Chapter 144.

When the battle ended, the sea was devastated. Several hundred monster corpses floating on the sea spoke to how fierce the battle was. But of course, the sea creatures would eat them up and clean the sea. Really, there was no victor in this battle. The Exotics were annihilated, and so were the Natives. The humans who escaped in the middle of the battle received the least damage, so they could be considered the winner.

But the true winner was Jung Si-woo, who created all this ruckus to his taste. Without their intervention in the middle, the humans would have been all killed due to mermaids’ annihilation.

“I’m proud of myself.”

[Krrrrrrrrruh!]

The whale roared in reply to Jung Si-woo when he spoke while looking at the ocean. The water that came out from its back soaked his body. Marina approached him as she mistook the water as its attack, but then she stopped in surprise. Instead of receiving damage, a new form of vitality was erupting from his body.

“Si-woo, aren’t you recovering right now…?”

“I think so.”

Jung Si-woo replied after with some confusion. If it had any intention to attack him, his Dragon’s Dignity would have warned him, but it didn’t, so he stayed still as the whale healed him.

[Puwoooooo!]

“This guy…”

The whale was roaring out of happiness without knowing Jung Si-woo’s bad intention, so he took a little bit of pity on it. For Jung Si-woo, who had been experiencing monsters engaging in combat to kill each other, this was an extraordinary experience. And, to think objectively, it was his first time to be healed by a monster.

“If then…is there a way for monsters and humans to coexist?”

[…Well. But in the case of the world we live in, they were already worshipping gods the moment we discovered them. You might know, Master. Simple-minded and foolish ones react more sensitively. That is why monsters are quickly infected by the gods compared to humans.]

The monsters which Caina encountered so far were already worshipping gods. There wasn’t the slightest possibility of compromising with them. Things were different with the earth, where monsters just realized the existence of the gods.

[They will soon become a follower of gods and will try to devour us. Actually, it’s amazing how they were putting up this much resistance.]

“Actually.”

[Puwoooooh!]

Jung Si-woo gave an explanation while patting the head of the whale, which was acting all cute.

“Perhaps the reason why these guys were against Hedea is that they are already worshipping someone else.”

“A god…?”

Unfortunately, there weren’t any monsters that could clarify it to them. All the intelligent ones had died. Well, in fact, this whale was the only living monster. If it weren’t for the cooperation from Jung Si-woo’s members, it might have had a hard time with the mermaids.

“Still worshipping a god…”

“At least they aren’t worshipping the gods from the other world.”

The members made a presumption about the situation with Jung Si-woo’s awkward explanation and became puzzled. And when everyone was tilting his head, the whale suddenly roared loudly.

[Gwooooh!]

Everyone was moving as it showed them the way. Was it returning home? If so, they would have to hunt Moby Dick. As Jung Si-woo lifted his hammer while hesitating, it looked back and cried out once more.

[Pyooooooh!]

“…No way.”

Jung Si-woo opened his mouth a bit wider. Perhaps…this guy was telling them to follow it. As Jung Si-woo looked back, the others seemed to have the same idea as him.

“Is it trying to lure us in a friendly manner, then sink us at once to the bottom of the sea?”

“If it was that intelligent, things wouldn’t have turned out this way in the first place.”

[Master…I.]

While the members hesitated, Caina spoke up again. It seemed that she was a bit more assertive than usual today.

[I guess it won’t be bad to follow it.]

“Hmm.”

[Wherever it leads us, and whatever we encounter, Master won’t die anyway. If necessary, we can use the key on the bottom of the deep sea to escape to the sanctuary.]

“That’s right.”

Her boundless confidence was something that should be acknowledged. Jung Si-woo nodded calmly and looked at his members to ask them their opinions. Marina spoke up first.

“I want to tame whales too! I’ll go!”

“I didn’t tame it.”

“If Mr. Si-woo goes, I’ll follow him.”

“We have no choice since we’re supporters.”

“I’ll go too, Hyeong-nim.”

Lee Seo-hee was last. She was a challenge fanatic! She sighed and asked a question to the members who were all worked up on the idea of a sea adventure.

“How are you guys entering the sea?”

“Uh…”

“I can create an anti-person barrier which will allow us to breathe in water. Don’t think about entering it without me.”

Barrier abilities had all-around power! Each of the members received a barrier from her and rode on the back of the whale monster in amazement. After confirming that all of his members had boarded, Jung Si-woo tapped the whale’s head and shouted.

“Good…let’s go, Puyi!”

[Puuuuuong!]

“Don’t give it a weird nickname!”

But it was already too late. The whale happily reacted to the weird name given by Jung Si-woo and submerged underwater. The members looked at the scenery underwater with distorted expressions.

“It’s even worse inside.”

“Ahhhh, corpses everywhere…”

They forgot the fact that the ocean was contaminated by a massive bloodbath. A pleasant underwater exploration with corals and tropical fishes wasn’t possible for them.

[Puyuuuuuung!]

