Chapter 394
Chapter Title: The King of Gluttony
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394.
The expedition’s journey continued.
They finally arrived in the vicinity of the area where Leo predicted Jormungandr, the King of Gluttony, would be.
Consequently, the expressions of the expedition members grew noticeably tense.
“Let’s rest here for today.”
Lisinas spoke while there was still some time before sunset.
They couldn’t recklessly enter a danger zone where they might encounter Jormungandr as night fell.
So, the expedition set up camp and prepared for a meal.
‘The atmosphere is heavy.’
Rhodia started a campfire with magic, surveying her surroundings.
They might soon be fighting Jormungandr, who was regarded as the strongest of the Legion Commanders.
It was only natural for them to feel tense.
‘At this point in time, not a single Legion Commander had ever been slain.’
Although they had set out on this expedition to risk their lives and defeat Jormungandr.
It was natural to tremble with anxiety.
After lighting the campfire, Rhodia approached Leo, who was studying a map off to one side.
“Sir Kyle.”
“What is it?”
Leo answered curtly without even looking up from the map, and Rhodia spoke.
“Shouldn’t we start telling the expedition party the plan for subjugating Jormungandr?”
At Rhodia’s words, Leo replied nonchalantly.
“There is no plan.”
“Pardon?”
“Jormungandr is not a Legion Commander that strategies work against.”
Leo lifted his gaze from the map and looked at Rhodia.
Rhodia wore a bewildered expression.
“How can that be?”
“What do you mean, how? It just is. You should know, having fought the King of Gluttony yourself.”
Rhodia recalled the King of Gluttony.
A Legion Commander with power that could only be described as overwhelming.
Even Rhodia, the leader of the Heroes of Genesis, had felt a shiver run down her spine.
‘He was the most powerful enemy aside from the fragments of Erebos.’
He was, in the truest sense, the strongest of the demonkin.
“Unfortunately, he’s not the kind of opponent you can make plans or countermeasures against.”
Leo let out a small sigh.
“Compared to my past life, the expedition’s current strength is certainly greater. And back then, we had to fight Jormungandr in a sudden encounter without proper preparation, whereas now we’ve certainly prepared to subjugate him. However.”
Leo said with emphasis.
“The fact that a single misstep could lead to the entire expedition being annihilated remains unchanged. The victory 5,000 years ago was truly a near-miraculous one.”
The time he had gained the power to overwhelm Jormungandr was when he had fully matured, both physically and mentally.
It was only when he had reached the era where he was called the King of Wisdom and the Hero of the Beginning.
“Then how on earth did you defeat Jormungandr?”
“We surpassed our limits.”
Leo let out a smirk.
“While I drew his attention, Lisinas pierced his heart.”
“As expected of Sir Lisinas!”
Rhodia clasped her hands, her eyes sparkling.
“It’s the same now. While I draw his attention, the others will attack.”
“Will Jormungandr obediently target only you, Sir Kyle?”
“I’ll make him. It’s true that he possesses overwhelming power among all the Legion Commanders. But do you know why he couldn’t become the central figure of Tartaros despite that?”
“…I’m not sure. I’ve never thought about it.”
“Because he’s an idiot.”
“Pardon?”
For a moment, Rhodia looked dumbfounded.
Every Legion Commander she knew was a demonkin possessing great power and cunning to match.
That was what made them so terrifying.
But to think that the King of Gluttony, the strongest Legion Commander, was just a muscle-brained fool.
“If that thing had half the brains of the Necro King, the world would have been destroyed long ago. If I insult Erebos, he’ll lose his mind and target only me.”
“Alright. I understand the plan is for you to draw Jormungandr’s attention and create an opening. But is it possible for you to withstand Jormungandr’s focused assault with your current strength?”
“It is. That’s why I made a pact with Albus.”
Leo showed her the contract seal on the back of his hand.
“His recklessness is a terrible disaster in itself, but it also becomes a fatal weakness.”
Leo’s red eyes glinted.
“I will create the opportunity.”
Leo unhesitatingly declared that he would take on the most dangerous role.
