Memories continue, and the Slayers were swiftly swimming to escape the pit by following the light.
“Olivia!! Up!!”
“Creeek, creeeek!! Kyaaaaaaaak!!!!”
“Ugh-!!”
Rumbling!!
A stone pillar shot up from the air, bursting the monster fish charging at a woman wearing a witch’s hat.
“Phew… Thanks, Siwoo.”
Han Siwoo simply nodded slightly without answering.
Rumbling-!!
Crash!! Boom!!!
Is this what they mean by even rotten fruit being the main character? Despite the chaotic situation, he remained calm and was clearing a path to protect the Slayers.
The inside of the pit was pitch black, leaving some of the Slayers without dark vision completely vulnerable.
Especially for Alexandra, who nearly lost all her abilities as soon as she entered the water.
Rumbling-!!
Crash!! Boom!!!
Pillars, rebar, and logs emerged in rapid succession from all directions, striking the monster fish aiming for the Slayers.
“Huff, huff, thanks, Siwoo.”
“Just a little more forward!!”
Finally, the light they saw from afar got closer, until they could clearly identify it as the exit.
Whoosh—!
Without much trouble, Han Siwoo and his party successfully emerged from the “pit,” allowing them a moment to catch their breath.
Outside was a sea tinted with a slightly bright blue hue.
“Honestly, I never would’ve thought it was Earth’s ocean.”
Xiao murmured softly.
True to her words, aside from the hole from which the Slayers had just escaped, the surroundings were completely flat.
The ground was so smooth it was visible all the way to the horizon.
While such terrain could occasionally be seen in the monster fish layer, it’s hard to believe the Slayers had ever been here.
If one didn’t know better, they could easily mistake it for another planet.
“Phew, huuuh….”
“Everything’s just so disorienting. What on earth is happening….”
The engineer, Marian, grumbled while sprawled out in the water.
“It’s quite confusing…”
“Right? What in the world is this all about?”
Once the urgent situation passed, the Slayers huddled together, reflecting on their circumstances.
Among them, the one who gathered the most attention was the protagonist of the memories, Charlotte Eira.
As someone most directly and heavily tied to the Ascension Ceremony.
“Charlotte, what’s going on?”
“Damn those robe-wearing fools. I knew they were just waiting to cause some trouble.”
“U-um, it might be better to not fight right now, let’s just…”
While a brief commotion erupted, Parang and Oceanos gained a moment to focus on something else.
“Hey, do you see that? That person named Charlotte, and who’s that? The one with the green hair?”
“Alexandra.”
“Right. Look at her right ring finger. It’s faint, but definitely there.”
“Ah, you’re right.”
They were now focused on finding the ‘ring,’ one of the questions that had been raised.
In previous memories, they had been too focused on the pit, the monster fish, and the ‘things the Slayers encountered’ to notice certain details about the Slayers themselves.
As they looked closely, they could confirm that all the Slayers were indeed wearing the transparent rings they had named ‘Happy Ending.’
“But there aren’t any other artifacts?”
“True. Hmmm…”
But as Elvira had said, aside from the ring, there were no earrings, necklaces, shields, or swords to be seen.
“Since we fell into the ocean, it makes sense in a way, right?”
“But everyone was using them perfectly fine in battle, except for Han Siwoo.”
“That’ll probably come up if we keep following the memories.”
“Then why did the ring end up in the sea?”
“Who knows. It could be that it’s not an artifact after all.”
“Hmmm…”
If that was the case, it made sense. If all the artifacts fell into the sea, and the ring didn’t, it could mean it wasn’t an artifact.
Parang considered that possibility for now.
“Since we’re looking, let’s make sure to look closely. Who knows what else might be there besides the ring.”
That was reasonable. Everyone agreed, and they began observing while pausing the memory at a good angle.
During this time, Parang noticed something unusual.
