Jormungandr Appears

He swung the Golden Fishing Rod with all his might.

The golden fishing line shot through the air like a shooting star,arcing gracefully before—

Plop!—it plunged into the murky seawater and vanished.

At first, the surface remained still—only the rhythmic crash of waves against the hull filled the air.

Black gripped the rod tightly,his knuckles whitening,his heart thudding with quiet anxiety.

The skill 【Never-Empty-Angler】 promised:

“100% chance to hook the highest-combat-power aquatic creature within the current sea zone.”

But in truth, Black only understood this from the text description.

He couldn’t be absolutely certain it would summon Jörmungandr.

What if the skill failed?

What if Jörmungandr didn’t surface?

The consequences would be catastrophic.

Just as doubt crept in—

VRRRMMM!

The Golden Fishing Rod jerked violently in his hands—

something colossal had taken the bait!

A titanic force yanked the rod forward.

Black’s arms snapped taut, muscles straining—his whole body pitched forward, spine nearly snapping.

Only by bracing his foot against the railingdid he avoid being dragged overboard, rod and all.

The vibrations intensified.

The rod bent into a full crescent,groaning under unbearable tension.

Black gritted his teeth and stared at the spot where the line vanished.

Ripples spread across the surface—then grew, swirling faster…forming a vortex.

The vortex expanded—from meters… to tens… to hundreds of meters wide!

The sea churned as if gripped by an invisible god.

This disturbance…

Black’s eyes narrowed. His pulse roared in his ears.

At the vortex’s heart, the water boiled—bubbles erupted, thick with ominous energy.

The sky twisted in response.

Clouds roiled.

The last ember of sunset was swallowed whole.

Darkness fell like a shroud.

Lightning—purple, serpentine—flickered through the storm clouds.

Winds howled, whipping waves into mountainous walls of water.

The entire sea trembled under an indescribable force.

If Black had any doubt before—he was now certain.

The thing on the other end of the line was Jörmungandr.

Only a Dragon King could warp heaven and earth like this!

Suddenly—

BOOOOM!

A hundreds-of-meters-wide geyser exploded from the vortex’s center!

And then—

ROOOAR!!!

A sky-obscuring black silhouette erupted from the depths!

It was colossal—a mountain given flesh.

Its form was shrouded in shadow,yet its aura alone made souls quiver in primal terror.

Black’s pupils shrank to pinpricks,his heart hammering like a war drum.

Cold sweat drenched his back.

His hands trembled so violently the rod nearly slipped.

CRACK!

A violet lightning bolt split the sky—illuminating the monster in ghastly clarity.

Jörmungandr.

Its body stretched like a range of living mountains,clad in overlapping sapphire-blue scales—each the size of a shield.

Its head dwarfed the entire Hodyr,crowned by broken, jagged horns.

From its abyssal maw came breath that froze the sea.

Massive membranous wings, etched with cruel runes,unfurled to blot out half the sky,their beat summoning hurricane-force gales.

Its crimson slit-pupiled eyes—like twin blood moons—locked onto the insignificant human on deck.

“ROOOOAR!!!”

The dragon’s roar wasn’t sound—it was divine wrath made manifest.

The shockwave shattered the ocean’s surface.

Walls of water—hundreds of meters high—crashed outward for kilometers.

The Hodyr’s masts groaned, near splintering.

On deck, sailors collapsed, blood streaming from ears and nostrils.

Black, nearest to the beast, coughed up blood—but the Dragon King’s gaze pinned him like a spear.

It lowered its head,nostrils flaring—two plumes of pale breath freezing the sea into jagged ice.

“INSIGNIFICANT MORTAL!”

Its voice boomed like collapsing heavens.

“What sorcery did you wield…to awaken this king from slumber before its time?!”

Jörmungandr was furious.

Its planned revival was to occur at the Abyssal Chasm—where it could regain full power swiftly!

Facing a Dragon King in person,

Black felt his blood turn to ice, his lungs seizing.

This was no game model—this was a true sovereign of the ancient world.

Before he could react—

Jörmungandr’s nostrils flared again.

Its eyes contracted sharply.

Shock—genuine shock—flashed across its draconic face.

“You…” it hissed, voice trembling with disbelief,

“You carry the scent of… Nidhogg!”

“Who… are you?!”

Nidhogg.

The name of the final boss in the game—

Nidhogg, the Dragon King of Dragons,foremost of the Twelve.

Draconic aura?

Black blinked—then understood.

Jörmungandr must be sensing the Dragonfang Blade on him—forged from Nidhogg’s own fang.

But Black had no intention of chatting with a Dragon King.

The stage now belonged to Elizabeth.

The Golden Fishing Rod shattered in his hands.

Without hesitation, he dropped it and bolted for the cabin.

“HALT, MORTAL!”

Jörmungandr roared, jaws gaping to swallow the Hodyr whole—but suddenly—it froze.

Its gaze snapped toward a cabin on the Hodyr.

From there… it felt a power equal to its own—a presence unmatched since its sealing!

WHOOSH!

A golden radiance erupted—a figure interposing itself between dragon and ship.

Jörmungandr’s eyes narrowed.

A human.

Empress Elizabeth.

She floated midair,clad in white robes whipping in the gale,a gleaming white sword in hand.

Around her swirled the unmistakable aura of an Emperor-tier sovereign.

Stunningly beautiful.

Terrifyingly powerful.

“So it’s truly you…”

Elizabeth stared at Jörmungandr,her usual composure cracked by rare astonishment.

This was impossible.

According to Black’s intelligence,

Jörmungandr was in the Caribbean Sea—but its seal was near the Abyssal Chasm.

The fleet had only just entered the Caribbean—they were days away from the Chasm.

And Jörmungandr’s scheduled unsealing was still days off!

Yet here it stood—its broken horns unmistakable,the very ones the Sword Sage had severed in ancient times.

Worse—as an Emperor-tier expert,she should have sensed such a presence long before it surfaced.

But she’d felt nothing—as if Jörmungandr had materialized from nothingness.

Her mind reeled.

How?