-----
Hel wasn’t wrong with her words. Before being defeated by the Aesir Gods in the war between Constellations and falling from grace as a result, becoming sealed within a Ruined World until Jack entered the Dungeon formed from it, he was just like her.
Someone who saw mortals as mere resources, pitiful ants that lived within a lower plane of existence, had no empathy; he only had a hunger for strength, completely embodying how he was depicted in Norse mythology as a god-devouring wild beast.
However, after being forced to continue his existence by merging himself with Jack, he had to go through new experiences and live in a completely different world than before. Although stubborn at first, slowly, just like Hel said, he grew softer.
But was this something to be ashamed of? To feel more fulfilled with himself by being able to further comprehend emotions and the value of life?
He was no longer a foul, wretched beast that desired to devour and grow stronger. Well, he still was, but above all, he had also become a proper person, gaining his own identity, his own thoughts, and his own decisions.
Although at first he never valued mortal lives and, to an extent, he still didn’t care much, he really cared about Jack and about all those he cared for. They felt more like his family than even Hel, Jormungandr, or Loki ever were.
And he simply couldn’t allow his sister to attempt to take away everything he now cared for—the things that gave his life a new meaning.
“I’m sorry, Hel,” Fenrir said, slowly beginning to swirl around Jack as a mass of endless shadows. “But I’ve made my decision. I’ll protect those I care for; I’ll protect my pack! Because these people... they feel more like a family than any of you ever were to me!”
“Hah?” Hel gave Fenrir a teasing smile and then burst into laughter. “Hah… HAHAHAHAHA! You’re so pathetic! I can’t believe you are a Constellation! Well, you no longer are one, are you not, my beloved sibling? Well, I’ll just beat some sense into you, pathetic dog. And then once you become all submissive, I’ll chain you down like before, so you can go back to the old times when you were just a wild beast that never questioned me.”
“I’ll NEVER let anybody chain me again!” Fenrir roared, fusing with Jack completely. “I’ll walk my own path!”
FLASH!
Jack finished his transformation as he once again became a huge, muscular black werewolf, covered in an armor of materialized shadows and holding a huge sword.
“Let’s do this.” Jack smiled.
“Yeah!” Fenrir roared.
“{Phantasmal Sea}!”
Hel had enough of pointlessly talking with her brother, quickly amassing her Phantasmal Energy and unleashing a sea of condensed and monstrous phantasmal beings, capable of absorbing Mana from anything they touched, alongside devouring souls.
SPLASH!
“RAAAAH!”
However, Jack didn’t even step back, charging towards the Phantasmal Sea head-on, overcharging his Gram Fragment with his Mana and Ki, and unleashing a powerful piercing strike.
CRASH!
The sea of phantoms was instantly slashed apart, their agonizing screams echoing everywhere as they pathetically attempted to wrap around his body, only for Jack’s body to shapeshift, growing hundreds of metallic spikes made of shadows from his body! One of the many abilities he acquired from eating Abyss Hedgehogs, C+ Rank monsters.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
The phantoms were annihilated one after another, as Jack quickly gathered Darkness Energy into his jaws and unleashed a powerful breath attack of black flames, imitating yet another skill from a dragon-type monster he had devoured before, such as the Red Dragon from the Blazing Castle Dungeon.
BOOOM!
The blast was incredibly strong, as Hel was unable to evade it in time, her movements becoming slower after Dimitri damaged her Phantom Veil with his Holy Bullets!
“That damn Darkness Energy you control…” Hel muttered. “Aside from your brutish strength, Darkness Energy was the only magical power you were born with. You were always far inferior to me and Jormungandr, to think you would evolve that pathetic power this far-”
“RAAAH!”
Jack didn’t let her speak anymore, swinging his left hand as it quickly grew out of proportion, distorting into a Giant’s Arm and punching Hel down with tremendous force.
“Gryyaaaaah!”
As Hel screamed in pain, Anna’s brother swiftly imbued more Mana into his sword, and he started to spin his body towards Hel at an incredibly high velocity, utilizing the force of gravity to bring more strength to his blade!
The Demonic Gram Sword unleashed its demonic powers completely; an overwhelming wave of demonic energy impacted Hel in midair, slicing through her Phantasmal Veil and shattering her Black Bone Armor!
CRASH!
"G-Get away from me!”
Hel screamed in fury, quickly summoning a hundred phantasmal blades and firing them at Jack at the same time, the swords swiftly flying towards his body and piercing his flesh!
