People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

It's truly a case of one wave subsiding only for another to rise, one after another, relentlessly and endlessly. (4)

Is this Deep Sea Church really so unscrupulous?

Ernst's sweat wasn't from fear, but from exhaustion. After all, every few minutes he had to perform a heart-stopping emergency evasion maneuver. At best, he'd narrowly avoid danger; at worst, Talulah would tackle him to the ground, leaving anyone who happened to be there to apologize!

Not only did he feel exhausted, but Talulah, who was directly confronting Haizi, was also exhausted.

At first, she could directly burn the attacking Hai Zi to death with flames from a distance, but later she had to fight them in close combat. This was not only because long-range saturation bombardment with flames consumed more energy, but also because the Hai Zi's resistance to fire was gradually increasing.

Just a few minutes ago, Talulah was injured for the first time. Her attack methods were too simplistic. After Hai Si's resistance to fire increased, she could no longer deliver a fatal blow, and what was originally a battle of annihilation had to be turned into a war of attrition.

This is the unsolvable problem with the Sea Si. If you don't kill them instantly, they will continuously adapt to your attack methods and evolve targeted defenses. But if you kill them instantly every time, your own stamina will not be able to hold up, and they can still use their life force to build up strength, gradually gaining the initiative in the battle and forcing you into the first situation.

Talulah still has the strength, but this can't go on. Many of Blacksteel's men have already been injured. If this drags on, their chances of winning will steadily decline as the number of wounded increases. Ernst knows this too.

He is already prepared to use some extreme measures.

Ernst himself wasn't very strong, but he was a master of stealing. Even Ensioudis didn't know how much he was hiding.

Besides this method, the small individual [Gravity Contempt Mechanism] that Nasti gave him was also an option, as were the Lich's Small Cube, the Banshee's Spell Necklace, and the Heavenly Pivot, which could be called the [Final Solution]—all things he could pull out!

Hmm, and perhaps Originium. But that stuff is even more unknown than the Heaven's Pivot. Ernst wants to make more thorough preparations before his next meeting and exchange with Precys.

"They're here again! Prepare to meet them!"

Before Ernst could even make a move, the alarm sounded again in the ranks.

This time, a group of bounty hunters attacked, and like before, they had a sea monster among them.

Ernst couldn't understand what these people were thinking. A monster like this was standing so openly among them. Weren't they afraid?

Or is it that bounty hunters are so greedy for money that they can ignore these creatures?

Ernst did try to keep them alive for interrogation, but these people were ridiculously tight-lipped. Let alone getting them to confess who the mastermind was, it was a pipe dream to even get them to survive after the defeat and not commit suicide.

Clearly, these people are Deepsea cultists, brainwashed by the cult. After becoming bounty hunters, they seem no different on ordinary days, but when the Deepsea Church needs people, they talk about the church and their faith, willing to sacrifice themselves and die for their cause. Their fanatical appearance is both infuriating and frustrating.

They might be waiting to be resurrected within other sea creatures, within the "Great Swarm".

Ernst sighed, looking at the Blacksteel International mercenaries who had once again formed a formation and stood in front of him, separating the bounty hunters and bandits from Ernst, and took out the Jeragand's Divine Stone from his pocket.

The time was ripe, and he had left behind enough evidence and clues about the assassination attempt along the way.

He's stopped pretending; he's laid his cards on the table. The rest is up to Iberia to explain.

"Great God Yeragand, are you there?"

"Here, what's wrong?"

Ya'er's voice came through, sounding somewhat surprised.

It seems He really wasn't paying attention to this side.

Strangely enough, Ernst had a feeling that Jeragund was acting strangely lately. This was not only reflected in the fact that the old god rarely talked to Ernst anymore, but also in his seemingly absent-minded, or even absent-minded, mental state.

What was He busy with? Ernst wasn't sure; if it weren't for the fact that nothing had changed in the overall environment of Sherag, he would have thought that the great god Jeragand was ill.

This time was no different; when He spoke, He used Ya'er's voice, and even now, He seemed unaware of His mistake. Fortunately, Ernst reacted quickly and chose to ignore the familiar voice; otherwise, the great god Yeragand would probably be cowering in a corner of the Manjusaka Palace, covering his head in fear.

Seeing that Ernst did not answer immediately, Ya'er finally realized her mistake. She quickly switched her voice, scanned the surroundings through the divine stone, and let out a deep, booming exclamation, comparable to Zhang Fei's:

"Ah! What's going on? What's wrong with these people?"

His voice suddenly turned cold, as if the temperature had abruptly plummeted, accompanied by a few gusts of biting wind.

"Are they here to hurt you?"

Ya'er was very angry.

He has indeed reduced his attention to Ernst recently for some reason. But this was not of his own volition; it was out of necessity.

