I became a god through archaeology in the Wizarding World.

The black tentacles intertwined in the air to form a huge net, pressing down on Rhodes and Sig with a suffocating, stench.

These tentacles are covered with suckers and barbs, and each swing is accompanied by a sharp sound as if the air is being torn apart.

Rhodes did not retreat. He slammed his left hand on the control panel in front of him, maximizing the defensive power of the Crystal Shell.

A layer of pale purple crystalline film covered his leather armor, overlapping with his original [Stone Skin].

"Bang!"

The first tentacle lashed heavily across Rhodes' back.

The immense impact caused him to groan, and his feet plowed two deep furrows into the stone slabs of the ground.

Fine cracks appeared on the surface of the crystal film, but they were quickly repaired by the infusion of magic.

Using the force of the impact, Rhodes slid forward, grabbing the memory crystal and parchment manuscript on the control panel with his right hand.

Without looking at the contents closely, he quickly stuffed it into the specially treated insulated bag in his pocket.

On the other side, Sig's figure weaved through the gaps between the tentacles.

This royal assassin leader displayed astonishing flexibility and explosive power.

With each swing of his demon-slaying short sword, he precisely severed a tentacle that was trying to entangle him.

Dark green, acidic blood gushed from the broken surface, corroding the ground and creating pits.

Mortimer stood on the high platform, watching the two who had stubbornly survived the tentacle attack, his eyes flickering with ghostly fire.

He raised his staff and chanted a string of obscure syllables.

"Soul's scream".

A visible gray ripple spread outwards from him.

A sharp, needle-like pain shot through Rhodes's brain, as if someone had inserted a red-hot steel needle into his temple.

His movements froze for a moment.

In that instant, three thick tentacles simultaneously wrapped around Rhodes' waist and limbs, and the immense force began to contract, attempting to strangle him in two.

"Die." Mortimer coldly uttered two words.

However, a streak of silver light interrupted his execution.

Sig only swayed slightly under the impact of the soul shriek.

He pulled a long, narrow object wrapped in black cloth from his pocket and, without hesitation, threw it at Mortimer as a projectile.

The black cloth unfurled in the air, revealing a rusty, long black nail covered with twisted runes.

The long nail did not emit any amazing magical fluctuations, but the moment it appeared, the originally raging necromantic elements around it seemed to have encountered their natural enemy and instantly became stagnant.

Mortimer's pupils contracted sharply.

He attempted to instantly cast a bone shield for defense, but the long spike ignored all magical shields, piercing through the wall of bones like a phantom and precisely embedding itself in his left chest.

"puff."

A soft sound.

Mortimer froze.

Centered on the point where the long nail pierced his body, countless black lines rapidly spread across his entire body.

The necromantic black aura that had been swirling around him surged wildly into the long nail as if swallowed by a black hole.

The magical supply controlling the tentacles was cut off.

The tentacles wrapped around Rhodes instantly lost their strength and limply loosened.

Rod fell to the ground, panting heavily, and quickly broke free of his restraints.

On the high platform, Mortimer staggered back two steps and leaned against the edge of the alchemical pool.

He looked down at the long nail in his chest, and his eyes, which had been burning with ghostly flames, gradually dimmed, revealing a pair of cloudy, bloodshot human eyes.

"The nail that kills one's parents..."

Mortimer's voice was hoarse and dry, no longer carrying the heavy resonance of magic: "That hypocrite Edward actually handed this thing over to you. It's a cursed object used by the first ancestor of the Plantagenet dynasty to nail his own brother to death, specifically designed to destroy the connection between bloodline and magic."

Sieg did not answer.

The moment he threw the spike, he was also struck by Mortimer's dying counterattack with a touch of corruption.

His left shoulder and entire arm were withering and turning black at a visible rate, his skin peeling off like charred paper, revealing the ashen muscles underneath.

Sieg knelt on the ground, supporting himself with his short sword, and for the first time, a look of pain appeared on his expressionless face.

He pulled a bottle of potent antidote from his waist and poured it directly onto the wound. Hissing white smoke rose, temporarily halting the spread of the poison.

The battle was decided in an instant, but at a heavy cost.

Rhodes got up from the ground, gripped the dagger in his hand, and stared warily at Mortimer on the platform.

Strangely, Mortimer did not continue his attack, nor did he attempt to remove the long nail from his chest.

He leaned against the alchemical pool, his body swaying slightly as the liquid in the pool churned.

The aura of madness and tyranny vanished from him, replaced by an eerie and unsettling calm.

"It's over, Mortimer."

Rhodes said in a deep voice, while subtly taking a step back to increase the distance between himself and the alchemical pool.

"Finish?"

Mortimer let out a low laugh, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and dripping into the dark green pool: "No, Rhodes. This is just the beginning."

He turned away, ignoring Rhodes and Sieg, and stared intently at the enormous beacon matrix in the pool.

"Do you think killing me will stop all of this? Do you think destroying this tower will sever our connection to the deep sea?"

