Chapter 538: How to Wake Up Sleeping Beauty?

Atrium, Alps.

Standing in the severe cold and snow, Loen looked at the endless mountains ahead, and couldn't help but look up at a huge black crow combing its feathers on a dead branch:

"Mulin, are you sure it's here?"

"Don't worry, it's in there, there's no doubt about it!"

The black crow spoke in human language, and its tone was very firm.

In Norse mythology, two huge crows perch on Odin's shoulders all year round. One is called "Haiji", representing "thinking"; the other is called "Mulin", representing "memory". These two crows fly around the nine kingdoms every day, and then report everything they see and hear to Odin without reservation. They are the extension of Odin's will and eyes.

In addition, the two crows have their own characteristics. "Haiji", representing "thinking", is fast and suitable for acting as an outpost; "Mulin", representing "memory", has a photographic memory and is a living map.

It was for this reason that Odin sent out the crow named "Mulin" to guide Lorne.

Since he had nothing to do along the way, Loen couldn't resist his curiosity and asked the crow Mullin why Brunhilde was punished again.

Mullin had no reservations and told Loen what had happened in a torrent of words.

One day, an old king of the North, Yamgnar, was going to have a fair duel with another young enemy king, Agnar. As the old king Yamgnar felt that he was too old, he was very worried that he would not be able to win the duel, so he secretly prayed to Odin for victory. Odin, who accepted the sacrifice, readily agreed and sent the Valkyrie Brunhilde, who was stationed in the North at that time, to act as a referee, and hinted that she could use some tricks to help the old king win.

For example, providing protection to the old king Yamguna, or using magic to disrupt his opponents.

However, Brunhilde either did not comprehend or did not understand what Odin meant, and she just handled the matter impartially, acting as a real referee. Based on the result of the duel, she determined that the braver and younger King Agnar was the winner.

After this defeat, the old king Yamgunati lost all face and even gave up his faith in Odin.

Odin was in the wrong and could not get angry, so he could only vent his anger on Brunhilde for her incompetence. He sealed her divinity, demoted her to a human, and imprisoned her in a castle surrounded by a shield wall on the distant Hindall Peak in the Alps.

After listening to this, Luo En was speechless for a moment.

Odin has an old habit of liking to win by trickery.

Brunhilde is also known for her stubborn character and lack of worldly wisdom. It would be strange if a Valkyrie who values honor on the battlefield were to help others cheat would have a good result.

Of course, it is also possible that Odin wanted to use this to test whether Brunhilde would be obedient.

As a result, both father and daughter suffered losses.

Luo En stroked his forehead, feeling a little amused and helpless.

Combined with the previous experience of Hela, he vaguely felt that Odin and his daughter were creatures that seemed to be naturally incompatible.

Forget it. It’s hard for a judge to settle family disputes. Let’s get Brunhilde out first.

Having made up his mind, Loen turned into a stream of golden light and followed the guidance of the crow Mulin, heading straight for the Shiendal Peak.

Passing through the vast snow and wind, a towering and unique castle comes into view.

Layers of sharp ice blades acted as blade walls, and the dark blue flames created by Rune covered the entire castle, making outsiders afraid.

Seeing that they had found their destination, the crow Mullin folded his wings and landed on Loen's shoulder, and began to explain:

"This is a test set by Odin. Either Brunhilde will achieve a breakthrough and break free from the shackles from within, or someone will not fear death and break through the barrier of ice and fire from the outside to wake her up..."

"Speaking of this barrier, its design is modeled after the operation mode of the world's source, and it is quite solid. Let me explain the principle to you in detail..."

"There is also this awakening method, the method is very unique, let me tell you..."

The chattering sound came into my ears, as if countless flies were buzzing nearby.

"Shut up!" Unable to bear it any longer, Loen slapped the crow Mullin, making him stagger, and stopped the noise-making behavior.

To be fair, this crow is well-informed and familiar with the various secrets and mysteries of the nine kingdoms. He is a good guide.

But its shortcomings are also obvious, that is, it is gossipy and talkative, and its mouth never stops along the way.

Therefore, Loen deeply suspected that Odin threw this thing to him as a guide because he didn't want to be disturbed when he was doing things.

