Chapter 580: Return to the Western Continent
It was a jellyfish, though by now half of its body had already evaporated.
“You hid pretty deep, little thing.”
Loren grabbed the jellyfish and pinned it to the shore.
Out of the water, the jellyfish lost all ability to resist, not even able to lift a tentacle.
Its tentacles were numerous, and each one ended in a hand, the same kind of hand that had grabbed Loren’s ankle earlier.
Because it had dehydrated, this jellyfish had also shrunk considerably.
Loren had expended a lot of effort to catch it, consuming nearly two thousand points of Mana.
The well wasn’t wide, but it was deep enough.
“Release me and I will grant you a blessing.”
The jellyfish did not speak aloud, yet the words directly transmitted into Loren’s mind.
There was no detectable tone in its voice; it wasn’t human, so not sounding like a person was to be expected.
Loren didn’t reply. Instead, he began rummaging through the other offerings the followers had prepared.
The offerings included not only living people but also gemstones and metals of various sorts, and soon Loren found exactly what he needed:
“Pit Iron, Wailing Stones…”
After locating those items, Loren arranged them into an Altar, placing the most important piece, the Pit Iron, at its center.
The God of the Pit had a foreboding sense of doom and continued begging, but Loren ignored it.
Finally, he dripped his blood onto the Pit Iron. The Altar activated, and the God of the Pit floated directly into the air.
Flames erupted in Loren’s hand as he grabbed the Pit Iron; the metal began to melt and Loren’s blood fused with it completely.
Under Loren’s control, the Pit Iron slowly took shape, reforming into the form of a harpoon.
He used a Sixth-Tier Spell from the Light and Fire sequence, the Artisan’s Flame, which can melt and reshape metal.
Even after forming, the Pit Iron glowed an intense red; the God of the Pit drew ever closer to it.
“Wait, I’ll give you my divine seat…”
Soon the pleas turned into screams. The deity had been absorbed into the Pit Iron; the harpoon began to cool rapidly while Loren finished the final touches.
“Done.”
As the God of the Pit’s screams ended, Loren’s harpoon was complete.
The harpoon was entirely black, absorbing all light, utterly non-reflective. Its tip was extremely sharp and fitted with intricate barbs.
Attached to its tail was a short chain, coiled around Loren’s wrist.
“You turned that evil god into a weapon?”
Only now did Veronica realize what Loren had done.
This exceeded her comprehension. Even the Church sought to slay evil gods when possible.
She had never heard of simply forging an evil god into a weapon; even the well-traveled Melody had never seen anything like it.
“Yes. This is the best way to deal with these minor evil gods.”
Loren toyed with the newly forged harpoon. He tested it by throwing it toward a distant mountaintop.
The moment the harpoon left his grip, a new chain extended between the harpoon and the chain around Loren’s wrist. Those chains were made of water, but they were sufficiently solid.
The harpoon’s defining feature was its weight, so great that even Loren’s casual throw carved a large pit into the mountaintop.
At the same time, any target struck by the harpoon became unbearably heavy, unable to move.
If Loren desired, he could even sink the target into the Pit.
On land the harpoon could not fully manifest its power. In the sea, it ignored resistance, buoyancy, and even gravity, accelerating until it essentially never missed.
“Let’s call this thing Abyssal Hunt.”
Loren thought the name, and the extended chain retracted; the Abyssal Hunt flew back into Loren’s hand.
Its horrific weight did nothing to slow him, since Loren had not converted his Intelligence into Strength.
“All right, you two go back and rest. I’ll go burn the village clean with Sin-Burning Flames.”
“I’ll go with you…”
Veronica didn’t want to be separated from Loren, even for a fleeting moment.
“Alright.”
Loren held Veronica close and rose into the sky with her.
Together they unleashed Sin-Burning Flames like heavenly fire descending, burning the entire village to ashes.
Because Veronica had a history of petty theft, the Sin-Burning Flames still had some effect on her; at worst it made her feel scorching.
After Veronica had killed the pirates, Sin-Burning Flames had largely lost power over her—lying fully within the flames she would only feel warmth.
To Loren’s surprise, after burning through the village there was not a single survivor.
Even some of the pirates had been spared elsewhere, yet this group of villagers bore guilt deeper than the pirates.
After dealing with those villagers, Loren returned to his previous lodgings to rest.
He had also prepared a bathtub for Melody, filled with water so she could live outside.
Fortunately Melody only needed fresh water rather than seawater, which made things much easier.
...
The night passed quietly. In the morning Veronica wanted breakfast, but Loren refused, leaving her a little disappointed.
With Melody present, things weren’t exactly convenient.
If Loren had asked, Melody probably would have joined, but Loren felt awkward asking…
Early the next day Loren cooked a meal from the remaining village supplies, packed a fair amount to go, then returned to the Rock Whale’s back.
The Rock Whale had waited in place the whole time, to the point that a band of pirates had mistaken it for a landfall.
Loren had burned those pirates with Sin-Burning Flames and tossed them away, then he and his companions resumed their journey.
They encountered nothing along the way. Even if pirates saw the Rock Whale, any sane person would never lay hands on it.
Loren arrived at the Western Continent, the God of Night and Thunder’s territory.
After traveling so long, he would soon see Lilith and the others, and Loren felt excited.
“Goodbye, Melody.”
Standing at the shore, Loren bade Melody farewell; her face was full of reluctance.
“Goodbye, Master…”
Melody was deeply saddened, but she knew the curse remained unbroken and she could not come ashore. Even if she could remain in the bottle, she would be a burden to Loren.
She could only watch Loren’s figure vanish on the shore, then she dove back into the sea herself.
...
The coastal regions were sparsely populated. Loren flew a distance with Veronica before entering a town.
There were many people here; Loren guessed it must be daytime.
The first thing Loren saw upon entering the town was a huge wanted list.
“Master of Witches Loren, dead or alive.”
The bounty was a wish, emphasizing that this wish could be to become King or Angel, either was acceptable.