Ch. 88
Chapter 88: Brothers?
-You’ve become quite something. You look even luckier than the one among us who was said to have the best luck……
The moment he turned his head, he sensed a black shape crouched deep within the sea.
Using divinity, he stared more intently to feel the flow of that magic power in greater detail.
-Who are you?
The other reacted to Yul’s magic signal.
-You don't recognize me? Heh heh. Aren’t we brothers?
-Brothers? What kind of bullshit is that?
Yul twisted his body and immediately began flying toward the sea.
He cut through the sky like a swimmer at tremendous speed and plunged straight into the water.
The small Sea Horrors scattered around were crushed the instant Yul passed by.
-Impressive telekinesis control. Is that creature’s trait responsible? Or is it simply an ability you gained by wearing the Aeons’ leash?
-Cut the bullshit. What do you mean, brothers?
Underwater, Yul looked down at the creature below.
Its form looked like the failed work of a creator utterly devoid of aesthetic sense.
An asymmetrical face. A twisted spinal structure. The mass of tentacles on its body resembled sea anemones more than any cephalopod.
Looking at its overall shape, it vaguely resembled a seahorse bent into an S-shape, but to Yul’s senses, it looked more like some game’s Hydra X Scratch that had been run over by a truck.
There was no way something like this could be his brother.
-Don’t you remember? When we were born, we were inside that creature. We struggled while feeding on nutrients from its blood.
-……?
-When the Deep Sea crucian carp died at the hands of the Sea God, we were thrown out into the cold depths beyond.
-Don’t tell me.
-Some of us had legs, some had fins. Some even emitted light. Soon after, the Deep Sea mermaids came to “harvest” us.
-You too… were you a Xenoia?
A trivial, insignificant creature of the deep—the parasite Xenoia.
-Kheheh. Looks like you remember now? That’s right. At first, we were Xenoia.
But to think it had transformed from a Xenoia into its current form?
-Did you ascend too?
-I did.
‘Xenoia’ could evolve in many different ways. But ascension as well?
Yul soon felt an oddly unsettling sense of kinship coming from the monster, and it made him feel sick.
-I barely managed to escape from the Deep Sea mermaid’s basket. It would’ve been impossible if the attention of the young ones hadn’t been diverted elsewhere. I clenched my teeth and climbed upward. Swallowing similar creatures, fleeing from Deep Sea octopi! And then I climbed even higher, becoming a proud warrior of the Seahorse Kingdom in the Archipelago Ocean.
An interesting story.
-And then?
-But during my ascension in the Heaven and Earth Resonance, I was seized by the Great Mother.
-The Great Mother?
-Yes. That Deep Sea monster that turned me into this state. Khehehehe.
As Yul examined its body, he realized that there was no ‘gem’ embedded in its forehead.
-You. Why don’t you have a gem?
-The Great Mother is not bound by the rules of the Aeons, but by the rules of the Deep Sea. She doesn’t wear a leash like you do.
The rules of the Deep Sea? Come to think of it, Yul recalled that many Deep Sea creatures he knew had not appeared during the Heaven and Earth Resonance.
Using the key of the Heaven and Earth Resonance, Yul had seen all beings whose positions were fixed as they ascended.
Creatures like Abysarion, Deep Sea mermaids, or other Deep Sea lifeforms were almost entirely absent during ascension.
At most, there had been a single Deep Sea anglerfish.
-Don’t tell me… did other Xenoia ascend too?
-Yes. I heard there was one among us who was absurdly lucky, the one that ascended into a Deep Sea anglerfish.
Yul finally understood the source of the strange sense of kinship he had felt with the Deep Sea anglerfish during ascension.
So that thing had once been a Xenoia as well?
‘Then does that mean the ability to ascend existed in all Xenoia?’
What was a Xenoia to begin with?
-Khehehehehehehe. Judging by that form of yours, you’ve become a member of the Deep King Tribe. A noble upper species…….
Watching the self-proclaimed brother continue to snicker made Yul feel irritated.
-So what? I don’t consider you my brother, but I get that your target is me. You didn’t come all this way for some brotherly reunion, so what are you going to do?
-Since I've fallen this far, you should fall too. Accept the darkness and return to the Great Mother.
At its gesture, an enormous number of Sea Horrors began to surge in. Because of the Sea Horror swarm, the sea began to darken completely.
-You must’ve gotten a great opportunity during the Heaven and Earth Resonance to ascend, right? That’s how you became an upper species and even got that gem stuck in your forehead.
-So what? Are you pissed because you failed to ascend?
-Yes! Especially you bastards who ascended into powerful creatures! I hate every single Xenoia brother who became stronger than me.
From within the Sea Horrors’ enclosure, a single group charged in wedge formation.
-While I was being tortured by the Great Mother, Mother Nest, that thing that spews filth from its rotten guts and turns people into monsters, you must have been having a great time!
-Hm.
Just turning his head to look was enough for the Sea Horror swarm to be crushed here and there, their entrails bursting out.
The unpleasant black tar-like matter mixed into the seawater and spread upward like ink.
Yul felt nothing in particular about the fact that his so-called brother had grown into such a foul and gloomy adult somewhere he didn’t know.
Aside from the faint, unpleasant sense of kinship, he felt no sense of brotherhood at all.
And he had never lived so weakly as to forgive an enemy that openly showed hostility.
-So you're saying you're going to infect me the same way?
-You're just a bonus! By Mother Nest's command, I will infect every human here!
Gooooooooh.
The surrounding currents changed. The area began to tremble under the magic power flowing out of Yul’s entire body.
‘My eyes have been feeling a bit itchy for a while now.’
