Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Jörmungandr's Resurrection
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"Everyone... die... huh?"
The black-and-white world.
Drop. Drop.
Drops of paint fell one by one, as the world began to regain its color.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
The gears of halted time clicked back into place and spun furiously once more.
Arman blinked his eyes repeatedly.
Something felt off.
Clearly, right beneath his feet,
Darcor and the hero, who should have been far below, were nowhere to be seen.
As if they had evaporated in front of his eyes in an instant.
"...Wh-where?"
As he looked around frantically, a chillingly sharp aura pressed in from behind him.
The moment Arman whipped his head around.
"Hand over your fangs!"
With Eris's scream, the holy sword Excalibur plunged down like a flash of light.
Sthuuuuck!
The holy sword pierced Jörmungandr's reverse scale without the slightest error.
The sacred blade tore through the tough scales and burrowed deep into the snake's skull.
"Kieeeek!"
A gut-wrenching scream erupted, as if space itself was warping.
The death rattle of the ancient calamity's lifeline being severed.
"N-No way. Wh-when did this happen?"
Arman cried out in shock.
They had clearly been at an unreachable distance.
In a physically impossible amount of time.
And yet, in the blink of an eye?
'No...'
To be precise, before he could even blink, they had suddenly leaped out from behind the head.
'Unless time was stopped... W-wait. No way?'
Something that transcended cognition.
Terror drained the color from Arman's face.
Rumble rumble rumblle.
Jörmungandr's massive body convulsed as it began to collapse.
The breath condensed in its mouth lost its path, refluxing and detonating inside.
Kaboom! Boom!
Black smoke billowed from the serpent's maw.
From the wildly thrashing snake head,
he waved lazily at the dazed Arman staring at him, flashing a grin.
"Delivery's free."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Huh... whaaat?"
Eris tilted her head in bewilderment.
Sthuuuuck.
The holy sword's razor-sharp blade mercilessly shredded the reverse scale, sinking to the hilt.
The accelerated strike embedded deep into Jörmungandr's brain.
Just moments ago, she had been slipping around on the icy floor.
But when she came to, her holy sword was lodged in Jörmungandr's reverse scale.
"Wh-when did I stab it?"
⚔ HOLY SWORD EXCALIBUR ⚔ Hey, kiddo! Why the heck are we here? The holy sword Excalibur was just as flustered.
They had clearly been on the icy floor, only to suddenly relocate to Jörmungandr's head.
"I-I don't know either!"
Eris wailed, her face scrunched up.
But there was no time to think further.
"Kieeeek!"
The space-warping scream burst forth again.
Jörmungandr wildly thrashed its head in agony.
Roooar.
Black blood sprayed like a fountain from the wound.
The venom-laced blood splattered everywhere.
"Eeeek, g-get off me!"
Eris reeled dizzily with every convulsion of Jörmungandr.
Soon, she screamed as she lost her balance and was flung into the air.
Below was a sheer drop.
Jörmungandr's poison and jagged ice shards littered the ground.
"M-Mommy!"
The instant Eris squeezed her eyes shut as she fell,
Whoosh.
A black shadow flew in from somewhere, gently scooping her waist.
"Gotcha."
A familiar voice.
As Eris cautiously opened her eyes,
Darcor held her with an impassive expression.
Tap.
Darcor lightly landed on the ice.
At the same moment, Jörmungandr's body crumbled behind him.
Rumble rumble rumblle.
Kaaa-boom!
Darcor didn't even glance back.
He simply strode forward, his uniform cloak billowing.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The ancient calamity.
Jörmungandr crashed into the icy floor.
A massive blizzard whipped up like a storm.
But Eris at the storm's center remained serene.
Darcor's black uniform billowed as he shielded her from the onslaught.
Eris's hair merely fluttered lightly in the wind.
She stared blankly up at Darcor,
then grasped the situation late and her eyes sparkled.
"Did you see it, Your Majesty? Did you see it just now?"
Like a child eager for praise,
she bounced excitedly, grinning ear to ear.
"I got it! One shot, right through! You saw, right? Wow, I must be a total genius. My body just moved on its own!"
Darcor chuckled softly and lightly ruffled Eris's messy hair.
He didn't bother mentioning that he had stopped time, hoisted her up, adjusted the angle,
and personally delivered her right to the reverse scale.
Ignorance is bliss sometimes.
Besides, she looked utterly adorable like this.
"Yeah, yeah. I saw it clear as day. Excellent work."
"Hehe..."
