7/14 Bonus chapter thanks to @RainEday on Ko-fi!
Renzo knew it the moment he saw it.
The power of that hammer.
He regretted saying he could boldly receive it.
Should he retract his words and dodge?
The thought was fleeting.
‘Can I run?’
He held his greatsword in front of him.
No, it’s impossible.
Renzo changed his mind and extended the side of his greatsword forward.
Attempting to block it would only result in his greatsword breaking.
Crack!
The moment Mjölnir clashed, the greatsword cracked.
“Argh!”
Renzo gritted his teeth and summoned his aura.
Aura was much easier and more powerful to channel through a weapon than with bare hands.
However, still.
Dragging his feet across the ground, Renzo was being pushed back by the force of Mjölnir.
The greatsword was as good as shattered.
He was barely holding it together with his aura.
‘How much longer will it push me?’
After one clash, it should have been repelled.
Leaving his greatsword in ruins.
Yet, the force of Mjölnir, as if wanting to kill Renzo, did not subside.
As if the weapon itself had a will.
“Ugh!”
Renzo’s eyes flared red.
So did his hair, and his entire body.
A third power, neither aura nor mana, that Renzo possessed.
The last bastion, and evidence of his shaved pride.
The war god, Ares.
Renzo’s divine power.
The divine power of Ares grows stronger as the crisis in battle approaches.
The stronger the opponent.
The more intense the thrill of the fight.
Renzo, who considers only what he finds enjoyable as his direction in life, receiving the divine power of the battle-crazed Ares, was perhaps inevitable.
‘If I can just receive this…!’
Even while struggling, a smile appeared on Renzo’s face.
This hammer, unbelievable but a tremendous divine object.
Looking at its appearance, even more unbelievable.
‘Mjölnir…!’
How it was suddenly drawn from thin air, he didn’t know.
But if he could receive it, it would become his.
Eventually, the power of Mjölnir gradually diminished.
And when it completely lost its power and fell from the sky.
“Got it!”
Renzo reached out for the handle of Mjölnir.
Clatter, his greatsword fell in pieces.
However.
Swoosh~
Mjölnir flew on its own in the air.
And then returned to the hands of Frondier.
“……”
Stunned and incredulous, Renzo could only stretch out his empty hand and stare at the scene.
“I thought I finally had it in the palm of my hand.”
But soon, he came to realize the terrifying truth.
“……You.”
Renzo spoke.
With a face that looked as though he couldn’t believe it.
“How, are you able to control Mjölnir?”
More important than how he got his hands on Mjölnir was how he was controlling it right now.
How he was making it move.
That he had it in his hands, well, that was just an incredible stroke of fortune, an achievement comparable to bringing peace to the five nations in his previous life, so perhaps it’s only right that he was rewarded for that.
But controlling it meant that he had gained Mjölnir’s acknowledgment.
They say that Thor could crush the body of any enemy, no matter where they were, with Mjölnir.
He could throw it anywhere, and it would always return to his hand. That was one of Mjölnir’s abilities. It moved of its own accord, based on its master’s will.
But only Thor was capable of that.
No one else who had ever wielded Mjölnir had been able to make it return to them after throwing it, like Thor did.
‘But this guy just demonstrated that.’
That means that,
Mjölnir, Thor’s divine weapon, acknowledged the human, Frondier.
At Renzo’s words, Frondier tilted his head.
Frondier toyed with Mjölnir in front of his eyes, as though it were nothing.
He made it float, moved it around in the air, spun it around and around, and then made it settle back into his hand.
Renzo watched that scene from a distance.
“I, can just do it.”
“……That’s impossible.”
Renzo’s eyes blazed.
He walked slowly with that tremendous momentum.
“I can’t accept it.”
Renzo, who came walking barehanded without a great sword.
His momentum was more ferocious than when he had a weapon.
* * *
In Etius, the performance of weapons is basically based on mythology.
Mjölnir is the same. That’s why it doesn’t have the power of lightning itself, or why anyone can lift it.
However, there is one thing.
Mjölnir can only fly through the air and return to his hand when Thor wields it.
The people of the continent believe that if one gains Mjölnir’s acknowledgment, they will be able to control it like Thor did, but this has never been confirmed.
It could be true, or it could not be.
‘But my Mjölnir is a fake made from Weaving.’
This is inside Menosorpo’s range.
I’m not really controlling it because I have its acknowledgment.
Whether it’s Mjölnir, Gram, or Iokheira, I can control anything in the air inside Menosorpo’s Eye.
If they go beyond the range of the rune, they all disappear.
‘I can guess what he must be thinking.’
I don’t really feel like correcting him.
Because it’s none of my business.
“How dare you!”
Renzo kicked off the ground and ran toward me.
I threw Mjölnir again.
This time, using the divine power, Renzo dodged Mjölnir and approached me.
Mjölnir flew toward Renzo under my control again, and Renzo dodged it again.
That repeated itself.
Even so, Renzo steadily drew nearer to me.
‘……Damn it.’
My side, where I was hit by Renzo, hurts.
It wasn’t just my side.
The fake Dragon Heart continued to sap my life force. It was like the sand running out of a sandcastle.
Even though there was no apparent difference, it felt like everything would collapse all at once at some point.
I was certain that my body would collapse like that.
-Even if I defeat Renzo, will I be able to survive?
‘Stop thinking about that.’
Those were idle thoughts.
First, think about defeating Renzo.