About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

Orson was a little confused by Teemo's Riddler. He wanted to continue asking, but Mostima shook his head gently again, cleverly ending the topic.

"You will understand, and I believe that time is approaching."

"Alright, are you two done with your riddles over there? Now it's my turn—Mastema! I won't let you get away this time!"

Before Orson could think carefully about the meaning of Mostima's words, Exia, who had been on OB since the beginning to interrupt the conversation, finally found the opportunity to break into the topic.

Exiah has been searching for Mostima. It seems that these two Sakotans, neither of whom wants to be "Sakotan", are carrying their own doubts and sins.

Facing the Archangel rushing towards her, Mastema just smiled and snapped her fingers, and the small-scale Originium technique instantly slowed down her movement speed.

After controlling Exiah's charge a little, Mostima smiled at Exiah once again - this time it was not the kind of business-like fake smile, but a sinister smile that seemed to indicate a mischievous prank and meant no good.

"Speaking of which, Aneng—have you and Orson already taken it a step further, reaching the most taboo level of relationship?"

“——!?” “……!!” “Puh, cough, cough!?”

As Mostima asked this question, everyone's aura changed instantly.

“Ehhhh?! No, wait… wait a minute, why are you suddenly asking such a question, Mastema!?”

Exiah's face instantly turned crimson, and she shrank back in embarrassment.

"How could it be?" "Yes, how could it be? Orson——'s sister?"

Ghost Shark and Skadi surrounded Orson on the left and right, staring at Orson with a look of "What's wrong with you, little brother?"

"Sure enough, you didn't just change clothes back then... Hehe, hehe, you're really amazing! Even I didn't expect you to be so bold and careful..."

Ghost Shark seemed to have misunderstood something. She thought that Orson and Exiah had had some sex while they were out at the Langdon Monastery.

"No, no, no, this is definitely a misunderstanding...!"

Orson wanted to retreat to avoid the ghost shark's anger, but his back hit Skadi's soft and tough body. At the same time, the ghost shark came up and gently touched Orson's shoulders with its hands. The two deep-sea hunters once again perfectly trapped their prey in the encirclement.

Not only that, the fangirl nuns nearby also came over very actively as soon as they heard the gossip about "Brother Jeanne d'Arc".

"As expected, Mr. Orson and Exiah are a perfect match!" "I knew it!" "Damn it, isn't Xidejia just a loser now...!"

"Speaking of which, Miss Jeanne, what is your opinion of your brother's love history?" "Yes, yes!"

“Uh huh!?”

The nuns were extremely curious and brought the topic back to Orson, whose teeth were already very white.

"Yeah, I want to know too... Jeanne-chan, tell me about it, ok~?"

Ghost Shark also took advantage of the topic of the nuns and put his lips directly to Orson's ear and asked.

"Well, that... I... woohoo! Anyway, let's get going! The most urgent thing is to find out how these sea monsters appeared in Parallar!"

Neither his identity nor his life allowed Orson to answer, so after hesitating for a moment, Orson finally chose the crystallization of mankind's most golden spirit, courage and hymn - Ni Ge Lu Da Yo!

On this side, "Jean of Arc" ran away directly, while on the other side, Archangel was blushing and scolding Mostima loudly.

"You, are you an idiot, Mastema?! Why are you suddenly asking such a serious question?"

"So, Angel of Exorcism, your expression... looks like you've indeed crossed that threshold?"

As always, Mastema asked with an impeccable smile on her face.

“Eww!? Well, then, that kind of thing… well, how should I put it… while it’s certainly the result… the process itself is really hard to define… waaaaaaaa! Seriously, I should be the one asking the question!”

"Haha, that's so cute, Aneng~"

Mostima looked at the Archangel in front of him, who was at a loss but had a slight smile on his face, and the smile on his own lips gradually became less hypocritical.

—It seems you can indeed bring her true happiness, Orson. I wasn't wrong about you. A chimera burdened with fate and original sin.

Mostima thought this as she looked through the Archangel and saw Jeanne fleeing in the distance, pursued by two deep-sea hunters.

The gears of fate have all fit together, and whether you choose to turn them or not, the [key] is actually in your hands.

The previous human, burdened with the [Original Sin], carved the shape of each gear, but was unable to hold on until the last moment to determine the final 'judgment'.

So...what choice will you make this time, Orson?

