Chapter 43: [Skadi]

[In the ocean, you and the killer whale Honkai beast that was very friendly to you started an extremely brutal "hunting" journey... Well, it was extremely brutal to other Honkai beasts]

[One of you started to eat Honkai beasts without any scruples in order to leave the ocean, and the other one is a "big eater" in itself. When the two of you joined forces, almost no Honkai beasts could resist. Most of the Honkai beasts could only flee in all directions when they encountered the two of you... This caused the Honkai beasts in the sea to begin to decrease rapidly.]

[Although this reduction may not be worth mentioning compared to the entire ocean, if it is limited to a certain area of ​​the sea... well, it would be very terrifying.]

[Soon, there will be no Honkai beasts left in the sea area where you are. Even if there are any that survive, they will quickly leave and flee to other places.]

[After you discovered this, you tried to leave the ocean again, but it still failed.]

[You were not discouraged, but went to another sea area with it and continued to harm other Honkai beasts.]

[You can feel that both of you are becoming stronger little by little, especially you. The "Gabriel" gene in your body begins to become active, and becomes more active day by day, as if it will turn around and devour you in the next moment.]

[But none of this happened. You still maintain your human form and your consciousness. This is enough.]

[You still get along harmoniously with it, and its friendly attitude towards you has hardly changed. It looks a bit silly and a bit stupid, but it's kind of cute. If it were a human, maybe you would become friends... No, you are already "friends" now, but your identities are a bit strange.]

[You still don't know where its inexplicable kindness towards you comes from, but you don't care about it so much now.]

[In this way, you "one man and one beast" continued to "hunt" Honkai beasts while gradually expanding the scope of "hunting," and slowly became stronger. Your daily life hardly changed. You would "hunt and eat" from the early morning, and would rest in the deep sea at midnight before continuing the next day.]

[Except for the occasional attempt to escape from the ocean, you hardly do anything else, and your days are unusually stable.]

[Until something went wrong with you.]

——————————

Gulu——

The bubbles slowly floated up, and in the dim sea, Xi Wang opened his eyes. Faint light fell from above, and it was obviously morning... The biological clock developed in recent times was unexpectedly accurate.

There were some strange emotions coming from the surroundings, like tenderness and care, as if the surrounding sea water was alive.

In addition, Xi Wang has been dreaming frequently recently. He dreamed that he turned into a marine creature and spent his whole life in the sea... There were all kinds of things, sometimes fish, sometimes shrimp, and even seals, corals and the like. Just now, Xi Wang dreamed that he turned into a killer whale, which was very strange.

These dreams were fragmented and mixed together, sometimes they could be connected, and occasionally there were some strange things mixed in, which gave Xi Wang a headache.

In addition, Xi Wang's memory is always very good. He can remember most of it even from his dreams. As a result, he has not slept well recently. Memories of "marine life" are always mixed in his mind. Every time he wakes up, Xi Wang has to spend some time sorting out his memories to prevent his consciousness from being overwhelmed by those miscellaneous "dreams." In the middle of the process, he also has to check the "Gabriel" gene in his body to prevent himself from being backlashed.

Sometimes Xi Wang even wondered if these dreams were caused by the overactive "Gabriel" gene.

But this is not a completely bad thing. Although most of these dreams are fragmented, after reorganizing them, Xi Wang still came up with an interesting piece of information—those "dreams" are the past experiences of a certain marine creature. If you are lucky, you can also sort out the "life" of a certain marine creature, from birth to death, or becoming a Honkai beast, or even the experience after becoming a Honkai beast.

Xi Wang originally planned to find an opportunity to look for those marine creatures that became Honkai beasts according to the information he got in the "dream," but he gave up in the end... There are still enough prey around now, so there is no need to look for them deliberately.

However, last night's dream still made him a little distressed... The killer whale in the dream was infected with Honkai in the end, and then ate all of its own kind... The feeling of killing each other, even blood relatives, made Xi Wang feel very uncomfortable.

Although there were some emotions left in previous "dreams," they were all very slight, but last night's dream... to be honest, the emotions were too vivid.

Fortunately, Xi Wang survived. Although the "Gabriel" gene in his body was still active, there was no sign of backlash.

Today is another day of living well; it's great.

Xi Wang nodded with satisfaction.

It will be soon; we will be able to go back soon, Xi Wang firmly believed.

Then, accompanied by a slight chirping sound, a joyful feeling came from the side, and Xi Wang knew that it had woken up too.

"Hmm——"

[Morning, Two-legged beast, wake up, cute, hunting, today.]

"...Um?"

I don't know if it's an illusion, but Xi Wang felt like it was talking... Although what he heard was still the whistle-like sound, he could understand its meaning.

[Strange, two-legged beast, problem?]

It exuded a feeling of doubt, but Xi Wang heard a more specific meaning from its chirping.

"Are you talking?"

Xi Wang asked a question.

[Talking? I don't understand, meaning, biped, confused?]

"Do you understand?"

[Two-legged beast?]

"...Let me touch you?"

[Touch! Two-legged beast! Good! Cute, like! Close.]

It barked happily twice, rolled in front of you, then wiggled its tail fin and came close to Xiwang, revealing its smooth back for him to touch.

