Chapter 38: Interlude (1)

Deep Sea Fish Hunting Specialty Broadcast – 38

EP.38 Interlude (1)

– Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep. –

Following the fierce beeping signal, they arrived at the lowest entrance of car 1.

There, a thick mist of blood spread like a mass, about the size of a watermelon.

In the water, only hunter’s blood could form such a shape.

Almost certainly, the body of Slayer, Alexandra Carmen, would be inside.

“Was Alexandra’s artifact in car 2?”

“No.”

“Then it’s likely in car 1. Can you look for it?”

“No problem.”

Vertea swam into car 1 of the train.

Left alone, Parang swallowed nervously and reached her hand into the mist of blood.

– Thunk. –

Her hand touched something.

Feeling the shape with her hand, she confirmed it was a skull.

There was nothing below the neck, but fortunately, diving would still be possible.

Parang lifted the skull.

The mist of blood followed.

She carefully placed it into a pouch from her suit.

Once delivered to the silo, they would separate the blood and send the skull to Xiao.

#

Meanwhile, Vertea.

She had entered car 1.

Just like under the gas stove in the Hong Kong Hive, the interior of car 1 of the train was something that could hardly be called a ‘train.’

The inside of car 1 was a cave. Thick rock masses filled the train, so the actual interior space was only about half of what it appeared from the outside.

The color inside was also different from before, very dark and deep blue. She could barely make out the silhouettes of objects in front of her.

– Wooooong. –

When Vertea activated her skill, her eyes turned into red and black reverse pupils.

In this state, Vertea was like a living high-performance radar.

As she carefully scanned her surroundings, something caught her eye.

It wasn’t an artifact.

The center of car 1 was filled with an alien space crowded with arms.

Huge white arms stretched out from the gaps between the piled-up rocks.

The massive white arms, rigid and unmoving, extended from the floor, walls, and ceiling, all pointing towards one place.

It was a monster.

Named Brachium, which means ‘arm’ in Latin.

A truly intuitive name.

‘No wonder.’

There were suspiciously no monsters in car 1 because Brachium had taken over.

To think she would encounter Brachium here. She had seen it before but didn’t have the time to study it then.

In the center where countless arms pointed, several arms were holding up a massive white sphere.

‘Wait, a sphere?’

Seeing it holding a sphere was a first for Vertea. Normally, there should only be arms.

Vertea felt a strong urge to ‘research’ Brachium.

Brachium was an ultra-rare monster that had only been sighted three times so far.

Moreover, it appeared in a form she had never seen before.

It wouldn’t be strange if Vertea’s eyes were turning.

But she held back.

She wanted to approach and study it immediately, but there was something more urgent at the moment.

Besides, wasn’t that the monster Parang needed for her broadcast tomorrow? Given Brachium’s behavioral characteristics, this was likely the last monster left in this car.

If she ‘researched’ it now, it would cause significant issues for Parang’s broadcast tomorrow.

Vertea exercised superhuman patience to resist the temptation.

Soon, she found a necklace with a green gem embedded in it, lying a bit away from Brachium.

Next to it was a lump of blood.

Using her skill, Vertea looked inside the lump and saw a horribly crushed and mangled corpse.

Seeing that there was no magic stone, it seemed Brachium had already dealt with it.

Feeling goosebumps on her arm, Vertea headed outside.

#

“Did you find it?”

Parang asked Vertea, who was coming out of car 1, and Vertea held up the green necklace.

“I roughly finished the job. But…”

“Hmm.”

Vertea trailed off, and Parang also sighed.

The necklace in Vertea’s hand was already half-destroyed.

The embedded gem was shattered, with only about a quarter of its original size remaining. The chain was broken and dangling, and the once-beautiful decorations were all crushed.

“It was already like this when I found it. There was only Brachium nearby.”

“Brachium? In the train?”

“Yes.”

Brachium, huh. Parang pondered.

Certainly, Brachium would make for a great broadcast. Its appearance alone was striking—creepy yet terrifying, evoking the mysterious deep sea.

She didn’t know why Brachium had settled here, but speculating on the possibilities was pointless.

More important than Brachium settling in the train was the fact that a divine-grade artifact had been destroyed.

It was highly likely destroyed beneath Hawaii.

Even though Brachium was strong, it wasn’t strong enough to destroy a divine-grade artifact.

Parang looked at the green necklace.

Unlike at the time of departure, she could immediately recognize what it was.

‘Evidence.’

Artifact, Evidence.

