Although there were many Seaborn, they were not infinite.
The greatsword in Skadi's hand danced in a flurry. The golden sword-light pierced the bodies of the Seaborn. These deep-sea monsters knew no fear, advancing wave after wave. Their scarlet eyes held not a trace of emotion. They couldn't think, perhaps couldn't even be considered living creatures. Even as their numbers dwindled under Skadi's sword, they still didn't stop their suicidal march.
Finally.
When the sky had completely brightened.
The last Seaborn died under Skadi's sword, pierced through the body by the pitch-black blade. Its body petrified, turning to dust, and scattered into the air, drifting into the boundless sea nearby, becoming nutrients to nurture the ocean.
"Huu... Huu...."
Skadi plunged her greatsword into the rocks of the coastline, leaning on the sword and panting slightly.
In a normal battle, with her terrifying stamina, let alone fighting for less than an hour, even if it was for a whole day, Skadi might only be slightly fatigued. But just now, using Lucas Reeve's divine power continuously, this higher-tier power, was difficult for even Skadi to channel for too long. This was just the simplest application, and it had already left Skadi quite exhausted.
"How is it? Very tired?"
Lucas Reeve didn't emerge from Skadi's body, because, on the edge of the mobile city nearby, he had sensed two pairs of eyes watching ever since he and Skadi started fighting the Seaborn. One of them was quite strong, very strong. The other should be at the level of an Elite Operator.
And, another point.
Lucas Reeve had also noticed something strange during the fight. He had just discovered some peculiar causal threads during the battle, but he wasn't sure if Skadi knew about them, so he was hesitating whether to mention it.
"Miss Skadi."
"Hm? What is it, Mr. Deity?"
Skadi replied gently.
If they were somewhat unfamiliar at the beginning, after experiencing a battle together, the two could be considered comrades-in-arms.
"Call me Lucas."
"Mhm."
"Do you know why these Seaborn and horror fish target you?"
Lucas Reeve originally thought Skadi would know.
However, Skadi fell silent.
"Uh... I guess it's because I beheaded the Seaborn god, incurring the wrath of the ocean, so...."
"No...."
Lucas Reeve shook his head.
"That's unlikely. After all, even if you killed the Seaborn god, and even if they hate you, you went deep inland before. How did they find you? By aura? Don't forget, you said before that individual Seaborn don't have much intelligence, they don't even have organs like humans. Although these monsters are 'living', they can't be called 'living creatures'."
"Skadi, just like I said before, is it possible that there is a unique aura on your body that is luring them?"
"A unique aura?"
Skadi leaned against the rock wall, her hand pinching her snow-white chin, not understanding what Lucas Reeve was saying.
"Miss Skadi."
Lucas Reeve told her the truth.
"You have the scent of the Seaborn in your body. There is a very strong smell of Seaborn in your blood. And, your causal threads are the same. Your blood is connected to the entire ocean. If I'm not mistaken, the Abyssal Hunter modification experiment you all underwent back then might have involved injecting Seaborn blood into your bodies, achieving cross-species gene integration, thus giving birth to powerful individuals like you."
"??"
After hearing Lucas Reeve's words, Skadi was utterly shocked. She looked at her own pale wrist.
"I.... have Seaborn blood flowing in me...."
"How is that possible..."
"I've never heard of this..."
Skadi was somewhat in disbelief. She took several steps back, shaking her head and saying.
"My family was killed by the Seaborn. They all died in front of me. I hate the Seaborn. It destroyed my everything. I never thought that to gain power, I would actually have Seaborn blood in my body... using the power of the Seaborn I loathe to defeat the Seaborn. Mr. Reeve, don't you think... isn't this somewhat ridiculous..."
Thinking about it carefully.
It didn't seem impossible.
This way, everything could be explained. No matter where she went, the horror fish could find her. As soon as she arrived here, the Seaborn swarmed over as if they had smelled something. If she had their blood in her body, everything seemed to make sense.
Lucas Reeve had originally intended to comfort her a bit.
After all, it was indeed a bit hard for any normal person to accept.
But Skadi recovered faster than Lucas Reeve had imagined. After just a short while, she had recovered.
"Thank you, Mr. Reeve. If you hadn't told me, I think I might still be kept in the dark."
+1000*5
Five thousand points of Prayer Power poured into Lucas Reeve's soul.
