"Quick, beat the ocean drum!!!"
Just as everyone was dumbfounded, staring at that colossal monstrosity that almost made one despair, Atler was the first to react.
Even without fully discerning the entire appearance of this gigantic being, just seeing a glimpse of it, Atler directly realized that the colossal creature before them was the target of their voyage…
The giant serpent.
Jormungandr.
No time for anything else, his first reaction was to turn his head and urgently shout to his brothers behind him.
"Whoosh!!!"
But at this moment, the aftershock of the hurricane that suddenly whipped up on the sea surface blew fiercely towards the brothers.
Instantly, the gale raged. The huge waves stirred up by the gale force winds that could directly snap trees made the twenty-plus meter long dragon-headed warship rise and fall unsteadily on the angry billows like a thin leaf, as if it could capsize at any moment.
However, the countless mysterious runic symbols carved all over the hull of the dragon-headed warship suddenly shone with bright white light.
As if it were a calming pearl, those huge waves that nearly submerged the dragon-headed warship had their momentum lowered when approaching the hull, as if tamed, turning into small ripples rushing towards the dragon-headed warship.
As a people occupying vast lands in a mythological world full of monsters, these Norse were not the same as the historical Vikings. They were exceptionally rich in experience dealing with sea monsters and giant beasts. It could be said that except for some cultural customs and language similarities, in many aspects, these Norse had already become quite different from the historical Norse people.
In preparation for this voyage of revenge, old Edgar's family spared no expense, specially inviting numerous wizards and witches to carve magic runes on the dragon-headed warships for this expedition to guard against various emergencies.
And evidently, those wizards did not skimp on their work either. So even in the face of this level of wind and waves, the dragon-headed warship could still ride it out without capsizing.
Although the ship still rocked and swayed violently, it was already just like a normal storm, far less exaggerated than the previous towering waves.
At the same time, one of Atler's quick-reacting brothers stumbled and ran towards the stern on the rocking deck.
He hurriedly raised a hammer at the stern and smashed it with all his might at something like a chopping block!
"Bang!"
In an instant, the hammer struck the iron plate, making a crisp sound of metal collision.
Then, a thunderous boom suddenly resounded over the ocean.
"Rumble!!!"
Like a dragon's roar, like thunder, the ear-splitting boom instantly spread across the sea. The immense sound made even the surface of the ocean tremble.
At the stern of the dragon-headed warship hung a huge stone drum that seemed to be made of jade. This bed-sized giant stone drum was tightly bound by countless ropes, firmly fixed to the hull. At this moment, this stone drum was continuously vibrating.
This ocean drum was specially used by the Norse to deal with sea monsters dozens of meters long. As long as the small drum was struck, through a complex structure, countless ropes would pull the giant stone drum to vibrate. The loud and low sound was undoubtedly fatal noise to the sea monsters, making them unwilling to approach such ships.
However, facing the vibration of the ocean drum that could make countless sea monsters choose to retreat, that mountain-like beast only slightly shook its head, as if it was just a bit uncomfortable from the shaking.
Then, it fiercely dove into the sea.
"Splash!!!"
That almost endless, mountain-like majestic body that obscured the sky immediately stirred up hundred-zhang high towering waves on the sea.
"Boom!!!"
The waves were so high that they seemed to want to reach the dome of the sky. And now, these towering waves carrying the momentum of collapsing mountains surged towards Atler and the others' dragon-headed warship.
"Dodge!!!"
Atler directly roared urgently at his brothers manning the oars behind him.
And these burly brothers directly exerted all their strength to control the oars, trying to avoid the impact of this wave.
"Splash!!!"
No less than ten thousand tons of towering waves rushed towards the dragon-headed warship.
The runic symbols, under the impact of this heavy force, directly burst out with extremely dazzling white light, trying to protect this dragon-headed warship to avoid this disaster. Under the illumination of countless strong white lights, this dragon-headed warship seemed to instantly turn into a ship of light, sailing in the turbulent ocean.
And miraculously, the dragon-headed warship directly deviated from the center of the wave's impact along the momentum of the huge wave.
However, the other ships might not be so lucky. Under Atler's gaze, a dragon-headed warship that failed to prepare in time was directly hit by the huge wave and cleanly disappeared from the sea surface under the impact of this wave measuring tens of thousands of tons.
And based on the unstoppable power of that huge wave, their best outcome might be to have a few pieces of wreckage left.
But until now, the two sides had not truly confronted each other. Just a few trivial actions from the opponent had directly cost Atler's side two dragon-headed warships.
Turning his head to look at the colossal being whose body was so enormous that it hadn't even managed to submerge half of it into the sea, still leaving half of its body on the surface, Atler's face turned ashen.
The closer they got to this colossal being, the more clearly they realized its immensity…
Under Atler's gaze, the monster before him was like an endlessly high wall, cutting off the entire world, making one despair… No, even larger than a high wall, it was a mountain! It was an endless mountain range!
In the wind and rain, even with only a small portion of its body revealed, it already far exceeded human imagination.
At this moment, as far as the eye could see, the entire world seemed to be covered by this monster's enormous body, even the sunlight appeared dim.
"Rumble!!!"
Overhead, thunder roared, dark clouds gradually covered the entire sky, as if heralding this giant beast's rage.
The whole ocean went mad with its fury, endless huge waves and whirlpools were born with its movements.
Before Atler, it was as if the entire world was enraged along with it.
"Calamity…"
He couldn't help but mutter.
Indeed, apart from a calamity, Atler didn't even know how to describe this colossal being anymore.
Its existence was like a natural disaster such as a tornado, volcanic eruption, or lightning, making people unable to muster the slightest thought of resistance.
Atler, this warrior who believed himself to be fearless, for the first time felt what it meant to be afraid…
And from the corner of his eye, Atler more or less saw the dread mixed in his brothers' faces that had turned extremely unsightly.
"Twang!"
But suddenly, the sound of an arrow came from beside Atler's ear.
Turning to look, he saw Lina standing at the bow beside him, wearing leather armor and holding a longbow, standing against the wind in the raging gale.
Her eyes stared at the calamity-like giant serpent before her without any fear, her gaze holding only hostility, her bearing like a majestic Valkyrie, an indescribable heroic spirit arising.
"My brother, are you afraid?"
She said without turning her head.
Perhaps, among everyone, she was the only one who had not the slightest fear of the giant serpent Jormungandr.
Hatred gave her the greatest courage.
Atler was stunned for a moment, then an inexplicable heroism welled up. He laughed wildly.
"Afraid? How is that possible? The Edgar family has no cowards."
With that, he turned his head and roared at his brothers behind him,
"Is anyone afraid?!!!"
"No!!!"
The only response was a unanimous answer.
"Then, let us see if the sons of the Edgar family can avenge our family!"
Saying that, Atler took out a hand axe from his waist and then shouted loudly,
"Get close to that snake! Everyone, prepare to throw hand axes!"