The Record of Unusual Creatures

Hao Ren had no doubt about Lily’s abilities. When it came to digging, teeth-grinding, frolicking, and bone gnawing, she was the best in the business. So when she said that the bones were not there, they were not there.

But, Vivian was skeptical. She asked Lily to search again and also sent her tiny bats to scout every inch of the impact crater.

“There’s nothing,” Lily said while climbing back out from a pile of rocks. She would found oil if digging deeper, she thought to herself and thought better of it. “I couldn’t even find Odin’s clothes, let alone bones.”

Twitching his mouth, Hao Ren said, “Perhaps Fenrir digested his body. But Odin was wearing his armor, it’s impossible to not find any of his remains, even his armor. How preposterous is that?”

“Are you sure Odin was eaten by Fenrir?” Nangong Sanba turned his head around looking at Vivian.

Vivian scratched her chin. “Isn’t the Gungnir dug out from below? How do you explain that?”

“Could have someone taken Odin’s body away?” Y’zaks who was silent all this while chimed in. “After all, he was the king of the Norse gods. No matter how tragic the situation was, there might be people who could risk their lives getting his body back.”

Vivian shook her head. “That’s impossible. The situation at that time was more than just tragic. The Asgard gods had simply no time. According to Mimir, the demon hunters had killed everyone on the battlefield at the last moment, who could have survived and collected Odin’s body?”

“Ruling out all the impossible conjectures, the only bizarre answer is the only answer,” Lily said, scratching her chin with a serious look. “Odin is not dead! He has escaped!”

There was silence. Some thought that theory was ridiculous, some frowning, some nodding, and Nangong Wuyue spitting bubbles. But no matter what their thoughts were, what Lily said seemed to make sense.

Hao Ren looked up. The entire Asgard had turned into a wasteland. He was very skeptical. “How did Odin even survive in this battlefield?”

“Not only must he survive under the jaw of Fenrir, but also the light cannon of the demon hunters and leave the battlefield on his own. Nangong Sanba felt it incredible. “Is anyone really able to do this?”

Lily scratched the bones of Fenrir with her claws. “The facts speak for itself. Odin has gone, not died at where he should be. Let’s assume that he is not dead. Where would he go?”

Hao Ren thought for a moment and agreed with Lily. “Assuming he is alive, he either fled to Earth or did not have time to leave Asgard and was flung out into space with Yggdrasil. I prone to think the second scenario is true.”

These are not just fitment of his imagination. Hao Ren knew clearly that the first possibility was minimal, not to mention that Odin was seriously injured at the time and had to sneak through the blockade under the nose of the demon hunters. Why did he not come out when the otherworldlings and demon hunters had had so many dramatic changes recently? When the news of the establishment of the Shadow Council broke, all the ancients who lived in seclusion did not sit still and watch. So he believed that if Odin were alive, he would most likely remain in this world. But whether he was still alive now was hard to say.

Odin was seriously injured at the time, and it was very likely that he had died from his injury after that.

Y’zaks looked into the distance. “It seems there’s still life here. God as powerful as Odin could have survived in this place.”

“Indeed, there’s still life here.” Vivian looked up into the distance. Although half of Asgard was scorched, it seemed some of the lives in this dimension had survived the Twilight of the Gods and the bombardment by the demon hunters. There was still green and tenacious plants grew in the cracks in the rocks at the edge of the battlefield. These lives survived the deadly radiation storm. “But it is hard to say in other places.”

Listening to what Vivian said, Hao Ren could read between the lines. “You mean other places are worse than here?”

“Asgard’s condition is probably the less severe. Though it was the battlefield of the Twilight of the Gods, the war was not only confined to this place. The natural order of the Nine Worlds was thrown upside down, and the barriers between them broke down. The magical energy could have overwhelmed all the Nine Worlds. Coupled with the superweapon that the demon hunter used at the last moment, all these could have destroyed the ecosystem. The Asgardian gods had the protection of the runes, flora and fauna there had been modified as well as strengthened all year round, so they survived. But in other places, most lives did not make it. The magic radiation killed the plants and animals within a few days. So if Odin survived the battle, then he would most likely stay in Asgard. Even if he finally died, his body should be lying somewhere in this land.”