“{Phantasmal Detonation}!”
Without giving her brother a break, Hel instantly made the blades detonate. At the same time, several explosions generated a chain, blowing away Jack’s entire body.
“{Netherworld King’s Fist}!”
The Queen of Helheim instantly summoned a huge black portal behind her as the gigantic fist of an entity known as the “Netherworld King," a powerful Undead Monster that inhabited her realm, emerged, crushing her foe!
BAAAM!
“Fuck!”
Jack fell like a meteor into the ground, generating a huge crater and vomiting blood. The rest of his body wasn’t in good condition either, twisted completely in many areas and with his bones shattered.
However, through his unparalleled self-healing abilities, he quickly regenerated most of the damage by spending large quantities of Mana, slowly trying to stand up.
“Hahhh… I’m almost out of Mana already?”
Jack quickly realized that, after having fought the Dawn of a New World just an hour ago, he was now fighting yet another terrifying enemy; he simply couldn’t take a break.
“Just endure for now,” Fenrir said. “Hel is also growing weaker; she can’t keep up forever! Anna’s gone somewhere, but everyone else is helping Dimitri and Eckert; they’ll come to support you in a few more seconds at most!”
“Right, we can’t waste time thinking,” Jack said. “I have to trust my friends."
Words that the original Jack would have never said in the novel came out of his mouth, and the amount of changes that Anna had created through his character was now showing their effects.
Jack’s trust in his friends brought him a new strength; it wasn’t something corny as the power of friendship; it simply was being able to rely on strong people he knew had his back.
Maybe alone, they wouldn’t be able to beat a monster like Hel, but together, things were much different.
“I’m not going to give you any time to relax, my dear brother!”
Hel emerged from above the skies, and another Netherworld’s King arm emerged, making those two huge zombie-like muscular arms, which quickly reached Jack from above, unleashing a barrage of attacks!
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!
…
Meanwhile, as Jack fought a formidable opponent and waited for the rest of his allies to join the battle, Anna disappeared, entering a golden portal that nobody else could see but her.
She found herself within the Divine Treasury of Isis, the {Lady that Soothes the Souls of the Death}, and the wife of Osiris, who was still sealed within the Egyptian Underworld.
The contract that Anna and Isis had made was for the two to work similarly to an incarnation and their constellation. However, Anna felt that lately, Isis had been slacking off.
It was clear the Goddess wanted her to forget about that certain part of their contract where Anna could get anything she wanted from the Treasury every time she reached max level.
[The Cosmic Throne {Lady that Soothes the Souls of the Death} once more reminds you that you can only take one thing!]
[She also wants to remind you that these treasures are not all of hers! They also belong to her beloved husband, and he might get angry if you take away too many things.]
“Don’t worry, you can explain to him that I did it all to free him eventually.”
Anna walked across the treasury within the underground pyramids that had emerged as Mythical Dungeons for the Second Awakening.
Her visit, of course, dissatisfied a certain someone.
[The Cosmic Throne {Black Jackal that Judges the Death} bares his fangs, asking why in the world are you here again!]
[He says you should leave NOW!]
“Well, well, let’s see…”
Anna completely ignored Anubis, wandering around the treasury, until she finally saw what she was looking for: a mystical item with the power that could quite possibly stop Hel and also be of great utility for the growth and healing of her soul.
After using the Thanatos Broken Scythe once, her soul had been consumed a bit, and even a bit was a lot for a soul as small as hers. Although getting privileges was somewhat strengthening her soul, they had not healed it.
And if she can properly heal her soul and even make it stronger, then using that scythe or other soul-consuming items and weapons of great power could become a realistic strategy for what is to come.
[The Cosmic Throne {Black Jackal that Judges the Death} has started to bark in anger after seeing the item you’ve chosen.]
[He says such a precious treasure shouldn’t belong in the hands of a fool like you!]
[The Cosmic Throne {Lady that Soothes the Souls of the Death} shakes in horror!]
[She asks you not to choose that item! It is one of her husband’s most beloved treasures!]
“Sorry, but I’ve made up my decision.”
…
At the same time as Fenrir and Jack clashed against Hel, Henrietta brought the unconscious Dimitri and Eckert to safety, making a whole flight to the city walls and giving the two to a team of paramedics waiting in the entrance with an ambulance. She had used some basic healing magic, but some of their broken bones will only heal with specialized medical magic tools within hospitals.
