Chapter 69: There Is No Salvation Here (1)

Deep Sea Fish Hunting Specialty Broadcast – 69

EP.69 There Is No Salvation Here (1)

“…Let’s proceed with that.”

“Understood. Is there anything else?”

“Ah, could you visit Branch Manager Seo Sunwoo sometime soon? He said there’s something important to discuss.”

“You mean the one from the Hunter Association? Got it.”

“Yes. The exact date can be set by Hunter Yu Parang.”

“Understood. I’ll hang up now.”

“Take care.”

Click.

“Huuuu…”

Parang let out a deep sigh as if the ground were sinking beneath her.

For various reasons, she had been exhausted lately.

She had to save the world, deal with the crazy woman from the Hunter Association, and the world government was targeting her. On top of that, she had kidnapped the protagonist of the original story yesterday.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t exactly a kidnapping, but still.

Although she hadn’t expected much, Silo had failed to restore Marian’s mental state.

This was something Parang had anticipated.

Silo had been helpless with status ailments during the Brachium Shock, so it was no surprise they couldn’t handle whatever had ensnared someone like Marian.

Thus, Silo’s conclusion was to put her to sleep for now.

They planned to place her in the deepest, most secretive part of Silo and put her in cryogenic sleep, then thaw her out after some time to see if the status ailment had been lifted.

Parang thought it was a reasonably logical conclusion. Permanent status ailments were extremely rare, so at most, it would last about six months.

If, by bad luck, it showed no signs of lifting after that, they would have to find another solution.

Other than that, the only thing Silo could do was extract skill information from her blood.

In fact, this alone was an incredible technology.

Before Silo’s emergence, they didn’t even know such information could be imprinted in blood.

Apparently, they had started the work last night, as the file had already arrived on Parang’s phone by the time she woke up this morning.

Naturally, this matter was classified as top-secret, known only to Parang, Oceanos, and a few top executives at Silo.

Anyway, Marian’s issue was temporarily resolved.

Honestly, she wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing.

The fact that there was a survivor among the Slayers was excellent news, but ultimately, the most crucial ‘memory’ was completely lost.

Moreover, bad news kept coming from the other Oceanos members who had gone to explore different hives.

─ Russell: I’ve checked five times, but there’s no trace at all.

─ Russell: Are you sure it was really transferred?

─ Xiao: Same here. But I did find an artifact.

─ Xiao: (Photo of a red-glowing wooden shield)

─ Xiao: It’s ‘Defiance,’ right?

─ Parang: Looks like it.

─ Diego: Came up empty here too. Searching while it’s shrunk is incredibly tough.

The only ones left were Elvira and Vertea.

If they retired as well, it wouldn’t be completely dark, but the brightness would significantly diminish.

The only hopeful news was that the repair of ‘Evidence’ was almost complete.

According to Silo’s estimates, the repairs would be finished within a week at most.

Parang sighed deeply again and sprawled on the sofa.

‘Ah, should I check that out?’

Parang tapped on her phone and selected a saved file.

─ Marian Lindbergh.png

[ Status Window: Marian Lindbergh ]

[ Personal Skills: Creation, Steel, Madness ]

[ Living beings are targeting you. ]

[ You are above all things that are not alive. ]

As expected, Marian’s personal skills had changed just like Alexandra’s.

They had become more ambiguous, more incomprehensible, and filled with nonsensical, cryptic descriptions.

Moreover, there was that risk.

‘Targeted by living beings.’

Parang had one question when she saw Alexandra’s changed personal skills.

[ Hated by thing not on the ground. ] was the part.

It was clearly described as ‘thing.’

Not ‘things.’

At the time, she had moved on with a slight unease, but now, seeing Marian’s skills, it was definitely suspicious.

Whether it was ‘thing not on the ground’ or ‘living being.’

It seemed highly likely that these expressions referred to the same entity or at least two related entities.

The problem was that she didn’t know what it was.

It couldn’t be the pit the Slayers had fought in.

That was embedded in the ground and wasn’t alive.

‘Or, was it that small monster fish from back then?’

That peculiarly shaped, tiny monster fish.

As soon as it was hit once, the speed of the monster fish had increased tremendously, causing the Slayers to struggle.

Indeed, it wasn’t on the ground and seemed alive.

But,

‘Didn’t it seem too insignificant for that?’

Could being hated and targeted by such a thing be a risk significant enough to be a part of an evolved skill from the Ascension Ritual?

If it were being targeted by a Kraken, that would be more understandable.

‘Ascension Ritual, huh.’

Parang closed her eyes.

Something about the deep sea was suspicious, but this Ascension Ritual was equally dubious.

When she read the novel or before she knew about the Slayers’ deaths, she had just thought, ‘Oh, that’s how it is,’ and moved on.

