◈ 691. [STAGE 40] Time for counterattack (2)
A few days ago.
When Crown first heard Ashe’s request to awaken Jormungandr. And when I heard the request to involve Jormungand in this battle.
Crown thought.
‘Is he crazy?’
No, of course I knew he was crazy. This was a truly crazy request.
As Ash said, among the monsters currently remaining in the Lake Kingdom, Jormungand was the only one that could compete with Night Bringer.
But no matter how you wake up the wounded, sleeping earthworm from the mythical era (as the Crown called it), how can you make it go to war?
“This guy owes a debt to our monster front.”
Ash said this in a calm tone.
“I especially owe a big debt to Damian. “Because you helped a guy who almost died recover and even sent him back alive.”
“Do you think the monster will return the favor?”
“Well, that snake friend said first of all, ‘I won’t forget.’ “It would be good if you could liquidate this when necessary.”
“Debt repayment may not be something you can do whenever you want.”
Even if the Crown blows the flute to wake Jormungand from his sleep.
It was more likely that he would completely forget about the small amount of silver. The thinking of monsters was very different from that of humans, even more so in the mythical era.
I will not regard favor as grace, I will not regard resentment as resentment, and I will not remember such small things.
On the contrary, since he had woken up, he could have followed his instincts and resumed heading north, destroying the Crossroads.
“It’s about betting on the possibilities.”
But Ash did not waver.
“Jormungand is neither good nor evil. It’s close to the natural phenomenon itself. So it’s a gamble worth taking.”
“….”
“It would be nice if it could be a variable.”
In the end, Crown raised both hands.
“I’ll try my best, but don’t expect too much.”
“I’m very excited, Crown.”
Ash grinned mischievously and patted Crown on the back. Crown was shocked and shook his shoulders. It was like I had no idea where I was suddenly pretending to be friendly.
‘You’re such a brat that when you’re cornered, you
reach out to wherever you are…’ Crown, who had been laughing at Ash as he headed deep into the Lake Kingdom, immediately hardened his expression.
Because he was the same as himself, clinging to vain hope and struggling to grasp at straws.
Wanting to protect her younger sister from inevitable corruption… because she too had such an unachievable dream.
“….”
Crown sighed, adjusted his flute, and headed to the ‘deepest crypt’ where Jormungand was sleeping. It was not far from the bottom village.
“Okay, let’s give it a try.”
The end of the world was just around the corner anyway.
And in fact, waking up a sleeping snake with the sound of a flute and making it dance is something that clowns always do.
***
Afterwards, the Crown continued to play the flute for several days to wake Jormungand.
Jormungand was struggling and suffering. Every time, the entire basement trembled. However, it took a while for him to wake up, perhaps because of the serious injury he suffered earlier.
Crown did not give up and continued to awaken the snakes of the world.
Ash’s expedition team is defeated.
Ash, who fell to the bottom of the village, becomes a dragon with the blood of the black dragon.
While losing again in the second battle…
Crown tried hard to awaken the monster of the mythical era. and.
Googoo googung!
I finally opened my eyes.
Shaking the entire Lake Kingdom, the World Serpent raised its gigantic head from its underground crypt.
Jormungand, who was awakened not by the providence of nature but by the sound of a human flute, seemed to be in a worse mood than ever before.
The snake glared at Crown with clear murderous intent in its two half-open, yellow eyes.
Surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrva!
A hot snort along with an eerie breathing sound pushed the crown away. But Crown remained calm and relaxed.
“The destruction of royalties has arrived.”
At this point, 48 hours have already passed since Night Bringer landed on royalties.
The destruction of Crossroads became clear. Still, the Crown did everything it was asked to do.
“I heard you, the snake of the world, owe money in royalties… and to that sniper.”
《…!》
Jormungand’s eyes turned cold as he flicked his long tongue. Crown continued.
“If this continues, the sniper will die too.”
Even though Crown spat it out, he never expected that his words would work.
