Chapter 515 (Patreon)

Jormungandr POV

I regret agreeing to the Elf’s request.

It’s just a quick trip, Jormungandr.

You won’t have to fight, Jormungandr.

It’ll be like a vacation, Jormungandr.

Why did I think I needed a vacation? I was in a good spot! Sure, I was getting annoyed a lot because some Asgardians wanted to meet the great World Serpent for themselves. But it was a far cry from being hated and hunted in the past.

There used to always be one fool who wanted to prove themselves by slaying the World Serpent. So simply wanted to meet me was….a nice change.

And now I’m cold, I’m bruised, and I’m being chased!

And I was used as a club!

The other Dragons are never going to let me forget this. I could have hidden it, but Ddraig has such a big mouth, he’ll tell everyone.

“Is he going to be alright!?”

“Calm down, his life isn’t in danger.”

I moved quickly through this damn cold place, putting a lot of distance between us and whatever it was behind us.

Even I didn’t want to deal with what was coming.

I did glance up on my head to see Ddraig’s host passed out.

He seemed fine after the strange girl dropped the damn moon on a copy of the Great Welsh.

How!?

Why!?

Who uses the moon as a weapon!

Thankfully, it wasn’t real in a sense. Things flickered back to reality, and I was no Magician, but even I could tell that it was all sorts of wrong. Like we were in a different world for a moment there.

And the fact that the moon, beyond being used as a bludgeoning tool, felt scary.

“What’s wrong with him then?” She asked.

“He’s hurt, obviously. His arms are a mess, some broken bones, ribs look bad. Some internal bleeding, bruising, cuts etc. But his life is far from danger. It just looks like all his stamina suddenly drained completely along with other energies in his body and he simply collapsed from the rebound.” The God explained.

“Can you help him?” She looked worried.

“I’m a God of Medicine, not healing. I’m accelerating his natural healing abilities already with my Divine Power, but there’s a limit of what I can do without tools or supplies. Even with my domain of Mercy, I can alleviate his symptoms slightly, but that’s about it.”

“Do you have anything!?”

“I didn’t think I would need to, considering the Youkai were thoroughly stocked. But someone decided to teleport me into the middle of this place far away from the medical supplies.” I could feel his glare.

“…..sorry.” She looked down.

“Actions have consequences, lass.” I glanced up and saw his expression soften slightly.

“I’ll take the blame too, I shouldn’t have let her talk me into this.” The floating toy agreed. “The Old Man is going to be pissed.”

“Hmph.”

“But why not use Wilhelm’s stuff, I doubt he’d mind, especially if it’s used to help him.” The talking toy asked.

“I know he had a storage space filled with stuff, but I’m far from a God of Magic, I can’t exactly break into it.”

“Haah….and I can’t use very much magic without a proper Magus to wield me.” The toy replied.

“Oh, inside that space he has? I can get inside.” The strange girl raised her hand. “What do you need?”

Folen perked up. “Do you see any red potions? Actually, just grab anything that looks like it could be medicine.”

She reached forward and her hand disappeared from view as the space rippled around her, then suddenly hundreds of things fell onto my head around them.

“….well okay then.” Folen blinked. “I didn’t expect this much.”

“Do you need more, he as a lot more stuff in there.” She reached inside and pulled out…

“Is that a Troll’s head?” Folen furrowed his brow.

She shrugged. “It smells weird.” She threw it back inside. “Oh, what’s this?”

A bright light shined out.

“Odin’s beard, don’t suddenly take something like that out!”

“That’s the True Longinus.” I informed them. “Please don’t play with that on my head.” Even I felt danger from that weapon.”

“Oh, that’s weird. There’s something inside of it, like a presence…..” She held it up to her ear. “Hi, I’m Arcueid Brunestud.”

The Spear seemed to vibrate in her hand.

“Okay, sorry.” She put it back away and took something else out. “Why does he have a bunch of girl’s underwear in there?” She held up a very skimpy piece of fabric. “And why is it so small?”

“Ask your Grandfather later.” The Toy wand seemed to skillfully avoid that question.

It was obvious she was….child-like. I barely needed to interact with her much to be able to understand that.

“This is enough, stop messing with the Brat’s stuff.” Folen slapped her hand before he started uncorking various things onto his hands and pressing them to Ddraig’s host.

The girl atleast went quiet as she pulled up her legs next to him and watched.

“Old Man, you’re really impressive.” The Wand spoke.

Steam was literally rising off the body of Ddraig’s host.

