In the gloomy sky, rumbling lightning shuttled through the dark clouds, while above the stormy, turbulent great sea, an incomparably colossal monster was coldly staring at the human figure before it.
Crimson hair, rippling muscles, an arrogant and haughty countenance, and that iconic war hammer in his hand. Even if beside him was a world of raging storms and downpours, he could still stand proudly in this chaotic world.
The serpent recognized him and knew who he was.
"Thor."
In the depths of its originally furious pupils, a rare hint of composure and gravity appeared.
Thor, or as the poor Northmen called him, Donar, was the benefactor god of the poor and farmers, the god of strength and thunder, always eager for battle, yet also always harboring a bit of compassion for the poor. Although short-tempered, he was not disliked. The eldest son of Odin the All-Father, the mightiest among the deities, his hammer Mjolnir possessed the power of invincibility in battle…
People never stint on words of praise for this thunder god, but for this guy, the serpent's evaluation of him could be summed up in just one word.
"Very strong."
This guy was the strongest of all living beings the serpent had ever seen. And it was precisely because of this that the serpent did not choose to directly rampage through with brute force like other times, but temporarily chose to suppress its rage and regain some rationality.
Although the serpent's mind was a bit sluggish, it was not without intelligence. This sluggishness was more reflected in its logical reasoning and computational abilities, because it itself was not a very clever creature to begin with. But in other aspects, precisely because it had a heart free of distractions, it even had a few more traces of keen animal instinct compared to ordinary people.
And the reason it was always accustomed to rampaging through with brute force was very simple…
If you can solve a problem using only violence, then why bother using your brain?
When your body grows larger and larger, so large that what ordinary people see as mountains are just grains of sand to you, what ordinary people see as lakes are just drops of water to you, your attitude towards all things will also change accordingly.
A bunch of things that can't even be considered specks of dust, what qualifications do they have for you to use your brain on them?
Just as the serpent had always been very clear, deep in the ocean where it lay, there was an undersea palace. That old sea god Aegir, who had long loathed it intensely, had even stopped concealing his hostility towards it, to the point that the serpent could clearly sense that thick animosity. But it had never done anything about it.
No other reason than he was just an ant.
In the eyes of others, that old sea god was a god, one who had existed since before the birth of the world, an old sea god that even Odin the All-Father had to accord some respect. But in the serpent's eyes, he was nothing more than a slightly larger ant. A stronger ant, in the end, is still just an ant.
When dealing with ants, there is no need to use your brain.
Just as humans would not bother using their brains to play tricks on ants, in the serpent's view, there was also no need to use its brain on these specks of dust.
The sun, the moon, the stars, the gods, the giants…
All these myriad things, in the serpent's eyes, were nothing more than tiny specks of dust, not worth mentioning.
If it wanted to eat, it ate. If it wanted to kill, it killed. If it wanted to sleep, it slept. Why bother caring about the opinions of those tiny crawling creatures?
But…
Thor was clearly not in this category.
In him, the serpent sensed a powerful strength, a strength formidable enough to make even it consider with great apprehension.
When dealing with ants, there is no need to use your brain; but for a powerful adversary on one's level, that requires using your brain.
…
"Step aside."
Under Thor's gaze, the towering being, with more than half its body hidden in the great sea, looked at him coldly. Then, a low, rumbling sound rang out, making the air beside Thor tremble.
The serpent spoke for the first time.
No, it made no physical sound. It was just that its spirit was so vast that even a bit of power inadvertently leaking out was enough to affect reality, causing the air to tremble, thus forming a sound that seemed like speech.
And it was hard to say that tone was speech, because that voice was completely unlike any sound a human could make. Rather, it was more like the low growl of a beast.
"I thought you couldn't speak."
But hearing the serpent's silent growl, Thor's face was instead filled with battle frenzy as he laughed wildly.
"Ants have no right to converse with me. They are unworthy."
The serpent looked down at Thor below it, its cold pupils devoid of any humanity.
As it spoke, two violent tornadoes surged out from its nostrils, blowing towards the great sea, stirring up countless waves. The huge billows generated caused Thor's crimson hair to flutter in the wind.
The serpent's pupils turned exceptionally cold.
"Step aside. The sun is mine. As long as you step aside, I can overlook your offensive actions towards me."
As the serpent's deep voice sounded, the great sea churned more and more restlessly.
"Rumble rumble rumble…"
Above the celestial vault, the dense dark clouds remained. The lightning also seemed to sense the two monsters confronting each other below, becoming a bit quieter, not as fierce as before.
The sun chariot, trying to escape the serpent's line of sight and fly back into the sky, had not yet managed to flee very far. With the serpent's speed, it could directly block it at any time and swallow it back into its belly.
Of course, the premise was…
If that seemingly insignificant, but actually haughty and unparalleled thunder god was not blocking the serpent's way.
Thor regarded the serpent as his archenemy, and the serpent also regarded Thor as a formidable adversary.
Although it regarded everything with disdain, the serpent's apprehension towards Thor was an unquestionable reality. This apprehension made the serpent choose, for the first time, to try to resolve the issue through compromise in dialogue rather than crushing violence.
In the serpent's view, it had already given Thor enough respect.
But Thor clearly did not necessarily think so.
"And if I don't?"
The thunder god said word by word, the savagery and exhilaration in his eyes surging higher and higher.
"Then you shall die!"
For the first time, thick anger appeared in the serpent's deep voice.
Under Thor's gaze, its eyes took on an unsettling blood-red color, becoming exceptionally terrifying.
It raised its head. This overly intense movement caused the entire great sea to boil violently. And that magnificent figure almost connecting heaven and sea made the serpent look like the overlord of this entire dark, chaotic world.
"No gods will come to help you. Those ants have no right, nor do they dare to participate in our confrontation… You will die here, Thunder God."
The voice, laden with thick threats, sounded like thunder, mixed with the sound of furious wind and waves, ringing in Thor's ears.
But faced with this already undisguised, blatant threat, Thor's face instead grew even more excited, filled with twisted ferocity. He laughed wildly.
"Of course they won't come to help me, because… I alone am enough!!!"
Before the sound of his wild laughter faded, the thunder god suddenly leaped up, roaring, and his war hammer Mjolnir swung out towards the serpent's head.
And across from him, the serpent, already poised to strike, also opened its abyssal jaws and pounced towards him.