“You two did good work; leave the rest to us!” Henrietta flew across the skies, realizing that her brother, Dan Baihe, and Annabelle were running towards the area where Hel was fighting against Jack.
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!
The huge fists of the Netherworld’s King rained upon Jack, and as he swiftly evaded the gigantic yet rapid blows by leaping and running across the battlefield, several magic circles were being inscribed around him at the same time.
“Let’s try something flashier for once.” Jack smiled. “With the Magic Circle Creation that Henrietta taught me!”
Dozens of Magic Circles were created at once, as Jack quickly imbued the rotating runes that meant many different words together into powerful spells, an innate ability he held yet which he had never tried out before due to his lack of magic principles and his overreliance on skills.
“{Sunlight Beam}!”
Imitating the magic circles that Anna utilized, Jack was able to summon dozens of Sunlight Beams, albeit not as powerful as those of his prodigious sister; they were powerful enough to pierce through the Netherworld King’s arms and leave huge wounds, bleeding out a black gooey blood.
“GRAAAAH!”
The scream of the monstrous titan echoed into the world, his very scream generating a strong pressure under any mortal. Jack felt like his entire soul shook by hearing it!
“Just what in the world is that thing?!” Jack wondered, evading its huge fist before it was to crush him to death.
BAAAM!
“That’s the Netherworld King... A being that Hel created using the body parts of many Ancient Jotun that fell in the first war between Ymir’s forces and Odin’s family in the Realm of Yggdrasil.” Fenrir explained.
“It is an Undead made up of body parts from dead gods?!” Jack finally realized why that thing’s very scream was so potent.
“You’re getting sluggish, brother! How about you take a break?!” Laughed Hel. “{Netherworld King’s Stomp}!”
A gigantic portal opened above Jack as the gigantic foot of the Undead Titan crushed his body completely!
CRASH!
“JACK!”
-----
PancakesWitch
If you can't wait for more chapters, there's over 33 chapters in advance over on Patreon! Pancakes Witch | creating Novels | Patreon
Also, if you're craving a much more brutal and powerful main character than Anna, make sure to check my new novel, published on Scribblehub and Royal Road: The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG | Scribble Hub
-----
Hel wasn’t wrong with her words. Before being defeated by the Aesir Gods in the war between Constellations and falling from grace as a result, becoming sealed within a Ruined World until Jack entered the Dungeon formed from it, he was just like her.
Someone who saw mortals as mere resources, pitiful ants that lived within a lower plane of existence, had no empathy; he only had a hunger for strength, completely embodying how he was depicted in Norse mythology as a god-devouring wild beast.
However, after being forced to continue his existence by merging himself with Jack, he had to go through new experiences and live in a completely different world than before. Although stubborn at first, slowly, just like Hel said, he grew softer.
But was this something to be ashamed of? To feel more fulfilled with himself by being able to further comprehend emotions and the value of life?
He was no longer a foul, wretched beast that desired to devour and grow stronger. Well, he still was, but above all, he had also become a proper person, gaining his own identity, his own thoughts, and his own decisions.
Although at first he never valued mortal lives and, to an extent, he still didn’t care much, he really cared about Jack and about all those he cared for. They felt more like his family than even Hel, Jormungandr, or Loki ever were.
And he simply couldn’t allow his sister to attempt to take away everything he now cared for—the things that gave his life a new meaning.
“I’m sorry, Hel,” Fenrir said, slowly beginning to swirl around Jack as a mass of endless shadows. “But I’ve made my decision. I’ll protect those I care for; I’ll protect my pack! Because these people... they feel more like a family than any of you ever were to me!”
“Hah?” Hel gave Fenrir a teasing smile and then burst into laughter. “Hah… HAHAHAHAHA! You’re so pathetic! I can’t believe you are a Constellation! Well, you no longer are one, are you not, my beloved sibling? Well, I’ll just beat some sense into you, pathetic dog. And then once you become all submissive, I’ll chain you down like before, so you can go back to the old times when you were just a wild beast that never questioned me.”
“I’ll NEVER let anybody chain me again!” Fenrir roared, fusing with Jack completely. “I’ll walk my own path!”
FLASH!
Jack finished his transformation as he once again became a huge, muscular black werewolf, covered in an armor of materialized shadows and holding a huge sword.
“Let’s do this.” Jack smiled.
“Yeah!” Fenrir roared.
“{Phantasmal Sea}!”
