I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature Chapter 103

Chapter 103. The Last Turusain

The sea was calm. Since the first attack, all the crew mbers had been on full alert in complete battle gear, and the sa went for Lucian and the others.

However, aside from the earlier ambush, there had been no further enemy assault.

After Yul descended below, Yeruld had been circling around the sailing ship, keeping watch for enemies.

Brodin approached Lucian.

“How far down did he go?”

“3,000 ters into the Deep Sea……. That’s all I can confirm for now.”

“He can go that far down?”

“Yes. But strangely, the farther the distance becos, the blurrier the shared vision gets. I can barely see anything now.”

Lucian said so. About 3,000 ters. The distance from the Kingdom of Frangia to the Kingdom of Britain was far greater than that, yet the shared vision had worked fine then. For so reason, the deeper he went beneath the sea, the more indistinct the connection beca.

“It does seem like the shared vision gets blurrier the deeper you go. It was the sa for .”

Brodin glanced at Lucian.

“Still, I’m jealous. That you can go that far down.”

“Do you want to go down?”

“Very much.”

Folding his arms, Brodin gazed at the quiet sea.

“Once I graduate from the academy, I’ll find a way to descend into the Deep Sea imdiately. Whether it’s with magic engineering equipnt, or by searching for so Skill Fruit we don’t know about. Could you design sothing for ?”

“I’ll try to co up with sothing. It might work as a fourth-year project.”

“If you manage to create proper submarine equipnt, could I buy the blueprints and rights?”

“That’s a motivating offer.”

At that mont, the captain in the distance spoke up.

“Friends, chatting is fine, but I think we’ll have to leave this place soon.”

“What?”

“Look over there. A storm is coming. And my crew has absolutely no intention of fighting Deep Sea monsters in the middle of a storm. Neither do I.”

Beyond the moonlit horizon, a storm was rolling in.

“Shall we remain here?”

“It would be better to move away for now. I’ll inform Yul.”

* * *

The mont he saw it, he knew. It was an illusion.

Then what was it trying to show him?

Yul felt deeply unsettled as he looked at the small being before him.

However, Puyo, standing beside him, felt nothing but terror at what he saw.

-P-please spare ! The Mother Nest is r-right in front of us!

-Calm down. It’s an illusion.

-T-that can’t be…… uwaaah!

-……?

For a mont, it looked as though Puyo was being “snatched” by sothing.

Yul imdiately used Telekinesis to seize Puyo in midair. And then he felt the resistance.

‘What is this!?’

From empty air, “sothing” was pulling Puyo away. Yet when he compressed his Telekinesis and punched the air like a fist, he felt nothing at all.

-Kiiieeek, I’m being torn in half!

Just as Puyo, whom he was holding with Telekinesis, seed about to be ripped apart by an “invisible force,” Yul let go. Still caught by that unseen grip, Puyo was dragged inside.

Yul fixed his gaze on the small girl.

-Did you do that?

-You shouldn’t have co here.

-Why?

-The Sower is awakening. Because of an absolute command I cannot refuse, I have no choice but to oppose you.

-The Sower?

-An absolute command. An apostle of the Creator who governs truth and falsehood. A being that rembers what you were when you first began.

-……!!

After saying that, the girl faded away as if she had never existed. Puyo vanished with her.

Yul attempted to step inside, but discovered that a massive barrier, which had not been there monts before, now blocked his way.

-What is this?

He could not tell what it was made of. A black substance seed to form a dense lattice structure, completely sealing the entrance.

-Is this also an illusion?

Yul struck it directly.

Clang!

The sensation from his Horn of the Sea King was like striking an imnsely solid rock. A wall that could not possibly be broken.

‘I don’t understand what’s going on.’

It was confusing. Was this the real thing, rely concealed until now? Or had it not existed before and been “created” through illusion?

The solution in tis like this: pour in an overwhelming amount of magic and shatter the massive barrier with the UV Thermal Gun. As he drew out the UV Thermal Gun and aid at the wall, a voice spoke.

-You’re not thinking of attacking with that Technica weapon, are you? It would be wise to stop.

-Who are you?

-Let’s just say I’m a mysterious ally. I’ve been watching what you’ve been doing since you were at the heat exhaust vent.

The voice echoed from the wall itself. The being warned him.

-The bedrock around here has an unstable structure. If you fire that Technica, the dungeon might remain intact, but the ground will collapse. Debris from above will pour down, block your retreat, and continue to bury you alive.

-…….

-And you intend to simply charge at one who crosses the boundary between reality and illusion? Trusting in the strength of your flesh alone? That’s pitiful thinking for a higher species.

That’s quite harsh for an ally.

-I’m advising you because you’re about to do sothing pitiful.

-Who are you in the first place?

-The administrator of this facility.

-The administrator of this dungeon?

-Who do you think created this dungeon in the first place? And to be more precise, this is a laboratory. A place where the survivors of the Turusain species lived during the Final War.

-Turusain?

-I’ll explain in detail from the other side. Transform into a smaller form and return to the exhaust vent. With your current thod, you will never enter that place. Right now, nearly all the Sea Horrors from above are converging here.

Yul felt the man’s words were reasonable. He might be able to defeat them all, but the Mother Nest, who wielded unknown illusions, was another matter.

-The one who was taken is probably still alive. The Mother Nest will want to extract information about you from him.

Ah. Puyo. If he were alive, he would rescue him, but still.

