“I don’t know. That’s up to the Puppetmaster.”
The corpse of the colorful sister.
The Necro Puppetmaster passed by without giving it a glance.
It seems like there was no intention to turn it into a puppet.
I wasn’t particularly interested.
But since the assistants were curious, I asked anyway.
“Necro.”
─[Did you call?]
“Didn’t you just say you wouldn’t make that colorful sister a puppet?”
─[I ignored it because I thought making that one a puppet would be a waste of ability, but if you want, I can go back right now and turn it into a puppet.]
“Oh. No need for that. I was just curious about the criteria for making puppets.”
─[…Hmm. There’s not really a standard. If I like it, I make it a puppet, and if I don’t, I don’t. The one that just died was too big and didn’t appeal to me. Plus, it was too colorful to use as synthesis material.]
So that’s how it is.
It was really a trivial reason.
Well, it doesn’t really concern me.
Turning it into a puppet is not something I need to worry about.
If they don’t feel inclined to do so, I can’t force them.
Passing by the corpse of the colorful sister.
The Exploration Team monsters continued to dive into the sea.
Meanwhile.
─[Ah. Master, I forgot to mention something earlier.]
Neo Hyeong-seok slightly turned his head and spoke to the following Puppetmaster.
─[There’s a monster in this deep sea that we shouldn’t encounter.]
─[A monster we shouldn’t encounter?]
─[Yes. If we encounter it, something bad will happen…]
As Neo Hyeong-seok continued his words.
Whooooom-!
A massive vibration shook the deep sea.
Neo Hyeong-seok immediately stopped diving and sighed.
─[…They say when you talk about a tiger, it comes.]
A figure emerged from the depths.
A giant worm… No, it was a monster that vaguely resembled a dragon.
The Jellyfish Princess tilted her head as she looked at the monster.
─[Huh? Is that dangerous? It looks super weak.]
─[It’s neither dangerous nor strong. It just has a bothersome ability. Seems like it’s about to use its ability. There’s no way to avoid that, so we have to just take it hit─]
Before Neo Hyeong-seok finished his sentence.
Fwoosh-!
A brilliant light flooded the deep sea, and Iris’s screen went dark.
*
The Exploration Team stood where they first started.
On that uninhabited island with the door connected to the cave.
─[It’s far to the Machine Factory, so it takes a long time to get there, but it can take up to weeks due to situations like this.]
According to Neo Hyeong-seok, the name of the monster they just encountered is Deep Guardian.
It guards the deep sea… or rather, it protects its territory, immediately using its ability to expel intruders.
And, since they couldn’t precisely identify where the Deep Guardian’s territory was, there was no way to move without encountering it.
The best plan was to hope they wouldn’t run into it, leaving it to luck.
─[Grrr…!]
The Jellyfish Princess clenched her fist in frustration and glared fiercely at the sea.
─[Dad! Can I drink up all the seawater?]
“Absolutely not.”
I answered firmly.
─[Huh? Why?]
─[What Dad says goes; if he says no, then no.]
The reason was simple.
Sucking up all the seawater would turn all the monsters living in the sea against us.
The ocean is vast.
It’s hard to imagine how many monsters breathe in that deep and wide world, or what powerful beings lurk there.
Not only SS-Class monsters.
Maybe even SSS-Class monsters could exist.
Turning all those into enemies would be tantamount to suicide.
Once I explained this kindly, the Jellyfish Princess finally seemed to understand.
─[Neo Hyeong-seok, was that monster the only one?]
─[It’s not just one.]
─[Then how many are there?]
─[I can’t tell how many there are. I estimate there are probably dozens.]
─[Really? Got it for now.]
After chatting with Neo Hyeong-seok, Aracne suddenly stretched out her arms and lightly snapped her fingers.
At that moment.
─[Kyaaa!!!]
From the sea, a Deep Guardian pierced by a single thread was violently pulled out.
“Mino. Did you connect the thread before it was expelled?”
─[Yes. As soon as that worm appeared, I spat out the thread to nullify its ability. I hit it, but for some reason, the Nullification Web didn’t work. Still, pulling it out to the surface like this is a relief.]
The Deep Guardian that surfaced.
It was now fully bound by the thick thread produced by Aracne.
─[Father, should we kill it before it uses its ability again? I don’t know where it’ll be expelled this time… ]
─[No need to kill it. Here, out of water, it can’t use its abilities.]
Neo Hyeong-seok approached Aracne.
─[And it’s natural that your ability didn’t work, Kino. The expulsion ability of the Deep Guardian is nearly absolute.]
“Is its ability really absolute?”
─[Yes. It’s a limited ability that can only be used in water, and it has almost no combat ability, but its expulsion ability is quite strong. You can say it works on almost all targets. Of course, it wouldn’t work on Solorb or Giant Bonphind.]
“Of course it wouldn’t work on an SSS-Class… but hearing it works even on SS-Class is a bit troublesome. If we kill it before it uses its ability, can we nullify it?”
─[My original body’s master did try that. They sent a fast monster like Bastet. But whether to call it a success or failure… ]
Neo Hyeong-seok scratched his head.
And then continued speaking.
─[If you kill the Deep Guardian, it’ll be expelled immediately afterward.]
“…….”
【Mysticism】─🤔
“Hey, Hyeong-seok.”
［Yes, Master. This is Neo Hyeong-seok.］
“Do Deep Guardians use their expulsion ability when encountering each other?”
─[I don’t really know about that. But isn’t it unlikely they’d run into each other? I’ve heard Deep Guardians generally don’t move outside their territories.]
“Unlikely to cross paths… but surely their abilities would work on each other, right?”
─[I believe so. They have expulsion abilities, but they probably don’t have the ability to resist it.]
Then there is one way to go.
A very easy and simple solution.
“Right. Then, let’s tame that Deep Guardian first. Until it’s tamed, everyone relax a bit and don’t set off.”
All we have to do is tame the Deep Guardian.
Then, when we encounter another Deep Guardian in the deep sea, our tamed Deep Guardian can just use forward expulsion.
But why couldn’t Min Hyeong-seok think of this easy method?
Is he a bit slow?
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