Great White Shark, Two-Headed Shark Attack, N-Headed Shark Attack, Sharknado… As a fan of bad movies, Goki often watched strange, low-budget B-movies filled with gore. Although he shed more blood massacring monsters in Yharnam, these movies still left a deep impression.
And now, he was being gnawed on by a shark—though he had been torn apart and eaten by a few dogs in Yharnam before, this experience was still novel.
A beautiful woman with white hair and red eyes was sitting on Goki, and through his trousers, a warm temperature radiated.
Specter's body wasn't heavy; although some of her weight was supported by her knees on the ground, it clearly wasn't enough to crush a pelvis. She was just slightly denser than an average human.
Much lighter than Skadi... Ahem, Goki said nothing.
Crunch—crunch—slurp.
As if gnawing on a Finger Lickin' Good chicken, the shark, which had been incredibly frenzied moments ago, had now quieted down. She used her sharp teeth to slice Goki's arm, greedily sucking the gushing blood.
Around her, a pale light slowly emanated, and her blood-red eyes seemed to be whitening. Yet, she didn't awaken; instead, she craved Goki's blood even more greedily, as if this substance could make her feel slightly better.
"Ugh... Damn it, are you sure she's alright! She's biting you, drinking your blood—she's going to eat someone!"
To the side, Skadi, who had been kicked to the top of the church by Specter's sudden immense strength, finally pulled her upper body out of the ceiling, landed on the ground, picked up her greatsword, and looked warily at her former comrade.
Specter's way of sucking blood was so elegant and greedy, not a drop stained her clothes, but in Skadi's eyes, this was a sign of madness.
As an Abyssal Hunter, she had witnessed the process of her kin's aberration countless times. The hunter codenamed "Archerfish" was merely a Seaborn that usurped a corpse after death; true mutation was an unpredictable sudden change.
One day, a fellow Abyssal Hunter would be laughing and chatting, and the next, they would turn into a mindless Seaborn, knowing only how to gnaw and kill. Even her family... Regardless, in Skadi's view, Goki's attempt had failed.
"No, don't rush, let's observe a bit longer. I feel that she… is very calm."
Watching the faint white light emanating from Specter's blood-red eyes, Goki silently endured the weakness from blood loss and the pain from his flesh tearing, quietly sensing the changes around him.
"But… I still wanted a few days of rare rest. Looks like I have to start studying again."
Goki took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and in his ears, the ethereal and desolate song of the Seaborn grew increasingly clear and powerful.
He was a hunter who hunted beasts, and also a scholar who studied the Great Ones.
Although Goki had been a mischievous child who disliked studying since he was young, once he arrived in Yharnam, he had no choice but to force himself to start learning.
After all, the root of all tragedy in Yharnam stemmed from a group of Byrgenwerth scholars who, in their research of the ancient Pthumerian Civilization, unintentionally communicated with the Great Ones.
And even those who were casual Cthulhu fans, or had only seen Nyaruko, and only supported Abigail, knew that dealing with Old Gods never ended well.
Great Master Willem, the Byrgenwerth scholar who first researched the power of the Old Gods, could be said to be the beginning of everything. Although he also sought Ascension through the "Eye of Insight," he still held some reverence for the Old Gods.
However, Great Master Willem's two students, Laurence who established the Healing Church and abused the blood of the Old Gods, and Micolash who established the School of Mensis and created Old Gods through countless innocent sacrifices, each began to court disaster in their own ways, effectively becoming two major troublemakers.
The first confirmed Great One, Kos, was killed by a group of reckless hunters while pregnant, leading to all the first generation of hunters being cursed, and thus initiating a series of tragedies for the hunters.
The level of self-destruction of these people exceeded imagination, and the ways they courted disaster became more and more varied. The boundaries between reality and dream, low dimension and high dimension, mortal world and the other shore were broken again and again.
