitute, the giant wolf, and it wagged its tail like a dog, seeming to enjoy it very much.

"You can't deny that it's not much different from a wolf."

Looking at the giant wolf wagging its tail, Atreus was a little confused. He looked at his father, but the other party just stood there and looked at him.

"Where is your next destination?" Kratos asked.

"Helheim, I really want to see the underworld here." Leman Russ answered without much thought. "But I heard it's very cold there, so I have to bring some thick clothes."

"You are wrong, big man." Mimir said. "I will not tell you how to get to Helheim. The coldness of Helheim cannot be isolated by physical means. You need to have great strength or something that can resist the coldness."

"is it?"

"If the cold winds of Helheim can be blocked by physical means, then when people die, they can wear more clothes, so they won't be afraid of freezing on the road, right? The underworld is not that simple."

After hearing what Mimir said, Kratos's face looked a little ugly, which obviously reminded him of some bad memories before, such as the River Styx in the Greek underworld (in the second generation, Kratos who fell into the underworld was ripped clean by the souls of the Styx).

At this time, Atreus on the other side couldn't help but love the wolf, so he went up and stroked the giant wolf that was half of Leman Russ. Just as Leman Russ said, this wolf might indeed be half of his body, but it was undeniable that it was indeed a wolf.

Looking at the somewhat happy Atreus, Kratos didn't know for a moment whether he should interrupt him. The previous events had already made the relationship between them worse, and interrupting him again was not a good option.

Moreover, his suspicion and vigilance towards Leman Russ also decreased after he helped them kill Manny and Modi, so he considered whether he should improve his attitude towards this stranger.

"Hey." Leman Russ suddenly spoke up. "Did you see another body?"

"what?"

Leman Russ pointed to the place where Modi's body was originally lying. The body that was supposed to be lying there had now disappeared.

"!"

Seeing this, Kratos immediately became alert. He looked around but didn't see anyone else.

"Oh? It seems that Leman Russ does not have the ability to kill a Heroic Warrior at once." Mimir, who was hanging behind Kratos, said.

"What do you mean?"

"As Odin's warriors, they are all protected and blessed by Valhalla. When they die in battle, they will normally be resurrected in Valhalla and start another round of battle." Mimir explained. "Brother, because of your special nature, the gods you killed cannot be resurrected through Valhalla. You killed them all at once, but it is obvious that Leman Russ does not have this ability."

"This is troublesome. How can we deal with..." Leman Russ stopped talking halfway through his words. Kratos did not care about it, because Mimir's words meant that someone had gone back alive to report the news.

"This is not good news brother. Odin and the others will not let you go."

"They were the ones who attacked me first. I am not afraid of their judgment."

"I think so too, but this battle has proved that Odin and his men will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals," said Mimir.

"I will protect him."

"I believe you will do this, but..."

"Okay, you can shut up now."

"Okay, listen to your brother."

"Atreus, we should go."

"Father, if Uncle Leman Russ is going the same way as us, can we go together?"

"kindness..."

Kratos fell silent, and Leman Russ didn't care much about it.

"I have a nice new boat if you want to come along."

"quickly."

. . . . . .

[Tooth of the Sea], this magical longship originally belonged to Ulfric, and once carried the powerful Norseman Ulfric on plundering everywhere, providing great convenience for his plundering at that time.

Now, even though the ship has undergone purification and modification, its performance has declined, but it is still a very good tool.

Even with four people and stopping along the way, Kratos and his team only took less than half the time to return to the vicinity of the temple on the Lake of the Nine Realms.

During this time, Kratos and Mir both sensed an unusual aura on the magical longship "The Fang of the Sea". Leman Russ explained that this was the spoils of war from a blood-stained plunderer, and gave a brief explanation of Ulfric and the evil god he believed in.

This was also something Mimir had never heard of. After this period of contact with Leman Russ, Kratos and Mimir also realized that Leman Russ might come from a world outside of Northern Europe like Kratos.

Unlike Kratos and Mimir's temptations and worries, Atreus thoroughly enjoyed the journey with Leman Russ and his giant wolf - he didn't know if it was his illusion, he even felt that his father's temper had improved a lot during this period.

Leman Russ was fully prepared when he came to Northern Europe to carry out his mission, which enabled him to always have a large amount of food or other supplies, and even a lot of fine wine, which meant that Kratos and his men did not have to worry about food.

