The Bishop looked at the man and group of women who had suddenly appeared, his ugly face hidden beneath the black robe twisting.
Just a group of ordinary people?
The Bishop subconsciously thought this, as he didn't sense much power from Jessica, Amiya, or even Lucas in the Doctor's account.
However, one thing also made the Bishop very confused.
Why hadn't his Seaborn climbed up from the beach after all this time?
Were they intercepted by Siesta's forces?
How was that possible?
Forget Siesta's current forces; even if they were two, three, four, or even five times stronger, it would be useless. Moreover, these Seaborn were not ordinary Seaborn. They were Seaborn that had, under his decades of assistance, gradually adapted to the Originium on land and successfully devoured Originium Slugs.
These Seaborn possessed both their own traits and the traits of the land-based Originium Slugs. You could even say they were stronger than ordinary Seaborn. The Bishop had also had Cronin, the assistant to Siesta's mayor, investigate everyone who had come to Siesta for tourism. Since tourism definitely required booking hotels or staying in various guesthouses, it was basically a real-name system, so while the investigation was time-consuming, it wasn't difficult. The vast majority were just ordinary people with a bit of money, and a portion were various dignitaries from the outside world.
Hmph...
Dignitaries?
The Bishop just wanted to laugh.
In his eyes, the so-called dignitaries on land were nothing more than high-status ants in an ant colony. Still tiny, so tiny they could be crushed with a pinch. As for the others, there might be some combat personnel, but that was it. There was nothing that could stop the advance of hundreds of thousands of Seaborn.
"Amiya! Doctor!!"
At this moment.
From a side street, a group of Rhodes Island Elite Operators in swimsuits ran over. After the panic broke out in the city, they had been following Amiya's instructions to settle and guide the panicked ordinary tourists. When the strange monsters came out of the sea, they immediately went to the side battlefield to block the monsters coming down from the volcano. The monsters on the volcano were only a small fraction, not even one-tenth of what was in the sea, so the Elite Operators were enough to handle them.
As for the regular Operators, Amiya had instructed them to stay indoors as much as possible.
And some Operators with little combat power, with Jessica's permission, were told to go directly to the hotel's top floor. After all, although the gods were outside, they shouldn't forget that Ceobe's strength was incredibly formidable. Plus, Ceobe's weapon was always with her, stored in the hotel, and they also had powerful ready-made Operators like FrostNova.
ACE carried his heavy shield, but was dressed in a swimsuit, looking rather out of place. The other Operators weren't much better. After all, they were here on vacation. It was already good that they had their weapons with them. As for combat uniforms? Give me a break. Who really thinks they'll run into a special incident while on vacation?
So why did it happen now?
"How's the situation on the volcano, ACE?"
Lucas asked ACE.
ACE replied truthfully, "Report, Doctor. The monsters on the volcano have all been eliminated. There weren't many, only about a thousand or so."
"Is this the culprit?"
Scout looked at the Bishop on the stage, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
Originally, Scout had been eagerly looking forward to tonight's music festival, where his favorite band was going to perform. It was all this guy's fault!! A rare vacation from Rhodes Island! Ruined by this bastard!! It's completely unforgivable!!
All the Elite Operators were actually holding in a blaze of fury.
"That's right."
Lucas nodded in confirmation.
"Can we kill him directly, Doctor?"
"Direct execution permitted, assuming you *can* kill him."
The moment Lucas finished speaking.
Scout had already aimed the sniper rifle on his shoulder at the opponent with a speed that ordinary people couldn't react to, and then pulled the trigger. The bullet shot out instantly, piercing the opponent's body.
"?"
As expected...
Lucas sighed deeply. He looked at the wound on the opponent's chest, which was writhing like an octopus, and had already guessed the other's origin.
"You're from the Church of the Deep?"
Lucas asked.
The Bishop, however, was somewhat surprised.
"Correct. I didn't expect you to actually know of our church."
The Bishop had been on the Terra continent for many years. For decades, he had been developing his Seaborn enterprise and rarely paid attention to the outside world. Of course, he didn't know about the Abyssal Hunter project, nor did he know about the god-beheading operation.
"Met one. It could turn into an ugly flower. I destroyed it. Have to say, it died a miserable death."
Lucas tilted his head. He couldn't even be bothered to use a respectful classifier, instead using "one".
"'One'?"