Hel had enough of pointlessly talking with her brother, quickly amassing her Phantasmal Energy and unleashing a sea of condensed and monstrous phantasmal beings, capable of absorbing Mana from anything they touched, alongside devouring souls.
SPLASH!
“RAAAAH!”
However, Jack didn’t even step back, charging towards the Phantasmal Sea head-on, overcharging his Gram Fragment with his Mana and Ki, and unleashing a powerful piercing strike.
CRASH!
The sea of phantoms was instantly slashed apart, their agonizing screams echoing everywhere as they pathetically attempted to wrap around his body, only for Jack’s body to shapeshift, growing hundreds of metallic spikes made of shadows from his body! One of the many abilities he acquired from eating Abyss Hedgehogs, C+ Rank monsters.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
The phantoms were annihilated one after another, as Jack quickly gathered Darkness Energy into his jaws and unleashed a powerful breath attack of black flames, imitating yet another skill from a dragon-type monster he had devoured before, such as the Red Dragon from the Blazing Castle Dungeon.
BOOOM!
The blast was incredibly strong, as Hel was unable to evade it in time, her movements becoming slower after Dimitri damaged her Phantom Veil with his Holy Bullets!
“That damn Darkness Energy you control…” Hel muttered. “Aside from your brutish strength, Darkness Energy was the only magical power you were born with. You were always far inferior to me and Jormungandr, to think you would evolve that pathetic power this far-”
“RAAAH!”
Jack didn’t let her speak anymore, swinging his left hand as it quickly grew out of proportion, distorting into a Giant’s Arm and punching Hel down with tremendous force.
“Gryyaaaaah!”
As Hel screamed in pain, Anna’s brother swiftly imbued more Mana into his sword, and he started to spin his body towards Hel at an incredibly high velocity, utilizing the force of gravity to bring more strength to his blade!
The Demonic Gram Sword unleashed its demonic powers completely; an overwhelming wave of demonic energy impacted Hel in midair, slicing through her Phantasmal Veil and shattering her Black Bone Armor!
CRASH!
"G-Get away from me!”
Hel screamed in fury, quickly summoning a hundred phantasmal blades and firing them at Jack at the same time, the swords swiftly flying towards his body and piercing his flesh!
“{Phantasmal Detonation}!”
Without giving her brother a break, Hel instantly made the blades detonate. At the same time, several explosions generated a chain, blowing away Jack’s entire body.
“{Netherworld King’s Fist}!”
The Queen of Helheim instantly summoned a huge black portal behind her as the gigantic fist of an entity known as the “Netherworld King," a powerful Undead Monster that inhabited her realm, emerged, crushing her foe!
BAAAM!
“Fuck!”
Jack fell like a meteor into the ground, generating a huge crater and vomiting blood. The rest of his body wasn’t in good condition either, twisted completely in many areas and with his bones shattered.
However, through his unparalleled self-healing abilities, he quickly regenerated most of the damage by spending large quantities of Mana, slowly trying to stand up.
“Hahhh… I’m almost out of Mana already?”
Jack quickly realized that, after having fought the Dawn of a New World just an hour ago, he was now fighting yet another terrifying enemy; he simply couldn’t take a break.
“Just endure for now,” Fenrir said. “Hel is also growing weaker; she can’t keep up forever! Anna’s gone somewhere, but everyone else is helping Dimitri and Eckert; they’ll come to support you in a few more seconds at most!”
“Right, we can’t waste time thinking,” Jack said. “I have to trust my friends."
Words that the original Jack would have never said in the novel came out of his mouth, and the amount of changes that Anna had created through his character was now showing their effects.
Jack’s trust in his friends brought him a new strength; it wasn’t something corny as the power of friendship; it simply was being able to rely on strong people he knew had his back.
Maybe alone, they wouldn’t be able to beat a monster like Hel, but together, things were much different.
“I’m not going to give you any time to relax, my dear brother!”
Hel emerged from above the skies, and another Netherworld’s King arm emerged, making those two huge zombie-like muscular arms, which quickly reached Jack from above, unleashing a barrage of attacks!
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!
…
Meanwhile, as Jack fought a formidable opponent and waited for the rest of his allies to join the battle, Anna disappeared, entering a golden portal that nobody else could see but her.
She found herself within the Divine Treasury of Isis, the {Lady that Soothes the Souls of the Death}, and the wife of Osiris, who was still sealed within the Egyptian Underworld.
