“Wh-What is that?!”
Now, Oceanos had faced countless battles in the sea, but even they had never seen Monster Fish swarm in clouds like that.
“That’s a ‘ghost ship’, right?”
“Yes. It seems so.”
To top it off, each one was a dominant force in the ecosystem. If Brachiom was an unverified predator, ghost ships were the real deal.
There were plenty of sightings, and Oceanos had seen them in action several times.
Through all that, they had been classified as ‘top-tier predators’.
And here were nearly hundreds of those ghost ships.
Not to mention, various other Monster Fish posing unimaginable risks stretched endlessly before them.
Of course, there were also a multitude of Monster Fish that Oceanos had never encountered before.
Plus, the ‘statues’ were coming in like an army.
Compared to the pit from earlier, this was undoubtedly a tougher battle.
No, but still…
“It looks like the Slayers can handle it… still…”
It was clear that this would be an extremely tough fight.
“Hmm, it looks manageable?”
“I think so too.”
But unlike the conversation the Slayers were having, this wasn’t a fight to the death.
They even had the emergency escape device as insurance.
Not knowing why they had been dragged underwater during their ascension, it made sense for the Slayers to win this battle and gather information.
“If it seems dangerous, escape immediately. If this is really Earth, we should be able to move back to our hideout.”
Han Siwoo, the Hunter, made a quick decision.
“Got it.”
“They’re really coming in creepy crawly.”
And thus, the final battle of the Slayers began.
#
“Yikes!!”
“Alexandra!! Are you okay?!”
“Yeah. Just grazed me.”
With a shrill scream, Han Siwoo rushed over to Alexandra in an instant, looking out for her.
Clearly, the situation was turning unfavorable for the Slayers.
In a fight against overwhelming numbers, even a single hit could deal devastating damage.
Parang and Oceanos felt it clearly.
If it was just the army of Monster Fish attacking the Slayers, they would have already claimed victory.
Surely, a few would have needed to use the escape devices.
But then, this…
“Hold on. Let me see that angle; I think it’s the best vantage point.”
Among the swarm of Monster Fish, something very peculiar was mixed in.
It wasn’t big at all. In fact, it was extremely small.
It looked like a tiny Monster Fish, not more than 2 meters in size.
At first glance, it appeared to be a black mist.
It slithered, lacking a defined shape, making it hard to outline.
Had it not been for the vividly glowing purple light seeping from within, one might have thought it was an inanimate object.
And that black mist, barely 2 meters in size, was having a huge impact on the battlefield.
First, it was a mental attack.
“Siwoo. I feel weird.”
“You too? I’ve been feeling it since earlier.”
All the Slayers complained of symptoms as if they were under a mental attack.
Commonly, they felt an overwhelming urge to ‘protect that black mist’ rising inside them.
Since the black mist was definitely their enemy, it seemed that a very powerful mental attack was continuously coming through, enough to penetrate the Slayers’ mental defenses.
After all, the desire to protect an enemy they had to fight against was rather inconvenient.
This was severely diminishing the Slayers’ combat ability.
Secondly, the Monster Fish had enhanced their abilities.
The event was triggered by Olivia’s attack.
“Damn it, this is really annoying!!!”
It seemed the mental attack was quite bothersome, as Olivia Cloverfield unleashed her willpower and unleashed skills indiscriminately at the black mist.
In the midst of all that, the mental attack continued to operate, causing most of her skills to miss, but one.
‘Stone Sphere’ struck the black mist directly.
Was it startled by the sudden hit or was it in pain?
Regardless, the black mist shrunk away and then slowly returned to its original size.
And at that moment,
■■■■-!!!
■■■■―!!!
♬♪♩♪♬-!!!
The cloud-like Monster Fish swarming around them began to move at a speed twice as fast as before.
“What the hell, suddenly what is this!!!”
“I don’t know!! Why are they suddenly…!!”
That sudden change created a gap in the solid defense of the Slayers, leading to the outcome of…
“Yikes!!!”
“Alexandra!! Are you okay?!”
The result was Alexandra, who had the least combat power, getting hit.
And it didn’t stop there. The behavior of the Monster Fish changed to be more ‘intelligent.’
While they had recklessly charged before, now they were strategically using their numbers.
Their attack patterns were like this:
■■■■■■■!!!
Whether it was powerful Monster Fish like ghost ships or,
thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud.
Somewhat larger statues rushed in, committing almost suicide-like attacks.
“Ugh…!!”
The target, the Slayers, countered the strong skills, but momentarily became incapacitated as a drawback.
“Charlotte! Are you okay?!”
“I’m fine…, just a bit tired. I’ll get better soon.”
