The Record of Unusual Creatures

Among the many ancient gods on Earth, Odin was the last survivor. These gods were as if the finale of the Mythological era, the collapse of Yggdrasil more than two thousand years ago was the final scene of that era.

The Twilight of the Gods of the Norse gods was also the Twilight of the Gods of the Mythological era. When the light cannon of the demon hunters tore the sky of Asgard apart, the Nine Worlds collapsed, and the rule of the otherworldlings over the human world was officially over.

Anthony Alfonso slowed down the flying craft. The detection magic circle on the belly of the flying craft emitted a faint blue light as it flew over the devastated Asgard searching for any signs of abnormal energy.

On the flying craft, Vivian was telling Anthony Alfonso and Galazur about the destruction of Asgard. “There were already signs before the Twilight of the Gods happened. A few years before that, Yggdrasil began to corrupt, the climate in the Nine Worlds became unbalanced, and there had been winter all year round for several years. Then the magic of the gods of Asgard and Vanir became ineffective. For unknown reasons, the covenant between them and Yggdrasil broke down. The various spells and vows in the Nine Worlds were destroyed. The races living within those worlds blamed each other. When someone began to incite them, war broke out, and the Nine Worlds fell apart.”

The flying craft flew past the ruins of the temple complex. Now the high wall of the Garden of Asgard was behind them as the flying craft glided through a long and narrow wilderness before arriving at the scorched earth in the plains of Vigrid. The area was not just strewn with wreckages of war machines, but also bones of creatures. Although two thousand years had passed, the bones of these mighty creatures were still relatively intact. As there was a lack of large-scale geological changes in this otherworldly dimension, the battlefield looked as if a war had just happened yesterday.

Vivian continued the story. “The day when the Twilight of the Gods arrived, it was a cold winter day, overcast, and everything was dying. The atrium of human life, Midgard, had three consecutive freezing winters. Cold winds blew through the gaps between the mountains into Asgard; the world was frozen. The alarm bells in Odin’s Golden Palace went off, families of men, women, and children were gearing up for war. Even I was helping them move weapons. The Valkyries collected the einherjar and stuffed them into beautiful gold-cast armors and were ready to send them to the front line. At the other end of Bifröst the rainbow bridge, the giants had assembled an army, and Hel of Hel attacked Asgard with her army of undead from the lower realm. Hao Ren, you have met Hel before; she is now guarding the entrance of the Athens’ sanctuary. You wouldn’t have imagined her being an impulsive and ruthless girl. She did not realize that the war was a conspiracy when all she wanted was to destroy the Garden of Asgard and rescued her father, Loki. The two forces clashed on the plains of Vigrid. Though Odin knew that the demon hunters were the hidden hands behind the revolt, the giants and the undead would not listen to him. So Odin had no choice but fought.”

The flying craft arrived at the destination. Anthony Alfonso landed the spherical cabin and a gangway deployed. They disembarked through the gangway and set their feet on the land of Asgard for the first time. Nangong Wuyue, who left the gangway last, had form shifted into a sea snake. She just felt it safer this way. They came before a gigantic skeleton, which was three times the size of a human but much smaller than the ten-meter-high guardian giant like Mimir. Nevertheless, it was still considered a giant by Earth’s standard. This skeleton belonged to a giant from Muspelheim who was one of the leading forces attacking Odin’s domain. Next to this skeleton were bones similar in size to humans but slightly different in structure.

That must be the bones of the gods of Asgard. These supernatural beings were regarded as gods thousands of years ago. They were born in flesh and blood. Despite being stronger than humans, all they could do with their capabilities was to ensure that their bones would last long after their death.

Hao Ren had noticed that the equipment the giant carried was a completely different form from what the Asgard warriors used. The difference was not only in terms of specifications due to differences in body size, but also in style due to different ethnic cultures: it was a more fundamental and downright difference.

The armor of the giants was thick and cast of dark steel. Its shape was more similar to the heavy plate armor of the ‘cold-weapon’ (non-firearm) period. It had runes on it and looked primitive but rock solid. On the other hand, the soldiers of the gods of Asgard were equipped with alloy armor, which was obviously more refined and lightweight, inlaid with gold and silver. Their smooth and tidy lines suggested that they were a mass-produced product from the assembly line. On some broken armors, there were complex internal lining and cable harnesses underneath. Almost every Asgard soldier carried two square boxes on their waists. These boxes, which contained delicate circuits of cables and unknown components, were now out of function, but still much more complicated than the gear of the giants.