As the whale moved inside the water, it sucked up everything with its mouth. Without differentiating the corpses of its allies from the enemies, it cleaned up the sea. It spurted out water through the hole on its back while propelling its body forward. Lee Seo-hee watched it happening and mumbled coldly.

“This guy is just a monster that resembles a whale…its physical structure is completely different!”

“Now you mention it.”

Jung Si-woo patted the whale’s head that danced quickly through the sea and engulfed everything they encountered. It was slower than his Phantom Bike, but its comfortability was splendid. While they were entering deeper into the ocean, no monsters blocked their path. Not even mermaids appeared. Normal sharks and whales weren’t that surprising to them anymore. There were no traces of monsters at all!

“I’m not sure with the other seas, but all monsters in the Pacific seemed to have been annihilated…”

“If we can recur what happened here on the other seas in the world, we might be able to recreate sea passages.”

“No way.”

Marina laughed hard, but Jung Si-woo looked serious with his word while patting the whale. Only Soo-rin realized he was serious. Calculations on the Natives and the Exotics were ongoing in his mind!

“Let’s weigh things in the place where this whale is taking us, Oppa…”

“Ooookay.”

The underwater exploration continued for almost three hours. They went deeper, but there was no way that Jung Si-woo’s members would experience difficulty from water pressure since they weren’t regular players.

[Puyuuuung?]

“Yeah, it’s all right.”

The sound wasn’t a systematic language, but its intention was clearly understood by Jung Si-woo. Like a trainer, he patted the whale since it was concerned about him. And Seria groaned at that moment.

“I can see a deep crack.”

She was right. After experiencing numerous dungeons and several other worlds, Jung Si-woo had adapted to diverse environments, and yet he could see a wide and deep crack in the bottom of the sea. A dark abyss where its interior can only be seen by those with detection skill was located in that place.

“Mariana Trench?”

“That was destroyed. Perhaps it’s a new trench created by the changes happening on earth.”

Changes happened slightly in the case of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. There were several tourist spots like the infamous mountains, rivers, and other scenic spots all over the world that ceased to exist due to the beginning of the New Age. And new spots had been created because of it, but since the world wasn’t safe and sound for tourists to gather around, there wasn’t any list about them.

[Puyoooooong!]

“As you guys might have noticed.”

After spotting the trench, the whale vertically tilted its body. Jung Si-woo activated his mana onto the smooth back of the whale and clung closely to it.

“It is going in there.”

“Whoooooooooooa!”

“It’s fast!”

As if it was sailing all this time smoothly, just for this moment, the whale propelled itself to charge into the trench! Caina shouted.

[Be cautious, looking at the mana in that place, it’s an outer space that pars with the 73rd demon castles…!]

The next moment, the environment completely changed, like the way Caina said. Space was expanded in all directions, and the feeling of the seawater changed.

“Quite a mana…”

Marina mumbled out of admiration. Jung Si-woo also felt the dense mana that could only be felt in dungeons above the 30th floor. In terms of the other world, it was as dense as Potupou. The untouched and clean mana made them feel refreshed as it was indirectly touching their skin.

[Kuwoooooo.]

After arriving at a safe area, the whale became relaxed. It swam carefreely in the area where the inclination became flat. And it was only then that monsters nearby approached them, and they looked like the Natives. But their levels were too low when compared to the whale. This guy must be a unique one.

[…Human?]

[Seiraksia brought humans along.]

Such a gorgeous name belonged to this whale!

[Seiraksia brought humans…!]

[C-call the chief priest!]

The monsters that spotted the members while approaching the whale became confused and shouted, but the whale continued swimming away.

“Ah.”

As the passage ended, the wider ocean floor came into sight. Jung Si-woo thought whether he was looking at the sunken Atlantis Kingdom under the sea.

“Look at that, Oppa. A castle of white pearls…”

“That huge circular structures…are they the houses of the monsters?”

A tremendously wide area where Seiraksia could freely move. Artificial infrastructures seemed to be built according to planning, and a strange-looking castle on top of the hill.

[Seiraksia!]

[It made it back alive!]

[Oh, they are humans…? Wait for a second, others…]

[Kuooooooooo!]

As Seiraksia entered the area, monsters came out from the infrastructures to greet it. Of course, most of their levels were low, and it probably was because the high leveled ones participated in the battle with Seiraksia and all died.

“These guys really joined the battle without any plans.”

“Monsters from the other world will keep on invading…”

“But monsters from the earth will continue to be created too.”

Seiraksia swam directly towards the hill. The monster that came out from the building on top of it seemed to be of high level.

[Seiraksia!]

[Puyooooooong!]

Seiraksia blew out a water stream and replied loudly. The monster saw the humans on top of its head, and its goby-like eyes shivered.

[Did they perhaps…]

At that moment, Jung Si-woo barely realized that the monsters didn’t show their fangs at them when they entered their space. What on earth were these monsters? Why were they denying their nature as monsters? He landed on top of the hill while being more lost in his thoughts.

Maybe that goby might clear out his questions.