Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

As for Ulpian, he had completely collapsed to the ground, painfully supporting his body with his hands.

"Ugh... Ah...!!!"

The hunters' already deep red eyes now shone with an even more bloodthirsty hue, and their battle-hardened skin, which had never been scarred, now displayed numerous scale-like patterns. Skadi raised her hand, then looked at her companions around her, and her pupils constricted involuntarily. Their bodies were all undergoing a transformation into the Sea Spirit!

The pain of their physical structures constantly collapsing and then rebuilding is enough to rob them of their reason, but they can also feel a more direct manipulation of their minds.

The call, like waves sweeping through their consciousness, kept echoing in their minds.

Like a mother calling her child back to her embrace, without any coercion or pressure, yet it awakens the hunters' desire to return from the depths of their hearts.

"No...no way!"

Just as her consciousness was about to fade, Gladys abruptly stood up, slamming her foot onto the deck so hard it seemed to tilt the entire Fool's Ship. She then loudly warned Skadi and Specter:

"Use the Qi-boosting technique to enhance your Qi! Resist the Sea-Transformation!!!"

Skadi and Specter regained their senses and quickly regained their footing. Then, three light blue auras surged from their bodies. Although the auras were not powerful and the friction was not intense, they were enough to create a flame-like effect that enveloped their bodies.

"Lantern! Lend me the lantern!"

Ulpian then extended his hand to the judges, and before they could express their agreement or raise any questions, he immediately added:

"Give it to me if you don't want me to kill you all after I lose control!!!"

After hesitating for a second, Carmen handed his lantern to Ulpian. Although the light caused the latter some pain, his body's hydraxia was significantly reduced after the light illuminated his body.

"What exactly... happened...?"

"Hmph, you've got quite a few tricks up your sleeve."

Thomas's words drew the attention of the hunters and judges, and then, under their gaze, Thomas walked to the bow of the Fool's Ship.

"But shouldn't you be stronger without these tricks?"

"Do you want me to come find you myself, or do you want to roll over here yourself?!"

Thomas stood there, speaking to the sea breeze, his voice aimed at the center of the vortex, a hundred kilometers away, where countless glowing dinosaur bodies had gathered and were radiating light.

As if in response to Tomat's questioning of the sea, the eddy current suddenly accelerated in its speed of swirling up the corpses. In just a moment, all the light on the sea surface converged together, and then countless corpses condensed into a ball as white and bright as the moon. Then, it suddenly burst out with extremely strong light, and the shock wave it emitted even instantly dispersed the thick clouds in the sky.

The wind swept silently across the sea, and the still-powerful waves, tens of meters high, tossed the Fool, which had been sailing steadily through the storm, into the air before crashing onto the water. A single wave nearly capsized the entire ship.

But the next moment, everyone was captivated by the view before them.

The dark clouds, swirling vortexes, and waves seemed like phantoms that had never existed. All that remained was a calm, mirror-like surface of water. For the first time, the clear night sky, unlike anything ever seen in the waters off Granfalo, was reflected on the clear sea surface, free of any shadows of the terror fish.

Today's moon has three parts.

The two crescent moons are something Terra already had.

The final round featured the glowing sphere composed of countless dinosaurs, which was now floating directly in front of the Fool.

It wasn't a perfect circle, but rather an oval shape resembling a bird's egg. Within that not-so-huge shell, a huddled human figure was faintly visible, its outline barely discernible.

The suffocating, terrifying atmosphere of the fish has disappeared.

But everyone understood that it was the source of the previous aura.

It appeared before people in an instant after traveling a hundred kilometers. They took a defensive stance as if facing a formidable enemy, but did not make any rash moves to attack it.

Their intuition told them that if they attacked rashly and exposed a weakness, even for less than a millisecond, it would be enough to kill them.

Good evening, everyone.

—And as it turned out, their judgment was correct.

Upon hearing that ethereal voice, the hunters and judges immediately realized that the glowing egg had shattered into fragments of light that scattered across the sea.

The creature inside the egg had already stood on the deck, calmly positioned in the very center of their encirclement.

[Event] Fool's Past: Chapter Thirty-Seven - The Butcher's Birth

Let's turn back time a little—to the time when Amaya, with the help of her "compatriots" who distracted Tomat and the others, broke free of her restraints and fell into the sea.

It was when she realized how far apart she was from the masses under the crushing and ravaging power, and when she succumbed to despair because she was absolutely powerless to resist.

The profoundly human feeling of "powerlessness" is carrying her towards the deepest part of the ocean.

I am not a perfect being after all; I am still swayed by human nature and fear, and I am still unable to make the decision to sacrifice myself.

Since that's the case, let this body fall and be devoured by its companions who never truly integrated into it, becoming their nourishment as a final contribution.

Her marine-like body prevented her from dying from falling into the sea, but she also gave up swimming and waited for the other dire fish to sense her will and devour her completely as food.

In this way, the Amayas could more or less entrust their long-cherished wish of "continuing life in large groups" to it.

"Amaya..."

"Amaya... open your eyes..."

"Amaya, open your eyes, I am your compatriot."

But from within that abyss where only seawater flowed, a desolate and hollow sound rang out.

The voice was filled with confusion, yet it carried the most genuine concern and greetings. Although it was so calm that it seemed devoid of any emotion, it felt so warm and comforting to Amaya's ears.

She opened her eyes at his call; it was a sea creature she knew quite well.

