Return to the Other World

"Did... did he win?"

In the conference room of the Iceland Presidential Palace, Anderson Streicher watched the great serpent Jormungandr's body collapse. His taut nerves suddenly relaxed. Feeling a chill on his forehead, he wiped it with his hand and found his palm covered in sweat.

"So he was bound to win," Petrov added, drawing a conclusion from his earlier analysis.

"He actually won. A mortal defeated Jormungandr, the son of Loki and the enemy of the gods foretold by Odin."

"The Divine Artifacts played a huge part. He used Gungnir, the Eternal Spear, the Sword of Vengeance Fragarach, and Longinus, the Godslayer Spear that dealt the final blow, to their fullest potential."

"President Alexander, we should have researchers study the Divine Artifacts immediately. I believe these artifacts handed down from the Middle Ages possess some kind of mysterious power. If we can discover where that power comes from, we can create Divine Artifacts with the same power."

"And we need to recover Jormungandr's corpse for study. We might find a way to gain supernatural powers from it."

The experts and scholars in the conference room began talking excitedly.

An idea struck Alexander. He signaled to an expert from his country, who understood at once and said, "Jormungandr may be dead, but the blood flowing from its body could be highly contaminating. I propose that the Bear Nation handle it to prevent widespread contamination."

Contaminating?

You haven't run a single test, but you can tell Jormungandr's blood is contaminating just by looking at it?

Do you have X-ray vision?

Norway's president, Fres, grumbled to himself and shot a look at an expert he had brought along.

The expert from the Bear Nation had reminded him that Jormungandr's corpse was valuable.

The Norwegian expert immediately spoke up. "The North Sea Fishing Grounds lie less than twelve nautical miles from our established baseline. Under the Blue Star United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, they should fall within Norway's territorial waters. Jormungandr is a creature native to our waters. Other countries must not enter our territorial waters to catch it, or we have the right to open fire."

"The North Sea Fishing Grounds cover fifty thousand square kilometers. How did you fit all that within twelve nautical miles?"

An Icelandic expert pursed his lips, then said, "Jormungandr attacked Iceland and caused us enormous losses. Now that it's dead, Iceland intends to file a civil suit against it and claim its corpse as compensation."

"Civil suits apply to humans. Since when do they apply to gods? Do Icelandic laws govern gods now? I propose that the countries that contributed to this operation conduct the research together and share both the costs and the findings."

"Countries that contributed? You invite Finland to the meeting when you need us, then cut us out when it's time to divide the spoils. Nice try, Denmark. I demand that all five of the Five Nordic Countries participate and share the research findings."

"The Five Nordic Countries? When was the Bear Nation kicked out of the north? Didn't we contribute the most to this operation? Why should the Bear Nation be left out when the spoils are divided?"

"..."

A fierce argument broke out in the conference room. At first, the experts fought over it. Then the presidents joined in, arguing until their faces were red. At last, they reached an agreement.

Jormungandr would be treated as a prize shared by all six countries. Together, they would fund and staff a supernatural-creature research base on an island in the North Sea Fishing Grounds.

They would share the costs and the findings!

Just as they reached the agreement, the sea on the screen changed.

A man in dark knee-high boots, a brown knitted tunic, and a pointed hood appeared without warning above the water. A few whiskers hung from his icy blue-white face, and a stitched scar crossed his lips.

Petrov studied the man on the screen for a moment, then recognized him. "It's Loki!"

Loki was Odin's sworn brother and one of the twelve principal Norse Gods.

According to Loki’s Quarrel, Odin had once promised Loki himself: "We are brothers bound by blood. I will never drink mead alone unless it is offered to us both."

The others recognized the famous god of Norse Mythology too, and instinctively held their breath.

For besides being the god of deceit, a trickster, a night wanderer, a god of wisdom and fire, and Odin's brother, Loki was also Jormungandr's father.

Had Loki come to avenge his son?

Loki paid no attention to his son's killer. He chanted an incantation, and Jormungandr's corpse slowly rose from the seabed.

He crouched and reached out with a deathly pale hand to stroke his son's corpse.

A moment later, Jormungandr's corpse, with two Divine Artifacts still embedded in it, began to vanish inch by inch. Soon it and the golden blood in the sea had disappeared from everyone's sight.

In the Presidential Palace conference room, everyone stared at the scene in a daze.

On a deserted island somewhere in the North Sea Fishing Grounds, Jiang Hao toyed with the three Divine Artifacts in his hands.

All three had changed in unmistakable ways.

Blood-red runes had appeared along Fragarach's blade.

"Fragarach has two abilities."

"The first is ignoring defenses. It can easily cut through protective magic and even the hardest physical armor."

"Even the divine essence of a Demigod, which is immune to most physical attacks, cannot negate this ability."

"I wonder if a god could negate it."

"But this weapon has one drawback: it only works when you get close."

"The second ability is life drain. Wounds inflicted by it cannot heal. I wonder if that works on gods."

Jiang Hao set Fragarach down and picked up Longinus.

Two little winged angels had appeared at the base of Longinus. They looked so lifelike that they seemed ready to leap off at any moment.

"Longinus has three abilities."

"The first is protection from death. No matter how severe an injury the wielder suffers while holding the spear, it will not kill them immediately. But there is a limit: this protection does not work against a fatal effect caused by someone or something of equal or higher rank than the spear."

"Longinus is a Divine Artifact on the same level as a god. That means nothing below a god can kill me while I'm holding it."

"The second ability is victory. The wielder receives victory's blessing, which turns every disadvantage in battle into an advantage. It has no effect against beings of a god's rank."

"The third ability is a curse. If the wielder loses the spear, they suffer a curse of instant death. It has no effect against beings of a god's rank."

Holding Longinus, Jiang Hao felt a little disappointed. "The first two abilities are quite useful, but the third is a trap..."

He set Longinus down and picked up Gungnir, the Eternal Spear.

Compared with before, small yellow flowers had bloomed on Gungnir's branches.

"Gungnir, the Eternal Spear has two abilities."

"The first is an unerring strike. Once thrown, it is certain to hit its target."

"The second is oaths. Any oath sworn upon it is certain to come true."

"That power comes from the nearly omnipotent Runes. I wonder if an oath that I'll become a god would come true..."

After pondering for a moment, he gripped all three weapons. With a thought, a black vortex appeared in his mind.

His consciousness touched it, and his vision went black. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back in the other world.

Before he could explore what new authority he had gained, his Demigod's divine intuition sensed another Demigod approaching.

An ancient-looking mirror appeared silently in his left hand.

The next instant, a handsome young man tore open space and appeared before him.

"Fallen evil god who stole my lord's authority, face my lord's wrath."

"First, Dawn!"