[Vol. 7] Chapter 44: The Evil God Beneath the Deep Sea
Deep in the ocean lies an endless darkness and profound depths.
The sea hides countless pasts, realities so twisted and absurd that only those with unshakable mental fortitude, capable of confronting these truths, can dare step into this place.
Violet descended deeper into the sea, and everything she saw and felt along the way was chilling.
The Ghosts dwelled beneath the deep waters. Their bodies were decayed and broken, yet they were pieced together by some external force, creating pathetic prisoners trapped forever, unable to escape.
There were far more than the total number of creatures in the entire Emerald Sea. Those who had once invaded the islands of this sea were nothing compared to what resided here.
But the Ghosts could never leave the Ghost Sea, and they were not allowed to have their own will.
They were forgotten pasts and buried corpses.
This place, called the Ghost Sea, was a mysterious and forbidden graveyard of the sea, something no one dared to approach. But now, the young priestess could see the truth hidden within its depths.
A golden light descended into the sea.
It was so blinding, so out of place against the eternal darkness around it. Yet, the Ghosts paid it no attention. They simply swam aimlessly through the waters, their bodies formed of writhing tentacles.
What… is this?
Generation after generation of [miniature worlds] had shattered and been buried in this sea. The bitterness and resentment of the past had been discarded in the Ghost Sea, and the peaceful, calm sunshine of the Emerald Sea now seemed like a distant dream.
Violet didn’t understand the reason behind it.
The deep-sea god, the evil god, now known to the world by the name of the Sea Goddess Vier, had revealed its true form.
“The Deep Sea Evil God, Octavier…”
Violet softly spoke the true name she had heard from the Goddess of Life. Beneath the pure golden light, deep in the Ghost Sea, she finally saw the terrifying figure of the god.
It was like a massive serpent, but swollen a hundredfold. Its tentacles, stretching out for what seemed like an endless length, covered the ocean floor in layers, spreading like roots of a tree, almost suffocating everything in sight.
They wriggled, as if rooted deep in the ocean, drawing everything from the sea as parasitic creatures. On each massive tentacle, countless strange moving eyeballs had grown, the eerie sight so unsettling it could cause a person with a fear of clusters to faint on the spot.
These were part of the body of the Sea’s evil god, Octavier. The evil god had used its tentacles to carve out a vast domain in the sea, trapping all the creatures within, unable to escape. The space directly above these tentacles formed what was known as the Ghost Sea.
The evil god's domain, the closed-off kingdom called the Emerald Sea, had been created by this very act.
“Goo-loo-loo-loo-loo...”
At the moment the true name of the evil god was spoken, all the tentacles writhing beneath the ocean floor, thousands upon thousands of eyes, almost all focused on the golden light slowly descending in the sea. It was as if they were observing, judging, or simply empty, without will.
They didn’t make any real movements, nor did they suddenly attack the girl in the golden light.
Because they were just a part of the evil god’s body.
Violet understood that this was not the gaze of the true god. According to Rashid, the god’s will had fallen into a deep sleep for a larger plan, which was why, for over five years, the domain had not experienced extinction, and things had remained peaceful.
This was also why King Willipol dared to secretly reach out to another god he worshipped, attempting to undermine the evil god.
And so… the Ghosts, which should have remained asleep in the deep sea, were now acting on some external power’s command. They had left their original cluster and risen to the surface, attacking the creatures of the Emerald Sea.
It was like a territory suddenly losing its ruler, and the strange creatures, once hidden, now began to emerge.
At the heart of this, the interference from another god’s power was the key. It came from the source of the [Book of Truth] in the hands of Willipol and Rashid Bachiri. The former nemesis of the evil god Octavier, the [God of the Azure Sea and Truth], Surst.
Violet wasn't here to confront the slumbering evil god. What she truly sought was the [God of Truth], the key to the mystery of this sea, and the core of it all lay with [Them].
[They] were also within the Ghost Sea, beneath the ruins of this former royal palace, at least in part.
This was once the site of another royal palace, and the Mingjiao Tribe clearly had a deep connection with the [God of Truth] in the past. Willipol's choice to hold the ceremony here was not a random one.
“Ooo~~!!!”
A huge shadow appeared over a kilometer away, slowly drifting past, sweeping aside countless ghosts that seemed like rootless floating weeds. A loud whale's call echoed through the water, as if sending out some kind of distant and unique signal.
That was the Sea Overlord’s Ship, the Ahei, a giant blue whale.
The Azure Sea Whale was once a follower of the [God of the Azure Sea and Truth].
Within its body was the [Book of Truth], and the bloodline of this mythical creature, had been further awakened. It became the key to allowing it to freely enter and exit the Ghost Sea. At that moment, it helped Violet illuminate a divine relic that would otherwise be nearly impossible to track down.
“Vvvv~~~”
A faint, almost imperceptible resonance echoed from deep beneath the ocean, captured by the divine presence constantly radiating from the young priestess.
"This feeling... is it coming from the seabed?"
With the [Feather Robe Graria] protecting her, parting the sea around her, Violet continued to dive deeper.
This was already the second time she had descended to such depths, past ten thousand meters beneath the surface.
Unlike when she piloted the [Noah’s Ark], with a whole crew aboard, this time, Violet didn't use any magic to resist the pressure of the deep sea. While the [Feather Robe Graria] might not have the strange powers other artifacts possessed, its protection was subtle and practical.
Its immunity threshold alone far exceeded the usual defense limits of [Light Protection], making it resistant to all negative effects within that range. It was highly useful in many situations.
Even now, the terrifying water pressure in the deep sea, which should be able to crush iron balls, was completely blocked by the artifact, and Violet didn't have to do anything extra.
However, the brilliant golden light that illuminated a space with a radius of several hundred meters wasn't the power of the [Feather Robe Graria], nor was it Violet showing off intentionally. It was the result of the [Radiance] Divinity being activated.
The Divinity was spontaneously resisting a certain indescribable conceptual force in the deep sea.
This was likely the reason no one could leave the Ghost Sea alive. The terrifying “distortion” was extreme. If the aura emitted by those whose minds had been polluted only made the surrounding space feel sticky, then in the depths of the sea, any ordinary creature that entered would likely have its soul and body twisted and mutated into a mad monster.
There was no doubt that this was divine power. From the direction of the ghostly mutations, it seemed to come from the influence of the evil god Octaviel... but Violet still felt something was off.
According to Sethlin's description, the Evil God of the Sea's authority and this strange mental pollution were clearly very different. It actually seemed more like the influence of the laws of [Truth].
"Hmm, it should be somewhere around here..."
Reaching the ocean floor at the bottom of the deep sea, Violet casually stepped onto one of the enormous tentacles, forcing herself to endure the slightly sticky sensation beneath her feet. She ignored the many eerie eyes watching her and took out her staff, beginning to tap lightly on the tentacle beneath her.
She wasn’t worried that such contact would wake the evil god.
First, that being had already fallen into a deep sleep at a crucial moment, and this level of contact is likely no more significant to it than a mote of dust settling on its skin. Unless the attack directly threatened its true form or life, it wouldn't matter what Violet did.
Of course, the most important reason was, the priestess wasn't afraid of it at all.