Chapter 234: Universal Warning Tablet
In the clear seawater, the light above the surface seemed to have taken form, spreading out into visible white silk that illuminated the mysterious ruins hidden beneath the water for countless years.
The form of the Mother God in front of Fisher was blurred, but her expression was captured very accurately; the kind and peaceful gaze could be easily sensed even without facial features.
Since the Mother God statue appeared here, it was evident to which race this ruin belonged.
This was a creation of humanity, but the exact age of its construction was completely unknown; all that could be determined was that this place was very ancient.
Before the Mother God statue stood a large black stone tablet, about two meters high. From the front, the stone tablet was positioned just below the outstretched palm of the Mother God.
Fisher’s heartbeat quickened slightly as he walked up to the stone tablet, where the inscriptions had become blurred. He gently reached out to remove some of the seaweed covering it, revealing inscriptions that had been corroded by seawater.
There were no words on it; along the central axis from top to bottom were horizontal parallel scratches, resembling a long staircase extending down from the heavens. Next to each level of the staircase stood humanoid shapes, mostly eroded, faintly indicating some kind of being.
On the front of the stone tablet, countless beings stood beside the staircase, looking down at the beings below.
As his gaze slowly descended, at the very bottom of the staircase appeared a clear back view of a kneeling figure.
It was a small person identical in shape to a human, without distinguishing gender, who was currently devoutly prostrating at the very bottom of the staircase, with hands respectfully extended above their head, as if accepting some object, or perhaps praying or asking for mercy; the specific meaning was unclear.
At this moment, the stone tablet, heavily eroded, seemed to have substantial historical weight. With fervent eyes, Fisher quickly recalled a word he had once heard,
[Universal Warning Tablet]
He remembered that when he met Eil, she had once mentioned to him that ancient humans understood the rank of life very clearly, even engraving this information on tablets, which is what she referred to as the now-lost [Universal Warning Tablet].
Fisher had originally planned to search for such items after heading to the Northern Region but never expected to find one in the depths of the ocean!
So, were the horizontal scratches on this tablet the [Ranks of Life] that Eil spoke of?
Just as he was about to carefully count the number of life ranks inscribed on it, he suddenly felt a dangerous presence approaching.
“Roar!”
In the next moment, an enraged roar came from behind the Mother God statue. The Siren burst out from the crumbling structure, crashing through corals and rocks along its path, ultimately knocking down the beloved Mother God statue and the warning tablet in front of Fisher as it opened its massive maw towards him.
“Damn it!”
Fisher’s pupils dilated as he watched the hard-earned treasure be destroyed by the sea beast, an explosion of anger erupted within him.
Cursing quietly, he quickly raised his Fluid Sword. As he lifted the Fluid Sword, the mercury-like blade revealed its agile form in the water and immediately expanded into the shape of a giant sword.
Due to the water resistance in the ocean, using the Fluid Sword minimized the range of his slashing movements. No wonder such a thing was incredibly precious underwater.
Fisher’s expression turned grim as he stood his ground, not dodging, and as the Siren was about to arrive, he swung his sword fiercely at the edge of its massive mouth.
“Roar!”
Upon contact, the giant sword instantly penetrated its flesh, and amidst the splattering of green blood, the Fluid Sword ultimately came to rest wedged between its outer teeth.
The giant sword was lodged in the Siren’s mouth, preventing it from closing its jaw. However, Fisher was also propelled backwards by its tremendous force.
“Damn beast!”
Fisher’s feet were firmly planted on the ground, but with the sand everywhere he couldn’t find solid footing, and even if he didn’t move, his feet left long scratches on the sea floor.
Seeing it unable to close its mouth, the Siren pushed Fisher towards a nearby stone pillar, shattering several of them, yet Fisher gritted his teeth and held on. Finally, as they reached the edge of a cliff, he stepped off and was plunged into the depths of the deep sea.
As the sunlight dimmed, the one man and one fish remained locked in a struggle as they rapidly descended in the water.
In the complete darkness, the pressure of the deep water became increasingly exaggerated. The first to feel pain was not Fisher’s muscles but his eardrums, followed closely by his eyes, the pain in these two areas making him gasp in seawater.
Going deeper would be trouble; he couldn’t withstand the pressure and needed to end this quickly.