One Great One after another projected their power around Yharnam—Oedon, the Formless, sought opportunities to bear offspring; Rom, the Vacuous Spider, constantly prevented the birth of a divine child with its time-reversal abilities; the Daughter of the Cosmos, using her worshippers, descended into reality… By the time Goki, the outsider, first arrived at the blood ministration clinic in Yharnam, the infinitely looping time had already passed for who knows how long.
Yharnam was already overrun with madmen and lunatics, contaminating knowledge was everywhere, and Old God kin who would drive one mad upon sight appeared brazenly on the streets. Even picking up a set of clothes could lead to being accidentally sucked to death by a passing black hole.
Facing these terrifying enemies, brute force alone was not enough. Goki could only cram one forbidden and insane piece of knowledge after another into his mind.
Now, he had to learn and understand the mad existence before him—Specter wasn't insane; she was merely… sleeping.
Meanwhile, Skadi, leaning on her greatsword with one hand and clutching her crimson skirt with the other, was in extreme turmoil.
Though her emotions told Skadi that she should perhaps trust Goki, as he had never lied throughout their journey and had indeed accomplished many things that Aegir people couldn't.
But her reason told her that any Abyssal Hunter, upon discovering a maddened companion, should execute them immediately, granting them their last dignity.
"No… Goki, she just wants to devour your flesh and blood. No Abyssal Hunter with any sanity left would be so bloodthirsty and greedy. The Aegir might look down on land dwellers, but we would never take pleasure in slaughtering them."
Watching Specter gnaw more and more greedily on Goki's arm, Skadi knew she couldn't wait any longer.
"Goki, she… is beyond saving."
Her grip on the mechanical sword tightened. Although Skadi was equally reluctant to lose the only other Abyssal Hunter in the world, she still intended to execute Specter.
Skadi slowly walked to Goki and Specter's side, an uncontrollable sadness welling up on her otherwise indifferent face.
She didn't know how many times she had endured such painful partings.
"I… originally had a family. My father passed away early, leaving only my mother, grandmother, and a younger sister, a few years younger than me—"
This was something Skadi was reluctant to mention, but facing Goki, listening to the rustling sound of blood, Skadi felt it necessary to let him know something.
"After the seventeenth hunting mission, I returned home to find only splashes of blood on the floor and walls. The bodies of my family were gone. The Sea Patrol said that Seaborn had raided the city, and my neighbor was an aberrant Abyssal Hunter."
Her family died at the hands of an aberrant Abyssal Hunter, which fueled Skadi's even fiercer hatred for the Seaborn. But when that ultimate battle for revenge ended, all she gained was endless emptiness.
"Goki, there's no need to hurt yourself like this anymore. I'm already used to separation. It doesn't matter even if I'm the last Abyssal Hunter. Let's end all of this."
Looking at Goki, who had his eyes tightly closed, Skadi's tone even carried a slight plea.
Let the term Abyssal Hunter be forgotten in the river of history. She would stay far from the ocean, delve deep into the land, and have no further connection to any of it.
"That won't do—birds soar in the sky, fish swim in the sea; this is the Law of nature. Aegir people are born of the ocean, how can they just leave?"
Suddenly, Goki's words reached Skadi's ears.
"Thank you for telling me these things, but I've also kept quite a few little secrets of my own—"
During his time on Terra, Goki, this outsider, hadn't just been traveling.
Eating, resting, exercising, communicating, fighting—he was gradually getting to know this world, gradually understanding this world.
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Why Originium didn't affect him, and why Seaborn Blood had no corrupting effect on him—Goki wanted to know.
Whether it was the power of the Seaborn or the power of Originium, in Goki's eyes… they all bore some resemblance to the Great Ones he had once faced.
To fight the Old Gods, one must defeat knowledge with knowledge!
Although he came from humble beginnings, the mere fact that the Hunter's Dream truly existed in his mind told Goki that he was definitely no ordinary hunter anymore—
"Nona Doll, if I can control the Hunter's Dream, then do I also have the ability to enter the dreams of others?"
Goki smiled as he asked the companion in his mind—he felt he could do it.
