Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Episode 149: Niflheim (3)

The snake moved a little closer to Cybel.

With that alone, the snake’s face already filled Cybel’s field of vision.

[I’m lucky… … ?]

The snake’s face is difficult to read. There is no facial expression to begin with.

However, Cybel read the young curiosity in those eyes.

[Is it really impossible to use Eclexis?]

“yes. “It’s been a while since I found out.”

Saibel smiled brightly and said.

To be honest, it’s not easy to laugh in front of this huge snake. If it opens its mouth and tries to devour Saibel from this distance, it will never be able to avoid it.

The original attack speed of a snake is not something that an ordinary human would react to. However, Cybel is a skilled warrior and should be able to react. But this huge size is a problem. Even if I react and avoid the body, I cannot avoid it entirely and some part of my body will likely be caught in the jaws.

That tension and pressure. Cybel laughed as she took it all.

[…] … no. This is impossible.]

The snake tilted its head. The face turned completely to the side and slowly surrounded Cybel. As if trying to see all angles of Cybel.

Cybel asked the snake coiling around.

“And what is your name? “I wanted to ask you earlier.”

[I am Jormungand.]

Jormungand.

Sibel pursed her lips.

In fact, I had roughly expected it from the moment I first saw it. It is difficult to find a snake of this size other than Jormungand.

‘I can’t believe I got to meet the divine beast I only heard about in stories like this.’

A snake that has grown so large that it wraps around this world and bites its own tail. Of course, that statement may be an exaggeration, but seeing it in person, I can understand why it is written that way.

But if this snake was really Jormungand, there was something that needed to be confirmed.

“So, are you on the giant’s side?”

[what?]

It stopped looking around at Cybel and the snake’s head came back to Cybel’s face.

“From what I learned, they say you were abandoned by Odin.”

Odin is a character who receives a prophecy that Ragnarok will come and tries his best to escape it. And among those who would cause Ragnarok was Jormungand.

So Odin abandoned Jormungand.

[…] … That was unavoidable.]

But the snake speaks. With your head tilted slightly.

[It is true that Odin abandoned me. There is also resentment towards him. But it was a prophecy. It was something I had to keep.]

Cybel looked into the snake’s eyes again. There certainly didn’t seem to be any desire for revenge in those eyes.

“You understand because it’s a prophecy? Even if you become a sacrifice as a result?”

[Because prophecy is absolute. I would have done the same if I were Odin. Odin dropped me because he was worried that I would cause Ragnarok. If I were to cause Ragnarok out of revenge, what kind of story would be so foolish?]

Cybel was a little taken aback by the snake’s words.

This is a little different from what she knew.

I heard that Fenrir and Jormungand are sharpening their blades of revenge to kill the gods at any moment.

Frontier heads to fight against God. I thought Jormungand would be an ally to him.

‘… … No, maybe this is actually normal. If only Jormungand understood Odin’s situation in its entirety.’

Cybel changed his mind.

Jormungand has no desire for revenge against God now. In other words, I have no intention of causing Ragnarok.

However, Jormungand himself is already saying contradictory things.

Prophecy is absolute.

If that is true, Ragnarok will happen at any time.

‘Then you missed something. Something that would make Jormungand antagonize a god. It’s just that we haven’t reached it yet. ‘What is that?’

Cybel’s thoughts deepen.

Whenever that happens,

Quirik

Let’s go

The sound of gear wheels is heard as always.

‘Ah, just like a habit again.’

Cybel frowned slightly. This guy’s auditory hallucinations don’t seem to be getting any better. Even if Frontier changed my mind, it’s still the same. Still, it stopped me from sleeping at night because I heard it while I was sleeping.

[…] … ?]

Then Jormungand raised his head.

[What is this sound?]

“Oh, this is… … . yes?”

Cybel looked up from trying to explain.

I heard something I shouldn’t have heard.

“… … “What are you talking about?”

[You can hear it, right? A clicking sound. It feels like a mechanism is running.]

Jormungand said:

There is a screeching sound.

Cybel’s face became blank.

This sound should not be heard by anyone else.

There’s no way I can hear it.

Because this is Cybel’s hallucination.

Her auditory hallucinations, heard when fate is planned to suit her.

“… … Can you hear this?”

[What does that mean… … .]

This time Jormungand’s expression changed. No, because it is a snake, there is almost no change in its expression, but its mood has completely changed.

[I see. This is your sound! So, in reality, no one else could have heard it!]

“Oh, that’s my voice? What does it mean?”

[Don’t you know yet? The reason you can enter the Pantemonium!]

Cybel’s eyes widened at that.

“… … “No way, this sound right now.”

[Yes, it is your ecclexis.]

Cybel was speechless for a moment.

—A child loved by fate.

—The term ‘unexalted genius’ is too weak.

—Intuition that always moves toward the right answer.

She was always given undeserved adjectives.

In fact, most of those excessive modifiers were evaluated by Frontier, and Cybel only heard about them later.

Frontier was the person who valued Cybel the most and was also the most wary of him.

That wariness made Cybel a little upset, but he thought the assessment was exaggerated.

But if you look at it this way.

After all, Cybel was already using Eclexis before anyone else.

[I changed my mind.]

“Change?”

[At first, I was interested in you being here and wanted to know your identity.]

Death blooms in the snake’s eyes.

[After all, it is right to kill you.]

“… … aha.”