“So are we going to find Odin?” Galazur crossed her arms. “Or should we find the ancient spaceship that you mentioned before? Or should we talk to the First Born first?”

Hao Ren thought for a moment and quickly made up his mind; he would first find Odin!

Mimir’s spaceship was not a living organism, it was not going to rot away as living things did. It must still be in Yggdrasil. But the sudden revelation that Odin may be alive was something he could not resist not investigating.

This would be an unprecedented discovery!

And more importantly, Odin might know the whereabouts of Mimir’s spaceship. Even if he did not, he had a good understanding of Yggdrasil, especially the 2,000 years after this otherworldly dimension was separated from the main material plane. If he could find Odin to help him, it would be more efficient than rummaging blindly in the Nine Worlds.

Talking to the First Born would have to wait, Hao Ren decided. Yggdrasil’s condition was delicate, and his calmness could be temporary. Until he gained more progress in the exploration or when the situation called for it, he was not going to irritate the behemoth.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

“I have a suggestion,” Vivian suddenly said. “Why don’t we go to the Golden Place?”

The Golden Palace was where Odin lived in Norse mythology, the most sacred of all temples, the throne of the king, and the most magnificent building in the Garden of Asgard. It was said that the palace was made up of gorgeous, precious metals, its walls were covered with gold foil and the roof with silver plates. The entire castle would glitter under the skylight. It was also said that Odin had a high throne in the Golden Palace where he could observe things going on around the universe every day. When his sight was blocked by the branches of Yggdrasil, his two domesticated crows would patrol the world and tell him what he had missed, so that this king of all gods could grasp what was happening in the universe at all times.

This was, of course, an exaggeration in the mythology. The truth was that there was a large surveillance center in the Golden Palace, and the throne of Odin was on the edge of the surveillance room.

Anthony Alfonso fired up the flying craft again, carrying everyone flying towards the devastated Garden of Asgard. Vivian gazed out at the ruins of the Golden Palace as it appeared closer and closer. “If Odin really survived, he would definitely return to the Golden Palace, at least once. It was even more so if he was seriously injured because he didn’t want to die and let his body rot in the open.”

Hao Ren looked down at a complex cone-shaped building. Half of the building had collapsed, but the remaining still looked magnificent. There was a half-moon square in front of the building. The center of the square was a stone fountain, which had dried up and cracked. Some broken sculpture fragment, which probably belonged to the statue of Odin, had fallen into the dry fountain.

Everything was dead.

“It is a mess, doesn’t look like there is anyone still alive here.” Lily groaned.

Vivian nodded. “Let’s check it out. Odin might have left, but we might be able to find something.”

After getting closer, the Golden Palace looked even bigger and more solemn than seen from the sky. Its walls were not really cast in gold and silver as told in legend, but they were indeed a kind of splendid alloy material. This alloy structure kept the Golden Palace relatively intact although a part of it had collapsed. The remaining standing portion still maintained its original appearance; the walls and roofs were clean and shiny like new.

Hao Ren clenched his plasma spear in one hand and the Godslayer in the other, walking in front of the team.

He did not take out the powerful gun as it had more extensive damage range, which he did not want especially in the half-collapsed palace.

Despite being called the Demolition Man, he definitely did not like things to blow up above his head.

The inside of the Golden Palace looked just as dead as the outside. This palace, once solemn and filled with guards and gods, had now become desolate. Apart from the shiny alloy walls, the rest was in a sorry state. They walked in the wide promenade, the only sound they heard was their own footsteps reverberating in between the walls. The cracked statues and broken buildings were dismal.

*Burp*

“Do you really think Odin came back?” Nangong Wuyue asked in a whisper walking beside Vivian. The detergent in her stomach had not been totally digested, she would burp in bubbles while talking. “I have the feeling…”

*Burp*

“…that no one has been here for the past 2,000 years.”

“If only Odin has survived”— Vivian shrugged—”certainly 90 % of the palace is desolate.”

Lily’s ears suddenly flickered. She whispered, “Wait a second, do you guys hear it?”

They stopped. Hao Ren quietly asked, “What?”

Lily got down and pressed her ear on the ground, listening. “Something’s coming. Not just one. All of them are wearing armor.”

They quickly raised their guards and finally heard the sound coming from the corridor up ahead.

It was the rubbing sound of metal armor!