22
Chapter 22
'It should definitely be nearby.'
Parang scanned the surroundings with cold eyes.
And only after a long while did she notice a faint yellow glow seeping out from a distance.
Hurrying over, she could see why it had taken so long to find. It was much smaller than Parang had expected.
'This is....'
An earring crafted by shaping a top-tier blue magic crystal into a ring.
As if it were some legendary item in a game, a yellow radiance was leaking from the earring.
A divine object. That was the phenomenon that appeared in the highest grade of artifacts.
And Parang pondered.
'What is this?'
Her memory was hazy. It was definitely an artifact used quite often in the original work, but since there were over fifty of them in the story, she was getting confused.
Thus, she pondered!
Inside the small library in Parang's head, tiny little Mini Yoo Parangs scurried around endlessly, pulling out books and reading them.
Then, flash! One Yoo Parang, who was precariously opening a book at the top of a ladder, raised her hand high!
"I found it!!"
At that, the Yoo Parangs huddled together beneath the ladder each chimed in.
"What is it?"
"What?"
"What could it be?"
"What's that?"
The Yoo Parang at the top opened the book with both hands and held it up above her head!
"It's Departure!!"
Only then did the swarm of Mini Yoo Parangs gathered below shout, 'Ah, that's right.'
"She says it's Departure!"
"So it's Departure!"
"It was Departure!!"
And coming back out of her head, the big Yoo Parang.
She stared quietly at the artifact before muttering.
"It's Departure."
Number three of the Slayers, Hunter Han Siwoo's second woman.
The strongest spearman in history, Olivia Cloverfield.
It was the very first artifact Hunter Han Siwoo gifted to her.
Reaching the climax of the plot, the scene where Hunter Han Siwoo hands her this earring is one of the best scenes in the novel... or not.
Because at the point he started crafting the earring, 70% of the readers had already predicted, 'That's going to go to Olivia.'
Of course, Parang did too. Anyway.
The name of this earring is [Departure].
Ironically, Olivia, who was originally a sailor, never boarded a ship again after receiving this earring.
It was also one of the reasons Parang binge-read the novel to the end.
Because of the small hope of whether she would ever ride a ship again. Of course, the biggest reason was that it was good for killing time.
Parang looked at Departure scattered on the floor.
For a divine object like this, an anti-theft option would naturally be applied. It would be top-tier, too.
If an ordinary person so much as touched it, they would instantly go mad, get fried, explode to death, or whatever else.
However, this was underwater, and the one attempting dispel was Yoo Parang.
[ Activating skill, Aqua Cleanse. ]
The curses started washing away from the earring before her eyes.
Like a tissue soaked in paint spitting the paint out in water, the artifact steeped in all sorts of spells was vomiting them out underwater.
Black, green, red, yellow—the curses unraveling in various colors.
'They really put a lot on this.'
There were twelve types just from what Parang roughly checked with her eyes.
And about five minutes later.
Departure vomited out its final security spell.
Parang picked it up.
Then she equipped it on her ear. The yellow light faded.
It meant it was equipped normally.
A priceless treasure of immeasurable value. Especially for Parang.
Fitting for its name Departure, this earring could turn the surroundings into an environment comparable to the sea.
As a bonus, it had various options like breathing underwater and stat increases underwater, but that was irrelevant to Parang.
This was the reason underwater action scenes could appear in the original novel without them going to the sea.
Anyway, such a treasure fell into Parang's hands.
Being able to fill a space with water anytime, anywhere. It would hurt her mouth to explain how huge of a help that would be to Parang. It was truly the ultimate buff skill.
It was ironic considering it was used more as an area-of-effect debuff in the original work.
Parang spat out a line she had really wanted to say for a long time.
"I'm lucky."
She was lucky.
If it was an earring, wearing it during a broadcast was no problem.
Parang had inwardly worried that a weapon type might come out.
Why? Because if she used that, she couldn't turn on the broadcast.
As far as Parang knew, no divine object-grade artifact of the Slayers had been discovered yet.
The things divers salvaged were low-grade C to B-Rank items, jewels, or gold bars.
If news spread in the midst of that saying an awesome artifact from the Slayers was found on the seabed, wouldn't people desperately dive into the deep sea?
Parang was even thinking it would be better to hand the artifact over to someone else rather than have such a situation occur.
That was also the reason she came down without turning on the broadcast this time. It was 4km underwater here, so she couldn't even control the broadcast with her cellphone. If she had come down with the broadcast on, this scene would have been broadcast live without fail.
That would be unacceptable.
Anyway, Parang went up, up. She began to retrace her steps along the path marked with luminous jelly.
