The divine radiance showered down from the sky.
The darkness, representing despair, was instantly dispersed by the sacred golden light, like snow meeting boiling water.
The silver-haired girl stared in disbelief at the golden figure floating in the air before her.
This feeling....
It felt similar to the god she had personally pierced back then. Only, this one felt even more powerful.
A god?
The silver-haired girl found it incredible.
Her head, which had been in excruciating pain, seemed to have returned to its usual calm. And those 'horror fish', which had been haunting her like ghosts, seemed... afraid.
Afraid?
The silver-haired girl was shaken, her red eyes widening slightly.
She had fought these undersea monsters countless times. She knew full well that these creatures didn't know the meaning of fear. Even if you sliced them to pieces, they wouldn't retreat. Everything they did was instinct.
And yet.
A monster like this, with no intelligence, not even knowing what life and death were, was actually showing fear for the first time.
Fear of a higher-level life form.
This was the instinctive fear of a lower-level life form...
*Gulp...*
The silver-haired girl swallowed, raising her head to look at the handsome man floating in the air, glowing with a faint golden light. He seemed to be smiling at her. Did he know her? She had no memory of him.
However.
One thing was certain.
He... was also a god.
And he was a god even more powerful than the Seaborn mother that she and her countless comrades had hunted together.
This god was from the land?
Why would this god descend at this very moment?
The silver-haired girl knew nothing.
She only felt that under this golden light, which was like sunshine, the impending collapse in her mind was completely repaired. It seemed the light from his body had a natural calming effect. It was very warm.
The golden figure beckoned slightly.
Behind him, two phantoms appeared: one of a monster with lava flowing over its body, and one that was entirely covered in gold, like a sun.
The golden light grew dazzling and blinding.
The ugly 'horror fish' wanted to flee from the golden light, but there was no escape. These creatures, normally so difficult to kill with physical means, now sizzled as if they were being scorched, smoke rising from their bodies. The next second, the 'horror fish' bodies dissipated one by one, turning to ash and disappearing.
After all the 'horror fish' had vanished.
This special mental space around the silver-haired girl also shattered inch by inch. The golden figure disappeared along with it.
The girl subconsciously wanted to call out. But just as she raised her hand, before she could make a sound, the surrounding space returned to the real-world street.
She stood frozen in the middle of the brick road, her hand outstretched. Passersby stared at her in confusion. The town's security patrol was already running toward her, probably because she had smashed through the inn's wall.
Without thinking.
The girl threw the money she had earned as a bounty hunter during this time onto the ground, then left.
She had already been planning to leave Rim Billiton. As for where she would go next, she didn't know. A large number of her comrades had died in the battle against the god. When she woke up, she was all alone. Perhaps... all her comrades were already dead.
After thinking for a moment, the girl set off. She prepared to return to Iberia to continue searching for her comrades. Maybe some of them were still alive.
As for the god from before?
The girl felt it was like a dream, somewhat unreal.
She felt a strange sense of familiarity in her heart.
She had never seen the golden figure from before, but that golden light felt somewhat familiar.
She vaguely remembered.
In the final decapitation strike her comrades had launched against the god in the deep sea.
Everyone, including the Captain-General, had completely underestimated the god's true power.
Their specially-made cold weapons, which could easily slice through the bodies of ordinary Seaborn, couldn't inflict any damage on the Seaborn god. Yet, their comrades' powerful bodies, their pride, were as fragile as paper under the god's attacks.
More and more comrades died at the god's hands.
The girl remembered.
When she saw the blood that filled the entire seabed and the shattered bodies of her comrades, she went berserk. The scene of her family being killed flashed before her eyes. At that moment, her exhausted body seemed to erupt with new strength. Her weapon, which had been unable to harm the god, suddenly ignited with a golden flame.
And because of that.
Under the cover of her remaining comrades.
She had relied on that inexplicable power to pierce the god's skull.
But later, when she woke up on the shore, she tried to recall that power but couldn't, as if it were just a dream.
Could it be that the golden god's figure from before and the power that helped her slay the Seaborn god were from the same source?
Who was he?
Why did he help her?
At this moment, in a church somewhere far away in Iberia, a flicker of astonishment crossed the eyes of a person completely enveloped in a black robe.
Because he had just clearly sensed that his mental experiment's target, who had clearly reached the brink of mental collapse, had... all the 'horror fish' suddenly died!!
Died!!
How is that possible!!
These weren't physical 'horror fish', but mental ones! How could a person whose mind was damaged and collapsing possibly resist... and even kill them all instantly...
For a moment, a feeling of losing control spread through the black-robed person's heart.
At the same time.
On his pitch-black hand, which had been endlessly emitting black smoke, a faint golden light actually appeared. Although the light was very, very faint, it was like a drop of water falling into hot oil. It instantly sent the black smoke scattering in a frenzy, and a searing pain shot through him. Fortunately, this golden light didn't last long before disappearing.
The black-robed person stared at his hand in disbelief, stunned. He had the strange feeling that he had just provoked something big.
How could this be...
He believed in the God of the Deep Sea, had received the god's blessing, and possessed the power to control the deep-sea species. Unless a god of the same level descended, how could...
He suddenly realized why he'd had such a bizarre thought.
A god of the same level?
Impossible.
——————
The girl was running.
Her running speed was terrifying. A casual push from her legs could easily send her leaping dozens of meters. Her movement speed in the wilderness surpassed that of an ordinary Land-runner.
Lucas was silently "eating melon" (watching the show) from within the girl's body.
The girl didn't seem to have discovered Lucas's presence inside her.
