Staring at the Dimensional Rift in the sky, the Herta Puppet's purple eyes glowed faintly as vast quantities of data flowed through its systems. Within minutes, it had conducted a preliminary analysis of the rift's properties.
Herta made a startling discovery: the data bore an uncanny resemblance to that of the Dimensional Rift beneath the Main World's seabed. While not an exact match, the similarity exceeded ninety-nine percent.
"An almost identical Dimensional Rift?" The Herta Puppet stroked its chin, its expression thoughtful. Clearly, Herta Herself was remotely controlling it. For someone as skilled at multitasking as her, conversing with Martin and others while operating the Puppet was child's play.
The similarity between these two Dimensional Rifts could hardly be a coincidence. In the logs of the Seventh Laboratory in the Beast-Eared Girl World, Dimensional Rifts had been likened to "diseases," and worlds destroyed by them transformed into "sources of infection."
The last Human in the Beast-Eared Girl World, a scientist who had lost the will to live, instructed her pet dogs to devour her body to accelerate their evolution. She then tasked the resulting Beast-Eared Girls with guarding their world, hoping to prevent its complete annihilation and transformation into another source of infection.
It seemed highly likely that the Main World and the world Herta currently inhabited were infected by the same source. These two worlds were essentially patients sharing the same sickroom.
Unfortunately, Birth-type Dimensional Rifts were impassable. Herta desperately wanted to cross over and investigate the source of the infection on the other side.
Herta began formulating her next plan. She intended to continue researching methods to forcibly "stitch up" Dimensional Rifts in this world. Since the rifts in both worlds were nearly identical, if she could successfully repair the one here, the rift on the seafloor of the Main World would naturally be resolved as well.
After all, working in the sky was much easier than diving into the sea, and there were no fishman-like monsters in this area. Collecting data here would undoubtedly be far simpler than doing so underwater.
Moreover, Herta couldn't guarantee that her future research would proceed without any unforeseen complications. What if an accident occurred, spawning new monsters or even creating additional Dimensional Rifts?
Little Herta glanced down at the African Continent below, its landmass pulsing like a beating heart. The situation here is already dire, she thought. How much worse could it possibly get? As the old saying goes, "When fleas are plentiful, you don't feel the bites; when debts are many, you don't fret over them."
Before proceeding, however, Little Herta decided to circumnavigate the African Continent, searching for the Flesh God's true form to understand what kind of monstrosity it truly was.
Her descent accelerated rapidly: 20,000 meters, then 10,000 meters. As she dropped lower, the thunderous heartbeat grew increasingly distinct. Finally, at an altitude of 5,000 meters, she halted her descent and switched to horizontal flight.
The first thing that caught her eye was the Sahara Desert, the world's largest, which dominated northern Africa. But now, not a single grain of sand remained. In its place was a dense network of blood vessels crisscrossing the landscape. Little Herta could even see a dark red fluid flowing through these thick veins, coursing toward a distant destination.
Following the fluid's flow, she flew straight ahead. Along the way, she encountered bizarre, towering tendrils that stretched skyward. These massive structures, each roughly a hundred meters in diameter, varied wildly in height, from three to four thousand meters to staggering peaks of seven to eight thousand meters—far taller than her current altitude of five thousand meters!
Looking down, Little Herta observed masses of flesh and blood constantly proliferating at the tips of the three-to-four-kilometer-long tentacles. It was clear these appendages had gradually grown to their towering heights.
If that's the case... She subtly gathered her Magic Power and unleashed several Wind attribute spells, slicing the tentacles in half.
Instantly, the colossal eight-to-nine-kilometer-long appendages were reduced to three-to-four-kilometer stumps, their severed portions plummeting to the ground.
"*****!!!"
Simultaneously with Little Herta's action, a peculiar sound—distinct from the earlier heartbeat-like rhythm—resonated in her mind. After pondering for a moment, she couldn't decipher its meaning. "Could it be... cursing me?" she muttered to herself.
The situation was akin to a neighbor carefully cultivating potted plants, only for Little Herta to act like a mischievous child passing by. Without regard for ownership or the nature of the plants, she impulsively uprooted them all. Who wouldn't curse her for that?
"If I were that neighbor, I'd grab that brat and spank her silly!" Little Herta thought to herself.
Just as she was pondering this, a reaction occurred below. In the distance, a towering mountain composed entirely of flesh slowly split open at its peak, like a festering tumor bursting. A geyser of yellowish-green pus erupted skyward, aimed directly at Little Herta's position.
Unfortunately for the Flesh God, Little Herta was too high up. The viscous fluid arced downward halfway, utterly failing to reach her lofty perch.
It was clear now that the tentacles, the tumorous volcano, and perhaps even the entire African continent were extensions of this Flesh God's being. Moreover, the entity possessed a degree of intelligence, as evidenced by its reaction to Little Herta's actions.
"Getting impatient already?" Little Herta taunted. "Not so fast." With a flick of her wrist, she severed several more tentacles writhing beside her with magic. Though she had no idea what purpose they served, their repulsive nature proved she was on the right track.
"Heh, I love seeing you so desperate, yet utterly helpless against me."
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Severing the tentacles was child's play for Little Herta. As she continued her flight, she relentlessly cast spells while observing the chain reaction of volcanic eruptions below.
Finally, after nearly an hour of soaring through the air, she located the terminus of the blood vessels on the ground—a pulsating, genuine heart!
The moment she laid eyes on this grotesque organ, Little Herta froze momentarily, causing even Herta Herself, far away, to pause in shock. But that was all it took.
If an ordinary person were to witness an Evil God firsthand without any mental preparation, their sanity would instantly shatter, plunging them into madness. But Herta was far from ordinary. In that instant, she understood why ordinary humans went insane upon encountering such a being.