“….”
After the dive, the six members of Oceanos opened their eyes.
They looked at each other with different expressions, but there was one shared feeling among them.
It was confusion.
They were deeply perplexed.
“First of all, I’ll let Silo know. I need to tell them that the ‘evidence’ holds memories.”
Parang broke the silence and spoke up.
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. Someone from Silo already came and did a dive.”
“Oh.”
Suddenly, it hit them. Fast.
Well, the issue of the ‘evidence’ needed to be addressed by Silo, so for now, let’s set that aside.
It was time to focus on Alexandra’s memories.
“Let’s watch this a few more times.”
And so, Alexandra’s memories were screened a couple more times, and an emergency meeting of Oceanos began.
“Hmm. Finally.”
For the meeting to proceed, Diego had to be able to speak, so they emerged from the water.
There was no one feeling heavy, gloomy, or despairing.
Even after witnessing the death of someone who had saved the world and become a god.
There were about three reasons for this. Ah, three. I had to see that again.
Anyway. First, all of Oceanos had surprisingly strong mental fortitude. Even if their skills helped defend against mental attacks, they had to deal with those grotesque monster fish every day. Plus, the atmosphere of the deep sea itself is very heavy and gloomy. So, enduring in such a place has made their mental state incredibly strong.
Of course, just like how Parang briefly slumped after the broadcast accident, their resistance to stress from ordinary human relationships or social life was at a normal level.
In short, it meant that seeing the military strength of the monster fish or the bizarre pit or witnessing Alexandra’s death wouldn’t break their mental state.
Secondly, Alexandra’s death was… surprisingly peaceful.
Of course, the fact that she died cannot be denied, but there’s a world of difference between watching someone die in terrible pain while screaming and seeing someone accept death peacefully as if falling asleep. While we’ll only know for sure if she had true fear by watching the memories captured in the ‘evidence,’ for now.
Thirdly, they recognized the seriousness of the crisis and what they had to do. Everyone clearly saw with their own eyes that the Slayers had died in the sea. Now, Oceanos had no choice but to acknowledge that they were the only ones left capable of protecting the world.
Despair, gloom, whatever…it didn’t matter. They needed to save the world first.
Because of these reasons, they could remain calm for the time being.
This story applies only to Parang, but she secretly felt relieved.
At least Alexandra hadn’t died horrifically.
Though she had turned her attention away after her reincarnation, they were once the protagonists from a story she loved, and now they were undeniably the heroes of Earth.
She was a little glad that at least she hadn’t died thrashing in despair.
They moved to the meeting room prepared in Parang’s house.
There wasn’t a separate meeting room, just a room with a massive sofa and a huge aquarium.
With seven people—it was now six but still—coming in and out at random, there had to be quite a few such rooms.
Anyway. Oceanos, take your seats.
The sofa was huge enough for everyone to sit.
“First, let’s discuss the strange points each of us noticed. There’s more than one strange part.”
And indeed. Alexandra’s memories were definitely odd. Especially when viewed through Parang’s eyes after having read the original work.
“Hey, where’s the ‘World’?”
“What’s that?”
“Are you that clueless, Russell? You really need to pay more attention to the world around you.”
The ‘World’ was a shining white longsword. It was crafted by the Hunter Han Siwoo at the beginning of the original story…well, since this is a hunter story, it was a weapon powered up by everything from all kinds of monsters to the final boss of the original work.
A sword that literally contained the world. It was a sword that had always been with Han Siwoo in battle, but in Alexandra’s memories, he didn’t have it.
To be honest, if the ‘World’ had been there, the Slayers wouldn’t have been pushed into such a corner. They might have even won.
“Didn’t it just sink into the ocean? I mean, it fell when they ascended, right?”
“No, Alexandra had the ‘evidence.’ Olivia also had the ‘departure.’”
That was true. For some reason, all of their artifacts, which should have splashed into the sea, had returned to them.
Like Yumeko’s ‘Superhuman’ or Mari’s ‘Amazement.’
All the main weapons or symbolic artifacts of the Slayers’ heroines were being handled quite naturally by them.
Except for Han Siwoo’s ‘World.’
“Then let’s start digging into that. Instead of questioning why the ‘World’ is missing, let’s discuss why the others are present. That’s what we need to talk about.”
Xiao accurately pinpointed it.
“I think so too. But, um…”
“Um…”
To be honest, how would they know?
According to what Silo told Parang, the point where the Slayers dropped their artifacts was about 8,000 kilometers away from Hawaii.
That’s one-fifth of the Earth’s circumference.
That’s a distance that even Parang would struggle to swim.
“Maybe they used a retrieval function?”
“Say something sensible. Until they caught that bizarre pit, they didn’t even know if they were on Earth.”
That’s true. It seems unlikely that the Slayers, who didn’t even realize they were fighting on Earth, would have attempted a ‘retrieval,’ and even if they had, it’s improbable that an artifact 8,000 km away would quickly return to its owner.
Ultimately, the case was back in the fog.
“I think we can only hypothesize after diving a few more times. For now, let’s focus on the information we can gather from this dive.”
That’s a reasonable assessment. It was time for focus and selection.
“I have something to say.”
The first person to choose what they wanted to focus on was Vertea.
“About that black whatever that got pierced and the monster fish speeded up… didn’t you think about it at all?”
“Not really.”
“I definitely felt something.”
That was Russell and Diego.
“I haven’t seen the other monster fish in detail, so I can’t say, but the ghost ship was definitely strange. Their movements seemed like they were slow before returning to their original speed, not becoming faster than normal.”