“I was the best doctor in the Nine Realms before I became a god. Now, I can cheat.” He said proudly. “You said that you can use some magic, can you analyze this stuff? I don’t recognize half of it.”

“Analyze? I can do a basic scan, what do you need?”

“I need something to replenish his stamina, there’s too much for me to go through individually to find what I need. I’d rather not take too long to get him back up on his feet.”

“This red fruit here.” It floated to a strange looking fruit. “Oh, and this….is it wine? Yeah, give him a sip of this wine, that should help.”

He uncorked the wine and took a whiff. “That’s impressive.” He poured a few drops into the mouth of the young host. “Hmm, this fruit.” Folen’s eyes glowed. “What in the Hell? This is almost pure life force.” He barely even took pause before breaking it up into small pieces and pushing it down the boy’s throat, forcing him to swallow.

I suddenly stopped as I looked into the distance.

“Did you all feel that?” I asked.

The Strange girl scrunched her brow. “Something just came into the world and it’s being rejected.”

“….what does that mean?” Folen asked.

“Something that shouldn’t exist. It’s facing rejection.” She said cryptically again. “A True Daemon?”

“Arc, are you sure?” The Wand flew up into her face.

“No, it’s weird. It feels kinda similar, but it’s different. Like the First, an artificial Daemon? It’s going to appear, someone is going to give it a name and bind it to the world.”

“Right, we should leave.” The Wand said with some urgency.

“I have no idea what she’s talking about, but I still think that’s a great idea. Jormungandr, the brat said the bright light – something about a lighthouse?” Folen pointed far into the distance where a bright light reached the sky, even through the blizzard around us, it was visible.

“With pleasure.” I moved as fast as I could towards it.

It wasn’t that far away, but there was something scary behind us and I wanted to get away as far as I could.

I didn’t have as good a danger sense as Yu-Long, but there’s a reason I survived so long! I’m the only Dragon King that’s never experienced death once even if it was a close shave by Surtr!

As we got closer, I realized how big the thing was.

I couldn’t even see the light that ended, it pierced the blizzard completely, and the source of it was a large golden building that didn’t look like it belonged in this place.

“Oh, a human!” The strange girl pat the top of my head excitedly, jumping down as we all turned to look at where she was talking.

There was a human, sitting on a chair, no snow around him in the slightest. In fact, the temperature around here was much warmer.

He was old for a human, white hair, frail body, I didn’t sense any danger from him. Truthfully, I could probably kill him by just released my aura in his presence.

“Hey Old Man, why are you in this place? Humans shouldn’t be here.” She got really close to him.

The old human was whittling away on a piece of wood, barely even paying us any attention.

He slowly stopped, his movements displaying his old age. “I got lost once upon a time.” Though, he took glances at Ddraig’s Host atop my head.

“That’s not good.” The Strange girl frowned. “Hey Mister Snake, let’s take him home. Humans shouldn’t be here.”

I was surprised she even cared. She was clearly not human and I wouldn’t care about some random human.

“I’m afraid I don’t have a home anymore, young miss.” The old human stood up, his body wobbling from the strain. He looked far behind us as if his gaze could pierce the snow storm. “But you all should leave.”

“Why don’t you have a home anymore?” She ignored what he said, squatting down with the tone that a child asks an adult with. “There are still plenty of humans outside.”

It was very strange.

To see a being with such power, yet such naivety and innocence.

“Home is where the heart is young miss. My heart died with my sister.” He offered a sad smile under his long beard.

“What happened to your sister?” She asked once more with the grace of a child ignoring social etiquette.

“She was taken.” He said with clear venom in his tone. “I devoted my life to revenge, chasing after the bastards responsible until I ended here.” His fists clenched until he let out a sigh. “What am I saying? This old man is rambling in his old age.” He looked at her. “Maybe it’s because you have that same look of hers. I don’t remember much, she had shining gold hair just like yours and a similar look. Sometimes when my mind returns, I think I can almost remember exactly how she used to look.”

He reached out and lightly pat the strange girl’s head.

“You shouldn’t stay here and listen to me ramble.” He held up a shaking hand towards Ddraig’s host. “That one was kind before, you don’t need to pay a crossing fee. Take him and enter the ocean. Something is happening and it’s getting closer.”

We all turned to look and I could feel the vibrations in the ground.

Something large and powerful was coming.

Even with my eyesight, I could only see its outline in the shadows of the snowstorm.

Along with two glowing eyes.

Maybe if I was full strength….

But now…nope.

I wasn’t the first to react, it was the strange girl.

