Chapter 53
The sea was dark and murky.
Weak mana could be felt everywhere.
The water was also quite cold.
According to the cores, the remains were located deep beneath the sea.
Yohan had never explored the entire ocean himself, so even he did not know what could be lurking in its depths.
[It probably wasn’t a human Apostle. Not if the remains are under the sea.]
Normally, yes... but who knows? Maybe some strange bastard decided to sleep down here.
Yohan had encountered plenty of magical beasts on the way to the south gate.
Inside the sea, however, things were surprisingly quiet.
The remains were partly responsible.
But even normally, the Nameless Sea had fewer magical beasts than most places.
Once someone broke through the monsters near the south gate, the sea itself was relatively safe.
Residents capable of breathing underwater sometimes used it as a refuge.
Thanks to that, Yohan approached the location without needing to fight.
He spread Blood Mist across a radius of several hundred meters.
It was excellent at detecting abnormal mana and strange phenomena.
After about thirty minutes of swimming, he finally found his destination.
...That must be it.
Roughly four hundred meters to his left, some kind of permanent distortion and refraction magic covered an area.
Yohan spread the mist farther and examined the shape.
It was a long, wide, circular structure.
There seemed to be only one entrance at the bottom.
[Hmm... we can just force our way in, right?]
Yohan had no reason to disagree.
Several long tentacles emerged from his fingertips.
He pushed them into a hollow spot in the mist.
A sharp electric current immediately surged through his body.
Naturally, something like that was nowhere near enough to stop Yohan.
[Hehehe! That tingles.]
They really didn’t want intruders getting inside.
He pushed the tentacles deeper.
Once they found something solid enough to support him, he wrapped them around it.
Then he pulled himself inside.
His vision changed in an instant.
The area hidden by magic finally revealed itself.
......
It was a small altar surrounded by walls made from an unknown material.
The entire interior was submerged.
Various metal ritual tools lay abandoned, covered in rust.
Thick iron bars covered the ceiling.
Beneath them stood an enormous stone statue.
A single symbol had been carved repeatedly across the floor and outer walls.
There was no mistaking what all of it represented.
...Pontus.
Before the thought even finished, blue light burst from the statue.
Cracks appeared across its stone body.
Moments later, the statue shattered.
Something familiar emerged from within.
Dust the pale color of seawater gathered together.
Its shape rested somewhere between clouds and moss.
Overall, it resembled a round giant.
Dense mana poured from its body as its glowing eyes flashed.
Yohan immediately recognized it as a sea spirit.
But its transformation continued.
Crack. Crack.
Crunch!
The iron bars attached to the ceiling suddenly moved as if alive.
They tore themselves out of the wall and floated toward the spirit.
The spirit removed all the rust.
Then it melted the metal into liquid and reshaped it.
A spear.
A shield.
The mana-infused metal became weapons and armor protecting the spirit.
Yohan immediately understood.
Just like inside the Dark Caves, this creature had appeared as a guardian of the remains.
And as if to prove him right...
A voice emerged from the spirit.
Something a normal spirit should never possess.
“So you finally crawled in here yourself! This time I’ll destroy you for good, Apostle of Dagon!”
“...What?”
That was not what Yohan had expected to hear.
A spirit speaking in something other than the spirit language.
And that spirit was calling him Dagon’s Apostle.
The bizarre and irritating situation made Yohan smile.
A bubble formed through Blood Magic and surrounded his face.
“Dagon’s Apostle... That’s quite an unpleasant thing to call someone.”
Yohan gathered every bit of Blood Mist scattered throughout the area.
“I don’t know who your contractor is, but stop there and stand down. Unless you want your soul devoured too.”
Despite Yohan’s threatening warning, the spirit did not retreat.
“The land you bastards stole from me! My life! I may have lost all my authority and power, but I have no intention of letting you take my soul as well!”
“...Oh?”
“You wouldn’t have come alone! Bring your precious Deep Ones or Shoggoths! Bring as many as you like! I will never retreat!”
The sea spirit pointed every floating spear toward Yohan.
Its thunderous voice echoed around the altar.
That only made Yohan more certain.
The absurd amount of mana it possessed.
Its confident attitude.
And the fact that it had mistaken him for Dagon’s Apostle.
Yohan looked at it with interest.
“Are you... a remnant of Pontus?”
For the first time, the spirit flinched.
“Repeated territorial wars reduced your influence. Dagon stole most of your faith. The residents began falling under Bulsum’s rule. Eventually, even the district you governed lost its name.”
Pontus.
The Primordial Sea God.
A Neutral God like Raupel, the Thorn Divine Tree.
Every divine being rose and fell according to influence and faith.
But Neutral Gods were affected far more severely than Inner Gods such as the Great Old Ones.
Even after losing most of their influence and worship, the main bodies of the Great Old Ones were often immortal.
