92
Chapter 92
Rumble- Crash-
The two beings continued to face off, causing all of Atlantis to vibrate fiercely.
Parang couldn't understand how their battle was being waged at all, though.
From her perspective, the text presumed to be the Kraken...... and the Eyeball Monster were just floating still, staring at each other.
However, she could clearly feel that the two were in the middle of a battle.
'Hostility.......'
It was because the immense hostility spewing from the Kraken, overlaid as text in the distance, was being transmitted intact to Parang.
'Kraken.......'
The fact that it was an entity capable of harboring hostility was surprising in itself, but she was more surprised that she hadn't been that shocked despite being swept up in the hostility emitted by a being of that caliber.
'Is it because I'm a daughter?'
Parang let out a soft chuckle despite herself after thinking that. A daughter.
Then wouldn't that make her a being with the Monster Fish as a parent? If the parent was a Monster Fish, it was only natural for the child to be a Monster Fish too, which meant Parang would be a Monster Fish.
'I will definitely pass on that.'
After all, no matter what anyone said, Parang was a pure Human, 100% Human.
Calling her a Monster Fish was utterly absurd.
While Parang was having those thoughts, Alice was blankly watching the Kraken and the eye fight.
Having seen two such beings battle, it was understandable for her to lose her mind.
It was strange. Setting Parang aside, Alice should have been looking at both the eye monster and the Kraken at the same time, and with her own naked eyes at that, yet she didn't seem particularly shocked.
She didn't clutch her Head, nor did she display the facial expressions or movements typical of someone possessed.
Which meant she was simply watching their standoff without any mental interference.
If she had to name one reason why she could do that, there was only one.
'It must be the effect of that Fusion or whatever.'
It was reasonable to assume that was why Alice remained so calm.
'Anyway, she shouldn't just stand there watching that.'
After all, Alice was in a situation where every second counted.
Far from improving, it was visibly obvious that her physical condition was deteriorating compared to earlier.
Her skin, which was much paler than before, was the Evidence of that.
Even though she had already confirmed that Alice was alive, Parang couldn't help the trembling in her heart.
'Come to think of it, how did she even survive?'
Regardless of her state, having seen that Alice was alive, Parang had simply figured she managed to survive somehow, but thinking about it now, wasn't this situation devastatingly hopeless?
In the vast, open sea, the Status Window was unstable, making it impossible to know where they were, and even if they reached land, it was doubtful whether Alice's symptoms could be cured.
Furthermore, Alice herself hadn't predicted this situation either. Judging from her eyes and actions, Alice had merely seized a chance to escape upon seeing the sudden tremors and changing circumstances.
Alice's eyes were still full of the will to live, but Parang could also see her gradually losing hope.
Swish-
Nevertheless, Alice quickly kicked off the ground and started swimming.
As if asserting with her whole body that her story wasn't over yet.
She headed in the direction down the Stone Mountain. It could be considered a fairly reasonable judgment.
Since charging toward such transcendent beings in a life-threatening situation was basically suicide, she was heading in the opposite direction.
And since Fusion itself happened right here in Atlantis where Alice was currently located, the probability of finding a solution was much higher here than anywhere else.
If she had to pick the most likely place, she should go to the Temple Alice had escaped from, but unfortunately.
Rumble!!!
Having to withstand the strongest earthquake head-on, the Temple had already collapsed, leaving it looking like a pile of rubble with about half of it destroyed, making it impossible to even enter.
While swimming down the Stone Mountain, Parang was able to observe the scenery of Atlantis more closely.
This was partly because she was swimming right above Atlantis, as Alice needed to find something -whatever that might be- in the city, but also because the Rumble- vibrations significantly decreased the further they got from the mountain peak where those Monsters were battling.
The scenery of Atlantis looked remarkably similar to the ancient city Parang had seen in a Picture Book as a child.
It looked like the cities of ancient Greece, a sight any child born and raised in South Korea would recognize even without having ever been there.
Beautiful and antique Stone Buildings lined both sides of the winding Alleyway, and Busts and Statues -that is, Statues made of real stone- were erected throughout the streets.
For some reason, there were also structures that looked like Fountains and Wells.
And amidst all that, living Statues of various sizes could be seen walking around and doing things, which was a bit strange.
Their movements looked as if they were clumsily imitating the actions of a Human.
They would stand facing each other without moving a muscle as if in conversation, pantomime drinking something with empty hands, or mimic drawing water from a Well.
That alone was strange and bizarre enough, but what Parang felt was truly strange was something else.
'Why is no one...... paying any attention?'
Even though the battle of those formidable beings was taking place at the mountain peak in the distance, which actually wasn't that far away, the Statues didn't show the slightest interest and just continued doing what they were doing.
A reaction to stimuli was one of the most basic conscious responses, wasn't it?
Even the trees on land or the seaweed and Coral in the sea would react when given a stimulus, but these Statues showed absolutely no reaction despite the formidable stimuli presented to them.