She grabbed the old man rather gently just before something shot through the blizzard and part of the weird structure was destroyed.

“Jormungandr, get us out of here!” Folen finally shouted.

The Strange girl and the old man were on my head, I jumped into the beam of light and felt the world twist around us.

@***@

Wilhelm POV

I felt salty air hit my face and pushed myself up realizing I was laying on my back. The splashing of waves was clear to my ears even as I nearly fell over from the sudden movement.

I felt groggy, like I had just been on a month-long bender.

“You’re finally up.”

I looked towards the source and saw Folen sitting there. “What’s going on?” I looked around and we were surrounded by the ocean. “What happened, I was fine and then everything just went blank…?”

“You tell me, you suddenly fainted and startled everyone.”

I put both hands on my head and let my jumbled brain settle down to think it through.

“Ah, I forcibly used more power from the Bow than what I should have. Not a physical backlash, but it significantly drained my stamina and what-not. In addition to practically having my Aura shattered and the beating I took, my body just collapsed once everything was over.” I summarized after thinking it through.

Right, I made the mental note before to be careful with using Nidavellir and the Bow. I only recently theorized the completed form of it rather than just a rough outline. Using it battle for the first time, it was very powerful, surprisingly so.

Unfortunately, my Helheim spell didn’t perform as well as expected. Not that it wasn’t what I had hoped, but that the opponent was just a poor choice. Oh, it certainly helped, it definitely accelerated the count down for the fake Ddraig, but a drawn out fight was doomed to fail from the start.

The fact that it could just Boost ignoring its own damage was much deadlier than anticipated.

Well, I should have taken more caution regardless.

Opponents that ignore their own wellbeing seem to be the worse kind.

Besides that, the Bow certainly needs to be handled with more caution as well. I don’t regret what I did, but having more knowledge on the consequences will be beneficial for the future.

I shouldn’t be surprised that it knocked me on my ass like it did.

It’s the primary weapon of a God in the same breath as Meridia. The fact that I could draw out more power from it than normal is already a feat worth praising.

Shit, I couldn’t even pull the bowstring all the way back and my arms were destroyed in the process.

Speaking of…

“Did you heal me?” I looked at Folen.

“I did.” He nodded. “Luckily, you gave me Medicine as a domain. I had to use stuff from your storage –“ He pointed at my ring. “ – but I can amplify healing objects and medicines with my new divine Power.”

I was obviously still not fully recovered, but I was far from debilitated. Especially my arms, they were back to working condition, and while my chest still hurt from a few cracked ribs and what-not, It wasn’t nearly as bad as it should have been without something impressive to heal me like Avalon.

Fascinating, I wonder what the scope of that entails? Would he be able to affect something like Avalon. Not directly, it’s beyond reproach as a physical object, but in application…

Thoughts for later.

“Last thing I remember, Arcueid dropped the moon on fake Ddraig and I was about to explain everything and ask questions and here I am.”

Arcueid dropped the Crimson Moon on fake Ddraig.

That’s going to give me shivers for a long time.

“Folen, how did you end up with my cousin.” I finally asked.

“Why don’t you ask those two.” He pointed to Arc and…

Was that Captain Hook!?

I was about to ask about that, but priorities!

Because Ruby was floating next to her and she noticed my gaze because she immediately hid behind Arc.

“Ruby.” I said very sternly. “Would you like to explain why you and Arc are here?”

“I’m not here!”

“Ruby, I can deactivate you with a verbal command.” I reminded her.

“It wasn’t my fault!”

“I highly doubt it.” I rolled my eyes. This had her mischief all over it.

“It was me.” Arcueid spoke up. “I forced her. I wanted to come and visit….”

I looked at Arcueid then at Ruby before letting out a sigh. I could believe that as well, Arcueid isn’t one to think things through.

A simple though like, I wanted to visit could easily turn into this because she’s very singularly focused when she gets a thought in her head.

And she’s one of the few people that could actually ‘force’ Ruby.

“Captain.” I greeted the Old man who was sitting at the edge of Jormungandr, which we were apparently riding as he swam through the sea.

He didn’t answer me, nor even turn around but I knew he heard me.

“Why is he with us…?” I pointed at him, then looked at the others.

“I took him!” Arcueid smiled.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose.

Right, this has turned into a clusterfuck.

I am thankful for the assist back there, however. I don’t believe I would have died, but Arc did save me ample effort when she dropped the damn moon on fake Ddraig.

I felt a tremor, as it seems Jormungandr hit something, I looked over the side as he slithered up to a sand bar and stop, nearly flopping over.

