Chapter 775: 764


    Title: Natural Guides of Niffleheim


    *Crrr*


    *Tshh*


    The wooden boat creaked as it was pulled against the natural flow of the river before half of it rode onto the snowy ins with a soft crash. The passengers felt their stepping growing a bit uneven but nothing they couldn''t manage. Finally, all of them stepped down one by one, without any conflict, something Nik felt grateful for. By now, he already understood that conflict between any individual can spark for as low as a quarter given the circumstances much less the order in which one shall depart from the ship.


    Once on the ''ground'', the coiled snake around Nik finally moved. It felt reluctant and hissed around Nik a few times, even slithering up to his waist and stretching its body till Nik''s height to match his gaze. Why it did so, given that most pythons did not even rely on their eyes was something Nik was privy to.


    A reward.


    This pass of Gjoll wished a tip for its service. Its flickering tongue marked its patient nature as it waited.


    ''Hmm, I''m not eating this one and it should be considered a reward in itself... no,e on, man, be kind. This cutie helped you out, surely, you can give it something.''


    Thinking for a moment, Nik pulled a strange herb out of the dream core. His actions elicited interest from others who carefully observed the poisonous serpent in worry of any sudden movement.


    The nt in Nik''s hand was the size of his thumb. A blue-stalked grass with its de cut into three sections from the top.


    Quite a basic alchemical spiritual herb Trident Stalk. Despite the magnificent name, this nt only worked to attract sea creatures and acted as one of the most renowned bait. Even if the Hel-Snake wasn''t a close rtive to the sea python, it did leave near a mythical spring so it was bound to be attracted to the nt.


    As expected, the hel-snake slowly leaned its face closer to the small nt and gently bit it from Nik''s palm, not even letting a single drop of venom escape its jaw. Once rewarded, the Hel-Snake reluctantly departed into the river, making its way back against the tide.


    Now that the matter was taken care of, Nik summoned out Ignit and Moon out of the isted space specifically created for the pets by [Idle Summoner.]


    With the team reformed once again, they began their trek through the forest of the damned of the opposite bank of the river and finally came to witness a few broken altars still peeking through thickyers of snow.


    "This is the shore of corpses. A realm originally well-popted only to be decimated by Odin. The fault lied in the denizens of this realm, of course. After all, they lost the war. Still, this is merely the battlefield and the true location which supported life in this realm originally is just a little ahead," Loki introduced the location. Every time she introduced the general summary of the location, Nik would feel satisfied by not letting Loki run off on her own, leaving the puzzling task to him all alone.


    He might have face dangers right at the entrance of the Yggdrasil itself!


    ''The spatial fluctuations are not too drastic. Whatever''s ahead of us is blended into this realm too amazingly to be differentiated on a general level,'' Nik thought to himself.


    "We''ll enter Nastrond soon enough. Now raise your wariness to the extreme... we are walking closer to the borders of Hel. Once we enter the ruling of Hel, my sweet daughter will find out about us, and well, hell will await us. Still, our current endeavor is no less than a hell of its own," Loki''s gaze shed darkly.


    As they walked, the snowy ins now had an addition of icicle forest that twirled and covered thends of the realm. Within the thick vines of ice, one could see many rubbles. A few of them carved with an unknownnguage and too weary to even be tranted.


    "Why did Odin massacre these people? And what war are you talking about?" Nik walked closer to Loki. However, all the girls had their attention raised to the max, unwilling to miss out on such details. Especially Ang, who would carefully digest every information about her supposed father.


    "Before I was born and raised in Asgard," Loki began, "And before Odin grew mellow in his methods, elegant even. He was a bloodthirsty creature. War filled his thoughts, and the thirst to surpass all led him astray countless times. I do not know the reason for war. Asgard had wars within the realm for many reasons before the birth of the current generation of gods... but this particr war where almost all the capable realms banded together against Asgard was something new. Or so they wrote in the records."


    Taking a deep breath, Loki whispered, "Niffleheim, popted by Fafnir''s race before H came to rule this ce as an underworld, was a civilization of greed and lust. The kind which was far different from the lust of war that razed Asgard at the time.


    It was a lust of treasures.


    However, this greed turned uncontroble and made Fafnir and his men stand against Odin. The result is clear. Asgard won, and now maintains the order of the realm to some extent while Odin, after his victory, purged many realms. Of course, he did notmit the sin of ughtering those weak enough to even raise their swords, you know, the children and the elderly. But Fafnir and his kind was an exception.


    Odinpletely destroyed Fafnir''s entire civilization and left him to die. However, Fafnir survived and still lives in the Cave of the Ancients located within the Nostrand."


    "Why wouldn''t Odin kill Fafnir?" Ang suddenly inquired.


    "Pity. Maybe disgust," Loki shrugged. "Fafnir clung to his life and equally wed on his wealth desperately. On one hand, he hoped to live, and on the other, he wished to depart with his wealth and treasures should he die. He... lives, but he may as well die after offending so many individuals."


    {A/N: Original Marvel Fafnir has a slightly different storyline but I simplified it a bit and tweaked it to match the current feel of the arc.}


    "Did he have the ability to take treasures with his soul?" Nik inquired.


    "No, he was just crazy and greedy," Loki snickered.


    It was at this time, all of them felt like passing through a thinyer of the stream and their vision suddenly changed. They were still in the domain of mist with snow beneath their feet and a forest of icy vines around them. But somehow, the sky wasn''t as dark as it was previously. It held a calm sky blue color which provided with greater visibility in this misty location.