The reason is simple: He is at a crucial stage in consolidating His own power.

The difference between a Level 1 behemoth and a Level 2 behemoth lies in whether or not it can wield a power.

Some might find this concept vague. Just like Jeragand in the past, she was born with the ability to manipulate wind and snow and protect against natural disasters. Aren't these powers? Why is she classified as a first-class behemoth that does not possess any powers?

In fact, that doesn't really count.

Humans are born knowing how to eat, but there's a difference between knowing how to eat and knowing how to appreciate fine food. People living in a certain environment naturally learn the language of that environment, but knowing that language and being able to use that language to write poetry or other works are quite different.

To put it simply, mastering power is about this kind of difference. However, power is a complex thing, so compared to examples, it is not entirely a matter of proficiency, but also has its own limitations.

Jeragand is breaking through this limitation.

In other words, He is preparing to evolve.

This process normally takes anywhere from a few months to several years, and if one doesn't grasp the key points, it could take more than ten years or even a hundred years.

For giant beasts, such time is nothing more than fleeting clouds and flowing water, passing in the blink of an eye, but for ordinary people, such days are nothing short of a world changing.

Despite the help of several level 2 and even level 3 behemoths such as [Time Sequence], [Sami], Nian, Ling, and Xi, coupled with her own amazing comprehension, which shortened Yeragand's evolution time considerably, she still needed to concentrate fully these days.

That's why He inadvertently overlooked Ernst's situation.

But who knew that in just that short time, their own child would almost have their face covered in splatter?!

Without any hesitation, before Ernst could even utter a single word, Yeragand's aura had already seeped out from the divine stone.

An invisible, chilling wind swept across the battlefield, and the humid Iberian air suddenly turned cold. Snowflakes began to fall, and in an instant, the deep winter that they had never experienced before, a winter they had only ever seen in magazines, suddenly descended upon them.

The bounty hunter's movements began to slow down, and he was almost instantly frozen into an icicle. Ice shards began to seep from between Hai Si's bones, and the twisted monster instinctively tried to devour and assimilate it, but it had clearly chosen the wrong opponent.

Sponges can recover their original shape after deformation, shape memory metals can maintain their appearance even after being hit, and safes are required to be heat-resistant, freeze-resistant, and explosion-resistant because of their function.

But everything has its limits.

Whether it's a sponge, shape-memory metal, or a safe, if it's blast-resistant, then it's bound to be bombed endlessly. Not to mention, every attack Yeragand launches in his rage is equivalent to dropping a small nuclear bomb on them!

The resistance lasted only a moment, barely perceptible, before the attacking Hai Si was smoothly transformed into a lifeless ice sculpture.

All of its vital signs were frozen. This was an attack from the power domain. The time left for the Sea Si to react and adapt might not even be 0.01 seconds. Perhaps the Sea Si, like a tidal wave, could accumulate little by little, sacrificing countless lives to gain countless 0.01 seconds to adapt to this attack, but for a single Sea Si to do this was clearly overestimating it.

A few seconds later, in the wilderness, a towering ice pillar rose up.

Ernst stepped forward, reached out, and gently flicked the forehead of the stunned Talulah. He rubbed his hands together and exhaled a breath of cold air.

"Talulah, do me a favor. It's your turn to shine."

He raised his hand and pointed to the Blacksteel mercenary who was frozen in the distance along with the bounty hunter, but who had clearly been spared by the great god Yeragand.

When the great god Yeragand made his move this time, he clearly did not perfectly control his strength.

The swirling snow swept across the land, and even the mercenaries entangled with the Deep Sea Cultists were not spared.

Before they froze to death, Ernst quickly said:

"Just for my sake, use your fire-breathing ability on them!"

Talulah snapped out of her daze, nodded immediately, and walked toward the Blacksteel mercenaries.

As she walked, she muttered to herself.

For some reason, Talulah always felt like she was being treated as another kind of being.

Chapter 717 Skadi is very eloquent

The seventh round of assassinations is the final round.

Firstly, with the great god Jeragund personally taking action, how could a mere bandit pose a challenge? Secondly, Ernst finally caught a glimpse of the city in the distance.

No matter the time, for the people of Terra, cities have always symbolized safety and comfort compared to the wilderness.

In the wake of the Great Quiet, few cities in Iberia are still functioning properly. Historically, most Iberian cities were built along the coast, relying on inland sea routes for transportation between cities. Iberian capitals were thus often referred to as "port cities." Their mobile cities were few; most were fixed-location cities similar to Kjerag. After the Great Quiet erupted and the coastline was drastically altered, this number became even smaller.

Therefore, every active, inhabited city in Iberia is a key territory protected by the court, which also means that, at least here, access to the sea is prohibited.

"We are safe."

A slightly tired Talulah breathed a sigh of relief and remarked.

