The Hero Returns

"Burden?"

Su-hyeun stared at the spear he just got. Although it was gold in color, he figured out the truth the moment he gripped it.

This spear was crafted out of adamantium.

It was also considerably heavy. It had to be several times heavier than Ruyi Jingu Bang, which he tried to use during the sparring session with Sun Wukong.

However, the burden Odin mentioned couldn't be as straightforward as this spear's weight.

"Are you saying I must protect Asgard?"

Odin was Asgard's king. He spent all his life protecting Asgard and the roots of Yggdrasil. The weight of Gungnir was the representation of the weight his life carried.

Sure enough...

"Can you do it?" Odin did not deny it.

Which wasn't so surprising, really. He wouldn't have handed over a weapon he used his entire life to a total stranger without a good reason.

Su-hyeun took another look at Gungnir. He had been wielding spears for a long while, but even then, this had to be the heaviest of them all.

It felt like a heavy lump of lead was attached to his arm. Even so, he was getting curious about the firepower of this weapon called Gungnir.

"Father!" It was Thor's voice.

Thor was related to Odin by blood, and he could sense his father's survival as well as his location. Finding where Su-hyeun had taken Odin after escaping from the temple shouldn't have been difficult for him.

"Father! Father!"

When Thor rushed in closer while roaring at the top of his lungs, Odin frowned deeply and shut his son's mouth up, "You're being noisy."

Thor momentarily looked relieved after thinking that Odin's voice sounded relatively fine. However, that relief didn't last long. "Father, your blood...!"

He held up his hands with Odin's blood. Thor's complexion became deathly pale after confirming how inky black it was.

Only Odin's voice was composed and relaxed, but his complexion was dark and waning. "Thor, my son."

"Please speak, father."

"I saw that our Asgard... the God Realm has fallen." Odin had witnessed the destroyed Asgard on his way here. "It was all because I was not good enough."

"No, father. It's because I was'”"

"Thor, my son," Odin extended his hand.

But when Thor tried to hold his father's extended hand...

"You must... rebuild it, son."

Pa-sususu...

Odin's hand crumbled to dust. Along with his soul, his physical figure slowly vanished.

Grit'”!

Thor bit down on his lip. He bit so hard that blood trickled down his chin and dripped on the floor. He was trying his best to hold back his tears.

He slowly went down on his knees where Odin used to be, where his father's body had turned into dust.

Su-hyeun watched Thor's back before shifting his gaze over to Gungnir in his hand. "In the end, it came to this," he thought.

He more or less expected this outcome after confirming Odin's state earlier.

Just how many children out there would not grieve over the death of their fathers? This was a farewell between a father and a son who lived together for not just a few decades but for a length of time ordinary humans couldn't even imagine.

Gungnir's weight in his hand felt so much heavier right now.

Yet another god of the Five Godly Sages had died. Two of them were gone, while Brahma's whereabouts were still a mystery.

The only ones remaining now were Zeus and Buddha.

Thor, wordlessly grieving over the passing of his father for a long while, eventually raised his head, "Did father leave Gungnir in your care?"

He seemed to have barely squeezed out those words.

Su-hyeun nodded and pushed the golden spear in Thor's direction, "Do you wish to take it?"

"No, that's insulting my father's wishes. And also," Thor stared at Gungnir, "I'm not good enough to wield this spear. Not yet."

"Is that so?"

Su-hyeun inwardly thought that that response was understandable.

He was acutely aware of Gungnir's weight in his hand even now. A weapon that weighed more than Ruyi Jingu Bang? He never even imagined that such a thing could exist.

"To think that Odin used something like this as a weapon," he inwardly pondered.

He was deeply stunned by Odin's strength. Just how much physical power would one need if they wanted to use a spear of this caliber as a weapon and be comfortable with an object this heavy in their hands?

If Odin's strength was displayed in the system's numerical value, what would it have been?

Su-hyeun was curious, but he also felt burdened. Could he even properly wield this spear?

Even that was a question mark for now.

* * *

Osiris opened his eyes.

He had been resting with his eyes closed for a long while, but there was no more need to do that. Also, the current situation didn't allow for that, either.

A man guarding Osiris's side bowed deeply, "How do you feel, my liege?"

"Not bad," Osiris turned his head to the side, neck stiff. "A little better, in any case."

"The injury inflicted by Gungnir still hasn't healed, my liege. As such, perhaps it'll be for the best not to'”"

"This much will be fine. It's not like I'll be directly stepping in any time soon. So, you can save your worries," Osiris lightly rebuked his retainer, who was behaving a little too loyally at the moment.

The retainer closed his mouth shut, knowing that he couldn't repeat himself. Instead, he bowed his head even deeper.

Despite mouthing some confident-sounding words, Osiris still frowned and touched his side. The injury down there was almost healed, but it still ached a great deal even now. "As expected, I did push myself too much."

"My liege, even among the Five Godly Sages, Odin's purpose was to protect Yggdrasil. Based on combat strength alone, no one would argue with the opinion that he is the strongest god in existence."

Odin was not just the strongest god but also the strongest warrior.

He swore to guard Yggdrasil. For this purpose, he established Asgard in the God Realm and fostered countless warriors.

In the end, though, he was defeated by Osiris, who had raised an even greater army. Even so, Osiris had to acknowledge Odin's strength.

"What happened to Odin?"

"During the brief lull in your battle with him, I directed another army to attack him, my liege."

"He must be dead by now, then."

"We have indeed confirmed his death not too long ago. However, an unexpected variable has entered the scene, my liege."

"A variable, you say?"