    "We have entered Nostrand. Prepare for assault," Loki smiled with daggers forming in her hands. Meanwhile, Nik looked forward to gaze upon a in full of wreckage. Others might have their visibility limited, but with his eyes already holding the physical concept of mastery in vision, Nik could see quite far whenpared to others in the group.


    *Krech*


    A wrenching echo blew alongside the asional gale of cold as the group strained their senses while Nik''s expression had already turned strange.


    "I cannot control them," Nik whispered.


    "You already saw them?" Loki inquired, eliciting curious looks from around her.


    "These are Hel-Spiders, the guard of Nostrand specifically nurtured by H herself. Due to past incidents, all these spiders are quite resistant to the invasion of the mind."


    "Done," Nik suddenly spoke up.


    "What?" Morgan inquired.


    "I adjusted the output of my pheromones. Since they are resistant to mind control and suggestions, and not immune, all I need to do is increase the output."


    In this group, aside from Loki, Spider, and Poole, everyone was aware of Nik''s most basic ability. His all-purpose pheromones!


    Loki couldn''t help but frown at such words and looked ahead. As expected, a spider already 2 meters in width and length approached the group.


    But it was strange.


    Why would a spider approach without any intention to hunt?


    Loki gulped slightly, for the first time, feeling a sense of pressure from Nik as he walked up and rubbed the head of the eight-eyed spider. Its furry head making Janey yelp in disgust while Ignit and Moon looked at the spider with a cruel gaze. If looks could kill, this innocent spider would have long been dead.


    "Ugh, out of the snake and into a spider!" Poole shouted, quickly hiding in Nik''s pocket once again while Spider seemed more collected this time. After all, she had conducted extensive research on spiders after bing spider Gwen of her world and grew to find spiders pleasant.


    This was Spider''s acquired taste.


    "Isn''t this one a beaut," Spider mumbled, making Poole shiver.


    "Freak!"


    "Who the hell are you calling Freak, huh, you pervert?!"


    ''That''s it!'' Nik had a moment of enlightenment, ''I don''t have to manipte pheromones to y with Poole and possibly Spider... I can reduce my size and bang! And then bang!''


    Nik thought inwardly.


    Truly, enlightenment touches an expert in the strangest of ces and situations.


    Still, with his palm rubbing the furry head of therge spider, Nik smiled and whispered, "Would you know the location to a ce called Cave of the Ancients?"


    The spider let out some strange cries, making Loki sigh.


    "Tell this one that the cave of the ancients is the location of the Dragon King. If this guy doesn''t understand the meaning of dragon, just suggest arge reptile, like the one behind you," Loki pointed at Ignit.


    Once again, Nik inquired about the natural guide of this dimension and he still did not receive any concrete answer. Instead, he was told that their ''Mother'' would know of such a location.


    "Instead of wasting time and finding this cave on our own, I say that we follow this guy to its... mother," Loki smiled.


    "I don''t want to enter a ce filled with spiders, so, no," Jennifer stated with a narrowed gaze.


    "This is just an insect. Any wrong move and I''ll sh it apart," Ang stated with a cruel expression.


    "I have no opinion," Morgan let Moon jump down on the snowy field as she shook her body and stretched herself with two paws forward.


    "Ugh... no more spiders," J hid in Nik''s hair, unwilling to even look at the monstrosity.


    "I say, we go," Spider smiled, this time, just to screw with Poole as depicted by the mocking stare of hers.


    "Nobody cares!" Poole shouted.


    ---


    *Creck*


    *Kh*


    *Krraaaa*


    Under the soon-to-be-growing nightmarish procession of spiders, Nik''s groups moved forward. The sight ofrge, furry bodies and a little putrid scent made Jennifer shiver greatly. If she could have tolerated the sight of screeching souls, logic dictated that a few overgrown spiders were not that much but logic rarely proved correct in this world of madness.


    Even Loki seemed a little disgusted. J now nestled on top of Jennifer''s head while Ang walked with an alert mind.


    "Pfft!" Nik chuckled. While Loki and Ang had stopped taking interest in the lives of these killing spiders, Nik had an enjoyable time, much more than the sight of screeching souls that resembled ghosts portrayed in media a little bit.


    In the entire procession, the most troubled was not even Moon or Ignit.


    It was Venom.


    The little blue-colored spider with red markings over its body clung to Nik''s ear. asionally, arge furry head would lean down towards it, devastating mandibles cking together and revealing terrifying jaws. s, to their provocation, Venom could only shiver, wanting nothing more than to quickly leave this ce and enter the warm pce once again, spin a web for its rest, and well... rest.


    Within a few minutes, after passing through countless buried ruins with their surface already fading, Nik and the girls were led into an icy dungeon.


    An Icy Cave System!


    However, much to Nik''s surprise, the ''Mother'' of the nest wasn''t located in some dark corner of the cave system, no. The moment they entered the cave, two paths, one to the left and one to the right, were opened up. Meanwhile, hanging loosely, upside down, from a thick string of green webbing was a spider much smaller than those leading Nik.


    It was almost half their size but soon, the spiders stopped and parted ways, revealing Nik to the small spider.


    *Krt*


    "So, she''s your mother?" Nik inquired.


    *Hrrkk*


    "Ugh, I did not need to hear that," Loki spat while Nik''s expression turned a bit strange, too. Still, he looked towards the spider preparing to attack them and smiled, a strange, sweet scent blooming in the cave which made everyone a little lightheaded.


    "Pleased to meet you. But... you can''t eat Venom," Nik chuckled once he realized that the target of aggravation was none other than the mutation-causing spider.


    "Still, would you be kind enough to lead us to a giant lizard, ye high?" Nik said while raising his hand above his head, "The possible rewards include a pat to the head and the possibility of not being cooked."