Under Surtr's full-powered throw, the ordinary volleyball couldn't take it at all. After holding on for a few seconds, it disintegrated into blackened carbon, scattering across the beach.
Amiya's jaw dropped.
The four girls from Penguin Logistics also had their jaws wide open.
Even having lived as long as they had, this was the first time they had ever seen such an outrageous "beach volleyball" game.
Oh...
Murder volleyball.
Or perhaps...
Why does your 'murder' look just like 'playing volleyball'?
The Nine-Colored Deer, acting as the referee on the side, tossed a new volleyball to Laurentina. Having just taken Surtr's full-force spike head-on, Laurentina's palm was still slightly charred. Theoretically, with an Abyssal Hunter's recovery abilities, this kind of injury should heal almost instantly, but Surtr's flames were no ordinary flames. Even an Abyssal Hunter's regeneration couldn't heal it in a second.
"You're so cruel, Surtr-dear."
Laurentina gave Surtr a charming smile.
However, this expression just made Surtr feel disgusted.
"I've been sick of you for a long time."
"Oh~ Is that so? I even helped you back in Higashi, you know. Acting like this really hurts my feelings."
"Shut up!!"
Being reminded of that embarrassing incident by Laurentina again, Surtr instantly became flustered. In that moment of distraction, a volleyball traveling at the speed of sound shot past Surtr's side. With a *boom*, it slammed into the beach not far behind her, blasting a massive 'impact crater' into the soft sand with just that single volleyball spike.
Even the tourists on the main beach area could clearly hear the explosion from the distance.
"1-0"
The Nine-Colored Deer, as the referee, impartially waved a hand toward Laurentina's side. A small lotus flower flew behind Laurentina, indicating she had scored a point. According to the rules, the first to 5 points would win. The reason it wasn't set to the traditional 25 points was, well, Lucas had long expected that if they really went to 25, this entire beach would probably be unusable.
"!!!"
Surtr's expression darkened, a cross-shaped vein popping on her forehead.
"Oh my, I've scored a point~ This is a competition, you know. It's not about who has the most strength."
Laurentina provoked her.
In reality.
Laurentina and Surtr usually got along quite well. They were like Nian and Dusk—actually very close, but resorting to trading insults whenever they met.
Suddenly.
Surtr started getting serious.
Even Laurentina's eyes widened slightly.
"Is Miss Surtr getting flustered?"
Jessica whispered to Lucas from the sidelines.
Amiya was completely baffled. She truly didn't understand why Raythean Medica had two Operators who were this powerful. It was absurd...
Surtr suddenly plunged her greatsword into the sand, her eyes seeming to burn with fire.
"Laevatain...."
Behind Surtr, the beach turned into a magma field, and a headless giant of flame clawed its way out of the lava.
"F*ck!!!"
Amiya finally couldn't hold it in and cursed out loud.
What the hell!!
This! This! This!!!
What is this thing!!
As for the four girls from Penguin Logistics, they had seen Laevatain before, so they weren't too shocked. They were mostly just numb to it. All they could say was that the gap between people was just too vast. At the very least, Texas's strength ranked her as a formidable elite in Siracusa, and her combat talent and physical abilities were both at the Elite Operator level. Yet, an Elite Operator like her couldn't even get on the court to play volleyball; she could only be a spectator.
Lucas completely understood this feeling.
It was like watching *Kuroko's Basketball* back then and having the thought surface: *So... this is how you play basketball?* With that kind of playing style, forget Jordan, even Qiao Feng would be useless.
"You're... more or less playing dirty now."
Laurentina finally couldn't resist retorting.
Because Surtr's soul had already fused significantly with Laevatain, the Divine power was gradually changing her, transforming Surtr's body from that of a mortal into a demigod body, similar to Nian's. Right now, without Laevatain, Surtr was slightly weaker than Laurentina, but *with* Laevatain, she was slightly stronger.
"Whatever."
Laevatain's headless right hand held the volleyball, which looked like a tiny jellybean in its grasp. Then, a blast of hot air began to distort the surrounding air.
Laevatain swung its massive arm, tossing the jellybean-like volleyball.
In an instant.
The volleyball turned into a flaming meteor. The sheer force of the flames tore a long trench across the beach.
Laurentina didn't even try to block it.
She twisted her body, dodging the flaming meteor's impact. The meteor didn't even land within the volleyball court's lines; it wasn't even close. It flew directly into the volcanic rock wall not far behind, and *BOOM!* A huge crash echoed from the edge of the flaming cliff, and the entire world seemed to tremble. This disturbance made many tourists turn their heads in confusion toward the volcano that had just seemed to shudder. Some of the more worried ones were even preparing to go ask about the volcano's status.
After all, a tremor was not a good sign.
If this volcano suddenly erupted, wouldn't they all be doomed?
"2-0"
The Nine-Colored Deer, ever fair and just, raised a hand toward Laurentina's side again. Another lotus flower landed by her. After all, Surtr's last serve hadn't landed anywhere near the court lines. It was out of bounds.
Perhaps.
These volleyballs had never, ever imagined that they would one day be 'played' like this.
Their ball-lives were now complete.
Surtr had just wanted to vent her anger.
For the next few serves, Surtr didn't use Laevatain.
As for the result...
It was predictable.
After a passionate exchange of 'serves' between the two, Laurentina won the match with a score of [5-1]. Poor Surtr was completely outwitted by Laurentina. Even the one point she did score was intentionally given to her by Laurentina, who was afraid a total shutout would be too embarrassing.
Amiya was stunned.
The passionate shootout between the two just now was definitely the most intense volleyball match Amiya had ever seen in her life. It had even transcended the category of volleyball.