Skadi's life-form level seemed to be a bit higher than those on land, so the Prayer Power she gave was also much higher, five times more than an ordinary person. A Divine Fragment like Nian was twenty times, and a complete god like Nine-Colored Deer was forty times.
"It's all in the past, Miss Skadi."
"You defeated the Seaborn mother, avenged your family. It's all over."
"Thank you..."
Skadi smiled faintly and nodded.
"Let's go, let's find your companion."
Lucas Reeve changed the subject, not wanting Skadi to continue dwelling on this sad topic.
"Your companion is right in this city-state. I see it very clearly."
"Mhm!"
Skadi slung the greatsword back onto her back. The salty sea breeze blew past, lifting the hem of Skadi's clothes. The seawater crashed against the reefs, swallowing the piles of Seaborn corpses on the beach into the ocean.
Skadi easily climbed up the mobile city-state.
As she vaulted up.
Skadi's dual-colored eyes, one black and one red, met the eyes of the Grand and Junior Inquisitors, who had been watching the show from the edge of the city-state for a long time. There was no interaction. Skadi landed lightly on the ground, then ran off, chasing the direction of the causal thread.
At the same time.
The Iberian Grand Inquisitor also frowned slightly.
An Aegir...
This Aegir person was completely different from the Aegir people he usually knew.
Is she a hunter?
The light that flashed in that red eye was one he was all too familiar with—the light of a hunter. As for the other black eye, the Grand Inquisitor couldn't see it clearly.
Mysterious, deep, bottomless. Just one glance just now, and he felt as if he was about to fall into it.
A hunter who hunts Seaborn.
Could it be that the Inquisition isn't the only team in all of Iberia that hunts Seaborn? The Aegir people also have people specialized in hunting Seaborn? Or perhaps... could she not be a local Aegir from Iberia, but an Aegir from... the deep sea.
"Teacher? What do we do?"
Irene looked up, her clear, cute, and pleasant childish voice flowing from her mouth.
"Follow her..."
The Grand Inquisitor gave the order. Just now, that scale of Seaborn swarm was enough to annihilate a small mobile city-state, and enough to easily exhaust him to death. Yet, it was effortlessly wiped out by this Aegir girl. What was that golden brilliance? Why was it so effective at killing Seaborn, to the point that the Seaborn couldn't even evolve?
"Yes!"
Irene nodded.
——————
Beneath the church.
A Bishop, cloaked entirely in black robes, his hair like seaweed, and his whole body constantly damp, giving off a nauseating, fishy smell, was enjoying the sight of his experimental subject.
Inside the experimental vessel.
A beautiful woman with snow-white hair was curled up in a ball, her hands wrapped around her calves, her knees pressed against her chin, just like the sleeping posture in a mother's womb. She floated quietly in the vessel, as if dead, or as if fast asleep.
Along with the injection of a large amount of Originium liquid.
Stone-like Originium crystals began to grow on the woman's skin, making the Bishop ecstatic.
"As expected, the spawn of Aegir can also be infected with Oripathy... And Oripathy can actually cause these spawns' functions to degenerate significantly... A good discovery..."
As for the other parts of the lab, they were piled high with all sorts of human corpses, severed limbs, and blood flowing on the ground, forming rivers. And from under the Bishop's long robes, a long, snake-like proboscis seemed to extend. These proboscises were constantly chewing on the human corpses on the ground, injecting the flesh-and-blood power into his own body.
Clang, clang, clang...
Along with bursts of bell chimes coming from outside.
The Bishop raised his head. He put his hands behind his back and slowly walked out of the laboratory.
"These people... what are they doing?"
As Skadi followed Lucas Reeve's guidance towards the place where her companion might be.
The bell in the church's bell tower in the very center of the mobile city-state rang out.
Hearing this sound.
The people who were still cowering in their houses just a second ago, as if they were dogs hearing the familiar dinner bell, almost instinctively came out of their houses and gathered en masse towards the church entrance. The vast majority of them had dull eyes, like walking corpses. Only a small number of people who still retained their sanity were somewhat afraid, but there was nothing they could do.
"Teacher, what's going on?"
The Grand and Junior Inquisitors, who had been following behind Skadi, naturally also saw this scene.
The Grand Inquisitor frowned slightly, while Irene looked up and asked her teacher.
