Chapter 126: The Serpent That Shrouds the Sky
Zeus, ever the tactician, cast a glance of pity toward the Roman pantheon. Nearly twenty gods had been devoured—two of them among the Twelve Core Deities. Had their chief deity been present, perhaps the carnage would have been less severe.
"Whew… finally subdued by Lord Odin," sighed Grettel, the youngest Valkyrie, her voice trembling with relief.
Fenrir's rampage had been terrifying. In mere moments, it had consumed gods like morsels. Had Odin not intervened, the death toll would have spiraled into catastrophe. Worse still, Fenrir grew stronger with each bite—threatening to become the true beast of the apocalypse, the devourer of gods foretold in prophecy.
"Tch."
Brunnhilde clicked her tongue in frustration, prompting Grettel to offer a nervous chuckle. Her sister, it seemed, had secretly hoped Fenrir would go further—perhaps even slay Odin himself.
But that hope was dashed. Odin, wielding Gungnir, prepared to deliver the final blow.
Then—disaster struck.
"What?!"
Fenrir, who should have been asleep, lunged with terrifying speed. Odin had anticipated resistance, but not this. The beast's fangs pierced through his body and shattered his hastily conjured defensive magic. It was as if a telephone pole had impaled him—he didn't die instantly, but resistance was impossible.
The gods watched in horror as cold dread surged from their feet to their crowns.
Fenrir, weakened from its last attack, now gnawed at Odin's body, desperate to consume his blood and restore its strength.
"No! We can't let it devour Lord Odin!"
"Damn you, beast!"
A roar of fury echoed across the arena. A god charged forward, bracing Fenrir's jaws—one hand on the upper, one foot on the lower—while his other arm reached into the maw and pulled Odin free.
The jaws snapped shut.
Too late.
The rescuer's arm was bitten off.
That god was Tyr—Odin's own son.
"Now! While it's weakened—kill it!"
Tyr's cry rang out, but the surrounding gods hesitated, fear rooting them in place.
Fenrir, regaining strength, turned and leapt toward the center of the arena.
Why wasn't it continuing to feed?
Then they saw it.
Loki's half-melted body had spread across the arena floor, forming a pool of black liquid that covered half the stage. But it wasn't liquid—it was a portal.
Fenrir was escaping.
"No! Don't let it get away!"
Several gods surged forward.
BOOM!
A bolt of lightning struck the ground, halting their advance. They turned, stunned and furious, toward Zeus.
"Why did you stop us?!"
"Don't be fools," Zeus growled. "Didn't you notice? That mortal boy hasn't moved."
He wasn't just watching the Dragon Slayer's reaction. Zeus himself had sensed something far worse lurking in the darkness.
Something bigger than Fenrir.
Something ancient.
Something monstrous.
Chapter 127: The Sky-Dimming Serpent
Fenrir vanished into the blackness, swallowed by the portal. It looked like an escape.
But Zeus's warning suggested otherwise.
Suddenly, two glowing red orbs appeared in the darkness.
They blinked.
Not flickered—blinked.
They were eyes.
Then came the sound.
A low, bone-chilling hiss.
The gods shivered. This wasn't like Fenrir's roar. This was worse. It felt like the breath of death itself.
"Loki… what else have you summoned?"
"Is there another monster besides Fenrir?"
The Norse gods shook their heads. They didn't know.
"Ah, what a shame," came Loki's voice, playful and mocking. "No one took the bait. Zeus, you've ruined my fun."
His words confirmed it—Fenrir's leap into the portal had been a trap. A lure. A snare for the gods.
The black pool began to ripple.
It twisted.
It morphed.
It became Loki's face—massive, sneering, grotesque.
"Let this one entertain you," he said. "Its appetite is just a little bigger than Fenrir's."
His laughter was cold and cruel.
One Fenrir had already caused devastation.
Now Loki claimed there was something worse?
"Uwaaah!"
A scream rang out.
Loki's face began to bulge upward, something beneath it pushing through.
The face didn't vanish—it stretched, distorted, becoming a mask of horror.
Then—
The creature burst forth.
A black column shot into the sky, towering above the arena, still rising.
"What is that?! Brunnhilde!"
Grettel's voice cracked with fear.
Before them, a massive black pillar spiraled upward. It was thicker than Solomon's summoned tentacle towers.
Then—
The sky darkened.
The pillar curled, coiled, and wrapped around the arena.
BOOM!
The entire floating island trembled.
It wasn't just the arena—it was the world itself groaning under the weight.
"What has Loki summoned?!"
"The arena is surrounded!"
"Is he trying to trap us?!"
The black column encircled the arena like a serpent coiling around prey.
HISSSSS!
The sound returned.
"Ahhh!"
Grettel screamed again.
From the sky, something forked shot out—then retracted.
A tongue?
The pillar slowed, thinned, and began to resemble a tail.
A serpent's tail.
The forked shape in the sky?
A tongue.
The hiss?
A serpent's breath.
No.
No, it couldn't be.
Grettel refused to believe it.
But others had the same thought.
"HEIMDALLR! Show us the outside view!"
"Quickly!"
"Now!"
"Y-Yes!"
Heimdallr, flustered, activated his all-seeing cameras—inside and outside the arena.
"Let me reveal what surrounds us…"
The screen flickered.
A tiny floating stone appeared.
A small black snake curled atop it.
"HEIMDALLR! What are you doing?!"
"Focus on the arena!"
"This isn't a nature documentary!"
The gods cursed him.
But a few stared in silence.
Sweat poured down their faces.
The chief gods had gone pale.
"I don't understand… the camera's aimed at the arena…"
Heimdallr adjusted the lens.
Zoomed in.
Again.
Again.
And again.
The gods stopped shouting.
The image sharpened.
And they saw it.
A serpent.
A colossal serpent.
Its body coiled around the entire arena.
Then—
Darkness fell.
A massive head blocked the sky.
The serpent's face loomed overhead, tongue flicking, eyes glowing.
Drool dripped from its mouth.
SIZZLE—
The saliva struck the arena floor.
It melted instantly, like molten iron on foam.
A crater formed.
The gods stared.
Speechless.
Terrified.
They knew its name.
They didn't dare speak it.
But it was there.
The World Serpent.
Jörmungandr.