Mortimer stretched out his withered right hand and gently stroked the distorted human faces on the surface of the mother body.

"It's too late. The signal has already been sent out. Just now, the moment you broke in, the first deep-sea pulse penetrated the continental shelf."

Rhodes' heart sank.

He looked at the mother body.

The enormous single eye in the center of the mother structure was now fully open. The deep blue eyeball did not reflect the scene of the laboratory, but instead showed a swirling flow.

In Rhodes's [Danger Sense], an extremely subtle, low-frequency vibration was continuously emanating from that eye, penetrating the floor and transmitting deep into the ground.

"That's impossible," Rhodes said coldly. "A bio-beacon of this scale requires a massive amount of energy to maintain. You're already severely injured, and the energy loop of the Necropolis has been cut off."

"energy?"

Mortimer turned to look at Rhodes, a look of pity in his eyes: "You still see miracles through the eyes of mortals. This Matrix doesn't need magical circuits, because it is a heart in itself."

He suddenly plunged his hand into the writhing mass of flesh and blood of the mother.

With a tooth-grinding tearing sound, Mortimer pulled a fist-sized object from the core of the Matrix.

That was a heart.

But it is not made of flesh and blood; it is a grayish-white fossil with barnacle and seaweed patterns on its surface.

The fossil heart was not beating, but the space around it was subtly distorted.

Water molecules in the air condense around it, forming visible ripples.

At this moment, the "Species Atlas" in Rhodes' mind erupted with an unprecedented roar.

The pages flipped frantically, finally settling on a blank page.

Although no image was generated, a line of bright red text appeared directly in Rhodes' consciousness:

[High-level biological remains detected]

[Identification: Fossilized heart of an ancient sea monster (partially alive)]

[WARNING: Extremely high level of mental pollution, do not come into direct contact]

"I found this in the deep rift of the Storm Sea."

Mortimer held the fossilized heart as if it were the whole world: "It's alive. After sleeping for ten thousand years, it still longed to return to the sea. I only gave it a little bit of flesh and blood, a little bit of soul, and it began to awaken."

"It is the source, the source of my strength."

Mortimer's voice grew softer, but the fervor in his tone intensified: "It is calling its kin. The Deep Ones, the sea monsters, they have heard it. They are coming."

Sieg endured the excruciating pain and stood up, raising his short sword to deliver the final blow to Mortimer.

"Don't move!" Rod suddenly shouted.

He sensed a terrifying energy gathering within Mortimer's body.

That wasn't necromancy, but some kind of more chaotic, more primal essence of life.

Mortimer looked at Sieg charging towards him, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"You want my head?"

He took a step back, half of his body dangling above the alchemy pool.

"I leave everything to you. But this new era... belongs to the deep sea."

Mortimer spread his arms and leaned back.

"For evolution."

"Thump."

Mortimer's body plunged into the churning pool of dark green alchemical liquid.

The liquid in the alchemical pool surged up instantly, as if it were alive, enveloping Mortimer.

The beacon mother body floating in the pool suddenly let out a sharp screech.

Its countless tentacles below thrashed wildly, like a swarm of hungry pythons, and instantly pierced Mortimer's body.

In the blink of an eye, Mortimer's flesh and blood were dissolved and absorbed.

With Mortimer's sacrifice, the fossilized heart of the ancient siren that he held in his hand suddenly burst forth with a dazzling blue light.

"Thump!"

A muffled heartbeat echoed in the basement.

This time, it was no longer a weak vibration, but a substantial sonic shock.

The green crystals on the surrounding walls shattered, and the blood runes on the ground instantly burned away.

The beacon matrix began to expand violently.

The distorted human faces on its surface seemed to come alive, uttering a whisper that could not be described in human language.

"Ph'nglui...mglw'nafh..."

The whisper wasn't loud, but it went straight into Rhodes and Sieg's minds.

Rhodes felt as if his consciousness had been drawn into a huge vortex, with countless overlapping phantoms appearing before his eyes.

A deep underwater city, enormous tentacled shadows, and a pair of cold, giant eyes that watch everything from the darkness.

"Mental pollution..."

Rhodes bit the tip of his tongue, using the excruciating pain to forcefully regain his senses.

The bones of the Abyssal Dragon within his body emitted a faint hum, helping him resist the oppressive force emanating from this higher-ranking creature.

But Sieg wasn't so lucky.

He was kneeling on the ground, clutching his head with both hands, letting out painful screams.

His eyes rolled back and white foam dripped from the corners of his mouth; he was clearly on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"Go! Go quickly!"

Rod grabbed Sieg by the collar and dragged him toward the gate.

The mother body in the alchemical pool had expanded to its limit, and the blue light pierced through the walls of the tower, shooting straight into the sky.

A visible blue beam of light shot into the sky from the top of the Necropolis Tower, piercing the dark clouds above the capital.

Meanwhile, in the far west, in the depths of the storm-shrouded ocean, a distant and profound response echoed.