Free Web NovelChapter 564: Go do what you have to do!!!
Nidhogg continued advancing through the monumental branches of the Central Kingdom while Kael remained motionless on his scales, absorbing the impossible vastness of that place. The more he observed his surroundings, the more he felt his mind was incapable of fully comprehending what he saw. Entire forests grew on branches that stretched for distances greater than human kingdoms. Rivers of mana flowed through the living wood like luminous arteries, pulsing in slow, steady rhythms. Space itself seemed to breathe.
For several minutes, neither of them spoke.
The silence wasn’t unpleasant.
It was almost reverent.
As if any excessive noise seemed inappropriate in that place.
Then Nidhogg broke the silence.
"For now, she hasn’t noticed yet."
Kael raised his head slightly.
"What?"
"That we are here."
The answer made Kael frown immediately.
He observed the endless branches around him, the currents of energy coursing through the entire structure of the World Tree, and then turned his attention to the dragoness.
"How is this possible?"
Nidhogg’s colossal voice echoed softly through the surroundings.
"The runes Elion engraved on you are concealing part of your presence. Furthermore, she also used several dimensional concealment enchantments before we left."
Kael remained silent for a few seconds as he processed that information.
"So we’re invisible?"
"Not exactly."
The answer came without hesitation.
"We’re obscured."
The dragoness’s enormous golden eyes remained fixed forward as she continued to glide between the gigantic branches.
"That’s a significant difference."
Kael rested one hand on a nearby scale as he observed the scene below.
"How long will this last?"
Nidhogg remained silent for a few moments before replying.
"A little."
That didn’t sound particularly encouraging.
"How little?"
"Enough time for me to wait until we reach our destination." freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Kael immediately noticed the specific way she had phrased that sentence.
"Wait?"
"Yes."
"You’re not sure."
"No."
Silence returned briefly.
Kael sighed.
"This is becoming worryingly familiar."
A small, deep laugh ran across the dragoness’s colossal chest.
"You’re adapting quickly."
"Unfortunately."
They continued forward.
Further down, enormous crystalline structures grew directly from the living wood of Yggdrasil. Some glowed in bluish hues. Others emitted golden light. In various places, creatures made of pure energy crossed the space between the branches like migratory birds traversing continents.
Everything seemed calm.
Peaceful.
Ancient.
And that’s precisely why Kael found it hard to believe that this place could transform into a battlefield.
Then a doubt arose.
He spoke again.
"Wait."
Nidhogg moved one of its pupils slightly in his direction.
"Yes?"
Kael observed the vastness of the Central Kingdom again.
"Isn’t Yggdrasil literally this entire dimension?"
"For the most part."
"Then how come it doesn’t immediately notice we’re here?"
Nidhogg remained silent for a few seconds.
This time, his answer took longer.
When it came, his tone was different.
More serious.
More reflective.
"Because power has a cost."
Kael blinked.
The answer wasn’t exactly what he expected.
Nidhogg continued.
"The larger an existence becomes, the harder it is to control everything simultaneously."
Her golden eyes scanned the luminous branches ahead.
"Yggdrasil sustains countless worlds. It maintains dimensional boundaries. It regulates mana flows. It observes entire realities."
Her voice grew lower.
"Even for it, there are limits."
Kael remained attentive.
Nidhogg continued without slowing her flight.
"To possess such power, certain things must be sacrificed. It’s not possible to have everything."
The golden currents around them continued to flow slowly as she spoke.
"Some sacrifice freedom to gain stability. Others sacrifice emotions to achieve clarity."
She paused briefly.
"And some sacrifice absolute perception to sustain something far greater."
Kael remained silent.
Her words stirred a distant memory.
Something that didn’t belong to that world.
Something from his previous life.
His mind automatically returned to ancient stories.
Mythology.
Legends.
Sacrifices.
He remembered Odin.
The old god who had sacrificed one of his own eyes to drink from Mímir’s Well and gain knowledge.
A trade-off.
A loss.
A price paid in pursuit of something greater.
Kael watched the luminous currents coursing through the branches below.
"These things always seem problematic."
His voice came out lower than he intended.
Nidhogg let out a small sigh.
"They are."
She didn’t try to soften the answer.
She didn’t try to make it prettier.
She simply answered honestly.
"The world is problematic."
The enormous dragon continued advancing through the golden immensity.
"Sometimes you choose what to lose."
His voice echoed calmly.
"Sometimes the choice is yours."
Kael didn’t answer.
Because, honestly, there wasn’t much to say.
The more he learned about primordial entities, the more he realized their lives were built on impossible compromises.
Power.
Responsibility. Loneliness.
Sacrifice.
Nothing seemed to come without a price.
Silence returned once more.
But it didn’t last long.
In the distance, between the colossal branches, Kael finally noticed something different.
An opening.
A huge, dark void existing directly in the main trunk of the World Tree.
Even from that absurd distance, the structure was gigantic.
It seemed less like a hole and more like a passage to another universe.
He immediately pointed.
"That?"
Nidhogg nodded.
"Yes."
For the first time since they entered that realm, she seemed genuinely focused.
"That’s where we’re going."
The dragoness’s enormous body tilted slightly as she adjusted her trajectory.
Her gigantic wings moved slowly.
