[ Please enter the amount to transfer to Vertea Pavron. ]
[ Are you sure you want to transfer 120,000 won? Foreign remittance will incur additional currency exchange fees. ]
[ The transfer has been completed. ]
Parang: I’ve sent the warp fee.
Parang: (screenshot)
Parang shut off the banking app with a sulky expression.
What’s with things disappearing in less than two hours? It’s absurd that Vertea searched the entire area and still couldn’t find the Capulus group.
No joke, if it were Vertea, she might’ve really searched the whole East Sea.
That means that within such a short time, they’ve escaped Vertea’s search radius.
Not just anyone, but right outside Vertea’s search radius.
No ordinary monster fish could even dream of doing that.
Especially since Capulus isn’t even a monster fish remotely related to ‘speed’.
They always just float around aimlessly, appearing right in front of her.
Stealth… there’s no way that’s the case. There are only a handful of monster fish capable of hiding from Vertea.
I doubt Capulus would be on that list. Just look at how Parang flaunts her presence.
‘What if it’s only visible to me?’
…That can’t be. It’s not like I’m imagining friends.
Didn’t we all watch together during the East Sea broadcast?
‘What the heck, seriously…’
As she stood there in thought, staring blankly, she glanced at the clock to see it was six in the evening.
Six o’clock is prime time to be lounging in the sea and slacking off.
But Parang, with determination, decided to give up her nice underwater rest!
Parang decided to take a look around where she found the Capulus.
Thinking it over, it felt too unsettling.
Even though nothing seemed likely to be there now, she felt it was better to check.
Maybe Capulus dropped something like Galecus’s scales.
It could be sheer coincidence that Vertea missed it.
Honestly, it seemed more plausible that Capulus was a monster fish capable of evading Vertea’s search rather than vice versa.
So, Parang ventured back down to the monster fish layer.
And…
‘What? Here they are.’
About 300 meters below where she first spotted them, she found the same group of Capulus.
Did Vertea just overlook this spot? No, that doesn’t seem likely.
Parang quickly pulled out her phone to text Vertea…
And then…
Vwoooom—
Exactly one thousand eyes of Capulus began to shine purple simultaneously.
From Parang’s long experience as a pro underwater hunter, when something shines in the water, it usually means ‘I’m about to launch a mental attack.’
Parang instinctively got into a defensive posture.
…Defensive posture.
‘Wait, what?’
The notification didn’t pop up.
If the Capulus right in front of her was attacking her mind, a notification should’ve appeared.
[ Skill, ‘Waterproof Sanity’ is currently active. ] This time, the helpful notification window didn’t show up for work.
Then is the mental attack not happening?
The Capulus, which had set up a grid-like formation, had now gathered into a sphere around Parang.
After all, Parang has a lot of appeal to the monster fish.
The surroundings were now filled with the purple light emitted from the Capulus, creating a fully purple atmosphere.
With that, Parang looked around and spoke.
“Why did you not appear before, and now you’re gathered here?”
“Please pretend you haven’t seen us.”
“Then what will you offer?”
“We shall offer half of ourselves.”
“I understand your intentions.”
…
…
…
…
…
■□□□□□□□□□□□□□□
■□□□□□□□□□□□□□□
■□□□□□□□□□□□□□□
…
…
…
…
Parang opened her eyes.
Looking around, she saw the Capulus glowing purple, surrounding her in a sphere.
There seemed to be about a thousand of them, some emitting weaker light than others, and about half had bulging eyes filled with pus and flesh.
Parang thought.
It seems calling Vertea isn’t necessary right now.
What I need now is something important.
That something is not clear, but I must return home quickly.
There’s no time to observe the Capulus.
‘Well, I can always check it later. There will be plenty of chances.’
Parang headed back home.
#
Yu Parang returns.
“Hmph, hrum~”
Feeling oddly good for some reason.
Is it because she relaxed comfortably in the water after a long time?
Had she been asleep for a brief moment, her head ached a bit, but that unpleasant feeling soon faded.
People really need to rest.
Ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong ding-dong-
Snuggling into the soft sofa for a quick rest, members of Oceanos started arriving one by one from around eight o’clock in preparation for the statue hunt tomorrow.
By ten, Elvira was the last to arrive, and everyone was gathered.
Parang popped the popcorn she had stocked up for the microwave and cracked open a can of beer: Crrrunch…
And they all enjoyed watching NetHolics until they dozed off.
#
…
…
…
[ ■■■ ■■ ■■ ]
[ The ■■■■■■ of the ■■■■■■■. ]
[ ■■■ ◀ ■ ■■■. ]
…
“You just stay right there.”