"Yes, kind Hunter, the dream behind the madness and clamor is chaotic and murky. The secrets of this world are no less numerous than in Yharnam, and the dangers that exist are even more bizarre, but if it is you…"
Nona Doll's voice paused, then seemed to carry a hint of a smile.
"I will always be here, guarding your Soul, kind Hunter."
"Then that's right."
Goki nodded, then suddenly opened his eyes.
"Goki—you?"
And Skadi watched in surprise as Goki suddenly flung Specter away, using a strength he had never displayed before, and in turn, cupped the Abyssal Hunter's face.
He couldn't do anything for the deceased Nona Archerfish, but he was certain that Specter could definitely get better!
"Look at me, Specter!"
And from his eyes, meeting Specter's, emanated a pale… Moonlight!
This was the power of a Hunter! The power of knowledge!
He had entered many dreams, even multi-layered dreams within dreams, and had visited the most chaotic Nightmare Frontier countless times.
Since he could control the Hunter's Dream, then he could surely enter Specter's Dream!
The next second, Goki felt his Soul begin to detach, to soar—for him, Soul was merely another ordinary substance.
It was a familiar sensation, like the momentary weightlessness when touching an old lantern in Yharnam to return to the dream.
The next second, Goki opened his eyes.
He saw a dark, boundless sea, its surface incredibly clear, but the deeper it went, the darker the abyss became.
He saw, in the depths of the ocean, two colossal beasts fighting and killing each other.
One was twisted and grotesque, like a gigantic sea beast formed from countless viscous octopus tentacles, tangled green seaweed, fine fish scales, and jagged coral.
It seemed to be one with the seabed in the ocean, like a floating colossal tree reaching to the sky.
The other was an equally massive, pitch-black humanoid shadow. Its main body was crystalline, similar to Mon3tr, but black smoke emanated from all around it.
Unlike the sea beast, this colossal black humanoid figure was indistinct and blurry, and countless equally pitch-black chains connected to its body, stretching upwards, as if—it was an existence linked down from beyond the horizon.
Local and outsider, the two Great Masters fought, yet also seemed to be chasing something.
"Where did this Dark Tiga vs. Gatanothor come from…"
Before Goki could even complain, he heard a familiar yet strange, extremely urgent curse from beside him.
"Hey, you over there, whoever you are! Give me a hand!"
Goki immediately looked down, and upon closer inspection, found a white-haired girl in a hunter's uniform on the sea surface below him, calling out to him.
She was the object being chased by the two behemoths.
"Hey—much smoother than I expected. Come on, get up!"
Goki didn't hesitate, leaned down, instantly appeared before the girl, and extended his hand to her.
"Squawk————"
"Roar————"
As if discovering the invading outsider, the two different giant beasts immediately let out deafening roars, stirring the tides, and stretched out their massive claws, seemingly wanting to reclaim what was theirs.
"This won't do, this isn't good. Our Great Ones in Yharnam understand the rules; if you don't ask, they don't respond. There are fair trades, give and take, but they never force a sale—you two still have a lot to learn."
However, facing the surging two giant beasts, Goki was not afraid, and instead lightly snapped his fingers.
He knew that his physical body was weak compared to an Abyssal Hunter, but when it came to spirit and Soul… the Old Hunter feared no one.
A colossal full moon appeared in the sky, emitting a pale, cold light, and countless pure white Bright Tree flowers instantly bloomed, turning the turbulent sea into a sea of flowers.
"Squawk————"
"Whoosh!!!"
As if suffering some pain, the two giant beasts let out huge roars, and their movements slowed down.
Seizing this opportunity, Goki gently reached out and grabbed Specter's slender arm, pulling the somewhat surprised girl out of the water.
"Hey, you're amazing, kid! By the way, who are you? I've never seen an Abyssal Hunter like you—"
The next second, accompanied by the girl's crude exclamation, the world was covered by the pale Moonlight.
The pale Great One, after all, left behind its Divine Power.
Whale!.jpg
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