The intense pain continued to surge into the giant serpent's consciousness. For it, although its ability to regenerate flesh and blood was strong, the mere severing of its forked tongue was not a difficult matter to regrow, but that kind of excruciating agony was indescribable.
However, compared to that fierce pain, another matter made the giant serpent even more concerned.
Before it, between the gloomy sky and earth, all things were in chaos. Even the moon and stars, in awe of its formidable might, had no choice but to hide themselves. Only the terrifying lightning occasionally tore through the dark night sky, accompanied by bursts of raging winds and storms, wreaking havoc above the great sea, reduced to being the giant serpent's accomplice.
Aegir, the old sea god who ruled the deep sea, hid in his deep-sea palace, extremely wary of the giant serpent rampaging in his domain, not daring to act rashly. Njord, the god of the near seas and harbors, hesitated and pretended not to see. And although Mani, the god of the moon, was anxious about the predicament of his sister Sol, the sun goddess, he, lacking in strength, could only hide behind the dark clouds first to avoid falling into the same fate as his sister. As for the stars, already frightened out of their wits by the giant serpent, none dared to show their heads, silent as cicadas in winter.
The sky, the earth, the ocean…
The entire world submitted to the ferocious might of this giant monster. No god or living being dared to disturb this monster currently in a fit of rage.
However, on this surging sea full of storms, lightning, thunder, and howling tornadoes, there was a sun chariot emitting endless brilliance, crossing the obstruction of the downpour and raging winds, fearlessly driving towards the distant celestial vault. Although in this gloomy world, this light seemed so feeble, it was already striking enough.
"The sun!!!"
And looking at that dazzling sun chariot, the serpentine pupils in the giant serpent's eyes slightly contracted.
Its gaze fixed dead on that fireball radiating infinite light and heat. The giant serpent paid no heed to anything else. Even the excruciating pain coming from the tip of its tongue was forgotten by it. Because compared to the pain, a stronger primitive instinct had already dominated its reason.
That was its food!
No one could take it away!!!
The giant serpent had long had enough of that situation of falling into endless hunger and then often losing its reason.
It could not care about anything else, but only that hunger, that endless hunger that made it so ravenous its head was dizzy, that made it want to gnaw on its own body to fill its stomach, it absolutely could not accept, and absolutely could not tolerate anyone stealing it away!
Then, it frenziedly chased after that sun chariot.
"Roar!!!!!!!!!!!"
It raised its immense upper body and fiercely pounced in the direction of the sun chariot.
And the sun chariot before it, as if having eyes on the back of one's head, suddenly veered, narrowly avoiding it, causing the giant serpent to pounce on empty air, crashing headfirst into the great sea. Amidst the deafening rumbling, it stirred up wave after wave of towering tsunamis thousands and ten thousands of meters high.
"D*mn it, someone go stop that thing!"
Sol, scrambling away in a routed manner, could no longer maintain her resplendent and detached goddess demeanor, and couldn't help but curse, turning her head and shouting loudly at the two gods behind her.
Hearing this, Thor almost instinctively raised his war hammer.
"Thor!"
And Loki immediately shouted, hurriedly stopping him.
Knowing well Thor's strength and fearsomeness, he understood that if Thor truly went berserk and battled Jormungandr, it would inevitably be a world-shaking fight, and the result would also inevitably go against his original intention.
When two tigers fight, one will surely be wounded.
Whether it was Thor, his nephew, or Jormungandr, his second son, he absolutely did not wish to see either of them gravely injured.
And Thor, hearing this, glared at him with eyes wide open, furiously panting, his hand gripping the war hammer so tightly it seemed as if he would crush that indestructible Mjolnir.
All along the way, he had been filled with pent-up fury, and based on his usual temperament, he would have long been unable to resist swinging his war hammer.
However, before setting off, Loki's agreement with him and Odin still echoed in his ears.
"Only retrieve the sun to restore the world's order, absolutely do not harm Jormungandr's life."
In Gladsheim, the three solemnly swore, with the deities as witnesses.
And this was also an opportunity Loki had obtained for Jormungandr at the cost of his own past contributions to Asgard, and even more so the reason Thor had been able to suppress his dissatisfaction along the way.
His face was gloomy, full of rage, but this irascible thunder god rarely did not directly take action. Although his fingers gripping the war hammer had long been making creaking sounds, he still did not do anything else.
And Loki, closely watching Thor's actions, gradually let his heart that had risen to his throat slowly sink back down.
