Deep Sea Hunter, but Deep Sea Titan

Before the old ship's doctor turned into coral, Alfonso often talked to him about the possible changes in Iberia.

Now, he needs to ascertain what exactly has become of Iberia, or "Old Iberia".

"The Church of England has become a court of judgment; there is no pope, only one remaining saint."

Lotin gave a brief answer to Alfonso's question, hoping to get clues from the captain about Buoregan's research on the heritage.

As he expected, Alfonso scoffed at the weakness of "Old Iberia" and mocked them for not daring to elect another pope.

“Captain, Iberia has returned to this place because of my protection. The commandments, the Pope, the Church of England, the Inquisition, their mission is about to be completed.”

"Iberia needs only one protector, just as there cannot be two suns in the sky."

"By entrusting Buoregan's legacy to me, I will end this nightmare of eternal slumber."

The brass giant explained his purpose: before sinking this ancient coffin to the bottom of the sea, he hoped to recover Buoragan's valuable research data.

"You mean, a poor salvage worker who barely escaped death by sheer luck is powerful enough to protect Iberia and my homeland?"

Alfonso burst into a hearty laugh, but the next moment, the Haisi blood within him froze his smile.

Ah, these creatures are afraid, just as young tarantulas are naturally inclined to avoid hydrothermal vents.

"You've come to protect Iberia, ha ha ha."

Alfonso took a deep breath.

"Where were you when we burned Victoria's fleet and threw the Lion King's honor into the lake?"

The glorious past always stirs the heart. Alfonso has given so much to this country.

"Victoria's fleet?"

Nautilus the Conqueror appeared before Alfonso in the blink of an eye; Lothing's mere presence was enough to make W's heart race.

“I scuttled all eighteen dreadnoughts with my own hands using this [Shipbreaker] weapon.”

“I have no need to be loyal to Iberia, Alfonso. It was the desperate court that begged for my protection, so I cleaved the tsunami and split the ocean.”

"I am willing to prove to you only that I have the power to protect Iberia. The Iberians themselves chose to exchange their tithes for my power."

The Conqueror transformed back into the Bronze Giant, and Alfonso's hostility had begun to burn him with the [Sunfire Aegis] and [Endless Hatred]. He clicked his tongue and retreated.

“You will be willing to tell me, Alfonso.”

Chapter 234: One's Mouth Can't Be Too Foul

"Damn it, what did you use? My skin feels like it's on fire."

Captain Alfonso could also receive biological signals from the large group, and the brass giant in front of him was quite dangerous.

"If you burn all those ** (items/items), how am I supposed to continue my hunting game, sailor?!"

Alfonso's words carried a hint of anger. He gripped a broad-bladed one-handed sword tightly in his hand, which was not yet afflicted by the sea, while his other hand, heavily afflicted by the sea, trembled uncontrollably according to instinct. This trembling was unrelated to Alfonso's will; the instinct to avoid harm was ingrained in the genes of the sea creatures.

"What a fool you are, Captain."

"Saving Iberia is less important to you than a so-called 'hunting game'?"

Loting rarely paid attention to the status bar; [Heart Steel] was charging, and the large health bonus would make the physical damage it could deal quite substantial.

The brass giant summoned the metal hatch, and with the W abilities [Titan's Wrath] and [Nash's Tooth], surging destructive energy flowed from the anchor of the Fool.

"What a joke! Old Iberia is beyond redemption. What does your tyranny amount to before the despairing vastness of the sea?"

"In any case, the coward who ruined you is dead, sailor. Now that you have escaped death, the Fool no longer welcomes you."

Captain Alfonso showed extreme impatience, but he knew that the overly tall salvage worker in front of him would not leave, and would not leave before obtaining Doborg's research records.

"Confused!"

Lotin shouted, and the giant anchor tore through the air with a loud bang, while Alfonso relied on his warrior experience and the biological instincts of the Sealings to try to dodge or block it.

That mutated, scaled hand possessed extremely high physical strength. Over the past 60 years, Alfonso had proven countless times just how tough this mutated, scaled arm was. But this time, it only grazed the swinging giant anchor while dodging, and its flesh and blood exploded without warning.

First Mate Garcia let out a mournful cry and ran out to stand in front of Captain Alfonso.

"You despise the Agorians, so why are you unwilling to reveal the secret of Buoregan?"

"You fight against the sea, yet despise the land, but what does this have to do with Buoregan's research?"

The brass giant didn't run over the first mate. Lotin didn't initially intend to kill Captain Alfonso. He knew that a 60-year struggle with Haisi would make a person paranoid and stubborn. In the end, he only wanted to try to prove something to Alfonso and get him to reveal the location of Alfonso's research notes.

