37
Chapter 37
- Wow, holy shit.
- The tension is insane.
Regardless of the time or place, pitting things against each other has always taken up a significant portion of human entertainment.
Gladiators and lions, Messi and Ronaldo, fantasy and martial arts, T-Rex and Spinosaurus.
If there are two things that look remotely strong, bringing them together to fight and guessing who would win is a proven source of fun and content.
And the sight of monster fish dozens of meters long fighting like crazy was enough to soak the viewers' brains in dopamine.
Watching a 40-meter shark bite into a 50-meter eel was more entertaining than anyone could have imagined.
Even better, the match was neck-and-neck. They maintained a precarious balance, like walking on thin ice. This was only possible because Parang had tactfully picked two with similar strength.
Bertea was busy providing commentary on the side.
"That shark-like one is a monster fish called Hinus. It's a mutated monster fish from a medium-sized species of shark known as a requiem shark."
The original requiem shark species is a rare viviparous fish, meaning they raise their young in their wombs like mammals and sever the umbilical cord at birth.
Although they had turned into an oviparous species under the influence of the Gate.
This was also the reason why Bertea was able to bring back their eggs.
Fascinatingly, all creatures affected by the Gate had a characteristic of turning into an oviparous species.
Their other main trait was incredibly high aggression. They were fast and violent.
This was why they were strictly classified as predators despite their relatively small 40-meter size.
Next, the moray eel.
"The moray eel monster fish, Muros. Yes, the same moray eel you all know. The original length is usually about 40 meters, but that one is a bit on the larger side."
Bertea calmly continued her explanation.
"It has great elasticity, and its characteristic is that its body stretches out like rubber. It can easily reach up to twice its original length."
Parang also helped with the commentary next to Bertea.
"Its defining trait is that as it stretches, its outer skin becomes thinner, and its durability drops significantly. When a Muros is fully stretched, you can even tear its skin apart with your bare hands."
Of course, that was based on Parang's hands.
"How do I know that? Because I've done it myself, of course. Tearing it apart feels pretty good. I'd say it feels a bit like peeling a tangerine."
- Parang, what on earth are you saying...
- But peeling a tangerine does feel pretty good though.
- Truly, like streamer, like viewers. Absolute legends.
Meanwhile, the two monster fish continued their fierce battle.
The Hinus would violently lunge forward, and the Muros would deflect the attacks.
Moray eels are considered quite intelligent among fish. Intelligent enough that humans can tame them. A well-tamed moray eel can even recognize its owner.
Turning into a monster fish had further developed this advantage, allowing it to dodge all of the terrifyingly fast strikes from the Hinus.
Although it did have its limits; because it was a bit slower than the Hinus, it was dodging by a hair's breadth, making a counterattack impossible.
It was as if its entire body was made of joints (which was actually true). The way the Muros miraculously bent its body to evade every direction the Hinus charged was nothing short of marvelous.
It almost made you wonder if that thing was really a fish.
The hunters watching the broadcast subconsciously put themselves in the Muros's shoes, imagining whether they would have been able to dodge a shark charging at that speed underwater.
And they quickly came to a conclusion.
The day they faced that shark, they would be gruesomely murdered without even a chance to run away.
"The Hinus is actually quite common among monster fish. Just slightly rarer than a Bellua. Its habitat is extremely wide, so it often appears at the 700-meter mark, right at the entrance of the Monster Fish Zone. Recently, it was even discovered at a depth of 9 kilometers, breaking records."
Parang added to Bertea's explanation.
"Sometimes they come up even higher; on nights when the Monster Fish Zone rises, they're occasionally seen at a depth of 300 meters."
The viewers were already aware of the fact that the Monster Fish Zone rises at night.
This was because Parang had mentioned it while swimming to Hong Kong.
Thanks to that, no one went night diving in South Korea anymore.
Night diving was already unimaginably dangerous even without monster fish, so hearing that the Monster Fish Zone rises was enough to completely kill any desire to dive.
Unlike daytime diving, where the chances of encountering a monster fish are extremely slim, night diving has a genuinely high probability of such an encounter, which is why Parang preached the dangers of night diving at every opportunity.
"Honestly, whether it's day or night, it's best to just not dive at all..."
■■■■■――!!!
Parang's words were cut off by the monster fish's roar.
To think a monster fish managed to interrupt Parang; it certainly deserved the Monster Fish of the Month award.
- Wow
- That was a solid hit
Parang watched the ongoing brawl for a while.
At some point, the Hinus had been completely bound by the Muros.
From the tip of its tail to its head, it was tightly wrapped in a spiral.
Given the shark's physical structure, there was nothing it could do about something clinging to its body like this.
"Now, do you see that? If you look closely, you can see that the lighter-colored areas have expanded. It's the membrane that was hidden beneath the skin, now exposed."
Just as she said, the Muros had stretched its body long to ensnare the Hinus. The constricting force was so strong that the Hinus's torso bulged as if it were about to burst at any moment.
