Inside the longhouse on Rogna Island.
"Crackle…"
Inside the longhouse made entirely of sturdy logs, weapons and animal pelts hung all over the walls, a rough and wild style assailing the senses.
In the center of the spacious room, a warm bonfire crackled and burned. Old Edgar sat before the fire, a mug of ale in his hands, silently pondering something.
"What's wrong? Are you worried about the children again?"
Beside him, Jenna, already past middle-age, her once beautiful face inevitably etched with a few wrinkles, looked at Old Edgar and asked softly.
Old Edgar didn't reply. As an extremely traditional Norse man, he possessed many quintessential Norse traits - bold, brave, fearless in the face of death, and also addicted to alcohol and prone to fits of rage.
But such a man was now unusually silent, sitting quietly, making it hard to discern his thoughts.
In Norse culture, the death of a family member was a blood feud, one worth going to any lengths to avenge, even if it took thousands of years. So neither he nor his children had questioned whether it was necessary to risk their sons' lives for the sake of revenge.
Undeniably, unlike other mythologies, in the world of the Norse gods, whether deities or humans, men or women, strong or weak - they all tended to have a severe berserker inclination, each possessing the innate qualities of a warrior.
But while avenging a grudge was one thing, loving one's children was another. Even though he supported his daughter, Old Edgar couldn't help but sometimes worry about his children.
However, as the man of the house, the responsibility on his shoulders made it impossible for him to voice these concerns aloud, so he could only remain silent, keeping his words in his heart.
Facing Jenna's question, he just sat by the fire, not showing any intention to speak.
Seeing that he had no intention to talk, Jenna looked at him, shook her head, and then murmured.
"Indeed, it's been over a month."
As she spoke, she sighed.
Normally, it wasn't unusual for a ship to be out at sea for several months. But not returning for so long still made her heart fill with an inexplicable unease.
"Njord, god of the sea, please bless my children and bring them safely home."
She silently prayed in her heart. But at that moment, she suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps beside her ear, followed by forceful knocking on the door.
"Bang bang bang!"
The intense knocking made even the heavy wooden door shake. At the same time came the urgent shouting.
"Old Edgar, Old Edgar… Open the door!"
She immediately recognized the voice. It was Ogier, the messenger of Rogna Island.
"Could it be…"
A thought flashed through her mind. She immediately got up and strode to the rough wooden door.
"Creak…"
She pushed open the door. The panting figure that appeared in her sight was indeed Ogier the messenger.
Before her, Ogier's unruly golden hair was mixed with quite a bit of morning dew. His agile body, known for its running prowess, was now exhausted, proving that he had likely been running for a long time.
Lifting his head to look at Jenna before him, Ogier first tried to catch his breath, then said hesitantly,
"Mrs. Jenna, I hope you can stay calm when you hear this news…"
"…"
With the messenger's words, everything around seemed to gradually lose color, turning pale.
Looking at Ogier's anxious face before her, his lips moving up and down, she couldn't hear any sound.
The originally noisy world gradually lost the existence of sound. The whole world… became terribly silent.
Her vision started to sway.
Atler, Harriet, Hanna, Olga, Lina…
Countless names got stuck in Jenna's throat, as if about to gush out, yet she couldn't say anything.
Her lips parted, wanting to say something, but in the end, no words came out.
Instead, her body suddenly fell backwards, and in her gradually darkening vision, she saw the face of her husband, filled with panic…
…
A month later, through the frantic descriptions of those Norse warriors who had barely escaped with their lives, the name of the great serpent "Jormungandr" spread throughout the entire region and gradually reached the continent where humans lived, Midgard.
Whether fishermen, warriors, or housewives, they couldn't help but express amazement at the legend of this giant serpent.
Legend had it that this son of the god Loki, an unprecedented giant serpent, had a body comparable to endless mountain ranges. Its head was vast enough to rival any tall mountain. When it was enraged, its gaping abyss-like mouth could even swallow an entire city…
In the words of wandering poets, the giant serpent was prone to anger, often stirring up the restless sea, causing storms and waves to wreak havoc…
Those who revered this immense giant serpent began to call it…
"The World Serpent."
…
But in the bottomless deep sea, this colossal being was now quietly slumbering in the ocean depths as never before…
For Meng, he didn't care at all about the world's astonishment and surprise towards him. In fact, even those tiny people on "small boats" he encountered while shedding, he didn't pay much attention to.
No other reason - they were too insignificant.
To him, it was equivalent to being bitten by an ant while sleeping, then casually slapping it dead. It wasn't even worth mentioning.
Except for feeling slightly annoyed when bitten, he didn't even remember this incident.
On the contrary, compared to those humans even more minuscule than ants, Meng was more concerned about his stomach.
As a typical mythical creature, Meng was extremely unscientific in many ways.
For example, he could inexplicably grow larger without eating anything, completely violating the law of conservation of mass and energy. From the moment he gained awareness until now, not even two full years had passed, yet his body had already grown to an unimaginable size.
But on the other hand, as his body continuously grew, he also became increasingly hungry. Only by constantly engaging in frenzied feeding could he barely alleviate his hunger.
This feeling of hunger was so intense that Meng had no way to do any more idle thinking, because just racking his brain to try and fill his stomach had already exhausted all his energy.
As the saying goes, "Hunger narrows the mind, just as deprivation stunts growth."
When he was starving all day, sometimes even reaching the point of seeing red and losing his reason, obsessing over what to eat, it was hard to expect this serpent, who was often struggling to get by, to have the leisure to think about anything else.
However, the only benefit was that although this intense hunger was strong, it wouldn't actually starve Meng to death. It was just a pure feeling of hunger.
And when Meng shed his skin for the first time, this feeling of hunger also ceased for the first time. Although he was still ravenous, it wouldn't reach the point of completely losing his sanity like before.
But because of this, the giant serpent also had a moment of quietly resting and waiting for the shedding to complete for the first time.