And shortly after.
Oh, this!
That T-shaped monster fish she had encountered in Aurita's territory caught Parang's eye once again.
Parang hurriedly took out her cellphone to skim the list Bertea had sent her, but then she paused.
Because her cellphone was completely dead.
Right. It's over 4km deep.
She tried swimming up to the cave's ceiling, but it was just barely too deep to reach.
Should I just go all the way up the passage, check it, and come back down?
No, that wretched passage?
Parang had almost developed claustrophobia on her way down. She didn't even want to go out that way, let alone go out and come back in. Absolutely not.
Then I'll just have to try what I can roughly remember.
Having quickly made her decision, Parang rummaged through her mind.
What she needed to find this time was: what did Bertea tell me to try?
Once again, inside the library of Parang's mind, the Mini Yoo Parangs bustled about.
Then, a Yoo Parang wearing round glasses who was frantically flipping through a book raised her hand and shouted.
"Here, I found it!"
At those words, the little Yoo Parangs swarmed over, making a fuss as they chattered, What is it, what is it, what did she say to do?
Then the spectacled Yoo Parang thumped her chest and declared, "She says to pull out the eyeball!"
"Ooh!!"
"Eyeball!!"
"As expected!!"
At that, the tiny Yoo Parangs who had gathered also marveled.
The spectacled Yoo Parang, grinning from ear to ear while being tossed in the air, looked extremely happy.
And on the outside, the big Yoo Parang recalled the memory.
'She told me to try pulling out the eyeball.'
Parang went over to the T-shaped monster and instantly shredded everything except for its eyeball.
Then she jammed a harpoon into the eyeball and used leverage to scoop it out,
Pop-
And just like a Lego piece separating, the eyeball popped out cleanly.
At that bizarre sight, Parang tilted her head. She wondered if this was right.
First, she decided she should hurry up and contact Bertea.
Parang stubbornly forced her way back up through the narrow passage.
And as soon as she was out, she texted Bertea.
She detailed the sound it made and the texture she felt when pulling out the eye, adding her personal opinion at the end that it didn't seem like a living creature, and sent it.
And only then did a thought occur to her.
Come to think of it, couldn't I just use the Kraken to check if it's a living creature or not? Why did I forget this?
It seemed she had forgotten because she was too excited about the thought of digging out the eyeball.
Inside her head, the Mini Yoo Parang wearing glasses was already being ruthlessly beaten by the other Yoo Parangs.
Parang stared at the hole she had just come out of.
And once again, she gave up. How could she go back in there? She'd rather die.
Figuring another opportunity would come along next time, she simply swam up to the surface.
#
Munch, munch.
Xiao looked at Parang, who was mercilessly murdering a Lotus Biscuit, with a slightly pitiful gaze.
What was she supposed to do when it was so delicious? Parang didn't even make eye contact as she inhaled the biscuit.
Dipping it lightly in coffee would be the icing on the cake.
"So, is this that skeleton?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm...."
Placing the skeleton, which clearly looked like a human skull, on the dining table, Xiao pondered.
Parang was eating snacks right in front of it, but their stomachs were already beyond human. They could enjoy a meal even if it were served inside Lassus's pouch.
"Still, with this level of preservation, a simple identity check and 'Dive' should be possible."
'Dive'. It was Xiao's unique skill. The act of jumping into the memories of the dead underwater and experiencing them.
Of course, that was only underwater. If that were possible out of the water, Xiao would have already become an S-Rank Hunter.
Ah, that didn't mean they had to jump back into the sea to verify the skeleton's identity.
"You're pretty much done eating, right?"
Parang hurriedly stuffed ten Lotus Biscuits into both of her pockets before nodding her head.
Even though she probably had plenty of money, telling her to just buy it herself if she liked it so much was pointless.
Because the moment you bought a Lotus Biscuit with your own money, its taste was halved.
It was a snack that tasted best when eaten for free.
Anyway, having swept up the free snacks, Parang stood up from the table and stepped back.
Click, click.
As Xiao fiddled with a controller she got from who knows where,
Clank- Whir-
The table in the center of the circular living room sank down. Then, the center of the wooden floor opened up in a circle, like a camera's aperture.
Visible below was sloshing blue water.
It was Xiao's multi-purpose water tank. It was bigger than the largest water tank in an average aquarium. That was because three whole floors of this building had been turned into a water tank.
Splash-
Xiao dove into the water tank with perfect posture.
Parang also took off her suit, folded it neatly, and jumped in with a splash, holding the skeleton.
Whir-
After that, the floor closed, and the round table rose back up into the living room where the two had been staying, as if it had never disappeared.