“You all just need to pierce his heart, which will be full of openings.”
The moment he said that.
*Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-!*
The ground began to shake as if an earthquake had struck.
“Wh-what was that?”
“Something’s coming!”
Just as the expedition party was thrown into confusion.
*Craaaaaasssssh-!*
Something enormous shot up from the ground far from the campsite.
A giant serpent.
—*Kuuuuuoooooooooooooo!*
A bloodcurdling roar echoed from the mouth of the serpent, which soared so high it seemed to pierce the heavens.
“Jormungandr!”
***
“What?”
“He actually appeared!”
“Everyone, prepare for battle! Battle stations!”
The appearance of Jormungandr sent the expedition into a panic.
They hastily formed a defensive line and prepared for combat.
The knights and warriors gripped their weapons.
The mages began to chant their spells, and the summoners called forth their respective summons.
Until this very moment, most of the expedition members had been skeptical of Leo’s claim that they would face Jormungandr.
That was why his appearance filled them all with terror.
But though they were terrified, they were not cowed.
All of them were battle-hardened veterans who had navigated the Age of Calamity and defended Gardsrone for a long time.
Though their names might not be recorded in history, they were the heroes who laid the cornerstone for the dawn of the Heroic Age.
Even if they were terrified, they would not neglect their duties.
Amidst the chaos, the most surprised were Leo and Rhodia, who had been certain of Jormungandr’s existence.
“This is a long way from where the battle originally took place!”
Rhodia said urgently, and Leo clicked his tongue.
“You know as well as I do that just because history happened a certain way doesn’t mean it will happen the same way in the Hero Record! Unexpected situations can always arise!”
“But… this is too big of a discrepancy!”
“Nothing changes. You get ready for battle, too!”
At Leo’s words, Rhodia also joined the expedition’s formation.
In the meantime, Lisinas ran over.
“Kyle! It’s just like you said!”
“Right.”
Leo clenched and unclenched his fists.
As the expedition formed up, Allox spoke.
“The vanguard, myself, Kyle, and Alrene will take the front!”
“No.”
Leo shook his head.
“I’ll hold him off alone. Allox, Alrene. You two aim for his weak spots.”
“What did you say?”
The color drained from Allox’s face.
“Kyle! No matter who you are, that’s too reckless a plan! To hold him off by yourself!”
“Allox is right! Kyle! What on earth are you thinking!”
Lisinas, her face pale, grabbed the hem of Leo’s clothes.
“There’s no one in this expedition who can match my mobility. I have a contract with the king of the Pegasi.”
Leo looked at Jormungandr.
“That monster can’t be killed with ordinary attacks. The rest of you will have to give it your all to land a fatal blow.”
“Even so, holding off Jormungandr alone is next to impossible.”
“Unfortunately, the things we have to do from now on are exactly that kind of thing.”
“What?”
Leo looked at the expedition party.
“To save the world, we have to make the impossible possible.”
Everyone wore a dazed expression.
“And defeating that damn serpent here and now is the very first step in saving the world.”
Leo said seriously.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m a hero who survives. Even if everyone here dies, I’ll be the last one standing.”
“What a grim thing to say.”
Perik let out a dry laugh.
“Can you really hold him off?”
“Yes.”
“Then we’ll leave the front to you.”
“If you show even the slightest sign of faltering, we’ll be right there to help.”
“We’re counting on you, Kyle.”
Allox and Alrene clapped Leo on the shoulder.
“Everyone, get to your positions.”
Rhodia organized the formation.
The heroes moved quickly.
Meanwhile, Leo spoke to Lisinas, who was still clutching his sleeve.
“Don’t worry too much.”
Leo gently pried Lisinas’s hand from his clothing.
“This battle will be the beginning of a great journey.”
At Leo’s words, Lisinas gave a heavy nod.
***
*Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-!*
—*Vermin that crawled out of Gardsrone, are you!*
Slithering across the ground, Jormungandr sneered at the presence he felt in the distance.
—*I smell a dragon. Their meat is a delicacy!*
*Sniff, sniff—*
Jormungandr, who had followed the ominous scent here, flicked his tongue.
