I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature-Chapter 36

Chapter 36. Ogh of the Rising Tide (3)
At times, magic can grant an overwhelming sense of omnipotence.
In Ogh’s case, he seemed utterly intoxicated by that feeling.
-Behold! The power of a practitioner! The more Mantras you possess, the stronger the power of Mantra Combination becomes!
-This is the path of Call Wind, Summon Rain, Move Mountains, and Cross Waters.
Yul deliberately kept silent. This time, the balance between him and Ogh had completely reversed. Ogh could launch a bombardment with giant boulders at any moment, while Yul couldn’t afford to expose his position.
-I know you’re still alive! I saw your swimming speed—dodging something like that would be easy for you. You’re probably hiding between those rocks, waiting for a chance, aren’t you?
Ogh looked down with haughty confidence.
-If you don’t recite the next verse of the stone tablet, I will unleash my Call Wind, Summon Rain upon that island full of humans you care so much about!
Before Ogh could act, Yul announced his location, letting out a sound from his prepared spot.
-The second verse. [Your kind, the foolish orcas, lack the intelligence to comprehend language—this is my lament. Thus, I have decided to bestow my grace upon you.]
-Ooooh! There you are!
Yul had been hiding directly beneath Ogh. The moment he recited the second verse, he spun and accelerated.
Channeling the magic sealed within the Horn of the Sea King to its very limits, he formed a spiral current.
‘Here I come.’
Ogh could have fled. Perhaps he could have easily dodged Yul’s attack.
But this time, he chose a different response.
【Cross Waters (渡水)!】
Ogh wrapped himself in a strange water barrier and sank beneath the surface.
-Now, die!
'No,
you
die!'
Yul and Ogh clashed head-on. With a terrifying explosion, the surface warped as waves of distortion and white foam burst outward.
The decisive moment had arrived. The one defeated was Ogh.
-Guhhh! Impossible! You should have been shredded to pieces by the power of Cross Waters...!
Yul’s Authority of Madness granted him physical invulnerability, but there was no need to explain that.
Ogh, who had poured every drop of magic he had into the collision, was shattered upon impact and sent hurtling into the air.
The oppressive pressure that had dominated the space began to fade as the magic surrounding his body dissipated.
The storm clouds dulled, and the raging waves subsided.
-Your movements have slowed.
Yul grabbed the groggy Ogh and rocketed down to the seafloor.
Thud!
A dull impact resounded through the shallow seabed.
Like a teleporting strike, he followed up at terrifying speed, delivering a rapid barrage of tail attacks.
-Where do you think you're going!
Thwack!
-You think you can threaten!
Thwack, Thwack!
-Me!?
Thwack, Thwack, Thwack, Thwack!
As Yul continued his relentless assault to prevent Ogh from using any Mantras, the ground beneath Ogh’s back caved in. Despite the brutal flurry, Ogh still refused to die.
-Ugh-huk!
Yul prepared to deliver the final blow to the battered Ogh.
But just then, the seemingly unconscious Ogh’s eyes snapped open.
-S-stop!
-Hm?
-It can't be helped. I didn't want to use this!
From Ogh’s eyes, a strange light streamed out and linked with Yul’s gaze.
At that moment, Yul felt himself connected to a space resembling pure darkness.
His consciousness slipped through the crack.
-Where... is this?
The battlefield from moments ago was gone.
He was surrounded by darkness—nothing existed. No water, no air, no need to breathe. Only endless blackness.
-How does it feel? This is my mental space.
From afar, a fully unscathed Ogh appeared. Yul was taken aback—Ogh, who had been wrecked and broken moments ago, now stood before him perfectly intact.
-From here on, I’ll slowly peer into your soul... and extract every memory you hold of the stone tablet.
Yul tried to shake free from Ogh’s magic, but it was useless.
Ogh’s magic morphed into chains, binding Yul in place.
Their memories intertwined—one ensnaring the other.
And in that instant, Yul found himself momentarily linked to Ogh’s own memories.
* * *
Ogh, before becoming a practitioner, had once seen the Deep King Tribe as a child.