Hiss—!

The snake opened its mouth and attacked Saibel.

As Cybel first thought, it was an attack she herself would never be able to counter.

But.

Coo coo coo!!

Faster than Cybel, who was trying to avoid it, a strange sound was heard.

Kwasik!

Immediately after that, the sound of chewing air.

The snake’s closed maw is in front of Cybel’s eyes.

[…] … !]

Jormungand was surprised, and Cybel thought her heart was dropping.

‘Wow, if I had been bitten by that thing, my body would have been cut in two. Vertically.’

The snake looked at Cybel again.

It attacked with the intention of devouring it. But it went astray.

Cybel does not appear to have moved. The snake also didn’t make a mistake or move its body incorrectly.

This is simply.

‘It’s gone away.’

They both thought the same thing at the same time.

Cybel and Jormungand. The distance between them has increased. Just as Jormungand was about to devour it.

Jormungand could not understand this situation.

‘what? Even though this is Pantemonium, something like this happens. Isn’t this the realm of space magic!’

Among humans, Ospreet is the only one who can imitate something similar to this. This is only possible with sufficient preparation. It is not a magic used to counter snake attacks.

Let’s go, let’s go!

Cybel’s hallucinations are now louder than ever.

No, I now know that it was not an auditory hallucination.

Jormungand told me.

‘This is my ecclexis… … .’

Hiss—!

Sigh!

Once again the snake tries to bite Cybel, but it still can’t reach it.

“Are you really trying to kill me? “We don’t have any grudges against each other!”

[This is not a grudge. By necessity!]

“Necessary?”

[okay. Ever since you lit fire in the wick of King Palma, you and I have been enemies!]

Huh—

The snake lifted its tail. That alone took a while. His long tail soared as if it would touch the sky. Cybel was momentarily entranced and looked at it.

Whick!

Kwaaang—!!

Eventually, the tail hits the sea. The sea soon hits Cybel like a tidal wave.

The sea is Jormungand’s territory. This whole thing is his ecclexis.

“You’re cowardly, we don’t have any weapons!”

Cybel was unable to respond in any way to the approaching tsunami and bowed down.

‘Now that I think about it, something similar to this happened.’

She recalled the past.

The time when Poseidon created a waterspout and blew away Cybel.

Poseidon wanted to see how Cybel would respond, but Cybel took the hit and flew into the sky. In the end, it was a good thing.

Neither mana nor aura can be used in Pantemonium.

For Cybel, whose specialty is the combination of the two, it is nothing short of the worst space.

The only thing that can respond is Eclexis.

The only way to win in Pantemonium is to simply clash with the power of your soul.

‘I still don’t know what my ecclexis is.’

I have never realized that it is a soul.

But if, as Jormungand said, the sound of these gears is her ecclexis.

‘I just left it alone until now.’

If the thing that raises this sound is ecclexis.

Cybel held out her hand towards Tsunami.

This entire sea is Jormungand’s territory.

Conversely,

Cybel has not yet revealed her territory.

Cybel Forte

Eclexis

harvest time

Coo!

In an instant, the tsunami caused by the snake scatters into spray and flies into the sky.

Cybel stood on the ground. Her territory expands endlessly, pushing out the sea and making countless things bloom on the land.

A wheat field grows next to Cybel, and flowers bloom at its feet. The tree grows and fruits grow at the ends of the branches.

This is an extremely natural landscape, but also a human landscape.

And before Cybel’s eyes,

“huh?”

A huge scythe was floating in the air.

Cybel held it without thinking. It’s a scythe as big as her height. It is lighter than it looks, but it is a burdensome size to handle freely.

‘… … Rather, this is something that reapers usually carry around.’

Cybel’s face became subtle. For some reason, it seems like they are saying that she is a Shinigami.

Cybel looked around.

It’s an area she created herself, but somehow I don’t understand it.

The sound of gears was always heard in her ears.

Where do the gears go and what does this idyllic landscape come to mind?

[…] … no.]

However, Jormungand had a different appearance.

[No, no. No way!]

Jormungand seemed to realize something as he looked at Cybel.

[You really! It was in her!]

Jormungand suddenly shouts.

It didn’t seem like the words were directed at Cybel.

Nevertheless, the gaze turned to Cybel.

‘It was inhabited…’ … ?’

Cybel tilted her head.

This is a concern that Cybel himself has been thinking about for a long time.

‘Are you talking about divine power?’

—I thought I had divine powers.

Not only Cybel, but everyone who saw Cybel thought that.

Her brilliant talent comes from the power of God.

But unlike everyone else who knows who their god is, Cybel does not.

—Am I loved by the Shy God? Or is it really just luck?

—… … Or, I am.

—Am I the devil?

Cybel looked at Jormungand.

Does that snake know her identity?

“Mr. Jormungand. What does that mean? “Are you saying my power is divine power?”

The moment Saibel said that and took a step, Jormungand said in shock.

[divine power? Divine power? No, it’s not like that! Your existence is not like that!]

My existence?

When Cybel narrowed her eyes at those words, Jormungand spoke.

[God’s blood flows through you from the beginning! You are a demigod!]

reply? Cybel frowned at that.

No way.

My dad is just an ordinary sculptor who carves magic circles into weapons. Although he is famous for his dexterity with his hands.

And my mom.

… … Mom is… … .

“… … no way.”

Cybel’s brows narrowed.