I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature

Chapter 89. Runeframe Technology

‘Cold.’

Yul clicked his tongue at the murderous chill—only to realize even his tongue had frozen stiff.

He had no idea what kind of magic had been used, but it felt as though this entire space had frozen solid at once.

‘Is this something like Absolute Zero?’

The name of an ice-type grand spell he had once read about in fantasy novels in his previous life came to mind, but he soon realized that even stray thoughts were becoming difficult.

To deal with all those Sea Horrors and the self-proclaimed “brother” controlling them in one stroke, this method was the most efficient.

Because we have the ultimate magic artillery, and the enemies do not.

‘I thought I could endure it with my anti-magic resistance, but this is rough.’

As even his thoughts began to freeze over, a light suddenly flickered from Yul’s chest.

Thump. Thump.

The super-fusion heart within the chest of the Deep King Tribe began to move. Light shimmered as the star-like heart pulsed, starting to melt the surroundings.

Even so, only a portion around Yul returned to seawater, but that was enough.

In the frigid cold that felt as if it would freeze him solid, it was not difficult to shoot upward.

The moment he broke free, he looked around. The entire surging space had frozen solid.

‘Perfect. This is on par even with Gehenna’s freezing.’

Yul shoved the Sea Horrors into the current of seawater, leaving them no room to escape.

The wave of cold that had exploded from the center had spread throughout the entire mass of seawater he had drawn up.

The kind of freezing depicted in the media was, in truth, nothing more than a fantasy.

When the liquids inside a body expand, cells are damaged. Blood flow stops, the nervous system shuts down, and biological destruction occurs.

Frozen tissue cannot be restored.

Even if a frozen organism is thawed, its cellular structure is shattered—only the exterior appears intact.

In that sense, the Sea Horrors trapped here were as good as dead.

And the self-proclaimed “brother,” who had been the controller, was likewise buried in ice, frozen solid.

“Dead.”

All vital signs had completely ceased.

With this, the Sea Horror incident that occurred during the festival had come to an end.

* * *

After some time had passed, Yul was able to meet Lucian, who was with Headmaster Waldorf Brisbane. Beside the headmaster stood a young professor with glasses, known as Professor Schmidt.

“Thank you, Yul and Lucian. Thanks to you, we were able to herd the Sea Horrors together and eliminate them at once.”

The surroundings were extremely chaotic. Professors were running about busily, and those who had been infected were being treated by mages.

The dead were being collected, and countless people were speaking in hushed, urgent tones.

“We consider the threat of the Sea Horrors to be severe. There will be compensation for the two of you who assisted us. I have pressing matters to attend to, so Professor Schmidt will explain the rest.”

“Ah, understood.”

As headmaster, there must have been countless matters piled up because of this incident. Cleaning them up was his responsibility.

He would likely need to calm the anxious students, compensate the families of the dead, and provide explanations to the noble patrons…….

Soon, Professor Schmidt, who had been standing beside him, spoke.

“We have decided to designate their entire species as Sea Horrors and assign names to the various individuals. The parasitic ones will be called Sea Horror Parasites, the ones with eyes that observe from afar will be Sea Horror Watchers, and the medium-sized individuals that control them will be called Sea Horror Controllers, and so on.”

“I see.”

“Could you provide any information about them? Anything at all would be helpful.”

Yul relayed what he had heard to Professor Schmidt.

“Remarkable. So you’re saying there is an entity that infected the Controller?”

“That’s what it called itself. It mentioned something called the Great Mother, Mother Nest. It said it used to be a seahorse.”

“The frozen corpse looked nothing like a seahorse……. The fact that there is an ultimate individual controlling the Sea Horrors is terrifying enough. Wait—then doesn’t that mean there may not be just one Controller?”

There could be other Controllers besides the one Yul had encountered.

“What about the infected?”

When Lucian, who had been standing beside him, asked, Professor Schmidt nodded.

“Yes. Since Mr. Yul here first demonstrated how to extract the Parasite that had infected Gideon’s body, we were able to handle the others in a similar way. However, those whose hearts or brains had been parasitized did not survive long.”

“…….”

Survival had depended on the site of infection.

“According to Yul, the Controller intended to launch a full assault here, correct? As long as the Sea Horrors regard our academy as an enemy, we can no longer remain as mere observers. We will take direct action. In that sense, we require the assistance of both Yul and Lucian.”

“Pardon?”

“Would you be willing to lend us your strength in investigating the Sea Horrors?”

“Do we have to go out by ship?”

“Yes. More precisely, we plan to head into the open ocean and use the Seaborns to locate the Sea Horrors hidden deep beneath the sea. Naturally, this is only possible for Sinkers who have established Communion. Besides you, Lucian, proposals have been sent to other Sinkers as well.”

Lucian thought for a moment before looking at Yul.

“We need time to think.”

“Of course. Before you give your answer, this is our proposal.”

Taking the proposal documents, Yul and Lucian stepped aside to discuss.

“What happened to the festival?”

“It’s been suspended.”

“And the prize money?”

“……Gone.”

The easy one thousand ducats he could have pocketed had vanished into thin air! Yul examined the compensation offered in Professor Schmidt’s proposal.

“For starters, it says you’ll be allowed to complete the semester even without earning credits.”

“Credits aren’t that important. The problem is that I don’t have enough time to learn.”

“And the payment. They’re offering one thousand ducats.”

“That’s the same as the grand prize.”

“If we bring back decisive information about the Sea Horrors, they’ll pay an additional two thousand ducats…….”

“Three thousand ducats!”

