On the Viking warships, the dark-haired man descended from the flagship's upper deck and moved freely between the vessels, inspecting them at leisure. Whether noble Druids or unruly Berserkers, all instinctively lowered their heads and struck their chests in salute.
After all, just yesterday they had witnessed this lord effortlessly defeat four heroes famed throughout the North: the Warrior King Sigurd, Eric Bloodaxe, Harald Wartooth, and Beowulf the Dragon-Slayer.
And those heroes had been in a berserk state at the time.
To admire warriors and follow the strong was a creed the Norse people lived by. Faced with such peerless strength, this level of reverence was only natural.
As he went on, it became clear that although more than a hundred warships made up the fleet, the number of people aboard was surprisingly small. Barely three thousand in total, yet almost all of them were elite.
The cargo stored in the holds, however, consisted largely of furs, mead, medicinal herbs, ores, Magecraft materials, alchemical creations, and similar goods.
It seemed these ships served as both a fleet and a merchant convoy.
Tsk. That old fox Odin still doesn't fully trust me…
As the jet-black figure paused before a hatch, silently grumbling to himself, the Valkyrie following close behind him with her head lowered was lost in thought. She forgot to stop and bumped her head straight into someone's back.
"S-sorry… Jörmungandr…"
Realizing her breach of etiquette, Brynhild flushed and bowed her head even lower, hurriedly offering an apology.
"Hm?"
She had barely spoken half the sentence when the nasal sound from above made her fall silent. She stumbled over the words, forcing out an unfamiliar and awkward name.
"Sa… Samael, Your Highness…"
The primordial serpent known as Jörmungandr, whose true identity was Samael, nodded in satisfaction and reminded her once more.
"We'll be reaching Greece soon. For the sake of convenience, you need to get used to it. From now on, remember to address me by this name."
As his true name was spoken, Samael leaned against the railing and gazed out over the chaotic sea. His thoughts surged, carrying him back through millennia of memories.
In the battle at the Temple of the End, he had not been foolish enough to seek death outright. It had been a desperate attempt to survive when driven into a corner.
That god had been far more afraid of death than Samael had anticipated. The instant his divine body collapsed, he severed his tail and fled without hesitation.
Samael, meanwhile, ensured the persistence of his soul and memories through the life-and-death cycle of the Ouroboros.
On top of that, the clash between his authority and that of Marduk caused a rupture in the Sea of Imaginary Numbers. The nearby Scandinavian World Egg surfaced, torn open by a narrow fissure.
Escaping into Scandinavia to recover and lie low was the obvious choice.
By chance, at the very moment his soul fell into the Scandinavian world, it resonated with a newborn serpent that the gods of Asgard had cast into the deep sea.
That little creature was none other than the Midgard Serpent of legend, Jörmungandr, fated to bite the Thunder God Thor to death during Ragnarök.
According to the Icelandic epic Edda, once fully grown, Jörmungandr could encircle the entire Scandinavian world, its head and tail joined together.
It symbolized the power of the world itself and was known as the World Serpent, or the Serpent That Encircles the World.
For this reason, Jörmungandr is also one of the origins of the Ouroboros image.
This happened to overlap in both divinity and concept with Samael's other form, the Ouroboros itself.
One side was a soul that had lost its divine body yet retained innate intellect and wisdom. The other was a magical beast with an overwhelming physique, driven only by instinctive hunger. Together, they fused perfectly.
As if everything had always been meant to be this way.
And so, after ending his sinful serpentine existence in Greece, he underwent a rebirth in the North, casting off the past and becoming a serpent once more.
Describing the newly reborn Midgard Serpent Jörmungandr as having turned over a completely new leaf was no exaggeration at all…
The very culprit that should have ignited the final divine war and destroyed the Norse gods instead became the key force that prevented Ragnarök from ever breaking out.
Because he had not only replaced Loki, the god of trickery, as the spokesperson of the frost giants, but had also become an ally of Odin, the king of the Aesir, his standing in Asgard now carried tremendous weight.
This situation arose from the structure of the Norse Age of Gods itself. Centered on the World Tree, Yggdrasil, the world was divided into nine realms:
The upper three realms: Asgard, home of the Aesir; Muspelheim, domain of the fire giants; and Alfheim, land of the elves.
The middle three realms: Midgard, where humans dwelled; Jotunheim, homeland of the frost giants; and Vanaheim, realm of the Vanir.
