Above the sky, the rumble of lightning echoed in his ears, and the purple thunder grew denser, making the sky flash repeatedly.
Raindrops pattered against his clothes, like chess pieces falling onto a board.
Beneath his feet, the wails of the giant Seaborn continued. It tried to retaliate with its wrist-limbs, tentacles, and thorns, but it could barely hit the two agile Abyssal Hunters. Even if it did, the attacks would be easily deflected by their seemingly delicate skin.
The two Hunters said the Seaborn didn't know pain, and Goki didn't dare to verify if that was true—he just assumed it was.
With a final transforming slash, retracting the Saw Cleaver from its great cleaver mode, Goki finally arrived before the core that controlled the Seaborn.
Quintus—he had merged with the Seaborn, like the lure on an anglerfish's head, abruptly growing from the Seaborn's forehead.
Goki had cut down the Seaborn blocking his path and now stood before him, no, before it.
Thunder, heavy rain, dark clouds, roars, and fury—in this dark and gloomy weather, everything exuded the atmosphere of a Bloodborne boss fight.
However, Goki felt something was still missing.
"No BGM, it's lacking something—Nona Doll, sing one for me, I taught you. For the Cleric and the Seaborn, let's use 'Clericbeast'."
"Kind Hunter… this is not the time to hear me sing."
"Young ~ Miss ~ Doll ~ A backing track, please! Your voice is like a clear spring, a Nightingale's song, a divine sound descending upon the world—"
"Alright, no more, kind Hunter, *cough cough*—Horrorfine (Edge of Fear), Perdeiter (Blocked Return Path)..."
With a sigh, Nona Doll knew that if she didn't agree to the Hunter, he would continue to pester her. She could only, with a hint of shyness, begin to sing in her clear, cool female voice.
"Hmm, now I'm getting into it."
Listening to the BGM in his mind, Goki nodded in satisfaction. In front of him, the humanoid creature, almost entirely merged with the Seaborn, finally shifted its attention from controlling the Seaborn and looked at the Hunter before it.
"You are interesting, land-dwelling beast, but it's a pity I haven't fully analyzed the gift brought by the messenger. Otherwise, you would see a much stronger me—but you will still die here, inferior creatures and mixed-breeds, never comparable to divine life!"
The scepter in his hand was now covered in seaweed. Quintus's upper body was completely hidden within his clerical robes, giving him a resemblance to the deranged appearance he would take on years later in the original game.
Twisted and complex, Quintus had almost lost his human appearance, save for a vaguely discernible human shape.
Insight +1.
Perhaps because the opponent was too ugly, Goki's Insight immediately increased to two points the moment he looked at him.
Quintus looked at Goki with disgust, his former composure gone. He hadn't expected Specter, whom he had successfully controlled, to awaken so quickly.
Originally, he had planned to use this divine gift to eliminate these two infidels with Specter, but now he had to face three opponents alone.
"These two Abyssal Hunters, one is weak, and the other is my experimental subject. Although I don't know how you temporarily helped her recover from the high-concentration liquid Originium erosion, with me and the messenger here, eliminating you is more than enough! You are merely a lowly land-dweller! You don't even deserve to be nutrition or food!"
From the Abyssal Bishop's mouth, the so-called "messenger" was mentioned three times, which immediately put Goki on alert.
He knew what that so-called messenger was... "Divine life? You're giving yourselves too much credit. You traitor, worse than a chicken thief, still thinking of worshiping a hive-minded life form without even bones—are you so proud of turning into a sea anemone, jellyfish, hydra, or coelenterate, and shitting from your mouth? I am the superior life form!"
Goki never understood the ideology of these Abyssal Church fools. If they were truly like the Tyranid swarm, then fine, but with the Seaborn's slow evolution speed, were they even worthy of being enemies of the Abyssal Hunters?
Bang—Clang!
Fire spewed from the muzzle, and a mercury bullet filled with blood accurately shot towards Quintus's forehead. But the next second, a tentacle flew over, like bulletproof armor, deflecting the mercury bullet far away.
"My will and flesh are about to tear through the confines of the human shell. I am close to the truth! I originally had enough samples to continue my research, to constantly evolve, and eventually Incarnate into divinity—it was you, you ruined everything!"
Originally, all his research had been exceptionally smooth. With Specter as a sample, once the Inquisitors left, the entire Saltwind City would become Quintus's experimental field and sacrificial ground. He could freely explore the mysteries of the ocean and offer his sacrifices to the sea!
But because of the Abyssal Hunters, and this inferior outsider before him, everything was ruined!
The church was destroyed, and the Inquisitors would not let Quintus go. He had to escape immediately.