A thick, severe color flashed in the Bishop's eyes.
"Mortal, you are insulting the greatest believer of the god, you are blaspheming the god, and your soul shall dissipate like a willow catkin in the sky, vanishing completely!"
"I told you..."
Lucas snorted coldly.
"Your god... is long gone."
"Insolence!!"
The Bishop was thoroughly enraged. The form he displayed now was completely different from the Bishop in Saltwind City who had seaweed-like hair. Or rather... he was much stronger.
After all, the Saltwind City Bishop wasn't, strictly speaking, a real Bishop. The Church of the Deep had been based in Aegir since its establishment. The Saltwind City Bishop was, at best, an ordinary missionary sent out to manage a small area. Over time, he came to be called Bishop locally, but he was an unofficial one.
This one was different.
A genuine, Aegir-born Bishop from the Church of the Deep. His strength was exceptional. Even... his method of fusion with the Seaborn was similar to how the Abyssal Hunters were created. It was just that, at the time, there was no such thing as an Abyssal Hunter. This fusion method also made this Bishop's strength very, very formidable.
Also from Aegir.
Seaborn fusion technology similar to the Abyssal Hunters.
More combat time and experience than Skadi.
With these conditions combined, this Bishop's strength was in no way inferior to Laurentina's.
One could only say that the people of Aegir were terrifyingly strong...
Even without relying on the Seaborn, with this Bishop's personal combat power, if Lucas and his group weren't here, he would have been enough to turn all of Siesta upside down.
The Bishop's eyes grew colder. He stomped his foot hard on the ground.
Almost instantly.
The huge stage collapsed with a *boom* from the Bishop's stomp. The tourists and residents in the nearby hotels and inns who could see this were dumbfounded, as if they'd seen a ghost.
Such a large stage, sturdy enough for hundreds of people to jump on it without issue, but... this person just stomped once... and it collapsed.
Even ACE and the other Elite Operators were shocked.
Suddenly.
The Bishop's body grew larger and taller.
From beneath the wide, algae-green robe, one disgusting octopus tentacle after another extended from the upper part of his body. Even his arms transformed into octopus tentacles at this moment. This scene almost made the surrounding onlookers faint in terror.
Disgusting...
"Return to the embrace of the Sea God."
The Bishop raised his right hand, now a tentacle. As he finished speaking, the tentacle whipped down like a long lash. Its speed was so fast that ordinary people couldn't react at all. Even the Elite Operators had trouble tracking it clearly. The tentacle even created a sonic boom.
"Surtr..."
"Mn!"
Lucas immediately reached out and clasped Surtr's hand. The fusion of their souls allowed Lucas to take control of Surtr's body. The two-meter-long greatsword in his hand burst into scorching flames. A golden glint flashed in Lucas's eyes, and a crimson, four-pointed diamond pattern appeared in his pupils.
The greatsword swung, the scorching flames leaving trails in the air. When the blade slashed onto the Bishop's tentacle, it met no resistance at all, like a hot knife cutting through cotton candy. *Sizzle, sizzle.* It effortlessly lopped off the high-speed tentacle.
"I told you.... your god is long gone.."
"Are you just stubborn? Or do you just not understand human speech?"
"The god is immortal!"
Lucas had easily cut off one of his tentacles, but in an instant, it had successfully grown back. The tentacles on both hands split into many more, transforming into afterimages that whipped towards Lucas from all angles. The speed was so fast that even the Elite Operators struggled to see it. An ordinary person would probably just lie down and accept their GG.
But Lucas, enhanced by the Transparent World, easily saw through the tentacles' trajectories. He seemed to be dodging precariously, but it was all guaranteed.
"Immortal my ass... I suggest you go check under the sea."
Lucas directly activated his sharp-tongue mode.
To be honest.
The Elite Operators were pissed, and Lucas was extremely pissed too.
His perfectly comfortable vacation was ruined by this guy. Even if he killed him right now, it would be hard for Siesta to return to its former liveliness. You could even... say that Siesta was finished. After such a farce, it was unlikely anyone would come to Siesta for tourism in the future. A perfectly good summer tourist city, ruined by this moron. *You* don't want to have fun, but *I* wanted to come here every summer!!
Now Siesta's reputation is ruined, where are you supposed to go for fun??
Go to the beaches of Iberia and dance the tango with the Seaborn?