As Diego shared what he observed, Vertea jumped in with an explanation.
“Right. After getting pierced, the ghost ship started moving at ‘original speed.’”
That certainly meant something significant.
There’s a world of difference between moving faster after being slowed down and returning to original speed.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I’ve followed the ghost ship several times, and it’s true that it slowed down before returning to its original speed.”
“So, the monster fish that were originally moving slowly started moving at their original speed right after the black fog got pierced…”
If that were the case, the situation would get really ambiguous.
If the monster fish were speeding up after the black fog got hit, it could be inferred that the hit revealed some hidden power of the black fog or that it was an important entity that angered the fish.
But if the monster fish, which had originally been moving slower, started moving at their original speed as soon as the black fog got hit?
Parang fell into deep thought for a moment.
This feels… something like that, right?
“The black something was… slowing down the actions of the monster fish…?”
If that were true, the situation would make perfect sense.
The monster fish, which had been sluggish due to the black fog, went wild after it was hit, liberated from its restraints.
Everything fits perfectly. Everything except for one part.
“Why?”
Yes. Why?
Why did that black fog monster slow down the actions of the others? If it were trying to help the Slayers, that wouldn’t make sense. The black fog clearly showed movements to attack the Slayers and even launched attacks, shooting bizarre purple thorns.
Its accuracy was abysmally poor; still, they had dodged it well. Anyway.
In the first place, it appeared as if the black fog was leading that swarm. The spectacle of monster fish rushing in like a swarm made it seem like it was proudly declaring, “I’m the final boss!”
Various opinions continued to be exchanged after that, but they didn’t reach a conclusion that screamed, “Ah, this is it!”
In the end, this too was skipped due to lack of information.
Next, they might want to discuss the identity of that pit and Alexandra’s last moment.
But again, this was lacking information.
Even after watching the battle scene against the pit for almost an hour and a half, including the moment of death, they were still unable to specify its identity.
The pit itself, and even the attacks it released, were impossible to infer.
Everyone in Oceanos had roamed the seas all their lives, yet they couldn’t even find anything similar to that creature.
All they could do was sketch out how it might have looked beneath the ground based on fragmentary information.
“I think we’ll need to go check it out in person.”
And so, they agreed on an expedition to Hawaii. All members of Oceanos would head to Hawaii as quickly as possible to investigate the area.
After all, how could they not have noticed such a monster lurking beneath Hawaii? Russell was absolutely thrashed for this.
“Ah!! Aah!!”
“What the heck have you done, you idiot, not even noticing such a thing under your own house!!!”
Next came the discussion about Alexandra’s death.
“What the heck was that? Was she possessed or something?”
“I don’t think so. It seemed more like… transmission.”
“Yeah. It definitely felt like she was listening to something rather than being possessed.”
“In the deep sea, unable to move, and with monsters around. What on earth did she hear to accept death so peacefully?”
“I think I’d feel more at peace in that situation. I’d probably accept it calmly.”
That was Xiao’s remark.
As a side note, Xiao always maintained a remarkably composed attitude toward death. She seemed like someone who would say, “Oh, I’ve died” if she were to die in battle.
Well, she does command skeletons and can see the memories of the deceased. So that’s understandable.
“Yeah, that does make sense.”
“Well, once we retrieve the memories from the ‘evidence,’ that’ll clarify things. Let’s ponder it later.”
Next was Parang’s turn to speak. Information that only she from Oceanos would know.
“Did any of you notice Alexandra’s personal skill?”
“Yeah. Why?”
When Alexandra checked her status to confirm her abnormal conditions, everyone could see her personal skill.
[For the Motherland]
[Hated by those not on the Earth.]
[Greatly loved by the Earth.]
The descriptions of personal skills are generally vague, but this one was truly obscure. Whether in the above restriction area or the below effect area, neither could be understood.
Parang’s personal skill was much more understandable and intuitive in comparison.
All in all, the personal skill written in Alexandra’s status window was indeed that. However, this didn’t make sense to Parang.
In the original work, Alexandra’s personal skill was completely different.
[Blessing Seed]
[Extremely vulnerable to all curses.]
[Possesses the skill ‘Ritual of the Earth.’ Grows significantly stronger on blessed land.]
That was the description from the original work.
“But how do you know that?”
“Uh… I heard it from Silo, yeah. I heard it from Silo.”
Anyway, this unprecedented event of a personal skill changing had never been reported before. It was here that Elvira offered her opinion.
“Perhaps it has something to do with the ascension ritual.”
“Ascension?”
“Why, it seems to fit. I can’t imagine something from the deep sea could affect the status window. It feels more like the skill evolved rather than being influenced by it.”
That certainly made sense. A personal skill changed by influence from something from the deep sea was unlikely to include phrases like [Hated by the Earth].
“And the only event that the Slayers have commonly experienced that can be called an ‘evolution’ is the ascension ritual.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“This is something we should definitely ask Silo about. They ought to know something, having led the ascension ritual.”
Thus, the meeting about the ‘dive’ was concluded for now.
They had gained strangely much, yet also gained nothing.
It felt like missing just one puzzle piece for each problem. There were so many parts where they thought, “Ah, if only I knew this, it’d all become clear!”
And this was enough to ignite Parang’s resolve.
In the next dive, she would undoubtedly uncover the truth of this incident.
“All right, then…”
After a brief rest, the second meeting of Oceanos began.
“What should we do now?”
It was time to set the future plan.
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