Chapter 76: The Axe of the North Wind
After the Spartan warrior left, the girls couldn’t contain themselves any longer and burst into laughter.
“The Captain becomes a daddy!” Mia shouted first.
“Hey! Which one of us do you think the Spartans consider Hood’s mother?” Medea, ever the mischief-maker, asked with a giggle.
“It must be Nuo or Peggy, they both have black hair.” Eleanor analyzed seriously. “Considering that Peggy looks younger, it’s probably Nuo.”
“Stop it!” Nuo’s face turned as red as an apple, and she shouted in embarrassment.
“Is everyone too idle after the war?” Asker sighed. “Just in time, I’ve collected a batch of Dark Elf Transcendental characteristics, they can supplement your nutrition.”
“Let’s combine it with special training,” he said with a smile.
“No!” The girls immediately wailed.
…
On Furnace Island, the girls stood listlessly in a line, like lambs caught by a wolf, their faces full of resignation.
“Today’s special training is one-on-one sparring with me.” Asker held a wooden sword and said with a smile, “Of course, I’m not a demon. Anyone who can defeat me can skip today’s training.”
The girls exchanged glances, thinking that this promise was too good to be true. Who could actually achieve it? If they could really defeat him, why would they be afraid of special training?
“What, do you think the difficulty is too high?” Asker asked with a smile. “Then let’s change the criteria: whoever can defeat Sidlipha in the morning can skip half a day of training; same for the afternoon.”
“Wait! Why me all of a sudden…” Sidlipha exclaimed in panic, only to see the other girls turn to her with hungry looks in their eyes.
“Sidlipha,” Eleanor said lightly, “we’re old sparring partners, let’s practice together today, shall we?”
“I promise not to use Undead Phantom Sword,” Peggy said.
“Big Sister Sidlipha, I’ve also wanted to train with you for a long time!” Mia hugged her leg.
So Sidlipha cried out as she was half-dragged, half-carried away by the girls.
Asker smiled as he watched them.
“Why did you suddenly choose Sidlipha to be ganged up on?” Medea asked from the side. “Well, I don’t think your choice was without reason, is there some deeper meaning here?”
“Have you heard of Spartacus’ axe?” Asker asked instead of answering directly.
“What?” Medea asked, confused.
“Spartacus, the Thracian slave gladiator of ancient Solomon in the Third Age.” Thira explained. “He revolted because he was dissatisfied with the treatment of slaves, and his army once reached 100,000 men. Later, he was captured and killed in the Battle of Apria.”
“It is said that he once obtained a divinely bestowed one-handed battle axe called ‘Boreas.’”
“Boreas, this word in Siris refers to both the ‘north wind’ and the ‘god of the north wind.’ This god came from the distant Hyperborea in the north, where the sun never sets, the ice and snow never melt, and the ancient Hyperboreans with the bloodline of frost giants live. They have long lifespans and possess countless gold.”
“To please the god of the north wind, they found polar ice in the far north, a transcendental material countless times harder than steel, almost impossible to collect with any tools. The Hyperboreans slaughtered dozens of frost giant tribes, softened the polar ice with boiling giant blood, and finally forged it into the shape of a battle axe, the ‘Axe of the North Wind,’ Boreas.”
“The Hyperboreans presented the Axe of the North Wind to the god of the north wind. The god of the north wind later came to live in Thrace, and this battle axe was lost in Thrace. As for how Spartacus obtained it, no one knows.”
“Is this Axe of the North Wind powerful?” Medea asked thoughtfully.
“It’s not a matter of whether it’s powerful or not.” Thira didn’t know how to explain. “It’s truly an artifact, beyond the scope of ordinary weapons.”
“It is said that the Axe of the North Wind has two characteristics: one is ‘The north wind freezes all things,’ it can freeze the enemy instantly upon hitting them, immobilizing them.”
“The second is ‘The north wind will always return.’ After being thrown out and hitting the enemy, the Axe of the North Wind will automatically fly back to its owner’s hand. No one understands the principle behind this.”
“Hmm.” Medea pondered. Just these two characteristics described by Thira sounded like the abilities of an artifact.
“Speaking of artifacts,” Asker said, “the artifacts in this world can be divided into three categories.”
“The first category, Epic Artifacts. These artifacts are usually very powerful, but they also have high restrictions on their users. For example, in the Sacred Heart Cathedral in West Francia, there is a spear called ‘Sacred Heart.’ It is said that only those who are absolutely righteous can hold it. Once the user has any evil thoughts, the spear will become too hot to hold.”
“The second category, Cursed Artifacts. These artifacts have powerful abilities, but also terrible negative effects. For example, the Shadow Blade used by Brutus to assassinate Caesar, its characteristic is being able to attack from the Shadow Realm, thus ignoring all defenses and supernatural abilities of the target.”
“The price is that once possessed, it will tempt the user to kill their loved ones, causing the user to live in regret and despair.”
“The third category, Growth Artifacts. The power of these artifacts is positively correlated with the Transcendental’s level and spiritual strength. If held in the hands of an ordinary person, it’s just an ordinary weapon.”
“The Axe of the North Wind that Thira mentioned is such a Growth Artifact. Currently, most of the artifacts in the world have been collected and studied by the Solomon Church, and a few are kept by the Orthodox Church as sealed items.”
“And this Axe of the North Wind is one of the few artifacts that have not been discovered by the Church. Back then, Spartacus originally planned to lead the slaves across the Strait of Messina, so he gave this weapon to the pirates as collateral.”
“However, the pirates betrayed him and didn’t provide the ships in order to keep the weapon for themselves, instead crossing the Ionian Sea and escaping.”
“When they landed at the port of Pylos on the Peloponnese Peninsula, it is said that the battle axe couldn’t bear falling into the hands of such despicable people, so it flew into the air with a gust of sea wind and finally landed on Mount Taygetus.”
“So the once scenic Mount Taygetus immediately turned into a snow-capped peak.”
The girls nodded and clicked their tongues, thinking that the reason they came to Sparta was to get this weapon for Sidlipha.
But how did Asker know about this? Never mind, although he was always mysterious, his predictions had never been wrong…
“To pull out this axe, you need at least the ‘Frost’ and ‘Giant’ sequences. Spartacus back then had the bloodline of the Hyperboreans and also possessed the ‘Frost’ sequence.”
“I’m not sure if Sidlipha has the Giant bloodline, but just in case, we must have her take and digest ‘Frost I’ and ‘Giant I’ as soon as possible.” Asker turned to Nuo and Medea and instructed:
“Keep an eye on her during this time and make sure she reaches level 4 for me!”
Nuo and Medea responded, suddenly feeling a strange sympathy for Sidlipha.
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