Myths Reawakened

Route 114.

The weather was clear with no fog. Wayne parked by the roadside, watching Dick and his two companions bent over a magic circle. Due to their menacing appearances, they looked like a group of terrorists about to blow up the highway. To avoid being misunderstood, Wayne started the car to move a little farther from the three men.

In the back seat, Valkyrie dissolved into light and reassembled outside the car, quietly waiting for the portal to open.

The world beyond the Ocean of Mist was inexplicably connected to the seal in the Frozen Land, and it was similarly sealed. The goddess’s messenger hadn’t said what exactly the seal was, and Valkyrie hadn’t asked.

Thanks to the Sun Knight, the higher-ups of the Church of Sun possessed the key to entering the Ocean of Mist. Dick knew because of his good friend and Vera’s father—Cushing Watson.

The Ocean of Mist drifted, its true location far from the Chosen Land. Only its plane of existence happened to overlap with Route 114 in another dimension.

At certain times, the Ocean of Mist would pass through this location and influence the entire highway. The probability was extremely low, though, and only a one-in-a-million lucky soul would encounter it by chance.

Like Wayne.

He was so lucky that he somehow drove into it and left safely without knowing what was happening. Of course, not everything could be attributed to blind luck. There could be other reasons.

Soon, the magic circle was activated, and a golden pillar of light shot into the sky, slicing through the chaotic space like a sword. Turbulent waves stirred the air, creating a blur. A massive hand of mist reached out slowly toward the group.

“Get in the cars and follow me!” Dick shouted, leading his two companions into their vehicle first. As a precaution, he floored the accelerator and took the lead.

Wayne quickly started his car and followed Dick into the dense fog. The two vehicles tore through the hazy veil one after another, and then...

Nothing.

The mist thickened before Wayne’s eyes. Route 114 wound and twisted, and the forests on both sides blurred and distorted. It was eerily silent.

The car that should have been leading the way had vanished without a trace. Dick and his two companions were nowhere to be seen.

Wayne tried accelerating to catch up with the car ahead, but after driving several kilometers, he hit the brakes with a frown.

Glancing at the rearview mirror, he spoke to Valkyrie, “Something’s wrong. Those three didn’t make it in. This world may have a screening mechanism, so not everyone can enter.”

Valkyrie pondered silently. She had no answer, but she guessed that it had something to do with Wayne or Vera. The former could wear her as armor, and the latter was a descendant of the Sun Knight’s squire. Both were intimately connected to the chosen knight.

“That’s no more believable than random selection. Though I’ve been randomly selected twice, the probability is so low that it could be considered a miracle. That makes it even less likely...”

Wayne asked with a frown, “Vera, have you been to this highway before?”

“No.”

Vera looked around curiously. The dense fog was eerie and chilling. Lurking in the depths of the mist were trees brandishing long branches, as if they were ready to pounce at any moment.

Vera was dead afraid of ghosts, but she wasn’t panicked at all right now. With Valkyrie and Wayne by her side, she even hoped that ghosts would hurry up and show themselves.

Meanwhile, on Route 114.

Dick plunged headfirst into the fog yet again, exiting after a hundred meters once more. Anxiety made him sweat profusely. He suspected that his method was wrong and had dismantled and reconstructed the magic circle, but still found no way into the passage leading to the Ocean of Mist.

It wouldn’t be a serious problem if they all failed to enter. They could just sit down and study the entrance more. The worst that could happen would be wasting their time. However, Wayne’s car had successfully entered the Ocean of Mist with Vera as a passenger. They had gone radio silent.

“Boss, what do we do?”

“Keep trying. If it doesn’t work during the day, we’ll try at night. There has to be a way.”

***

“It’s already been an hour. Should we keep waiting for them?”

Wayne checked his watch. It showed that fifty-eight minutes had passed, but his biological clock told him that it had been a full hour. He trusted his biological clock more. The watch was running slower and slower, indicating the presence of an unknown magnetic field nearby. Something similar had to have happened the last time he entered, only he had been too weak to notice.

