– The barrier that wounds the Demon King, and an underground world

Cuatro moved forward inside the sea of deadly poison, as Vandalieu removed the toxic elements from the surrounding seawater with ‘Disinfect.’

A trembling Merfolk woman was giving directions, which were difficult to follow because Cuatro was more than a thousand meters below the surface.

“Keep going… straight ahead… uh, umm… dive down a little further… Yes, just like that,” she said.

Her hair, which was past waist-length, was what could possibly be described as a pink-blonde color, a rare hair color even in this world. Her lower body was covered in scales that would likely produce rainbow-colored reflections in the sunlight.

Her appearance was beautiful, of course; she would have been able to lure any sailor by calling out to them. Ordinarily, she would have had an elegant and dignified air about her, but… she was currently being held in Privel’s tentacles and comforted, so she had no such elegance or dignity.

“Are you alright? You can take a break, you know?” Privel said.

“I-I am grateful for your thoughtfulness,” said the Merfolk woman in a shaking voice. “But I am Doraneza, leader of the Merfolk! By the honor of my clan… I shall carry out… carry out my god’s mission!”

The reason Doraneza was so fearful while she gave Cuatro directions was… as everyone was surprised to learn, she was the leader of the Merfolk who lived in the Demon King’s Continent. To be more precise, they had not always lived in the Demon King’s Continent. Several years ago, a large force led by a certain adventurer had attacked their settlement on the Bahn Gaia Continent, and the surviving members had banded together and moved here along with the Majin they were allied with.

Doraneza had refrained from describing the great journey during which the Merfolk had followed their god’s instructions and traveled from the Bahn Gaia Continent to the distant Demon King’s Continent, “because that’s a long story,” she said. However, several days ago, she had received a Divine Message from Marisjafar, the Righteous Evil God of the Crimson South Sea, the god that was worshiped by her clan.

Following the instructions in that Divine Message, she had used the fragment of the Demon King in her body – which had been protected by her clan over the generations – and waited for Vandalieu and his companions in the poisonous sea, in order to lead them to where her clan lived.

However, a battle had broken out in the skies above between Cuatro and a group of demigods including Colossi that were over a hundred meters tall.

The sounds of explosions and the roars and bellows of the demigods had been audible inside the sea, and their enormous bodies had fallen into the water. Just as Doraneza had decided to dive deeper in case one of them fell on her, Cuatro had dived into the sea, with thundering lightning strikes and enormous boulders being thrown at the water after it.

Doraneza’s life had flashed before her eyes, but Vandalieu had grabbed her with his tongue and pulled her onto the deck before Cuatro crashed into her.

However, there were countless powerful Undead aboard Cuatro, and all of them were still filled with the desire to fight and kill, having only just retreated from battle. The intense air about them would have been enough to cause the average knight to faint; Doraneza was trembling.

Even so, her will to carry out her mission had been strong enough to allow her to briefly introduce herself with a trembling voice and give Cuatro directions. Perhaps this was her strength as the leader of her clan.

“Yes, yes, you did well. Good job, Dora-chan,” said the non-Undead Privel, who was able to breathe and talk underwater, soothing and encouraging Doraneza.

… Given Doraneza’s description of her past, she was an adult and the leader of a large group of people; perhaps it was rude to comfort her as if she were a child, but… it seemed that Doraneza did not care about this at all. Either her mind had actually regressed to that of a child because of her fear, or she was a very friendly person.

“Umm… I am alright. Thanks to you, I have calmed down,” Doraneza said finally. “Incidentally, what is that person doing?” she asked, pointing at Vandalieu.

“He says he’s practicing breathing with gills, and interrogation,” said Privel.

Vandalieu had attached himself to Cuatro’s mast with the Demon King’s suction cups and was using the Demon King’s gills to breathe. Opening his mouth to allow seawater into it like fish did was unpleasantly salty, so he had produced gills on the surface of his body on fin-like protrusions, where they absorbed fresh oxygen from the seawater as it flowed past.

