When this issue was brought up, all the deities became grave.
If the thousands of magnificent palaces in Asgard could be left to be slowly rebuilt, just as they were initially, the angered gods could tolerate spending tens of thousands of years gradually repairing them. But the vanished sun was currently the most pressing concern.
If the cosmic order established by the entire Aesir tribe was divided into ranks, the sun undoubtedly played an extremely vital role, and the absence of the sun nearly pushed this stable cosmic order to the brink of collapse.
More than one deity had furiously proposed to chop up that giant serpent and carve the sun out of its belly, hanging it back up in the dome of the sky. But due to all sorts of troublesome and thorny issues, including the invasion of the frost giants, and the fact that Loki had not yet appeared to state his position, the gods found it difficult to free up their hands, to the point that for more than half a year they had taken no action, unable to deal with that serpent which had caused all this chaos.
But now, the invasion of the frost giants had been quelled, and the valiant gods including Thor had all returned, and Loki, who had been absent all along, had also come back. This meant that this matter that had been delayed for so long would finally have a resolution.
Loki looked at the gods before him with a smile, his grinning face making it completely inscrutable what he was thinking. Then, just as he was about to speak, a voice suddenly rang out.
"I still believe that thing's head should be cut off. It's not some well-behaved creature."
The war god Tyr looked at Loki before him with a slightly angered expression.
Loki was stunned for a moment, then looked at Tyr and the other gods. Although he didn't speak, from the attitudes of the many gods present, it could be seen that most of them concurred with Tyr's idea.
He gave a sudden laugh, then sat back down on his divine seat, saying at his own pace:
"I think... there's no need for that."
"You..."
Tyr's brows furrowed tightly, and he couldn't help but angrily want to say something.
"Calm down, Tyr. I know what you want to say, but Sol isn't dead yet."
Before Tyr could finish, Loki waved his hand as if he had seen through what Tyr wanted to say.
He stared at Tyr before him, his pupils unusually becoming a bit more serious, and said in a low voice:
"I've been to the land of the dead, but even after searching the entire realm of Helheim, I couldn't find Sol's departed soul."
Helheim, the lowest level of the World Tree, was the final destination of all the dead. After all living beings died, their souls would gather in Helheim, with no exceptions. Even if they were gods, once they died, their souls would similarly descend into Helheim.
Tyr looked at Loki before him in astonishment, and couldn't help but try to refute:
"Perhaps Sol didn't go to Helheim after she died..."
"If not in Helheim, where else could she go!"
But Loki's reaction was unexpectedly stern. He rarely interrupted Tyr's words so bluntly, his pale, frost-like, needle-shaped pupils staring at Tyr before him, saying in a serious tone:
"The souls of all those who gloriously fall on the battlefield will be led by the Valkyries to Valhalla, and the souls of all those who die in bed from illness and old age will naturally descend into the realm of the dead. This is the order established by King Odin at the beginning of the birth of heaven and earth."
"The sun goddess Sol is not human, so the only place that can accommodate her soul after death is the lowest level of the World Tree, together with those departed ancient gods. But I searched all over the realm of the dead and couldn't find any trace of the sun goddess Sol... There's only one explanation. The sun goddess Sol is not dead yet. She's still together with the sun in Jormungandr's belly!"
Loki, who usually seemed indifferent to everything, now had an unusually solemn expression on his face, as if his untouchable reverse scale had been touched. That domineering, unyielding, fierce aura made all the gods dumbfounded.
However, the war god Tyr would not be intimidated. His face showed a look of flying into a rage.
"Are you threatening me?"
With that said, he instinctively put his hand on the hilt of the long sword hanging at his waist, his impetuous and irascible nature showing.
The Norse gods were born warriors. Even in Odin's palace, they all wore armor and carried weapons at their waists, never leaving their arms half a step away.
"So what if I am!"
But unexpectedly, Loki was unyielding in the face of him. Facing one of the mightiest gods in Idavoll, he didn't give an inch, actually retorting with a single sentence. He also put his hand on the dagger at his waist, his eyes stern, his body slightly hunched, taking a defensive stance.
In just a moment, the two gods who had been talking properly were now on the verge of conflict, and if they weren't careful, they would engage in a life-and-death struggle.
An invisible, chilling murderous intent formed between the two confronting each other.
And at this moment...
"Enough!"
With a furious roar, the king of the gods' scepter heavily fell on the golden palace steps.
"Bang!"
A heavy impact sound suddenly rang out. In an instant, it was as if heaven and earth were shaking. The entire golden palace was trembling. The gods could barely stand steady until this point. Only then did Loki and Tyr look at Odin at the top of the palace, noticing the stern and angry expression on his face.
Sweeping his gaze over the two gods before him, under Odin's stare, the two also tactfully sat back down on their divine seats.
Loki had an unconcerned attitude again, lazily leaning on his divine seat, as if everything that had just happened was just an illusion. Only Tyr still had a dissatisfied and angry look on his face as he glanced at Loki.
Then, the owner of the gaze looked at Loki before him, who was acting detached and whistling a tune as if nothing had happened. He said in a deep voice:
"Loki, since you're certain that Sol is not dead, then what do you intend to do?"
The whistling stopped, and then Loki looked at Odin before him, saying with a serious expression:
"Just take the sun and Sol out of Jormungandr's belly."
Indeed, if the sun goddess Sol was still alive and the sun was still there, then there would be no problem as long as both were taken out of Jormungandr's belly.
However...
Loki didn't mention a word about punishing Jormungandr. His intent to protect was apparent.
Odin saw all this but said nothing, only staring at Loki before him. That calm single eye made it impossible to discern what he was thinking. After a long time, he slowly said:
"You and Thor go and deal with this matter."
Hearing this, the corner of Loki's mouth curled up, revealing a smile.
...
Inside the golden palace, with the departure of Loki and Thor, the gods also left one after another to deal with their own affairs. Only the one-eyed king of the gods sat silently on the throne, his hand supporting his forehead, as if pondering something.
A long time later, he seemed to mutter something. Then, a raven on his shoulder suddenly flew out of the golden palace...