Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 71

As the attacks continued, Loki’s movements gradually slowed.

The armor Loki wore was a suit with extreme defense and self-regeneration.

Even so, if continuously exposed to the opponent’s attacks, it was only natural that the speed of destruction would be faster than the recovery.

Especially against an opponent of the same caliber.

“…How long are you going to keep not attacking?”

Helga’s words were misleading.

Loki *was* attacking.

However, he just wasn’t landing a fatal blow.

Helga was aware of that point as well.

The armor Loki was wearing was mostly damaged.

The evil spirits clung to Loki’s arms, legs, body, and face, suppressing him.

“…That goes for you too, doesn’t it?”

“…….”

“What are you hesitating for, Shirin?”

At Loki’s words, Helga bit her lower lip.

“It was just a mistake.”

“You’ve always been bad at lying.”

‘If I push a little more, I think I’ll see an opening….’

Loki stared at Helga’s blue greatsword.

Her hand trembled slightly.

As time passed, her agitation grew.

But it would be difficult to subdue her with ordinary methods.

Loki clicked his tongue.

‘Should I be more aggressive?’

Loki barely managed to steady himself.

His whole body felt heavy like a waterlogged sponge.

It was hard even to stand now.

He wished he could use the mythical binding item in Valhalla [Norse mythology’s hall of slain warriors], but.

Since he didn’t have it on hand, he had no choice but to use another method.

‘The only method I can use now is…’

That was the being that Yoon Shirin and he had created.

“Jormungandr! Fenrir!”

Loki’s children in mythology.

The monster born of a god!

The heads of wolves and snakes popped out from Loki’s armor.

“……!”

“Hold Helga!”

At Loki’s command, the two monsters wrapped Helga’s body tightly with their elongated bodies.

Helga gritted her teeth at the familiar monsters and stared at Loki. More precisely, at Loki’s armor.

“That armor is…?”

“Doesn’t it look familiar? It’s the armor you and I painstakingly created.”

When Loki flicked his fingers, the shadows of the snake and wolf further pressed down on Helga.

“Especially this binding skill was devised by you.”

“…….”

“Helga-nim!” [Honorific title in Korean]

The Black and White Order’s followers drew their weapons and rushed in.

“Sleipnir.”

When Loki brandished the golden spear, Gungnir, in the air, the space split at the tip of the spear.

A thin line, like a piece of paper, rapidly expanded and summoned a monster horse.

A huge body that seemed twice the size of a normal horse, six legs, a golden mane, and its entire body covered in magical armor.

Sleipnir.

The steed of Odin, the king of the gods.

Sleipnir, breathing roughly, opened its mouth wide.

It summoned a huge fireball between its jaws and spat it out at the rushing followers.

The followers quickly retreated.

“You guys will have to play with that one.”

Loki looked at Helga and took out a green potion from his chest.

It was a purification potion.

As Loki drank the potion, the evil spirits clinging to him gradually fell away from Loki and were absorbed into Helga’s body.

Loki watched Helga, who was held by the two beasts, and flashed a red light in his eyes.

“How is it? Hasn’t the situation changed a lot?”

“What… are you going to do to me?”

“Nothing. I just want you to listen to my old stories… if you’ve forgotten me.”

“…….”

“And… I just want to establish my identity.”

Loki also felt that he was losing himself.

The reason he was looking for Helga, besides ensuring her safety, was also to protect his personality.

Because she was the only being who could empathize with him in this strange world.

“So, let’s talk.”

***

Loki began to speak.

He told her about the memories he had with her.

The story of the world they were in, not this world.

The more she listened to the story, the more Helga showed a slight reaction.

Before they knew it, darkness had fallen on the forest, and only the moonlight illuminated the two.

“Now it’s your turn.”

“I… have no stories to tell.”

“Anything is fine. What you’ve experienced. It doesn’t matter what you’ve lived through.”

“…….”

He took off his helmet and smiled brightly, and Helga stared blankly at him.

She had completely let down her guard.

‘What does he want from me?’

“I’m….”

Helga opened her mouth without realizing it.

Once started, the words flowed out so honestly and naturally that Helga herself was aware that it was strange.

In the process, she also vented her anger.

The story of when she trusted and followed humans, the story of being betrayed.

The story of the destruction of the alien race nation she had relied on.

And….

The story that she was looking for ‘something’.

From then on, a quiet silence fell.

Her eyes began to shake.

As if she had remembered something, she looked at Loki.

The morning sunlight shone on the two through the leaves in the forest.

Only the chirping of birds could be heard in the silence.

She quietly opened her mouth.

“My… name. Call it again.”

“Shirin.”

“Again….”

“Yoon Shirin.”

“…….”

A long silence fell.

And she said.

“Now… you came…….”

Loki met Helga’s eyes.

“Why… only now…….”

Tears flowed from her eyes.

“…Did you come to find me?”

A faint smile settled on her small lips.

“Kim Hoon, Senior….”

A name I hadn’t heard in a long time.

Loki, staring blankly at Helga, smiled softly.

“…It’s been a while, Shirin.”

It was the first greeting as Kim Hoon himself, not as Loki’s avatar.

***

A number of incidents occurred in the Roden Territory in a short period of time.

The first was the return of Prince Ash, who was believed to have died in battle.

Prince Ash, who had led the main force of the central nobles, lost most of his troops as well as the nobles and brought back a group of barbarians.