After receiving a solid slap in the face, the crow Mullin immediately calmed down, shut up, flapped his wings, and carried Loen through the sea of fire and the blade wall into the castle.

Due to the huge amount of magic power accumulated here, there is also a magical scene inside.

Dense thorns covered the ground and surrounding buildings, almost completely enveloping a tall tower in the distance.

"It's right there!"

Mulin flapped his wings and flew forward, and Loen followed decisively, the divine power in his body surging on its own.

The thorns along the way that were as hard as steel could not pose any obstacles and were crushed one after another, thus opening the door to the interior of the tower.

It was dark inside, and the entire bedroom was almost covered with dense and sharp thorns.

At the end, Brunhilde, wearing chain mail and a winged helmet, lay quietly on a large bed surrounded by soft thorns, with her eyes closed, sleeping soundly.

Loen used his divine power to clear away the obstacles blocking his way, quickly walked to the bed, and whispered Brunhilde's name several times.

However, unexpectedly, Brunhilde was still sleeping and showed no signs of waking up.

Seeing this, Luo En couldn't help but frown and looked at the crow Mulin beside him:

"Not awake? What happened?"

"I've already told you, Brunhilde's current situation is rather special. The reason why she fell asleep is a long story..."

A chattering crow felt a murderous aura coming from behind him. Seeing Lorne draw out a sword and a barbecue skewer expressionlessly, he shuddered and replied concisely,

"Sleeping Thorn! It's because of the Sleeping Thorn!"

"Svefnorn [Needle]? The one in Odin's treasury?"

“That’s right!”

Crow Mullin nodded hurriedly and quickly explained the whole story.

In order to teach Brunhilde a profound lesson, Odin not only demoted Brunhilde to a mortal and imprisoned her in a castle, but also pierced Brunhilde's finger with an artifact made of branches from a sleeping tree, causing her to fall into a long coma.

This thorn called the Sleeping Thorn has extremely powerful magic. Even if Odin himself was accidentally pierced by it, he would be affected by it, not to mention Brunhilde, a Valkyrie.

Upon learning of this, Loen frowned and asked:

"How long will it take for Brunhilde to wake up?"

"That's up to you."

"I?"

"Well, according to Brunhilde's physique, she should have woken up long ago. But Odin also added a spell to the needle - Brunhilde will sleep forever until a fearless warrior passes through the barrier of flaming swords and reaches her side, offering [sincere love] to awaken her will and let her end this eternal sleep."

Crow Mullin blinked his black eyes and answered seriously.

【True love】? Are you kidding!

Do you think this is a fairy tale?

Just as Loen was secretly complaining, his expression suddenly froze.

Wait, this really seems like a plot from a fairy tale.

——A castle full of thorns, needles, a beautiful girl in her sleep, a spell that requires [true love] to wake up...

Isn’t this the Sleeping Beauty in Grimm’s fairy tale?

Considering that the Grimm brothers were of Nordic German origin, and that most fairy tales were based on folk tales and myths, Loen was extremely certain that the Brunhilde in front of him was most likely the original version of the heroine in "Sleeping Beauty".

After figuring out the whole story, he slapped his forehead, feeling powerless to complain.

I just finished reading Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" in the Land of Giants, and when I returned to Fairyland, I came across Polgrim's fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty". I really have a connection with fairy tales.

So, do we really need to use [Love] to awaken Brunhilde?

Loen looked at the crow Mulin dimly, his eyes flickering.

"Odin called me, you guys play, I won't disturb you!"

Smelling the dangerous atmosphere in the air, the crow Mulin realized that the situation was not good and immediately turned into a stream of black light, flapped his wings, broke through the barrier, and quickly fled the scene.

Damn bird, you run fast!

Loen glared at the running crow Mullin, then turned around to look at Brunhilde who was sleeping on the bed. After hesitating for a moment, he raised his hand and took off Brunhilde's helmet.

A head of long purple-white hair falls on the shoulders of the Valkyrie like a waterfall, exuding a seductive tranquility and beauty.

Lorne pursed his lips, held his breath, and kissed Brunhilde's forehead lightly.

