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Nineveh was dead.
Not even ash remained.
Inside the ice shelter, everyone had gone blank.
That was Nineveh—a BOSS-class Symbiotic Ethereal Swarm that even the Defense Forces needed multiple parties to trap, and had to regularly consume huge resources to whittle down.
Yet before Sol Mercer, it not only lost its will to fight—
It couldn't even escape. It simply evaporated in the air.
The once tough, thick-skinned, insanely regenerative Nineveh now felt like it had been a fake all along.
"That sword… it's truly terrifying!"
Harumasa stared at the distant figure with a sigh. "That kind of temperature must be over a million degrees."
"A million degrees… food would definitely cook super fast at that temperature."
Soukaku's eyes lit up, full of anticipation.
At home, a two-hundred-degree microwave took fifteen minutes to bake a pizza.
In a million-degree heat, you could just put it in and eat it immediately, right?
Harumasa's shock was smothered, leading him only to complain, "It'll disappear like Nineveh did."
"Then no thanks. Let's just keep it for fighting Ethereals."
Soukaku shook her head repeatedly—she couldn't bear the thought of food disappearing.
Yanagi gently patted Soukaku's head, thinking aloud, "Honestly, we can't be sure it was only a million degrees. That feeling of facing the sun—calling it tens of millions wouldn't be strange."
They hadn't personally experienced it; they were merely sunbathing inside the ice shelter. All they could do was estimate from the destruction.
And personal experience? Impossible.
The true temperature would probably remain a mystery.
"The more we talk, the scarier it sounds. Can such fragile human tissue really withstand temperatures like that?"
Harumasa rubbed his face with both hands, feeling like he was breaking down.
Though he now loved taking leave, as a child he had been a prodigy his teacher valued highly.
Physics, chemistry, biology, politics, history, geography—scoring full marks had been easy. And as someone raised among researchers, he understood the human body well.
The more he knew, the more unbelievable this was.
At a million degrees, no organic matter should survive. Even most inorganic materials couldn't withstand it. Diamond would burn into carbon, gold would vaporize.
"Experience proves truth. As of now, Sol has endured it. The human body truly has no limits," Miyabi said with serious analysis.
Harumasa covered his forehead, unsure if his department head was telling a deadpan joke. "Isn't it more likely that this is the universe's way of telling us Sol shouldn't be classified as 'human' at all?"
On no other day had his desire to complain been this strong.
Sol was simply a monster beyond his understanding.
"If he's not human, then what is he?"
Miyabi pondered earnestly but found no answer.
At that moment, Harumasa looked outside and felt a chill.
Except for the small area around the ice shelter, everything else had become a lake of molten lava—like they were an island floating in a sea of fire.
Even though Nineveh was gone, the magma showed no sign of cooling. It stayed crimson, bubbling now and then.
When they left later… it was going to be rough.
…
Five hundred meters outside the Withering Garden, at Ray's research station—
The researchers who had been preparing to record full data on Nineveh were stunned.
"What happened to Nineveh's widespread energy-wave barrage? What about its lightning-fast five-whip combo? Its full form? Its berserk strength?"
Rubbing their heads, several researchers were completely confused.
All they saw was Nineveh rising into the air—
And then Nineveh was gone.
Such a massive Nineveh, disappearing just like that, far too quickly.
"Researcher Ray… it looks like we collected even less data on Nineveh than we did during its dormant phase."
One researcher spoke with frustration.
During their periodic purges, Nineveh would lower its activity, remain still, and stay in flower form absorbing energy—the dormant phase.
And even an unmoving Nineveh yielded more data than this.
It had just ended too quickly—they hadn't even started recording.
"It's fine. We have plenty of other data. A deceased Nineveh isn't that important."
Ray adjusted her glasses and spoke calmly. "The effects of ultra-high temperatures on the Hollow, and the disturbances in Hollow Zero's core, are far more valuable."
Their original goal had indeed been Nineveh data, but clearly that no longer mattered.
Some researchers looked toward the Withering Garden and nodded. "Yeah… this trip was worth it."
Just from the footage alone, they felt they had gotten their money's worth.
Not only as bragging rights, but also as a firm belief for living.
With such a powerhouse around, New Eridu truly could conquer the Hollows. The future was bright.
And at this moment—
"You owe me an apology, Nineveh."
Sol gazed upward at where the flying Nineveh once had been and sighed. "That wasn't satisfying at all."
Too weak—so weak that he hadn't even needed to swing the blade.
The heat of the Might of An-Utu alone could have roasted it alive. It was far too weak.
He shook his head, no longer thinking about it.
Now he stood atop the molten-lake surface, completely unaffected by the heat.
For someone with the [Tier XIII - Demigod] metaphysical evolution, this temperature didn't even register.
And with his [Energy control Lv. 7], he feared neither extreme heat nor freezing cold.
He still held the Might of An-Utu—the sword would be needed soon.
But before that, he had to tidy up the surroundings and free Hoshimi Miyabi and the others from the ice shelter.
Polluting the environment wasn't good; even inside a Hollow, one should be mindful.
Without changing expression, Sol activated [Energy control Lv. 7] and extracted uncountable amounts of heat.
It was as though an invisible storm swept through the air, gathering the excess heat and drawing it in. The once-distorted air rapidly stabilized, the temperature plummeting.
Beneath him, the molten lake shifted from blazing red to obsidian black, spreading outward and downward at frightening speed.
In moments, the entire lake cooled from bottom to top, becoming a smooth, mirror-like obsidian floor. Beneath it lay a hundred-meter-thick mass of solid black obsidian—formerly molten lava.
The temperature that moments ago could cook an ordinary human instantly now fell to a pleasant, comfortable warmth.
The place became like a purified sanctuary within the Hollow—a temple touched by a miracle.
Only after finishing did Sol walk toward the ice shelter to release Miyabi and the others.
To freeze and unfreeze at will—what a beast.
Harumasa silently gave a thumbs-up, completely convinced.