"A snake...?"

The citizens of the Holy Kingdom saw it. A massive serpent, with its jaws wide open, facing the descending calamity from the sky.

The gigantic pillar that covered the sky, and the serpent, even larger than that pillar, were both bewildering and terrifying.

But to the citizens of the Holy Kingdom who gazed upon it, the sight felt nothing but divine.

The serpent’s body glowed with a blue light. As the gentle, glowing divinity warmly enveloped the sky, the dark shroud that had blackened the heavens disappeared, revealing a bright sun.

The sun, the symbol of the Goddess.

In that moment, the devotees realized they were witnessing a scene straight out of myth.

"Ahh..."

They stared blankly at the sky. A massive meteor, piercing the blood-red sky.

A blazing sun shone brilliantly, shooting toward the massive pillar. Its momentum was so valiant, so powerful, and so radiant that the devotees prayed in awe.

Their prayers were not the prayers of despair in the face of a falling calamity, but rather prayers of newfound hope.

As they prayed, their bodies began to glow. Countless lights rose up, illuminating the darkened Holy Kingdom and painting the sky with brightness.

One by one, more and more people joined in prayer.

An elderly person prayed. A senior citizen, who had been awaiting the end of their life and their final rest, now looked upon this moment with reverence.

A young man prayed. A youth, who had once been overwhelmed by the thought of what to do with his life and had given up on his dreams, now found himself dreaming again in this moment.

A boy prayed. A child who had once dreamt of becoming a hero, like the ones in fairy tales, and had swung a sword, but had folded up that dream after being mocked by others, now felt that dream rekindled. Gazing at the rising meteor, he dreamed of standing on the battlefield like it.

A father prayed. A mother prayed.

A young man, a boy, a child.

One by one, all their prayers added to the radiant light shooting toward the pillar.

There was no more darkness. The brilliant lights had united to the point where they not only brightened the dark sky but also caused a radiant sun to rise, illuminating the Holy Kingdom.

All those hopes combined to form the chains that bound the Demon God’s finger, a radiant bridge reaching toward everyone.

And the serpent that embodied all those hopes...

——Crunch!

Finally.

It swallowed the pillar that had stained the Holy Kingdom red.

"Waaah!!"

"It's the Apostle! The Goddess's Apostle has protected the Holy Kingdom!!"

The citizens shouted. Their faces were filled with joy.

They felt gratitude toward the massive serpent that had dealt with the calamity that had fallen from the sky and exhilaration at witnessing a scene straight out of myth.

The Apostle of the Goddess.

In that moment, Jörmungandr gained yet another title.

The sensation of his body feeling confined returned. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he last felt this way.

[Has it already been a thousand years?]

When he was first born into this world, the first thing he encountered after breaking out of his narrow shell was a massive tiger, its jaws open wide.

It wasn’t just an ordinary tiger. It was a colossal beast, easily dozens of meters tall.

Even Jörmungandr, who was not born with a massive size, thought that the moment he saw the tiger, he would not escape death.

[If I hadn’t instinctively choked its neck, it would have been me who died.]

Every moment was a struggle for survival. He had the misfortune of awakening in a forest teeming with fearsome beasts, where every day new, stronger creatures would come looking for him.

It was undoubtedly difficult. He was only about the size of an anaconda at the time.

Surviving in a forest full of monsters with just that size was no easy task. Of course, even at that size, his essence was that of a monstrous beast capable of killing gods, so survival wasn’t impossible.

There were many creatures who, seeing only his small size, let down their guard and opened their jaws wide.

None of those creatures escaped becoming his prey.

How much time had passed like that? He suddenly felt his body becoming confined.

At the time, he didn’t understand why he felt that way. He thought he might have been sick from eating a beast the day before. It was hard to immediately think of molting.

After all, he was only two days old.

Even though he had eaten some monsters, he hadn’t yet considered that he might be ready to molt.

When he did molt, he had grown to five times his original size.

It was astounding. The world that had seemed so overwhelmingly large now matched his eye level.

Moulting didn’t always result in a fivefold increase in size. Sometimes, he grew by dozens of times, while other times there was barely any change at all.

That’s why he wondered.

‘Surely I must have reached maturity by now.’

Unlike in the past, when he molted frequently, it had been over a thousand years since his last molt, so it was a natural assumption.

‘But I guess I was wrong.’

He had once hypothesized that in order to molt, his body needed to consume something that matched his level.

When he was first born, it was fine. The area was full of monsters, and whatever he ate had a higher level of existence than his newly-born self.

But as he grew, things changed. The power he gained from consuming other monsters increased, and the latent power within Jörmungandr began to manifest.

However, that, too, changed over time. After reaching a size so vast that it could form a mountain range...

He no longer felt any signs of molting.

Naturally so.

There was nothing that matched his level.

Wyrms? Dragons? Cerberus?

No matter what he devoured, it didn’t affect his level in the slightest.

That’s why he might have thought he had reached maturity.

No matter what creature he devoured, there were no signs of further growth.

That’s why he became curious.

[How large can I become?]

He was already of enormous size. He could easily wrap around this planet, which was larger than Earth, and if he wished, he could cover the sky with his massive body.

He had always been large.

But after becoming a god and shedding his mortal body, he had grown unimaginably larger.

So he thought he had reached his limit.

Since there were no signs of further growth, he was ready to be content with his current size.

But.

It wasn’t the end.

He still hadn’t...

Reached maturity.

The realization sent a thrill through him. His massive body trembled.

First, he needed to leave.

He teleported Ellie and Bell to his cave using magic, then flew across the vast sky toward a massive plain.

The plain was endlessly vast. It seemed large enough to contain any being, yet it was still insufficient to accommodate his body.

Naturally.

His size was equivalent to a planet.

So he curled his body as tightly as possible. The massive body that wrapped around the world coiled even more tightly and dug into the ground.

His gigantic form disappeared beneath the earth in an instant.

Of course, it was only a thin layer he had burrowed into. If he tried to fully conceal his body, he might pierce through the planet and emerge on the other side.

He dug just enough for his body to blend with the ground.

The vast surface of the earth felt like a soft blanket covering his body.

It was time to molt.

How long would it take?

Molting had always been irregular, but this time he had a feeling it would only take a day.

‘I’ve already informed the two of them, so it should be fine.’

With that thought, he closed his eyes.

To grow once more.

To see where the limits of this body lay.

In the Sacred Forest.

At its center stood a tree towering high into the sky.

It was a massive tree, one that could not be found anywhere else in this world, and the mother of all elves.

The World Tree.

At the top of the enormous World Tree, a figure stood, calmly gazing down at the world.

"Hmm..."

She closed her eyes with a faint smile, intrigued by the news she had just received.

"Jörmungandr..."

How long had it been?

It had been quite some time since she had last seen him after he said he was going to sleep.

Hearing the name of her old friend, she chuckled at the new title he had gained.

"The Apostle of the Goddess and the Guardian Deity of the Kingdom of Trelrenia..."

High Elf Laquielia.

The first child born from the World Tree and the primordial hero, she remembered the giant serpent.

"He was monstrously strong... but I never thought he would be called a god."

From the perspective of a hero like her, the giant serpent had not possessed divine power.

That made it all the more fascinating.

How could a being without divine power become so strong?

"I’ll have to pay him a visit."

Her curiosity was piqued.