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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 140
Boom!!!
Of course, the aftermath was not light.
“Oh my god…”
The saint and the holy knights who witnessed the scene firsthand were frozen in shock, unable to snap out of it easily.
Even after that, while the mermaids were recharging the ship’s energy, a few more rounds of life-risking water battles followed.
Boom!! Bang!!!
Of course, it was just me getting beaten up unilaterally by Luna, who swam at an insane speed like a possessed fish, launching water bombs at me.
Trying to win here would just be exhausting.
“Would you like to join us, Nabel?”
“Oh… uh, I’m fine.”
Even though the water was incredibly deep, with the mermaids acting as safety personnel all around, what did it matter?
Once preparations were complete, we boarded the ship again and resumed our voyage toward the Forbidden Zone.
At first, I was excited, looking around at everything, but sailing is more boring than one might think.
Eventually, Luna, who had climbed up the mast to look around, ended up falling asleep on my cabin bed.
Melissa, still unable to shake off her uneasy feelings completely, locked herself in her room, and Nabel remained silent in her quarters as well.
“Handsome brother, we’re at the Forbidden Zone now.”
At that moment, the cabin door burst open, and a cute green-haired mermaid, floating slightly in the air thanks to an artifact, peeked her head in.
“We’re already there?”
“Hehe. You’re one of our guild’s regulars, so we put in some extra effort.”
Following her lead, I walked down the hallway and up to the deck.
And then, I saw it.
A black boundary line carved into the vast ocean.
As if to declare that the waters on this side and beyond were entirely different, the color of the sea changed drastically.
While this side was a vibrant blue, the waters of the Forbidden Zone were an ominously dark navy.
“Ugh… creepy. No one ever wants to go in there.”
The mermaids looked uneasy.
“We can’t go any further. We feel an instinctive aversion…”
The ocean's Demonic realm.
Among Demonic realms, the most extremely hazardous environments were the Forbidden Zones in the sea.
At least one could enter a regular Demonic realm—entering a Forbidden Zone was like stepping into the gaping maw of a massive predator.
“Handsome brother, we told you there’s a way in and took your money to guide you, but honestly, we wouldn’t recommend going in.”
The green-haired mermaid’s expression was filled with more than just reluctance—it was fear.
An ocean so dark that nothing beneath was visible was the very definition of the unknown.
“So this is what they call thalassophobia?”
That term wasn’t coined without reason.
Melissa, who had come up onto the deck after hearing the news, muttered with a pale face.
“How does the sea change color so sharply like that?”
“Normally, ocean boundary lines form due to differences in water density.”
Of course, the Forbidden Zone’s boundary wasn’t just due to density differences.
There was likely some special irregular energy flow unique to Demonic realms affecting it.
“We really can’t go any further. Our instincts scream at us to stay away…”
Seeing the mermaids hesitate, it was clear that this place had a heavy presence.
“The Forbidden Zone… I’ve heard of it, but seeing it in person is different.”
The Holy Kingdom didn’t declare this area off-limits just to be dramatic.
It was genuinely a dangerous place, categorized similarly to Demonic realms.
There were many Demonic realms in the world, and each varied in danger.
For example, Cascadia’s Demonic realm had an extremely hazardous deep zone, whereas the Black Forest we visited at the Imperial Academy was on the lower end of the danger scale.
This Forbidden Zone likely belonged to the more dangerous category.
The mermaids soon used artifacts to float onto the ship, chanting a spell as if singing a blessing.
It was magic that would allow us to move freely underwater and breathe.
Its duration was about three to four days.
Of course, there were other ways to survive underwater, but nothing was as stable as this magic.
“This place feels seriously ominous… Are you really going in?”
“If we don’t return within a day, leave immediately.”
“……”
Nabel looked down at the small ring in her hand with a somewhat grim expression.
She then made her decision and began reciting a prayer.
Light burst forth from the ring, enveloping me, Melissa, and Luna.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay behind?”
I asked Melissa, but all I got in return was a firmly raised middle finger.
“Nabel, I’ll entrust the sacred relic to you.”
“May the grace of the divine be with you…”
Nabel clasped her hands in prayer as she spoke.
As she did, her body naturally emphasized its curves in a way that was hard to ignore, but no one was paying attention to that right now.
Soon, a mystical light from the sacred relic coated us like a thin layer of film.
The mermaids’ magic and the sacred relic’s magic coexisted, creating a peculiar sensation.
From the perspective of a necromancer, these two types of magic felt as if they followed entirely different laws—it was a strange feeling.
“Ugh… this is giving me the creeps…”
Melissa shuddered as she gazed into the pitch-black ocean.