The wailing of the continent, the awakening of Chimera, the restlessness of the deep sea... everything is heading towards the end.

I am just the keeper of the lock and key. No matter what, there is only one thing I have to do:

Witness until the very end.

20. Domination, Submission, and Ensemble

"Are you okay, Tina?"

"Ahh... A wound of this magnitude will only serve as a perfect wake-up call, yes... This pain can make me more sober, why is it..."

"Uh, "Tina"?"

On the way to the underground power hub, Orson had taken the time to go to a clothing store and temporarily change back into men's clothes. At the same time, he and Ghost Shark and Skadi followed the instructions.

Orson asked about Ghost Shark's physical condition. After all, during the battle at the monastery, Ghost Shark's fighting style would make anyone feel uneasy.

It wasn't like a "battle" at all; it was like turning one's life into a chainsaw, ripping and shredding all the demons and monsters. In other words, even the phrase "dancing on the edge of a knife" wasn't enough to describe it.

Ghost Shark nodded with a nervous smile as usual, while Skadi beside him tilted her head in confusion. After all, these two people had clearly called each other "Miss Ghost Shark" before, so how come after taking a short stroll in the monastery, she became "Tina" when she came back?

"Haha... I'm not asking about the external injuries... Well, although your wounds do deserve a look, I'm talking about your mental state. Are you really okay with your reaction at that time?"

Orson didn't notice Skadi's alert expression and continued to ask about Ghost Shark's physical condition.

Judging from its reaction in the church just now, Ghost Shark seemed to have some kind of physiological fear, or excitement, towards the leader of the "Deep Sea Church".

"Ah...it's hard to say, but even so—I have to get to that guy."

Ghost Shark rubbed his forehead lightly and said with a cruel smile.

"Well, when you were at the monastery..."

"Turn right ahead and you should be at the entrance. Be careful. There are probably still some remaining sea monsters in the city-state of Pallar. What did you want to say, Skadi?"

Skadi finally wanted to take advantage of a break in their conversation to ask what had happened in the monastery, but she was interrupted by Orson by coincidence as soon as she opened her mouth.

"……nothing."

Skadi reached out and gently pulled her hat down, trying to block her slightly embarrassing sight.

Although Orson had changed back to his usual simple outfit of shirt and trousers, Skadi's "impulse" towards Orson had not subsided at all.

This was most likely the resonance of her own bloodline with the 'blood of the Chimera', but even though Skadi knew this, she still had doubts about her emotions at the moment. After all, for this little killer whale, everything she was experiencing at the moment was so new and beyond her comprehension.

Including this subtle emotion of "I am obviously happy to see the ghost shark, and I am also happy to see Orson, but when the two are combined, I just feel sad."

"Hehe... You're still the same, Orca. Really, do you want me to help? You're enduring a lot of pain right now, right? If that's the case...wouldn't it be better if you just released your inner nature?"

The ghost shark tiptoed up to the cheek of Skadi, who had a somewhat confused expression, blew a breath at the killer whale, and then said with an evil smile.

"No—no, I haven't thought about that."

Skadi turned her head away in panic and responded in a somewhat stiff tone.

"Hehe... Hahaha, what a cute expression, Team Two's killer whale, as expected, you're cute too—Of course, I won't let my guard down just because of this, okay?"

Ghost Shark said so, then rubbed Skadi gently, and walked back to Orson with a strange but pleasant tone.

Uwaaaaaaah… This feels bad in every sense…

As for the person involved, Orson, he had a look of pain on his face at this moment, but he pretended to be focused and continued walking.

He did not feel afraid of the deep-sea creatures he might face in the near future. After all, what he was afraid of now was that he would be trapped in the ground and raped by the two deep-sea hunters behind him.

One responds to one's constitution, and oneself have to tongue kiss (without error) the other person.

One has some mental problems and regards herself as her husband.

No matter who they were, they had every motivation to suddenly push him to the ground and strip him naked. The worst part was, if one of them did that, Orson was 100% sure the other would immediately join in...

The only thing to be thankful for is that Archangel stayed in the monastery temporarily in order to seek help from Mostima on some past matters.

If that chatterbox angel who seemed to have had sex with her in a drunken state was here, she would definitely be unable to hold back and brag about her "deeds". What awaited her afterwards would be an all-round "attack" from the deep sea...

