"System, now's the time to help…" Harry whispered to the side while he witnessed the battle against the Kraken and world serpent. By the looks of it, Jörmungandr was just playing with the poor octopus. He was inwardly trembling while he hid behind a large boulder to protect himself. Sure, he had a power-up, but they won't save him against this. It was a one-sided slaughter.
[How can I help the scheming player?]
"I'm scamming for my life, so shut it. Locate me all the dangerous creatures in this world, like sss-tier danger."
[Located the following: Moby Dick, Megalodon, Hydra, Earth Dragon.]
"What the hell, out of the world-class danger, why was I assigned to the world serpent!? Wasn't this supposed to be a glimpse of the doors, not a full-blown trial?"
[It turned out well in the end (ゝз○`)]
"My sanity is not turning out so well…"
A map indicating their location appeared in front of Harry. The nearest ones were the Moby Dick and Megalodon, the latter was a kilometers underground, so they'll head there first. Harry turned to the battle and paled when he saw Jörmungandr munching on the live Kraken. He averted his eyes and waited patiently while the serpent feasted. Even though he looked calm from the outside, his heart rate was skyrocketing tremendously.
"I must admit Krakens taste good. What's next?"
"We have four more to go. One is found in the Hadal zone around 4,000 kilometers underground."
Harry expanded the map provided by the system and pointed at the red dot, which signified the Megalodon. He kept a safe distance from the serpent while explaining their route. Jörmungandr watched in interest and stared at the high-tech map.
"Alright, no time to waste lead the way!"
Harry sighed and checked the timer. He only had three and a half days left. Traveling 4,000 kilometers on foot would take forever. However, he'd rather go through with this than fight for his life.
Harry: "Would it be rude of me to ride you on the way there? My puny little legs aren't fast enough to travel that far, and I have three days before I am forcefully returned to my gods."
Jörmungandr: "How troublesome. Hold on to my scales and tell me the way. Also, be careful not to dirty it with your filth!"
Harry: "Aye, aye captain"
Harry tightly held onto the human-sized scales that shimmered from each movement. At a neck-breaking speed, it only took a few minutes to arrive at their destination. Harry was catching his breath and hugged the scales like his life depended on it. Actually, yes, his life depends on those scales right now. As soon as they reached the Megalodon, Jörmungandr engaged in battle, not caring about the mortal that was still on his back. Harry used every curse word known to man to cuss at the battle freak serpent.
Apparently, the sharks traveled in packs and surrounded them. Harry was sure his life flashed before his eyes when a Megalodon nearly swallowed him into its large jaws. Thankfully, his instincts kicked in, and multiple ice shards formed inside its jaws, penetrating through its head. Jörmungandr noticed the stray shark that was turned into an ice popsicle and swallowed it whole. After that, Harry paid close attention to his surroundings while holding on to his dear life. They stayed in the Hadal zone for a few more hours after the battle because, unfortunately, Jörmungandr wanted to annihilate everything in there. And so, another round of cussing ran through Harry's mind while he stuck to the serpent, like a stubborn parasite. The system's words, not his.
—
"God, I've never sworn so much until today. Please, how much time is left." Harry rasped out while he caught his breath. They slowly ascended to the surface level to battle the Hydra and Moby Dick, which resided above the waters. By this time, Harry was just lying on his stomach while the battle maniac dragged him around.
[71:39:20]
"Three more days to go…huuhu…"
[Bare the consequences of your action. Your sponsor relays their confusion over this development.]
"Got any other better ideas? Technically, I accomplished the second and third objectives and got Jörmungandr to stop meaningless destruction." Harry whispered the last part and averted his eyes, "Well, except this one. This one doesn't count."
[ ～(￣、￣ )]
"Do me a favor and send my sincerest regards to my sponsor. I hope they show up once I finish the rest of the doors." A malicious smile appeared on his face as he imagined the stuff he would do. It would indeed be satisfying to see his sponsor be taken by surprise. Maybe he could chuck Jörmungandr at them too, that would be a sight to behold. It is a fair exchange for throwing him into the first timeline….no, he needs to stop thinking about it. Crying over it now will lead to his demise. Harry removed the dark look on his face and sighed, he better stop before he spirals into a dangerous line of thoughts.
[ε=ε=(っ*´□`)っ]
The water currents violently stirred, and Harry's attention to his surroundings returned. In front of Jörmungandr is a large formation of whirlpools. It dragged everything it swallowed to the darkest depths where light cannot penetrate. It appeared out of nowhere, which took Harry by surprise.
"KUAHAHAHAHA! Looks like Moby Dick knows how to play! Hold tight, messenger of Death and Judgement, if you don't want to be swept away."