"Cough cough!"

Biomass was being extracted from other organs to repair the still-bleeding wounds, which caused Alfonso to cough violently. He saw that the floor, which was strong enough to withstand artillery fire, had been pierced through, all caused by a single, casual tap of the other side's hand.

"Garcia, step back! And you, you arrogant sailor, how dare you touch him!"

Alfonso helped himself to his feet, allowing his lover, First Mate Garcia, to hide behind him.

“Garcia, how I wish I could talk to you again, instead of talking to those rotten, stupid idiots who took more than sixty years to get here.”

Alfonso's gaze was fixed on this monster who still retained some humanity. He had to use this obsessive arrogance and disdain to resist the assimilation and erosion of his will by Hai Si.

This is also why Lotin is willing to spare some patience. He has also fought against the mental pollution of Haisi. Not to mention Alfonso, even he himself has become more or less crazy and paranoid because of this experience. This is necessary to maintain one's self in front of a large group.

He was willing to give this old boss, with whom he wasn't very familiar, some space and leeway.

"These foolish idiots have accomplished almost nothing in sixty years, but after receiving my protection, they were able to reclaim all the lost territories and reach the Fool within a few months."

"This is enough to show that Nautilus was capable of protecting Iberia, even though they seem like weak fools to you."

“Tell me, you foolish captain, I hate this ship, but not enough to kill a respectable warrior like you.”

Lotin watched as Garcia sadly rubbed Alfonso's other intact hand.

Alfonso glanced at Garcia, spat out a mouthful of foul-smelling blood, gritted his teeth, frowned, and reluctantly stated:

"Alright, alright, sailor, I promise you, but you have to help me catch my prey."

“I’m just looking for the right bait to catch it. Why don’t you go down? You’re the same kind of thing as those monsters anyway.”

Alfonso pointed to the silent Skadi beside him. He loathed the Agorians, but he also loathed the monsters of the sea. Naturally, the captain loathed Skadi, who was both an Agorian and a monster, twice as much.

Why not let your first mate go down?

"You and your first mate are the same kind of creatures as those evil beings."

Lotin could not tolerate the captain, who had long since lost all reason, insulting his nuns and hunters, so he retaliated.

"Who gave you permission to talk about Garcia? Who gave you permission to look at my Garcia like that? Agor the bastard?"

Alfonso knew that the salvage crewman, Lotin, was an Agorian himself. He loved his first mate dearly and wouldn't allow anyone to insult him, especially an Agorian.

"Perhaps my gentle manner has caused you to misunderstand many things, Captain."

Even for a resilient warrior who had performed a respectable feat, Lotin's leniency was not without limits; the brass giant's hand gripped Alfonso's head tightly, lifting him up completely.

"And who gave you permission to talk about my nuns and hunters? Who gave you permission to compare my Skadi and Laurentina, my lovers and partners, to those beasts? You **** madman!"

Blood dripped from Lotin's fingertips; the excessive pressure had injured Alfonso's head.

Your first mate is also a half-human, half-sea creature, so why do you have the right to insult my nuns and hunters in Lottin with impunity?

There's no reason why you should be allowed to insult me ​​unilaterally!

If you can attack my partner, Loting, simply because of your biased first mate, then I, Loting, will not tolerate it either.

Since the other party kept calling him an "Agor bastard" and even insulting him, he naturally wouldn't hold back.

Nautilus was never a magnanimous person.

Loting could not tolerate the mad captain's double standards and rudeness; his persistence and courage could only earn Loting so little patience.

"Little bird, use your Originium Arts, use your lantern to pry open this old madman's mouth!"

Lotin loudly commanded Elena, but the poor little bird just trembled and dared not come forward.

"But, but Alfonso is an Iberian hero..."

Elena didn't dare say "she is also my role model and idol" aloud; she didn't dare to anger Lotin any further.

"Hurry up and do it. The hero Alfonso has already died in his fight with Haisi. This old madman is just a fragment of the hero Alfonso."

“Little bird. Neither you nor your teacher have the right to refuse. If you don’t do it, your teacher Dario has to do it.”

Lotin's gaze made Elena's legs go weak for the first time in a long time, and she swore that if this continued, she might lose control of her bladder.

He could transform into the Knight of Light and use the Eye of True Sight to pry Alfonso's mouth open, but he insists on letting the Iberians do it themselves.

Elena realized that the fear emanating from those deformed monsters paled in comparison to the raging brass giant before her.

"Cowardly old Iberians, bearing the name of a tribunal, yet they dare not judge this old madman, ha ha ha!"

Captain Alfonso burst into maniacal laughter; his complex and fragmented emotional expression made it difficult for anyone to discern what he was truly thinking.