It was the most ridiculous thing in volleyball, and the method of murder that most resembled volleyball.
This... was so surreal.
As for the second round, it was even more of a heavyweight match.
Nian versus Dusk. A showdown between Divine Fragment and Divine Fragment. The previous match was just Surtr and Laurentina; without Laevatin, Surtr hadn't reached the Divine Fragment level. But the confrontation between Nian and Dusk was a true clash of Divine Fragments.
It was Nian and Dusk's turn to take the court.
Seeing that it was just two slender girls coming up, Amiya thought things were finally returning to the essence of volleyball.
After all, if everyone played volleyball like that, what would become of the world?
"Yo, I didn't expect my cute little sister to actually participate. You're not thinking..."
"Hmph..."
Dusk snorted. "Don't overthink it. It's just been a while since I last fought you."
Nian chuckled. "Your words are really a bit cold, you know. Lucas would be sad to hear that."
Nian gripped the volleyball tightly, tossed it up, jumped, and swung.
Everything was so natural. Although still incredibly clumsy, compared to Surtr and Laurentina who were just messing around, Nian looked far more professional.
Amiya nodded.
Finally, a normal person?
With such a normal serve, she had to be a normal person, right? After all, what kind of abnormal person serves like...
BOOM!!!
Just as Amiya was thinking this.
Suddenly.
The sound of Nian's palm connecting with the volleyball was like a cannonball exploding. If you looked at it in slow motion, the moment Nian's hand touched the volleyball in mid-air, the ball instantly deformed, flattening against her palm into a U-shape.
The air exploded with a sharp shriek, like a bird's cry.
The massive sound made the normal tourists in the distance wonder what was happening. What was going on in Siesta today? First, there was a mysterious explosion, then what sounded like an explosion over by the volcano, and now another sharp, explosive sound. What on earth was happening?
WHOOSH!!!
A streak of light, even faster than Surtr's full-powered throw, shot across the court before anyone could even react. The fragile net in the center finally couldn't take this repeated abuse and simply gave up, collapsing onto the sand.
Suddenly, Dusk waved her hand.
A long scroll appeared out of thin air, and as the scroll unfurled, the entire world changed.
As for the spectators on the sidelines.
They now found themselves standing on a mountain peak within a painted world, silently observing the god-level volleyball match happening below.
Amiya was completely numb...
What the hell was this??
What kind of ability was this?
Was this an Originium Art?
Jessica's friends... just what level of monsters were they? The Penguin Logistics crew was also silent at this point, their expressions stoic. They weren't even surprised anymore. They'd never seen anything like it. 'Surprise' was no longer an adequate word.
Gradually, Nian and Dusk's volleyball match departed from its original contest of strength and skill and became a pure clash of metaphysics versus metaphysics.
Of course.
Lucas's attention at this moment wasn't on the match, but on his Originium Slug body, far away on the volcano. Just a moment ago, Lucas had clearly sensed that this body of his seemed to have been moved. So, after a quick word with Jessica, his consciousness descended onto the Originium Slug.
Since the Originium Slug didn't have human-like eyes to see the world clearly—or rather, it hadn't evolved them yet—he could still perceive his surroundings by expanding his soul. He was currently inside a container in a room. A very beautiful and elegant young girl was sitting in front of him, blinking her big eyes as she stared at him. She would look at him, then jot something down, and after writing, she would go back to searching on the computer next to her.
Soul perception was different from things like infrared.
What soul perception 'saw' was almost identical to what the naked eye saw. In fact, because soul power could achieve a nearly 360-degree view, it could see many things the naked eye couldn't. Lucas's soul itself relied on this soul vision.
After all.
The principle of seeing things with physical eyes didn't apply to a soul.
Seeing Lucas in the container seem to move, the young girl smiled happily at him.
It had to be said.
This young girl's smile was incredibly sweet, one of the sweetest he had seen in all his years. She was dressed in a sleeveless, luxurious-looking young lady's dress. It was incredibly extravagant. As for whether it was hot, it definitely was, but one had to sacrifice comfort for the sake of style.
Ceylon was very happy.
After returning home, she had specifically taken out her reference books to check again, and even searched the online encyclopedias. This kind of Originium Slug truly didn't exist in any records. This meant Ceylon's guess was correct: she had completely discovered a brand new species of Originium Slug. Moreover, no one knew if this species was unique, so Ceylon was being extremely careful, terrified of accidentally killing this Originium Slug.
Discovering a new species was a big deal.
The only unfortunate thing was that Originium Slugs already had countless variations across Terra. It was normal for humans to find abnormal ones. So, even if it was a new species not in the records, Ceylon probably wouldn't win any awards, unless... she could verify it as a completely new species. Only verification as a new species would be a truly earth-shattering event.
Lucas met the young girl's gaze.
Of course, the girl had no idea there was an old man's soul inside this Originium Slug.
After watching for a while.
Ceylon started muttering to herself.
"For now, I'll call you 'Wucai'. The scales on your shell are so iridescent, they're kind of pretty."
As Ceylon was admiring Lucas, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Schwarz walked in from outside.
"Miss, Master sent a dive team out today. He had them check the sea again while they were at it. They didn't find any 'flower-shaped, one-eyed monsters'. So, Miss, you don't need to overthink it. You probably just saw it wrong."
A flower-shaped, one-eyed monster?
Living at the bottom of the sea?
Lucas, who had turned into an Originium Slug, heard everything, and then...
He instantly froze.
It couldn't be.
In Lucas's mind, the disgusting appearance of the Seaborn flashed by.