Incidentally, as a result of the battle that had just taken place, Vandalieu’s ‘Vengeful Berserker’ Job’s Level had maxed out. He was also aware of Doraneza’s Demon King fragment.

However, he intended to change Jobs and ask her to hand the fragment over once Cuatro had arrived at a safe place.

It would be dangerous if Cuatro was attacked while Vandalieu was changing Jobs or while the Demon King fragment was exposed, and it seemed that Doraneza was able to keep her ‘Demon King Encroachment Degree’ low, so Vandalieu had not decided that these matters were so urgent that they needed to be dealt with right this moment.

Thus, he was currently interrogating the spirits of Radatel, Zvold, and Repobilis.

“… It isn’t going very well,” Vandalieu remarked.

As they were spirits of demigods, all of them were strong-willed spirits. If they had not been attacked with ‘God Devourer’ and ‘Soul Devour,’ they might have used the last of their strength to put up one last futile act of resistance.

As demigods possessed physical bodies, they were far less restricted even than gods when acting on the world’s surface. However, the fact that they possessed physical bodies was also a weakness for them.

No matter how deeply gods were wounded, as long as their souls were not broken, they would be able to recover one day. But demigods, like humans, died when their physical bodies were wounded enough.

But unlike ordinary living creatures, demigods would sometimes inhabit physical objects, cast a curse with the last of their strength, or even materialize their spirit form to make one final act of resistance.

Of course, only demigods of a certain level of power were able to do such things, however.

Radatel and the others did not have enough power for this, but it was possible that they would materialize themselves for several seconds with the intention of being destroyed in order to prevent Vandalieu gaining information from them.

“I will not be tempted by you, Demon King! You are on the side of the one who killed my mother!” shouted Radatel’s spirit.

Despite being a spirit, he resisted Vandalieu’s ‘Enticement,’ the awakened form of ‘Death-Attribute Charm.’

This was a large difference from the Pure-breed Vampires Gubamon and Ternecia, even though they had been demigods as well. However, Gubamon had lost his sanity before he died, while Radatel had not only been sane, but also possessed a powerful hatred towards Vandalieu; perhaps this was a contributing factor towards this difference.

“I have said it many times, but I am a different person from Guduranis, the one who killed your mother,” said Vandalieu, trying to persuade Radatel and reduce his hatred, but this seemed ineffective.

“Shut up!” Radatel shouted. “How can you be so shameless when you are gathering fragments of the Demon King! Do you think I will lose my focus because of your outrageous appearance?!”

Radatel seemed to believe that all who possessed fragments of the Demon King were guilty of the same sins as Guduranis. It was likely that his father Brateo believed the same, and they had attacked Vandalieu with their hatred and resentment for Guduranis.

It was true that the fragments of the Demon King were a part of Guduranis, and since they infested and encroached upon their hosts to take over their bodies, Radatel and Brateo were not entirely mistaken. However, this was essentially equivalent to saying that because they hated a certain monk (the Demon King), they also hated his robes (the fragments), and because Vandalieu was wearing the same robes (fragments), they hated him as well. Vandalieu found this unfair.

It was possible that Radatel could be charmed, given enough time. Perhaps several days, or a few months.

But Vandalieu did not see Radatel as valuable or enticing enough to do so.

“Alright, I’m done with you,” he said, giving up on interrogating Radatel.

Radatel screamed as Vandalieu devoured his soul.

It was dangerous to simply let Radatel’s spirit go free. It was unclear as to where the souls of demigods went after they died. Vandalieu found it difficult to believe that they would return to Rodcorte; it was possible that there was a place where the souls of gods went after their deaths. Or perhaps they would return to some kind of energy that flowed around the world and become a part of that.

However, if Vandalieu let Radatel’s spirit go and he returned to Brateo, then he would tell Brateo where Vandalieu and his companions were headed… and of the existence of Doraneza and her Merfolk clan.

Radatel was a demigod; unlike a god, when he died, he would not be able to recover – just like other living creatures. And Vandalieu did not hate or resent him to the point that he wanted to devour his soul and extinguish his existence.

