Chapter 218: Lifting the Meow-Meow Hammer
Ryū and Yukari's exchange trailed off. He'd also become dimly aware of an observing gaze directed at their location — something with significant reach, probing from outside. Yukari's shielding boundary appeared to have done its job. The lock-on hadn't completed.
The dignity-free youkai sage had, in a critical moment, been unusually reliable.
Shielding out the Ancient One's sensing reach was not a small achievement. The Points accumulated across every group quest she'd participated in had clearly been going somewhere.
Her sign-in luck was catastrophic. Her quest name-grabbing ability was apparently the inverse.
We're here for four more days and we have no hostile intent. Even if the Ancient One shows up for a conversation, there's no real problem. Some vague explanation, she probably won't believe it, that's fine.
He put it aside and focused on the scene in front of him.
The man with the retreating hairline and the suit — Coulson. He'd recognised him immediately. S.H.I.E.L.D. veteran. Good actor in the Avengers series, though Ryū couldn't remember the exact mechanism of his eventual return from apparent death. He hadn't watched the TV show.
Twenty-odd metres away, and still fully readable through Observation Haki. The shock in Coulson's eyes was visible without needing to enhance his senses. Coming out of a spatial rift would do that to anyone.
A bark.
Ryū looked over. The Shiba Inu Thor was making gestures at him. Clearly trying to convey something, equally clearly unable to say it aloud.
Being a dog-type thunder deity who couldn't speak was a specific kind of awkward. Wolffy talked. The Wandering Earth talked. These were not humans either.
The Shiba pressed a button on its shoulder harness.
"I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER!"
Second button.
"FOR THE GLORY OF THE NORTHERN GODS!"
Third button.
"ADMIN IS INCREDIBLE!"
"…"
When had it swapped out that third button?
Ryū's expression twitched.
"Talk in the group. I don't speak Dog."
A few seconds later, a private message arrived.
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: Admin Admin Admin Admin Admin Admin!
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: I can feel a strange pull from over there — it's almost exactly like the pull from my own hammer! Nearly identical!
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: Does this place have Meow-Meow Hammer's twin sibling?
RawrSoFierce: There is a hammer in that crater, yes. Probably two sizes larger than yours. It has the same lightning properties. Hard to say which is stronger — too soon to judge.
RawrSoFierce: Since you're feeling a pull from it — can you call it toward you?
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: I'm not sure… let me try!
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: It seems to have a little bit of resistance toward me.
RawrSoFierce: Probably because you're not this world's thunder deity.
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: Huh? Is there another thunder god in this world?
RawrSoFierce: …Did you not read the group discussion?
RawrSoFierce: Forget it. If you can't call it, try lifting it. Since we've happened to end up in this timeline, not attempting to lift Mjolnir when the opportunity is right there would be a waste.
"…"
While Ryū and the Shiba were exchanging messages, a figure in research-team clothing came sprinting toward them from the direction of the crater, wildly excited.
"Mr. Coulson! Just now — just now the hammer — the hammer just spontaneously flew up several metres by itself, then came back down! It — I — wait, why are there so many people here now?"
The researcher looked around with a confused expression. He was pretty sure there hadn't been this many people a moment ago. And the way these people were dressed was very — specific. He was fairly sure one of them had an Elvis-style pompadour. The young man responsible for it looked like a very well-done steak, and also looked about eighteen.
Where did these delinquents come from?
Coulson cleared his throat and didn't explain. He didn't actually know who these people were — only that they were Stark's guests and that the Director had said leave them alone.
His attention had landed on the more urgent piece of information.
The hammer that nothing had been able to move had moved by itself.
"Take me there now!"
The researcher blinked. "…Yes, right—"
"Mr. Stark, excuse me for a moment."
Coulson moved off at speed.
He'd been stationed at this site for two or three days. Every technique, every piece of heavy equipment, every approach S.H.I.E.L.D. possessed had been tried. Nothing had budged the hammer. And the moment these people arrived, it had moved.
Was that a coincidence? He genuinely didn't know. He was only speculating.
Probably a coincidence. It couldn't be that direct a connection.
"Let's go take a look," Ryū said to the group. "The little Thor wants to touch the big hammer."
With Fury's instructions in effect, none of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents moved to intercept them as they approached the crater. The group made it to the site without incident.
Around the rim: heavy equipment, several pieces of which had taken visible damage. Presumably from the attempts to physically extract the hammer. A temporary canopy had been erected over the area — rough work, but it cut the afternoon heat.
Yukari looked down at the hammer in the crater's depths.
"There's a strange power in it. Substantial. It would be a good weapon." She tilted her head slightly. "Very temperamental force… similar to the small hammer the little dog is carrying. Even the appearance is alike. Two of the same flower blooming in different worlds. How fascinating to see it in person."
She hadn't lowered her voice. Coulson, standing a short distance away, heard every word. He looked at the golden-haired woman with a confused expression. She seemed to know something about the hammer.
Yukari paid his gaze no attention. She looked at the Shiba Inu.
"Little dog, did you want to try? As the Admin mentioned, only those the hammer accepts can lift it — but you might qualify~"
The Shiba's expression became extremely serious.
It set its miniature hammer on the ground.
It pressed the shoulder button.
"I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER!"
Then it walked on its hind legs toward the crater edge and descended.
Coulson stared.
The walking was one thing. The toy hammer was one thing. But it had understood complex spoken language. The intelligence level here was approaching human.
A Shiba Inu with human-level intelligence was genuinely alarming.
If S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't routinely dealt with things significantly stranger than this, he'd have thought he was looking at an alien.
"The, uh — the dog, sir — that hammer couldn't be moved even with heavy equipment, I should mention."
He was questioning his own decision-making as he said this. He was talking to a dog.
The Shiba turned to look at him.
Then pressed its shoulder button three times in sequence.
"I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER!"
"I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER!"
"I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER!"
The Admin had mentioned something about important things being worth saying three times.
Coulson's eye twitched. This dog invited strong reactions. Expressing those reactions aloud seemed impolite. Why he was worried about being polite to a dog was a separate question. And if this dog was genuinely the thunder god Thor, then Odin was presumably also a dog, which raised theological questions he was not equipped to address right now.
He was mid-thought on whether having these thoughts was going to get him struck by lightning—
Blinding light erupted from the crater.
Blue-white. Brilliant enough to wash out the surrounding landscape. The light reached across several kilometres in every direction. The entire town could see it.
Lightning arcs snapped through the air, lashing around the Shiba like living things.
"WOOF—!!"
The Shiba's paw closed around the hammer's handle.
It lifted.
Single-handed.
No strain. No effort.
The hammer came out of the crater as though it weighed nothing at all.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you