'Thank you for your concern, great world serpent Jörmungandr.' "I swear if you let me die now, I'll fuck your father and grandfather until they regret ever expanding their bloodline." He said passionately with a smile. The deprivation of sleep was slowly getting to him.
[Harry, you switched your thoughts and your words. ∑(; °Д°)]
"Oh." Harry slapped his mouth and hoped that Jörmungandr did not hear him. Crap, he accidentally slipped up. He cried and slapped himself repeatedly in his head and wished that the ocean would actually devour him right now if it meant escaping. Cold sweat ran down his spine as he prayed to his parents from the afterlife.
"KUGHHAHAHAHAHAHA AMUSING! This is the first time I've heard someone spout such nonsense! You've piqued my interest, human, so I'll let this slide."
"Ahahaha….wait."
Harry almost sighed in relief but froze when he realized he'd been found out. The serpent turned its head towards the teen with a smirk on its face. Its fangs flashed when it flicked its tongue. The teen nearly fainted from fright, but his mental blessing would not allow it. But this did not stop the tears from forming in his eyes while he thought of the different scenarios that may happen.
Jörmungandr: "Did you really think I wouldn't notice? Foolish child, you are centuries too early to deceive me. If you hadn't amused me this much, I would've killed you the moment you lied through your teeth."
Harry: "Oh god, I promise not to fuck your father and grandfather."
Jörmungandr: "Hah! I'd like to see you even try. This is the first time I've met a mortal who dares trick a god-killer, much more use the gods' names for his favor and not suffer their wrath. I'm quite curious how you got three gods on your side and only decided to reveal two. Is this the start of a new era or perhaps the birth of the new god?"
Since the facade was already gone, they switched to the human language. Harry reeled by Jörmungandr's words and gawked. Obviously, this was news to him, he only knew two gods, which were his sponsor and the generous god of judgment. Who was the third god Jörmungandr was talking about? Did he miss something big during his death? And what did it mean by the birth of a new god? That's too much for Harry.
He's only doing all of this for the sake of his friends. Their lives and happiness are all that matter to him.
Harry: "I don't know what the hell you are talking about. I only have my sponsor and the great god of judgment."
Jörmungandr: "Hummm… disrespectful now that you've been exposed. Then I guess I'll keep my mouth shut kukuku!"
Harry: "Hey!"
Too bad for Harry, the serpent's attention was diverted towards the titanic sperm whale that caused dozens of whirlpools during their conversation. Harry yelped when a bright light encircled him, causing his bubble to pop. Panic swelled up his spine, and waited for the incoming whiplash from the currents. But it didn't occur, rather, he was inside a strong crystal barrier that deflected any attacks that came his way.
"W-what is this?" He wondered and poked at the glass-like barrier.
"Human children are so fragile that they shatter from a mere poison. It would be boring if you died before you even debuted. Think of it as me gaining a favor from the future god." The serpent said with mirth. Harry thanked the gods over and over again that this world serpent favored him, or else he would've been kneeling in front of his sponsor in the afterlife. He wasn't one to believe in lady luck or gods in the past, but now he promised to worship them vehemently till his very last breath.
Harry observed the battle through his crystal barrier and took note of strategies he may use in future encounters. The ocean became violet because of Jörmungandr's vile poison that scattered across the waters. Not long after the battle, the Hydra joined in and participated in the chaos. Not only were the seas and land disrupted by these powerful forces, but even the skies had split in half because of the overpowered attacks. It reminded Harry so much of the world's end that he quivered at the vicious sight before him. But he stood his ground and recorded everything in his mind, filing away the things he could learn and use against god-like opponents.
If he wanted to prevent the end, he must learn to face situations like this. There are only eight years left before the awaited doom, so until then, he will continue to move forward like a soldier of war and grow stronger—even if it means throwing away his childhood. This is the equivalent exchange for keeping his friends—his family safe. His strength was nothing compared to the majestic beasts before him—yet Jörmungandr dared to say that he'd one day be on the same level as them.
"Child! I'd watch out if I were you!" Jörmungandr called out when something appeared behind Harry. A large shadow cast over him, larger than a mountain's silhouette. It viciously roared, causing the crystal barrier to tremble. Behind him was the Earth dragon, drawn by the chaos they were causing. It was a dragon that compared to a mountain's size, coated with hardened rocks rather than scales. If there's anything to compare it with, it looked like a fusion between a turtle and a dragon.
It opened its large mouth, ready to destroy Harry's protective barriers. Harry's eyes shrank and jumped out of the way. He boosted his jump with a newfound skill, allowing him to jump a hundred meters under a second. Before he could get any farther, large rock formations appeared, hindering his movements. Harry clicked his tongue when the dragon tried to impale him with large rock spikes. He was on his own until Jörmungandr finished his two opponents. Just from assessing his enemy, normal magic and physical attacks won't harm it, leaving him only one option. There were still 67 hours left to destroy the dimension, he just needed to avoid getting caught in the crossfire while surviving the dragon.
