Skadi, I Have a Girlfriend

Mizuki was a little confused. He had tested it many times already; usually, no one could see his tentacles.

"Can't see clearly... Ah, I get it. You really are the source of immortality."

Forcing himself to say those words through trembling, the elderly Liberi hurried toward Mizuki, ignoring the shocked looks of his former brothers behind him. They all thought their boss had gone mad.

With a bang, an Etched Bullet tore through his leg. The pain deepened the wrinkles on the old Liberi's face, but he still reached out, wanting to touch Mizuki's face up close, wanting to personally lay hands on the source of immortality he spoke of.

Fanaticism. Mizuki saw that emotion in the old man's eyes. He had completely forgotten their opposition, forgotten the fight they had just been having, and even forgotten his brothers lying beaten on the ground.

"As long as I obtain you, this old man will..."

"Get your filthy hands off him!"

Seeing Mizuki remain motionless, Texas kicked the Cat Gang's boss flying. She showed absolutely no respect for the elderly, simply wrapping an arm around Mizuki's waist and pulling him over to Penguin Logistics' side.

"Sigh, let me hold him."

Exusiai poked Texas in the waist. Texas shot her an irritated glare, then looked at Mizuki. He seemed to have fallen into some sort of deep thought and confusion, staring only at the old man.

"What... are you?"

After a while, Mizuki could not help asking. Exusiai and Texas looked at him in confusion. Though it was indeed strange for the Cat Gang's leader to be a bird, anyone could tell he was a Liberi.

"Me? You're asking me?"

"Yes. Haven't you noticed? Aside from your appearance, there is nothing human left about you."

Mizuki nodded. As the Cat Gang leader got back to his feet, sharp-eyed Exusiai finally noticed the abnormal twitching of the muscles beneath his skin.

"So that's it. This is the price of immortality he spoke of? This?"

As the old man's smile became increasingly horrifying, Croissant could not help shuddering. This weird old man was far too creepy. He was practically insane.

"If that's the case, then I won't be human anymore!"

He tore open his chest, pulled the final injection from his pocket, and plunged it into his skin. Ignoring everyone else, the old man stared fixedly at Mizuki.

His graying hair rapidly turned black, and his aged skin visibly regained its vitality. He looked at least thirty years younger.

"Second Boss!!"

The surrounding Cat Gang members were completely dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events. What the hell was this? Their boss and second boss had been the same person all along?

Yet the changes continued. As his body became younger, his muscles writhed more and more frequently, almost on the verge of bursting apart. The Cat Gang leader began vomiting uncontrollably, then abruptly raised his head. Inside his mouth was another blood-red eye.

"Holy shit, a Sharingan!"

Croissant's utterly inappropriate shout instantly shattered the tense atmosphere. The Cat Gang leader's transformation abruptly stopped as he could not help looking at her, his meaning obvious: Little miss, are you picking a fight?

"Why do I feel like it's just pinkeye?" —Texas.

"I think so too. Hey, do you think it's uncomfortable having an eye stuck in his throat like that?" —Exusiai

"Of course it's uncomfortable. Look how much he threw up. Ugh, that's disgusting." —Sora

Mizuki scratched his head a little awkwardly, then politely gave the Cat Gang boss a slight bow in apology.

"Sorry for interrupting your phase-two transformation. Please hurry up and transform. We're in a rush to go back and rest."

Penguin Logistics really did not have a single normal person.

Birds of a feather flocked together. There was a reason Mizuki could fit in with the girls of Penguin Logistics. The Cat Gang boss felt his blood pressure spike and could not help howling at the ceiling. Then, in the next instant... Mizuki heard something that sounded like a chainsaw spinning, and the ceiling over the Cat Gang leader's head collapsed, burying him beneath the rubble.

"Did Boss forget to check the almanac today?"

One of the underlings could not help saying it. There was no helping it—how could anyone be this unlucky?

Sharky Is So Cute

Some people died, yet they still lived. Some people lived, yet they might as well have been dead.

Watching the Cat Gang boss get buried beneath the ruins, that line popped into Mizuki's mind. There was no helping it. You thought the other side was about to pull off some cool second-phase transformation, then slaughter everyone like in a game, but this was it? Put some effort into it, big bro! No, wait—put some effort into it, old man.

"Strange. Why did the ceiling collapse?"

Scratching her head in confusion, Exusiai was pondering that when a spine-chilling laugh suddenly came from the dust.

"Ahaha, hahahaha! Found it! I found it, found it!"

It was a pleasant female voice, filled with hysteria and madness. A sharp circular saw spun as an Aegir woman named Laurentina casually swung it. She stared fixedly at Mizuki, licking the corner of her mouth. Her scarlet eyes held a mad devotion to faith, even more blatant than that Cat Gang leader's had been.