It was precisely because Lucas was holding in a belly full of fire that he attacked more viciously than ever before.
The greatsword in his hand swung as if it weighed nothing. The flame-wreathed blade drew countless fiery afterimages in the air, and these afterimages collided with the afterimages of the tentacles. In an instant, the tentacles were shattered into countless pieces. Purple blood splattered on the ground. The tendrils on the ground tried to entangle Surtr's feet, but while these tendrils had a great effect on ordinary people, their effect on Surtr, a partial divine fragment, was almost negligible.
The battle between Lucas and the Bishop was too fast.
Even the Rhodes Island Elite Operators found it difficult to watch.
ACE looked at the Doctor, who had suddenly fainted and was being supported by Amiya and Jessica, with some confusion.
Amiya didn't speak, but raised her index finger to her lips at ACE.
Amiya understood a lot now. However, since the Doctor didn't say anything, it meant this was definitely the Doctor's secret. Although Amiya was jealous, she chose to respect the Doctor's secret. The nearby Elite Operators also understood and chose to keep what they had just seen to themselves.
"Not bad strength. If a lone Abyssal Hunter faced you, it might be a tough fight, maybe even an unwinnable one."
This Bishop's strength was genuinely high. After all, the elements of his creation were very similar to those of an Abyssal Hunter. He was definitely stronger than Laurentina, an Abyssal Hunter who had only been 'born' a few years ago.
"But... you ran into me."
The golden light in Lucas's eyes intensified. Then... he plunged the greatsword into the ground.
"Laevatain!!"
Lava began to flow continuously from Surtr's body, and the ground, covered in tendrils, began to break apart. The scorching lava actually managed to swallow the tendrils completely.
*RUMBLE!*
A giant black hand emerged from the lava behind Surtr, grabbing the greatsword stuck in the ground to pull its entire upper body out.
This was the strongest form between Lucas and Surtr.
With Surtr controlling her own body and Lucas controlling Laevatain, it was a three-soul fusion, far stronger than Surtr summoning Laevatain alone.
This was because, in this way, they could truly unleash Laevatain's true, complete power.
The Rhodes Island Elite Operators' eyes widened, staring in disbelief at the flame monster that had suddenly emerged, suspecting they were seeing things.
"This!! This?!"
Amiya, standing to the side, was slightly satisfied.
She couldn't be the only one shocked. Seeing the astonished expressions on her Elite Operators' faces, Amiya could now imagine just how shocked she had been during the "Beach 'Kill' Volleyball" incident.
The moment Laevatain appeared, it was as if the very sky over Siesta had changed, shifting to twilight, even though it was only noon...
The full oppressive feeling from a god made many present, and even everyone in the vicinity, feel as if they were suffocating.
Laevatain-in-the-sword was not a small divine fragment, but a considerably large piece of Laevatain's original body. It just lacked self-awareness, and its successive owners lacked the ability to fully unleash it. Even Surtr, the most talented owner in generations, had only managed to trigger a tiny bit of Laevatain's fragmented power.
As an Old God, Laevatain's own strength was nothing to scoff at. Although not as strong as Sui, this large fragment of its body should be stronger than Nian.
However, this full activation consumed too much power. Even with the dual support of Lucas and Surtr, they couldn't maintain this form for long.
"Twilight!"
Lucas's eyes turned completely golden at this moment. The surface of the greatsword in his hand ignited with flames containing the properties of un-extinguishing and destruction. The divine pressure made the Bishop's face change. Even with strength comparable to an Abyssal Hunter, he couldn't contend head-on with a god, even if this god was just a fragment.
A phantom of the flaming greatsword materialized in Lucas's hand. With a downward thrust, the giant flaming sword phantom stabbed viciously into the ground.
Almost instantly.
This performance area, much larger than a soccer field, completely caved in under the attack. The Bishop's upper body was pinned firmly to the ground, his expression filled with unwillingness. Due to his Seaborn traits, ordinary methods couldn't kill him, but... this was a flame with the property of destruction. No matter how immortal a creature was, it would have to obediently reincarnate in the face of this flame.
"No!!"
The Bishop struggled desperately, but it was futile.
Finally.
The life force that supplied his regeneration was completely devoured by the flames. His body gradually turned to stone and disintegrated. At last, with unwilling eyes, his entire being completely dissipated.