The good news of Odin's death was accompanied by a variable? Osiris was not a fan of his plans going astray, so naturally, his expression crumpled just a little.

The retainer kept his head bowed while explaining the situation, "There is no need for you to directly interfere, my liege. It should be taken care of soon."

There were only two intruders. Thor had joined them, but even then, they were only three individuals in the end.

If it was only that much, the army should have no trouble stopping the trio without Osiris's involvement. That was what the retainer thought.

But then...

"I don't think you or the army will be able to handle them."

It sounded as if Osiris's thoughts on the matter were somewhat different from his retainer's.

That made sense since Osiris had a good idea of the identity of the two intruders.

"A man wielding a giant staff and another man accompanying him. In that case, they must be..."

Osiris smirked deeply. Since his wounds weren't healed yet, he had no plans of making a move first. Even so, he still held plenty of cards he hadn't played yet.

"I'm getting really curious about how long they will last."

* * *

Sun Wukong joined them much later after causing a lot of chaos.

As he could use the cloning technique, one could say he was uniquely specialized in one-versus-many battles. His expression seemed a lot more refreshed after he got to fight countless Predators. "Man, it's been a while since I had that much fun!"

He was grinning from ear to ear. However, he clamped his mouth shut immediately after spotting the grieving Thor.

He whispered to Su-hyeun, asking about Odin. He then walked up and lightly patted Thor on the shoulder.

Thor replied, "I'm fine. Now isn't the time to grieve, anyway."

"Well, if you say so."

"We should get going. For now, my'”our priority should be with securing Yggdrasil's roots, Thor said and took a large stride forward.

The way he was trying so hard to appear strong despite his emotions was apparent, even from his back or the way he walked. Sun Wukong was not used to this type of awkward atmosphere since he didn't have a lot of opportunities to deal with such a thing in the past. He cautiously followed Thor but still whispered another question in Su-hyeun's ear, "What am I supposed to do in times like this one?"

"For now, we should follow him."

The motivation driving Thor right now was Odin's last words.

He asked his son to rebuild Asgard. If it weren't for those words, Thor might have crumbled on the spot, unable to move again.

"Normally, in a situation like this one, there can be only one of two outcomes," Su-hyeun thought.

Step, step'”

Su-hyeun walked a little behind Thor, his face filled with concern. "Either you falter and break down, or you exhibit an even greater drive than you'd normally do."

Most of the time, it would be the former.

Right now, they had to pray that it was the latter. If Thor lost his focus and faltered now, then one of the combatants making up this trio would be gone.

"Gungnir is a divine armament created even before Asgard was founded. It was crafted during the birth of this universe, as a matter of fact," Thor suddenly said as he walked ahead. He explained Odin's spear, Gungnir, currently in Su-hyeun's care. "It contains the power of thunder and lightning, and its creator is none other than the Primordial God, Brahma. This Mjölnir of mine was also crafted out of the same metal, but it couldn't recreate Gungnir's power in the end."

"So this is such an incredible weapon?"

In all honesty, the impression Su-hyeun got while holding Gungnir was that this spear was simply heavy and had a sharp tip. However, upon learning that Brahma was behind its creation and that not even Mjölnir could compare to it, Su-hyeun saw Gungnir in a new light.

"If it's better than Mjölnir, then it must be really useful," he thought.

Mjölnir contained the power of thunder and lighting, and a single strike from it was enough to cause a massive thunderclap and a wave of powerful electricity to spread out.

They fought side by side a few times by now, and Su-hyeun got to confirm that yes, Mjölnir was indeed a great weapon.

It was a weapon granted with godhood, like the Palm Leaf. This was not as simple as labeling a god-tier item and being done with it.

"Gungnir may well be the only weapon in existence capable of piercing through Osiris's heart."

Now that was very high praise, indeed.

Thor had come face to face with Osiris and even fought the Outer God's army. Since someone like that had praised Gungnir to this degree, this spear must be hiding a truly outrageous level of firepower.

Su-hyeun didn't have a chance to wield Gungnir personally just yet and could not estimate anything, but it seemed that his combat power had been enhanced by another level with the spear now in his possession.

"I'll try my best to make that happen," said Su-hyeun.

"Thank you."

Grit'”

Thor's steps quickened as his eyes burned fiercely, "As for me, I must do whatever it takes to rebuild Asgard."

But then, the moment he finished saying those words...

Crack, split'”!

Countless doorways began opening up in the sky.

Sun Wukong, who was following them, stopped and looked up. He leisurely brought out Ruyi Jingu Bang while scanning dozens, no, hundreds of black doorways. "Hmm, more fissures?"

"They seem a little different from those things," Su-hyeun replied while also looking up.

It wasn't just the sky. The same thing was happening on the ground as well. They initially looked like fissures in space, but their shapes were not irregular and random. All of them had an artificial circular shape.

These doorways were also connected to different worlds, but the collapse of Yggdrasil did not cause them.

Rather than that, these seemed...

"Right, they are similar to back when Fafnir showed up."

Indeed, they were artificially created doorways. And never mind just one or two, hundreds of them were appearing at the same time.

"Here they come again," Thor wasn't flustered at all. He was gripping Mjölnir even tighter as if the things he had been waiting for had finally shown up. His eyes were now filled with a venomous drive as he shifted his gaze over to Su-hyeun and Sun Wukong, "I'm well aware of how strong you two are, but from this moment on, you better prepare yourselves."

Then, right after he was finished with his warning, one after another, Predators began flooding out of the wide-open doorways.

"Osiris's army, the army of the one ruling one thousand hells, is here."