However, Vandalieu did not pity Radatel and value his life to the point that he was willing to spare him at the cost of exposing Doraneza, her clan, and other members of races created by Vida he hadn’t met yet to danger.

“…Tastes neither good, nor bad,” Vandalieu remarked.

Radatel’s soul was like slightly tough red meat that became tastier as he chewed.

It was filling enough that it really felt like the soul of a god, rather than that of a familiar spirit or heroic spirit. However, Vandalieu’s Attribute Values didn’t increase, nor did he acquire any new Skills.

“Anyway, do you guys have anything you want to say to me?” said Vandalieu, looking at the spirits of Zvold and Repobilis.

Zvold was resisting like Radatel, but writhed in suffering and let out a pained groan; it seemed that he would give in soon.

Repobilis had already given in. However, his spirit was heavily damaged, so it was unclear as to how reliable he would be as a source of information.

As the interrogation continued, monsters in the deep ocean would become visible from time to time, but they quickly fled when Vandalieu turned his gaze towards them. They were likely fearful of the presence of the demigods’ spirits, as well as that of Vandalieu, the one who was pressuring the demigods. However, for some reason, there were also sometimes monsters that would approach and become attached to Vandalieu instead.

Seeing that the interrogation seemed to be over for now, Borkus came over. “Hey kid, what’s that egg?” he asked, pointing at a sphere that was attached to Vandalieu’s head.

“A monster that looked like an octopus or a squid swam by and left it there. It seems that it gave it to me,” said Vandalieu.

Incidentally, the parent had run out of strength and died, so Vandalieu had immediately turned it into an Undead. It was unclear as to whether it was a creature with a life cycle where it died immediately after laying eggs, or whether it had simply run out of strength naturally.

Now an Undead Little Kraken, it was currently spraying fresh seawater on the egg attached to Vandalieu’s head.

“Incidentally, are we being pursued?” asked Vandalieu.

Of course, he was not letting his guard down against possible pursuers. The enemies were not humans; they were demigods with resilient bodies. It was possible that they would continue pursuing even into the ocean at a depth of a thousand meters, through poison-filled waters and through areas with so many whirlpools that they were like trees in a forest.

Elder Dragons and Colossi with a strong affinity for the water attribute were able to swim more freely than fish. Cuatro was navigating safely with Doraneza’s guidance, but Elder Dragons and Colossi would be able to force their way through whirlpools and deadly poison to some extent, so it was possible for them to give chase without any guidance.

However, it seemed that there were no pursuers for now.

There had been some thrown boulders and lightning attacks from behind for some time after Cuatro submerged into the ocean, but it seemed that there were no more attacks coming from above the sea surface now. Lightning would not reach into the depths of the ocean, but since there were no boulders, either, the enemy was likely not attacking anymore.

“I can’t see them, so they probably aren’t following us in secret. It’s possible that they’ll dive down right on top of us in one go, so we’ll keep our guards up, but… aren’t they being cautious as well? They might be thinking that if they chase us so far, they’ll be hit by your huge spell again, kid,” said Borkus.

“They are not unharmed, either. We slew the starfish, and the shellfish was heavily wounded at the very least. Most of the Colossi and Elder Dragons are likely wounded as well. It is possible that they may want us to escape, jyuoh,” said Bone Man, joining the conversation.

Vandalieu nodded in agreement as he remembered the state of Gorn and the others before Cuatro got away. He had swept across the numerous enemies with the ‘World-piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ and because of that, he had not hit many of the enemies directly – the only one who had been hit directly was Repobilis, the Starfish Beast King, whom Bone Man had finished off.

Even so, many of them had suffered injuries to their limbs from the shockwave produced by Vandalieu’s attack, as well as damage to their weapons. On top of that, Vandalieu had captured the spirits of three of them – the Colossus of Lightning Radatel, the Great Vortex Dragon God Zvold, and the Starfish Beast King Repobilis.

Vandalieu found it hard to imagine that these three had important roles in the group, but assuming that there were around thirty demigods in the enemy’s forces, Vandalieu had taken out about a tenth of their numbers, and their fighting strength had decreased by even more than that if the heavily-wounded ones would not be able to fight anymore.