“Hey? Guys, look at that.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Hunter Siwoo, look at the inside of his cloak near his waist, see that?”
“Um, it looks a bit shiny but hard to see in the dark.”
“A sword?”
“No, it doesn’t quite look like a sword…”
It was clear that something shiny was hanging from the inside of Han Siwoo’s cloak near his waist.
The cloak was perfectly positioned to conceal it, making it hard for the others to recognize it, but Parang had been an artist in a past life.
How many times had she observed objects? She quickly figured out what it was.
And with that realization, Parang’s voice went unusually stiff.
“It’s a lens.”
“Eh? A lens?”
“Out of nowhere, suddenly a lens? What’s that about?”
“Yeah, a lens. Mainly used in live-streaming cameras.”
Originally, painters were just as familiar with cameras as photographers or broadcast scriptwriters. Parang knew a lot about cameras and had significantly more knowledge in this area than others.
At that statement, not just Parang, but everyone’s expression turned serious.
“Live… streaming?”
“Yeah. I’m sure.”
“Then, wait. This means….”
“That someone other than us has been watching.”
“Who the hell…?”
Based on all the information Parang had gathered up to now, there was only one candidate.
“…The government.”
They didn’t know how the government managed to give Han Siwoo the camera and how it connected to the Ascension Ceremony, but one thing was certain.
“He seemed like a crazy person. Suddenly wanting to create an aquarium in the government building or yelling while pouring water in the corridors.”
The entire upper echelon of the world government was completely entranced by something.
Moreover, the intensity of that obsession was so strong that it spread from just a few victims.
Considering all those facts, the one watching the situation through Han Siwoo’s camera was a high-ranking official from the government.
This all fell into place.
They had been watching the Slayers’ actions and were overcome by the mental attack of those eyes.
‘But why? How? Who? Since when??’
But that was as far as it went. Countless questions tangled and sprouted anew.
What did the world government know, and to what extent? Why did Han Siwoo receive a live-streaming camera? For what purpose? Why? How come?
“Phew….”
Parang felt dizzy for a moment.
Every time she resolved one question, dozens more emerged in succession. It was exhausting.
“At times like this, it’s better to exclude assumptions and gather only factual information to record before piecing them together later. Let’s just note that ‘there was a live-streaming camera at Han Siwoo’s waist.’”
“Yeah, that sounds wiser…”
After that, they tried to look for other peculiarities among the Slayers, but aside from the ring and camera, they didn’t find anything particularly notable.
“Well, I’ll start the playback again.”
“Okay.”
As the memory resumed, the Slayers’ bickering had quieted down.
“Everyone, let’s not blame Charlotte too much. Blaming her right now won’t fix anything, and we can deal with everything after we resolve this situation.”
Thanks to Han Siwoo’s mediation, the briefly tense atmosphere calmed down, and they all rallied together to overcome the challenges ahead.
As expected of the protagonist, despair didn’t even seem to be an option.
From Oceanos’s perspective, that was a good thing. Despite having a lot of information already, if infighting had broken out among the Slayers, it could have gotten chaotic.
But what a cold world this is. Instead of fighting, the Slayers shocked Oceanos in a different way.
“Oh, right. Siwoo.”
“Yeah?”
“What’s your quest saying right now?”
Han Siwoo’s expression briefly turned icy and stiff.
For just an instant, so short that most missed it, but not Parang.
Thanks to analyzing and drawing hundreds of facial expressions in her past life.
‘Huh? Just now….’
She was certain she caught a fleeting expression on Han Siwoo Hunter’s face.
But it was just a moment, a subtle expression of feelings, so Parang held back from probing too deeply, thinking only, ‘Seems like he’s having a hard time.’
And, there was no chance to probe further anyway.
The conversation that followed was too shocking.
“Yeah, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Let me check.”
He pointed his finger at the air for a moment, then spoke with a slightly flustered tone.
“…It says ‘Find Oceanos.’”
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