This trip was not long. After sending Kratos and Atreus to the vicinity of the temple, the two sides parted ways. Kratos went to prepare to open the passage to Jotunheim, while Leman Russ prepared to go to Helheim.

When Leman Russ once again returned to the human empire's base, a transport ship with optical invisibility happened to be parked in the center of the camp, and several mechanical slaves came out of it with [Current Status Storage Boxes].

"So, his father and grandfather really didn't go to collect his body?" Looking at Manny in the [Current Status Preservation Box], he asked the Mechanicus members who went to pick up the body.

"All the surveillance equipment we placed there has not detected any possible target in the past few days." The Mechanicus member replied. "Although we did find a bird that looked like Odin's spy, it just hovered nearby and left."

"What an old-fashioned guy."

The [Current State Storage Box] was reopened. According to the agreement between them and Zhang Yi, if the bodies of all gods needed destructive research, they could only be taken to other worlds for anatomical research. Research was not allowed to be carried out in the original world.

After all, if this kind of thing were discovered, Zhang Yi could guarantee that Thor would come directly to kill him, and Odin would definitely take advantage of the situation, which would be detrimental to their subsequent actions.

Afterwards, Leman Russ shared the latest situation with Zhang Yi who had arrived. According to the known plot, the story will soon enter the second half.

"So do we have to continue following your boring plot?" Leman Russ asked Zhang Yi. "From what we can see now, it's only a matter of time before Odin notices us."

"Besides, you said it yourself that hiding things from Kratos is not conducive to building a good relationship with him."

"Things have come to this point, so this is the only way to go for now." Zhang Yi responded. "Let's get ready and enter Helheim, and then..."

"What happens next can't be based on the known plot..."

"It depends on how you do it."

611. The former god of war

The weather is bad today, just like Kratos' mood.

The sky was dark and without sunlight. All kinds of debris blew up by the strong wind kept falling on Kratos' face as his canoe was moving along the current.

Shortly after they returned to the temple on the Lake of the Nine Realms, Modi, who was resurrected by Valhalla, came to them covered in wounds.

His father was very unhappy that he was the only one who had managed to come back alive, so he beat him like this and drove him out of Asgard.

In this world's Valhalla, the resurrection of some of the heroic warriors is not absolute. Kratos has the ability to kill Manny completely. Of course, Thor, who can fight with Kratos later, also has this ability (this is why he can be killed by Atreus later).

After being beaten half to death by his father, Modi found Kratos and others in the temple, complained to them, expressed his dissatisfaction, and continued to talk bad.

It is obvious that Modi is a guy who can't fight but has a foul mouth. In the original plot, he insulted Atreus' mother while fighting.

Manny died and their mission failed. Neither his own father nor Odin, the father of the gods, would look upon him anymore. He would live forever with the name of a coward and a deserter (personally, I think he has always been one).

Although Kratos wanted to let the poor god go again, the other party kept insulting his wife, Atreus' mother, which angered Atreus and caused Atreus to lose control of his divine power.

Just like the original plot, Atreus fainted, and Kratos anxiously held his son in his arms to check his condition, while Modi was still chattering.

"Is this bastard going to fail? Lowly offspring are fragile, they are..."

Whoosh—Puff!

[Leviathan's Axe] flew out and hit Modi's head. Then Kratos strode forward, pulled out the axe from his head, and then chopped down with another axe.

"Shut up!"

Kratos is constantly controlling his emotions, trying not to become the person he was before who slaughtered all the Greek gods, but this does not mean that he can tolerate other people's insults against him again and again, not to mention that this also affects his own son!

However, even though he tried so hard not to have anything to do with the gods and didn't want his son to know his past, fate was not willing to let him go.

After killing Modi, Kratos took Atreus to quickly find Freya, the only person he knew who might be able to help Atreus.

Although Freya was still a little angry about what happened before, it was Atreus who was in trouble, and as a mother she couldn't sit idly by and watch a child suffer.

Freya and Mimir had repeatedly told Kratos before that asking Atreus to suppress his divinity would not have good results and that something bad would happen sooner or later. Kratos always shirked his responsibility and said that he would find time to have a good talk with his son. Now, his procrastination led to problems.

Now, because Atreus suppressed his own divine power, his power was out of control. As the child of Kratos, he possessed unparalleled divine power. Now these powers were struggling to come out of Atreus' body. If Atreus didn't find a way to control this power, his life would be in danger.