Seeing her like that, Mizuki only wanted to ask whether all that dust was not uncomfortable.

Croissant's thought process was even more unusual. She rubbed her chin and sized Laurentina up and down.

"Hiss... I thought he'd turn into some kind of monster. Turning into a woman is one thing, but his clothes can transform too?"

The moment she said that, almost everyone except Mizuki got led astray by Croissant's words. The Cat Gang members were the same. Judging by their boss's appearance, they had thought he would turn into some sort of monster like in movies or games. They had not expected him to become a woman!?

The black-and-white nun's habit accentuated her lovely figure, while her delicate face and crazed gaze gave her the unique aura of a beautiful madwoman. Texas could not help shivering. Laurentina's eyes reminded her of someone she had known long ago but had not seen in ages.

Exusiai stared fixedly at Laurentina's chest, then could not help touching her own. A wave of sorrow immediately rose in her heart, and even her voice carried a hint of grievance.

"How is it that even a man who turned into a woman has a better figure than me?"

The Cat Gang members were still somewhat dazed. Looking at Laurentina holding the circular saw, one of them uncertainly called out.

"Boss... no, Big Sis?"

"I feel like Boss looks pretty good after becoming a woman."

"Me too, and she's so pretty."

"I want to become a woman too."

No one knew which underling had said that, but he successfully ruined the atmosphere again. Mizuki did not pay much attention to any of that. He was only confused because he could clearly sense that Laurentina was not the Cat Gang leader from before. Yet strangely, Laurentina possessed traits similar to his own. The two of them felt like kin.

"Found it... Ah, found it!"

Laurentina revealed a crazed smile, then kicked off the ground and pounced toward Mizuki.

Texas drew her sword without a second thought, but Laurentina easily grabbed the blade. The weapon condensed through Texas's Originium Arts did not even scratch Laurentina's skin, and Texas herself was flung away as though she had been hit by a car.

Croissant raised her shield in front of Mizuki as well, only for Laurentina to casually kick it away. Croissant crashed into Sora, and before Exusiai could even pull the trigger, Laurentina's sharp circular saw was already at her throat.

"Stop!"

Mizuki moved faster than he spoke. Exusiai saw a white flash before her eyes as the tip of Mizuki's umbrella knocked aside Laurentina's circular saw. He shielded Exusiai behind him and met Laurentina's gaze.

A trace of confusion flashed through Laurentina's blood-red eyes. Just when everyone thought she was about to do something, she decisively tossed her chainsaw aside, bent over, picked up Mizuki's hand, and placed it atop her head. She narrowed her eyes and affectionately rubbed against it.

"What the hell?"

Exusiai was utterly bewildered. So this woman had single-handedly beaten all of Penguin Logistics and nearly chopped off her head just so her boyfriend would pat her on the head?

"Hiss, what kind of strength was that? She kicked a dent into my shield."

Croissant could not help sucking in a cold breath as she looked at the hole in her alloy shield. If that kick had landed directly on her body, she would have been finished.

"Ow, ow, ow... My butt feels like it's about to split apart."

Sora, who had served as a cushion, got to her feet with the help of the wall. Texas was fine too; Laurentina's attack had not struck her directly.

Mizuki was simply a little surprised. He gently stroked Laurentina's smooth hair and reached out to remove the nun's cap from her head.

"You are my kin... No, why is your mental state like this?"

Something was wrong with Laurentina's mental state. Mizuki felt as if her heart had been split in two, but before he could investigate further, the Cat Gang members could no longer hold back.

"Boss! Boss, what are you doing?!"

"I'm over here..."

The Cat Gang boss's voice came from beneath the rubble. He shakily stretched out one hand, and his underlings hurried over, intending to pull him out.

"Don't go over there!"

Mizuki spoke without hesitation, but it was already too late. The fingers on that hand suddenly stretched like rubber, piercing several people's hearts. Their skin rapidly turned pale, and they shriveled like deflated balloons.

Before they could even breathe, their flesh and organs were siphoned away through those thin fingers. The rubble shifted slightly, and the Cat Gang leader pushed aside the ruined slab above him, revealing a body that was no longer human.

His abdomen had become a massive maw filled with countless sharp teeth. Yellow eyes covered his shoulders and arms, with the largest one being the eye inside his mouth. His two legs had turned into over a dozen tentacles supporting his body.

"Blech!"

Croissant and the others really could not hold it in anymore. That sanity-draining appearance filled everyone with instinctive disgust and fear.

Fear spread through the group. Especially after witnessing the miserable fate of those people just now, even Texas could not help feeling that leaving was the best option. First, there was that strange woman who had effortlessly overwhelmed all of Penguin Logistics, and now there was this monster. Why had there been so much bullshit lately?

