[Vol. 7] Chapter 45: Skull
Violet was no longer the frightened, clueless fledgling she had been when she first arrived in this world. After years of constant travel and interacting with various gods, she had gained much knowledge about them. While she couldn’t claim to always win in a confrontation, she was confident in her ability to protect herself.
However, if a true battle with a god broke out, the aftermath could be disastrous. Considering the size and power of this evil god, the consequences could be world-shattering, potentially affecting the entire sea. If possible, Violet hoped to avoid such a situation.
The Origin Realm was not the Ancient Spirit Realm, and Violet couldn’t rely on forbidden magic to save the world every time a catastrophe occurred. She had no such obligation, and doing so would only bring endless trouble.
So, how to handle this situation depended on a deeper understanding of the circumstances and the developments on the other side, especially with Hongyan and the others.
The evil god's tentacles, were vast compared to Violet's small human form, barely over a meter tall. Just the cross-section of one tentacle was as wide as an entire square. Standing on it alone made Violet marvel at the unimaginable size of the world.
If Octaviel truly had tens of thousands of such limbs, as described by Sethlin, this being might be the ultimate example of size in Violet’s experience. The sheer size of its body alone was comparable to an entire small or medium-sized country, which explained why it could easily destroy an entire [miniature world]. The power of gods was truly on a different level from ordinary creatures.
While studying the tentacle beneath her, Violet didn’t forget her true mission. Her divine sense extended like a probing needle, reaching into the surroundings. Before long, she pinpointed the source of the loud whale-like cries and faint resonating waves coming from above.
It was directly beneath this enormous tentacle.
Violet moved a little, positioning herself closer to the source of the resonance. The golden light she naturally emanated grew brighter as she did so.
The pollution here was noticeably stronger than in other areas. This was likely one of the true sources of the strange force in the Ghost Sea.
Could it be that the evil god was using its body to suppress this eerie power? What was really going on here?
With that thought, Violet stopped hesitating. She immediately raised her hand and summoned a golden spear of light, thrusting it into the thick, tough tentacle beneath her and giving it a strong swipe!
"Whoosh!!!"
Although the evil god's tentacle had impressive defense, with the physical strength of around a seventh or even eighth-tier magic, it couldn’t withstand Violet’s power when she personally took action.
The interior of the slashed tentacle immediately leaked a large amount of mysterious substances. It wasn’t blood, but something like dark gas, a faint black substance.
As these fluids mixed into the surrounding seawater, not only did they begin to darken the water, turning it into a murky, ink-like color, but the intensity of the pollution in the area also rapidly surged, becoming visible to the naked eye, like a vicious ghost freed from its restraints pouncing towards the priestess!
"Buzz~"
As the corrosion intensified, the golden glow surrounding the black-haired girl seemed to respond, rapidly expanding at a sharp rate. The dazzling light spread out over a thousand meters, like a second rising sun in the ocean, instantly purging the blackened seawater!
"Hmm?"
Violet was slightly surprised.
The usually cold and distant light-attributed god, who usually seemed as unapproachable as an ice-cold beauty, was putting in such effort today. She had expected to face some trouble, but...
She didn’t quite understand it, but at least the sudden effectiveness was making things much easier.
Just now, her light spear had pierced several meters deep into the tentacle, even puncturing a strange eyeball growing on it. Yet, even with that, there was no reaction from the evil god, not even a tremor from the tentacle itself.
"Just as I thought..."
She continued to dig away at the deflating part beneath her feet, thoughtfully nodding to herself.
Looking at the structure inside the tentacle, it doesn't seem like the body of a typical sea creature, like an octopus. For the evil god, this might be more like an extension of a weapon rather than a part of its physical form, and it likely doesn't feel pain at all.
Although she didn’t fully understand what the black substance that leaked out and was quickly purified by the Light power was, it was highly likely to be related to pollution. This suggested that part of that power was indeed connected to the evil god, Octaviel...
Either way, it was best to find the source of the resonance first.
After digging down at least ten meters into the relatively flat surface of the tentacle, Violet finally reached something resembling the ocean floor. She had found what she had been looking for.
It was a piece of bone, about half a meter in diameter, with a flat, concave curve resembling an inverted pot lid. Its surface glowed faintly with a bluish light and was mostly buried in sand.
Violet had expected the pollution to intensify once she uncovered the source, but to her surprise, it didn’t. Compared to the more surface-level pollution, the power contained in this bone was much stronger but also more subtle.
This was an item truly connected to the gods.
Carefully, Violet used her staff to extract the bone, laying it on the ground and clearing away the dirt to examine it curiously for a moment.
"Hmm..."
Though large, it resembled the bone of a humanoid creature, more specifically a skull. However, only about a third of the upper part remained, with two circular indentations on the broken surface, most likely eye sockets. The fracture marks below the eye sockets didn’t look like cuts or slashes, but instead seemed more like the result of some corrosive force melting the bone, leaving rough, uneven edges.
Could this be the remains of the [God of Truth]?
No, that couldn’t be right.
According to common belief, gods don’t leave bodies behind after death, because a god’s essence is their divine power, which represents one of the laws that form the world. This Divinity can’t be destroyed by any force.
Death simply transforms them into a purely spiritual form, like what happened to Sethlin in the seal, where they slowly regain their divine power, find a new vessel, or even reassemble their divine body.
Even if things were more severe and the Divinity was truly shattered, it would only return to the pure law of spirit, waiting for a new consciousness to emerge and take shape naturally.