Rigel returned to Ragnarok. His feelings were still conflicted.
As soon as he entered, Elizabeth appeared, smiling brightly.
"Captain? How are you? What did you find? Can we explore?" She asked, smiling excitedly.
Rigel blinked in confusion, but then shook his head. "Not yet, it's too dangerous in there."
Elizabeth's smile faded instantly, replaced by a pout. "Why? Can't you come with us?"
Rigel sighed and shook his head, he no longer had Triton's Sword to control the ship, now he depended on Jormun.
He wouldn't put on the crown just to pull a string and send Elizabeth away.
"Jorm... " Rigel began to speak, but Elizabeth had already run away.
Rigel rolled his eyes, ignored the woman, and went towards his own room. Lying in his coffin, Rigel spent a long time there, thinking.
He eventually fell asleep at some point, and in his dreams, Rigel picked up Triton's Crown again. Putting it on, he could feel that power coursing through him once more.
He let the two hours with the crown pass, he wanted to see what it was like to feel like an elemental.
After the first hour, its body began to liquefy. It wasn't evident at first, slightly softer, but soon it became increasingly gelatinous, until it turned transparent. When it was all over, it looked like a jellyfish, not in shape, but in texture. It no longer had any color, just a humanoid form in the water.
He couldn't even revert to his human or merman form, trapped in that form.
He felt no hunger, no desires, he simply existed.
He even forgot what he was doing, only when he woke up did he remember who he was. Rigel felt a cold sweat run down his skin. Being an elemental sucks! He thought he could at least keep his mythical Merman form, but he'd practically become a floating jellyfish!
Shaking his head, he decided not to use the crown easily, this thing was too dangerous for him. The power it granted was very good, but the side effects of using it were too dangerous for him.
//-//
The expedition into Atlantis was led by Rigel, which was a good thing, because the dangers of that place were many.
He took all his subordinates with him, he even used the crown to shrink Ragnarok into a bottle, keeping it in his bag.
On the island, he used the Diabolus to devour several extremely dangerous animals, taking them directly to the mountain of "gold".
A cloud of black smoke continued to billow from the active volcano, gold running like golden streaks through it.
Rigel left the pirate group there to "prospect", and after making sure they were safe, he advanced with Elizabeth and Will towards the forest. Elizabeth wasn't as interested in the gold as she was in the strange animals on the island, and Will only managed to accompany her reluctantly.
Jack the monkey was already perched on his shoulder, screeching excitedly.
However, when they spotted a white-faced capuchin monkey the size of a giraffe when standing, even Jack fell silent.
The monkey looked at the giant monkey while the giant monkey looked at Jack.
The giant ape let out an extremely loud scream, causing Jack to hide behind Rigel, trembling fiercely.
If it were before, Rigel would have been afraid, but now, with his current strength, he simply pointed a finger and a hole opened in the head of the monkey that was running towards them.
The monkey fell to the ground with a deep thud, almost causing them to fall as well with the tremor of the earth.
At first he had to say the spell, now he just has to point his finger, convert his magic into water and see the result.
Behind him, Will swallowed hard, while Elizabeth, who was ready to run, widened her eyes, jumping excitedly towards the giant corpse.
"Is that a monkey like Jack? Wow, he's so big, I bet he could lift Ragnarok!" She exclaimed excitedly.
Rigel shrugged and continued walking. Elizabeth, who had seen the dangers of this place, quickly left the monkey aside as she ran after Rigel, always looking around.
Will, on the other hand, simply shook his head, and the next moment he started walking, following the pair.
Jack flipped the corpse off and yelled a few times, jumping onto Rigel's shoulder, it was clear the guy held a grudge.
Rigel ignored Jack and Elizabeth, his eyes fixed on a large tree not far away, looking up, he saw a huge beehive.
Thousands of bees, as big as horses, flew back and forth to the hive.
Rigel paused for a moment, his curiosity piqued. "If there are bees, there must be honey..."
Elizabeth's eyes widened with excitement, she understood what Rigel meant. Look at the size of those bees! Their honey must be delicious, right?
Will's eyes widened as well, but he looked at the pair as if they had just suggested doing something crazy like entering a hive of giant bees with stingers wider than his sword.
Wait...
That's exactly what they did, isn't it?
Will swallowed hard, clearing his throat to get their attention, he saw Elizabeth and Rigel looking at him.
"You're kidding, right?" He asked with a sad smile.
Rigel simply stared at him without looking away while Elizabeth gave him an amused smile.
Will let out a deep groan, regretting not having grabbed Elizabeth like a sack of potatoes and jumped away from the ship when he had the chance.
So, how do you get into a giant beehive?
Option A - Put on a bee costume and discover that bees use their sense of smell to differentiate themselves, thus being stung to death shortly after entering?
Option B - catch a bee and rub against it to mask their scent, only to discover that bees also use touch, touching each other's antennae to figure out who you are, thus getting stung again to death shortly after a bee tries to 'communicate' and they just run away?
Option C - Use the Diabolus to kill all the bees in their path and take the honey, severely damaging the hive that did nothing for them and having to live with the guilty conscience of killing these cute 'little' creatures?
Option D...
"Can you stop that?" Elizabeth asked, annoyed.
Rigel stood not far from the hive, thinking aloud with his chin resting on one hand. He was startled to see Elizabeth's unhappy face and Will's expressionless one.
"Did I say that out loud?" Rigel asked after a moment of silence.
"Yes, loud and clear." Elizabeth sighed. "Can you just decide once and for all without getting us stung to death or making me feel guilty for killing 'little' bees?"
Rigel shrugged. "It's not like I have a good idea, I'm just thinking about it now."
"I heard they use smoke to calm the bees down before harvesting the honey." Will said at that moment.
He knew he couldn't stop the two of them when they agreed, so all he could do was join in and help.
Rigel's eyes gleamed, yes, he had forgotten about that, but did it work on giant bees?
The smoke makes the bees think there is a forest fire nearby, causing them to consume honey frantically, which makes them heavier and more docile. In addition, the smoke masks the bees' pheromones, essentially cutting off communication.
So Rigel thought it was a very good idea, if it were before, he would have been afraid of starting a forest fire, after all, putting out a forest fire is very difficult, but now? As long as he puts on the crown for a moment, his water magic reaches the point where he can basically form rain clouds.
Rigel accepted the idea and immediately put the plan into action.