Fortunately, Orson's worries didn't materialize. Those disgusting, twisted white sea monsters didn't reappear, and the two deep-sea hunters, though showing some subtle expressions, didn't do anything that might put them against the woman's will.

At this time, the streets of Parral were empty. It seemed that an evacuation warning was issued at the same time as the monastery was attacked. Everyone was now hiding in their homes, waiting for support troops from the inland city-state of Lateran.

"Here we are--"

Orson and the other two came to an entrance that Longmen had seen before, which was similar to an underground garage.

"..."

Ghost Shark stared at the entrance with its eyes fixed, and its body was trembling slightly. This sign indicated that her judgment was not wrong. The culprit who caused Ghost Shark to become this state and forced her to peel off her 'heart' in the depths of her consciousness to prevent collapse and madness seemed to be hiding behind this underground entrance.

"We're with you, Shark."

Skadi put her hand on Ghost Shark's shoulder, and Orson also tiptoed and put his hand on Ghost Shark's hair.

The warm and dry temperature passed through the skin into the Ghost Shark's heart. She shook her head slightly, then smiled at the two of them, raised the chainsaw in her hand, and walked towards the underground power hub without any hesitation.

"drop--!"

After a crisp beep, the door of the basement slowly opened. Behind the door was pure darkness, and at the same time, a salty and fishy smell slowly flowed out.

"It seems our target hasn't realized our guests have arrived yet."

Orson walked to the front of the team. He increased the wavelength of his frequency perception, and recorded the dark terrain around him in his brain like sonar, and determined the location of the switch.

"Card--!!"

The power was turned off, and the pure darkness was torn into cracks by the dim light tubes. Orson and his group continued to move towards the cave.

Orson took out the dagger he had just found in the monastery from his waist, held it in his hand, and carefully thrust forward.

"..."

"..."

"...Um, Skadi, you don't have to stay so far away from me. The amount of blood you ingested isn't that much, and it didn't pass through your blood vessels, so... uh, the withdrawal reaction shouldn't be that quick."

Orson shouted in a low voice to Skadi, who was about 10 meters away from him, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Uh-I, I know."

When Skadi heard this, her face turned red for a moment. Then the killer whale quickened its pace a little and came back to Orson.

——You’re lying. I can feel my heart beating faster just by getting close to you…

Skadi immediately felt her heartbeat quicken and complained in her heart, but this time she still followed Orson obediently.

"What a weird guy... hehe..."

The ghost shark, who had been sticking to Orson from beginning to end, chuckled and mocked Skadi after seeing Skadi's recent actions. Before Skadi had time to think about how to fight back, she noticed that the ghost shark was acting strangely.

"People like you and I who are always clinging to each other...wait, Shark, are you okay? You look so pale!"

"Ha... who knows? I feel like there are some phantoms in my mind that I don't want to recall, and they are becoming clearer and clearer..."

Ghost Shark gritted her teeth and whispered, and at this time she once again felt the warmth from her wrist.

"We are here, Laurentina. You are no longer alone. You will not fall into the deep sea alone. Maybe you are still afraid, but at least... trust us."

Ghost Shark turned his head to look at the young girl next to him who was just a 'nun', and the other person's extremely serious, yet very gentle expression.

—Different from my time in Deep Sea Hunter, different from my time in the ocean, this warmth... is so unique. This warmth has always been with me.

Ghost Shark also held Orson's wrist and shook his head slightly to indicate that he was fine.

As the underground power hub went deeper, the surrounding environment began to visibly deteriorate and mutate. The walls that were originally made of concrete and steel bars were now covered with wet and sticky deep-sea plants.

Not only that, more and more wreckage of sea monsters were scattered around. Those sea monsters were incomplete and deformed. They looked more like "failed things that failed to transform successfully" rather than being killed by something.

"..."

The looks of Skadi and Ghost Shark became more and more serious, and Orson also kept using frequency detection to prevent being attacked from behind.

Finally, after passing through a disgusting passage covered with white spider-web-like ellipsoids, at the end of the road, under the dim light - the creature outside the human world stood quietly in its place.

"Ah... Welcome, outsiders, the sea's castaways, the dull, animal filth—"

The 'man' standing there in a strange robe noticed the visitor. He slowly turned his head and greeted him in a hoarse and distorted voice while slowly taking off his hood.

"—"

Behind the hood, an octopus-like face appeared before everyone.