"Izumik... Izumik..."

As though it had lost its own consciousness, the inhuman monster muttered that name and slowly walked toward Mizuki. Laurentina had been happily rubbing against him when she suddenly sensed that unpleasant presence. She turned around, picked up her chainsaw, and shielded Mizuki behind her.

"Izumik!"

Countless tentacles shot from the maw toward Mizuki. Laurentina swung her circular saw, easily cutting apart most of the incoming tentacles. Exusiai raised her gun and fired rapidly without thinking, but the rubber bullets only slowed the tentacles slightly and could not even break them.

Texas's blade struck the tentacles directly, only to bounce back. These tentacles possessed extraordinary resilience.

On a rooftop not far outside the hideout, Mr. K watched the scene while rubbing his chin, unable to help remarking.

"He still couldn't retain his sanity, but his strength increased threefold. Hmm?"

Tilting his head to dodge a bookmark-shaped dart, Mr. K turned and looked at Amaia, who was walking toward him with a book in her arms.

"Interesting. I was wondering why an Abyssal Hunter had appeared here. The Church of the Deep noticed as well, huh?"

"Who are you?"

Amaia gripped her book tightly, her expression grave. She had just been wondering why Laurentina had gotten so excited that she ignored orders. It turned out she had sensed Mizuki's presence.

"Me? I'm merely a minor person in charge of experiments. Compared to a bishop of the deep sea, I'm hardly worth mentioning."

"But considering that we will inevitably meet many times in the future, you may call me... Mr. K."

Mr. K politely bowed to Amaia, then turned and continued watching the hideout. The mutated monster was certainly powerful, but Laurentina was even more unreasonable. Every time, she could cut through its tentacles.

"Tsk, tsk. As expected of Aegir's combat soldiers. Even after losing her sanity, she can still fight on instinct."

Amaia furrowed her brow. She had not expected anyone other than the Church of the Deep on this land to know about Aegir and the Abyssal Hunters. Just who was this man?

However, Mr. K clearly had no intention of speaking further with Amaia. With a light leap, he vanished from her sight.

Amaia did not intend to pursue him rashly. She merely watched Laurentina in the distance and did not plan to go help either. Mizuki was currently with humans and likely had not yet recognized his identity. As long as Laurentina stayed by his side and protected him, that would be enough. Time would provide the remaining answers.

According to the Seaborn, this was Mizuki's exploration of the world.

Skadi: Oh No, I Became the Substitute!

The Cat Gang boss was gone. Not in a dignified manner. Immortality had clouded his mind and made him think he could actually contend against an Abyssal Hunter. Even though Laurentina now possessed only half her former strength, she could still easily eliminate prey this weak.

He looked terrifying, but his actual combat power was only so-so. The only troublesome part was those resilient tentacles. But Mizuki had more tentacles, and they were stronger too—strong enough to hang him up and whip him around.

"Damn, that really scared me. I thought we had run into some kind of monster. This was all he had?"

Exusiai scratched her head. When she first saw the Cat Gang leader, she admitted that she had genuinely been frightened. But she quickly realized that with so many eyes all over his body, he was basically an easy target.

"He definitely never played Resident Evil."

Croissant offered her sharp assessment. Looking at the Cat Gang leader being strung up and beaten by Laurentina and Mizuki, anyone who had played Resident Evil knew that eyes were the weak point of this sort of transformed monster. This guy had been blasted blind by Exusiai.

"Work's done, work's done. But we should probably burn this thing."

"No. Burning it might release some kind of toxic substance."

Texas stopped Exusiai. The Cat Gang members had already fled in terror from their own boss, and leaving this thing for the Lungmen Guard Department to deal with was the best option. Come to think of it, the Lungmen Guard Department was probably already on the way. They had simply acted too quickly.

"By the way, who is that girl who suddenly appeared? She seems really attached to Mizuki."

Sora pointed toward Laurentina, who was inexplicably clinging to Mizuki. When she suddenly appeared, everyone had thought she had come to fight. Yet in front of Mizuki, she was so well-behaved, like a pet.

"No idea, but she can really fight. She even kicked a split into my shield."

Croissant sorrowfully wiped her shield. Equipment repairs came out of her own pocket, and she was notoriously stingy.

"True."

Texas could not help nodding. Being able to take down Penguin Logistics in under half a minute made Laurentina truly terrifying. Yet she did not seem to harbor any hostility toward them.

Just like now, after the fight, Laurentina held her chainsaw in one hand and Mizuki in the other, rubbing her face affectionately against his. But doing that right in front of Exusiai was really...

"That's my boyfriend! My boyfriend!"

"Calm down, Exusiai! You can't beat her!"