The Blacksteel mercenaries, who had caught a cold from the cold, were sneezing and had runny noses, and they all nodded in agreement.

Ernst did not intend to deny their words, even though in his view, the real trouble was just beginning.

What Dario could see, Ernst could naturally see as well. The Iberians invited Ernst to visit for two reasons: first, they hoped the International Summit would provide aid to Iberia, which was devastated by the disaster; second, they wanted the International Summit to discuss a major plan to combat Haizi!

Both of these matters were highly beneficial to Iberia, and theoretically, the Iberians had no reason not to support them. The Tribunal itself, having negotiated the travel route with Ernst, naturally had no reason to deliberately leak Ernst's whereabouts, lure him into a trap, or send assassins.

That's asking for trouble, courting death, and self-destruction!

If they really wanted to do something like this, why go through all this trouble? Why not just have everyone rush into the sea? It would save time and effort, and wouldn't bother anyone else.

Ernst was never afraid to assume the worst about the Terrans, but compared to the conclusion that "the entire Inquisition is full of wolves," Ernst felt that it was more likely that there were many spies within the Inquisition itself.

After all, he had met several members of the Inquisition, and Dario did not seem like a Deepsea cultist to him.

He was really working hard to save money for Iberia. Why would a Deep Sea Cultist who would love for Iberia to die be begging all over Terra?

Of course, one should not have the intention to harm others, but one should not be without the intention to guard against others. If the problem really becomes that big, Ernst has already prepared a backup plan.

This is why he bypassed Iberia and directly asked Blacksteel International to send personnel to the World Summit. This move was to guard against the fact that everyone in Iberia was evil. If anything went wrong, the Terran nations could then legitimately host the Terra Unlimited Fighting Tournament in Iberia!

However, that's all in the future. What Ernst needs to confirm right now is the social class of this group of people in the city.

"coming."

As Ernst watched the figure slowly approaching from afar, his expression gradually darkened, and he whispered a reminder.

Talulah, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, immediately perked up, and the Blacksteel mercenaries also raised their replica guns and melee weapons.

To be fair, Blacksteel really went all out. There were seven assassinations, and the battle lasted from noon to dusk. Their replica guns even had bullets. You know, etched bullets are not cheap!

Their wariness was not without reason; this time, the person approaching them seemed somewhat different.

The figure was alone, wearing a dark tricorn hat and a strange windproof suit. Although she was clearly a woman, she carried an unusually heavy alloy greatsword on her back.

There were no teammates by her side, nor any lurking sea monsters around her. She stood alone not far from Ernst, her head tilted back. Under her hat, her smooth silver hair framed her scarlet eyes, which held a hint of the dullness unique to a powerful person.

Yes, dull!

Just like a pure martial arts fanatic, who wouldn't think about anything unrelated to fighting before satisfying his own desires, the hunter's eyes had no trace of wisdom, only indifference, indifferent woodenness!

Ernst's mouth dropped open; he seemed to recognize this person.

As if to confirm something, Ernst's gaze slowly moved down from the girl's face, over the peaks that could infuriate Hinterlea, over the flat plains that could shame that fat snake Horhaia, and finally landed on her very distinctive thighs.

Hmm, I've seen it in my eyes, those legs are really white.

Ahem, Ernst didn't mean that. He meant, even though this person was wearing pants, he could still tell that her legs were very white. Why is that?

Because she is the famous first person to have a piercing on her inner thigh—Skadi!

Before Ernst could speak, Talulah interjected:

Are you a bounty hunter?

Skadi paused for a moment, as if she had just come out of her daze, stared at Talulah for a moment, and then nodded.

""

She didn't speak, she just nodded.

Talulah felt a little embarrassed, frowned, and asked again:

"You came here for us?"

Skadi turned her head slightly, bypassed Talulah who was blocking Ernst's way, glanced at the snow leopard behind her, and nodded again.

""

She simply nodded without saying anything.

Talulah was starting to lose her composure.

While there weren't any strict rules—she asked a question and the other person had to answer—it was truly the first time she'd encountered someone like Skadi who answered without saying a word, only nodding and shaking her head!

Don't you have any manners?!

Even Captain Bochkastie, whose Oripathy had spread to his vocal cords, would still stammer, "Let me say a few words!"

She took a deep breath, resisting the urge to throw a fireball. She was indeed exhausted. Her opponent dared to come alone, facing their large group without fear, so his strength was likely formidable. If she were to engage in a rash attack, she wasn't sure she could handle him. If she were to ask the great god Yeragand for help, defeating him would certainly be no problem, but she might end up even more exhausted.

Thawing is such a painstaking task!

After a moment of silence, seeing that the other party didn't seem inclined to act immediately, Talulah decided to try negotiating. She asked again:

"Who are you? Who's behind you? Do you know who's behind me?"