The lower three realms: Svartalfheim, abode of the dwarves; Helheim, where the souls of the dead returned; and Niflheim, the frozen world of ice and snow.
Originally, the Aesir, the Vanir, the frost giants, and the fire giants formed four powers that balanced the world.
But Odin, king of the Aesir, was a god of extraordinary resolve. At the cost of one eye, he drank from the Well of Wisdom and gained insight and foresight beyond the ordinary.
Later, guided by revelations of fate, he hung himself upside down beneath the World Tree for nine days and nine nights as a sacrifice. In doing so, he conquered the pillar of the world itself, comprehended the original twenty-four runes, and seized immense authority.
With that, the Aesir rose rapidly and gradually shattered the fourfold balance of the Norse Age of Gods.
Not stopping there, Odin married Frigga, the most beautiful goddess of the Vanir, making her his divine queen and drawing the Vanir closer to his side.
The king of the Aesir even humbled himself to form a blood oath with Loki, the son of the frost giant king. They became sworn brothers, and Loki gladly accepted the Aesir's invitation, took up residence in Asgard, and became the god of trickery.
Through Odin's constant planning, the Aesir grew ever stronger.
When the Earth Goddess gave birth to Thor, the God of Thunder, and Queen Frigga bore Baldr, the God of Light, and Hodr, the God of Darkness, the Aesir reached an unprecedented height of power, standing alone above all others.
But crisis followed soon after.
The Aesir became increasingly arrogant. Even when they forced the frost giants and the Vanir into submission, it was largely through Loki's deceit and the gods' broken oaths, all for the sake of Asgard's benefit.
At the same time, conflicts within Asgard intensified, internal strife became frequent, and clashes grew ever more severe.
Amid this storm, Odin glimpsed the future of Ragnarök. From then on, he deliberately provoked wars, selecting fallen warriors from the human world and bringing them into Valhalla to strengthen the Aesir.
When Loki's three children, all born under ominous signs, came into the world—the giant wolf Fenrir, the world serpent Jörmungandr, and the death goddess Hela—the Aesir king foresaw the danger they posed. He decisively imprisoned Fenrir, cast Jörmungandr into the deep sea, and sent Hela down to the underworld.
These autocratic actions, combined with the cold treatment Loki had long endured among the Aesir, completely shattered the relationship between Loki and Odin.
When the god of trickery went too far by deceiving Hodr, the God of Darkness, into using mistletoe to kill his brother Baldr, the God of Light, everything finally spun out of control. From that moment on, the two sides broke completely.
Thus, the frost giants joined forces with Surtr, king of the fire giants, and launched a divine war against both the Aesir and the Vanir.
In the end, Jörmungandr and Thor perished together. Odin was devoured by Fenrir, who was then slain by the forest god Vidar. Drunk on bloodshed, most of the gods met their end in mutual destruction. The World Tree was burned by the blazing demonic sword of Surtr, the Nine Realms collapsed, and everything moved toward ruin and oblivion.
In the past, Samael would have chosen to lie low, quietly growing stronger until he could strike first and wipe out the Aesir gods.
But everything he had experienced in the Greek world led him to reconcile with the gods.
He had no ambition for Norse divine authority, so if cooperation could benefit everyone, why not choose a path of peaceful coexistence?
Thus, Samael, who knew the future, held secret talks with Odin the Wise. On the condition that they would work together to prevent Ragnarök, he replaced a certain unreliable god of trickery and gradually became the representative of the frost giant faction.
In a sense, this could even be seen as carrying on a fine tradition of the Age of Gods: when the father turned away, the son laughed, and Loki was stabbed in the back.
Now, Fenrir and Hela were steadily growing and already showing extraordinary strength. No matter whether the frost giants sided with the Aesir, the Vanir, or the fire giants, it would completely reshape the balance of the Norse world.
As the one calling the shots, Samael's attitude carried enormous weight within the Aesir realm.
For example, this expedition that sent a Viking fleet deep into the Chaotic Sea was only approved after Odin overruled all objections and gave his tacit consent.
For that reason, he even sent his daughter, Brynhild, to ensure the safety of his ally.
"Bang!"
Just as the ancient serpent was lost in thought, a dull impact rang out. The warship lurched violently, nearly capsizing, as though some colossal creature had slammed into the hull.
Samael's serpentine pupils narrowed. He immediately gathered his thoughts and led Brynhild toward the source of the sound.