Farosa raised her hand, pressing it closely against the glass, and released the Law of Slaughter before Innovation fell into the eyes of the abyss.
A gray intense light flashed from her palm, and magic power mercilessly scattered outward, piercing through the massive creature, forcing it to die. Cracks appeared on its body, as bright gray lights exploded along their paths, scattering outwards. The monster itself was like a flesh bag that couldn’t withstand the pressure and burst open instantaneously, emitting a muffled sound.
Every tentacle, including its massive and ugly body, instantly ceased moving, divided into countless tiny pieces by the millions, each hurrying to sink to the bottom, the foul-smelling black blood mist erupting violently, dispersing in all directions on the ocean floor.
The Ocean Descendants, originally charging at the Innovation due to psychic influence, now also stopped in their tracks, aimlessly wandering in the sea, losing direction.
Innovation tilted downwards, Lila re-ignited the engines, stabilizing the machine anew, as the thrusters resumed functioning, humming noisily.
"You..." The voice of the deity rose again in Farosa’s mind, but this time it was especially weak, wailing as it awaited death, "...how dare you..."
"We can chat slowly once you’re in my belly; I’ve got all the time in the world to digest you," Farosa responded softly.
The pieces of the massive creature’s body gradually sank to the bottom, and all returned to calm.
"Bring the shuttle machine down, and just eat the fattest part," Farosa suggested.
"How did it become so fierce?" Xu Yang pondered, "A deity should be more omnipotent, more rational."
Lila maneuvered Innovation to decrease its depth; by now the massive creature had turned into a large indistinct pile of flesh on the ocean floor, with fragments and black blood dispersing in every direction.
"We thought the same," Farosa said, taking in a cold breath, the buzzing and screeching in her mind now gone, and the ocean had once again become a place of tranquility, "Let me ask you, Xu Yang, if you were to become a supreme being, would you be willing to give up your current flesh, your mind and spirit?"
"So to become a ’god’, one must abandon their original humanity and their former flesh and blood?" Xu Yang thought for a moment.
"That is the idealized state," Farosa walked to the equipment area in the back of the cabin and poured herself a cup of hot water, "That is the intended purpose of the Throne of God, to strip us of our vulgar bodies of flesh and blood, erase our inferior biological instincts, evolve our petty primitive brains, and ultimately turn us into ’gods’ that can do anything and view everything from a higher dimension. You can imagine what it would be like—by then, we would become completely different beings."
"Beings that are driven by genetic instincts are indeed starkly different from a god’s state," Xu Yang nodded.
"But we are not willing, all of us...are not willing," Farosa said, "While among the Ancient Mystics, some life forms think differently. They are willing to sacrifice everything for power, to become the highest existence. That’s why they despise the previous deities, like Orcian. Orcian, the dominator of the seas, after ascending the Throne of God, refused to let go of itself, unwilling to fully embrace the pure essence of a deity. You have encountered it, right? A violent, vicious lower mind, wielding power far beyond what that mindset should handle."
"So it became the way it is now...very weak," Xu Yang nodded. Let’s not even mention Farosa’s life-depriving magic power; a single missile could take out one of its avatars.
"The conflict was born , a thousand-year-old conflict," Farosa drank down the hot water, "Orcian with full Divine Power but lacking the demeanor of a deity, that made the Mystics envious."
"Then did they attempt to seize the Divine Power?"
"Of course, the conflict was too intense, and ultimately led to much trouble," Farosa looked out into the dark seawater, almost able to see the trapped Yan Duo in the distance, "Over a thousand years of history, the Mystics are still alive, again beginning to meddle in the world and attempting to reclaim their rightful place. That’s why we need to control Yan Duo, because the situation is escalating."
"In that case, it would be better to let artificial intelligence become a god," Lila said, "They were free from biological gene control from the start."
"Like you?" Farosa said sarcastically.
"I can’t do it, I will definitely be biased towards my master," said Lila, "Without being just and rational, we are far from divine, and the same goes for you."
Lila operated Innovation, opening the stabilization frame below, transforming its shape, and using it as a hook. It was originally designed to fix Innovation to the repair machine and had strong gripping power. Quickly, it captured several larger chunks of black flesh.
