I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature Chapter 101

Chapter 101. Dive

He continued descending beneath the purple-glowing Lupinus coral.

Further down…

And further down…

The deeper he went into the Deep Sea, the more his sense of reality began to slip. Everything around him was pitch-black, and he could barely see unless he used ultrasonic waves.

‘I’ve reached a depth I’ve never descended to before.’

He had co down to 3,000 ters beneath the Deep Sea. And then he realized sothing.

The body of the Deep King Tribe was perfectly fine even at a depth of 3,000 ters in the Deep Sea. As if it were completely free from the effects of water pressure.

There was an exception. The small Sea Horror Parasite, Puyo, was still holding on as well.

-You’re not getting crushed by the pressure?

-Sea Horrors are a tribe of the Deep Sea. Even if I’m an irregular one, I won’t get crushed by water pressure, sir.

-II see. I think I hear a sound from sowhere.

It sounded as if sothing was ‘calling’ from sowhere. He couldn’t be certain whether it was an illusion or reality.

-A sound, you say? I’m not sure, sir.

-Hm. I can see the bottom soon.

-Ah! That’s the tip of the volcanic island, sir. The Lupinus coral grows on the volcanic island.

What he had thought was the seafloor turned out not to be the seabed at all, but a massive mountain peak. From there, the Lupinus coral stretched endlessly downward.

-If you follow the coral down, you’ll see a cave below. That’s the entrance to the Mother Nest.

-Isn’t the Mother Nest an individual?

-It has buried its body into the volcanic island, so its size is enormous, sir. To kill the Mother Nest, you have to deal with the heart core inside. Only then can you bring it down.

-So I have to go inside? Hm.

He soon found the cave. It gave him the illusion of a gigantic maw opened wide.

Yul recalled the Hive he had encountered in his days as an orca. Since it was a similar individual, did that an he had to defeat it in a similar way?

Back then, he had comrades who helped him. Now, he had to go in entirely alone.

He had grown larger after becoming a mber of the Deep King Tribe, but the Mother Nest was on a completely different scale from the Hive.

Two guardians stood near the entrance.

They looked like enormous sea urchins, grotesque creatures with arms and legs. Each arm held a massive spear.

-S-shall I assist you?

-How?

-If you knock down those Sea Horror Guardians holding the line, I can mount them and take control.

-Mount?

-Ah, you could also call it parasitizing.

In other words, it seed that those massive Sea Horror Guardians were also being controlled by parasites.

What Puyo was proposing was that if Yul removed the parasite inside, he would take control of the creature instead and help him.

-Why help ?

-I’ve been watching everything from inside the glass bottle, sir. Lord Yul seems quite honest and rciful. I thought I might gain sothing by helping you.

-You could have chosen to run away while I was fighting the Mother Nest.

-Even if I ran, there’s nowhere to escape to down here, sir.

Yul had two thoughts about Puyo.

Either he had truly tried to summon an Outer God inside the cannibal Seaborn and was rely pretending otherwise.

Or he had genuinely been swept up in events and, as an irregular, did not receive orders from the Sea Horrors.

He was still suspicious.

Even now, there was the possibility that Puyo intended to stab him in the back soday while pretending to help.

‘I’ll have to observe him a little longer.’

-Fine. Let’s do that, then.

-Understood, sir. I’ll control one of them, so can you subdue it without damaging it?

-I’ll try.

‘So I can’t use the Sea-Sync Demon Eye after all.’

Yul activated the Sea-Sync Demon Eye, but as expected, it was useless. The water in this area was not ordinary seawater.

To conserve his magic power for any unforeseen circumstances, he would handle this with close combat.

-Wait here.

-Be careful of their spines! They move freely, sir!

Yul used the skill, 「Evolution」, to alter his body.

What he envisioned was the spiraled horn of a narwhal.

Cutting through the current, Yul swam across and thrust his horn in a surprise attack. The narwhal’s horn, longer than the sharp spines protruding from the sea-urchin giant’s body, would allow him to subdue the enemy without injuring it.

Clang!

However, he had not expected the opponent’s reaction speed to be this fast. The Sea Horror Guardian raised its spear and blocked the surprise strike that had co flying from afar.

‘So it turns into a contest of strength?’

The creature’s two arms trembled as it struggled against Yul’s horn with its spear. He had intended to take one down easily with a surprise attack, but its physical capabilities were beyond his expectations.

