Chapter 773: 762 (1/2)

Title: Damned Philosophies

*Gurgle*

The eye of the cave was by no means dark. Still, not a single speck of light traveled into the long and narrow passage of Yggdrasil. Although they were inside the World Tree in a manner, none rashly tried to collect samples. Not after Nik did and lost his index finger and a major chunk of his vitality and energy only to be restored after almost an hour of rest.

This passage was extremely dangerous.

However, the moment the group exited the passage of the cave to gaze upon a large spring, Nik, Morgan, and Loki felt a thin film of energy covering the exit from which they entered.

The interior of the Yggdrasil, at least, this root of the tree, was an isolated dimension of its own!

The spring with water continuously bubbling and reaching towards the high ceiling of the cave was not extremely large when considering the absolute size of Yggdrasil and now the possibility of many isolated dimensions in the world tree itself.

This wasn't all.

The 'ceiling' depicted blinking stars while countless slithering snakes filled the foot of the spring. More than forty streams of water appeared from various directions and heights that filled into this spring named Hvergelmir.

”First time I have laid eyes on such a beautiful thing,” Loki moaned, her words and obviously shivering made the other girls shiver slightly as she continued, ”Careful not to touch any drop of this spring. Though it is called Boiling-Bubbling Spring, in truth, the water's temperature is close to the icebergs of the realm and each droplet as poisonous as a bite from Hel-Snake.”

She pointed towards the platform made of the coiling snakes.

”I can take care of these,” Morgan stated with a narrow gaze only for Nik to look at her strangely.

”We are in a mythical location,” Nik smiled, ”And snakes taste delicious only when cooked patiently. Let me store a few of these and continue walking. It's not like these snakes are attacking us or anything.”

”This spring is the source of many rivers and streams across the realms. Careful. Any intruder will be looked upon harshly by these snakes,” Loki smiled coldly as Nik chuckled and jumped from the edge of the entrance. Anyway, the only path there was to move forward, so fearing these and slaughtering them mindlessly wasn't something on Nik's bucket list.

After all, he can make most kinds of animals love him quite easily.

As expected, the obstruction of venomous snakes that should have even given many gods a run for their money was quite easily subdued by Nik. As he landed, the hissing snakes around him grew quieter while parting to make way for their passage, revealing an extremely clean rocky surface underneath them.

Meanwhile, Nik couldn't help but lament the lack of use of [Nine-Blocks Potion: B+] in his daily life. Three artifacts were created after fusing most of his previous treasures. Out of which, Soul Ruler proved to be an extremely fearsome weapon, Commandment of Lust worked as a method to spice up Nik's sex life without physically or mentally harming his partners. However, [Nine-Blocks Potion: B+] which can store nine different kinds of products and continuously regenerate them by absorbing natural energy had been left untouched even now.

The thought of gifting this treasure did not even pass Nik's mind.

There were many things he was happy to share, but girls and treasures that he specifically designed for himself weren't one of them.

This was simply a passing thought, however.

The lack of usage of this artifact only meant that Nik hadn't observed any concrete need of its effects.

*Hiss*

A thin, green-scaled serpent slowly slithered across the clean surface and coiled around Nik's leg.

”Huh? You mean that with this, the souls of Gjoll will no longer trouble me?” Nik crouched and gazed into the eyes of the Serpent who tightened around Nik's calf slightly as if agreeing with him.

”... What does that even mean?” Nik mumbled while others got down by this time.

”Probably something in this Gjoll must have the task of obstructing people like us...” Janet stated with a contemplative expression. However, Poole and Spider shivered, hugging each other with a frightful expression as they hurled curses on Nik and quickly entered his pockets to not continue to gaze upon a snake... or an entire cave of snakes for that matter.

”By souls of Gjoll, this little guy means the souls sent to be tormented in the poisonous river. Slowly, their anguish turns into hatred and these souls will attack every living thing in the river,” Loki remarked and they began moving around the spring carefully. While the snakes remained unaffected by the splatter of water from the spring, the same wouldn't be true for the explorers of Niffleheim and finally, after a few minutes, Loki entered the only other point of the entrance which led the group, a snake, an annoyed salamander, and a peacefully sleeping kitten through the same dark pathway and exiting into a world of darkness and mist with an obvious sound of a stream, its waves, reaching throughout the realm.

It was right to say that this stream which leaked from the root of Yggdrasil and entered into a major pathway of water had its noise blocked by the large roots itself!

”We would have stopped here to prepare various spells and enchantments to defend against slightly more jealous souls sent here for their punishment but...” Looking towards Nik's leg with a peaceful snake coiled around, Loki shook her head, ”But we can leave once we find enough wood of the damned to build a boat for ourselves. Considering our weights and sizes... we will need plenty of it.”

Loki stated with a narrowed gaze. Just Angela alone weighed more than 200 kilos! Then there was Ignit and...

Suddenly, Ignit and Moon vanished out of nowhere.

”Do we really need to build a boat? Can we not fly now?” Nik inquired as the dominion of mist barely fazed him.

”We can, of course. But... how rude it is to the river of Gjoll to not pass it by a boat build from hard work? I am sincerely disappointed, Nik. I expected more from an adventurous spirit such as yourself,” Loki smiled.

”Well... a cruise does sound enticing,” Jennifer frowned.

”A cruise into a poisonous river filled with deranged ghosts,” Nik clarified as Jennifer's expression stiffened.

”I would enjoy that,” Morgan nodded with a sincere expression.