The strongest druid, Alexandra Carmen, always carried this artifact from the middle to late stages of the novel.

At this point, Hunter Han Siwoo’s crafting skills had almost reached the limits of human capability, resulting in all sorts of extraordinary artifacts.

And the ability of ‘Evidence’ was ‘memory sharing.’

It allowed the user to share another’s memories or share the user’s memories with someone else.

In the novel’s progression, Hunter Han Siwoo faced a situation where he had to sacrifice his memories. He created this artifact, named it ‘Evidence,’ and entrusted it to Alexandra.

Later, when Hunter Han Siwoo, who had completely lost his memories, went berserk in confusion, Alexandra, unable to harm him, took all his attacks and approached him.

Covered in wounds and bleeding, with tears streaming from her eyes, Alexandra faced Han Siwoo and, saying “I love you,” brought ‘Evidence’ to his chest. This scene is still considered one of the most iconic moments in the novel.

Thanks to this, the fandom once fervently supported the ‘Alexandra as the main wife’ theory.

Parang also remembered this part vividly because it left a strong impression on her.

Pure love blossoming within a harem.

She knew it could exist.

And as Parang picked up the tearful token of love, a notification window appeared before her eyes.

[ The artifact is in an unstable state. Using this artifact may result in malfunction or destruction. ]

‘Hmm.’

It seemed necessary to take it to the silo.

They would repair it or do something about it.

Thus, Parang obtained Alexandra’s skull, blood, and ‘Evidence.’

The most significant was, of course, the skull. This would bring them one step closer to uncovering the death of the Slayers.

The least significant was the blood. While it could be used to extract Alexandra’s skills, it was of no use to Parang.

Alexandra was a druid, after all.

Recalling a few skills off the top of her head:

[ Blessing of the Earth Mother (S) ]

[ Can be activated while standing on the land she has blessed. ]

[ Grants powerful vitality to up to twenty people she designates. ]

[ Blooming Abundance (S) ]

[ Can be activated if there are seeds she has planted nearby. ]

[ Instantly grows the seeds into the desired species. ]

[ Divine Fortress (S) ]

[ Can be activated if she hasn’t moved from the ground for two hours. ]

[ Divine Body (S) ]

[ Requires completion of a designated ascension ritual. ]

[ Possesses the body of a god. ]

……

……

Thinking about it, Alexandra must have had the hardest time coming to the sea.

Unlike other Slayers, she was practically an ordinary person the moment she entered the water.

As for Divine Body, Parang wasn’t sure what it was either. It wasn’t described in the novel.

Even the silo was still researching what exactly Divine Body was and whether it was truly divine.

They just went along with the status window calling it Divine Body.

In any case, the point was that Alexandra’s skills were utterly useless to Parang.

As a druid, Alexandra’s skills had no overlap with Parang’s.

It was unfortunate for Parang.

This applied to all members of Oceanos.

Anyway, Parang and Vertea headed to the surface with their loot.

On the way up, Parang received a text message on her phone.

She thought it was from the silo, but it was from Russell.

[Russell Bright: Who am I?]

[Russell Bright: (A selfie holding a B-rank Hunter license with a thumbs-up.)]

[Russell Bright: B-rank Hunter Russell Bright.]

He mentioned taking the B-rank Hunter exam last time.

Was today the result announcement day?

Parang couldn’t hold back any longer.

[Yu Parang: I see. So you’ve become a B-rank as well.]

[Yu Parang: In that case, Elvira Petrov, Vertea Fabron, Xiao. You are expelled from Oceanos.]

[Yu Parang: Our B-rank Hunter party, Oceanos, doesn’t need a C-rank like you.]

Of course, their ranks didn’t mean much, but that made it even more fun to tease them.

It had become a sort of customary event by now.

[Elvira Petrov: Cut the crap.]

[Xiao: I swear, I’ll really…]

Parang smiled contentedly and turned off her phone.

Vertea, watching her, looked incredulous.

“Is it fun?”

“Huh? I can’t hear you over the sound of a C-rank talking.”

Parang swam away from Vertea at an incredible speed.

Vertea, momentarily stunned, quickly grasped what Parang had just said and immediately chased after her.

“Hey!! I can get a B-rank if I set my mind to it!!”

“Then go get it, quickly!!”

Parang’s voice, coming from far ahead, was incredibly annoying.

It was all her karma, so what could she do?

Parang had a sweet sleep that night, and Vertea, having returned to France, immediately filled out and submitted an application for the B-rank Hunter exam. It was her 11th attempt.