Darcor barely suppressed the smile tugging at his lips as he gazed at the fallen Jörmungandr.
The colossal body lay utterly still now.
Silence blanketed the battlefield for a moment.
"Woooah! It's down! Jörmungandr is dead!"
With Eris's shout, cheers erupted.
Veronica was the first to rush over.
Her eyes gleamed at the fallen serpent.
"Not bad, little hero.
Jörmungandr will make for prime research material. First, the brain..."
Veronica licked her lips, already savoring it.
Chloe was no less enthusiastic.
She inspected the scales and tapped her calculator.
"Minimal damage to the hide—top grade for sure. Fangs intact too. Jackpot, kiddo!
We're rich now!"
Chloe hugged Eris tight, practically dancing.
Visions of limited-edition shoes and bags already floated before her eyes.
Edel hurried to Darcor and bowed her head.
"Your Majesty, are you alright?"
"Fine as can be. Not a scratch."
Varkas, who had been hiding in a corner, collapsed to the ground, legs giving out.
"W-We survived. It's finally over..."
He clutched his chest, looking a decade older.
The ancient calamity had fallen.
Another bone-deep reminder of just how monstrous Darcor's group was.
Everyone basked in victory.
All that remained was to collect the spoils
and execute the loser.
But the defeated Arman
couldn't accept reality.
"N-No way..."
He stared at the fallen Jörmungandr in a daze.
The culmination of his life's research.
The result of sacrificing countless disciples and lives.
And yet, this magnificent god
crumbled from a mere brat's sword stroke.
"How could a mere human... slay a god..."
Arman's hands trembled violently.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Crunch crunch.
Footsteps echoed across the silent frozen lake.
It was Darcor.
He approached Arman slowly.
Dark crimson aura poured from his body,
his flickering red eyes colder than the glacial chill.
Arman sensed it instinctively.
If this continued, he'd die a dog's death here
and go down in history as a loser.
"No. I can't let that happen... H-how could I succeed only to end like this..."
As terror peaked, his pupils
began to twist grotesquely.
The fragile thread of reason snapped,
replaced by warped obsession.
Madness glinted in Arman's eyes.
"I can't die like this."
He drew a dagger from his robes.
And without hesitation, plunged it into his own heart.
Sthuuuck.
Dark crimson blood sprayed from Arman's mouth.
"Guhk..."
A fatal wound.
Yet instead of collapsing,
he vomited blood and laughed maniacally.
"Kekeke... hahahahaha!"
A bizarre phenomenon unfolded.
The blood from Arman's heart didn't soak into the ice but floated upward.
His blood vessels writhed like living snakes, drawn toward Jörmungandr's wound.
The reverse scale.
Hummmm.
The air vibrated heavily.
Jörmungandr's dying body twitched violently.
Rooooaaar!
The serpent's closed eyes snapped open once more.
This time, not the previous gaze.
A pitch-black abyss infused with human madness and grudge, deeper than anything in the world.
Darcor scowled in disgust.
"Such a pain. Can't you just die nicely?"
His instincts screamed danger as he stepped back.
⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ Target's magic power is rampaging.
A new entity is being born.
Crunch. Crraaack!
Horrific sounds filled the frozen lake.
Jörmungandr's body twisted, grotesquely mutating.
Torn scales regenerated, wounds sealed.
"Hah? What the hell is that?"
Chloe's eyebrow twitched.
Something was sprouting from the serpent's crown.
A humanoid shape.
Arman's upper body was fusing with and growing from the snake's head.
"Kuhahaha... I can feel it!"
Arman, now one with Jörmungandr, marveled at his hands.
His voice echoed grotesquely, laced with hundreds of vengeful spirits.
"This is true power. I... I have become a god!"
Grrrumble.
As Arman swung his hand, everything around dissolved in venom.
The intensified magic waves swept the battlefield.
Eris gaped in horror, speechless.
"Eek... Wh-what? Why is it getting back up? I just killed it!"
⚔ HOLY SWORD EXCALIBUR ⚔ Kiddo, we can't beat that thing. That's a real monster. Run, now! The holy sword screamed too.
As despair gripped everyone,
"Ugh, the stench. So disgustingly fused. Why not die clean instead of dragging it out?"
Only Darcor pinched his nose, grimacing.
"Hey, snake-head."
"Snake... h-head?"
Arman peered down at Darcor in disbelief.
"This time, I'll boil you into soup."
Darcor's crimson eyes began to flicker ominously.