He knew that although Thor was short-tempered and easily angered, he was also a man of his word. He would not go back on what he had promised.
Just as he put his mind at ease and was about to speak of his solution, suddenly…
"Caw~ Caw~"
All of a sudden, before them, an incomparably tiny divine raven crossed countless storms, circling above the great sea while cawing.
The extremely penetrating cries crossed all the sounds of storms and tsunamis, directly reaching their ears. And the meaning of this cry, they all instantly understood.
"Jormungandr is born with an evil nature, difficult to tame. All the deities should join forces to suppress it under the great sea, making it forever unable to escape!"
That raven that often accompanied the All-Father Odin left and right cawed above the great sea, but the meaning of that voice made Loki's heart suddenly turn cold.
"Odin! You swore…"
Loki abruptly raised his head, urgently shouting at the gloomy sky above, but before he could finish, that divine raven suddenly darted out from the side, grasping his body in its beak, flying towards the distant sky.
And the stunned Thor then burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha!"
Amidst the lightning and thunder, this thunder god directly flew out of the sun chariot. His voice in the air sounded so unrestrained and electrified.
"Watch out!"
And just then, Sol's alarmed cry rang out.
Behind them, the fierce winds had yet to arrive, but that ferocious roaring had already reached them.
"Roar!!!!!!!!"
However, he was as if he had eyes on the back of his head. The muscles all over his body abruptly tensed. He suddenly turned his body, and the war hammer in his hand that had long been ready to strike swung out behind him.
"Ah!!!"
Countless bolts of lightning coiled around his war hammer, forming an immense hammer of lightning. Accompanied by Thor's bellowing roar, it mercilessly and savagely smashed towards the back.
In an instant, like planets colliding!
"Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble!!!!!!!!!!"
In a flash, a rumbling as if heaven and earth were torn asunder resounded. Mountains and rivers trembled. The deafening explosive sound instantly drowned out all the sounds of lightning and storms. Amidst the giant serpent's collapsing figure, a rain of blood was sprayed into the seawater.
Under Thor's gaze, the serpent head as magnificent as a mountain range was smashed by his forceful heavy hammer, its direction directly altered, crashing into the great sea.
But immediately, the furious giant serpent's roar shook the heavens.
And staring at this unimaginably, inconceivably immense giant monster before him, Thor's eyes were filled with thick exhilaration and battle frenzy.
He could clearly feel the power of that monster. It was simply powerful beyond imagination. As far as the eye could see, whether it was the sky, earth, or ocean, everywhere was filled with its immense figure. To battle it, perhaps even he himself had to be prepared to die.
But it was precisely because of this that he could clearly feel his blood gradually beginning to seethe all over his body.
It had been too long since he had a truly worthy adversary.
Even his father, Odin the All-Father, could not directly confront him. Among the deities, he held the title of the strongest, but could only feel a deep loneliness.
It was because of this loneliness that he so thirsted for battle, thirsted to find an opponent. But whether it was the frost giants or deities or others, he could no longer find any opponent who could contend against him. The more he fought, the more hollow he felt. The more hollow he felt, the more feverishly he thirsted for battle.
"Vanity, vanity of vanities, all is vanity."
King Solomon, born a prodigy, who possessed everything in this world from birth - wealth, power, wisdom, beauty, health, glory, armies… was universally recognized as the holy king. Even the beautiful queen of a distant land would travel thousands of miles, escorted by armadas of thousands and armies of tens of thousands, to pay homage, respectfully listening to his teachings and guidance. And he, as the unparalleled wise man, the great sage, in the end only left behind this one sentence.
Thor did not know of this king who most likely would not appear in this world, but he felt that same feeling of emptiness no different from King Solomon's.
He even once thought that he might never find an opponent powerful enough.
And now…
This opponent had appeared.
"This is my fated nemesis!"
A sense of epiphany amid the obscurity surfaced in his mind.
Excitement, fanaticism, elation… Countless emotions boiled within him.
"Rumble rumble!!!"
Countless bolts of lightning rumbled as they fell beside him, illuminating the exhilaration on his face.
"That guy Loki is gone. I finally don't have to abide by any d*mn oath anymore. Now, the two of us can finally have an uninhibited fight."
Facing this raging leviathan of the sea before him, Thor's eyes held only frenzied battle lust. He ripped off his somewhat cumbersome tattered top, revealing his upper body's sturdy muscles covered in scars. His face twisted with savage ferocity as he roared with excitement.