I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature-Chapter 49

Episode 49. Cleanup
Amid the cheering orcas, Yul quietly sank into thought.
‘This was the Second Calamity?’
Rukit had foretold a Second Calamity, and this was it.
‘Then what about the third?’
The Hive was a Calamity that required the entire Orca Tribe to swarm it and still suffer catastrophic losses just to deal with it. And yet there was a third.
At that moment, Tuania approached and lightly bumped Yul’s shoulder with her head.
-You did it.
-It still bothers me that we couldn’t save Nugh.
-Grandfather will be pleased too. In the end, just as he said, it means you’ve become stronger than me.
-Huh?
-But I won’t give up. I’ll become stronger than you.
With that, she lashed Yul hard at the waist with her tail and left.
-Ow!
No, really—whenever Tuania hits him, it hurts, but Madness doesn’t activate, so his skin just turns red and hot.
‘So this is the weakness of Madness! Truly terrifying.’
While he was spouting nonsense, Gehenna approached.
-You two seem close.
-Are your wounds all right?
-Yalmuka helped me, so they’re roughly stitched up. He’s an old friend of mine, so I trusted he’d come to my aid right away.
At Gehenna’s wound, strangely shaped white threads were binding the gaping hole in his side like a cocoon.
The stitching looked solid enough that it didn’t seem like water would seep into the wound.
Yalmuka, the spear-squid, clicked his tongue and sent a magic signal.
-Tsk. No use trying to butter me up like that. I only rushed over because Lancia asked me to.
-Even so, from the waters where you live to here is quite a distance. You must have come without sleeping or eating.
Looking embarrassed, Yalmuka ignored Gehenna and moved closer to Yul.
-You, you're strong. Surviving even after going into the heart of the Hive. I’ve met all sorts of sea creatures until now, but I’ve never seen anyone show such insane combat. You were practically like a Syrendron out of legend.
-…..
Yul was a bit flustered by a comparison he’d never considered. A Syrendron, of all things. He answered modestly.
-It may have looked that way, but this spear played a big role.
-…That’s a spear that looks too big for me to use.
The Krelsite spear’s tip was utterly mangled.
As if it had been smashed with a blunt weapon. And all of that was Yul’s doing.
The result of spinning it madly and swinging it explosively to gouge out the Hive’s tough purple flesh—it had been reduced to rags.
-I expected it to work well against a magical creature like the Hive, but it wasn’t as effective as I thought.
The fusion points used magic power, but the creature itself seemed to move by a different mechanism—something he could feel during the fight.
-Krelsite, the stuff those turtle bastards won’t even look at. It’s a better mineral than you’d think. Especially when it comes to breaking the mantra an enemy wraps around itself like a barrier, nothing beats Krelsite.
It seemed the Turtle Kingdom was the outlier, and other sea creatures were using Krelsite  to some extent.
-So, how about it? Want me to teach you how to use a spear?
-What? I don’t have tentacles, you know.
-Watching you, you were gripping the weapon with magic power. In that case, there’s no reason you can’t learn.
But can an orca really use spear techniques?
-If you grasp a weapon, you walk the path of martial combat…and that shall eventually converge into one.
-That’s a bit…
-Yalmuka, even if you make an offer to teach spear techniques, it won’t be too late to do it after we return to the village.
-Ah, right. First we should that the Hive has been dealt with.
-Some of the Patrollers have already sent a to Lancia via the Mantra of Communication. We should take care of the aftermath of this Hive.
They said that after Yul chewed and devoured the Hive’s core, its body fragmented and vanished.
Now countless plankton were breaking it down. At that moment, a sailing ship suddenly appeared.
“Lord Yul! You won!”
Marchand was waving his hand without even wearing a coat.
-Ah, right. Those guys were here too.
“Now please return the anchor and the rigging!”
Marchand’s group had to be sent home as well. They couldn’t return otherwise, having stripped away a huge amount of necessary supplies.
In any case, setting aside worries about the future, Yul examined the gains he had obtained this time.
‘Experience, I guess.’
He hadn’t obtained any special relics like an Abyssal Polyhedron or a Stone of Authority, but he had gone through a crazy ‘power-leveling’ spree.
[Consuming Hive biological tissue]
[Experience +100]
[Experience +100]
[Experience +100]
[Experience +100]
[Experience +100]
.
.
.
There were so many logs that he scrolled and pushed them all the way up. The experience value in the final log was enormous.
[Consuming Hive’s core]
[Experience +15,000]
[Experience Required for Next Stage]
[37,850/9,600]
‘Insane.’
A sand shark living in the Deep Sea gave 1,000 experience. Yet the Hive gave fifteen times that.
Considering their power difference, he thought it might be strange, but when you added up all the other parts of the Hive he had eaten earlier, the total was absurd.
Stage 5 required 9,600 experience.
Stage 6 required 19,200 experience.
Stage 7 required 38,400 experience.
Upon reaching Stage 7, Ascension was possible, and considering that he was still only at Stage 4, he could evolve twice over—and still have experience left to spare.
Preferring to evolve when he was alone, Yul decided not to evolve here and instead save it for later. Besides, saving evolution didn’t make the experience disappear, so he planned to decide slowly.
And around then, a soul Yul had been waiting for appeared.
-So you really did it…
-It’s Old Man Meal-kit
-It’s Rukit!!!
-But seriously, old man, what exactly are you? They say you’re an ancestral god, but you meddle in everything.
-Unless it’s right in front of the one I’ve made a contract with, I can’t interfere as I please. Still, to think you actually defeated the Hive…
It was rare to see Rukit so impressed.
