The giant flame colossus, the blinding and scorching divine light, the twilight that had fallen at high noon.
This scene, far beyond anyone's imagination, was burned into memory as a shocking world-class painting.
Looking at the completely dissipated Bishop.
Lucas pulled the greatsword from the ground.
The power was released.
The giant flame colossus's figure also turned into sparks and gradually dissipated. Lucas's consciousness returned from Surtr's body to the Doctor's. Seeing Amiya and Jessica supporting him, Lucas smiled and rubbed both of their heads.
Have to say.
This Bishop's strength was pretty high. Unfortunately, he ran into Lucas and Laevatain, his natural-born counters.
After fusing with the Seaborn in a manner similar to the Abyssal Hunters, the Bishop's physical strength had reached a terrifyingly absurd level. On top of that, with the super-regeneration granted by the Seaborn, he could instantly regrow his hands if they were cut off, and he wouldn't die even if his head was smashed, simply growing a new one, along with near-infinite stamina.
High attack, thick HP, freakish regeneration, and a super long stamina bar.
With so many buffs stacked together, the average person would have no idea how to deal with him.
But Laevatain was different.
When Lucas, Laevatain, and Surtr merged their three souls, they would stimulate the full power of Laevatain's soul, and also activate the rules of Laevatain's original body.
Laevatain's flames possessed multiple properties, including un-extinguishing and destruction.
The un-extinguishing property meant that unless the opponent was completely burned to ash, the flames would never go out. Of course, this so-called 'un-extinguishing' was relative, like a certain 'strongest flame that never goes out' that only ever managed to kill one small-fry in its entire series.
As for the destructive property, that was the key. It could instantly incinerate any substance.
It was like...
A super-tank with high attack, high defense, and high recovery running into an opponent who was basically hacking with a 999-damage-per-hit and a built-in 'Grievous Wounds' effect. A true hard counter.
Besides.
The strength of the Seaborn was never about the individual.
The Seaborn's strength lies in the swarm. Their swarm can even be treated as a single collective entity. And the ocean is so vast... how many Seaborn are in the entire ocean?
Not on the scale of tens of thousands, but hundreds of billions, trillions. Almost endless. That's why even beings as powerful as Alive Until Sunset could only run away quickly if they encountered the Seaborn in the ocean.
It's over...
This boss actually didn't have a second phase. How rare.
Not pure enough.
Lucas looked at the ruins of the grand stage that had been prepared for tonight's performance. Moreover, the tourist city of Siesta was pretty much done for. After an incident this outrageous, this city, built on a foundation of tourism, would likely never see many tourists again. Not just tourism, but the international sale of obsidian products would inevitably suffer an indelible impact. It was even possible that in the future, just mentioning Siesta would leave a bad impression on the whole world.
And without the support of this income, the economic structure that Siesta had worked so hard to build would instantly collapse.
What a pity.
Behind everyone.
Ceylon and Schwarz looked at Siesta's current state and couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache. This... this was all their father's life's work. Yet, it was all destroyed by this enemy's scheming.
"That's about it. Let's go to the beach and see how Nian is doing. That small number of Seaborn should be cleaned up quickly. Ceylon, contact your father and have him make a broadcast announcement that the crisis in Siesta is over."
"Okay!"
Ceylon nodded, pulling out her phone to make the call.
However.
After ringing for a long time, no one picked up.
The expression on Schwarz's face changed slightly, and Ceylon didn't look too good either.
"Sigh... this isn't a good sign. Where is your father's office?"
Lucas sighed and said.
Ceylon quickly pointed to the top floor of the tallest building in Siesta, aside from that one hotel.
————————
Mayor's Office.
Mayor Herman, whose expression had been grim in the face of Cronin's threats, had been silently watching the 'two-kick' mushroom cloud on the beach and the gods' brawl with Cronin from the top floor. Then, they watched the flame colossus's Ragnarok on the other side.
Although Mayor Herman was so shocked he couldn't speak.
What...
What was that??
There were so many ridiculously strong beings among the tourists??
However, he still had to put on a show.
Mayor Herman put his hands in his pockets, calmly looked at Cronin, his gaze sharp, and said in a serious tone, "It seems you have failed, Mr. Cronin. I am very disappointed in you."
Cronin's originally handsome face had now completely fallen. After witnessing his own Bishop get impaled and destroyed by that flame colossus, his blood pressure spiked so high he almost fainted.
What's going on!
What's going on!!!
Cronin angrily grabbed his head, his fingers yanking his hair, his eyes bulging as if they were about to pop out of their sockets, bloodshot veins covering his sclera.
Cronin had worked in Siesta for a full decade!
In the beginning, Cronin was also loyal to Siesta, treating it as his home. Watching Siesta grow and change every year, he felt incredibly proud, as if watching his own child grow up.
However, people change.
After Cronin became the mayor's assistant, his power was immense, and he himself fell into greed. Then, under the Bishop's bewitchment, he came to believe in the Church of the Deep. He had been an undercover agent all these years. He knew exactly how much strength Siesta had. Forget Siesta's own Public Security Bureau, even adding the mayor's hidden forces, multiplying that number by five would be no match for these monsters.