At that moment, Nabel suddenly gasped in shock.
“W-Wait a second!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Don’t you see that?!”
Following her gaze, we turned our heads.
There, deep within the black sea, we caught a glimpse of a massive silhouette, easily over dozens of meters long.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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“This is dangerous. You really shouldn’t go in…”
The sacred relic could protect us from the bizarre phenomena within the Forbidden Zone, but it couldn’t shield us from such creatures.
Of course, anyone would be terrified.
Even the mermaids, who lived in the ocean, were visibly frightened.
In response, I casually swung my hand.
Boom!!!
A jet-black spear shot into the dark waters.
Boom!!!
And then, as if waiting for this moment, an enormous, grotesque fish, easily over dozens of meters long, shot out of the water with its massive mouth wide open.
Its sudden emergence from the darkness was nothing short of terrifying.
"Kyaaa?!"
"N-Nabel! Get behind me!"
Nabel screamed, and the holy knight, his face tense, drew his sword to shield her.
Brilliant divine energy shimmered like an aura blade, but his expression was filled with apprehension.
It was understandable.
A creature of that size was not only rare to see, but so little was known about it that it was impossible to gauge how dangerous it was.
However, I paid no mind and swung my hand in reverse.
Slash!
In an instant, the black spear that had vanished into the sea split into dozens of black needles and burrowed into the monster’s body.
The massive grotesque fish was torn apart in mere moments, its flesh scattering in every direction.
The magic might have looked unimpressive, but it was undeniably a 7th-circle offensive spell.
"Huh?"
"If you're going to waste time worrying about something like that, we’ll never get inside. Stop hesitating, let's go."
With those words, I leaped into the sea without a second thought.
As the noise around me became muffled, a faint glow emanated from my body, making it easier to move.
Splash! Splash!
Shortly after, I heard the sound of Melissa and Luna diving in after me.
"Wow... this is amazing."
"Let's go."
Leading the way, I swam toward the depths of the Forbidden Sea.
[Would you like to receive the memories of the new Hall?]
Come to think of it, I had brushed it off earlier when it said it was ready.
"How long will it take?"
[It is expected to take some time.]
"There won’t be any side effects, right?"
[Your body has already undergone a certain degree of adaptation, so significant side effects are unlikely.]
Now that was good news.
With that, the three of us left the ship behind and quickly descended into the dark waters of the Forbidden Sea.
Though we were heading into an abyss of deep darkness, the power of the sacred relic illuminated our path, dispelling the shadows.
* * *
The ocean depths were vast and lonely.
The deeper we ventured into the pitch-black waters, the more an unknown sense of dread crept over us—it was only natural.
Melissa, for one, already seemed affected, her expression uneasy.
"Leon."
Her voice reached me clearly, even underwater.
It must have been the effect of mermaid magic.
"How much farther do we have to go?"
"This way."
Although the Heart of the Machine God allowed me to scan the surrounding area, locating something in such a vast space wasn’t easy.
Fortunately, I had already begun activating its power.
Roughly 50 meters below, I detected a terrain formed of sheer cliffs.
Melissa and Luna, who had been swimming quickly to keep up with me, scanned the dark waters.
"It’s eerily quiet... There aren’t even any fish,"
Melissa murmured.
Indeed, aside from the water surrounding us, there was nothing in sight.
It felt as if we were the only ones left in this dark world.
Since we had already descended deep enough that the surface was no longer visible, the sense of isolation was even more intense.
Thump... Thump...
Faint ripples spread outward from the point where my hand made contact.
A flood of information surged into me all at once, but I discarded most of it without hesitation.
After all, I knew exactly what I was looking for.
I hadn’t come here in search of treasure.
However, the Forbidden Sea was larger than I had anticipated.
I’d have to push myself further.
"Luna."
"What is it?"
"Heal me."
Despite my brief request, Luna immediately understood.
She sighed but began healing my body.
With a healer on my side, there was nothing to be afraid of.
I increased the output of the Heart of the Machine God without hesitation.
Boom!
A heavy impact rang out as if an explosion had gone off in my head, and an overwhelming flood of information—more than ten times what I had received before—poured in.
The sheer amount of data went beyond a splitting headache; it was putting a strain on my body.
But Luna’s healing abilities wouldn’t allow my body to collapse.
Her power ignored conventional logic—her healing wasn’t just restoration; it surpassed that concept entirely.
This was no ordinary angel.
But calling her an archangel didn’t seem right either, since there had never been any reports of archangels disappearing.
That left only one possibility.
She might be something akin to a forgotten archangel.
And there was one more thing that surprised me.
The power of the Heart of the Machine God didn’t seem to work properly on her.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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