At worst, they might be sealed.
For Neutral Gods, the same situation usually meant extinction.
“So, just before disappearing, you squeezed out every remaining fragment of your power and stored your soul in the form of remains.”
Yohan looked at the spirit.
“It isn’t impossible. Sea spirits were practically Apostles to Pontus.”
“...Are you mocking me?! You were merciless when you stole everything from me! And now you intend to pity me?!”
The enraged spirit blasted mana in every direction.
Yohan firmly shook his head.
“I’m not Dagon’s Apostle.”
“...What?”
“But I am the Apostle of an Inner God.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?! If you aren’t Dagon’s Apostle, why did you come all the way to this remote sea seeking my soul?”
“I’m not particularly interested in your soul.”
Yohan extended his hand.
A faint smile appeared.
“But it seems we share one goal. We both want to make Dagon suffer.”
After that, Yohan explained that he was not Dagon’s Apostle.
He also explained his objectives and future plans.
Eventually, the hostility filling the spirit faded.
It regained its composure and lowered the weapons pointed toward Yohan.
“...So you’re searching for remains? To uncover the secrets of this world?”
“More specifically, ‘Great Remains,’ but yes.”
“Hmm... I suppose people from outside use remains in ways like that.”
“That’s why I misunderstood you. Your remnant is technically a type of remains too. Though I suppose from your perspective, since your soul is still here, that feels unfair.”
“Unfair? My very existence in this world has been nothing but misfortune.”
The spirit leaned against the wall and sighed deeply.
“So that’s what you’re saying. People with the same goal should cooperate.”
“Exactly.”
“And if I don’t want my soul erased, I should hand over the object I’m protecting.”
“Mm.”
“You conveniently forgot to mention that the moment ownership of that item changes, both this spirit body and my remaining soul will disappear completely.”
“......”
“Did you really think Pontus wouldn’t notice something that obvious?”
A corpse containing power.
That was the standard form of remains.
But there were always exceptions.
Sometimes, a specific object took the place of a corpse.
Sometimes only memories remained rather than power.
This was an especially unusual example.
Pontus’s strength and authority had become so weak that he had no choice but to use his soul itself.
And because enemies could steal it, he used a sea spirit, something almost like his own limb, as a guardian.
Without that trick, Pontus would already have disappeared.
That was what remained of him in this era.
He knew he could not win.
Even so, he had no choice but to struggle.
He wanted to land at least one good blow against those responsible for reducing him to this state before he vanished.
That was Pontus’s only remaining desire.
“No matter how I look at it, I’m still everyone’s punching bag. Damn it.”
“Sitting here won’t give you a chance for revenge. Give me your strength and I promise I’ll at least land a proper blow on Dagon.”
“And I’ll disappear from this world forever.”
“......”
The goddess snorted at his continued complaining.
[Should we just kill him? His soul probably tastes terrible anyway, but he keeps wasting your precious time.]
...It’s better to gain his cooperation. Neutral Gods may not be especially threatening, but they’re surprisingly close with one another. It may not matter now, but causing trouble with them could become annoying later.
[Hmm... then sweet-talk him somehow. I’m going to sleep. Hehehe.]
Tch.
Yohan glared irritably as the goddess slipped back inside him.
Then he looked at Pontus again.
“If you’re so afraid of dying, make a contract. Your identity as a spirit is strong enough right now that it should be possible.”
“You want me to make a contract with the Apostle of an Inner God?! I hate Dagon, but not enough for that!”
Snap.
Yohan’s patience was very close to breaking.
He swallowed another sigh and folded his arms.
“Then what exactly do you want? Don’t tell me you’re asking me to simply leave.”
“If I thought you were the kind of man who would do that, I would have tried persuading you already. Don’t pretend.”
Pontus’s glowing eyes flashed.
He pointed a round hand at Yohan.
“The Dagon Cult is powerful enough that even I was defeated by them. If you claim you can destroy them, you must have confidence in your own strength.”
“So?”
“I need to confirm it.”
Pontus’s voice hardened.
“I need to know whether you are worthy of receiving the last fragment of my soul.”
Yohan grinned.
“You took a very long time to say you want a fight.”
Pontus gathered several floating weapons together.
They merged into a massive trident.
“There are two items I left behind to fight Dagon’s forces.”
Dark Aura and mana covered the trident’s blade.
“Better for me to keep them until I disappear than hand them to some useless fool. Ordinary mortals can’t even use these items.”
He paused.
“But you may be different.”
An Apostle of an Inner God who opposed other Inner Gods might be able to properly use the ‘Whip’ and the ‘Key.’
“Then I’ll attack head-on!”
Pontus swung the trident in a wide circle.
“Come, immortal who desires death!”
Whoosh!
At the same time, the spears behind him transformed into thin, sharp arrows.
They shot toward Yohan all at once.
The battle began.
