Chapter 322

The nagas quickly returned to the Snake’s Dens once Vipera Anguis ordered them to retreat. The merfolk continued to attack them as they retreated, leaving a huge number of naga casualties behind.

The merfolk cheered as they watched the remaining nagas run away.

“Yeaaahhh!”

“We wooooon!”

“Stupid snakes! Did you seriously think you could face us merfolk in the ocean?”

The Snake’s Dens that picked up the remaining nagas shrank and slithered around Vipera.

“You’re running away?” Lapsus asked mockingly, his golden eyes shining.

“Don’t make me laugh, Lapsus. I’m not scared of a wanderer with no affiliations,” answered Vipera with a frown. “The forces of the Sēmen will be here soon. You’re no friend of the Sēmen either.”

“I suppose not,” Lapsus admitted.

Whatever the case, he was still a Fiend. Although he had been designated as such because of Keter’s influence in the Sēmen as the Fifth Lord, he did not particularly follow the World Law to a fault either.

“Our battle ends here. If you will continue... I may not be able to kill you, but I swear to obliterate Gurzes in the process!” Vipera declared, her vertical slit eyes exuding bloodlust as they flashed with an ominous pink light.

“Do you think I, an elf, care about what you do to Gurzes?” Lapsus asked.

Vipera smirked. “Ohoho! Did you think I wouldn’t notice you doing your best not to let our battle affect the merfolk?”

Lapsus had defended against attacks he could easily have evaded if merfolk were behind him. One might think it was due to his confidence that he would be completely fine even without dodging, but Vipera thought otherwise. It would be a different story if it were Rahab, but a man like Lapsus had no reason to make such inefficient battle choices. She did not know why, but Lapsus did not wish for Gurzes to be destroyed.

“Patala will take our hands off of this matter. I don’t know why you’re helping Pontus, but you won’t get what you want if Gurzes is destroyed,” Vipera said, then rapidly fled the battlefield westward.

Lapsus did not lower his guard until she was completely out of his sight. He slowly lowered his bow and sighed.

“Huuu... That was tiring. You better have been telling the truth, young Ozenta,” he mumbled, slowly looking toward the east.

***

“GURGHHH! THIS... THIS CAN’T BE!” Dopper shouted, staring in disbelief at his sliced and burst body. “I AM THE ULTIMATE MERFOLK!!!”

“I’ll give you that, in a physical sense. I would expect nothing less from the whole scales for you to survive that attack,” said Carcharocles, wrapped in his Blue Stream.

“However, your soul doesn’t even touch the surface of Lord Squama’s depths,” Natantes added, wrapped in his White Stream.

“Natantes! I will finish this with the next attack, so cover me! We must finish this as soon as possible and return to the battlefield. I am worried about the city!”

“I agree!”

Pennifer, the dark blue dorsal fin, shone blindingly, and Blue Stream gathered around Carcharocles’s actual dorsal fin.

[Activating Unique Skill: Blue Stream Dorsal Fin.]

“HAAAAAHHH!” Carcharocles roared.

His dorsal fin was wrapped with Blue Stream Dorsal Fin, making it look like a headsail. It shone sharply like a guillotine blade. Carcharocles struck the water with the enormous power of his tail, and he flew down at supersonic speed toward Dopper.

“I’LL SPLIT YOU INTO TWO!” he screamed, aiming his dorsal fin at Dopper.

“BASTARD!” Dopper shouted, controlling the Extreme Void Orbs to pull them into Carcharocles’s path.

“No, you don’t!” shouted Natantes.

White foam surged from Spuma, and the strands of White Stream stretching from the star became tangible.

[Activating Unique Skill: White Marlin.]

The White Marlins, fish with long and sharp bills, flew toward the Extreme Void Orbs in Carcharocles’s path to strike them down, allowing Carcharocles to swim in a straight line toward Dopper.

“DIE, IMPOSTOR!” Carcharocles shouted.

“URGHHH! THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!”

Dopper drew out insane amounts of the Cosmos from his os to protect himself, but he knew it wasn’t enough to defend against the joint attack between Carcharocles and Natantes. But above all else, he couldn’t believe that the history written by Carcharocles and Natantes had overwritten his. After all, his history was that person’s history. If he lost, it meant it was that person’s will.

