Chapter 146: A Childish Trick

"Damn it. This is scary. Even for me." Here I am, facing Jormungandr at its eye level.

"Hey Zieglind, I'll be retreating," Herold told me unexpectedly.

"Wha- why?"

He then showed me a giant hole in his stomach. "That thunder bear was too powerful for me. The five of them were flanking me so this is what happened. When I knew you were coming, I teleported them all in different locations."

"Got it. Let's take later."

"Sorry about this."

Herold left immediately.

Focusing back on the World Serpent, I have heard and read countless stories of Jormungandr in the books back when I was still in college. But I didn't think that I'd meet this creature here at this world.

"Leave." A single word muttered by the World Serpent and it sent chills down to my spine.

"…What?" I timidly asked.

The world serpent looked at the sky then opened its mouth. A sudden purple smoke came out of its mouth and the whole sky darkened and rained.

Few simple droplets and my skin is already melting. "Devil's Advocate!" And it seems that the poison in the air couldn't pierce through my armor. "Zeta are you okay?"

Zeta then replied, "Yeah, barrier seems to be strong enough."

I've read this phenomenon somewhere but I can't seem to remember what it was. If my memory is correct then the next thing would be…

Jormungandr looked down and spewed out fire burning everything into ashes.

Jormungandr spoke again, "Once again, I have told you. Leave."

"No can do." I replied.

It had grown angry so it spewed a breath of fire at us. We dodged it since it was easily predictable.

I can just run around and dodge the World Serpent's attacks all day but I want to test my strength. Against a being who challenged a god. If Jormungandr is just one of the monsters that Tartarus inhabits in that tower, then my goal is farther and farther the more I discover about this world.

My only option is to move forward and blast everything I see. And that's what I'm going to do. "Come, Bloodlust!" Black lightning from the sky struck my hand and summoned both of my weapons. "Zeta, let's go!"

"Wait!" He stopped me. "Aren't we just supposed to hold the World Serpent until everyone finishes the fight?"

"Zeta, we need to try to test our strengths against this monster. Jormungandr is a monster, spawned in by the Tartarus. And that right there, is an evidence, for the monsters we'll fight inside that tower."

"Argh fine, let's just back off if… something unexpected happens."

The World Serpent spoke again, "I have lived for millenniums, and mere mortals dare to challenge a being that's closest to a god? Have I been asleep for too long to the point that I don't understand jokes!?"

Jormungandr then struck me with his head like a spear and slammed down to the ground. "UGH!" It raised its head again and dived at me creating a huge hole and bringing me with it.

We traveled kilometers worth of distance while it rammed me underground and a continuous repeated cycle of it knocking me off the ground and slamming at me. I can only hold on for so long with Zeta's barrier.

I was planning to use this if we ever got in a tight situation that we can't win but I guess I'll have to, "Teleport!" I went back to Zeta's side.

"Had a fun ride?" Zeta asked me.

"Go get yourself slammed by a monster whose weight must be in the millions or something."

"You look fine to me."

"Yeah… It only dug down large holes in the ground and caves but the damage I received is around five percent of my health points only. It seems that this armor of mine is capable of taking heavy hits. Back me up, I'll be the one charging."

"Got it!"

I rushed up to the back of the head of the confused World Serpent trying to find me. "Twin Blade Form: Giant Slayer!" Both of my blades grew in incredible size while maintaining the same weight. With all my might, I swung it down on the World Serpent's head but I could only cut a few meters of its back.

It looked back at me and breathed fire at me.

I braced myself and blocked the fires using both of my weapons.

I blocked it completely because of the giant size I cast on it, soon, they returned to their normal form.

I can't beat this monster all on my own. "Telepathy," I connected myself to Zeta, "Zeta, help me out here!"

"Zieglind, I'm gonna go to Afal's location, there seems to be a problem." He replied.

"What's the problem?"

"Greta seems to have lost her mind or something. Helga said she's not in control of herself."

"…" I thought of many things that could've happen to her, "Basilisk?"

"The evil eye? I'm pretty sure that's the cause too."

"That's also my hypothesis."

"…" I looked at Jormungandr and it seems to be completely pissed at me. "Sure, just go right back. I'll hold this one off. I can't beat this by myself."

I disconnected our call and focused on the World Serpent.

"You dare take off your attention on me?" The World Serpent then rammed itself again at me slamming me down at the ground.

"Argh…"

Jormungandr looked down at me and began to breathe waves of fire at me combined with its poison breath. But somehow, I could stand with the barrage of poison and waves of fire the World Serpent threw at me.

I took a look at my HP and it's barely going down. My health regeneration is faster than the damage Jormungandr inflicts at me. I was confused.

I flew right below its head, "Twin Blade Form: Overflow!" A ten hit combo attack, it starts up with an overhead slash, followed with three alternating left and right attacks, a thrust, a downward slash, and four quick strikes.

But all that combo was for nothing. I could only inflict small damage on its body.

The Jormungandr then said, "Pitiful." And slammed me down to the ground with its head.

I couldn't understand the logic of its existence, how can I not deal damage to it but the World Serpents attacks are incredibly weak, far too weak. A goblin around level 60 or something deals more damage than Jormungandr.

This is incredibly fishy. Unless…

"Mana Search!" I searched the whole area trying to find something. Jormungandr's body is incredibly large to the point that I can't see the end of it other than its head and a small part of its body using Mana Search. "Increased Skill Range!" I cast on myself to increase the Mana Search's range. And after a few seconds, I found what I'm looking for.

A source of mana incredibly high at the sky. I flew higher and higher until I found it. "You absolute bastard. You scared the crap out of me. So you're the source of this monstrosity?"

Its appearance was… interesting. It was merely an eyeball, wrapped around in dark tentacles around it. "Tsk… This isn't good… Must… Flee…"

"No you won't!" Before the monster could run, I grabbed one of its tentacles and it couldn't fly any further.

"You… human… understand our language?"

"What…? Ah-" Must be the Universal Language. But I didn't think that this Universal Language spell is incredibly helpful. "Is that thing below your doing?"

"We were about to complete our mission but you have to ruin it… Lord Ouroboros will not be happy…"

"Wha- why is his name everywhere!? Who is this Ouroboros?"

"You don't need to know."

"WATCH OUT!" I then heard Zeta's voice out of nowhere.

"Wha-" A barrier then was formed all around my whole body.

"Long live Lord Ouroboros. The ruler of heaven and hell." The monster's final words as it self-destructed and exploded everywhere.

I was slammed right back to the ground when I was thousands of meters up in the sky. That blast explosion was incredibly strong. Then I remembered that Zeta protected me, which means he didn't have time to protect himself. "Zeta! Hey! Do you hear me!? Where are you!?"

"I'm here…" Zeta was buried under a rubble. He easily moved away the rocks that were burying him and stood up straight. "I'm fine. But you…"

"I'm fine."

"I see. What was that…?"

"It seems to be a servant of this man called Ouroboros. And I think the illusionist who created Jormungandr… Wait, where is it?"

We looked around and didn't see any traces of Jormungandr. It honestly scared me when I saw it for the first time. It was an unbeatable enemy. Good thing it was just an illusion or else we wouldn't have gotten out of this situation this easy.

"That's good that the World Serpent is an illusion but… Him… again? Why is he everywhere? Ouroboros…"

"Do you know him?"

"Only a few information. But I do know he's one of the cause of my master's death."

"I see. I'm sorry to bring it up."

"No, it's fine. Also, we have to go back now. There's something wrong with Greta."

"Okay. Let's go."