-You might not have seen it from outside, but I did. You tore the inside apart with your spear and then ripped and ate the Hive’s flesh as you went. Is your stomach all right?
-I feel fine.
Yul was curious about that himself. Just what kind of process turned the food that went into his stomach into experience?
Unless a wind hole formed in his gut and sucked everything in, there was no way to explain it.
And yet the satiety function worked just fine. Yul had eaten so much of the Hive that he felt full enough not to eat for weeks.
-But, you see it? You’ve got a surveillance function too?
-I am the ancestor of all orcas. You were an exception, but because of our contract, I could see.
-Ugh, voyeurism.
-Stop talking nonsense. Anyway, since you defeated the Hive, the Orca Tribe has avoided the Second Calamity.
-If something like the Hive shows up one more time, I don’t think I can handle it.
Yul had truly used everything he had. He restricted the enemy’s movements with explosives and ropes, and even used Krelsite weapons.
If he had to fight more than that, even Yul would be exhausted.
-The third Calamity is something that doesn't move.
-Do you know what it is?
-No, even I don't know the specific details. Haven’t you heard that living long lets you glimpse the future to some extent?
-Doesn’t move, huh. Hm.
-It’s unfortunate about Nugh’s death. When he helped Tuania and Gehenna escape, anyone could see that Nugh was a hero.
-Heroes tend to die young, they say. It would’ve been nice if Nugh had lived just a little longer.
Yul mourned Nugh's death once more. He was an orca who was no different from a mentor, having trained Yul and accepted him into his tribe.
-So, don’t you have any tips or something?
-Someday, you will encounter the Deep King Tribe. Do not trust them.
The Deep King Tribe—since the topic had come up, Yul decided to ask something he had long been curious about.
-So, what’s your connection with the Deep King Tribe?
-Those rascals interfered with my tribe. The Orca Tribe from which I used to draw in faith with a straw... no, no. They are hypocrites who barged in, claiming they were involved in the enlightenment of the orcas! We orcas have been smart since the old days.
-…You draw in faith with a straw?
-No, that’s just a figure of speech. I’m the first orca, so I’m an orca but also a half-divine ancestral spirit… even if I do nothing, faith naturally flows from the orcas. That’s why I once wanted to become a god, though that’s in the past now.
-You were quite a spiritual being in your own right, Old man.
Listening to this, isn't he just slandering them because he’s the one losing out?
-So, the Deep King Tribe came in, plugged in their straws, and sucked up all the faith, which is why you’ve fallen into this state?
-……They are existing beings regardless, and I am a body that has lost its physical form. Hah. Yes, that’s right. Do you feel better now that you've stuck the facts into this old man?
What Rukit was saying came across to Yul roughly that way, thanks to the translation function.
-Well, you can live fine without faith anyway.
-Hmph. That’s only because you don’t know. Anyway, I can only tell you this now that you’ve dealt with the Second Calamity, but those guys are actually frauds. They never awakened the intelligence of the orcas, and they are the ones who created that fake group called the Ascensionist faction. Do you know that some of the orcas' affairs were created by the Deep King Tribe's nonsense?
-Pardon? Nonsense?
-Yes, things like the Syrendrons. Those were originally in the ruins of the Turusain in the Deep Sea. But the reason they are located just a few meters below the surface is because of the Deep King Tribe. Those rascals fished perfectly fine things out of the Deep Sea and put them there.
-Then, the Warrior Corps stopping the seal every cycle is also all because of them?
-Exactly. The Deep King Tribe causes problems, then, to avoid cleaning up their mess, they subcontract the Orca Tribe. The Starlight Gem Cavern? There was originally no hole leading to the Deep Sea there. The Deep King Tribe made that hole.
-Huh.
I’d heard an astonishing truth. I had always thought the Deep King Tribe was the orcas’ deity.
But these thoughts were all filtered through Rukit’s biased perspective. Until you see it yourself, you can’t know for sure.
-But didn’t the Deep King Tribe also issue warnings? Lancia said she received a warning about the Hive from them.
-Lancia never came to the place where Parang was asleep… if she had come to my side, I would have told her.
Influence matters. Yul knew it wasn’t good to believe just one side, even if it was his.
-Well, anyway, since you’ve defeated the Second Calamity, I’ll give you one more piece of advice. It’s valuable. Summon the Abyssal Polyhedron.
-…Huh?
-Since you defeated a monster like the Hive, you should be able to receive a Mantra.
Following his words, I summoned the Abyssal Polyhedron. Strange symbols and unusual sigils appeared. This should be the Mantra obtained as a reward.
Just as he was about to absorb it, he asked.
-Ah, Old Man, but what is Mantra Combination?
Seeing that Ogh of the Rising Tide and the Conqueror of the North can use it, the Mantra Combination seems to be a technique used by the strong.
-It mixes several Mantras and activates them simultaneously. But for now, I don’t recommend it for you.
-Why not?
-How many Mantras do you have?
-Oh… not many, I guess.
I only have three: Mantra of Communication, Mantra of Illusion, and Mantra of Armament.
-And each Mantra needs at least eight to combine. There’s a reason their starting phrases have eight characters.
-Eight? Huh.
-And you need to combine Mantras with high attack power. But are the Mantras you obtained suitable for offense?
Now that I think about it, all my Mantras seem to be support-type.
-Once you get a few more Mantras from the Abyssal Polyhedron, then consider a combination.
Finishing the conversation, Yul leaned his head toward the Abyssal Polyhedron.