The other enemy, which had reacted a mont later, thrust its spear at overwhelming speed. Even if he tried to dodge, it was too fast.

‘Hardened Scales.’

Scales hardened through the Evolution skill sprouted over Yul’s entire body. He had two Evolutions left.

The creature’s body was incredibly tough, and its physical abilities were on par with his own.

He could deal with them given enough ti, but reinforcents might be called in the anti. Perhaps a signal had already been sent. It would be best to move under the assumption that he had already been detected.

A thod to finish this quickly.

A good way ca to mind—one that would allow him to defeat them easily without using his remaining Evolutions or magic power.

It was the ultrasonic emission he had learned in his days as an orca. If he released ultrasonic waves compressed with all his strength, he could stun small clams. Now that he had beco a mber of the Deep King Tribe, the output would be on an entirely different level.

-Screeeeeeeech!

The ultrasonic waves he had compressed with all his might burst forth and struck the enemy!

The compressed wave cannon that resonated to the bone beca an invisible hamr that battered the enemy’s insides.

The Sea Horror Guardian that took the blow head-on seed to suffer a terrifying internal shock, as its inner flesh burst out through the gaps in its shell.

‘It’s more effective than I thought.’

Compared to physical attacks like thrusting or crushing, the ultrasonic wave cannon was far more efficient. And when he turned to look at the guardian that had stabbed him from behind with its spear, the second guardian had stopped moving.

Instead, sothing popped out from a small hole at the back of its head.

‘A parasite?’

It seed Puyo’s words had been true—the guardians were indeed being parasitized.

-Where do you think you’re going! Die!

Puyo, who had been waiting behind, rushed in and began grappling with the black parasite. Of course, since their physical abilities were similar, Puyo couldn’t win.

-N-now, sir! Finish this one off!

-Stay back.

-I-if you fire sothing like ultrasonic waves, I’ll be turned into mush too, sir.

-Don’t worry.

There was no need to go that far to deal with sothing this small. Yul used the skill 「Telekinesis」 and crushed the Sea Horror Parasite that had erged.

-Whew, we finally took it down, sir!

‘This guy’s funny, talking like he caught it himself.’

It wasn’t annoying—Yul was simply watching out of curiosity, wondering what exactly this fellow would do. Whether he sensed Yul’s gaze or not, Puyo swam straight toward the motionless Sea Horror Guardian.

-As you can see, this guardian species is a sea urchin, sir. Even if you call them urchinfolk, they’re a species with almost no intelligence, so parasites find them quite convenient to use.

-So that’s how they beca Sea Horror Guardians.

-Yes. They’re weaker than Sea Horror Knights, but individuals on a comparable level. May I mount it?

-Go ahead.

Puyo seed to reclaim control of the Sea Horror Guardian and began waddling about.

-Wow, this creature is ridiculously hard to move, sir. I’ll try to get used to it sohow.

-Fine. Just follow behind .

-On my way, sir!

Just as Puyo had said, he was soon able to perfectly mimic the Sea Horror Guardian’s movents. In no ti, he caught up behind Yul.

-This place, the Mother Nest—this entire cave is made of the Mother Nest’s flesh, sir.

-And if we remove the flesh?

-It won’t have much effect on the main body, sir. At most, it’s like cutting off a small part of its body. Anyway, the Mother Nest wraps around this entire massive dungeon beneath the volcanic island like this.

-A dungeon? Not just a cave?

-Yes, sir. According to the conversations of the Sea Horror Knights, they said this place was originally empty. Ah, the Knights are the command-type individuals, sir. They’re probably guarding the Mother Nest.

-I see.

If this place was tangled like a dungeon, then by using ultrasonic waves, he could effectively see through the interior.

He spread ultrasonic waves widely and used echolocation to detect his surroundings.

‘It’s swarming.’

As if every Sea Horror within the Mother Nest were converging, they were crawling up from below in a dense mass.

If he had still been a jelly octopus, he would have had to flee without hesitation. Even as an orca, this number would have been dangerously overwhelming.

But now that he had beco a mber of the Deep King Tribe, even without the Sea-Sync Demon Eye, he possessed the strength to crush anything that irritated him.

The UV Thermal Gun he lifted with telekinesis had been brought precisely for this mont.

