Deep Sea Hunter, but Deep Sea Titan

The Blood and Flesh Demon Sword devours these soulless flesh and blood. Even though the upper limit of [Conqueror] is not as high as [Scroll of Mountains and Seas], this skin's combat style of fighting to sustain itself is also suitable for fighting large numbers of weak enemies.

"Since you know the true potential of these beautiful creatures, why do you still harbor such great hostility towards me?"

"Aren't we on the same page? To exhaust all means for the survival of civilization!"

This sense of imminent danger reminded Maritus of a time long ago when he ventured deep into the Blue Tree facility, where the Sealings were still cultivating fragile creatures unable to move freely within confinement containers.

Until one of the individuals revealed to him a desolate and hopeless future, the overwhelming and despairing message quickly overwhelmed the reason of this ancient philosopher, Agor, leading him to willingly swallow Isamara's flesh and blood and transform into Haisi.

"Today's large groups can only bring survival, not civilization, at least not the kind of civilization I recognize."

"Your decision to throw the baby out with the bathwater is like amputating a finger because you cut it. Your hasty decision to let Hai Si devour everything to preserve the spark of life is understandable, but it is also cowardly."

The Blood-Drinking Sword pierced the ridiculous creature that mimicked its past self. The pressure of survival made it abandon the idea of ​​dissolving its body—there was no time left. It knew that being killed by this sword would not allow its consciousness to return to the horde.

Thus, Maritus, unusually and irrationally, began a desperate struggle. The horde was feeding this erroneous evolutionary inspiration, and countless organisms were converging on it. Since escape could not guarantee a second chance, he chose to give up everything here.

"Ha, even the wise men of Agor, when pushed to the limit, will bite like beasts."

"Extremely pathetic!"

Under this skin, both Lotin and Skadi will transform into even more bloodthirsty hunters, and the prey before them will become even larger, only making the two of them more excited by the even richer spoils.

However, it seems that Maritus did not only grow his body to be enormous like Quintus; he had obvious special organs, such as the Flesh and Blood Bell of the Abyss Dream, and other research results of the Deep Sea Cult.

Maritus believes he still has a chance to fight his way out.

It's probably a "way out".

Chapter 248: The Matryoshka Doll

The swarm has never minded protecting powerful individuals. The worm-like sea creatures are digging underground, trying to bypass Lotin and attack the city of Agor behind him, thus buying time for Maritus's monstrous development.

However, Lotin was not obligated to prioritize the protection of Agor City, and the remaining coast guard and deep-sea hunters in the city were more than capable of hunting down a few giant worms.

"Your definition of civilization is narrow and arrogant. Aren't these beautiful sea creatures also considered a continuation of civilization in the eyes of prehistoric civilizations?"

Maritus's bioelectric signals still convey his wishful thinking; prehistoric civilizations never regarded these biological machines as civilization itself.

Loting was unwilling to engage in pointless sophistry with this coward, and simply continued to wildly swing his hook axe and the Blood-Drinking Sword. Just then, countless thick tentacles wrapped in heat-resistant insulation wrapped around Loting, and their super-dense muscles granted them the ability to temporarily restrain Loting's explosive power.

However, the restraint was quite short-lived. The crimson rage dissolved the flesh and blood of these tentacles as the E skill was released, and the next moment, Lothing decisively threw out the hook axe.

Maritus swelled his body to an enormous size, making it impossible for Lothing to miss his Q skill. The monstrous flesh was dragged toward the two excited Sea Butchers. At that moment, a strange bell rang in the seawater—at a frequency that could be effectively transmitted in liquid.

Skadi, with her exceptional hearing as a deep-sea hunter, caught it. She was very familiar with the feeling, as was Lotin. Back in that dark, damp, and dilapidated fortress, a similar sound had plunged them both into a severe hallucination.

This time, however, it failed to have a significant effect on Lotin, only slightly slowing his movements for a moment. Skadi's eyes were momentarily confused, but then regained their hunter's sharpness in the next second.

High spell resistance and high mana made Lotin's already not particularly weak willpower even stronger, while Skadi's consciousness was difficult to be disturbed due to the abnormal excitement in this form.