Overwhelming power. Transcendent Mantras. Freedom beyond the limits of any race!
After witnessing their radiant existence and gauging their might, Ogh became utterly captivated by them.
Thus, defying his family’s objections, Ogh resolved to walk the path of a practitioner.
From that day on, every moment of his life became a step toward becoming one of the Deep King Tribe.
Morality and ethics were meaningless. If something was necessary, he would do it without hesitation—kill, steal, and destroy.
He wanted to grow stronger. To gain more Mantras. To reach omnipotence.
In the end, he would transcend the boundaries of his species and ascend into another.
Behold—the being that glitters from beyond that distant star, calling and seducing him.
He would become one of the Deep King Tribe.
Yul forced himself free from Ogh’s memories through sheer willpower. Then he realized once again—his body couldn’t move. His skin wasn’t even glowing red.
'Authority of Madness isn’t working. Or… maybe it’s still active in the real world.'
This was, indeed, the mental space Ogh had spoken of.
But Yul had absolutely no intention of following Ogh’s lead.
'If it’s a magic that governs the soul, then I know one too.'
The Formula he had received from Ian this time—
Great Balance Formula 4: Devourment (蠶食).
The origin of ‘Devourment’ comes from ‘Slightly devouring, little by little,’ symbolizing a silkworm slowly and steadily eating through mulberry leaves, gradually consuming bit by bit.
Yul’s Devourment Formula was the same. Slowly, it began to consume Ogh’s soul.
'When it comes to the scale of the soul’s level, I’m confident.'
By comparing himself to Ian, Yul could tell how vast his soul truly was.
It was large enough to have the entire Great Balance's unique magic system of the Beltein family integrated and still have plenty left over.
-How ridiculous. You dare oppose me, the one who holds the Mantra of the Soul, with such pitiful magic control?
The usual provocation came, but Yul ignored it and focused.
Devourment worked by scraping away the opponent’s soul. If a magic circuit existed, that would be the point of entry, but…
'There’s no physical magic circuit here. The Mantra is directly connected to the soul.'
Even the Mantras etched onto the skin were merely for show—they didn’t actually exist there.
Mantras resided within the soul.
Yul began tearing directly into Ogh’s soul, slowly, steadily, like a silkworm feeding.
-Futile!
Ogh, in turn, thrust his own soul like a spear, piercing through Yul’s essence.
From within, he began to assault Yul’s soul.
'Damn it, his speed is faster.'
Yul’s Devourment Formula was a method of slow, thorough, and complete subjugation, but Ogh's attack was directly impaled and spread from the inside out.
He was faster.
Yul realized he needed an extraordinary countermeasure.
'Ian once said, there’s a way to activate Balance without harming oneself.'
Something had to exist between Devourment and Equilibrium.
Yul believed that something was Isolation.
-It’s still me, yet it exists apart—completely detached from my own soul. So even if it becomes corrupted, it remains unlinked to who I am…
The revelation flashed through his mind.
A localized form of soul isolation.
It was the fifth formula of the Great Balance, discovered by Yul. He severed a fragment from his vast soul.
The Formula’s inscription already existed in his mind.
* * *
[It bears every wound and every burden. Once, it was a part of me—but no longer. Now it stands as something other, holding within it both despair and the chance of hope.]
As he invoked the Formula, Yul guided his magic. The magic circulating through his magic circuits converged and restructured into the form of a spell.
「Isolation」
Yul isolated the part of his soul that Ogh had invaded.
And in that same instant, he drove the Devourment Formula harder, with greater force.
It was a kind of Elision.
-I’ve found it! A memory buried within your soul. I see it…! The moment you first laid eyes on the stone tablet! Ohh… so you could read it, could you!?
But Ogh’s entire mind was focused on the stone tablet.
If he had examined Yul’s memories more carefully, he could have witnessed things far more shocking.
Yet, just as Yul had selectively viewed Ogh’s memories, Ogh, too, only peered into the parts of Yul’s mind that interested him.
And then, he encountered a revelation.