"Back to the previous topic—" Xu Yang doubted, "Are you sure it won’t upset the stomach?"
Although he knew that Farosa had a habit of eating monster meat, considering its previous form, the idea was still somewhat hard to accept.
"Just think of it as sashimi, where else can you find such delicious seafood?" Farosa laughed.
"I’ve detected a small shrine-like structure," Lila released her Magic Power. "It’s on the right side diagonally below where this creature is lying, 145 meters away."
"It’s half-dead, but not truly dead, probably because the Secret Ritual Group has been regularly feeding it," Farosa realized. "Over the years, they must have accumulated considerable offerings. Anyway, the sight of me eating sashimi isn’t very pleasant, so you should go take a look around."
"Let me see," Xu Yang also wanted to investigate the surroundings.
He took off his jacket and fully unleashed the "Cloud Beast" Nano Armor. Nanobots quickly began to operate, covering his entire body with densely woven nanofiber strands, forming a completely enclosed solid armor. Various auxiliary modules came online, with astonishing effectiveness.
In preparation for this underwater expedition, Innovation had undergone many modifications. Xu Yang opened the watertight door that separated the inside from outside and entered the diving chamber hanging on the side of Innovation. He manually opened the external chamber door, and seawater immediately flooded in, mixed with the monster’s black and red blood. With a light kick, he then swam through the chamber door, gliding into the sea like a fish.
Xu Yang swam to the underside of the Shuttle Machine, where it had already captured the fragments of flesh needed by Farosa. Grabbing a large piece of flesh, which felt like an oversized sea star, Xu Yang dragged it upwards. He felt his strength doubled, exceptionally robust, and without any effort, he easily stuffed the two pieces of flesh into the diving chamber. The external chamber door closed automatically.
After the diving chamber emptied the seawater, the watertight door could then be opened from the inside, and Farosa crept through the internal partition into the diving chamber to start working.
The water pressure was strong, but the Nano Armor also had a diving mode, which easily helped Xu Yang adapt. He was even able to communicate with Lila, who slowly guided him through the pile of corpses atop the seabed to the other side of the muddy base.
Innovation turned its lights to help Xu Yang see the situation below clearly. He saw a large, deep purple statue sunken in the sand, surrounded by piles of various treasures and offering items, like a underwater treasure trove. The Secret Ritual Group that worshipped the divine must have been thoroughly committed. The sea surface above this place was deserted, and it must have been quite an effort for them just to find this half-dead Divine Fragment.
The statue itself looked like a beautified deity, still retaining some monstrous features, but appeared unusually benevolent, with a humanoid face. It had arms open as if to embrace its followers, with a cloak draped and normal muscular patterns on the body finely crafted, but since it was made of stone, it wasn’t valuable.
A big, colorful old cloth was wrapped around the base of the statue; he unfolded the cloth and used it as a sack to collect the spoils, stuffing in all the high-value items he found.
The spoils were extremely considerable, more than half of these treasures were gold and silver artifacts, but he wasn’t short of money, so he picked only those strange and ancient objects—reminiscent of the ancient artifacts that Black Fire Innovation had tried to collect in Archipelago Continent. These offerings, like the Golden Branch, all had some degree of divine imprint and remnants of Magic Power, making them easy to distinguish from ordinary gold and silver.
Xu Yang took quite some time to carefully pack everything, tieing knots on the sack, while Farosa had already finished her meal.
"Luckily she didn’t grow scales," Lila said to Xu Yang through the secret channel, "She seems mystical and delighted; it’s truly high-class cuisine."
Farosa couldn’t help but feel pleased as every Divine Fragment contained bountiful ocean-based Divine Power. Xu Yang brought back a considerable amount of spoils, which she examined while manipulating the water flow behind the Shuttle Machine, making Innovation accelerate forward.
"The speed has doubled," Xu Yang noticed on the current speedometer.
At this rate, with the Shuttle Machine’s speed doubled, they could reach the "Godbinding Plan" in just another 10 hours. The expected long and monotonous journey underwater seemed to be coming to a swift end.
"There are many magic devices related to the sea amongst these offerings," Farosa tossed a scepter inlaid with sapphires to Xu Yang, "Here, experience what it feels like to step into the extraordinary."