"Let's go see."
Indeed, speaking is an art.
Low EQ: I don't know either.
High EQ: Let's go see.
The coolness factor instantly shot up.
The two Inquisitors saw that Skadi had also stopped. They didn't approach Skadi, but instead mixed into the crowd from another direction.
When the last bell chime ended.
A person completely wrapped in a long robe, with exposed hair like seaweed, walked out of the church.
After this person came out.
The city, which had been deathly silent just a second ago, suddenly became active, as if resurrected from the dead. This change astonished Irene.
"Priest! Priest!!"
"Teacher! This!!"
"Shh.."
The Grand Inquisitor covered Irene's mouth, his deep-set pupils under the mask silently watching everything.
"Compatriots, just now... the tide has risen one hundred times. Do you know what this means?"
A commotion went through the crowd. It was unclear what was being said, but Skadi could vaguely hear a few keywords.
Food... freedom... paradise....
"This is the ocean calling! The ocean is calling to its believers, its compatriots! Our lives come from the ocean! Our kingdom of heaven is not in Iberia, not on this corrupt land! This country, apart from exploitation, if we give up, has brought us nothing! Before we became believers of the ocean, what did we have? Famine, poverty, people starving to death every day, bones on the roadsides! And what are the dignitaries and nobles beyond the warning line doing? They are dumping good food~"
"And after believing in the ocean? We have food! We no longer have people starving to death! And every one hundred tides, one lucky person can receive the ocean's favor and ascend!"
This Priest spoke at a measured pace, but with great passion. And Lucas Reeve and Skadi could perceive a new hope and expectation on the faces of these people who were originally full of deathly air.
"Teacher! This person!!"
Irene wanted to draw her sword and arrest this cultist, but she was stopped by the Grand Inquisitor.
"Now, let's begin."
In front of the church, a long tube was placed. Many people scrambled to grab for it. As white shells were taken out of the box one by one, many people were extremely disappointed. However, when the last person had drawn, not a single red one had appeared. This made many of the residents look around in confusion.
And at this moment.
The Priest, who looked like seaweed, turned his terrifying dead-fish eyes towards Skadi.
"Won't you come and draw?"
Everyone turned their heads to look at Skadi.
Skadi silently shook her head.
"Not interested. Besides, the aura on your body... disgusts me."
"My companion... do you know where she is?"
The Priest cackled, his voice extremely grating.
"I do indeed know.... hunter from the deep sea..."
Skadi's eyes gradually sharpened, especially when the other party spoke her identity.
According to Lucas Reeve.
The thread connecting to her companion pointed inside the church, and this person had just come out of the church....
"So, come and draw lots. Together with your companion, return to the embrace of the sea, wash away the sins upon you..."
Skadi didn't speak. She slowly walked forward and pulled out the last shell from the box.
When her hand came out, it was a dazzling red.
Many of the surrounding residents were extremely envious. They hadn't expected a newcomer to draw the red shell that everyone dreamed of, just like that. Envy, jealousy...
"Come... follow me inside."
At the summons of the seaweed-like Priest, Skadi frowned and walked towards the church.
Beneath the church was a spiral staircase leading down. Skadi followed behind, descending slowly. There were no lights; she could only rely on her own senses. A single wrong step on the stairs would lead to a direct fall. After an unknown amount of time, the two arrived at a platform.
In the center of the huge room, inside an experimental vessel, a white figure was floating within.
"Sharky?"
Skadi frowned. She was already gripping the sword behind her back tightly, preparing to slay this Priest.
"I didn't expect that you, as another test subject, would actively seek me out. It's quite surprising. In that case, I happen to have a few questions for you."
"You... why can you resist the spiritual erosion... and what is that golden brilliance!"
Lucas Reeve, hidden inside Skadi, silently enjoyed the speech from the opposite side.
"It's a god. A god is helping me."
Skadi answered honestly.
However.
These words amused the other party.
"God? There is only one god in this world! And He is the God of the Deep Sea! Those lowly false gods on land are worthy of being called gods? They are just slightly stronger ants. Compared to the great God of the Deep Sea, they are nothing..."
Lucas Reeve: "???"
Are you being polite?
Nian, Dusk, and Nine-Colored Deer sneezed in Columbia, feeling like someone was cursing them.
Maybe he should let Sui come out and spar with the Seaborn god?