Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 63 Preparing for War
Several months later, the news spread throughout the nine worlds that Baldr, the god of light, had been killed by Hodr, the god of darkness. Loki, the god of fire and evil who had instigated Baldr, was banished from Asgard by the angry gods, and Hodr himself was plunged into deep unease.

The gods attempted to demand the soul of Baldr, the god of light, from Hela, the goddess of death, but Hela vehemently refused their request, stating that "the living have their own order, and the dead have their own order." Although the gods were furious, they were powerless against Hela, who resided in the realm of the dead.

In many people's eyes, this is Hela's fierce revenge against the gods for her experience of being half-exiled to the world of the dead, but no one knows what Hela really thinks.

According to Scandinavian custom, the death of a close relative is already an immense grief, but to be killed by one's own close relative is an even greater tragedy.

The greatest misfortune is when one family member kills another. No amount of effort can undo the damage, not even killing the murderer. Yet, one cannot allow outsiders to kill one's own family members, as this would only bring greater misfortune. Therefore, the most one can do is exile the family member.

Originally, all the gods were deeply saddened by this, but Odin, the king of the gods, did something astonishing: he mated with a giantess named Linda and gave birth to a new god named Vali. Vali grew extremely fast and became an adult in less than a day.

Because he was a newborn and had not yet been cleaned, he was both a member of the family and not a member of the family. Therefore, less than a day after his birth, he obeyed his father's words, took up a gun and shield, and killed the dark god Hodr...

No one knew why Odin made such a resolute decision, but after being stunned, they could only accept Odin's judgment.

On the towering throne of the god-king, only Odin, the god-king, silently overlooks the nine worlds beneath him. His silent appearance makes it impossible to guess what this god-king is thinking.

……

However, all of this had nothing to do with the serpent, who was currently busy preparing for the impending "Ragnarok".

Although he wasn't entirely sure when Ragnarok would arrive, both his vague memories and dreams made him realize that Ragnarok was probably imminent. Therefore, he began his final preparations for battle.

Ten thousand years is not wasted, after all.

Not to mention the snake people, even the human world had already moved from the crude and simple semi-primitive clan tribes to the mature feudal system. Weapons had evolved from stone, bone tools and some iron tools ten thousand years ago to the steel age. Cities had long since changed from low earthen walls to sturdy and thick tall stone walls. The level of civilization and development of human society was far beyond what could have been imagined at that time.

The era of ancient heroes who could simply drape a lion skin, wield a large club, and charge into battle is over. In their place is the era of tin cans, clad in heavy steel armor, well-equipped and armed to the teeth.

In this era, any qualified soldier would inevitably wear thick heavy armor and carry a warhammer specially designed to deal with heavy armor, used to pierce through the thick armor that ordinary swords and knives could not damage. Their entire body would be covered in armor without a single gap. Even human archers and crossbowmen who did not rely on close combat would inevitably wear light scale armor and chainmail.

Faced with such an army, the ancient scenario where anyone could simply drape a robe and grab a blade to go to battle would never happen again. Even if it did, they would only be crushed to pieces by these elite soldiers.

Even though it is still the age of cold weapons, the human society in this world is far more advanced in the use of cold weapons than the late stage of the human cold weapon era in the memories of Orochi's previous life.

At least in the human society of Orochi's past life memories, even at the end of the 15th century, it was absolutely impossible for humans to have such abundant steel production and reserves, to the point that every soldier could have a full suit of armor.

But in this world with gods and many races, it is indeed possible.

Humans learned a great deal of magical knowledge and forging skills from the elves (light elves) and dwarves (dark elves). The elves' magical knowledge was second only to that of the gods, while the dwarves were even able to forge artifacts for the gods. By constantly learning from both, even if they only learned some superficial knowledge, it was enough to bring about earth-shattering changes to the entire human world.

Before a major battle, people would consult astrology and divination, pray and offer sacrifices to the gods, and then cast simple runes on their weapons. Alternatively, they might have runes directly engraved on their weapons, or use magic to refine metals, all of which demonstrated the presence of gods and magic in the human world.

Gods and magic are thus closely intertwined with the human world, much like the science of the great serpent's past life.

In the eyes of the Great Serpent, compared to the cold weapon society of his previous life, the humans of this world are closer to the human worlds in D&D and Lord of the Rings. It is a fantasy cold weapon world built on magic. Even though such soldiers cannot currently compete with those ancient heroes who generally have supernatural race bloodlines or even divine bloodlines, it is still surprising enough.

That's why, when faced with the massive army of several Valkyries and tens of millions of Heroic Spirits last time, Orochi didn't follow his wicked nature and make sarcastic remarks to provoke trouble, but instead directly agreed.

On one hand, the serpent vaguely realized that even if he swore an oath, the God of Light, Baldr, would probably still die. On the other hand, the tens of millions of heroic warriors made him take notice.

The upgraded heavy armor and heavy weapons all demonstrated the power of these heroic warriors. Although the Great Serpent did not believe that these "dust particles" could pose any threat to him, in the eyes of many gods and giants, this was probably an overwhelmingly powerful force.

However, he did not believe that the many marine species and snake people under his command were inferior to these human heroes. On the contrary, after combining the various ideas of the great serpent from its previous life, the snake people and the many marine species actually had a bit more of a steampunk style.

Although they failed to manufacture guns and cannons, the underwater cities made of steel and the numerous buildings with exotic technological styles silently demonstrate that the level of civilization of the snake people is absolutely no less than, and may even be higher than, those humans who follow a fantasy medieval style.

In the human world, the legend of the "skilled Eastern snake people" who are adept at creating all sorts of strange and wonderful props is extremely famous.

The great serpent, sensing that Ragnarok was quietly approaching, began urging its serpent people and various sea creatures to accelerate the expansion of their armies.

Although in the eyes of the giant serpent, these serpent people and marine creatures are mostly just backup food, to be eaten to fill their stomachs when they are hungry, but if you think about it carefully...

These snake people seem like a good choice as an army. At least with a large number of them, they could at least deal with those heroic legions and a few gods, right?

After all, not every god is as powerful as Thor, and the possibility of him holding off or even confronting a god head-on is still there.

The reason for this uncertainty is largely due to...

How big of a difference could there be between an "insect" and a "dust particle" in the eyes of a giant snake?

It's really uncertain.

While the entire Netherlands and the entire eastern swamp world were being mobilized for war under the impetus of some immense will...

An unexpected guest arrived at the bottom of the sea.

(End of this chapter)