"Uh… yeah, it's definitely that one."
Looking at the distinct ring of white frost spreading around her, Lynelle couldn't help but sweat a little for a certain friend.
"But, Kevin, how did you know it was her?"
"All these years I've spent in the Sea of Quanta, I haven't just been drowning in the past every single day," Kevin's voice grew even colder, likely because of the bombshell Lynelle had just dropped.
"I could sense it—deep within the seal, there's always been a somewhat threatening presence, constantly watching Earth from the shadows of the leviathans."
"But she's both wary of the Herrscher's authority and afraid of my strength, so she never dared to do more than watch from the outskirts."
"Over the past few centuries, I've seen several worlds intercepted by her, turned into nourishment for that bloated body of hers. So, naturally, it left an impression."
"I see…" Lynelle nodded thoughtfully. "Then, what about those things you mentioned earlier that might threaten the kids—was that also her doing?"
"If they're within the radiation range of the homeworld, they should be fine. She's extremely timid, or maybe… cautious. But the Sea of Quanta is unpredictable."
"Without someone guiding them, it's easy for them to be swept away from this area." Kevin paused for a moment.
"Let's get back to the subject of Griseo. In your memories, is there any other useful information?"
"Ahem… For example, she didn't actually give birth to seven children. Instead, that entity intercepted seven of her 'hues' and, combined with fragments of its own personality, fashioned them into…"
"For MANTIS like us, the line between body and spirit isn't so clear." Kevin shook his head slightly.
"At least in my understanding, whether it was making her physically pregnant or replicating and stripping away her hues, the harm done to that child would be equally severe."
"Well… I'm afraid there isn't much more information than that." Lynelle sighed. "From my memories, I can only confirm that Griseo's location should be somewhere at the edge of the solar system."
"But I really don't know the exact coordinates. And with Earth's current technological level, getting there would probably take a good hundred years of travel."
"The method left in my memories was to wait for Su's assistance, but…"
"Wait, Su?"
A flicker of emotion crossed Kevin's face again. "That's… not good news. Actually, Su already…"
"No, no, no, Kevin, you've got it wrong." Seeing his expression, Lynelle immediately realized he'd misunderstood and hurried to explain.
"I know Su passed away two years ago, but his consciousness is actually still alive—it's just that the form it exists in now is… indescribable."
"?"
Though Kevin's expression didn't change much, Lynelle could clearly tell he was utterly baffled.
Huh? You're telling me the brother I've been mourning for two years isn't actually dead?
"Ahem, it's because at the moment his body died, his consciousness was drawn away by a certain special, higher-dimensional entity and transformed into a unique form of existence."
"If he could help us now, we should have already received a message from him. But since he hasn't done anything, it means either he doesn't think the time or opportunity is right, or he hasn't yet won his game against that other being."
"…"
Perhaps because his brain, unused to high-speed operation for thousands of years, had been overloaded with too much information today, Kevin's usual ice-cold expression showed signs of "thawing."
"And… to completely destroy that entity, we'd probably need power on the same level as the Finality, right?"
"Yes, that's true." Kevin nodded and explained, "Whether Project Stigma succeeds or Project Ember achieves a new breakthrough… there's no doubt that humanity will fully grasp the Herrscher's authority."
"At that point, if we're willing to pay the price, all we'd need to do is lock onto its coordinates and launch an area attack."
"With its bloated form, there's absolutely no way it could escape."
"Moreover, based on my observations, even including the energy buried deep in the Sea of Quanta, its total mass is at most less than a fifth of a Herrscher's. A more conservative estimate would put it at only about one-tenth."
"If I were in my prime, even without surpassing the Finality, just by activating the [Chimera] state after metamorphosis, the probability of challenging and defeating it would be…"
"Would be how much?" Lynelle blinked curiously.
"The most conservative estimate would be ninety-nine percent." Kevin replied calmly.
"That slim chance of failure wouldn't be because I couldn't defeat it, but because a Herrscher directly interfered—for example, if it turned out that the Honkai had controlled it all along."
"Unfortunately, my current condition… as you can probably see, after all these years imprisoned in the Sea of Quanta, my body is in an extremely weakened state."
"In terms of combat power, at best I can only suppress three non-awakened Herrschers."
"Otherwise, even if I couldn't save Griseo, I could at least follow the trails of activity I've observed over the years and clean up those tendrils of hers that have stretched too close—probably… at the very least, I could wipe out over a fifth of her energy reserves."
Perhaps because he found himself facing another situation where he "could do nothing," especially in front of a junior, powerless to change another junior's plight, a hint of a sigh inevitably tinged Kevin's voice.
Then, he saw Lynelle suddenly rummage through the air a few times and pull out… a piece of cheese and a clock?
Although he'd long known that Lynelle had all sorts of mysterious abilities, this was the first time Kevin had actually seen her use one.
He looked at the objects in her hands with some interest. "These are…"
But before he could finish his question, Lynelle rushed forward and stuffed the cheese—which now looked slightly more inflated than when it first appeared—right into his mouth.
"Don't talk, just keep eating."
"If you don't eat it quickly, this thing will keep expanding."
Though her words left Kevin completely bewildered, as the cheese she'd shoved into his mouth took effect, his expression changed.
He could feel the nearly depleted energy inside him recovering at an incredible speed.
The amount restored wasn't huge—by the time Kevin fully swallowed the cheese, it was only about 30%.
But still…
This was Kevin's 30%.
While this energy wouldn't allow him to immediately fly to the edge of the solar system to rescue Griseo, it was more than enough to teach that increasingly restless entity a "little" lesson after all these years.
Kevin rose to his feet once more, from under that cherry blossom tree.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.