■■■■■■■■――!!!
It seemed to be struggling intensely in its own way, but the Muros remained completely still, simply tightening its grip.
- Isn't the shark way too weak?
Now, the Muros had even sunk its teeth into the gills. In this situation, a comeback from the Hinus looked highly unlikely.
■■■■-!!
The very moment all the viewers were praying for the Hinus's soul to rest in peace, something unexpected happened.
Whoosh-!
Slam-!!
The Hinus had rammed its body into the wall of the train.
Normally, its own body would have been crushed to pieces, but because the Muros acted as a cushion, the Hinus took no damage at all.
Only the Muros ended up squashed and bleeding, falling off the Hinus.
- Wow holy shit
- It made that kind of judgment with a fish head?
- Ah, this player is bold.
And the quickly approaching Hinus lunged at the Muros, successfully sinking its teeth in.
In an instant, the surroundings were dyed with red blood.
"Bleeding during a battle with a Hinus means death."
Bertea quietly chimed in.
"The teeth of shark-type monster fish are coated in a slightly... peculiar poison."
The viewers, puzzled by Bertea's words, soon understood what they meant.
The Hinus pulled out the teeth it had sunken into the Muros.
The teeth were dripping with red blood.
Trickle. Blood was drawn out along the teeth like a long string.
The problem was that it didn't stop.
"A special chemical is secreted from the poison glands located on the Hinus's teeth. When it comes into contact with blood, it turns it into something like a polymer."
Parang simplified the explanation.
"In other words, it turns the blood into a state similar to egg whites."
Anyone who has cracked an egg and tried to separate just the yolk would know what this feels like.
The point was that the bleeding wouldn't stop.
And it wasn't just simply not stopping; the blood was continuously being drained out of its body.
In fact, the surroundings were already clouded with the blood the Muros had shed.
It was so thick that its figure could not be seen, obscured by the mist of blood.
The Hinus, its body full of scars, smoothly swam into it,
- Wow
- Hinus wins!!
And emerged holding the completely dried-up corpse of the Muros in its mouth.
"It's the Hinus's victory."
Parang stated flatly, then swam over to the Hinus,
Swish.
And gently swung her harpoon once.
■■■■■■―!!
The Hinus was split entirely in half and died instantly.
The chat froze for a moment, then exploded.
- What on earth was the fight I just watched?
- One?? Shot???
"Anyone capable of doing this, please contact me. If you can't, just don't go diving from now on."
- =Don't go diving
- Being this consistent is a talent in itself...
After that, the joint broadcast with Bertea proceeded smoothly in a good atmosphere.
Excluding the Gate-born monster fish that don't lay eggs, almost all the monster fish in the 3rd and 2nd train cars fought each other.
- Wait, how does she take less than 30 seconds to find the eggs every time??
"That is the accumulation of knowledge through years of experience and steady research..."
"It's a skill."
"...resulting in a skill. Yes. That's right."
Parang said in a slightly blunt voice.
- Is the streamer sulking?
- That was totally a sulking tone.
"I'm not."
Honestly, she was a little bit.
As Bertea said, in addition to her ability to grill fish alive, she was also excellent at finding things underwater.
Whenever she discovered a monster fish for the first time, she would stick to it all day long, digging into what it ate, where it built its nest, what its eggs looked like, where its weaknesses were, and how many hearts it had, so it was impossible for her not to develop a related skill.
With that, the highly anticipated Bambaspis mirror match brought the day's monster fish battles to a close.
Parang prepared to wrap up the broadcast.
"Thank you so much for watching the broadcast today, and let me say it again: never go diving. I trust you won't."
"Today was fun. And I'll be starting my broadcast soon too."
- Are you doing another monster fish battle?
- Are you going to show us Europe's monster fish???
"Pitting monster fish against each other... well, I might do it occasionally."
"For your information, I won't be doing it on my channel. I don't even have the ability to fetch eggs in the first place."
Parang planned to make monster fish battles an exclusive content piece for Bertea's broadcast. That way, there would be differentiation, and wouldn't she get more viewers?
As for the diving prevention effect... surprisingly, looking at the viewers' reactions today, it seemed to be working.
If Parang showed the gruesome side of monster fish, Bertea showed their strong side.
Besides, due to the time difference, their broadcast times were completely separate.
"Well, anyway. That's how it is. Please watch Bertea's broadcast a lot, and I'm telling you once again, absolutely do not go diving. Got it?"
- Yep.
"Then, see you tomorrow."
With those final words, Parang's broadcast ended.
It wasn't long after the broadcast ended that a mysterious video, featuring the entire recording and edited highlights fully translated into French, English, Spanish, and German, began to be suspiciously pushed into the algorithms of Europeans.
And then.
"Now, then-"
"We should do what we need to do."
After the broadcast, Parang and Bertea did not leave the East Sea Hive.
They were standing in the connection area between the 2nd and 1st train cars.
Beep beep beep beep beep-
The detector on Parang's chest was beeping fiercely.