In this desolate place where no living being should exist, Vane saw a human being embedded in flesh and blood.
Even if his body is so deformed that it no longer resembles a human, even if his filthy eyes cannot see the light of wisdom.
But Vane's intuition told him...
That was a human, that was definitely a human!
The world slowed down to an extreme in Vane's eyes. He could see tentacles constantly piercing out of the walls and hear the frantic, ear-piercing babbling of the Abyssal Diver.
Vane hesitated, knowing full well that this might be an illusion created by the Abyssal Diver to protect its weakness, but he still couldn't help but hesitate.
Even a fraction of a second is enough time for the Abyssal Diver to react.
The frantically spreading flesh contracted inward, and Vane's attack was about to fail once again.
Just then, a dazzling green light burst forth.
As Vane felt a surge of refreshment, the flesh and blood of the Abyssal Diver melted away like snowflakes under flames.
Beneath that "human" chest, beneath that heart surrounded by deformed bones and flesh—
Green Magic Stone!
Why here? It shouldn't be near the Volcanic Sandworms...
No, that's not the point right now.
No wonder the Abyss Stalker is so weak; the Magic Stone has been weakening his power within his body.
But why not actively separate it?
Vane thought of the "human," and the "human" looked at him.
[Kill us!]
Vane could tell from those distorted pupils.
The Supernova has reached its limit of contraction, leaving no room for further rotation; the black new star bursts forth from this point.
Vane seemed to see relief, or perhaps liberation, in the eyes of the "human"?
Before the Supernova explosion completely destroyed everything, crimson threads spread from Vane's fingertips, connecting the two together.
Who exactly are you?
Who I am?
Metro Goss, an insignificant sailor.
Born in a bustling Ocean City, she grew up alongside her father's dream of making a name for himself.
My father was a renowned swordsman in Ocean City.
As the only child in my family, I was born with heavy expectations placed upon me.
Perhaps because my mother was ill when she was pregnant with me, my body is not as strong as that of my peers. The older I get, the more I realize how different I am from others.
My body is very weak. When I learned swordsmanship from my father, all I could do was twist my wrists until they were red. I made no progress in the path of swordsmanship.
My temperament is the same.
Unable to meet others' expectations, I can't help but wonder if I'm just a born loser.
My grandmother often comforted me, taking me to the seaside to watch the big ships setting sail when I was feeling down.
She said that there lies the most dazzling courage in the entire ocean.
But courage didn't seem to favor me. At the age when young people should be growing up and making their own way, I was still so weak.
Swordsmanship, magic, knowledge... I changed my goals one after another at the urging of my family, but I never had any outstanding talent.
Actually, I wanted to become a painter like my grandfather, but the world today lacks fertile ground for art. Despite my family's constant persuasion...
I compromised.
Perhaps I am so weak that I cannot even carry out my own will.
Ultimately, my parents found me a decent job as a cashier at a bank.
I thought I would live a life of mediocrity forever, until that day, I met him—
A burly man reeking of the sea.
"Hey kid, wanna come aboard my ship and be a sailor?"
I had no choice but to call security to kick him out.
Where did this madman come from?
Even if the songs portrayed sailors as brave, in the Ocean City, being a sailor was still the lowest-level job.
"Come on, give it a try! How can you call yourself a man if you don't experience the test of the sea? I see a shark in your eyes, and it's trying to rush out and bite me."
Even though he was being dragged out, that guy still acted arrogantly. Didn't he care what others thought?
It's really...
Envious.
Perhaps there is another soul inside me, who packed his belongings and ran towards the harbor that night.
Oh, damn it.
I must be crazy to go out to sea with a madman I've only just met.
That was the first time I acted according to my own will.
As it turns out, my choice at the time was indeed not a good one.
But I never questioned the captain. Even though we only caught some rotten fish and shells on each voyage, I never felt so fulfilled.
"Kid, the shark you see is getting bigger and bigger. I'm looking forward to the day it bursts out!"
You will see it, I silently replied in my heart.
Unfortunately, fate played a cruel trick on us.
While I was resting ashore due to illness, the captain went out to sea again, but did not return for a long time.
He and his boat disappeared.
That's so stupid! Without me, he wouldn't even know how to read a compass?
I participated in the naval selection process in Ocean City, and luckily, I was selected.
The man hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye to his sailors.
I... I need to go find him.
The news was neither good nor bad: I passed the training, but my superiors assigned me to be a submariner.