A ravenous appetite, befitting his title as the King of Gluttony, surged within him.
Just then, the King of Gluttony spotted someone flying toward him.
—*Hmph, an insect dares to approach me alone…*
Jormungandr’s body momentarily froze as he scoffed at the human flying solo towards him.
It was carried on the wind.
The ominous scent of blood.
It wasn’t a physical smell.
It was a scent deeply ingrained in the soul of the human flying toward him.
‘What… is this stench.’
It was a scent he desperately wanted to avoid.
But even before that…
*Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-!*
The earth trembled.
To be precise, it was Jormungandr’s body that was shaking.
The Legion Commander called the strongest.
‘What in the world… is this fear.’
His instincts were screaming at him.
Towards that mere human, Jormungandr felt an indescribable terror.
Another scent, hidden beneath the smell of Erebos.
‘The smell of my own blood?’
The primal fear of confronting the human before him made him, the strongest of the Legion Commanders, feel utterly pathetic.
But even before that.
He felt a hatred that overwhelmed everything else.
‘This is impossible!’
Jormungandr’s sense of smell, which could even perceive the fragrance of a soul, was telling him.
This human was the one who had killed him and even the great god he revered.
This being’s very existence was an insult to everything he was.
Jormungandr began to thrash about as if having a seizure.
The primal fear and hatred had stripped him of his reason.
—*Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!*
Jormungandr’s eyes rolled back as he let out a scream-like roar toward the sky.
“Long time no see, Jormungandr.”
Leo, having arrived before Jormungandr, spoke.
—*Deicide! I know not a foul being such as you!*
“I’m sure you don’t. But I know you.”
A thick killing intent emanated from Leo’s body.
“Deicide, you say? I’ve never killed a god.”
—*Silence! You can never reach the god! Here and now, today! Your existence will be erased!*
His reason paralyzed, Jormungandr spewed hateful, incoherent curses.
Watching him, Leo narrowed his eyes.
‘This bastard, for some reason, seems to know what I did in the future.’
Leo narrowed his eyes.
‘But nothing changes.’
The fact that he had to defeat Jormungandr here and now remained the same.
*Vwooom-!*
Leo stirred his spiritual power.
With it, pure white lightning swirled around him.
*Crackle-crackle-crackle! Flash-!*
Summoning Albus, Leo mounted him and said.
“Albus, fly.”
As he spoke, Leo pulled on the reins made of spiritual power.
*Craaaaaasssssh-!*
At that moment, Jormungandr’s breath of destruction engulfed Leo.
But Leo was no longer there.
Jormungandr’s six eyes stared up into the impossibly high sky.
—*…It finally begins.*
Albus muttered, looking down at Jormungandr.
“Yes. We need to finish this worm.”
Leo gently stroked Albus’s mane.
“Forgive me if I’m a little rough in our first battle, my lady.”
—*Kyle, you’d better not get overwhelmed by my power either.*
At Albus’s words, Leo grinned.
—*But you said your goal was to hold off that hateful being by yourself, didn’t you? Is that possible?*
“It’s possible, but… seeing how he’s lost his mind, I think I’ll have to play my trump card a little sooner.”
—*A trump card? You have another one besides me?*
Leo burst out laughing at Albus’s slightly piqued tone.
“Yes. I was going to summon them later to avoid unnecessary suspicion.”
—*Suspicion?*
Just as Albus wore a puzzled expression.
Leo spread his arms to the sides.
*Vwooom-!*
At that moment, spiritual power swirled on the backs of both of Leo’s hands.
Golden and black contract seals appeared.
Instantly recognizing the power, Albus’s eyes widened.
—*This power is…!*
As if in disbelief, Albus asked.
—*Kyle, what are you? How in the world…!*
“My identity… People do call me that.”
Leo burst out laughing as he forcibly executed the ‘unmade pacts’.
“The Hero of the Beginning.”
Summoning circles appeared.
Leo called the names of his contractors.
“Elsie, Siload.”
In response to his call, the contractors revealed themselves.