66
Chapter 66
(It is recommended to read this with black text on a white background.)
"Haaah......."
Parang, having ended her broadcast, let out a deep sigh.
Large and small bubbles escaped from her mouth and gurgled upward.
'Do I really have to face it in the end.......'
It would have been great if Marianne's Corpse had just appeared while exploring the Hive during the stream, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Parang was currently located about 700 meters away from the exact center of the Hive.
There was no way a wind could blow down here, yet the nearby grass fluttered in a single direction.
It meant she had entered Crino's territory.
Sea Lily, or Gaetnari.
It was named as such because it resembled the lily flowers native to South Korea.
In English, it's called a feather starfish, which literally translates to Feather Starfish.
This name was also given because it looked like a Starfish with feathers.
Besides that, the Sea Lily has several other nicknames.
The broom of the sea, an alien lifeform, what the fuck is that, and so on.......
And as is often the case with bizarre-looking marine life, the Sea Lily is normally a gentle creature that feeds on Plankton.
It was also very typical that once it mutated into a Monster Fish, its nature would flip a full 180 degrees.
Crino is considered an apex Predator even among the Monster Fish that utilize a Mental Attack.
Generally, Monster Fish that are strong above a certain level- to put it bluntly, those that actually put up a fight- all possess some degree of immunity against a Mental Attack.
That was only natural. No matter where you go in the Deep Sea, everything tries to bewitch you with flashy appearances, so shouldn't one have at least a countermeasure for that?
Many Monster Fish have corneas shaped like a special Lens, restrict their own vision, or completely get rid of their eyes to live by trusting the currents.
Therefore, the ocean is quite harsh to Mental Attack-type Monster Fish, placing them at the bottom of the ecological pyramid.
However, there are limits to that logic, and once one reaches a level where they can devour a target by Brainwashing them on a brainwave level just from making visual contact, nothing is more terrifying.
If a bit of physical strength is added to that, its destructive power reaches a level that transcends imagination.
And Crino was exactly that kind of Monster Fish.
The strongest Mental Attack in the ecosystem, surprisingly potent physical strength, and even ridiculous survivability and speed.
It was simply a wildly overpowered Monster Fish that had it all.
Parang hid behind a Tombstone for a moment and began to formulate a plan.
Peeking her head out, she saw Crino.
Taking a quick look, it had one, two, three...... about twenty arms in total.
This meant it had settled here for over two months.
That was before the Slayers' Ascension.
Meaning Crino was already there when Marianne was teleported to the Hive.
Crino controls the flow of water to pull various surrounding things toward itself.
It was highly likely that it had pulled Marianne's Corpse toward itself as well.
Still, being eaten by Crino rather than another Monster Fish was a relatively good scenario.
Because it takes a considerable amount of time for it to digest.
Come to think of it, Parang was incredibly lucky.
In the East Sea, Alexandra's Corpse was awkwardly caught between compartments, making recovery possible, and even in the Drake Hive, there seemed to be a way to recover Marianne's Corpse.
In reality, if a Human's Corpse fell into the sea, especially into the Monster Fish Zone, you could consider recovery virtually impossible. Just like the case of Olivia, who fell into the Hong Kong Hive.
After Parang's initial search, Xiao used a Skeleton to scour the entire Hive about three times, but Olivia's Corpse was never found.
Drifting in the sea, eaten by a Monster Fish, then that Monster Fish eaten by another Monster Fish. If you encountered a Monster Fish like Hinus even once in that Chain, the chances of Corpse recovery dropped to zero that very day.
So Parang couldn't afford to miss this opportunity that had presented itself.
'I can't use the Kraken.'
If it accidentally absorbed Marianne, she would have to stay up for days with her eyes wide open.
'Going inside is.......'
She would rather die than do that. There had to be another way.
'Should I cut off all the arms first and then dismantle it.'
This method seemed the best.
Everything about Crino-its Mental Attack, mobility, physical strength, and so on-comes from its arms. It could be called its core organ, much like the Propeller of a Hinus.
Just as the terrifying Hinus would die on its own if the neural network of its Propeller was severed, Crino would also completely lose its power and die if its arms were properly cut off.
You could call it the standard method for exterminating a Crino.
The problem was that there were only six people in the entire World who could put that standard extermination method into practice.
And once someone reached the level of those six, they could hunt Crino without necessarily having to cut off its arms.
Boiling it whole, eating it, stomping on it, detonating an Atomic Bomb....... well, besides that, various other things.