Lucian’s eyes gleamed. In truth, even three thousand ducats would not be enough to buy a ship, but with that amount of capital, there would be room to try something else.

“But they’re not dispatching the expedition immediately, right? When do we depart?”

“Yes. According to the documents, it will begin after this semester ends, starting in the winter break.”

“Then we have a bit of time.”

“Huh? That’s right.”

“Hmm. Then shall we prepare in the meantime? First, this.”

Yul pulled a Black Card from his pocket.

* * *

Lucian gazed at the massive chunk of ice visible outside the window. Even after a week had passed, the ice had not fully melted.

It would probably take at least another week before it disappeared. In the meantime, Professor Schmidt and the professors of the Department of Communion were climbing atop the ice, thoroughly collecting specimens from the dead Sea Horrors.

The Controller’s corpse, meanwhile, had been retrieved under strict security.

“Yul, is it really okay to just leave the Controller’s body like that?”

“Hmm? Why?”

“I vaguely heard that he was your brother.”

Yul, who had been writing rapidly, shook his head.

“Let me make one thing clear. I never once considered that bastard my brother, and I still don’t. He was just a similar species that happened to occupy the same position.”

“Is that so?”

“A real brother is someone you can trust, even without sharing blood. If anyone comes close to that, it’d be Ian or you, Lucian.”

Lucian awkwardly scratched his cheek. Yul was usually cold and composed, but every now and then, he said something sentimental and embarrassing like that.

“But, Yul, after the incident ended, quite a few problems have come up.”

“What kind of problems?”

“First of all, a reporter came by wanting to interview you.”

“A reporter?”

“From some club. They said the martial tournament was canceled, but they still want to verify your combat ability.”

“A duel request? That’s completely meaningless.”

“On top of that, all sorts of strange places have been contacting us. One noble even inquired about paying twenty thousand ducats if you were sold to him.”

“What? I’m only worth twenty thousand?”

“I refused, of course. But all kinds of strange people have been showing up these past few days. If you stay inside the academy, there’ll be plenty who try to approach you while I’m not around.”

“Hmm. Maybe I should leave the academy for a while.”

Yul muttered that just as he finished what he was doing and set the Black Card down. Beside it lay pages densely filled with notes.

“Finished transcribing the last paragraph.”

“I’ll interpret it.”

In the meantime, Yul and Lucian had been working relentlessly to extract the information contained within the Black Card.

The volume was enormous, but the more they extracted, the more they realized just how powerful a magic engineering weapon it was.

“There are way too many ‘rune formulas’ required to use this.”

Rune formulas, terms comparable to spell formulas, sounded to Yul like nothing more than coding

“But it’s worth it.”

“Yes. It truly is. To think such incredible armor exists.”

As the interpretation progressed, it became clear that this was no mere magic engineering weapon. Its form gradually took shape.

To Yul, it felt similar to a powered suit—an exoskeletal armor.

For Lucian, the closest concept that came to mind was magic armor.

“This goes beyond simple magic armor.”

Magic armor—the kind of guardian construct mages created to protect themselves. But this far surpassed anything like that.

“It moves autonomously under normal conditions and can even be worn on the user’s body…….”

“I didn’t expect this kind of manufacturing technology to be stored inside the Black Card.”

This was a full-body exoskeleton driven by magic. Lucian had been astonished the moment he saw it, remarking on the remarkably high level of magic engineering involved.

The technology contained within the Black Card perfectly embodied it.

‘And to think it curses anyone who tries to read this information directly. The Black Card itself is insane.’

As Lucian wrote characters onto a blank page, he said,

“To replicate this exactly as described would require an enormous amount of funding.”

“Don’t worry about that yet. Just transcribe the technology first.”

“Yes.”

Because of this incident, Yul felt the need to fully secure Lucian’s safety while he himself was absent.

He had intended to analyze the magic engineering technology inside the Black Card and perhaps create a weapon from it, but upon opening it, he found suit technology instead.

Funding was still an issue. Well, Yul could invest separately. In exchange, he would simply retain ownership of the magic engineering suit.

As Lucian continued deciphering, he spoke up.

“Ah, there’s a name. It says ‘Runeframe Manufacturing Technology.’”

“Really? Then we’ll use that name as it is.”

“I’ve extracted several core technologies, but it’ll be difficult to create a complete Runeframe.”

“Why?”

“Because of this.”

Lucian pointed to his Krelsite glove.

“Ah.”

Even if they restored the Runeframe, it would not fit Lucian perfectly right away.

“Still, through reverse engineering, we’ve obtained quite a few core technologies. The core drive system, self-repair circuits, magic control amplifier, and so on. If I master and apply these, I should be able to create a Runeframe for myself. Well, that’s after we get the money, of course.”

“Don’t worry about funding. I think I can handle the investment.”

“What? Really?”

“I’ll have to leave for a while, though.”

Yul was thinking of visiting his island.

“Ah, Yul. Professor Quentin asked when he could see a draft of that integrated development environment you mentioned.”

“Oh. That?”

He had forgotten.

“Tell him I’ll produce a working model and submit it before winter break.”

“Yes.”

The concepts were already in his head. Once he overcame the inevitable trial and error in implementation, it would be quick.

“There shouldn’t be any more issues now.”

He had heard that numerous professors of Weimar Wigma were constructing entirely new magical barriers in preparation for another Sea Horror assault.

With so many mages devising countermeasures, it was reassuring. If things became truly dangerous, he could return immediately.

Yul returned to his main body, moved through the sea, and left Weimar Wigma behind.

His destination was the Southern Archipelago Ocean.