But before that, he would slaughter everyone present!
"Blind, stagnant pets tethered by Aegir, you are useless to science and the future! I will not let you blind mediocrities live! I, who have dedicated my life to my cause and focused on a great goal... will not fail! Absolutely not!"
Accompanied by a cacophonous roar, Quintus suddenly swung his scepter, and several soft, swift, yet exceptionally hard and sharp tentacles extended from the Seaborn's back, shooting directly at Goki, ready to impale him completely.
No matter how strong this strange Hunter's vitality was, once completely killed, he couldn't regenerate—when a person is killed, they die!
"Hahaha, you talk as if it's so grand. Still, the same old saying—blame it on you being a stinky old man reeking of seaweed. If all Seaborn were tentacled beauties, I'd surrender on the spot right now."
Shrugging helplessly, Goki opened his trench coat, pulled out a string of what looked like weapons, and threw them violently at Quintus. But in an instant, they were enveloped by the two-meter-long tentacles.
"I told you, it's useless! I have merged with the Seaborn, no weapon can harm—What!"
Suddenly, Quintus noticed a triumphant, conspiratorial smile on Goki's face.
What he held in his tentacles was a special cluster bomb made up of syringes filled with a golden-yellow solution.
And at the end of the cluster bomb, a paper talisman soaked in Goki's blood was burning brighter and brighter in the heavy rain.
These containers were all collected from the marine research institute and during the church battle, originally Originium injection devices used against Skadi, filled with high-concentration liquid Originium.
Goki did not possess Originium Arts and could not trigger the firing Spells of firearms.
However, high-concentration Originium solution itself was a moving bomb, and Goki had specifically consulted Kal'tsit about this.
High temperatures, violent collisions, Originium Spells—as long as they left the stable state within their containers, these liquid Originium solutions could at any time trigger a violent, unimaginable explosion.
This was also why Goki had killed those Abyssal cultists outside the room earlier, preventing them from shooting inside the church.
And now, this dangerous liquid Originium had directly become the best weapon!
"This is—"
"So, you old illiterate, you should have paid attention in biology class in middle school—the concept of evolution only exists within populations, not individuals, you idiot! Even if you turn into a sunflower, that doesn't count as evolution!"
Meanwhile, Goki had already rolled behind a protruding scale, simultaneously pulling out his wooden shield and holding it above his head.
Although it wouldn't do much, it was at least something.
"You land-dwelling beast—"
Fear and despair intertwined. Quintus's words were cut short as his body was enveloped by a brilliant radiance.
Boom————
A huge explosion, accompanied by a dazzling flash, illuminated the dark sky of Saltwind City with extraordinary brightness.
——————
"My Lord above—that was a tough fight. If that boy survives, perhaps he can learn something."
Near the coast, the Grand Inquisitor, who was evacuating the residents of Saltwind City, squinted his eyes, looking at the fireworks in the distance.
"Oh, Grandpa, are those fireworks? Hunter big brother told me about those things, bright in the sky."
Beside him, the fearless Anita tugged at her black dress, curiously looking at the rising flashes.
"So bright."
"Yes, so bright—come on, citizens, we should move away from the radiation zone."
The Grand Inquisitor nodded and continued his work.
As a moderate Inquisitor, he naturally knew that the Aegir and Abyssal Hunters were a threat to Iberia.
But even so, their existence was still necessary.
A fragile balance had to be maintained, otherwise, Iberia would face disaster.
It seemed that after this trip, there would be many reports to write for the Inquisition.
——————
Next to the marine research institute, Kal'tsit took off her lab coat, wearing her unchanging green dress, and stood with her arms crossed, gazing into the distance.
Below the cliff of the church, the giant Seaborn let out a painful wail. Such deformed life should only exist in the deep sea; they were the greatest threat to all terrestrial life.
"These fools, using such a crude method to fight the Seaborn. If they adapt to Originium... and the radioactive dust, I'll have to go there later."
Kal'tsit had originally only intended for the two Hunters to investigate Quintus, whom she suspected had issues. If problems were found, she would provide some assistance, ideally resolving the Abyssal Church without appearing herself.
Who knew these people would immediately start fighting without a word—Aegir people, indeed, were all ridiculous blessings.
"However, that human... heh."
Remembering the man named Goki, Kal'tsit couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.
Kal'tsit hadn't imagined he would truly dare to directly detonate high-concentration Originium.
"He is, indeed, an interesting person."
Even so, Kal'tsit's brows remained furrowed.
"The Seaborn have come to land... is Quintus truly the only mastermind behind this?"
She vaguely felt that things couldn't be that simple.
"Let's go—Mon3tr, let's move."
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