Parang was trying to hunt Crino without the Kraken for the first time.
Honestly speaking, it seemed like it would be a bit fun.
Was this how experts felt when they intentionally cleared games under poor conditions?
Having roughly formulated a plan, Parang dashed out from behind the tombstone with a swoosh.
And then.
Parang caught sight of Crino.
Its disc-like body was hidden from view by the countless arms surrounding it.
About twenty elongated arms, resembling bird feathers, were attached in a circle around its body, swaying fluidly to disrupt vision and cloud consciousness, and its moving shape was like.......
'Urgh.......'
Her vision wavered, and her stomach churned.
Crino executes a mental attack not through light, but through movement.
That was also the reason why it could survive in the Drake Hive.
Therefore, looking at a photo or a drawing of Crino was fine, but a video was an absolute no.
Parang briefly lowered her head at the dizzying movements filling her sight.
She felt seasick. She felt like throwing up.
What unfolded before her eyes was a moving festival, a dance of Heaven, a heavy haze.
It felt as if the entire space was rippling and approaching Crino.
Correction. It was not just a feeling; it was actually happening.
Crino moves anywhere from ten to thirty arms dizzily underwater, twisting the surrounding flow of water.
The twisted water currents make the movements of Crino stand out even more, further increasing the intensity of the mental attack, and ultimately directing the flow of water into its own mouth to swallow defenseless prey whole.
For that reason, even Parang, who is completely immune to mental-type attacks, inevitably has to struggle a bit when facing Crino.
Because the attack of Crino does not stop at mental damage caused by a skill, but is accompanied by physical effects.
Parang would not even blink at a mental attack inflicted by a god as long as she was underwater, but there was nothing she could do about her field of vision being physically distorted right in front of her.
Still, since she was immune to the mental attack caused by the skill, it merely ended at feeling a little dizzy.
Because of this, even when Parang or another Oceanus raids Crino, they consider attacking without looking at it as the best strategy. For example, turning completely around and summoning the Kraken.
But given the current situation, well. It could not be helped.
Parang clenched her teeth and charged toward Crino.
The surrounding scenery transformed bizarrely the closer she got to it.
Her vision rippled as if an editing filter had been applied, and the surrounding Monster Fish had tied their own bodies into knots if they were even slightly long, or had tied themselves together if they were too short.
Without her Skill, Parang would have also immediately tied her own body up tightly and been eaten by Crino in a state of ecstasy.
Parang charged fiercely at Crino, even putting a bit of emotion into it.
She felt deeply resentful, wondering why this particular creature had to appear and put her through such misery.
Whether it knew Parang's feelings or not, Crino just continued to squirm.
"Uwaaaah!!!"
With a bold shout of effort, Parang swung her Harpoon in a wide arc.
Fundamentally, Crino is huge.
So no matter how hard Parang swung her Harpoon, at most, only one arm would fall off.
There were still nineteen arms left, each about 200 meters long, swaying endlessly.
That wasn't all. Crino had outstanding regenerative abilities.
Just like the Monsters with multiple arms or multiple Heads that constantly appear in classical mythology, if one of Crino's arms was cut off, two arms would grow from the severed stump.
In classical mythology or modern media that takes motifs from it, this problem is solved by cauterizing the stump with fire following that cliché, but unfortunately for Parang, lighting a fire underwater was not an easy task.
With the mindset of making do with what she had, Parang wrapped water drops around her hands and relentlessly blasted the severed areas.
Surprisingly, this was a proven method. It couldn't prevent regeneration as definitively as cauterizing with fire, but doing this could significantly drop the speed of regeneration.
Like that, Parang snipped off Crino's arms one by one and blew them up with loud bangs.
She eventually succeeded in cutting off all twenty arms.
After doing so, all that remained were the pitifully fluttering severed stumps and the disc-shaped body in the middle.
Parang crept closer and carefully sliced open Crino's stomach with her Harpoon to find Marianne's corpse.
Sure enough, it was there. A beautiful girl with short blonde hair was curled up as if sleeping peacefully, without a single scratch on her body.
'Thank goodness. Her condition is still okay.'
And the moment Parang hoisted her onto her back and was about to head up to the surface.
'Wait a minute.'
How could her condition be this perfectly intact?
As soon as Parang, feeling a sense of incongruity, swiftly pulled back the arm she had extended to pull her out.
Flash.
Marianne opened her eyes.