“Large groups adapt and evolve, and I am not an unchanging reef; the same tricks will no longer work on me!”

[Endless Hatred] and [Sunfire Aegis] cannot directly and obviously damage Maritus, who is hiding in the heat-resistant layer, but they prevent Minghen from touching his body. The supersonic burst of bone spikes can only create ripples on the shield of the W skill.

With his other hand, the Blood-Drinking Sword pierced through the high-density chitinous bone plates as Lotin dragged Maritus over. This infamous bloodthirsty sword, notorious throughout Runeterra, didn't discriminate based on the smell of its victims' blood; it readily accepted even the foul-smelling blood of Hai Si.

The accumulated [Heart Steel] energy, with its high layer count, caused a wider range of bone plates to shatter. However, Maritus's survival instinct once again found a way out. The still-formed soft tissue reshaped the intact insulation layer, transforming him into an even larger humanoid creature. The nauseatingly slippery mucous membranes and mottled chitinous bone plates surprisingly formed an ethereal mermaid-like body.

"His actual combat abilities are average; he's more adept at manipulating people's minds..."

Lotin still remembered the information about the enemy Maritus that he had seen in the Arknights levels before he traveled through time. At least based on the form it had appeared in the game, its combat power was indeed not strong.

He's not actually that strong now. To ensure he could finish him off with the Bloodthirsty Sword, Loting didn't use some of his more destructive skills, which is why he had a chance to linger on.

But he simply refused to die, and the desperate Maritus was too exhausted to mount any decent counterattack.

Soon, Maritus emitted even stronger neural signals, powerful enough to serve as a significant mental attack, which he used to force a vision of a catastrophic future into the minds of Lotin and Skadi.

“Nautilus, I can hear His voice…”

"Everything was swallowed up, and only a monster that looked exactly like me stood alone on a dark golden giant. As far as the eye could see, there was only ocean, and the land had all sunk."

Why did He make me see this?

Skadi was not swayed by this, but rather found it hard to understand and thus appeared somewhat confused. She forced Isamara to refuse to accept Maritus's signals. Under the skin of the Conqueror, Skadi, who had changed form accordingly, could indeed do this by intimidating Isamara.

"Ah, I understand..."

The silent Lotin asked Skadi to put on a little act in the system chat interface, as if he was really scared and confused, and that he was about to completely waver at any moment.

Meanwhile, Loting pretended to be shocked and unable to move, holding a combination device in his hand that could allow the beast to escape instantly.

"You've finally calmed down, why don't we talk?"

Although Maritus was conveying such a signal, it no longer intended to persuade Lotin. Instead, it drastically increased the power of the bioelectric signal, attempting to physiologically damage Lotin's brain.

At this moment, Lotin decisively used Flash, disappearing and reappearing in an instant within range that was enough to pierce Maritus. It was so fast and sudden that Maritus's nervous system did not have time to analyze and process what was happening before its eyes.

"Skadi, now! Use your senses to confirm if there are any parts that can be separated!"

The same trick of escaping like a cicada shedding its shell won't work a second time with Loting.

Skadi quickly located the core neural structure of Maritus using her reverse access to Haizi. The hunter, who was berserk because of the blessing of the Conqueror, tore open the flesh of the mermaid monster with her serrated greatsword and pulled out a piece of extremely thick neural tissue that emitted a pale blue glow.

The greatsword pinned it firmly to the Blood-Drinking Sword, which had grown enormous along with Lotin. This demonic sword was draining Maritus's will and last bit of life force.

"No, what is this thing? My consciousness is being torn away from the horde!"

The more forcefully Maritus emitted neural signals, the faster its remaining life force dissipated. It could clearly feel its consciousness being stripped away. This Argoller philosopher, known for his rationality, was indeed in a state of terrifying struggle and ugliness at this moment.

"The great horde is more useful and more valuable than you, and your actions nearly destroyed it. You almost ruined a prehistoric civilization's continuation plan, you arrogant sage."

"Don't forget, you Agorians are merely poor imitators of a pre-civilization, not the civilization itself."