Quickly, I was about to grab Captain Hook before he could fall, but Arcueid beat me to it and helped him onto the sand bar.

Odd.

“I can’t go anymore, I’m too tired.” The Snake let out groan.

“….how long had you been swimming?” I asked.

The World Serpent looked at me and for some reason I felt a lot of pity. “Hours.”

“You’ve had it hard.”

“She used me as a club.” He whined. “I, the majestic World Serpent, was used as a club to bludgeon people.”

I looked at Arc and she looked away, pretending not to be guilty.

“None of the other Dragons are ever going to let me live this down.”

“That’s….not true.” I tried to reassure him.

[No, he’s right.] Ddraig chimed in. [Next opportunity I get, I’m going to tell everyone.]

“Ddraig actually thinks you were pretty cool back there.” I forced a smile.

“That’s a lie, the Great Welsh is a dick, everyone knows it.”

[Not untrue.] Ddraig didn’t deny.

“No, Ddraig really thinks you did good.”

“…..really?” The World Serpent asked.

“Yup.”

“He used to call me a dumb snake. He would taunt me, asking me why I was a Dragon King when I wasn’t even a ‘real’ Dragon.”

[He is a dumb snake.]

Dammit Ddraig.

[But I take back what I said about him not being a real Dragon. It was ballsy of him to attack Surtr like he did, I’m honestly impressed.]

“Ddraig says he recognizes you as a real dragon. He said, only a real and powerful dragon would dare to stand up to the Fire Giant King. Only a real dragon would rebel against destiny and fight against preordained fate. Ddraig said he greatly respects you for what you did.” I told him.

[That’s not at all what I said.]

However, Jormungandr seemed to regain some life in his eyes. “Great Welsh said something like that?”

[I did not.]

“He most certainly did. I back up my words with my pride as the Red Dragon Emperor.” I gave him a thumbs up.

Ddraig, let him have this. He looks like he’s been having a really bad past few days…

And we do kind of owe him for what happened back in Asgard.

Jormungandr smiled, as best as a snake could. “But I’m still too tired to move. I can’t even bring out 30% of my full strength like I am right now because everything is going into healing my previous injuries. My stamina is pathetic too.”

Well, fuck.

I could vaguely sense Sir Wiggles, and he was far away.

I took out the map I took off killing those goblins awhile ago that pointed to the island, and it was blank. It was easy to guess we were too far out of range from the established magics.

“Hey Folen, you didn’t happen to see any Youkai after we entered the ocean, did you? Nurarihyon and some others should have been on my ship.” I’m sure they’re fine, but how much damage is the question.

“There was no one waiting when we came over.” He shook his head.

Well, this is a shitty spot we’ve ended up in. I need to meet back up with the others, but now I have to babysit Arcueid.

And our ride is too tired.

“Did you say ‘Youkai’, lad?” Captain Hook turned to me.

“…I did?”

“I had a few of them come over from the side you did.” He spoke calmy. “’Bout an army or two crossed over.”

Did Yasaka and them catch up? That means they’re already marching or rather sailing for the main territory of the Winter Court.

Nurarihyon must have met back up with them.

“Well, we either have to wait for a ship to pass by and commandeer, or for Jormungandr to recover.” Speaking of, I realized I had something that could probably help. “Hey big snake, try eating a couple of these.”

I toss two of the Red Fruits onto its tongue and he didn’t even bother to say anything as they were pulled into his mouth.

It was as if he gained a burst of stamina and ‘stood up’.

“Oh, that’s nice.” He hissed out.

“Consider it a thanks. How much swimming do you think you can do?”

“I’m going to need a few hundred of those if you want me to swim all the way back from where we came.” He replied.

Right, no point then.

Should I just use my Magic and risk it? I didn’t trust my calculations in this place where time and space could change on a whim.

“If you need a ship, I may have a solution.” Captain hook raised his hand, looking my way. “It depends if he can swim just a little bit further.”

“…..how far?” Jormungandr looked at him skeptically, and Captain hook gave a big grin.

@***@

“Hate.” Jormungandr spit out. “I hate all of you. None of you are good people and I will never help any of you ever again.” Jormungandr whined as he swam for another two hours per Captain Hook’s instructions.

“Ddraig say’s he admires you’re – “

“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Jormungandr hissed, eyes tilting up towards me as I stood on his head.

“I was hoping.”

Jormungandr grumbled. “I am owed a debt.”

I relented. “I swear on my name, I recognize a debt owed.” For this and the nonsense that Arcueid put him through. I wasn’t playing around with this one, I made a promise, and if he called in my debt, I would answer without hesitation.