The mont he stepped into the dungeon entrance, Sea Horrors rushed toward him.

Like the sea urchin giants, they all appeared to be Deep Sea species infected by parasites. There were a few similar types, but most were individuals he had never seen before.

‘Set the thermal gun to dium output.’

With a click, an enormous amount of magic power was drained, and a terrifying high-heat beam of light fired forth. The massive beam shot out in a straight line, illuminating the surroundings in an instant as it swept through the Deep Sea.

Every Sea Horror caught along the beam’s path was instantly carbonized. This was 3,000 ters below the Deep Sea. The overwhelming pressure prevented even bubbles from forming. Or rather, the massive bubbles that briefly appeared were imdiately compressed by the deep-sea pressure into microscopic fragnts, leaving behind only flickers of plasma in their place.

The ionized seawater produced a strange, acrid sll that stung his senses.

The Sea Horrors in the beam’s path were annihilated, but not every single one had been eliminated. The rest would be dealt with in close combat.

-Kraaaaaaaooo!

He examined the Sea Horror that clung to the ceiling and lunged at him with a grotesque shriek. This one seed to be a new type as well—like a four-legged beast with a tail that could run along walls and ceilings. Strangely, it had a fluttering organ draped over its shoulders like a cloak.

Slice.

With a sweep of his horn, one of the monsters was cleanly severed, caught on its sharp tip. At that, the creatures retreated and began assessing the situation.

Puyo, who had just skewered one with a spear, shouted.

-They’re Sea Horror Stalkers, sir!

-Stalkers?

-They specialize in hunting creatures larger than themselves and will pursue them until death, sir. They run and chase persistently until their prey grows exhausted. They’re particularly bad opponents for the guardian I’m riding, sir.

The Stalkers had appeared from outside the UV Thermal Gun’s firing range. Clearing the first floor of the dungeon would require eliminating these creatures.

Yul raised the UV Thermal Gun and aid at them.

Instantly, the Stalkers scattered in all directions, hiding behind pillars, corners, and even among piles of other Sea Horrors’ corpses. They refused to be hunted by a single shot.

‘They’re trying to make waste magic power.’

They seed as cunning as Puyo had described.

Yul aid the UV Thermal Gun, then used telekinesis in the opposite direction to seize one of them. The Stalker, suspended midair, was sliced apart in an instant by the narwhal’s horn.

‘Shall I test the patience of these crafty creatures?’

Whenever the Stalkers attempted to charge, he aid the UV Thermal Gun to force them to scatter, then grabbed one nearby with telekinesis and cut it down with his horn. The strategy worked remarkably well.

After repeating this roughly three tis, the Stalkers realized he had no intention of firing the thermal gun, and they surged forward all at once.

-I’ve been waiting for this.

He adjusted the UV Thermal Gun to minimum output and fired over a small area. Four Stalkers within that range were instantly carbonized and shredded.

‘A checkmate.’

If they didn’t charge, they were seized one by one with telekinesis and torn apart. If they rushed him, they were oxidized by the thermal gun. A repeating cycle.

The mont the Stalkers concluded they had no chance of winning, they sward together and began fleeing toward the lower levels of the dungeon.

-Ah, they’re running away, sir!

-They’re scattering as they flee.

With one last attack at minimum output, he managed to catch only a single one. He had eliminated a considerable number, but just as many had escaped downward.

-They’ll go below and share information about Lord Yul’s abilities.

-Trying to analyze my weaknesses?

It didn’t matter. Yul still had many abilities he hadn’t used. If the enemy tried to counter him, he would simply devise a new response on the spot.

-Shall we break through head-on like this?

-U-um, Lord Yul. I have a plan. May I be granted permission to ask whether you’d like to hear it, sir?

Yul frowned and nodded. This guy occasionally stacked redundant questions.

-I told you I escaped from the Mother Nest’s grasp, didn’t I, sir?

-And?

-There’s a secret passage I used back then, sir. If we use it, we can skip several dungeon floors at once. But the passage isn’t large. When you transford into a human before, could you also transform into another creature?

Puyo had brought an interesting proposal.

-You’re suggesting I beco another creature and skip the dungeon floors?

-Yes, sir. Preferably sothing that can withstand the Deep Sea environnt.

-If that’s the case, I have sothing in mind.

For the first ti in a long while, perhaps it was ti to Polymorph into a jelly octopus again.