In order to save Atreus, Freya needs a medicine - the heart of the bridge keeper of Helheim.

And just as Mimir said before, the cold wind blowing from Helheim cannot be resisted by ordinary means. If you want to move normally there and resist enemies along the way, you need something special.

For Kratos, it means getting back his former weapon, the Blades of Chaos, which he had been unable to throw away and therefore placed under the house. The flames on the Blades of Chaos can help him resist the cold wind of Helheim and easily kill the numerous enemies there.

But this also means that Kratos needs to face the past that he is unwilling to recall and face, his past as the Greek god of war and destroyer.

For Atreus, Kratos is willing to pick up the past that he wanted to bury in order to save his son.

but...

"Athena..." In Kratos' sight, the afterimage of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, one of the few survivors of the Greek pantheon, appeared in front of him. "Get out of my mind!"

Athena's figure disappeared from his sight, Kratos sat on the boat and continued to move along the river, and soon after, he returned to the vicinity of his home.

He walked into the wooden house where he had lived for many years, lifted the fur carpet on the ground, opened the secret compartment underneath it, and revealed the thing wrapped in cloth - the Chaos Twin Blades.

Unbuttoning his arm armor, Kratos revealed the burn marks underneath from the weapons, and his hands trembled uncontrollably.

It seems like just yesterday that he, as the leader of Sparta, led his army into the barbarian trap, then signed a contract with the god of war Ares and began working for the Greek gods.

Kratos once tried to throw away the Chaos Blades, just like throwing away his past, but the Chaos Blades, which were already bound to his soul, always came back on their own, so Kratos could only hide them, just like hiding his past.

And now, I need it.

[You have nowhere to run, Spartan] Athena reappeared and said to Kratos. [No matter how far you are from the truth, nothing has changed...]

【You can pretend to be different people... teacher, husband, father...】

[But there is one truth you can never hide: you won’t change. ]

Kratos did not respond to Athena's words, but just wrapped the chains of the Chaos Blade around his arms, just like before.

【You will always be a... monster! 】

The Chaos Blades that Kratos held again in his hands began to burn with flames, as if responding to the return of an old friend.

"I know..." Kratos said. "But I am no longer your monster."

Holding the Blades of Chaos, Kratos pushed past Athena and walked out of the gate, and Athena disappeared once again.

The god of war who once frightened the gods and wanted to kill the entire Greek pantheon is back!

～～～～～～～～～～～～～

One of the few survivors of the Greek pantheon, Athena, the goddess of wisdom.

This god had given Kratos a lot of help when he was still in Greece, and was indispensable for him to finally accomplish the feat of killing Zeus.

But this god's help to Kratos was not unrequited. She also had her own purpose. After Kratos finally succeeded in killing almost all the Greek gods including Zeus, Athena appeared in spirit form. She congratulated the 'Ghost of Sparta' on achieving his goal, and then asked Kratos for the [Light of Hope] that resided in him, which was the thing that helped Kratos successfully kill the gods along the way, and was located at the bottom of Pandora's Box.

Yes, Athena's ultimate goal in doing all this is the [Light of Hope], the most powerful weapon in Greece. She wants to use it to replace her father Zeus and become the new god of Greece. This is also the reason why she helps Kratos.

However, Kratos did not hand over the Light of Hope in his body as she requested. Instead, in front of Athena, he inserted the [Sword of Olympus] into his own body, and gave the [Light of Hope] to mankind and returned it to the devastated land of Greece.

[Light of Hope] spread throughout Greece and it was almost impossible to take it back again, which also meant that Athena's plan failed. She would always remain in spirit form, unable to interfere with reality at will, until nature collapsed.

She hated Kratos, hated him for disobeying her orders at the last moment; hated him for spreading the [Light of Hope], leaving her with nothing; she also hated and envied him, because even after doing so many things, he could still go to a new place and start a new life as if nothing had happened.

He was unwilling to let Kratos go, but there was nothing he could do, so he kept following him, nagging in his ear from time to time, reminding him who was the one who slaughtered the entire Greek pantheon and caused the demise of the former Greece, reminding him that he had always been a monster.

Athena is not in a good condition now. She has left her position in the pantheon and has no body of her own. So many years have passed, and she may disappear at any time.