I Became Jörmungandr In A Fantasy World

Chapter 49

It felt like waking from a long dream.

Jörmungandr opened his eyes with a sense of calm, and familiar sights filled his vision—a massive cavern with a gigantic serpent coiled within it.

My appearance hadn't changed much. Although I could transform into the form I had taken after my last realization, I didn’t see the need to do so.

‘Maintaining that form requires effort.’

Changing my appearance involved altering the very nature of my body through overwhelming divine power, transforming every aspect of myself.

Surpassing my original physical form, I could now fully construct my body with divine essence.

In that state, I was immune to any physical harm, and as I mentioned, I was incomparably stronger.

[I’ll need to take some time to organize my realization.]

I hadn't fully digested it yet, so I expected to spend a significant amount of time reflecting on this newfound understanding.

‘I hope the hero is doing alright.’

A worry crossed my mind. Now that the Goddess was asleep, the world's cycle of rebirth was no longer possible.@@@@

This meant that the opportunity he had left was his last.

‘I hope he takes the time to fully grasp his realization.’

As I sorted through my thoughts and moved my body, I shed my old skin, growing even larger and more resilient. My massive body pressed against the steel-like ground, making it crumple like cotton as I advanced.

As Jörmungandr examined his body,

[Hmm?]

He suddenly sensed the presence of a life form wriggling near his coil. If that were all, he wouldn’t have paid it much mind. However, the presence was quite familiar.

As he shifted his body and moved toward the source of the life form, a familiar figure came into view.

[What are you doing?]

"Ah... Lord Jörmungandr..."

The Noble Hero, Asgard.

He was sitting helplessly beside my body, holding something blackened by dirt in his hands, staring vacantly at the crushed insects beneath me.

[Hmm... So that’s what happened.]

It seems I inadvertently captured a beast while I was unaware. Moreover, due to the cracks caused by my movement, the meat he had carefully roasted had rolled into the dirt.

What a shame.

[Still, it’s good that there are no more beasts to hunt, isn’t it?]

"Well... that’s true."

Asgard seemed ready to argue but then gave up and nodded in agreement.

Yes.

Thanks to Lord Jörmungandr, there was no longer any need to hunt beasts.

Though the thought of his struggles over the past few days crossed his mind, he decided to bury it. All the time he spent running around this vast plain to hunt beasts, only for it to end with just a simple movement from Jörmungandr, left him with a sense of futility.

"But what were you doing in the dirt pile?"

[I was shedding.]

"Shedding... you say?"

[Yes, I’m still in my growth phase, after all.]

"......"

Asgard stared blankly up at Jörmungandr.

Growth phase?

Even with such an enormous size?

And on top of that, shedding?

Of course, Asgard knew that snakes shed their skin.

But wasn’t Jörmungandr an exception? After all, he was a being that had lived for thousands of years when the hero first encountered him, and he had even gained divinity to become a god. That alone was astounding, yet now, even with that massive size, he was shedding?

"Come to think of it... you do seem a bit larger."

Of course, he was already so enormous that it was impossible for Asgard to properly gauge his size with his own eyes.

What could he say? The sheer size of Jörmungandr’s dark body spanned from one end of the plain to the other.

"Uwaaaaah!!"

Is it even acceptable to ride on a god?

Or to grab hold of a god’s scales without permission?

There was no time for such irreverent thoughts.

Feeling as though his body was being teleported backward, Asgard clung desperately to the scales with all his might.

"It’s slippery!!"

It was slippery.

Despite the massive size of the scales, there wasn’t a single visible gap.

‘Weren’t there gaps before?’

Were these even scales?

It seemed as if the very concept of gaps was nonexistent.

"Kyaaaa...!!"

The tremendous wind slapped against his cheeks.

However, Asgard knew that even at this speed, Jörmungandr was moving quite slowly from his perspective.

It was simply astonishing.

Who knows how long he was lost in his thoughts.

[We’ve arrived.]

Jörmungandr’s voice.

Asgard sighed in relief and jumped off his body.

A lush forest came into view.

A beautiful green forest, densely packed with towering trees.

He wondered how they had entered this place. With Jörmungandr’s size, it should have been impossible to enter without flattening the entire forest.

When he turned to Jörmungandr with this question in mind, he saw that his size had greatly diminished.

He had returned to the size he first saw him at.

Jörmungandr, now 300 meters long, looked down at him with a majestic presence.

"Thank you."

Although it had been a rough experience,

Getting here from that vast plain was much easier.

The thought of spending days running across that plain again was something he dreaded.

"Well then..."

Now it was time to find the beast wreaking havoc here.

According to what he knew, this beast resembled a bird. More specifically, it looked like a giant turkey. Despite its familiar appearance, it was extremely ferocious and violent, causing considerable casualties wherever it went.

"Lord Jörmungandr, by any chance, have you seen a large bird..."

Asgard’s words trailed off.

Jörmungandr was chewing on something.

Never mind the oddity of a snake chewing,

But the leg sticking out of his mouth looked disturbingly familiar.

Not to mention the feathers scattered around.

Asgard had a sinking feeling.

[Hmm, I noticed a turkey while passing by.]

"......."

Jörmungandr finally swallowed and spoke.

He looked utterly satisfied.

[Hmm, turkey really is delicious.]

"......."