The air vibrated.
The branches below began to glide more quickly.
They were getting closer.
Closer and closer.
Faster and faster.
Then it happened.
Without warning.
Without preparation.
Without any prior sign.
A shrill sound cut through the air.
It didn’t sound like a roar.
It didn’t sound like a scream.
It sounded like wood being ripped apart by cosmic forces.
The sound traveled across the entire Central Kingdom.
Kael felt his runes react instantly beneath his skin.
All at once.
The golden glow exploded through his veins.
The reaction was automatic.
Violent.
Instinctive.
Then something colossal emerged from the side of one of the nearby branches.
A trunk.
But calling it a trunk seemed absurd.
It was bigger than mountains.
Bigger than cities.
A living mass of golden wood shooting through space at impossible speed.
Kael’s eyes widened.
The impact happened the next instant.
The colossal structure struck part of Nidhogg’s body with enough force to make the Central Kingdom itself tremble.
The shock pierced its scales.
The vibration traveled for miles.
Entire branches trembled.
Currents of mana exploded throughout the environment.
Kael was almost thrown far away.
Instinctively, he clung to one of the enormous protrusions between the dragoness’s scales.
The whole world seemed to spin.
Nidhogg let out a deep roar that echoed throughout the dimension.
Not of pain.
Of irritation.
"Shit!"
His voice reverberated like thunder through the endless branches.
The dragoness’s golden eyes moved quickly across the horizon.
She had already understood what had happened.
"They noticed!" Another wave of energy swept through the Central Kingdom.
Branches began to move.
Distant roots began to awaken.
Luminous creatures disappeared from the sky.
The dimension itself seemed to be reacting.
Like a living organism opening its eyes.
Nidhogg beat its wings with enough violence to displace mountains of air.
"That was sooner than I imagined!"
Kael was still trying to regain his balance as he watched the surrounding scenery transform.
The peaceful place of just seconds ago had vanished.
Now everything seemed awake.
Attentive.
Hostile.
Nidhogg accelerated.
Currents of wind exploded around them.
The enormous hole in the main trunk remained ahead.
Still distant.
But reachable.
If they were quick.
Very quick.
Her voice echoed again.
Louder this time.
More urgent.
"Hold on!" And then the entire Central Kingdom began to hunt them.
The Central Kingdom didn’t respond as a place—it responded as a body.
The vibration coursed through the endless branches the instant Yggdrasil’s will turned completely against them. The currents of mana ceased to flow in harmony and began to pulse like nerves in spasm.
And then came the second impact.
It wasn’t an isolated attack.
It was a condemnation.
Two colossal trunks moved simultaneously, as if the very fabric of reality had decided to crush intruders. The force struck Nidhogg head-on.
The shock didn’t sound like an explosion.
It sounded like the world being folded.
Kael saw the exact instant when everything lost its meaning.
Nidhogg’s gigantic body was thrown sideways, spinning in the air between branches the size of continents. The force was so absurd that the surrounding air simply collapsed into waves of pressure.
"KAEL!"
Her voice wasn’t soft this time.
It was torn by the impact.
And he went with it.
The world became a golden and green blur.
Kael was hurled from the scales as if he were a drop being ripped from a moving blade. The wind tried to tear him in two. Currents of mana burned his skin like living electricity.
For a moment, he didn’t think.
He just fell.
Then instinct took over.
The runes beneath his skin exploded in response—not as pain, but as command.
"Not now."
The air around him distorted.
He opened his hand into the void and drew energy as if pulling something invisible from space itself.
An arcane structure formed beneath his body—not solid, but sustained by inverted gravity and compressed mana flow. He didn’t stop falling.
But he stopped falling "downward."
The world shifted its axis.
And Kael began to glide.
Still out of control, still being pushed by gusts of wind and shards of energy, he managed to stabilize his trajectory enough to avoid being crushed by the moving branches.
Below him, the Central Kingdom was awakening on an impossible scale.
Entire branches moved like arms.
Roots emerged like continental serpents.
And at the center of it all, Nidhogg fought.
She collided with another living trunk that tried to engulf her, and the impact sent shockwaves rippling through kilometers of ancient wood. Scales split open like war plates. The very light of the place trembled around her.
Kael looked away at the last second.
Concentration.
Breathe.
Control the flow.
He adjusted his plan and descended diagonally, cutting through the space between two massive roots that closed like jaws.
The landing was violent.
He fell onto a colossal root that pulsed like an ancient heart.
He slid a few meters before digging his hand in and stabilizing his body with magic.
When he finally raised his head, he saw the true scale of the battle.
Nidhogg was partially trapped between the living structures of the tree.
It wasn’t an ordinary siege.
The roots didn’t just attack—they learned her movement, adjusting as if they were part of a single distributed consciousness.
The main trunk in the distance trembled.
And an overwhelming pressure grew in the air, as if something gigantic were "looking" directly at the point where they were.
Kael felt the weight of it on her skin.
And then she heard it.
Not with her ears.
But directly in her mind, cutting through the chaos like a clean blade.
"Go do what you have to do."
Nidhogg’s voice came firm.
Without hesitation.
Without room for debate.
A colossal root tried to envelop her again, and she broke it with a head movement that made the very space crack.
"I’ll take care of this thing."