Having fought countless battles with these Statues, Parang knew. She knew that their cognitive abilities were absolutely not lacking.
From how they hadn't approached Alice in the Temple earlier, there were more than a few strange things about their behavior.
It was as if they didn't know how to do anything other than this.
Beings that did not know how to do anything other than their given actions, repeating only one behavior unless there was additional input.
Parang knew of a similar existence.
'Robot.'
Come to think of it, the Statues and Robots had quite a lot in common.
But if those things were Robots, who made them, how, and for what purpose?
Did they spawn naturally from beyond the Gate? Or was there a factory that automatically produced them?
As she continued moving forward, the sight unfolding before her eyes only grew increasingly bizarre.
No, to be exact, the scenery hadn't changed. It was just that Parang, having sensed a feeling of incongruity, began to notice more of the strange details.
There was a statue that had fallen on the floor, flailing its limbs as it mimed walking; an entity standing motionless while facing a blank wall; and a statue acting as if it were using a hoe on the empty street without actually holding one.
'What in the world is this.......'
Just as Parang observed those grotesque yet mysterious sights and her thoughts were about to deepen.
Rumble- Crash!!!
From behind them, in the direction where the Kraken and the eye were facing off, a tremendous explosion on a completely different level than before echoed, and at the same time,
"Gah......!!"
Alice suddenly threw up blood while swimming and plummeted to the floor.
"A-Alice......!!"
Without even having the time to check the status of the battle occurring behind them, Parang descended to check on Alice's condition and immediately began examining her body all over.
'......!'
And the state of Alice's body that Parang checked wasn't something that could be called fine, even as an empty reassurance.
Her originally frail body had been completely shattered by the shock.
The shock was so immense that she could only squirm, unable to even crawl on the ground.
She truly looked as if she were on the verge of taking her last breath.
'T-This is, there's just no way.......'
Even in Parang's mind, there was no way for Alice to survive this situation.
However, the image of Alice talking with Alexandra was definitely.......
Parang fell into confusion.
Could it be that the Alice who had spoken with her back then was already dead?
Had she already died, sending only her soul to speak to Parang?
Leaving behind that single final word, had she become someone who no longer existed in this world?
Parang's thoughts kept drifting in a grim direction.
Just like that, the light in Alice's eyes faded, and the movements of her squirming body slowly came to a halt.
Finally, Alice's eyelids softly fluttered shut, and just as Parang's eyes began to well with tears.
Plop!
'Plop......?'
Something squishy and sticky fell in front of Parang and Alice.
'W-What is this?'
Both Parang and the dying Alice stared in surprise at the thing before them, and soon, they easily realized what it was.
'The Kraken's.......'
A tentacle of the Kraken, the very thing Parang had always seen.
It was the severed tip of the Kraken's Tentacle, still squirming on the Floor.
'H-how is this even......?'
Parang hurriedly looked back to where the Kraken was, but the Kraken was just silently facing off with that eye, exactly as before.
Could one of the Kraken's Tentacles have exploded during the battle, scattering its remains everywhere?
'......I say that, but there aren't any of these anywhere else.'
If that had been the case, pieces of the Kraken's Tentacles should be scattered in heaps all over the place, but there was nothing of the sort.
In this vast Atlantis, a piece of the Kraken's Tentacle had fallen in only one place, right in front of the collapsed Alice.
Parang quietly stared at that piece of Tentacle.
'That can't be!!!! This makes no sense!! N-no, no, no way!! T-this World is, for s-sure!!!'
"Urgh......!!"
Just then, something blurry, some kind of...... thing. Something she couldn't tell was a memory or something else surfaced in her Head and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
'Huh......? What was...... that just now.......'
Somehow nostalgic yet empty, regrettable yet sad.
It felt as if countless emotions had swept over Parang.
However, what truly made Parang feel strange was something else entirely.
'That emotion was definitely...'
The emotion she felt most strongly among those countless emotions.
The only emotion she could clearly recognize amidst those numerous indescribable feelings.
It wasn't fear, sadness, anger, or joy.
'Right, that was definitely.'
A sense of betrayal.
It was a sense of betrayal.
It happened in a truly fleeting moment, but for some reason, Parang felt she shouldn't just let this go.
So she tried to stare intently at the Tentacle once again, but.
"Haah......!!"
"A-Alice?!"
That was impossible.
Because Alice, who had already grabbed the Tentacle, was desperately eating it.
In her eyes, the fading will to live could be seen burning fiercely once again.
From Alice's perspective, it was like desperately grabbing onto the last Rope lowered to her right before death.
Parang could only blankly watch that sight.
Her Teeth couldn't even sink into it properly, but she held that squirming Tentacle that looked maddening just to see with both hands, somehow crunching and swallowing it; who could possibly say anything to a sight like that?
Like that, in the dead silence, Alice devoured the entire Tentacle.