Neither Vera nor Valkyrie said anything. The former had given up on thinking, while the latter couldn’t think deeply enough. As the one working brain between the three of them, Wayne decided not to wait for Dick, hitting the accelerator to drive along the highway.

Soon, the car entered uncharted territory. Visibility worsened, and once they passed a familiar tunnel, solitary houses appeared on one side of the road.

The dense fog thinned slightly outside the tunnel. Wayne looked at the distant black mountains, saying in a lowered voice, “The last time I passed by, I heard noises coming from the mountains. Although I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I’m certain that there was something big—massive.”

“How massive?” Vera tilted her head.

Wayne fell silent at her curious face, suspecting that she was making an innuendo.

Also curious, Valkyrie asked him exactly how big it was. Wayne said nothing, while Vera looked out of the window with her head bowed, her shoulders shaking.

“Don’t tease Teacher.”

Wayne gave Vera a light chop to the head and continued driving. Ten minutes later, he pointed at the exit of the tunnel and said, “Remember where we came from. If any of us gets separated by accident, don’t try to find the others. Just leave through there.”

The words meant nothing. Valkyrie would never abandon her students, Vera knew that she was the weakest and would die without protection, and Wayne would never just walk away.

The car turned around ten minutes later, back to the stretch of the road lined with isolated houses. Wayne stopped the car and scanned the short buildings, his brows furrowed. “Valkyrie, are you sure that Vera can sense the Sun Knight’s power?”

He opened the door and sniffed the damp air, closing his eyes to focus on his senses for a moment. He didn’t feel any discomfort.

The Book of Greed didn’t react, either.

“She can.”

Valkyrie got out of the car, dissolving into light before turning into a scaled-down armor to fit Vera.

Wearing the ancient, tattered armor with a gleaming golden greatsword on her back, Vera looked like Valkyrie at first glance, but her demeanor was too immature and lacked the older knight’s grace and nobility. She reminded Wayne more of a defeated, captured knight, and the tattered state of the armor fit the image.

Vera closed her eyes to sense the power granted by the armor. Warm light covered her body, and a flame surged in her heart. The might made her eager to challenge a dragon.

Too bad Veronica wasn’t here.

Just then, a pair of pale, slender arms embraced her from behind, ten fingers resting on the backs of Vera’s hands. She instinctively turned around and saw Valkyrie’s stunning, handsome face, unable to stop herself from gulping silently.

Teacher, you smell good!

At that moment, Vera felt like falling in love.

Valkyrie’s elven features were dignified and elegant. The mature, confident aura was especially appealing to her. She longed to become a mature woman like Valkyrie, equally elegant and equally—

Wait a minute!

Does Wayne get embraced from behind every time he puts on the armor?

Vera’s breath hitched. She understood Wayne all too well. With a big sister whom even she admired, he would surely...

Bastard, she’s our teacher! She doesn’t even have a physical body!

“Vera, do you sense the Sun Knight’s power?”

Wayne patted the blonde girl’s head. Without the armor on, he couldn’t see the knight apparition behind Vera. Imagining the scene of the beautiful woman and girl pressed together, he gave a mental thumbs-up.

Vera closed her eyes again and searched for power similar to her own. After a moment, she shook her head.

“What did I tell you? That messenger is unreliable...” Wayne opened the car door and pulled Snow out of the birdcage. “This messenger here is unreliable, too. It does nothing but eat mice every day.”

Valkyrie found it strange, too. Displeased with Wayne’s slander, she said patiently, “Vera, the goddess’s messenger told me that you could sense the Sun Knight’s power. Relax your thoughts. I believe you can see it.”

Vera tried again. Her thoughts transformed into light and spread out to the dense fog, houses, distant mountains, and...

And the monster hiding in a house, its body twisted into an inhuman form.

Vera’s eyes fluttered open. The hideous thing chilled her to the bones. She ducked behind Wayne, pointing at the old house across from them.

“There. A monster’s coming...”