《….》
Jormungand tightly closed his half-open eyes, and then they completely opened. and.
Coo goo coo goo goong…!
I just got up and started climbing up the cliff.
“what.”
Rather, it was the Crown that was embarrassed.
“This is happening?”
***
12 hours later.
Southwest of Crossroads. Observation tower.
“Ugh…”
With the broken pistol under his chin, Damian was preparing to commit suicide.
The last of the Night Bringer’s secondary heads came right in front of Damian with its huge mouth wide open.
Damian wanted to die cleanly rather than be ridiculed by the monster.
thud! thud! thud!
Boom, googoo goong…!
A sound as if the world was collapsing rang out along with the trembling ground surface.
Damian tightened his grip on the trigger. Tears flowed down the corners of my closed eyes.
‘Ban is finally by your side….’
That moment.
– Don’t forget your promise back then.
The unforgettable girl’s voice rang in Damian’s mind.
– I decided to adventure all over this outside world. Let’s see the whole wide world through our eyes.
To the end of the world…
we decided to go together.
“….”
When he remembered the promise, Damian’s hands stopped shaking.
And what follows.
– Command is my trigger.
The commands he heard from the man he was following during their first battle passed through his ears.
– Blow that fucking monster’s face off.
Damian opened his closed eyes.
A white flash flashed inside the big brown eyes. A sob-filled moan came out through clenched teeth.
“I…”
It’s not because it’s someone else’s request.
It’s not because it’s someone’s order.
“With my own will…!”
He decided that way himself.
Towards the target of life that I have set for myself… to fly.
“I’m going to survive!”
So, until the very end.
Just fight without giving up…!
Clap!
Damian pointed the gun aimed at his chin forward. The evil dragon’s mouth was now right in front of our nose.
“Aaaah-!”
Damian shouts and fires the last bullet of [Cerberus] at the same time
!
The ground in front of me rose up.
Jormungand’s huge mouth split the ground and swallowed the Night Bringer’s secondary head.
The World Serpent flashed its silver-gray scales and soared up to the height where the observation tower stood just a moment ago.
“…uh?”
Damian blinked his wide eyes blankly as the dirt and sand poured down like rain.
I couldn’t understand the current situation. I couldn’t figure out why the monster I met a few years ago had reappeared here now.
Damian, who was embarrassed with his mouth wide open, heard a low, pleasant-to-hear voice in his ears.
“Is the sniper alive?”
The laughing clown who jumped from Jormungand’s body – Crown shook off the dust from his body and suddenly said:
“They say they came to repay a debt.”
“yes yes?”
“Snake of the world to you. “I’m here to repay my debt.”
When Damian looked up in confusion, Jormungand swallowed the Night Bringer’s secondary head in his stomach and stretched out his long tongue.
The two pale yellow eyes of a giant snake… Is the feeling that they are smiling softly an illusion?
“I’m really grateful, but… I don’t think you owe me anything in particular…” “
… When the snake comes to return the favor, accept it gently. “If you refuse for no reason, you will incur resentment.”
“Hi! Thank you, I really appreciate it!”
When Damian bowed low, Jormungand made a sound of satisfaction and headed towards the collapsed observation tower.
Other auxiliary heads of the Night Bringer were lying in the wreckage of the observation tower.
The connection points of these heads were damaged by Damian’s sniping, but the remaining injuries were not serious and even the damaged parts were recovering on their own.
In other words.
gulp! gulp! gulp!
It was all very fresh, meaning it was good food for Jormungand.
Jormungand swallowed all six of the Night Bringer’s auxiliary heads in succession and flicked his tongue.
It moved its large body from side to side, perhaps to aid digestion, and it looked like it was dancing strangely.
“It was moving north at an insane speed, and it felt like death trying to keep up with my body.”
Crown also sat down next to Damian, who was sitting blankly, unable to believe that he was still alive.
“With this, we have repaid the debt we owed when we first met, sniper.”
“yes?”