“Hmph, if Ddraig’s host owes me a debt, it barely makes this whole trip worth it.”

“We’re almost there. It should be that cave cove up ahead if I remember.” Captain Hook stood there with the the wind whipping his hair back and didn’t even stumble as he pointed forward on Jormungandr’s head.

The World Serpent continued to grumble, but he shot forward.

He entered the cave, it was rather large, enough to accommodate his size.

Though he paused. “There’s something here.”

The waters inside the cave trembled as something large burst out ready to attack.

“Tick-Tock!” Captain Hook blurted out, causing the monster to stop abruptly and Jormungandr who was nearly ready to bite into it stopped as well.

There was a massive crocodile sitting there.

It was very intelligent by the look in its eyes, seemingly recognizing Captain hook immediately.

“My old friend.” He had a few tears in his eyes. “You’re still protecting this place after all these years….”

Not far away, I could see it. On the stone ground of the cave there was a ship, it had some decay to it, but it was mostly intact.

And specifically, there was a pirate’s flag hanging down. The hook on it was a dead give away.

Captain Hook nearly jumped down before Arcueid gave him a hand and he almost stumbled as his feet touched the ground.

The massive crocodile that could probably eat the ship in a couple bites, looked towards him and rumbled like cat purring as the old man put a hand on its snout.

I vaguely recall a crocodile in the story, it swallowed an alarm clock, which is how it had its name. In some iterations the crocodile is Captain Hook’s archnemesis, in others, it’s his companion.

It’s obvious which is real in this case.

We all got off of Jormungandr as he finally shrunk down and coiled around Folen’s neck in exhaustion.

We really did owe him a bit here.

It seemed like Captain Hook stood up straighter.

 “Don’t worry about Tick-Tock, he’s a friend to the crew!” Captain Hook laughed. “Without him…..without him, the ship would have been stolen long ago. He’s been here, protecting it faithfully for so long. A man with a turban sold him to me a long time ago! He claimed that Tick-Tock here was descended from….from something, I don’t remember. From that place with pyramids, the name escapes me, he said something from there.”

…..I do know of a certain mythological Crocodile from Egyptian Myths.

“It’s in surprisingly good condition.” I admired the boat since the big and most likely Divine-Descended crocodile made no motion of hostility.

Of course, the Jolly Roger is second to none!” He seemed excited, a far cry from the past few times I’ve seen him. “She will serve you well.” He sighed. “Take good care of her.”

He was handing his ship over without a second thought.

“I’m afraid that there’s one problem.”

“Something wrong with the ship?” Captain hook looked concerned.

“You see, I’m already a Captain. It would be the height of presumptuousness to assume the role of Captain on another man’s ship.”

“Ah?” He blinked.

“Not to mention, I know nothing of these waters. We need someone experienced, Captain.” I took out a bottle of my Peach Wine and one of the Red Fruits.

Both of these were exceedingly rare materials, that I would hesitate to give out, but in this instance, I felt it was appropriate.

He seemed confused, as if he was operating on instinct, he took the jar of wine and popped it open, downing a big gulp.

His eyes widened and he grabbed the fruit, eating it very quickly.

His white hair didn’t disappear, but perhaps he was standing a few inches taller and his eyes were a bit less glossy.

“Tick-Tock. Do you remember what I told you? We have one last adventure. The only adventure we have left.” He smiled. “For one last time, let’s let these bastards fear the name of Captain Hook.”

He looked around.

“Lad, you know your way around a ship. I need you to patch any holes.”

“On it, captain.” I nodded, taking my shirt off because this was going to be some dirty work.

“Little Lady, how is your sowing hand? The Sails need a touch up.”

“I can do that….I think.” Arcueid sounded excited, like it was a fun new thing for her.

“You, the elf.” He pointed at Folen with eyes narrowed.

“Not a Fae.” He made sure to say bluntly.

“Then you are welcome on my ship. How’s your aim?”

“I don’t miss.” Folen snorted.

“Check the cannons, make sure they’re primed.”

Folen smiled lightly and flicked his hand up in the image of a salute.

It was as if he returned to the prime of his youth despite an elderly body and white hair. His hook ran through his mustache with a wide grin adorning his face.

“In an hour, I want the Jolly Roger ready to set sail!”

@***@

A/N

I accelerated the time table of this arc, we’re entering the last bit here. Probably like 5 or so more chapters.

I’ll see about another Cyclops Cultivator chapter tomorrow.