Then the rest of the Slayers formed a protective formation around her.
However, even that formation only surrounded her from all sides. Due to manpower limitations, anything beyond that was impossible.
During that time, tens of thousands of Monster Fish relentlessly charged at their target.
thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud.
Of course, statues and powerful Monster Fish charged in as well.
As if thinking that just one bite before death would be beneficial, they attacked recklessly and without restraint.
“Damn it…!! Tai Zetsuken, my First Strike!! Zetsugetsu!!”
Then, powerful skills were used again to block the incoming Monster Fish, creating another gap in their ranks.
This repeated until Han Siwoo finally surged in and swept the Monster Fish away,
thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud. thud.
Whoosh!!!
Without any delay, another powerful attack came flying at a harsh angle.
Thirty minutes before Alexandra’s death, the situation was turning extremely unfavorable for the Slayers.
And it seemed that in the midst of that chaos, Alexandra made a choice.
“Siwoo!! I’m going to escape!!”
“Got it!”
If the battle continued like this, Alexandra would surely become a hindrance, so she decided to escape first.
With a resolute expression, Alexandra activated her escape device.
In an instant, her vision became enveloped in light.
The escape device was functioning properly.
As her vision blurred, Alexandra said to Siwoo one last time.
“I love you.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
And then Alexandra attempted to move to the Slayers’ hideout located somewhere on Earth…
But then,
Boom-!!
“Ugh…!!”
The sound of something heavy falling, or perhaps something exploding in the water, filled the battlefield.
“Si, Siwoo!!”
This kind of sound had never been heard before, so it was certain that some variable had emerged on the battlefield.
For a moment, Alexandra wore an expression of great anxiety, but soon seemed to relax and steel herself.
It was probably a reaction made possible by trusting Siwoo.
She probably intended to move to the hideout above water to find a way to help Siwoo.
But seeing the place she was moved to, Alexandra’s expression had no choice but to stiffen.
“W-Where is… where is this…?”
Of course, she was in the East Sea Hive.
For Alexandra, who was unaware of the Hive’s existence, escaping from a battle in the deep sea only to end up in another deep sea was utterly bewildering.
But the part that truly surprised her was something else.
“My, body…!!”
Her body had stiffened completely, rendering her unable to move at all.
Below her neck, she had lost all sensation and was frozen like stone.
“What the… is happening…?”
Parang was somewhat surprised too.
‘How on earth could the body of a divine being be paralyzed like this?’
“Status screen!”
Alexandra urgently pulled up her status screen. Oceanos, who shared her vision, of course, could see it too.
And to everyone’s surprise,
[ Status Alteration ]
[ None ]
She bore no status alterations whatsoever.
“What?!”
“Ugh! Damn, you scared me!”
There was a sudden commotion caused by Elvira shouting out loud.
It was that shocking.
How could something like this happen without even a status alteration?
Furthermore, the surprise didn’t end there.
“Ugh, AAAAAHHH!!!”
Suddenly, purple light gleamed in Alexandra’s eyes, and she screamed.
“W-What! Who are you!!”
That was Alexandra’s words.
“Who… what does that even mean?”
“I don’t even know that part.”
Before long, Alexandra ceased her screaming.
And surprisingly, she looked… comfortable.
Nodding her head a bit, raising question marks in her eyes, and suddenly jolting in surprise.
The purple light in her eyes remained, and her body still couldn’t move.
After about twenty minutes passed, the mysterious purple hue vanished from Alexandra’s eyes.
She visibly looked tired and gaunt compared to when she first arrived at the East Sea Hive.
“Ugh…”
The hopeful thing was that her body was moving now. However, it seemed Alexandra had already exhausted all her energy and had no intention of swimming.
“Hah… Hah…”
Instead, she chose another method.
Whirrrr-
The artifact she possessed, Evidence.
An object that could store memories and share them with others.
As Alexandra brought it to her forehead, a bright green light gently seeped out.
“What’s that doing?”
“She’s storing memories in the artifact.”
It was exactly as described in the original novel.
What was astonishing was that the artifact, ‘Evidence,’ was crackling and breaking apart.
Such a scenario had never occurred before, and Parang was equally perplexed.
Soon the green light dimmed.
The memory storage was complete.
‘Evidence’ now looked the same as when Parang discovered it.
Alexandra, squeezing out her last bit of energy, threw it towards the distant entrance.
Before she knew it, massive arms had approached right in front of her.
What awaited her was undoubtedly death.
But Alexandra, as if in a dream, closed her eyes.
Calmly, as if going to sleep.
“I love you.”
With Alexandra’s last words, the dive came to an end.