My years of military service did not make me taller; fortunately, my slender build was exactly what submariners needed.
The officer told us that something unusual had happened in the sea.
The seafood served on the dinner table has been twisted into a terrifying, enormous monster. Our goal is to investigate and solve this problem.
Fortunately, we found our target on our very first mission.
The Ocean City's top-notch magical technology defeated the attacking monsters, and we found a huge temple on the seabed. At the top of the temple, green gems shone with a warm glow.
Unfortunately, we are too late.
Beneath the temple, a black, muddy substance was constantly gushing out from the cracks, infecting ordinary marine life.
There are too many... so many that it's despairing.
At first glance, I knew that it was an existence that Ocean City could not possibly contend with.
A giant tentacle emerged from the black mud and struck the submarine unexpectedly.
The number of monsters is increasing, and the submarine can no longer surface.
"Goss, what are you waiting for? Run!"
My colleagues tried to push me into the escape pod; my heart had never pounded so hard.
I saw it; I saw how the tentacles stung under the light of the gemstones.
He feared that power!
"You go first, I'll set the submarine's self-destruct sequence and be there in a minute!"
After pushing my companion into the escape pod, I rushed to the cockpit as fast as I could.
As the submarine continued to sink, I used the control stick to grab the rock and put it into the compartment, at which point the black mud below began to churn.
My head hurts so much, it feels like something is growing out of my head.
I felt like I was going to die. Memories of my daily life with my family flashed through my mind, but the last thing I thought of was that missing guy.
Perhaps the captain is dead, but the sea has embraced him, so... surely you can see it?
I'm absolutely certain! It's time for that shark to break free!
As I steered the submarine toward the black mud, I saw its appearance clearly.
Darkness! Chaos! Disorder!
What a colossal existence! My body distorted in an instant, and it felt as if tens of thousands of sonars had been crammed into my head, all ringing out in unison.
It hurts! It hurts so much!
The submarine plunged into the black mud, and I was pinned to the wall by the impact.
I saw it; flesh and blood were growing on the wall, and I could feel my back stuck to those things.
[Integrate into one... share... discard it...]
His voice seemed to have some kind of magic, as if it made me throw away the stone.
So sleepy... So tired...
[Give up... and me... enter eternity]
No...
No, no!
A life without change, that's not how a sailor lives!
Anger surged to the top of my head; I refused to compromise any longer.
Waiting for academic success, waiting for a stable job, waiting for marriage and children...
I always compromise to meet other people's expectations, but no matter how many hurdles I overcome, I am never rewarded for passing.
Compromise does not lead to happiness, but to the grave of a life's passion.
The sailor willingly gave up struggling, his body slowly sinking into the growing flesh.
He could feel himself becoming one with that being.
But there is still one limitation that is holding us back...
[Throw it away... throw it away...]
The sailor slowly raised the Magic Stone, his distorted face displaying a confident smile that would astonish anyone familiar with him.
Throw it away! Throw it away!
The sound grew increasingly shrill, as if it knew what the sailors were planning to do.
It's not surprising; the two are now inextricably linked, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they are one.
If it weren't for the protection of the Magic Stone, the sailor would probably have already perished in the chaos.
"It's all because of you that I can't eat seafood anymore, so..."
The body actively merged into flesh and blood, and the sailor plunged his palm, along with the Magic Stone, into his heart.
I saw blood gushing from his chest, splattering onto the twisted flesh.
"Does human blood taste good? You damn bugs!"
"Remember the name Metro Goss! He was the lowest of sailors in the Ocean City!"
"It is the weak humans who have corrupted you!!"
That colossal being failed to devour humanity; instead, it was actively integrated into humanity's being.
But the ordering power of the Magic Stone was poison to him. In order to avoid being destroyed, he was forced to merge with the submarine and take on a physical form.
As the sailors said, He was corrupted by lowly and weak humans.
Their lives were intertwined, and when the sailor died, this grand entity would be destroyed by the power of the Magic Stone.
But this predicament was not unsolvable for Him.
Once the sailor's consciousness has completely vanished into nothingness, even if He controls the other party to actively remove the Magic Stone, He can still gain the initiative.
Besides... He has plenty of time.
What about the sailors?
Can humanity's feeble will truly contend with this colossal existence?
It's too difficult.
I want to fall asleep every second; my once frantic babbling has become so gentle.
I really just want to fall asleep right now, I'm so tired...
The sailor kept his eyes open, even though it was only darkness.
How long did he wait?
So long that civilization eventually perished, the seawater became murky.