It was almost certain that the heavily-wounded demigods would no longer be able to move their bodies as well as they liked.

“I see. They were waiting to ambush us… They might be worried about the possibility that we only pretended to escape, and we’re actually waiting to ambush them back,” said Vandalieu.

Gorn and the others were almost certainly wary that their own tactics would be used against them in return.

And among the demigods led by the Boulder Colossus Gorn, many of them were not suited to being inside the sea. Many of them, including Gorn himself, Brateo – a Colossus who ruled over the weather – and the gold-armored Colossus who had been heavily wounded by Borkus, would want to avoid a battle inside the sea.

“However, I believe that we must not become careless. There were several descended gods there as well,” said Mikhail.

“The reinforcements that we could see in the distance are probably unwounded, too,” said Borkus. “And there might be some of them who let the blood get to their head and come charging at us. The myths say that a lot of Colossi are calm, but some of them are short-tempered with one-track minds.”

“Yes, it is as you say, Borkus,” Mikhail agreed.

“… Hey, Mikhail,” Borkus said suddenly. “It just occurred to me, but you always add ‘-dono’ when you’re talking to Jeena and Zandia-jouchan, so why don’t you add an honorific to my name?”

“Have you forgotten? You’re the one who told me to call you by your name,” said Mikhail.

“Huh? I did?”

“That is right. And I am reluctant to address the fiancées of the lord I serve with no honorific. Frankly speaking, I fear that even ‘-dono’ may be too impolite.”

“… You’re so serious. You were an adventurer like me, weren’t you?”

“During my lifetime, I often interacted with nobles and learned their etiquette. Unlike Talosheim, human societies are not very tolerant of boorish people, Borkus.”

“In any case, I think you can call Jeena and Zandia whatever you like, as long as they agree to it,” said Vandalieu.

Addressing a fiancée of an emperor with no honorific would be extremely disrespectful in any nation, but everyone was far past the point of worrying about such things in the Demon Empire of Vidal. After all, Vandalieu, the head of the nation, was commonly addressed with no honorifics and often even called by a nickname.

Borkus called him ‘kid,’ and Zadiris, who wasn’t here, called him ‘boy.’

“Boss! I’ve spotted the huge valley that the Merfolk princess was talking about!” said one of the Four Dead Sea Captains, who had been watching Cuatro’s course.

“I am not a princess… Could you at least refer to me by my name? I am an adult,” said Doraneza in protest, perhaps having become used to the presence of Undead, or perhaps being able to speak up because the killing intent of Borkus and the others was no longer present.

“You’re right, you’re an adult, aren’t you,” Privel murmured.

“Hmm? What’s wrong, Privel? You’re acting strange,” said Doraneza.

“It’s nothing, it’s really nothing. But you know, I became a princess before I knew it, so I was wondering how I can stop being a princess.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Dora-chan, do you have any ideas? Even if I can’t do anything about my Skill names, my Rank should still increase, so I want to do something about my race name.”

“P-Privel, calm down, your eyes are glazing over!”

Meanwhile, a valley on the bottom of the sea appeared, large enough for Cuatro to enter.

“If we continue through this valley, there is a cave with a barrier created by our gods, which makes it only visible to people… to races created by Vida. Through that cave is my second homeland,” said Doraneza.

“Just to be sure, is there air past this valley?” asked Vandalieu.

“Of course. Us Merfolk are not the only ones who live there,” Doraneza replied.

The entrance to the cave was found, but it inflicted great damage on Vandalieu.

Doraneza, Cuatro’s guide, and Privel, spotted it right away – that’s how large and conspicuous it was, if it weren’t hidden by the barrier.

“I could see it, I really could. But it was really faint, so faint that I thought I was mistaken,” said Vandalieu.

The cave’s entrance had been almost invisible to Vandalieu’s eyes. This had cast a great shadow over his pride as a person (or rather, as a member of one of Vida’s races).