Damian stuttered in confusion.
“Debt? “You never owe me…”
“You didn’t shoot.”
Crown answered bluntly.
“When we first met on the battlefield… you didn’t shoot me because you saw me as a person.”
“….”
“That was also a debt.”
Damian just blinked in confusion.
I didn’t even understand why it was a debt.
‘Even though you said that, didn’t they fight each other to the death after that…?’
Anyway, he was someone I couldn’t quite understand.
Crown glanced at Damian through his mask.
“You still haven’t killed anyone since then? Is it still non-killable?”
“…I have never killed an enemy, but I have actually shot my allies… to make them feel more comfortable.”
Even during the Battle of the Imperial Capital, where the fate of the empire was at stake, Damian could subdue his opponent if he was human, but he never killed him.
He shot Jackal in the head while he was captured by the Fallen Knights to comfort him, and during the Lord of the Flies and Night Bringer battles, he sacrificed his life several times to comfort his seriously injured allies.
A wry smile appeared on Damian’s lips.
“The reason I didn’t shoot the person in the first place was because I was a weak coward. It’s not because I have grandiose beliefs like immortality…”
“…I see.”
Crown said after peeking into Damien’s clear eyes.
“Your eyes are still noble. “I can’t believe I’ve been in this hell for three years.”
“yes?”
“As long as your heart is noble, your eyes will continue to shine.”
“What does that mean….”
“…Well, it means that if you live a good life, good luck will come to you. Sometimes snakes rise up from the ground like this. “I also eat the dragon’s head.”
Crown let out an incongruous white noise and looked straight ahead.
“It looks like they pretty much ate everything over there.”
Perhaps thanks to Jormungand absorbing the Night Bringer’s auxiliary heads, the nerve processes that were damaged two years ago began to recover immediately.
Now it has almost sprouted out like a huge horn.
Crown approached Jormungand and communicated with him through the sound of a flute, scratching the back of his head.
“In the meantime, I was speeding up to save you, but now I’m going to slow down a bit because I’m trying to digest the swallowed heads. The Night Bringer is one step ahead of us…”
Jormungand slowly lowered himself. Crown, who stepped on the snake’s scales first, held out his hand.
“Well, you’ll have a better chance of winning if you digest the devoured head and fight the Night Bringer. “You will also have to recover while traveling north.”
“….”
“What are you doing? “Aren’t you going to ride?”
“Oh no! I’ll ride. wait a minute!”
After hastily collecting the magic guns that had fallen to the floor, Damian held Crown’s hand and climbed onto Jormungand’s body.
Kugugugugugung…!
Jormungand resumed his northward journey with the two guests on board.
Damian quietly pinched his cheek while looking at the dark forest passing quickly from side to side.
The battle lines were in disarray as they were hit by the strongest and worst monster known as the Night Bringer. The Pied Piper of Jormungand…
‘Maybe really…’
Damian swallowed dry saliva.
‘There might be some left, the odds are…!’
It’s not over until it’s over.
Damien looked towards the far north, gathering his courage after almost collapsing.
The final battlefield was getting closer.
***
Currently.
“Wow!”
“You crazy snake!”
Damian and Crown screamed at the same time and jumped down from Jormungandr’s back.
Crown wanted to swear, ‘You crazy snake, let us get off first and then attack’, but there was no time.
A dull
crash sound followed by
a loud thud…!
What followed was a terrifying explosion, and all land surfaces in the area were torn into pieces and soared into the air.
Jormungand rushed forward with all his might and rammed his huge body right into the Night Bringer.
《Jormungand! How dare you…!》
《…Going north.》
Jormungand rolled his yellow eyes as he climbed up and wrapped around the body of the Night Bringer.
《Disrupt the dragon.》
The dragon and the snake roared at each other, spewing out night and earthquakes.
With an ear-piercing explosion, the ground was torn apart and mountain ranges in the area began to collapse.
A battle from the mythical era was being recreated here once more.
