Chapter 338 Orphan
"Now what?"
Van dug his hand into the tree he was hiding on as the whole mountain it was sitting on started to move. For what seemed like miles, all the trees and plants moved like dominos, tilting and rearranging, but never actually being uprooted.
He was going to run away at first as he thought that someone was attacking him, but after a few seconds of waiting for an entity to arrive, he still remained to be the only sentient life for miles-- not really.
Just another few seconds later, and the perpetrator causing the quivering of the mountain revealed itself… as the mountain itself.
"!!!"
Van could not help but take in a long and deep breath as a pair of eyeballs slowly emerged from the base of the mountain; the pair of eyes were attached to some sort of colossal tentacle, disgustingly waving in the air and causing slight thunders as it did so.
A colossal snail-- is perhaps the only definition that Van could think of. He had seen his fair share of giants throughout the year, but this definitely takes it to a whole level.
And then slowly, the pair of eyes extended straight towards Van's location, looking at him in his entirety. Van could run away if he wanted to, but the sole fact that this colossus' eyes were bigger than his house back in Newer York city truly petrified him. The only thing that he could do was raise his hand and say,
"...Hi?"
"!!!"
And once again, as if responding to his words, the mountain shook even more violently. Even with Van's hand embedded straight through the tree, he was still thrown away due to the sheer force of the snail's movement.
"...Fuck!"
Van once again stuck his fist through a tree to calm himself down. But alas, the colossal snail seemed to not have any plans of stopping until it completely manages to push Van off. So that was the reason why there weren't even any small animals around the area, the snail must be scaring them all away. Wait...
...Are there even any small animals in Asgard?
And for some reason, that thought seemed to have woken Van up from his slight stupor as he finally used his [Air Step] skill to stabilize himself in the air. And as soon as he did that, a sharp cry pierced his ears.
Van slightly tilted his head away from the noise, before turning his head in its direction.
"...Fuck!" He once again repeated as a bird even bigger than the Stymphalian they used to ride on was already on its way towards him-- its beak ready to swallow Van whole like some kind of peanut.
Now he realized why none of the Aesir made a move when he entered the atmosphere. All the thunder and explosions he made when he entered was probably just a normal daily occurrence in Asgard, seeing as the creatures here were all colossal in size.
Van let out a small but deep breath as flickers of golden lightning emerged from his eyes, but before he could even move a finger, the colossal flying beast was completely smashed into pieces by the slithering eyeballs of the mountain.
Truly, it was a disgusting sight as the insides of the colossal bird slowly slid their way down the colossal eyeball.
"..." Seeing that, Van finally made the decision to move away from this place as far as possible. However, he decided to travel by land, as running around the skies might alert the Aesir of his existence, if they don't already know of his presence here, that is.
By all means, Midgard looked like the largest Realm out of the 9, but now that he was on Asgard, he could not help but slightly gasp in awe as to how vast the fields are. He had been running for a full minute now, and the sea of grass that he currently finds himself in seemed to have no plans of ending.
He was deliberating on whether to return to the colossal snail, but seeing as there were many other unknown entities there that he rather not meet, he just continued to run through the almost never-ending field.
He truly wanted to run towards the sky to see where the River was located, but he just couldn't risk being detected by the Aesir if he did so. He was starting to think if Hermod's head was really actually received by the other Aesir, as it could have landed anywhere-- maybe even eaten by the gigantic beasts that roam Asgard.
Van continued to run for hours, resting for a quarter of an hour before once again continuing his adventure. He tried checking his System from time to time if it would give him another Objective, but it would seem it was pretty linear when giving him quests, only triggering once he activates some sort of scenario-- one might even say… his System was actually alive.
"Pft," Van quickly shook his head as he once again decided to rest and recover his SP for a couple of minutes. Van doesn't know how long he had been running already, but one thing he did know is that he should have already reached the end of Asgard by now.
Besides Midgard, Asgard seemed to just be the same size as the other Realms from the outside. So by all means, he should be at the edge. Was there some sort of magic going on here that made the land bigger as you enter the atmosphere? He thought. With everything that's going on, that was probably the case.
And so, once again, he ran. He ran and he ran until finally... he saw signs of civilization. He quickly tried to hide his presence, but sadly, there was nowhere to hide as the land was surrounded by a field of grass, stretching miles long. He could hide through the farm, but there were already people there minding their harvest.
"Going through!"
"!!!"
Van quickly moved to the side as a pair of 6-legged horses galloped behind him, pulling a cart that was filled with fruits. And surprisingly, their size was normal.
"..."
Was he really in Asgard? Based on the stories he had heard, Asgard was a land filled with gods-- he imagined it closer to how Artemis and Athena depicted Olympus, otherworldly and completely unlike anything he had seen before.
But minus the weird and colossal creatures, the people… seemed to be normal. But of course, it was still too early to tell. For now, he needed to blend in.
Van quickly disappeared from his spot, going to the nearest farmhouse and stealing some of the clothes that were being left to dry outside. It was a little too big for him, but it was better than what he was wearing before-- roots and leaves since his clothes burned entering Asgard.
With him now wearing the local fashion, Van quickly headed towards the city gates, where the cart that almost hit him was currently lining up to enter the city.
"..." And perhaps his earlier assessment truly was wrong, as a man carrying what seemed to be a huge monster was also walking in line, creating tremors each step he took. And considering no one is even batting an eye, this was a normal occurrence in Asgard.
Once again, Van was deliberating on whether or not he should just use his speed to enter the city without being noticed. Hermod seemed to be confident in being the fastest Aesir, so there shouldn't be any problem for Van.
"Where are your parents, kid?"
But alas, only a hint of lightning could emerge from Van's eyes before a hand was suddenly placed on his shoulder. It was an old man… an old and oddly muscular man with a beard that was almost as tall as Van himself.
"..." If Van was told that this old man was the King of Aesir himself, then he would have probably believed it.
"Why are you entering the city on your own?" The old man once again asked him a question. Van wanted to ignore him, but he found himself unable to move from his grip. Not unless of course he uses enough force, but flinging the old man's hand away would probably alert the guards.
And so, with a sigh, Van could only look at the old man straight in the eyes and say,
"T… they're already inside, mister," Van's tone was slightly meek, his eyes somewhat shy as he looked back and forth between the gate and the old man.
"I see," the old man could not help but let out a sigh as he shook his head, causing his long beard to almost hit Van in the face, "What irresponsible parents. I swear, this is why we Asgardians are degrading. Do you know that in my time, no one is allowed to be weak? Do you see my muscles, boy?"
"..."
"Come, let me take you inside."
"!!!"
And without even warning, the old man suddenly lifted Van into the air, before carefully placing him on his left shoulder. That was close, Van thought. He almost used his speed to poke the old man in the eyes.
As soon as it was Van and the old man's turn to enter the city, the guards quickly blocked their path. Seeing this, Van was ready to go at any time; but before he could do so, the 4 guards that were on duty suddenly let out a chuckle.
"Old man Bjorn? Did you kidnap someone again?"
"You dare!" Bjorn clicked his tongue as he pushed the guards away, "This little child is lost, I am just returning him to his irresponsible parents!"
"That's what you say, but your orphanage is getting more crowded by the day."
"Irresponsible parents, I say! They breed and breed like pigs! Anyway, child. Where are your parents?"
"..."
Being asked that question, Van could only let out a small sigh as he jumped down from Bjorn's shoulder.
"I…
...I was actually abandoned by them."