Chapter 117: The Heart of the Curse

"Atanis, thank you so much for your help. You have a remarkable group of warriors," Thor said as he quickly arrived at the library where Atanis and his companions were gathered, stepping forward to embrace him.

"This is what allies are for, Thor," Atanis replied after the greeting. He then introduced his comrade, "This is Executive Officer Serandis, you can consider her my deputy."

"Ah, a valiant female warrior," Thor observed, noting that Serandis’s attire was similar to that of the other warriors he had seen earlier, leading him to guess she was a fighter as well. "Thank you for your assistance. It’s a pity the Valkyries of Asgard are not present; otherwise, you would have had much to talk about."

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness," Serandis said with a respectful bow. Before coming to Midgard, she had studied Asgard’s history, yet found no mention of the Valkyries. She was curious, "Who exactly are the Valkyries?"

"Well," Thor scratched his head, explaining to his new friend, "the Valkyries are not just one individual. Among our forces, the strongest female warriors become Valkyries. They are the elite guardians of Asgard, our mightiest troops."

"However, long ago, all the Valkyries perished, and none have appeared since," Thor continued, though his knowledge of this history was limited. Asgard’s records only state that the Valkyries were wiped out during a mission, with no information on the enemy responsible, so Thor himself did not know.

"Thank you for the explanation, Your Highness," Serandis acknowledged with a bow, stepping back behind Atanis.

"It's nothing; these are not secrets," Thor waved it off, his gaze returning to Atanis as Serandis moved. "Atanis, I wonder about His Majesty."

Atanis immediately understood Thor’s train of thought. For Asgard, less than an hour had passed since the last arrival of the Aesir gods, but for Midgard, it had been over ten days. So Atanis briefly recounted the events that had unfolded on Midgard during that time.

"This is truly..." Thor was overwhelmed by the flood of information, suddenly understanding why his father had always been reluctant to see him fall in love with a human woman. His once joyful mood darkened instantly.

"What is wrong, Thor? Is something amiss?" Atanis sensed Thor’s gloom but did not know the cause, as Thor had not shared anything about Jane.

"Nothing serious," Thor forced a grim smile and quickly changed the subject. "So, that evil demigod is still lingering on Midgard?"

Atanis gave him a puzzled look but said nothing more. "Yes, to protect the ordinary people on Midgard, our fleet did not unleash full bombardment on the target area. As a result, that evil god escaped, but most of his power was reduced to ashes by our assault. What remains is insufficient to cause any real trouble."

Thor swung his mighty hammer with a fierce gleam in his eyes. For a warrior like him, a weakened demigod was the perfect opponent to hone his skills. He asked Atanis, "Once we return to Midgard, may I borrow your detection devices?"

"You want to challenge that demigod?" Atanis frowned briefly then relaxed. "Of course, but you’ll need the queen’s permission."

"That won’t be a problem. Mother will grant me this small request. It’s a rare opportunity," Thor said, his eyes burning with battle fervor. A demigod was a rare sight, and one reduced to a mere shadow of its former self was even rarer. Thor desperately needed a battle to awaken his true potential and break through to the tenth level. Freyja would surely approve.

Malekith piloted his invisible warship through Asgard’s secret passage, arriving at Svartalfheim, the homeland of the dark elves—a dead, desolate world.

Over a million years ago, Asgard had conquered this planet, slaughtering the native dark elves almost to extinction. Had Svartalfheim not been one of the Nine Realms, Asgard might have simply destroyed it via the Bifrost.

Returning to his homeland, Malekith felt neither sorrow nor anger, for he had been the mastermind of that great war and had personally extinguished the last hope of the dark elves who had remained. To Malekith, they were nothing but expendable cannon fodder, hardly worth sacrificing his grand dreams.

Now, stepping again onto this blood-soaked land, Malekith was not there to mourn the past but to retrieve an important item left behind long ago.

Because the Bifrost had robbed him of the Ether Particle, Malekith had fled without taking the item and instead buried it deep underground, with no one else knowing its exact location.

He entered an underground cavern, following the marks he had left in his memory. After so many years, the once-glorious capital had fallen to ruin, forcing Malekith to spend extra time searching for clues.

But he was in no rush. Knowing Asgard well, he understood the immense time discrepancies between realms and their cultural traditions of celebrating victories. If he was correct, Asgard was probably preparing a celebration now.

The only threat to him was Heimdall, guardian of the Bifrost. Yet, the dark elves’ invisibility was enough to evade Heimdall’s gaze. As long as Malekith remained cautious and quiet, he would face no trouble.

Soon, Malekith found a mural deeply engraved with marks he had left—a symbol altered with Ether Particles, lacking any artificial chisel marks, thus avoiding attention or destruction by the Asgardians.

"Found it, right here," Malekith said calmly, his heart stirred by a rare emotion. This treasury contained countless Cursed Hearts—the weapons used to create cursed warriors. With these, Malekith could easily raise an army of the cursed.