Chapter 199: Eastward (2/2)
Initially, I didn’t even notice that there was a gigantic shark-sized Flame Devouring Fish swimming underneath lava. After all, that endless sea of black fishes behind it was enough of a shock already. The moment its humongous head broke through the surface, revealing a glossy coat of obsidian black scales that almost seemed like armor in the process, it turned its bloodshot eyes towards me. It was then that I knew what it felt like to have a reaper stare you right in the eyes. I could have sworn that my soul was being sucked into the bloody abyss that was its eyes. Yet amidst all that, I stood there paralyzed, unable to do a thing before the embrace of death.
Time slowed down and my thoughts seemed to freeze up there and then. Then, it all went black. I knew nothing of what happened afterwards and by the time I woke up, the school of fishes was already long gone.
Should I celebrate the fact that the fishes weren’t able to walk on land? Or perhaps I should thank the heavens that they weren’t interested in land creatures…
“Mama… that monster…was so scary…” She dove into my embrace and tightly wrapped her arms around me, body shaking and lovely eyes crying. Seeing her like that, my heart couldn’t help but ache.
‘Even my little sweetie is shaking right now…I guess it can’t be helped…she’s a newborn after all and that had to be her first brush with death.’
Naturally, we weren’t the only two affected by that sharklike fish’s stare; No.3 and Big 4 were scared stiff as well. In fact, they literally stood there frozen, not daring to move a muscle, let alone cry or tremble.
“It’s alright Sweetie, Papa’s…” I gently rubbed her head and tried to comfort her. However, just as I was about to say ‘Papa’s here to protect you’, I abruptly stopped.
‘What If that happened again…what if a creature of that level were to take an interest in us or perhaps we stumbled on it while it was hungry…’ I dared not ponder that question any further. In a vast world like this, there existed too many unknowns for the current me to handle. Exactly, what kind of fate would await us if I wasn’t strong enough? That was something I didn’t dare to think about but most likely it wouldn’t be good.
For now, I should at least celebrate my decision not to accept Arca’s request otherwise we might just end up meeting that fish in battle…
With that in mind, I suddenly had the urge to consume those two cores right away. However, I abandoned that impractical idea in the end. Putting aside the question of whether or not my body was even suited to that, so what if I consumed them? The majority of the energy would most likely be absorbed by Ferti’nier, leaving nothing but scraps for me.
Who was this Ferti’nier, one might ask. Well, she used to be an existence who almost became a Devil God. At the very least, she was a demigod. While I might not know how powerful that actually was, it didn’t stop me from guessing.
‘Demigod huh…kinda reminds me of Hercules and his trials…oops…almost went off course again…’
Demigods were at a level beyond me, and Ferti’nier was the elite of elites even amongst such beings. Looking at that from another perspective, there was no way the energy needed to awaken her would be small. For now at least, evolving would be harder than climbing the heavens themselves.
In that case, the only option would be to raise Mo Na’s level. Thus began our frantic search for Red Lotuses and souls. Anything that moved was killed and its soul harvested for Mo Na. By doing so, I hoped to raise her level to Five-stars in a short period of time. Only when she evolved would I have the confidence to give No.3 and Big 4 those two elemental cores.
Perhaps it had something to do with her absorbing the Grimoire of the Dead, but ever since then, I’ve never heard her say that she was full. Naturally, that didn’t mean she starved all the time either.
Just like that, our journey proceeded uneventfully for over a month. Along the way, we harvested whatever we could and hunted whomever we found.
By now, I was beginning to wonder if Arca was messing with me with that so-called hint of his, but just as I did so, I found, to my great surprise, a lifeform that could be classified as a devil.
‘…at long last…’
It was a hellhound with fur as black as the night. Not only that, it was a hellhound with three heads —a Cerberus.
According to my inherited memories, Cerberuses had to at least be at the level of a Four-stars. That meant the hellhound spitting fire at a platform right in front of me was at least at the level of No.3 and Big 4. Even though we weren’t that far off from it, there was something obscuring our vision so I couldn’t discern what it was spitting at.
The moment I spotted it however, the Cerberus stopped spitting fire and turned all six of its eyeballs towards us. It opened its jaws and growled at us in a low voice. Naturally, I didn’t understand a word it said but having been with Violet Snow for so long, I could roughly figure out that it was warning us not to approach.
However, there was no way I would listen to that warning. After all, this was the first sighting of something devil-like in over a month! There’s no way I would leave without saying hello at least.
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