Why? Why am I losing?! Has that person forsaken me? Dopper thought.

“My savior!!! Why have you forsaken me?!!!” he shouted.

“This is the end!” Carcharocles shouted.

As Dopper screamed miserably as he watched the giant, blue blade approaching him, a voice echoed inside his head.

“There is something you must do, Dopper.”

“Ah!” Dopper expressed, filled with relief and a new hope from the thought that he had not been forsaken.

“Abandon that body and mimic a new individual,” the voice said.

Carcharocles swam around Dopper like an electron revolving around a nucleus, slicing him apart with the Blue Stream Dorsal Fin. The body Dopper had spent over a decade mimicking was being destroyed, but Dopper did not care in the slightest. Now that he had confirmed his history was connected to that person’s, he had no fear of defeat.

Who?! Who shall I mimic?! Dopper shouted inwardly.

A slime, resembling a black amoeba, escaped Squama’s giant body like a parasite switching hosts. The unidentified voice gave him his next target.

“Cheon Seong-Hwi.”

Dopper stealthily rode Squama’s scattering flesh and spewing blood, setting his target eastward.

***

“TURN TO DUST!” shouted Rahab, wearing his Crown of Pride.

He relished in the warmth from his Dragon Heart as he let out another breath filled with mana and Draconic Mana.

[Activating Race Skill: Dragon Breath.]

A red line pierced the blue sea, toward the defenseless Seong-Hwi like a laser.

“Haaaaahhh!” Elementum shouted, appearing in front of Seong-Hwi, as she drew out causality from Aequalitas and activated several skills.

[Activating Race Skill: Freinture’s Breath.]

[Activating Race Skill: Gardian’s Gate.]

[Activating Race Skill: Esimed’s Rejection.]

[Activating Race Skill: Archane’s Embrace.]

...

Freinture’s Breath, a skill of the ice spirit monarch, froze the ocean to create a giant glacier. Gardian’s Gate, a skill of the protection spirit monarch, summoned a closed, white door. Esimed’s Rejection, a skill of the death spirit monarch, and Archane’s Embrace created a thick shadow, resembling a blackout curtain.

BWOOOOO—! Bulgasal trumpeted, enraged by the danger its daddy was in, as it rapidly grew in size.

It explosively unleashed all the metal that it had eaten until now, and became a giant monster with an elephant’s head, a bear’s body, a tiger’s legs, and a bull’s tail. The Dragon Breath, infused with immense causality, broke through the glacier and door, tore through the black curtain, and ate away at Bulgasal.

BWOOOOO!

Bulgasal refused to move from in front of Seong-Hwi despite losing metal scraps as if it were bleeding. The Dragon Breath weakened over time, and Seong-Hwi was safe.

“You damn insects!” Rahab shouted, his pride hurt once Elementum and Bulgasal blocked his breath, as he extracted even more causality from his Crown of Pride.

“Dammit!” Elementum shouted, biting her lip as she stared at Rahab emitting immense mana.

What am I doing here? she suddenly thought, wondering why she was facing a monster like this and was risking her life to stop him.

She looked down and saw Seong-Hwi, sinking with the metal scraps. It was because of that man. She was here to protect Cheon Seong-Hwi. She then wondered why she was trying to protect him.

Scallion, Sylphid, Gnoass, Arcane, Shinea, Gardian, Dryad, Freinture, Rore, Elifea, Esimed, Lioner... and Cheon Seong-Hwi.

She only realized why she was here after mumbling her comrades’ names in her head. The man below her had become her friend, alongside her fellow spirit monarchs, before she had realized it.

“I won’t... lose another one,” she said.

She was sick and tired of losing people.

How many more people must this world take from me until it’s satisfied? How much more sorrow and loneliness must I endure to regain the normal life I had in Animismus?

She recalled the voices of her fellow Underground members.

“Ahem. Hey, Elementum. Want to have a drink together? This is a specially-made dwarven beer.”

“You are as elegant as always, Sister Elementum.”

