Chapter 216

Chapter 216

A raid party of 3 groups, 15 people.

Before dawn broke, we finished our preparations and teleported to the Lake Kingdoms shoreline.

We stood at a vantage point overlooking the dark lake, waiting for the emergence of Jormungandr.

"Hee-ya, cha-cha-cha!"

Next to me, Kellibey was doing some sort of exercise as he looked out over the lake, extending his short arms and legs.

God... I feel awkward saying this, but your stretching pose really resembles a saint. Please stop.

"Whats up, why dont you come over here and try it? Youll regret it when you get old if you keep slouching like that all the time!"

"Dont nag like a dad... I mean, dont drag me into this!"

Half-forcibly dragged by Kellibey, I also found myself overlooking the lake while stretching. Damn it... Hee-ya, cha-cha-cha.

"Its been a really long time since Ive been out of Lake Kingdom!"

Kellibey clapped his hands after finishing his stretches.

"Being in there, you become insensitive to the passage of time."

"Why stay in there all the time? Theres a teleport gate anyway. Well build a blacksmiths shop for you at Crossroad, so you can stay out in the sunlight."Nnêw n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com

I slyly made this offer, not to exploit him, but out of concern for his health. Kellibey shook his head.

"There are things I can do only when Im in there. Plus, the other poor souls crawling around down there could use a blacksmith."

No matter how I tried to persuade him, Kellibey plugged his ears and refused to listen.

Damn. Stubborn as a dwarf should be, the old coot.

"Hmm..."

Meanwhile, Reina and the reinforcement party were inspecting the teleport gate beside us.

"This place has a lot of fascinating things, Your Highness. From vanished teleportation magic to dungeons below the lake..."

"The ancient magical kingdom connected to those monsters is beneath us."

I gave Reina a sly smile.

"I thought the central command had all this figured out?"

"We were briefed a bit before deployment, but I had no idea there were things beyond modern magic here."

Scratching her chin, Reina looked at me with twinkling eyes.

"Could I join you on your next exploration?"

"If the situation allows."

Magicians always seem interested in ancient magic.

But strictly speaking, reinforcements are just that. No need to share experience points with friends who will soon be leaving.

Thats why I had intentionally kept Reinas party separate in the dungeon.

Still, the next stage is the boss stage at level 10. It might be good to go on a joint training exploration with all the hero characters...

As we all eased our tensions through idle chatter,

Grrrrrrrr-

The ground began to rumble.

Everyone instinctively realized an enemy was approaching. I shouted.

"Everyone, get ready!"

Blub blub...

The surface of the dark lake churned as if hit by a storm, and then,

Swoooosh!

A terrifying waterspout erupted.

Amidst the waterspout, a massive snakes head appeared, its scales flickering in a silvery gray. I spat out its name.

"Jormungandr!"

Rooooar!

The yellow eyes of the monster emerged from the depths, and the air seemed to boil with a peculiar sound.

...Massive.

A term I had used many times, but I couldnt help but use it again. There was no other word that described it so well.

Even just the portion of its head that had surfaced was about the size of an entire mansion.

Whats up with this ridiculous size!

This is a "mega" monster...!

Seeing it with my own eyes, the impact was on a different level from what Id felt in the game.

Is it even possible for such a large creature to exist in the world?

Shhhhhhh-

Releasing a chilling breath, Jormungandr slowly pulled its body out of the lake.

Its massive, silvery-gray body, covered in scales the size of small shields, scraped against the ground as it finally made landfall.

Splash-!

The dark lake water surged, spilling over the banks.

Due to concerns about triggering the monsters instincts or the difficulty of landing on the erratic tail, we all initially landed in the middle and would disperse from there.

"The neural center we need to destroy looks like that."

I pointed at the middle of Jormungandrs body.

A massive spike, resembling a horn, was visible at the center of its backone of the three neural centers we had to destroy.

"Steady assault should allow each of us to break it in about two to two and a half days."

The snakes long body would make inter-party communication a bit challenging, but I had what could be considered the ultimate cheata system window.

[Jormungandr - Progress of Area Destruction]

-First Vertebra: 0%

-Second Vertebra: 0%

-Third Vertebra: 0%

I could check the current situation through this and move to assess if progress from other parties slowed or stopped.

You invaded the human world, you monster. Then well invade your back in return.

Smirking, I signaled to my party members.

"Alright, everyone to their operational zones..."

Just as I was about to issue the command to move.

Boom! Rumble!

Suddenly, the vibrations intensified.

The entire body of Jormungandr, upon which we had climbed, shook violently, as if it had slammed into a thick wall.

"What the hell?!"

"Hold on tight!"

All the hero characters, taken aback, clung to the back of Jormungandr as it slithered forward.

Lucas and Evangeline steadied me as I wobbled.

Bang! Crash!

Dirt mounds erupted from all around us, and the ground cracked open with a deafening roar.

Whats going on?

Straining my neck to assess the situation, I soon realized that Jormungandr was forcing its massive body through a rugged mountain valley.

Why the hell is it burrowing into the mountain instead of taking the well-trodden path to Crossroad?

My bewildered blinking soon gave way to a realization.

Youve got to be kidding me...!

This snake monster was heading north with a straight course.

In other words, it didnt bother using the roads made by humans.

With its colossal body, it carved its own path and moved straightforwardly in a due north direction...!

"What the fu--?!"

Boom! Crash-crash-crash!

Mountains that lay in Jormungandrs path crumbled in succession, spewing out mounds of earth.

Trees that had grown tall, untouched by any external force for decades, if not centuries, were felled in a row.

As we were pelted by the rain of dirt and wooden debris, we screamed inaudibly.

Amidst the thundering noise of the collapsing mountain, the screams of mere humans couldnt even be heard.

Natural disaster.

The sheer magnitude of this snake moving was, quite literally, earth-shattering.

"Just hang on a little longer! As soon as we clear this mountainous area, we can proceed with our strategy..."

As I shouted, recalling the map of the region, I saw the snakes head burrowing under a huge rocky mountain in the distance.

Rumble-rumble!

Then, the rocky mountain started to crumble as well.

"...Ah, shit."

I couldnt help but curse.

I was a fool for thinking that the absence of dark events meant we could easily clear the game by faithfully following the strategies.

This wasnt the fortified walls we could call our home turf.

The moment the battlefield shifted to the outside, everything became a variable.

"This is getting ridiculous, you damn snake!"

RoarCrash-crash-crash!

The cascading rock avalanche swept over the snakes body.

And we, who were clinging to the snake, were also swept away by the torrent of rocks and dirt.