“There’s no need to be bothered by it, Your-Majesty-kun! I couldn’t see it at all!” said Jeena.

“Yes, I couldn’t see it at all, either!” said Princess Levia.

“Privel could see it, though. I suppose being a former Scylla isn’t good enough,” sighed Orbia.

“Or a former Titan. But gods’ barriers are really amazing. I couldn’t even sense any presence of magic,” said Zandia.

The cave’s entrance had also been invisible to the Titan Zombies and the elemental Ghosts. It seemed that those who were currently Undead could not see it, even if they had been members of Vida’s races in life.

“Yeah, I couldn’t see it either,” said Borkus.

“Naturally, I, too, could not see it,” said Mikhail, who had been a human in life.

“Juooh…” said Bone Man, who had previously been the spirit of a rat.

None of them, nor any of the other Undead, had been able to see the cave’s entrance.

Chipuras and the other light-attribute Ghosts had been unable to see it as well, so it was likely that Isla wouldn’t have been able to see it even if she were here.

“… Well, you’re right. There’s no use in being bothered by it, is there. Thanks, everyone,” said Vandalieu, comforted by everyone’s words and managing to recover from his shock.

He was curious as to whether newer races of Vida… Chaos Elves, Dark Humans, Dvergr, and Dark Beast-kin would be able to see the cave’s entrance.

“This must be why the god I serve, Marisjafar, sent me to guide you,” said Doraneza.

“Yeah. I just happened to be here,” said Privel.

Indeed, even if the god that Doraneza served had contacted Vandalieu and his companions directly, they might not have noticed the entrance to this cave.

The barrier was likely a measure against monsters and demigods belonging to Alda’s forces, but… if they hadn’t met Doraneza and Privel hadn’t been present, they would likely not have noticed the cave even if they were told where it was.

“Well, in any case. How much further?” asked Vandalieu.

The cave looked much the same along its entire length, curving several times as it extended further into the ocean, and Vandalieu no longer had any sense of which direction they were traveling in.

“It is approximately three hours when I swim, but this ship is faster than I am. We should be arriving soon,” replied Doraneza.

A short while later, Vandalieu was able to see a space ahead where a bright light shone down from above.

“There it is. That is the exit to the cave,” said Doraneza. “Keep going straight, then ascend to the sea’s surface.”

“Understood! Come on, you lot! Get ready to surface!” one of the Four Dead Sea Captains barked.

The ocean had been dark, with the occasional eyeless fish and transparent shrimp swimming by, but as Cuatro drew closer to the light, the waters became livelier.

As Cuatro emerged from the cave, an ordinary sea… no, a sea teeming with a thriving ecosystem, came into view.

Fish of all sizes swam about freely, and the seabed was lined with beautiful coral reefs and forests of seaweed.

But as Cuatro surfaced, it let out a creaking noise of wonder. This sea – this place, was unlike any place that Cuatro had traveled thus far.

Looking up, there were clouds. But instead of a blue sky, there was a ceiling made of a hard-looking, mineral-like substance. What Vandalieu and his companions had initially thought was a sun was actually a floating ball of light. The entire area was surrounded by walls, with underground rivers flowing from them to form waterfalls that poured incessantly into the sea.

Vandalieu took a big breath with his lungs again as he put his gills away. “There were places like this in Earth’s movies and the adventure novels I read in the library of my elementary school,” he murmured.

“What do you think, Gufadgarn?” asked Vandalieu.

As Gufadgarn’s Elf-girl vessel could not breathe underwater, she had remained inside a sub-dimension while Cuatro was submerged, but she appeared now and looked around with a surprised expression.

“… I apologize. I possess no knowledge regarding this underground space. The only thing that I can say with certainty is that it did not exist a hundred thousand years ago,” she said. “After Guduranis was defeated, we checked thoroughly for any remnants of his army that may be hiding underground, so I am certain of this. There was no underground space of this size in the Demon King’s Continent back then.”

“I see. Then I suppose it’s different from the adventure novels on Earth after all,” said Vandalieu.