More spikes came down, raining on him and testing Harry's agility to the max. He dove underwater to lose the large dragon in the poisonous ocean, but the attacks didn't stop. The dragon may not have followed him, but there was still land underwater. Two large claws made of rocks slashed the barrier, causing it to fly kilometers away from its original position. That's not all, Harry was thrown back to the ocean floor by the mere impact of the dragon's large boulder-like tail. Had it not been for the barrier, Harry could've sworn he'd turn into a mush of flesh just from the impact.
However, that did not stop him from getting dizzy. His insides felt like they had been rearranged from all the movements. Fortunately, he conjured some cushions to soften the attack's impact—but he was still bruised from hitting the barrier.
Caught by surprise, a large pillar surged from beneath and threw the barrier upwards like a ball tossed around. Harry squinted his eyes at the sudden brightness of the sky. Another rain of rock spikes fell, but none landed on the barrier— instead, it surrounded it. Harry muttered some curses when he realized the rock spikes had enclosed him. Seeing that the cracking barrier wouldn't budge, the earth dragon once again opened its mouth to swallow him whole.
Despite his predicament, Harry had a nervous grin on his face. Sweat trickled down his chin as he revealed a completed magic bomb between them. "I-I've been meaning to use this for a while now!" The charged ball illuminated a bright light, signifying all the compressed energy ready to combust upon command. With the new strength after absorbing the pearl's sealed powers, the bomb became stronger than ever. He had fed this bomb with magic for a day nonstop, it was strong enough to par with nuclear bombs he'd seen in the first timeline. Harry flicked his fingers, and the bomb flew toward the open snout.
The earth dragon realized the impending doom and tried to close its mouth. Unfortunately, it was too late to evade, the bomb made contact with its skin and illuminated a blinding light. Anyone unfortunate to see it up close would be blinded by it. Like a small vacuum, all sounds and light were absorbed for a moment and violently combusted all the stored energy into the surrounding area.
Harry brought both his arms to protect his eyes from the light as he was pushed back kilometers away from the explosion. A large water crater was created, and the clouds split from the sheer force that erupted. Harry stared with wide eyes as he saw the effect of his bomb. He was ready to use 'Judgement Day' if the bomb wasn't enough, but it seemed to be unnecessary at this point.
"Where's the dragon?"
Harry heard a loud splash from the distance and saw the dragon's corpse. Its head was completely obliterated, exposing the protruding bones of its muscular neck. Blood poured like waterfalls, turning the violet ocean into red from the gallons of blood that poured from the carcass. It was a vile sight, yet Harry shined with pride when he defeated the sss-tier monster with his strength.
"I-I did it! I actually did it, holy shit!"
[( ;ↀ⌓ↀ)]
"Hah! Take that system! This is the power of gambling!"
His celebration was short-lived as he immediately fell from the sky now that the barrier had entirely shattered. He screamed at the top of his lungs as he fell rapidly into the poisonous waters. Subconsciously, he shouted random spells that may help stop the fall, not caring if it would be helpful or not.
"AAAAAA—! LEVIOSA" Meters away from the water, Harry slowly floated away. "T-that was dangerous…"
It wasn't safe just yet, especially since Jörmungandr was having a one-on-one against the Hydra. He configured one of his ice snakes and ordered it to take him far away from the battle zone. The ocean had already turned violet from all the poison, leaving no safe place to land. He steered clear of it and made sure to float far from it, not wanting to inhale the poisonous miasma even with the protection of the gas mask.
The battle shouldn't take much longer, so Harry made a large ice platform to rest on for the moment. After landing, he immediately dropped to his knees from exhaustion. Harry wiped the sweat on his forehead and cried out in relief. He should probably be paying more attention, but Harry could not bring himself to care, not when his body felt like it was experiencing a spasm.
"Ow…let me just sit down for a moment. I can't handle any more movements."
Harry stretched his limbs and gazed at the sky. It looked like it was snowing, but it was actually the sky falling apart like glass. The dimension was slowly collapsing from all of Jörmungandr's commotion. It reminded him of the universe's fall, except no monsters poured from the void. There was turmoil in his heart, guilty for destroying another world for his own sake. Yet there was nothing he could do, in the end, it was a fight for survival, and only the victor could remain. He doesn't know if he'll be forgiven for all the atrocities he'd committed, as long as his friends are safe, that's enough for him.