…
#
And, morning!
“Haah, Aaaah……!!”
Stretching refreshingly, Yu Parang awakens!
Current time: Eight-thirty A.M.
It’s Super Ultra Early Fish wake-up time.
Having had some strange feeling during the night, she quickly finds her peace again.
Stepping into the room shouldn’t feel this mixed. Parang felt a strange discomfort.
She got out of the tank, changed into different clothes, and went straight outside.
From the far room in the corridor, loud snoring could be heard while the shower nearby splashed water.
Once she headed downstairs, a delicious aroma wafted in.
In the cooking wasteland of Oceanos, only Elvira could whip something up to this extent.
Having brought a load of cooking ingredients yesterday and shoved it into the fridge.
With her footsteps quickening, Parang made her way to the kitchen and saw a hearty meal, albeit not too flashy.
A steaming, scarlet soup and freshly cooked goulash were being served.
It was her favorite combination.
“Give me a break! I took twice the time to get up! There’s more in the pot, so help yourself if you’re hungry.”
Gobbling down nearly two servings, Parang wandered into the living room.
She plopped herself down on the couch, nudging Vertea aside, and basked in the lazy morning sunlight.
It was a typical post-training day for Oceanos.
Soon after, when the last to rise, Xiao, wrapped up breakfast, the remaining five of them, excluding Elvira, did the dishes.
By 10:30 A.M., everyone gathered in the living room.
This was to discuss the hunt planned for today.
The initiator of the call, Parang, opened her mouth.
Her gaze momentarily lost its brightness.
“…Honestly, I’m only saying this now, but the target we’re hunting this time is a ‘Titan’.”
Just the mention of the word ‘Titan’ drastically changed the expressions of everyone in Oceanos.
Fury and determination filled the space as if they were about to incinerate everything around them.
Russell immediately deepened his voice and growled at Parang.
“Why didn’t you say it sooner, that it’s a Titan?”
He wasn’t truly angry with Parang, but he couldn’t hide his negative feelings.
Sensing the tension, Xiao quickly intervened.
“Don’t just charge in like that, Parang; I bet that’s why she didn’t bring it up yet. Calming down a bit.”
Vertea chimed in.
“Xiao’s right. You need to seriously temper your temper. But aside from that, I share the same feelings. Why did you keep it hidden?”
“I didn’t hide it. As you all know, I’ve been… busy.”
That was the truth.
The day after witnessing the Titan, Oceano caught a bowhead whale.
Before Parang could bring up the Titan, Xiao had released a bombshell concerning the ‘Slayers’ artifact.
Right after that, Parang’s trip to Hong Kong was decided, making it awkward to talk about the Titan.
Back then, she was sincerely trying to conceal Oceano from the rest of the world and didn’t want to gather everyone together for two days straight.
Then after arriving in Hong Kong, she personally witnessed a near-deadly scenario and soon heard the news of the Slayers’ deaths from the approaching Silo.
And so, things piled up.
That’s how, until now, she finally brought up the Titan.
So, what exactly is the ‘Titan’ that made the ultimate underwater hunters suddenly break into anger? As the name itself suggests, it’s an absolutely massive statue.
It was also the entity that Parang encountered on the day of the first broadcast.
Collectively known as ‘Statuary,’ these ocean statues are classified into four types: small, medium, large, and absolutely enormous.
Among them, the largest, strongest, most troublesome, and rarest entities are referred to as Titans.
They are so rare that, including the one Parang discovered this time, Oceano has only come across exactly ten of them so far.
Among the statues that appeared in Alexandra’s memory, two were present, unofficially totaling twelve.
Oceano has defeated nine of them.
As for the two that faced the Slayers, well, we’re skipping those because Alexandra’s memory doesn’t show any defeats.
Finally, there was one that they missed.
The one that had everyone in Oceano searching madly across the world’s seas for half a year, making them kill every monster fish they could see.
It left an unforgettable scar on them all and forced them to roam the sea, crying for life.
The one that took Alice Melville, the seventh member of Oceano, is precisely that single Titan they missed.
As time passes, emotions tend to dull, so by now, they wouldn’t express the maddened fury they once did toward any newly discovered Titan or Statuary.
Back then, they desperately searched for any clues about Alice from the Titan.
Now that they’ve dealt with nine entities, they found no related information at all.
So now, only the anger remains.
At least, they want to believe that themselves.
When the target to capture has been revealed as a Titan, there’s no time to waste.
Silently, they exchanged glances.
Everyone met each other’s eyes.
And they all could feel.
Their eyes were chillingly similar to those of their comrades before them.
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