As a result, rumors spread in the Roden Territory that looting would take place.

The second was the massacre that took place at the banquet hall.

The incident in which a group of assassins attacked the Nordics that Prince Ash had brought.

But it was the assassins who were annihilated.

The news that they were used as displays at the Nordics’ dinner table made the Roden Territory people uneasy.

That’s because a certain knight was seen walking around the streets with skewers of corpses.

Thirdly, the Black and White Order.

The fact that they entered the territory without any restrictions and distributed water and food to the territory residents was widely known.

There were rumors that they brought the plague….

The confusion of the territory residents was further aggravated.

And fourth.

It was the re-entry of the Black and White Order, who were thought to have left.

“…H-hey! Is this okay?”

The soldiers guarding the castle walls stared at the group entering naturally.

The Nordics wearing crow masks, the leader of the cult wearing a white dress next to them, and the followers were entering behind them.

Last time, they turned a blind eye to their entry, but now, as guards who know the atmosphere of the territory, they could not allow them to approach.

When the guards tried to stop them, the knight in command stopped the guards.

“…Orders have been given. Never touch the Nordics wearing beast masks.”

“That’s…!”

Even with just the Nordics who entered last time, a considerable number of territory residents were uneasy.

If they were allowed to enter this time as well, it would be no different than poisoning the territory.

The knight in command also knew that fact, but….

“It’s already too late. If we do something wrong, we may have to be careful not of what’s in front of us, but what’s behind us.”

The guards did not understand the meaning of the knight’s words. But soon, they were speechless at the reaction of the territory residents.

“What…!”

Some of the territory residents knelt down towards them, put their hands together, and prayed.

Some territory residents, including the guards, looked at them with incomprehensible eyes.

Some of those who prayed bowed, some praised, and some even shed tears.

It is not a look of general respect or admiration.

It was ‘worship’.

“I heard that… the Black and White Order fed and treated the hungry and sick. And not just one or two. How great will be their attachment and obsession with the grace they have received….”

The knight groaned.

If they do something wrong, a riot could break out.

“We have to get through this quietly now.”

The knight just watched them pass.

When Loki arrived at the mansion, Aum and Kudan came out to greet him.

Aum, in particular, expressed embarrassment when she saw Loki.

“…I don’t know what it is, but it seems you’ve made quite a grand mess of things.”

Loki looked at Helga.

She followed him and was just quietly standing there.

“Guide her and her companions to their rooms.”

“You’ve brought another strange group. Who is this time…?”

Aum was talking when she looked at Helga.

“T-the Angel of Death!”

“…Do you know me?”

“Of course… I do. I’m Aum Linia! Don’t you remember?”

At those words, Helga shook her head.

“I’m sorry. I don’t tend to remember everyone I’ve met.”

“I-is that so? B-but I learned cooking directly from you….”

Aum expressed her disappointment when Helga showed a reaction that she didn’t know her.

“C-come this way! Let’s talk about cooking…!”

“…….”

Aum took Helga away, and Loki asked Kudan.

“Where’s Cancun?”

“He’s playing with the Dark Elves.”

“I see. Then… what about Marquis Halloom?”

Kudan, feeling a strange sense of unease at Loki’s words, scratched his head.

“That’s… I’ve put him in a room.”

“Good job.”

Loki left those words and moved to the mansion.

Now it was his turn to give him orders.

***

Marquis Halloom woke up.

“Huh?…Where…is this?”

It had been a full day since he came to the room Aum had guided him to.

Realizing that, Marquis Halloom distorted his face and spat out curses.

“Damn it! Damn it…! D-dare to imprison me here?!”

He came here with the feeling of entering the lion’s den.

All day long, no one came to visit the Marquis.

Even when he knocked on the door, there was no response, and the door would not open, so he belatedly realized that he was imprisoned.

He shouted and screamed at that fact, got tired, fell asleep, and now he woke up.

“Damn it, are you still not coming! Dare to make a fool of me? This humiliation will someday…!”

“Someday what?”

At the voice coming from behind, Marquis Halloom broke out in a cold sweat.

When he turned his head, a man wearing a crow mask was sitting on the sofa.

“……!”

‘Good heavens!’

Marquis Halloom paused for a moment, then he put on his unique smile and opened his mouth.

“Oh oh! This is… that… aren’t you the King of the Nords?”

He hurriedly came out of bed, bowed, and approached Loki.

Marquis Halloom recalled that he had called him the ‘King of the Nords’ at the banquet hall.

If the other person liked that title, he would use it as much as he wanted.

Loki looked at Marquis Halloom and opened his mouth.

“You remember well. Pig.”

“Pi…? What?”

‘What the hell, what did this guy just… say?’

Marquis Halloom’s face turned red.

“That’s… a bit harsh. And… it’s a bit short too.”

“There’s no need to be polite to someone who tried to take my life, is there? Pig.”

A threatening voice and a condescending tone.

Marquis Halloom had never experienced such humiliation before, so a vein popped out on his forehead.

“S-still, you said you would negotiate… so you should at least show some courtesy, right?”

Loki didn’t even look at Marquis Halloom and picked up the teacup in front of him.

He took a sip and said.

“Be polite to livestock? You’re making a funny joke.”

That was the limit.

Marquis Halloom’s reason snapped.

He picked up an ornamental flowerpot that was nearby and struck Loki with it.

*Thud-*!

But before that anger could be resolved, his face was crushed first.