The idea of turning a person into a god through ascension was strange in itself.

‘Could it be a trap set by something in the deep sea…?’

…Probably not.

Or was it really not?

In the original work, the ‘Ascension Ritual’ was a quest presented by the status window.

Directly to Hunter Han Siwoo, no less.

[ The Great Journey (S) ]

[ Quests will occur sequentially. Penalties will be imposed if failed. ]

[ Appropriate rewards will be given upon clearing the quests. ]

It was Hunter Han Siwoo’s personal skill.

From [ Hunt the Wolf ] to [ Create a Masterpiece for the Ages ], it threw all sorts of quests at him.

It felt like a solo quest, something like that.

Anyway, the final quest his personal skill presented in the story was [ Ascend ].

The reward for clearing the previous quest, [ Kill a God ], was a scroll detailing the method of the Ascension Ritual.

So Parang had never doubted the ‘Ascension Ritual’ much until now.

No matter how much the original story had changed, it didn’t seem like it had altered to the extent of tampering with Han Siwoo’s status window.

But given the current situation, Parang had to acknowledge it.

There was definitely something behind the ‘Ascension Ritual.’

‘Do I have to uncover the secrets of the status window now…?’

Parang pushed that topic to the far corner of her mind for now.

It wasn’t an issue she needed to worry about immediately, and she didn’t think focusing on it would solve anything at the moment.

There were many tasks that needed to be prioritized.

She decided to handle them one by one, step by step.

‘Yeah. Let’s at least set up an appointment with the Branch Manager.’

Just as Parang thought that and opened her phone,

Ding! Ding!

Two messages arrived simultaneously.

One was from Vertea.

─Vertea: Sorry. Couldn’t find it. I really tried my best.

“Tsk…”

Parang knew well how hard Vertea had searched the hive.

Because of her broadcast.

Vertea had spent almost 60 hours exploring the hive while broadcasting.

Sixty hours was enough time to circle the North Sea Hive nearly seven times.

If she couldn’t find it despite that effort, it really wasn’t there.

After sending a comforting message to Vertea, Parang checked the other message.

Fortunately, this time it was good news.

─Elvira: Found it.

─Elvira: (Photo)

─Elvira: Where should we meet?

─Xiao: Where are you now?

─Elvira: Arctic Ocean Hive. Left back pocket of my jeans.

─Xiao: I’ll head there.

Parang packed her things at a speed rivaling a sailfish and dove into the sea.

#

Arctic Ocean.

The coldest sea on Earth, covered entirely in ice.

About 4 kilometers below the surface of the Arctic Ocean, you could find something protruding at a 30-degree angle on the slanted ground.

If you looked closely, you would see that the end was pointed, getting thicker towards the back, with a bumpy top and a smooth bottom—

You would find the front part of a wooden sailing ship broken in half and embedded in the ground.

Of course, this wasn’t a shipwreck. The Arctic Ocean wasn’t an environment where wooden ships could navigate.

And most importantly, there had never been a wooden sailing ship of this size on Earth since the dawn of history.

That’s right. This was the Arctic Ocean Hive, known as the ‘Dressing Room.’

Why was it called the ‘Dressing Room’ instead of a ‘Sailing Ship’ or an ‘Ark’? Because it was literally a dressing room.

If you were drawn inside by the warm yellow light seeping through the planks of the deck, the ship’s shape would disappear, and you would find yourself in a dressing room filled with clothes.

Inside, there were not only modern clothes like T-shirts and jeans but also plate armor, bike helmets, hanbok, jumpsuits, swimsuits, and even Nazi uniforms—an assortment of mysterious garments.

The warm yellow light from the overhead lamps gave a cozy feeling.

Of course, that feeling would vanish instantly when you saw the monster fish peeking out from between the clothes, inside pockets, and under shoes.

Anyway, the Oceanos members gathered there.

It was less than three hours since Elvira’s message.

They were now gathered in the back pocket of the jeans.

It was dark, not very spacious, and the atmosphere was extremely gloomy, but no one cared.

They were focused solely on the corpse in front of them.

Kang Yuri.

A college classmate of Hunter Han Siwoo.

The second member of the Slayers and Han Siwoo’s first heroine.

The Oceanos members surrounded her body with serious expressions.

Although not as bad as Alexandra, Kang Yuri’s condition was also poor.

Her clothes were torn in places, and her body was covered with stab and slash wounds.

Moreover, there was a slightly burnt mark on her left shoulder.

This showed how tough a time she had gone through.

Especially considering her role as a close-combat fighter and tank.

A burnt mark? Was it from a monster fish?

We’ll see. Let’s begin.

…Alright.

Everyone closed their eyes,

Dive.

With Xiao’s solemn voice, their consciousnesses plunged deeply into the depths.