An enormous cavern near the earth’s core with air, water, and a light source acting as the sun.

While exploring a cave, a group of adventurers stumble upon this underground world. They see creatures that have never been seen before and creatures that were thought to be extinct, as well as the remains of an ancient civilization and a race of primitive people.

The adventurer party’s adventures continue as they try to escape from this new underground world back to the surface.

The story Vandalieu was thinking of went something like this, but he had forgotten the details, or perhaps he was mixing it up with another story he knew.

“But this world already has dinosaurs and bizarre creatures, so I don’t really know how incredible this underground world is,” said Vandalieu.

The small creatures sitting on Vandalieu’s shoulders made a small, squeaking noise.

“Comparing this place to stories told in another world… No, wait, were you really reincarnated here from another world? Wait, wait, wait, more importantly, that girl… No, no, no, no! What is that bizarre creature that looks like a squid or octopus?!” said Doraneza, tripping over herself because she had too many questions to ask.

Vandalieu was unsure as to how to answer her questions. “How should I explain that I was reincarnated here from another world? Nobody’s ever doubted it, so I haven’t thought about it recently,” said Vandalieu.

“How do you expect nobody to question you when you say that you’ve come from another world?!” Doraneza said incredulously.

But up until now, everyone whom Vandalieu had told the truth… especially the citizens of the Demon Empire of Vidal, had believed him with no doubts whatsoever, so he had no response to this.

“I mean, even before Van-kun told us, he was so strange that we could only imagine that he was from another world, and he’s been making all kinds of stuff,” said Privel.

In other words, Vandalieu had always shown that he was someone from another world before telling them he was, so nobody had ever doubted him. In this case, the order of events had been reversed, though Vandalieu hadn’t noticed that.

“If I show you miso and soy sauce, will you believe me?” asked Vandalieu.

“‘Miso’ and ‘soy sauce?’ Come to think of it, it was written in the legends that there were condiments from the world of the champions that even Zakkart was unable to create. ‘Soy sauce,’ huh. If you have that, then yes. But if this ‘soy sauce’ you speak of is made of fish, I will not believe you,” said Doraneza.

It seemed that making soy sauce would be enough proof that one was a reincarnated individual from another world.

“Fish sauce is no good? It’s delicious, you know?” said Borkus.

“The sauce you can make from fish has already been made by us Merfolk and other races of Vida who live near the sea,” said Doraneza. “Our ancestors happened to discover the method of making it by coincidence. Even in human villages, people make what they call ‘fish vinegar.’”

Something similar to fish sauce had already been created in this world. However, it seemed to only exist near the sea.

Perhaps due to a problem with how it was made, or because it spoiled easily, or simply because of difficulties with distributing it, it wasn’t very widely used.

“So, what are those baby Krakens? Bringing monsters in with you would be… No, it’s too late for that,” Doraneza sighed, remembering that everyone other than Vandalieu and Privel were monsters.

It seemed that she realized that a baby Kraken or two would make little difference.

“The egg that was attached to me earlier hatched. They look like balls, so I’ll name them Tama and… what should I name the other one?” Vandalieu wondered.

The two baby Krakens had transparent white bodies, and their heads… or perhaps it was their abdomens… had fins like those of octopuses and squid, and they had ten legs.

In terms of size, they resembled crystal balls that fortune-tellers might use, with ten legs growing from them. They were so small that it was unbelievable that they would mature to become Krakens that were larger than ships.

“Then how about ‘Gyoku?’” suggested Privel. “It’d be a problem if it grew up to have a more squid-like appearance if its name was ‘Sphere.’”

“I suppose you’re right. Then let’s call them ‘Tama’ and ‘Gyoku,’” said Vandalieu.

TLN: Tama and gyoku are both readings for the kanji 玉 which means ‘sphere.’ Both still sound like relatively normal names even if they grow up to not be sphere-shaped, but the katakana version of the English word ‘sphere’ is very explicit and can only be interpreted as ‘sphere,’ which is why Privel says it’s not a good idea.

The two newly-born baby Krakens let out happy noises as they were given names.