-Light? Was light the key all along!? Heaven and Earth Resonance—impossible! Then that means… the destined alignment with the moon isn’t far off!?
Reading the tablet’s information, Ogh shouted in astonishment as though struck by divine realization.
But Yul continued his silent invasion, gradually consuming Ogh from within, until he could completely seize his consciousness.
And Ogh’s realization came too late, just as Yul reached the core of his soul.
-Huh? When did you get this far!? I used the Mantra of the Soul to seize the core of your soul!
-I isolated that part and temporarily separated it from my soul.
-That's nonsense! That's the same as temporarily moving your brain to another location outside your body!
-But I did, didn’t I?
‘Like 'moving your brain aside to dodge a bullet.’
Ogh was aghast. Yul had just accomplished a soul isolation feat of insane difficulty.
-Y-you madman! Wait! Just wait! I read the stone tablet! I’ve reached the threshold of revelation! I was about to ascend without even needing to fight you!
-Save the nonsense.
Did he think Yul would agree to a draw now?
Yul’s Devourment had seized control of his soul.
'Huh? I think I can actually do this.'
Now that he had consumed Ogh’s soul, Yul realized something—he could take his Mantras.
'Mantras? Let’s see what he’s got.'
Yul checked Ogh’s list of Mantras.
【Ogh of the Rising Tide】
【Mantras: Mantra of the Soul, Mantra of Tides, Mantra of Telekinesis, Mantra of Illusion, Mantra of Truth, Mantra of Wind, Mantra of Clouds, Mantra of Armament…】
'What the hell? how many does he have?'
Yul had thought the tattoos engraved across Ogh’s back were excessive, but this number was beyond absurd.
Staring at the endless list, one in particular caught his eye.
'The Mantra of Illusion… that one.'
He recalled the shimmering mirages that had confused and obstructed him earlier.
Ogh had used that to create perfect deception—moving unseen, vanishing even before Yul’s eyes. It had been maddening.
Now, it was Yul’s turn to take it for himself.
-You’ve got something nice there.
Ogh’s eyes trembled as he saw Yul absorb the Mantra.
-What have you done!?
-Let’s see what else you’ve got. The Mantra of the Soul? That one looks good too.
-You fool! Never!
-What?
Suddenly, Ogh’s soul began to quake violently. Yul’s instincts screamed—something was about to happen. He couldn’t stay here.
The Devourment Formula was slow to enter, but fast to withdraw.
Yul pulled out immediately and opened his eyes.
Right in front of him stood Ogh—his entire body glowing with a bizarre light, broken and battered.
-What are you doing?
Cracks began forming across Ogh’s body as immense magic waves radiated outward.
-I’d rather die than let you take away my cultivation!
-You’re insane.
A self-detonation?!
Yul instantly pulled back. Almost immediately, a violent explosion erupted behind him.
A strange detonation spread, unleashing a massive wave that rippled for dozens of meters.
'I almost died…'
His Authority of Madness had worn off mid-battle, and the shockwave struck him directly.
'So much for invincibility. If the enemy self-destructs as they vanish, there’s no escaping death.'
Yul had discovered the weakness of the Stone of Authority.
It rendered him truly invincible against strong enemies, but once that ended, any following attack left him utterly defenseless.
He felt completely drained, like a berserker whose rage had burned out.
Yul looked toward the spot where Ogh’s body had vanished without a trace.
'At least he had a clear goal. Practitioners… they really are terrifying beings.'
From this fight, Yul had learned just how frightening practitioners could be. If possible, he’d rather run than face another.
Then, suddenly, a Quest Complete window appeared in his status screen.
-Defeat one sea creature stronger than yourself.
Ah, right. There was a quest like that. He’d ignored it for so long, he’d nearly forgotten about it.
'But what’s that…?'
Yul turned his gaze toward the glittering object left behind where Ogh’s body had vanished.
'What is this? It’s not even a core…'
-So the First Calamity has vanished. That confirms it, then.
At that moment, a voice reached him. Yul turned his head.
Floating nearby was a translucent orca.
-Old man?