Conqueror

"This… This is a lot larger event than I expected." The moment we got arrived at the scene all I could see were the four kingdoms engulfed in flames. Herold was the only one battling these giant monsters. But the one thing that scared us is that thing.

Zieglind suddenly panicked. "WHAT? W-…. WHY!? WHY IS THAT THING HERE!? NO, NO, NO! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

The crimson knights looked at Zieglind. Precia was the one to ask him. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

This is the first time we see Zieglind completely break down of fear. We don't know what's happening. The ground rumbled and the giant snake emerged from the seas. It was incredibly huge.

"Why is that thing here… Jormungandr… the World Serpent…" Our eyes widened. So that giant serpent is Jormungandr.

"Wait Zieglind, how can you know if that's Jormungandr? It just might be a giant snake or something."

"Use mana search."

"Hmm… Mana Search." And just as I did what Zieglind said, I couldn't help but fall in despair. I could only feel the mana of the World Serpent's head but the body is out of my range. I can't see its body because the body is out of my range. And my range is about five kilometers. "Haha… This is absurd… It is Jormungandr, the World Serpent. It seems the legends were true."

"The World Serpent who can wrap around its whole body on the planet using its gigantic body. And an arch-enemy of a god, and it's not just any other god. The God of Thunder, Thor. To think that the giant snake Herald said to me was Jormungandr. Heh. This is an incredibly sick joke."

"But why is such a being in this world… I never thought that the legends were true."

"I know just by looking at Jormungandr, this fight is impossible. As of now, we can never kill the World Serpent. We already lost without even fighting. I don't know if Jormungandr came from Tartarus but right now we need to kill the other four." Zieglind look at us all. "Zeta come with me. We're preventing Jormungandr from advancing. Helga, Neco and Feran. You three have experience fighting alongside each other. I'm sorry that your first mission with the whole team has led to this disastrous situation. But I can't let the three of you go since these monsters will be difficult just for you three, Afal and Greta, go with them. At the east where their attacking the village and the kingdom at the distance, you two will face the thunder bear and the basilisk. Rize, Precia and Yefa, you three will face the elder dragon and… the Umibozu at the east."

"Bu-" Precia wanted to voice her opinion on something.

"No reasoning this time. I believe in you all to eliminate the enemy before you. I promise that we'll retreat after the defeat of those four. If we just retreat from now, these monsters will continue to terrorize and gain strength as we dilly dally. We won't fight Jormungandr directly, we'll only do our best to hold it back." This is the first time we saw Zieglind to be incredibly serious about the situation. We knew in that instant that the situation is dire. We were facing an enemy, far from our grasp.

But to know how we get here, we must take a step back, about five days earlier.

We were just back at Izgoy still waiting for the progress of training on Feran, Helga, and Neco. And Zieglind and I were talking about some plans for the upcoming fight.

Zieglind was recalling the data Herold had given to him. "So according to Herold, the enemies are about the size of a tall building or something. Making them titans in size or something. Nearly 900 meters or so. But something caught my attention when Herold described something. Apparently, this giant serpent's size is unknown since it seems that it's resting inside the sea."

"I mean, aren't serpents usually large?" I replied.

"Well, that's true. I'm hoping that it's just another basilisk but a really giant one. Or maybe a Python like in the legends."

"I see."

"Anyway, as for the situation, we need to split our team into groups."

"Neco, Helga, and Feran should be in the same group. They already have combat experience and been training with each other the day we have them."

"Helga and Feran should be in the same group. Neco can adjust. The two of them have trust with each other and I feel like they shouldn't be separated."

"Helga and Feran… That takes up two of our slots immediately. If we divide the team, it should be two for each. But as you said, we need to split them up somehow with three on one team."

"I can solo. But the others need someone to have a cover for them. Helga and Feran should be with each other. So the best person who can utilize the buffs they give should be… Greta?"

"Yeah, she's great. She's a pure offense so the both of them erasing the defense weakness of Greta should be compatible."

"Good. So the three of them should be facing the elder dragon."

"I believe so."

"For the Umibozu, I'll do it. Umibozu is the strongest monster that I know there."

"I and Neco should be against the basilisk. I can nullify its demonic gaze and poison."

"And Neco can protect you. That's also a plus."

"And for the giant snake or something, Rize and Precia should be the best one."

"Why?"

"Well, Rize can support with her bow, and Precia can charge in without worries."

"That's a good reason. We'll use them. And I guess for the only one left, the thunder bear will be left to Afal and Yefa. Their destructive power can subdue anything I'm pretty sure."

After that lengthy discussion, we even delved deeper into backup plans such as escape routes and sudden formation change if we ever encountered an enemy. Our discussion lasted overnight but it was a great and informative discussion nonetheless.

We talked about this with the other members and they all agreed with the plan.

Five days later, we went to the location Herold sent Zieglind and we ran to that location. It was near waters as Zieglind predicted because of the monster Umibozu. There were four kingdoms near that location, Uryia, Murley, Poryu, and Gera. But as soon as we were near the location, all we could see were pillars of flames reaching around a hundred meters. We could feel the raging heat when we weren't even there yet.

Zieglind told us to be cautious. So we headed into the forest. It's the worst possible option to go into the forest while we saw some flames everywhere, but that's the only entrance we have to where the place is. If we fly using gazer form, I'm afraid that we will just be discovered by the monsters. They'll be difficult to kill if they group up so we wanted to kill them all individually. So our only choice, the forest.

When we went in, a giant shake was felt. Tremors throughout the whole forest. Birds were flying out of the trees, countless livestock running out, and thousands of monsters too.

We all got ready and let out our Gazer form but the monsters didn't even dare to face us. They all just ran past us and ran away. No matter how we hit the horde with spells, they aren't even getting to face our direction. They aren't even avoiding the spells we throw at them.

One thing I know for certain that this isn't a gathering of monsters. Its monsters running away from even greater monsters. Zieglind and I understood this immediately so we began to take caution. For thousands of monsters to create a horde and make them all run away, this is going to be trouble. Even if the five monsters there shouldn't make the forest monsters to be absolutely scared. So we knew this was going to be a difficult mission.

After running in the forest and letting all the monsters run past us, we finally get to the place we were supposed to be.

"This… This is a lot larger event than I expected." The moment we got arrived at the scene all I could see were the four kingdoms engulfed in flames. Herold was the only one battling these giant monsters. But the one thing that scared us is that thing.

Zieglind suddenly panicked. "WHAT? W-…. WHY!? WHY IS THAT THING HERE!? NO, NO, NO! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

The crimson knights looked at Zieglind. Precia was the one to ask him. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

This is the first time we see Zieglind completely break down of fear. We don't know what's happening. The ground rumbled and the giant snake emerged from the seas. It was incredibly huge.

"Why is that thing here… Jormungandr… the World Serpent…" Our eyes widened.