“It is a thermoelectric battery pack,” Vivian said, noticing what Hao Ren was looking at. “Ahh, I didn’t understand these things at the time. But now thinking of it, it becomes familiar: apart from using the magic of Vanir, the gods of Asgard commonly used nuclear energy in their daily lives.”

“They should be from different civilizations.” Galazur, a veteran inspector, knew it with just a glance. Pointing at the different skeletons, the weapons, and gears that were strewn all over the place, she could differentiate them. In her mind, the weapons were divided into three branches on the technology tree. “The giants had a lower technological capability, but they had equipment made of special metals and strong physique, the gods of Asgard had no real advantage against them even though Asgard gods were using more advanced weapons. Besides, some equipment was of purely magic origin, which was—”

“Which were of the gods of Vanir.” Vivian cut in. “Indeed, they came from different civilizations. I think that they might have come from three different planets. The giant was a warrior nation that used shamanic magic and steam power; the gods of Asgard used nuclear, machinery and some kind of natural spiritual power; and Vanir was purely a magic civilization, closely resembling human in form but with some elven features. Because of the similarity of form and culture, Asgard and Vanir had quickly reached an understanding and formed an alliance in the Mythological period. But the giants were unable to integrate into this circle, and they began to have rancor while living in the Nordic region. This was during the middle to late Mythological Era when the demon hunters were rising, and the families of the gods were rapidly died out in other parts of Earth. These three races had to temporarily put aside their differences under this external pressure and coexisted for some time. At that time, they already had the prototype of symbiosis where different races living under one roof, very much like Athens’ sanctuary. Unfortunately, they couldn’t change their fates. At that time, the demon hunter was far crazier than they were during the modern times; they would not allow the otherworldlings to live. Even though the otherworldlings hid in Yggdrasil en mass, the demon hunters still found a way to provoke war in the Nordic region and eventually blew open the gate of Asgard.”

Anthony Alfonso prodded the skeletons with his magic staff and lifted some of the better-preserved relics into his dimensional pocket with Sorcerer’s Touch. Hao Ren and Galazur were doing the same thing. The old magician sighed, “To tell the truth, I am very envious of you, Hao Ren. You have the universe’s most unique civilization in your jurisdiction. It is an extremely rare sample. How I wish I could be an inspector in your place. Just studying the mythological stories would be enough to keep me busy for the next hundreds of years.”

“I am afraid you would find it not so enjoyable if you were to really take my place.” Hao Ren glanced at the old magician. “Though the Mythological era has ended, dealing with the aftermath would drive you mad.”

Vivian was the only one familiar with this battlefield. Her fickle memory was finally of help this time. She had remembered the battle that happened more than 2,000 years ago. Tracing her steps in her mind, she brought everyone searching on the scorched earth.

They passed by a skeleton, which looked like the bones of a long reptile. At 10 m in length, the vertebrae had black marks of a lightning strike. This was the skeleton of Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent. It was much smaller than described in the mythology, but still a terrifying creature. In the vicinity of the skeleton of Jörmungandr, Hao Ren had found a curled and deformed human body, the armor of which was eaten through by some kind of corrosive substance. This man must have met a horrible death.

But the fact that this man who was brave enough to face Jörmungandr the terrifying serpent must have extraordinary courage.

Vivian was rummaging between the two set of skeletons. She found a war hammer. When she injected magic into it, it emitted light, but the light quickly dimmed. But strange noise could still be heard inside of the war hammer.

Vivian handed the war hammer to Hao Ren. “Mjolnir, which Thor had overloaded its core capacitor when he used it to kill Jörmungandr. This thing can be repaired, but I think it would not be as powerful as your plasma spear.”

Looking at the battle-scarred Mjolnir, Hao Ren could not help but mutter, “How many mythological items are there here?”

“As many as you think,” Vivian said, spreading out her hand. “Welcome to the stage of the Twilight of the Gods. This was where the Mythological era ended.”