Yul realized that this “ally” must be the being beyond the door that Puyo had once said would never open.

After Polymorphing into a jelly octopus, he stepped inside.

Kaiman continued in a low voice.

“In the Final War, we lost our sky, our land, and even the flow of magic itself. Every stronghold fell. In the end, the only thing left was the Deep Sea. So we ca here.”

“To hide?”

“To survive. And to research.”

The black-robed figure tightened his grip on the long staff resting against his shoulder.

“The Volcanic Crab was a relic of the primordial era. A descendant of the Volcano Giant. Its body continuously generates and circulates imnse thermal energy. Even in dormancy, the energy output is absurd.”

Yul narrowed his eyes.

“So you built your laboratory on its back.”

“Correct. We siphoned a fraction of its heat, converted it, and sustained our civilization underground. Weapons. Barriers. Dinsional observation arrays. We staked everything on one final breakthrough.”

“And failed.”

“…Yes.”

Silence filled the room.

Yul glanced downward, as if he could see through layers of stone and flesh.

“That ans this entire ‘volcano’ is alive.”

“It is.”

“And the Mother Nest is feeding off it.”

“Like a tick buried in a god’s hide.”

Kaiman’s tone hardened.

“The Sea Horrors are a parasitic clade. From the smallest larvae to the dominant Mother Nest, every single one requires a host. The weaker ones cling to rock, corpses, or even each other. The stronger ones parasitize living gafauna.”

“And the Mother Nest?”

“It has embedded itself into the Volcanic Crab’s neural core.”

Yul’s eyes sharpened.

“So it is controlling it.”

“No.”

Kaiman shook his head.

“It cannot fully dominate such an ancient being. But it has pierced enough of the neural lattice to siphon energy… and distort perception.”

“Illusions.”

“Yes. Not re hallucinations. It interferes with cognition. Signal rewriting. Sensory override. Even mory echoes.”

Yul thought of the small girl. Of the words: The Sower is awakening.

“You ntioned sothing called the Sower.”

Kaiman was silent for a mont.

“…That is not the Mother Nest.”

“Then what is it?”

“A relic.”

“Of the Turusain?”

“No.”

The answer ca imdiately.

“Of sothing far older.”

Yul felt a faint chill.

“The Mother Nest is reacting because of it?”

“Yes. The Sower lies beneath the laboratory’s deepest vault. We sealed it there during the Final War. We could not destroy it.”

“And now?”

“It is stirring.”

Yul crossed his arms.

“And this has sothing to do with .”

Kaiman did not answer at once.

“You opened a new millennium.”

“That again.”

“Do not feign ignorance. The Regulator that reshaped the era—those are not tools ant for ordinary beings. When the world’s flow changes, ancient things awaken.”

“So the Sower noticed.”

“Yes.”

A faint vibration passed through the structure. Not an explosion—more like a pulse. Deep. Slow.

Thoom.

Yul felt it through the stone. Through the water. Through his own body.

“That wasn’t the Mother Nes.”

“No. That was the Volcanic Crab.”

Another pulse.

Thoom.

The walls trembled.

“It is waking up.”

Yul’s gaze sharpened.

“Because of the parasite?”

“Partly. And partly because the energy balance is destabilizing. The Mother Nest has been drawing more power than usual.”

“Preparing for sothing.”

“Yes.”

“And Puyo?”

“Likely being dissected. Or interrogated. The Mother Nest extracts information by breaking down neural patterns.”

Yul’s expression hardened.

“Then we move.”

Kaiman lifted his staff slightly.

“You cannot charge in directly. The neural core chamber is surrounded by layered perception barriers. If you enter unprepared, you will not even recognize reality.”

“I’ll manage.”

“You won’t.”

The black robe shifted as Kaiman took a step forward.

“For a thousand years, I observed it. Tested it. Lost to it. I know its patterns.”

“You said you’ve been awake.”

“I have. In isolation.”

“So what’s your plan?”

Kaiman extended the long rod. Symbols faintly glowed along its surface.

“This facility still has partial control over the Crab’s peripheral nerve conduits. If we redirect thermal surges at precise intervals, we can force the Mother Nest to retract its deeper tendrils temporarily.”

“For how long?”

“Seconds.”

“That’s enough.”

“You’re confident.”

“I don’t need long.”

Another tremor.

This one is stronger.

Fragnts of dust fell from the ceiling.

Kaiman looked upward.

“We do not have much ti. If the Crab fully awakens while the parasite is embedded in its core, the backlash could collapse the entire trench.”

“And us with it.”

“Yes.”

Yul gave a faint smile.

“Good. I was starting to get bored.”

Kaiman stared at him.

“…You are not normal.”

“I get that a lot.”

The black-robed Turusain slowly turned toward the inner corridor.

“The neural descent shaft is this way. Once we begin, there will be no retreat path.”

“I wasn’t planning to retreat.”

They began walking.

As they moved deeper, the ambient temperature rose. The walls faintly pulsed with dim red veins—heat channels carved through living flesh and reinforced with ancient Turusain alloy.

“Kaiman.”

“Yes?”

“If the Volcanic Crab wakes fully… what happens?”

A pause.

“It will attempt to surface.”

Yul’s eyes narrowed.

“That would rupture the ocean floor.”

“And likely trigger tectonic catastrophe across half the continent.”

Another pulse echoed through the abyss.

Thoom.

Far above, in the dark waters three thousand ters overhead, sothing enormous shifted.