But the sailor couldn't rest yet; he wasn't sure if that being had left, or if his civilization was ready.
Hang in there a little longer.
Sailors always say this to themselves:
Most sharks stop swimming, which means they are dead; he cannot die yet.
He... didn't let that person see it yet.
The sailor persevered, but time passed, and even his consciousness began to fade.
Finally, the darkness was torn apart, and the sailors saw the light that would end everything.
Find me, and then...
[Kill us!]
A second before the [Supernova] erupted, the sailor stared at the figure in front of him, watching the dangerous black dot begin to spread.
Finally, he finally got what he'd been waiting for...
I'm tired... I'm really tired...
As the sailor felt his body being gradually torn apart by the ripples, he recalled his life in his final moments.
It seems there's nothing left to cherish.
No, if you think about it carefully, there are some.
Captain... my captain, did you see the shark breaking through the ocean?
In the end, I guess I was pretty brave.
The sailor slowly closed his eyes, awaiting the long-awaited eternal sleep.
"Hey! Don't fall asleep at a time like this!"
The intense pain was excruciating; the flesh that had been fused to the warehouse wall on his back was torn apart and casually ripped off by Vane.
Why?
The sailor stared at Vane in disbelief, his green pupils filled with astonishment as Wayne shoved the [Supernova], which was on the verge of exploding, into his chest.
In a split second, Vane's chest heaved like a ball, a crisp cracking sound mingling with the blood gushing from his seven orifices.
The sailor's eyes widened.
Why give up at a time like this!
Kill me! And this monster will...
"Cough cough cough... Indeed, even if that guy doesn't die from killing you, he'll be severely injured by the power of the Magic Stone."
Having withstood all the damage from [Supernova], Vane was bleeding from his mouth and nose, his handsome face looking somewhat disheveled.
"Sacrificing a lowly sailor to severely damage such a great being seems like a worthwhile trade."
Why?
"But that's the mindset of the weak!"
Vane pulled the other away from the closed abdomen, the Magic Stone left the body, the flesh of the Abyssal Diver churned violently, and the aura of decay rapidly increased.
"Who do you think I am? I'm the Super Player who strives for the perfect ending!"
"I don't need endings that require sacrifices to complete the game!"
His distorted eyes could no longer see the face in front of him, but the gaze etched in his memory grew ever brighter.
What's going on? What's causing this feeling of security?
More ferocious than a shark, more beautiful... When had he ever seen such confidence?
Ah, I remember now.
My captain...
A smile tugged at the sailor's contorted face.
"Do you really... have a chance to win?"
"Tsk, stop saying such ominous things before the war even starts."
He plunged one hand into the sailor's chest, pulling out the Magic Stone while simultaneously repairing the sailor's body.
"But... we will win!"
The previously silent chat group kept buzzing with message notifications. Without having time to read them all, Vane only managed to glance at the last few paragraphs before a confident smile spread across his face.
The sailor relaxed his body with peace of mind, and a great sense of fatigue swept over him.
Although you're not my captain,... I guess I can ask that?
"Then... I can..."
The sailor's inhuman voice trembled violently, each word sounding as if he were using all his strength.
"Have you rested...?"
"Of course, brave sailor."
"Placing it in the cradle woven from Bloodline Heir with my own hands, "Vane replied in a deep voice.
"By the time you wake up, the battle will be over."
"..."
The sailors were asleep, but the battle had only just begun.
A huge shadow loomed overhead, and the icy seawater flowed back, washing the blood off Vane's face.
"Hmm... now this is your true appearance? It's not just ugly, it's hideous."
The distorted, sky-obscuring mass remained silent, while Vane raised the corners of his mouth in a smile.
"What? You felt it too?"
A series of subtle vibrations began, gradually growing louder until they engulfed all other sounds.
"I've wanted to do this for a while, but the boss has never cooperated. Now... it's just perfect!"
The Daichi trembled violently, the ocean surged and churned, Vane stood motionless at the origin, pressed his left wrist or left fist against his right fist, chanting.
"Burube, Yura Yura..."
The world fell silent for a moment, then the solid seabed cracked open, and the surrounding seawater rushed wildly into the dark fissure.
A pair of withered, black hands emerged from the crack, gripping the seabed tightly and tearing it apart.
Seawater poured into the Void, and the Behemoth broke free of its cage.
Standing atop the Behemoth Vane shouted excitedly:
"The Eight-Handed Sword, the Otherworldly God... Gregor!"