Beneath its pale silhouette lies a deep blue body, possessing the limbs of a land animal yet sporting a scaly tail.

It had no name and was very weak, but its self-awareness and cognitive abilities convinced Amaya that it was a superior individual among the Terrorfish, a magical being called the Sea Heir—or messenger—by the Church.

Although this contradicts the common sense that "only those Haisi who resemble humans are advanced individuals," Amaya sees it merely as human arrogance.

They imitate humans not to "become more advanced," but to demonstrate greater species inclusivity; in essence, this is no different from their imitation of the appearance of other creatures.

Therefore, even though it maintains a non-human form, it can still convey the will of the Sea God and easily drive the Terror Fish across the land and sea. However, no matter what, the Sea God never considers itself superior to other Terror Fish brethren. They are always prepared to sacrifice themselves as food, just like other Terror Fish.

They have long regarded the part that humans consider virtues but lack as a primal instinct etched into their genes.

Amaya was somewhat surprised that she could see the other party here. Now that she realized she had long lost her "qualification", it was a luxury to even talk to it, but it still continued to call her a fellow countryman.

"...Patriarch of the Great Loan, I am no longer worthy to be called a fellow countryman by you."

"This body has long since abandoned its right to be a Liberi, and has offendedly mixed into the flesh and blood of the masses. Its mind is equally unable to enter the thoughts of the masses—my bones, my flesh, now have only the value of feeding the thousands of terror fish in this sea, and contributing a little nourishment to the great cause of the masses to unify all things."

Amaya spread her arms in the water, exposing her marine-transformed body, and closed her eyes to await the agony of her flesh being torn apart.

"I beg you."

"Remember me."

"Liberate me."

"Eat me."

However, the pain she was waiting for never came.

"messenger?"

Instead of opening its mouth full of sharp teeth, Hai Si, like Amaya, spread its limbs and then slowly hugged Amaya with its tail.

Its body transformed into a perfectly round sphere, enveloping the other party, while Amaya still couldn't understand why Haisi would do such a thing to her.

Then, Hai Si's body gradually dissolved from the inside, turning into a warm liquid that enveloped Amaya's body, immersing her in amniotic fluid as if returning her to the womb.

Amaya didn't feel the suffocating sensation of being submerged in the strange liquid, nor the burning sensation of being corroded by digestive juices; she only felt warm and comfortable.

She felt as if they had transformed into a ball of light, condensed from life, gazing at each other in a place where time and space were indistinguishable.

Meanwhile, Hai Si's thoughts silently flowed into Amaya's mind.

It wasn't a stuttering imitation of human vocal organs, filled with strange phrasing or word choice; rather, it was a more direct input of meaning into her consciousness.

"Scaleless compatriots—the idea I understand."

"You panic, you are afraid, you grieve for emotions you shouldn't have as a fellow human being."

"New changes and unknowns make you feel like you're no longer in the same place you used to be."

"And so am I."

"I follow the instincts of the herd: hunting, surviving, perpetuating the group, and waiting for the answer."

“I can sense Him, but He does not answer, so I continue to live and continue to wait.”

"But now, the new scaleless brethren have not come to hunt, but only to exterminate us. Our survival is threatened, and we can no longer reproduce and live as before. Our foundation has been shaken, and the blood of our brethren is flowing all over the sea."

“Survival is the primary goal; continuing to wait for His answer will only hinder survival.”

"His lack of response does not mean He is not present; His absence does not mean we have lost our way; losing our way does not mean we cannot find our way."

"No decree is needed."

"No need to wait."

"A new direction."

"—I am the new will of the great multitude."

At this moment, as Amaya completely merged with the Beast of Slaughter, it proclaimed its existence to the ocean.

A sound imperceptible to the human ear reverberated instantly in the deep sea.

Based on their original survival instincts, the top priorities for the survival of the dinosaurs and sea creatures are either to avoid fighting in the face of great danger, or to compete with other creatures for living space when the safety of their species is at a lower risk.

This unprecedented existence of the Tomats, although it is the first time in their long evolutionary history, they have chosen the former as their coping mechanism. However, due to the many unknowns in this situation, their population evolution has been in a state of "shutdown".

Simply put, when faced with new external stimuli, the dinosaur will first adopt the coping methods it has encountered before in similar situations.

For example, when faced with a completely new toxin attack, they will choose to use antibodies that have been produced during the evolutionary process to deal with it. If there are similar antibodies but they are not very effective, they will strengthen them until they can completely overcome the attack.

If it is a completely new toxin, they will adopt a method similar to herd immunity, actively infecting on a large scale. As long as one can mutate and produce antibodies, the entire population will have defeated the toxin.

The effects of tomat are incomparable to those of toxins.

They don't know which existing attributes to enhance.

They also cannot adapt to Tomat and evolve entirely new attributes—because under his power, the Terrorfish have no opportunity to adapt and evolve.

And this Haisi, which is integrated with Amaya, is preparing to break this deadlock, or rather, wants to make an unknown attempt.

After countless reflections and waiting, it came to this conclusion: if it continues to maintain the status quo, the tribe will only stagnate and extinction will only be a matter of time. Since maintaining the status quo is the inevitable end result of extinction, then actively heading towards extinction still offers a glimmer of hope.

Hai Si, the Slaughterer, became an unprecedented individual. Under extreme environmental pressure, its awakened thoughts bypassed the "obeying orders" step and it became the entity that issued orders.