The nerve bundle quickly lost its activity, and Maritus's consciousness was soon completely imprisoned within the Blood-Drinking Sword.

If Theresa's place was a solitary cell where she was all alone, then this guy's place was a large communal room where the previous Demon Lords of Sarkaz were bound. These previous Demon Lords, filled with hatred and resentment, desperately needed a punching bag to vent their anger on, and Maritus's consciousness just happened to become that role.

Perhaps we can lock Kosichek up with him later to keep him company.

"Agorians, why do you step into our prison?"

"Agor, why do you reek of unclean things?"

Faced with numerous questions from the previous Sarkaz demon lords, Maritus remained silent for a moment before giving his answer:

"Are there still these species of Sarkaz on land today? It's been 200 years... It doesn't matter, Sarkaz kings, I've heard of the suffering your people have endured..."

“But I have a way to save your people! If you are willing to listen to the voice of the multitude, His prophecy is more accurate than that of the Cyclopes!”

"This is a way out!"

Clearly, Agor's arrogance prevented him from realizing that the word "breed" was not appropriate to be used in front of these resentful Sarkaz kings, who were not the subjects of his experimental research.

Maritus saw a familiar soul huddled deep within this prison of consciousness; it was none other than Bishop Quintus of Saltwind, a fool who had been completely deceived by his false promises.

Clearly, that was his fate. The wails of the dead cannot be heard by the living. The previous demon kings here had plenty of ways to subject a soul to eternal torment.

Chapter 249: Suppressing the Large Group

“Maritus is now forever imprisoned within this sword, which will buy us more time. The herd may continue to evolve according to the relationships he guided, but these beasts will be disoriented and forced to act on instinct for some time.”

Before Loting, the swarm began to cut its losses in time. The damaged giant biological warship was decomposed and recycled into biomass by Minghen. However, Loting did not allow the swarm to recover the biomass smoothly. Before regaining control of the Deep Blue Tree Project, Loting needed the swarm to be as weak as possible.

Therefore, Lotin accelerated its swim towards the area with the highest density of Netherworld Marks, allowing the passive effect of [Sunfire Aegis] to burn away all the Netherworld Marks that were trying to decompose the biological residue. The swarm's actions here ultimately resulted in a complete loss, and the continuous huge loss of biomass would make the swarm more conservative and passive.

Lotin did not completely drive the Horde to the brink of extinction, so there is no need to worry that the Horde will accelerate its evolution under the stimulation of its survival instinct. On the contrary, the scattered remnants of the Deep Sea Church will be almost unable to effectively induce the Horde to become more conservative.

“I don’t understand why that guy said I would be the key to saving all living beings in the future he saw.”

Skadi asked Lotin, looking bewildered, why she had become the focus of such an extremely important event. She never felt that she was any different from other deep-sea hunters. As for being corrupted by Isamara's poisonous blood, it was only because she happened to be the one who killed the "newborn".

"To be precise, it's the future he saw from Isamara. It's said that those variant behemoths called 'Newborn' possess the ability to observe parallel worlds."

"In that future, you were completely possessed by Isamara, leading a massive horde to devour Terra and journey into the stars."

Skadi's expression grew even more confused. She disliked calling such a large group "civilization" even more than Lotin did. She sent a chibi-style question mark emoji of herself to the system chat interface, and said:

"Where is the salvation for this future, I ask you?"

"Moreover, as I said, whether that future can be considered salvation or not, I am still in the dark."

From Luo Ting's perspective, it was a case of deliberately giving up and enduring hardship.

"It is still built on your immense suffering, on your sacrifice and demise."

Loting found it even more unacceptable that his hunters should sacrifice themselves for this.

"I am so grateful, really."

"I have already said that I would be the sword that I would only wield for you, but I still rely on your protection."

"I will try harder to control Isamara's blood, and if you want to get a large group, I will do everything I can to help you."

The urge to hunt her prey gradually subsided, but Skadi's heart was still pounding. She was enjoying the rare moment of being alone with Lotin, having all of Lotin's attention to herself.

But she really didn't know how to express her feelings in words, so she could only awkwardly squeeze out "I am very grateful".