The contract that Anna and Isis had made was for the two to work similarly to an incarnation and their constellation. However, Anna felt that lately, Isis had been slacking off.
It was clear the Goddess wanted her to forget about that certain part of their contract where Anna could get anything she wanted from the Treasury every time she reached max level.
[The Cosmic Throne {Lady that Soothes the Souls of the Death} once more reminds you that you can only take one thing!]
[She also wants to remind you that these treasures are not all of hers! They also belong to her beloved husband, and he might get angry if you take away too many things.]
“Don’t worry, you can explain to him that I did it all to free him eventually.”
Anna walked across the treasury within the underground pyramids that had emerged as Mythical Dungeons for the Second Awakening.
Her visit, of course, dissatisfied a certain someone.
[The Cosmic Throne {Black Jackal that Judges the Death} bares his fangs, asking why in the world are you here again!]
[He says you should leave NOW!]
“Well, well, let’s see…”
Anna completely ignored Anubis, wandering around the treasury, until she finally saw what she was looking for: a mystical item with the power that could quite possibly stop Hel and also be of great utility for the growth and healing of her soul.
After using the Thanatos Broken Scythe once, her soul had been consumed a bit, and even a bit was a lot for a soul as small as hers. Although getting privileges was somewhat strengthening her soul, they had not healed it.
And if she can properly heal her soul and even make it stronger, then using that scythe or other soul-consuming items and weapons of great power could become a realistic strategy for what is to come.
[The Cosmic Throne {Black Jackal that Judges the Death} has started to bark in anger after seeing the item you’ve chosen.]
[He says such a precious treasure shouldn’t belong in the hands of a fool like you!]
[The Cosmic Throne {Lady that Soothes the Souls of the Death} shakes in horror!]
[She asks you not to choose that item! It is one of her husband’s most beloved treasures!]
“Sorry, but I’ve made up my decision.”
…
At the same time as Fenrir and Jack clashed against Hel, Henrietta brought the unconscious Dimitri and Eckert to safety, making a whole flight to the city walls and giving the two to a team of paramedics waiting in the entrance with an ambulance. She had used some basic healing magic, but some of their broken bones will only heal with specialized medical magic tools within hospitals.
“You two did good work; leave the rest to us!” Henrietta flew across the skies, realizing that her brother, Dan Baihe, and Annabelle were running towards the area where Hel was fighting against Jack.
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!
The huge fists of the Netherworld’s King rained upon Jack, and as he swiftly evaded the gigantic yet rapid blows by leaping and running across the battlefield, several magic circles were being inscribed around him at the same time.
“Let’s try something flashier for once.” Jack smiled. “With the Magic Circle Creation that Henrietta taught me!”
Dozens of Magic Circles were created at once, as Jack quickly imbued the rotating runes that meant many different words together into powerful spells, an innate ability he held yet which he had never tried out before due to his lack of magic principles and his overreliance on skills.
“{Sunlight Beam}!”
Imitating the magic circles that Anna utilized, Jack was able to summon dozens of Sunlight Beams, albeit not as powerful as those of his prodigious sister; they were powerful enough to pierce through the Netherworld King’s arms and leave huge wounds, bleeding out a black gooey blood.
“GRAAAAH!”
The scream of the monstrous titan echoed into the world, his very scream generating a strong pressure under any mortal. Jack felt like his entire soul shook by hearing it!
“Just what in the world is that thing?!” Jack wondered, evading its huge fist before it was to crush him to death.
BAAAM!
“That’s the Netherworld King... A being that Hel created using the body parts of many Ancient Jotun that fell in the first war between Ymir’s forces and Odin’s family in the Realm of Yggdrasil.” Fenrir explained.
“It is an Undead made up of body parts from dead gods?!” Jack finally realized why that thing’s very scream was so potent.
“You’re getting sluggish, brother! How about you take a break?!” Laughed Hel. “{Netherworld King’s Stomp}!”
A gigantic portal opened above Jack as the gigantic foot of the Undead Titan crushed his body completely!
CRASH!
“JACK!”
-----
PancakesWitch
If you can't wait for more chapters, there's over 33 chapters in advance over on Patreon! Pancakes Witch | creating Novels | Patreon
Also, if you're craving a much more brutal and powerful main character than Anna, make sure to check my new novel, published on Scribblehub and Royal Road: The Heavenly Martial Empress Returns: An OP Xianxia Returnee LitRPG | Scribble Hub