If I remember correctly, in the fairy tale, it was the prince's "true love's kiss" that woke Sleeping Beauty up.

However, after waiting for a while, Brunhilde on the bed did not wake up.

Not sincere enough? Not exciting enough?

Loen thought about it, lowered his head again, and kissed the Valkyrie's pink lips.

But Brunhilde still didn't wake up.

Is it because of the wrong posture?

Lorne frowned and continued trying.

However, he tried seven or eight times, even using the French kiss, but Brunhilde was still sleeping soundly, with no signs of waking up at all.

Screw your "true love's kiss"! This is nothing like what is said in fairy tales!

Loen was a little crazy. He inadvertently noticed that there seemed to be a faint blood line on Brunhilde's left arm, and the starting point was a small wound on her left ring finger.

Judging from the marks, it was most likely the part that was pierced by the [needle].

And the end of the blood line...

Confused, Lorne carefully removed the chain mail on Brunhilde's chest, lifted up her coat, and looked at her abdomen.

I saw that on the smooth jade-like belly, there was a circle of purple-red rune marks that looked like a wreath of thorns.

The inexplicable sense of déjà vu and the implication of the rune made Loen silent for a moment, then he slowly raised his middle finger to the sky:

"Odin, damn it!"

In fact, the earliest version of Sleeping Beauty was not awakened by a kiss. The 1636 Italian version of this story is the earliest written version found today. According to this version, Sleeping Beauty was raped by the king who broke into the castle. Then, the satisfied king rode away on horseback. The princess did not wake up until 9 months later and found that she had become the mother of twins.

Similarly, in the Norse epic "Volsung", which records this legend, it seems to mention that the warrior who came to the castle fell in love with Brunhilde and had some indescribable intimate contact.

After all, according to the Nordic people's nature of either doing it or having sex with others, they don't have time for pure love like "True Love's Kiss" that is based on emotion and limited by courtesy.

It goes without saying what the crow Mullin meant by "true love" that could awaken Brunhilde.

After figuring out the truth, Loen was suddenly in a dilemma.

Giving a kiss to save someone can still be classified as a matter of emergency.

But if he really has to fight in real life, the nature of the situation will be completely different. It is equivalent to shouldering a responsibility, which will in turn affect his judgment of the overall situation. This is why Loen tried his best to remain restrained in Northern Europe.

But if he didn't take this step, he wouldn't have any burden, but Brunhilde's future situation might be a little bad.

According to Odin's character, he would most likely abandon his daughter and use her as a tool to breed and win over heroes with divine blood in the world.

The tragedy in "The Story of Volsung" comes from this.

At that time, if I don't kill Boren, Boren will die because of me, and Brunhilde will end up in tragedy, which is also an unacceptable result for Loen.

After thinking for a long time, Loen thought of the scene in Utgard City where Brunhilde resolutely stabbed him with her spear in order to help him win the final victory. Finally, he made up his mind.

Forget it, I’m here anyway!

Having made up his mind, Loen no longer hesitated. He took a deep breath, gently peeled off the last obstacle on Sleeping Beauty's body, and gently and slowly carried out the [awakening] work.

After a long and arduous process of cultivation, the seeds of life finally sprouted into the flowers.

At the same time, the thorn wreath-like patterns on Brunhilde's lower abdomen faded, and her purple eyes suddenly opened.

When their eyes met, Lorne froze, looking embarrassed:

"Well, listen to me..."

However, before he could open his mouth to explain, a hand was raised to cover his mouth. Brunhilde's purple eyes looked at the face in front of her excitedly, and she murmured like a dream:

"Lord Loki, you finally came to save me. I knew you would come!"

The white fingertips outlined the contours of the face, conveying a hint of joy and satisfaction.

The needles and spells only caused her body functions to stagnate, but could not completely block her five senses.

In other words, she knew exactly what happened in her dream.

But that’s not enough!

Want more!

Brunhilde's eyes were filled with lust and desire. She suddenly raised her arms and pressed the prince who came to save her onto the bed. Then she turned over, turning from passive to active, greedily and madly demanding everything she had dreamed of.

(End of this chapter)