Chapter 418: No Wonder
Gladiia could swear, from the very first moment she met Steven—even back when she was stuck at his side with the intellect of a fool—she had never seen an expression like the one on his face now.
How should she put it…?
Perhaps it could be considered, in a sense… anger?
But strangely enough, Gladiia felt no urge to give the rational warning she should have given. The more Steven acted like this, the more clearly it showed just how much she meant to him.
And being cared for like this was something Gladiia had never experienced before.
She didn't dislike it.
Not at all.
So when she watched Steven casually split that broken ship in half with the blade he carried, then vanish into the vast, cold ocean, all Gladiia did was sit down on a piece of drifting wreckage. She removed her hat and set it beside her, gazing calmly toward the place where Steven had disappeared.
She knew little of Steven's true strength aside from "he's very strong," but that was enough. Something in her told her she only needed to sit here and wait.
While Gladiia waited—so picturesque that she looked like a girl painted into a masterpiece—Steven, having swallowed a Potion of Water Breathing, was already deep beneath the surface, searching through the frigid, oppressive waters that could give a person abyssal dread.
Thanks to how silent the ocean was in this world—far more so than the seas he was familiar with—Steven's minimap was practically empty. Which made the cluster of red dots migrating deeper into the sea stand out all the more clearly.
Not bothering to swim another meter, Steven promptly equipped the Evol Driver.
A flash of black-hole light burst out—and in the next instant, he appeared right in front of the fleeing red dots.
As he expected, most of them were hideous hybrids of fish and man. But this time, mixed among them were figures draped in shredded white coats—garments that should have belonged to human doctors.
"Well, it makes sense. Since it's this close to the sea, it's only natural that a few would escape."
Muttering to himself, Steven turned his killing-intent-laden gaze on the creatures before him and slowly raised Yamato in his hand.
The Seaborn, suddenly blocked on their path, stared in confusion at the black-and-white iron-clad figure that had appeared from nowhere. For a moment, they didn't even know how to react.
There was none of the scent they recognized from land-dwelling creatures. None of the presence of their kin from the ocean.
This… thing… shouldn't exist in a sea ruled by the Seaborn.
Just as the Seaborn were still hesitating—some even showing signs of preparing to attack—Steven merely snapped his fingers. Then he touched the tips of his thumbs and index fingers together, shaping them into a frame as if taking a picture, and aligned it toward the monsters ahead.
The next second, the seawater around them was suddenly gone, as if the ocean itself had been scooped out. A mysterious force tore the waters apart, forming a perfectly square, arena-like air pocket in the depths.
The Seaborn, who moments ago had been swimming freely in the ocean, dropped onto the exposed seafloor like fish hauled onto a deck.
And the culprit, Steven, simply flexed his fingers.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I have to ask—who among you hurt the little swordfish girl on that broken ship just now? As her old man, I can't exactly ignore it, can I?"
Using Evol's deep, magnetic, gravelly voice, Steven addressed the Seaborn. Even he felt like one of those villainous elders in a cultivation novel—someone who storms in to avenge a bullied junior member of the family.
"Do any of you understand human language? Some of you must've been former Church of the Deep members before turning into Seaborn, right? Hmm… what should I call you… land traitors?"
He continued joking as he stared at the silent creatures. But they had no intention of letting him speak another word. Having adapted to the dry environment, the grotesque Seaborn launched their attack.
In an instant, tentacles, scales, and fanged maws shot toward Steven, engulfing him.
But with a crisp metallic clatter, Steven emerged completely unharmed from within their assault.
He patted off the chalk-white scratch marks left on his armor and sighed. Before anyone could even see him move, a flash of ruthless steel cut through the air. The mass of Seaborn collapsed like wheat under a scythe.
"Honestly… you could've at least answered my question. I might've left one of you with a whole corpse."
Steven let out a disappointed sigh, then turned his gaze to the mound of corpses.
"Nourish… devour… evolve… resist…"
A childish, vacant voice echoed. Blood and shredded flesh seeped out from the bodies, flowing toward the center and vanishing as if swallowed.
A familiar orange glow—just like Originium—burst forth. From the heap of corpses, an abomination formed from fused Seaborn slowly rose. Its oppressive presence was enough to crush a person's breath.
Steven, however, only looked intrigued as a new boss health bar appeared in his vision.
[Hybridized Fallingstar Seaborn]
"No wonder even my little swordfish couldn't take you down. That explains everything."
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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