Meanwhile, as Cuatro sailed across the sea of the underground space… or perhaps, more strictly speaking, the underground lake… land came into sight.

“This place is pretty big, isn’t it? It’s like a real sea,” said Jeena.

“It is not that large, but it is large enough that there are several bays. The sea’s blessings are bountiful. So much so that when we first came here, the ones already living here did not shun us newcomers; they welcomed us and invited us to live with them. However, the land above is larger,” said Doraneza.

The people who had already been living here had welcomed Doraneza and those traveling with her – complete strangers with no connection to themselves other than that they were also members of Vida’s races. Even though Doraneza and her companions had only numbered a few dozen, the inhabitants of this place would not have welcomed them if their living here would be unsustainable.

As Cuatro drew closer to land, a harbor came into view, and there was a large crowd of people gathered on it.

Vandalieu could see Titans with white body hair, a race that resembled Centaurs at a glance, a race of people with insect-like lower body halves, and a single Majin. There also seemed to be humans, Beast-kin, and Elves as well.

They stared at Cuatro, talking among themselves while looking confused.

“Are those the people who live here?” asked Vandalieu.

“Yes. I believe that the leader of every race was summoned by Divine Messages from the gods to gather here and welcome you, but… it seems that something is wrong?” said Doraneza.

Vandalieu and his companions were also puzzled by the behavior of the inhabitants of this underground world. As Cuatro drew closer to the harbor, Merfolk faces emerged from the sea.

“Is Doraneza-sama aboard your ship?!” asked the one who was in front of all of the others, a middle-aged Merfolk man with a scar running from his forehead down his cheek.

It seemed that this was Doraneza’s close aide. She would have run to the side of the deck to see him, but… as this was impossible due to the shape of her lower body, Privel carried her over so she could see over the edge.

“Ah, Bastian!” said Doraneza, calling out to him. “Over here! I have returned!”

“I am so relieved to see your safe return!” said Bastian. “Incidentally, everyone is worried about whether you succeeded in carrying out your mission!”

“Why?!” asked Doraneza, perplexed. “As you can see, I have successfully managed to lead these people here!”

“The Divine Message described a ship that sailed through the sky, but this enormous ship is not flying!” Bastian replied.

“Ah! You are right!” said Doraneza.

It seemed that the people gathered at the harbor were not sure whether the Divine Message had come true, as Cuatro was not flying as it had been described.

“We weren’t in that much of a hurry, after all. The sea is peaceful, too,” said Vandalieu.

“Your-Majesty-kun, the people in the harbor can see us… Should we fly for a little bit?” suggested Jeena.

“Yes. Cuatro, could you please fly a little?” said Vandalieu.

“Y-you got it,” said one of the Four Dead Sea Captains. “Cuatro, float up just a little! After that, start cruising, nice and slow!”

Cuatro let out a somewhat reluctant sound as it rose about ten meters from the sea’s surface and gently flew into the harbor.

Finally realizing that the Divine Message had come true, the people of the underground world burst into cheers and applause.

Monster explanation (Written by the Adventurers’ Guild):

Little Kraken

Little Kraken are thought to be small grown Kraken, rather than Kraken children. Their body length ranges from three to four meters, and they are Rank 4. They are weaker than Krakens due to their small size, but they are quick to move. In addition, because they are small, they frequently appear in shallow coastal waters, the average person is more likely to face a threat from a Little Kraken than a Kraken.

However, they generally live in deep waters, so their biology and reproductive cycle is surrounded in mystery.

One theory is that as Little Kraken continue developing as adults, they eventually become Kraken capable of sinking large ships, but this has not been confirmed.

Incidentally, there are Beast Kings of shellfish, starfish, fish, sharks, and marine mammals, but there is no literature confirming the existence of Beast Kings of some insects and cephalopods.

Either they died so long ago that no records of them remain, or…

Due to this, some scholars call squid and octopuses ‘demon fish’ and insist that squid and octopuses with no Ranks are the regressed form of monsters created by the evil gods that appeared in this world.