His eyes itched faintly, but he ignored them and unfolded his magic power.
The seawater around Yul began to follow him as if moving of its own accord.
That flow was clearly directed upward.
Everything began to rise.
-W-What is this? You have an ability like this, too?
There was no obligation to answer. Dialogue no longer had any meaning.
Driven by the deployed magic power, the seawater flowed upward and in an instant drew close to the surface.
The status window flickered.
[Six Demon Eyes: An innate ability unique to the Deep King Tribe. It forms a precise system that grants unique magic to six pupils and allows them to be separated.]
‘So this is the innate ability of the Deep King Tribe…….’
As naturally as breathing, Yul opened the first demon eye. This was neither a skill nor an acquired ability.
It was an innate blooming ability embedded within the race itself.
The decisive reason why upper species are called upper species, unlike ordinary creatures.
[Sea-Sync Demon Eye: Generates ‘dominion’ over seawater and liquids imbued with magic power. Additionally, within your perceptible range, the flow of seawater will be determined in a direction advantageous to you.]
The pair of pupils at the twelve o’clock position, shaped like a revolver’s cylinder, glowed and awakened simultaneously.
Intricate magic circles were drawn within the eyes, and the moment they opened, he instinctively understood how to use them.
The surrounding currents surged above the sea surface.
They continued rising upward. Yul, the Sea Horrors, and even the self-proclaimed brother controlling them were all fixed within it, floating higher than the surrounding sea surface for a brief moment.
-Y-You bastard, what are you trying to do!?
-I’m waiting.
-……?
Yul was sharing Lucian’s vision, waiting for the timing in real time.
-It’s coming.
* * *
When Yul was heading out to sea via the coastline, Lucian first escorted Frenda and her friends into the spire, then immediately moved to the highest point.
Between the spires, there existed passages that could be used for emergency movement.
They had been built in preparation for abnormal situations in which using magic would be difficult.
Most students didn’t know about them, and even the professors paid them little mind, but they were clearly marked in the blueprints.
“Found it.”
Lucian threw off his Krellsite gloves and poured magic power into the emergency zipline.
“Ah— that stings.”
Even though he had only sent in magic power briefly, Lucian felt pain.
High magic affinity was, in truth, a great trait. You could learn any magic quickly, and the burden on your magic circuits was reduced. But if it exceeded a certain threshold, the moment you removed insulating equipment like gloves, you would feel excruciating pain.
Pshung!! Chiiiiiiik!
The zipline installed beside the spire’s window burst forward at explosive speed, connecting to another point.
The moment Lucian placed his bare hand on the zipline, he felt himself being pulled along rapidly, without even moving his body.
In an instant, the highest spire housing the headmaster’s office came into view.
‘Is that the headmaster’s unique magic?’
At the top of the spire, distorted space shimmered, and from time to time, magic projectiles were scattered from it and accelerated.
Wherever they landed, there was always a Sea Horror.
In the midst of this precision bombardment, the moment Lucian arrived at the highest spire, another professor blocked his way.
“Student! This area is restricted!”
“I have a proposal! A way to deal with the enemies all at once!”
“What is it?”
“I’m receiving information from Yul, the Seaborn I’m in communion with. There may be an entity out there controlling the Sea Horrors.”
“That’s just a hypothesis! Leave this place at once—!”
“No, Professor Terriflum. Let’s hear what the boy has to say.”
“Headmaster?”
The headmaster, who had been precisely scattering magic projectiles, showed no sign of heavy magic consumption.
“What is your proposal, Lucian Beltein?”
The headmaster remembered Lucian’s name exactly.
“Beltein?”
“Isn’t that the family of the archmage Ian Beltein?”
“But I don’t recall seeing him in the Department of Magic.”
The surrounding professors murmured among themselves.
Lucian lightly bit his lip where no one could see and spoke.
“There’s a creature out there with what looks like the ability to control Sea Horrors.”
Lucian grabbed a pen and immediately began sketching its form. Even now, he was sharing a vision with Yul while exchanging simple messages in real time.
“Hm. I did sense something unusual—this seems to be it.”
Headmaster Waldorf nodded. Within Weimar Wigma’s magic barrier, he had sensed something larger than the Sea Horrors.
“Yul says he can pull them out of the sea. He wants you to take care of them while he does.”
“Understood.”
Headmaster Waldorf restructured the spell formula of the magic projectile. A projectile fired through an actual distortion field.
Compared to what he had expected, the destructive power of the projectile striking the sea surface was significantly reduced.
To the restructured formula, he added a shared magic attribute of the 「Freezing」 type.
‘The first shot should pierce deep into the sea…….’
He processed the magic projectile into the form of a spear, granting the tip a non-attribute property to enhance penetration.
To the rear section of the spear, he added an explosive freezing attribute. So many attributes were layered onto it that it became spherical in form.
‘I’ll call it an Ice Volpin.’
Having improvised the spell on the spot, Headmaster Waldorf looked at Lucian.
“Your Seaborn might get caught up in this. Are you sure that’s all right?”
“Yul says not to worry. I trust him.”
“Haha. So he’s confident he can evade or block my magic.”
Smiling, Headmaster Waldorf waited for the signal.
“They’re coming up now. Now!”
The sea surface bulged upward. The way the seawater surged skyward like a mushroom was eerily strange.
Without missing the opportunity, Headmaster Waldorf fired the Ice Volpin toward the distortion field.
A magic spear nearly two meters long was projected, receiving tremendous amplification as it slammed down into the sea.
In an instant, it pierced through the seawater and detonated from within.
It was as if winter had arrived in that spot alone—everything froze solid.