Not long after, he could hear the battle ending. The world shook violently as Jörmungandr roared in delight at his victories. It turns out the battle freak wanted to heal its scratched ego because of its defeat hundreds of years ago before it fell into deep sleep. There were 64 hours left of the time limit, but the dimension could only last a few more hours. The black door to the white museum had shown itself when the ice platform was created, but Harry chose to remain for a bit. There was no guarantee that the world serpent would be favorable in the future, but for now, Harry wanted to thank Jörmungandr for letting him live a bit longer.
"Oya, the messenger of the gods is still here. Are you here to watch till the very end?" Jörmungandr snickered. A large portal consumed most of its body, most likely to another dimension. The serpent had easily ripped out the space in order to create it with its tail—as if it were easy.
Harry shook his head and stood up. He walked to the door and then turned to Jörmungandr. "Stop calling me that, the name's Harry. I wanted to express my gratitude before I leave. For not killing me and doing me a favor."
"Hah! Of course, I am not a brainless buffoon that would slaughter everything I encounter."
'But you just did.' Harry chose not to answer.
"It's been a while since I've met a daring mortal with something to show for. Harry, why not make a deal with me?" It bared its fangs as it smirked. There was mischief in its eyes, and Harry could not help but worry.
"What kind of deal are we talking about? And how would this benefit any of us?"
"Cautious, I see. It's a simple deal. In exchange for lending my power, show me something amusing like you've been doing earlier."
It was indeed simple and tempting as treacle tart. Who wouldn't want to have the world serpent by their side? It would increase his chances of survival without a doubt. However…"And what if I do not satisfy your needs for entertainment?"
"KUAHAHAHAHAHA! Now, that's the fun part—I get to devour your entire being! Once I devour your soul and body, it can never return to the reincarnation circle."
"H-how… gluttonous..." He stammered but made sure to keep his poker face. Harry pondered for a moment before he gave his answer.
Harry: "To what extent can I use your powers?"
Jörmungandr: "Hummm, if you wish to, you could summon me and let me devour everything in your way."
Harry: "As cool as that sounds, I think that would give me more trouble than help. Is there anything else?"
Jörmungandr: "Bah! Of course, there's more, you greedy human! That black thing following you around will explain everything to you. I don't understand how it did it, but for some reason, I feel like something was extracted from me… that foul little thing."
Harry: "Huh, you can see the system? What makes you say that? Aren't you supposed to be the one explaining your powers, not an unknown entity?"
Jörmungandr: "Kugh–! You ask too many questions. Whatever, do you accept or not?"
Harry: "Last two questions, how long will this deal last? Can one of us end this deal at any time or something?"
Jörmungandr: "Humans are short-lived anyways, so until your very last breath, my powers are under your arsenal. For the last question…we'll just see when the time comes we end our deal."
Harry raised a hand to his chin and tapped on his chapped lips. This offer had more pros than cons, and Harry could guarantee the entertainment Jörmungandr was asking for. Ah, his brain is getting fried from thinking too much. If only Hermione or someone smart could help him out right now.
Harry: "Alright…I accept. Don't you worry, my life is full of interesting stuff."
Jörmungandr: "I'll be anticipating then, kukuku."
Harry felt his magical core stir once the deal was agreed on. Harry felt like he signed up for something troublesome but shrugged it off. "Do keep your oath from earlier."
"Of course, we have gods as the witness to my oath. I wouldn't want to mess with that." Despite his words, the serpent didn't seem affected by the imposed restrictions.
"Why's that?" Harry genuinely asked. Losing magic shouldn't be much of a loss to the world serpent since it exhibits great raw strength alone.
"The punishment for ignoring an oath to a god is like asking for a divine execution. That's something even the devil would avoid." Harry gaped at the information he was given. At first, he thought his words wouldn't mean much when he said to make an oath to his gods, but now he finally understood the weight of his words earlier.
"You knew I was fooling you. So why did you swear when you knew the risk?" He honestly does not understand this serpent at all. If he were to have such deadly restrictions, he would live his life in anxiety.
"Don't get me wrong, human. There will be nothing for me to do if the entire world's been destroyed." The serpent slipped through its portal while snickering. Well, that gave him a bit of assurance. He turned around and opened the black door, which emitted white light. Harry stepped inside and found himself back in the white museum. Hedwig flew towards her master and landed on his head.
"Hey, I'm back." Harry smiled and ruffled her feathers. Or attempted to—she bit on his finger before flying away. Harry had a questioning look on his face when his familiar ignored him.
"?"
A/N: Hey guys! Hope ya'll liked what I did for this chap. Might take a while to update following chaps since busy and tired from college applications and school;;
Anyways, tysm for all the follows and reviews! It's rlly nice reading the reviews and see people like this fic since its gives me the motivation to work on it :)