That's why Cronin was so confident.
However...
Why are there so many freaks among the tourists!!!
If it had been Mayor Herman's own powerhouses, even if he lost, Cronin would have accepted it, admitting the mayor was more capable, a step above. But these powerhouses were purely tourists!! What kind of luck is that!!
So many experts in one group of tourists!
And not just ordinary ones, but a group of ridiculously powerful, beyond-imagination freaks!!
What kind of luck does Herman have!!
Ahhhh!!
"It's over, Cronin! Arrest him!!"
Herman gave the order, and the black-suited bodyguards in front of him immediately rushed forward.
"Herman, you're too arrogant. Siesta is finished now! Do you know how many media outlets from all over the world came for the Obsidian Festival? If they leave Siesta alive and report this with some embellishments, Siesta's tourism industry, its very lifeline, will be completely finished! Your twenty-plus years of hard work have been ruined after all!! Hahaha!!"
"Siesta will not be finished."
Herman said calmly, "Even without the support of tourism, Siesta can still survive in other areas. You don't need to worry about that, *former* Assistant Mayor Cronin."
Herman enunciated the word "former" with particular clarity.
Suddenly!
Cronin's whole body convulsed violently. On his almost ferocious face, black liquid began to flow from his nostrils, eyes, and mouth. More and more, it seemed endless, dyeing Cronin's entire body a muddy black.
*Creak...*
It sounded like something was grinding.
Then.
Under everyone's gaze, octopus-like tentacles, one after another, drilled out of Cronin's mouth. As more and more tentacles emerged, Cronin's mouth was stretched into a disgusting 180-degree gape.
Eww...
The bodyguards who were about to move forward immediately shielded Herman.
Then.
When the mouth, which could barely fit an orange, was stretched wide enough to fit a basketball, a pair of hands reached out from within the mass of tentacles. These two hands braced themselves on the upper and lower palate of the mouth. Then, Cronin's entire body was torn off like a rubber suit, and a person wrapped in an algae-green robe drilled out of Cronin's mouth, their body still covered in disgusting mucus, as if freshly reborn.
"!!!"
This Bishop was already traumatized. Fortunately, he had left himself a trump card earlier, cultivating this mortal named Cronin as his new body, giving himself a second life. Otherwise, he might have really died under that terrifying sword strike just now.
Even now, just thinking about it made his heart pound. That sword strike had filled him with utter despair. Even with a constitution like a super-soldier from fusing with Seaborn cells and blood, he could only despair in the face of such an attack.
As for Mayor Herman, this Bishop couldn't be bothered with him. He had a feeling that freak would be chasing him soon. He had to leave as quickly as possible.
Without a second thought.
The Bishop directly bolted, smashing through the window and jumping from the top floor.
A short while later.
Lucas and the others finally rushed over. Afraid of wasting time, Lucas once again possessed Surtr's body, then directly carried Amiya and Jessica, while Schwarz carried Ceylon, and the group rushed to the mayor's office.
After seeing her father.
The heavy stone in Ceylon's heart finally lifted. She got down from Schwarz's shoulders and ran over to hug her father. Although Ceylon felt there was a distance between her and her father, that he didn't like her, she still cared about him deeply. After all, he was her only family.
As for Mayor Herman, seeing his precious daughter, he also bent down and hugged her, just like when she was little.
Sigh...
Such nostalgia...
Mayor Herman could still recall the last time he held Ceylon was before she turned three. After Schwarz arrived, Mayor Herman entrusted Ceylon to Schwarz's care and protection, while he devoted himself wholeheartedly to his work.
"Hmm? A familiar aura?"
Lucas, who was watching the rare father-daughter bonding moment from the side, suddenly frowned. He smelled a familiar scent.
Mayor Herman quickly said to Lucas, "Hello, sir, ladies. Just now, a strange person drilled out of my assistant's body and escaped."
Lucas looked down at the... *skin*... on the floor. Instantly, his expression changed.
Seriously...
Is he an octopus?
So slippery.
As if to confirm Lucas's guess, the entire building suddenly began to tremble, as if an earthquake was about to hit.
However.
Being on a high floor, everyone's gaze was now focused on the huge, active volcano in the distance.
Because... from the top of that active volcano, black volcanic smoke was beginning to pour out, and hot lava was flowing continuously, igniting the trees around the volcano.
This!!!
The volcano... is about to erupt!!
Herman, Ceylon, and Schwarz all stared wide-eyed.
As natives of Siesta, they knew all too well what kind of disaster would occur if this active volcano erupted... All of Siesta would be turned into an ocean of lava in an instant. Even escaping would be a vain hope.
And under Lucas's gaze.
A giant Originium Slug, as big as a small mountain, drilled out of the volcano. This Originium Slug was bathed in lava, its lower body a mass of octopus tentacles, and its entire body was covered in all-sorts of tentacles.
This aura...
It's that bastard again?
This is the second phase?
Why did I have to go and jinx it earlier?