With that thought, he fiercely gripped the Fluid Sword and struggled to free himself from its massive jaws. Propelling himself off its lower lip, he spun around and landed squarely on its head.
“Ah!!”
Atop the Siren, the humanoid tentacles on its back began to open their mouths and call out to him, but this time Fisher remained unflustered and firmly tugged on the giant sword in his hand.
The giant sword, lodged in the center of the Siren’s teeth, was pulled in a different direction. Before countless tentacles could strike, it swiftly sliced upwards along its lips.
“Pu!!”
At the upper part of the massive mouth, a huge wound exploded with a copious amount of pure green blood as Fisher pulled the sword forward, but he endured the intense fishy odor, quickly raising the sword above his head and aiming it at the top of its head, thrusting it down forcefully.
“Roar roar roar roar!!”
The instant it penetrated, the Siren began to struggle madly, countless tentacles flailing wildly towards Fisher, attempting to twist off his head.
But as the blade sank further into the Siren’s skull, the ever-darkening ocean saw Fisher’s expression grow fierce.
“You’re done for, beast!”
“Crack!”
In the next moment, with a fierce grind of his teeth, the Fluid Sword struck the Siren’s skull with a crisp sound, and the resistance beneath the blade suddenly vanished, allowing the deadly weapon to pierce deep into its brain.
At the same time, the tip of the Fluid Giant Sword responded to Fisher’s intent, growing countless silver needles that spread outwards, piercing through the entire Siren’s head and transforming it into a giant spiked ball.
“Roar!”
“Boom!”
An enormous burst of blood mist erupted once again. The countless tentacles rushing towards Fisher immediately lost their strength, transforming back from humanoid forms to soft tendrils, as the Siren’s massive body went limp and floated lifelessly in the water, its gaping mouth drooping towards the sea floor.
The Siren, with its head exploded, was dead.
Fisher leaned on the Siren’s head, gasping for breath. Breathing underwater was far less efficient than on land; after a few bouts of fighting, he felt out of breath, and with the deepening depths, he even began to sense a ringing in his ears.
In the next moment, he slowly released the Siren’s corpse, preparing to swim upwards.
But looking down, he suddenly noticed in the pitch-blackness several glowing objects faintly appearing on the adjacent stone wall.
Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be massive aquatic mushrooms, growing like towering trees on the cliffs of the seabed.
These giant glowing mushrooms seemed to be a type of deep-sea species, and since Fisher had never seen such strange large mushrooms, he lingered momentarily on them.
But in the next moment, around the rapidly fluctuating positions of the mushrooms, it seemed they had heard the massive sounds resulting from the battle between the Siren and Fisher, as creatures began to swim out from beneath the large mushroom caps.
“Ugh! Tapu-lu. Tapu-lu!”
As he focused on this, Fisher’s heart raced a bit faster.
It turned out to be translucent humanoid subhumans, never seen by him before, emanating a faint white glow!
The faces and features of these subhumans were incredibly beautiful, but rather than hair, they had a flowing, translucent fleshy organ that resembled the head of a jellyfish.
At the same time, their overall figures were soft and graceful, with long arms, wearing exquisite garments made from some underwater silk, beneath which were long tentacles resembling legs.
Their translucent beautiful faces were panic-stricken as they watched the massive, stench-emanating Siren plummet towards their home, and a few “Jellyfish People” living atop the mushrooms seemed to discover the “perpetrator” swimming upwards, quickly extending their fingers towards Fisher while making quiet, whispering sounds to alert their companions below.
“Chirp chirp… Yajimusurika-sai!”
Realizing he might have done something wrong, Fisher felt a little guilty upon seeing the many Jellyfish People’s panic as they watched such a huge, monstrous Siren’s corpse fall right at their doorstep.
He paused, considering turning back, but the pain in his ears became increasingly unbearable. There was nothing he could do but silently apologize in spirit to these innocent jellyfish beings before swimming upwards towards the water’s surface without looking back.
Upon witnessing this scene, the countless Jellyfish People below became even angrier, with hands on their delicate waists, watching Fisher grow smaller as he swam farther away, chattering in a language he couldn’t understand, likely thanking him for clearing this area of dangerous predators.
Yes, it must be so.
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(End of this chapter)