“Thank you so much for accepting us, Pretty Unnie!”

The quiet Spirit Land was filled with energetic life ever since she joined Underground and Together was created. Elementum had to force herself not to feel joy at the sight because she realized from the death of countless friends that joy always came at the cost of inevitable misfortune.

“But still... I want to be happy,” she mumbled as she raised her hands high and asked, “My friends (Aequalitas). Do you think I can be happy?”

The voices of her friends echoed from her star into her head.

“Of course, Ellaim, my beloved little sister.”

“You need to be happy, for all our sakes.”

“Your will is our will.”

“Yes, as I had told you before.”

“Live your life in this world.”

“To your heart’s content!”

“We’ll help you!”

Aequalitas, which had been shining with various phenomena within, suddenly changed. The beautiful phenomena were erased, leaving an empty void.

“Ahaha! Try and block it again!” Rahab shouted, drawing out even more mana and Draconic Mana, and fired an even thicker and more powerful Dragon Breath.

“All will become a void,” Elementum said.

Something transparent formed over her hands. From the distortions in the water, it appeared to be a sphere.

[Activating Star Power: Void.]

She had created the Void, the terrifying phenomenon that had destroyed Animismus. The Dragon Breath began to be reduced to nothing once it touched the Void.

“You bitch!”

“HAAAAAHHH!” Elementum roared, commencing a contest of strength.

***

Flashes of light illuminated the metal scraps sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

Master Elementum! Bulgasal! Urghhhhh! Seong-Hwi shouted inwardly.

He gritted his teeth as he circulated mana throughout his body with all his might, then three cards flew out of the Tarot Deck of Destiny and shone with a golden light.

[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]

[Fruit of Life, one of the symbols of No.6 Love]

[White Snake of Equivalent Exchange, one of the symbols of No.1 The Magician]

[Catastrophic Thunder, one of the symbols of No.16 The Tower]

A fruit that looked like a flame appeared out of nowhere, a white snake wrapped around his waist like a belt, and a dark blue lightning mark appeared on his cheek, which was red because his skin had been ripped off.

Seong-Hwi just barely managed to open his mouth and eat the Fruit of Life.

[Consuming Fruit of Life.]

[Halving the effects of all debuffs except for Death for 3 minutes.]

[The effect of Debuff: Bleeding is halved.]

[The effect of Debuff: Lethargy is halved.]

[The effect of Debuff: Internal Injury is halved.]

...

“Ahhhhh!” Seong-Hwi shouted, breaking free from the effects of his debuffs to an extent.

He then moved on to the next step. The White Snake of Equivalent Exchange instantly bit his neck, and its tail pierced his chest and coiled around his heart.

[The White Snake of Equivalent Exchange successfully converted the Health, Dexterity, and Sense stats into the Magic stat.]

[Temporarily boosting the Magic stat.]

[Magic S(89) → S(99)]

The Magic stat, which had already been overclocked by the power of the Fruit of Life, was amplified even more.

“GURGHHH!” Seong-Hwi groaned intensely, feeling like his blood was on fire, but he continued to abuse his body.

He used Catastrophic Thunder on himself to take control of his body’s electrical signals, sparks flying in the water around him. His severed neural networks were reconnected, allowing him to move again. Once he regained control over his body, he reached out and grabbed the object that had been whispering to him.

“This is...” he trailed off, staring at the ordinary, corroded dagger, broken in half.

[Activating Trait: Savior’s Hearing.]

“Good! You’ve grabbed me!”

“What... are you?”

“For fuck’s sake! I told you, I’m Skrep!”

“Skrep? The Tenth Lord?”

Skrep was the name of the Tenth Lord, the Demonic Sword Soul, an animatum, nineteenth in the world ranking. The animata were a race born from souls inhabiting objects, and were known to have a deep relationship with the Sēmen.

“You’re saying you’re the Skrep?”

“As I’ve said, yes!”

“What in the—”

“There’s no time to explain! First, let me make you an offer!” Skrep interrupted, giving Seong-Hwi no time to ask questions, and hastily shouted, “Let’s make a constellation alliance!”