Perhaps he wanted to convince himself, in some extreme way, that there was still hope for Iberia today.

"Lord Nautilus, I have come to ask my senior a question."

Dario abandoned any attempt to plead for the former Iberian hero and could only try to end things before Lotin was further enraged and before the situation escalated.

So the Grand Judge raised his lantern, said to the former hero of Iberia, "I'm sorry, elder," and lit the lantern.

Alfonso had witnessed the Inquisition of the State Church using this Originium Arts; his consciousness was being burned, and he was forced to reveal the whereabouts of the Buoragan legacy.

But even then, Alfonso didn't understand that this former salvage worker was not someone who could tolerate his arrogance based on his achievements and unwavering will.

Chapter 235: Cookies That Are Too Easy to Handle

Alfonso, now possessing Originium Arts, originally had considerable resistance to Originium Arts. Even the torture spells of Grand Inquisitor Dario were theoretically unlikely to have any effect on him.

However, Lothing possesses an item called the Imperial Order, and Alfonso, now in Lothing's hands, is undoubtedly marked. This allows Dario's Originium Arts to exert even greater power, enough to pry open such a stubborn mouth.

At that moment, Garcia lunged at Dario. He knew that the bronze giant in front of him was not something he could shake. Dario, who was focused on releasing Originium Arts, naturally did not have enough strength to dodge the agile hunter's pounce.

"Fizz!"

Garcia let out a painful howl; the combined burning from Endless Hatred and Sunfire Aegis inflicted massive damage on Garcia as he lunged at Dario.

The loyal first mate collapsed in front of Dario, his charred skin beginning to peel off. The rate of regeneration couldn't keep up with the speed of the double burn. If he continued to lie in the range of the two burn effects, he would be burned alive.

Captain Alfonso eventually revealed the whereabouts of the Buoregan Research Notes under the influence of Originium Arts. Lotin had already obtained the key from Kazimierz, so opening it was not difficult. If the story hadn't failed to show the complete details of these records, Lotin wouldn't have even bothered to get his hands on them.

"Why didn't you say so sooner, Captain Alfonso?"

Lotin got the information he wanted; Alfonso had lost his value to him.

Captain Alfonso collapsed to the ground, helpless. This spell, originally created by the Inquisition of the Church of England to judge alchemists in Iberia, was now being used on him.

"Do you hate your homeland so much, or do you think it's a shameful cowardly act for them to beg for my protection with a single gold coin?"

"But none of that matters anymore, Captain Alfonso, we will never meet again."

Lotin ignored Alfonso, who was forcibly sitting up, but just as he was about to leave the hall, Alfonso spoke again.

“What you gave Iberia was not protection but slavery; what you demanded as tithes was not gold coins, but Iberian freedom.”

"Compared to those sea creatures, you are the real monster. That disaster gave birth to such a terrifying ghost as you."

"Do you want to rule Iberia like those purged old royal families?"

Alfonso has always hoped that Iberia could rebuild itself and fight the disaster on its own, which is why he has set high standards and requirements for the current Iberia.

He waited 60 years, only to find Iberia crawling at the feet of another magnificent being.

“Your dear friend, Saint Carmen, doesn’t think so. It was Alfonso who wrote the tithes for me into the Iberian Code.”

"Obviously, this was a completely voluntary proposal from both sides. All I asked for was a tithe, without any specific secular power. Otherwise, I would have already led the entire Silver Spear Pegasus and the Royal Army to the seaside."

“Kazimir and Kazdel have already submitted to me, but I will still let their own people rule over themselves.”

Lotin generally doesn't hold the reins too tightly. Rather than being a true secular political leader, he prefers to use his divine aura to package himself with the support of his own strength, thereby exerting a sufficiently large influence on the operation of secular power.

A relationship like his with Margaret is the rational model that Lottin is satisfied with.

The identity of a Sarkaz demon king who ignores politics is the limit of what Lotin is willing to accept. In other words, even if the Inquisition were to eventually grant him supreme power in Iberia, he would still be too lazy to accept it.

In fact, Lotin could have asked Kazimierz and Kazdel to send troops, but Kazimierz had too many people at the time and hadn't left behind any trustworthy elite forces. Furthermore, Margaret's new generation of Silver Spear Pegasus was still lacking in skill, and Kazdel was too poor to withstand any setbacks. So, Lotin decided against it.

"That's why he only dared to call himself a saint; he didn't even dare to appoint another pope. The passage of time made him weak."

Alfonso's words remained as sharp and sarcastic as ever. Lotin knew, of course, that the captain had his own reasons, but those reasons couldn't change Lotin's attitude towards the old madman.