"Just do your best."

Lotin no longer expects Laurentina and Skadi to provide him with decisive help, given the objective difference in their strength. However, their relationship is no longer just that of simple travel companions and allies.

The value of a treasured collection is now secondary to its own worth.

Meanwhile, inside the city of Miliarum, Brandos, whose intentions had been fully exposed, had no choice but to hope that a large force outside the city would arrive as if divine intervention would save him.

Technical inspections of these navigational beacons did indeed uncover irregularities, rendering the defeatist unable to justify his plans with the uninvited attack by the Sea Siege.

“I am not like those blindly believing, self-righteous deep-sea believers.”

"I have never worshipped these marine creatures as gods."

Buodes chose a neutral term quite carefully, seemingly to prove that he was not in the same boat as those "fallen ones".

“Governor Goredia, you should remember that I was one of the researchers who led the Deepsea Hunter Project.”

He knew that none of his explanations would work, but he had to treat everyone present as fools, hoping that they would actually hesitate because of his explanations, thus delaying Hai Si's attack on the city.

Grandia simply nodded dismissively. In fact, everyone present knew what she was thinking, especially since Laurentina and the Doctor had already learned from Lotin that Haizi's offensive had been completely thwarted.

The message was quickly relayed from the frontline coast guard ships to Clementa, so everyone present watched with knowing disapproval as the clown put on his clumsy performance.

His acting skills only fooled himself, making him believe that everyone in front of him was a fool who would be deceived by such idiotic tricks.

“The Deep Sea Hunter Project has failed. The killing of that core individual of the Sea Heir not only failed to give Agor a respite, but instead sank him deeper and deeper into the quagmire of war.”

"I can't help but ask, is our long-standing plan to confront Haisi by force really the right thing to do?"

"Later, I discovered a balance in Ulpian's body, a harmonious balance between Haisi's cells and human cells—"

"Therefore, I believe that abandoning the policy of armed confrontation, which has been proven to be a failure, and seeking peaceful coexistence with Haisi is the right way out, and that is the only way to survive!"

Buodus was convinced of this, and he excitedly raised his arms and shouted, as if his weak words and accidental case could really move the people present.

Then, the giant's hand reappeared behind him, filling the surrounding air with a strong stench of blood. W reacted most violently to this, instinctively feeling awe for the current Demon Lord as a Sarkaz.

"Buodus, what you're waiting for won't come."

Skadi stared at the pathetic surrenderer with utterly cold eyes, recounting Nautilus's victories.

"Those beasts, now like the wounded and battered ravages, will probably cower in their deep lairs and dare not make any more rash moves."

For a moment, Skadi wanted to smash this coward who had succumbed to the swarm, who had sacrificed himself for the deep-sea hunters, into a pulp, but Lotin gestured for her to wait.

"Maritus, come out."

Lotin wanted to keep the "Conqueror" skin because he still needed to use the "Blood-Drinking Sword" to control Malitus. He wanted this ancient Agorian philosopher to personally explain the truth to the Agorians 200 years later, explaining the truth that the Agorians played with fire and burned themselves.

More importantly, it is necessary to make the Agor people understand the nature and truth of Haisi.

Maritus revealed his spirit form in his previous life. Lotin granted him the freedom to speak. Clearly, he was still in the post-traumatic stress of being tormented by the previous demon kings. He curled up in fear, but saw his human form reflected in the glass.

"You should thank me for purifying your filth, elevating your filthy soul from that of a beast to that of a sinner."

“You do not deserve redemption in my prison, but if you are willing to confess your crimes to your fellow countrymen, I can ask those demons to go a little easier on you.”

"If you force me to control your soul and confess your sins, I might just let those demon kings have a better time."

The Sarkaz, thanks to their Originium-based sorcery, are masters of manipulating souls, or rather, consciousness. They have countless ways to torment a person's soul.

This method was enough to make Maritus feel pain that he could never have felt in his life.

Under the skin of the Conqueror, Lotin preferred to use fear and torture to subdue his enemies more than in any other form, and Maritus was no exception; he reluctantly agreed to Lotin's request.