Lucas's ability to sense this place was purely accidental.
His soul fragment was located inside this beautiful, cute girl. And, somehow, it had already fused more than halfway. Although not a complete fusion, the degree of integration was much, much deeper than his soul fragment with Jessica. This was also why he hadn't sensed this fragment.
Perhaps because it was half-fused with this girl's soul, although it hadn't developed a new consciousness, it had a tiny bit of instinct—an instinct to not be discovered by the main consciousness.
Moreover, this fusion was a semi-symbiotic type.
If the girl died, the soul fragment would perish. If the soul fragment died, the girl would, at most, be injured.
That's why he only just discovered it.
When these unknown monsters attacked the girl mentally, the soul fragment, facing the threat of annihilation, instinctively called out to Lucas's main consciousness to protect itself. If not for this incident, Lucas's main consciousness would never have known. And over time, the soul fragment would have completely merged with the girl's soul, and the girl would have fully inherited the power of his soul fragment, possessing partial divinity and divine power.
Her state would have been similar to Surtr's.
Lucas had a question.
Why was his soul fragment inside this girl?
It seemed he was even wilder than Nian's Second Brother. Second Brother split his soul fragment into over 180 pieces across Yan, while he himself was spread all over Terra. Some of the places his soul fragments ended up were locations he couldn't even figure out.
Lucas silently resided within the girl's body, quietly watching a real-life VR experience.
He had to admit.
This girl's strength was... incredible.
Although she had no Originium energy in her body, her physical strength was absurdly high. Aside from Patriot, Lucas had never seen such a powerful physical body. But Patriot was a Wendigo, the purest-blooded Wendigo. This girl was...
Eh?
What race was this girl?
Lucas suddenly couldn't recognize the girl's race. He seemed to have never seen it on Terra.
Skadi seemed tireless, like a vehicle fully loaded with Originium solution. As long as she had stamina, she could march nonstop. And, although she looked petite, a casual exertion of force was enough to leave a sizeable crater in the wilderness ground. A light push from her small, toned legs could send her leaping a great distance, like a cannonball.
For some reason.
Skadi kept feeling like she was being spied on.
This feeling had never appeared before.
It had only started right after she left Rim Billiton.
Therefore.
To shake this feeling of being spied on, Skadi ran very, very fast, far faster than a Land-runner. However, no matter how fast she ran, this feeling of being watched remained just as strong. It even gave Skadi... goosebumps.
Because this feeling wasn't just an ordinary look from the side.
It was as if she was naked and bathing, with someone spying on her from the shadows. It was even more blatant than that, like being watched from the inside out...
*Hsss....*
Relying on her frightening stamina, Skadi ran nonstop through the wilderness for a full day. Lucas, bored, also stayed inside her body and watched for a day. When he got bored, he'd occasionally pop back to Columbia to tease Ceobe, or go to Rhodes Island to tease Amiya, Kroos, and Hibiscus, chat with Closure, or visit Weedy in her office.
Most of the time, Lucas was observing this girl.
However.
One thing had to be said.
She was truly, incredibly strong.
High-intensity running, almost nonstop for a day. It took only one day to get from the edge of Rim Billiton to the border of Iberia. This level of strength... aside from Patriot, Lucas really couldn't find a second person stronger than this girl.
As for the former power-level measuring unit, Franka, she was completely retired. She could no longer keep up with the current meta of god-tier battles. They had to bring out the only reliable power-level measuring unit: the Ursus Emperor's Blade.
This girl's pure physical combat power should be able to challenge multiple Emperor's Blades.
Finally.
Skadi, growing tired, also stopped. A full day of high-speed running, and she still couldn't shake this naked, prying gaze.
It could only mean one thing.
This spying wasn't coming from the outside, but from within her.
Could it be!!
Skadi thought of a key piece of information. Could it be that the golden figure was inside her body all along? She recalled the final blow she used to pierce the Seaborn god. It meant he had likely been inside her body long ago, she just had never discovered it.
After thinking for a moment, Skadi spoke to the empty wilderness.
"Who are you... Why are you inside me?"
Her clear voice echoed across the boundless wilderness, but no one answered.
The feeling of being spied on continued.
Skadi was certain he was watching, observing her. She tried hard to show no ill will.
"Thank you... for saving me before... I don't really understand why you are inside me. If you can, I hope you can give me an answer..."
*Caw... caw...*
The surroundings remained quiet, as if one could hear the cawing of crows.
Just as Skadi was about to give up.
Suddenly.
A faint figure suddenly drifted out of Skadi's body.
Instantly.
A hunter's instinct made Skadi counter-attack reflexively. Her eyes glowed red. She spun and threw a vicious punch straight at the figure's chest. This punch seemed to use her full strength. The explosive sound of it breaking the air could be heard clearly even a kilometer away.
However, the punch passed right through the figure's chest, as if hitting empty air.
And just then.
Skadi finally reacted. She looked up at the translucent figure floating in the air.
Familiar!!
It was him!!
Although he no longer had the sacred golden light around him, Skadi remembered those eyes clearly. She couldn't forget them.
*F--k!!*
She just thought he was an enemy and instinctively punched him!!
"S-Sorry!! I really meant no harm!! That was just instinct!!"
Skadi quickly explained.
She probably never thought that, after all these years, she would ever be in such an embarrassing situation.
Lucas silently looked down at his chest, then turned to look behind him. The ground behind him had a small crater blasted into it just from the wind of the girl's punch.
*Hsss...*
A little terrifying.
That punch just now... forget one cow, fifty cows couldn't have taken that.