　　"......"

　　Xiwang reached out and touched its back to calm it down while thinking.

　　'...Oh no, this is bad. I can understand what Honkai beasts say. Could I have become an Honkai creature?'

　　But I am still conscious now, and my body hasn't undergone any abnormal changes...

　　Xiwang's expression became a little strange, but since he didn't show any obvious abnormalities, he just ignored it for now.

　　"So, you can understand me, and you used to be able to talk, right?"

　　[Two-legged beast, understand? Words, don't you understand?]

　　Faced with its response, Xiwang sorted it out again before he understood what it meant.

　　"I really didn't know you could talk before... I guessed what you meant by your emotions and actions..."

　　[Two-legged beasts, didn't you understand before?]

　　"Yeah, but now I understand..."

　　[Understand! Two-legged beasts, ocean, acceptance! Closeness!]

　　It barked twice happily and waved its tail fin twice happily.

　　Hmm... it should mean "you are accepted by the ocean and are closer to the ocean," right?

　　[Two legs! Morning, prey, lots! Hunt! Eat!]

　　It urged, obviously worried about missing its "prey" this morning.

　　[Two-legged beasts, hurry, eat, become stronger! Return to land! Hunt!]

　　It seemed to understand why Xiwang accompanied it "hunting," so it flapped its tail fin and swam quickly towards the shallow ocean.

　　"This guy seems to be smarter than I thought, and she can even understand the meaning of the various words I say..."

　　Xiwang whispered to himself, then shook his head, put aside his doubts for the time being, and quickly caught up with it, heading to the shallow area with it.

　　Today's breakfast is a kind of alien jellyfish called Honkai Beast. Unlike the previous transparent jellyfish, this kind of jellyfish is standard white in color. Although it does not have that extreme concealment, its ability to control water is much stronger than that of the transparent jellyfish. Its tentacles are also very sharp and contain certain paralyzing toxins. Coupled with their large numbers, it can be a bit troublesome.

　　However, these were no big deal for Xiwang, and they just started killing as usual.

　　After all the surrounding Honkai beasts were either killed by you or escaped, you manipulated the sea water as usual to gather the remains of the Honkai beasts together and then began to enjoy today's breakfast.

　　[Eat, become stronger! Two-legged beasts, return to land!]

　　After quickly finishing its own portion, it happily waved its tail fin, causing waves and urging Xiwang to hurry up.

　　[Hunting! Next! Two legs, together!]

　　Xiwang understood, and after quickly eating the remaining remains of the Honkai beast, he manipulated the seawater to create a fast-flowing "ocean current" in the shallow area of ​​the ocean.

　　This is a skill that Xiwang advanced by following the "river" method after becoming stronger by "feeding" on Honkai beasts. It can move at a faster speed, and its speed in seawater will be even faster. More importantly, it can also enter the "ocean current" to move.

　　This is also the biggest reliance of Xiwang and it in "hunting" everywhere, and the reason why you can continuously expand the hunting range.

　　Then it was the usual "hunting."

　　Today's lunch is an Honkai beast that looks like an eel. This creature has a very long body and can emit electricity. In addition, it has the ability to control water, so it took you a lot of effort... but in the end, you still ate it.

　　In the evening, relying on your keen sense of water, you found a group of transparent jellyfish Honkai beasts. Naturally, you "hunted" them and then ate them for dinner.

　　Hmm... the transparent jellyfish Honkai Beast has a soft texture, really like pudding. Compared to the alien jellyfish in the morning, Xiwang thinks the transparent jellyfish is more delicious and has a better taste, which reminds him of the feeling of "sweetness."

　　'...Oh no, why am I still judging it?'

　　Xiwang realized that something was wrong with his brain and quickly shook his head to throw away those messy thoughts.

　　To be honest, I haven't taken "sugar" for a long time and I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms... It seems like I don't need to take it after I go back.

　　...But the poisonous pupa probably won't allow it.

　　Xiwang's eyelids drooped slightly.

　　I'll find a chance to kill them all later... They're always so annoying...

　　And think about it carefully, in the [Ninth Herrscher Crusade], Hen's mission was originally very abnormal... Did the Fire Moth leaders have already prepared to sacrifice Hen? Why? Hen was obviously the most loyal soldier in the Fire Moth, and he was also a fusion warrior, so he shouldn't have been abandoned?

　　Are they worried about Griseo's ability? But Griseo has already entered the Deep Place and is also protected by Aponia. The Fire Moths should be unable to do anything to them. They can't touch Aponia at all.

　　Then why...

　　Due to the lack of information, Xiwang still couldn't figure out why the situation turned out like this... But in the end, Xiwang stopped thinking about it.

　　Forget it, it was my own fault after all... If I had been faster, Kevin wouldn't have hesitated, and Herrscher wouldn't have taken the opportunity to escape. If the attack had been stronger, Herrscher wouldn't have survived, and what happened later wouldn't have happened...

　　Xiwang stuffed the remains of the Honkai beast into his mouth while thinking, and a depressed mood unconsciously emanated from him.

　　And... now that I think about it, it's quite funny that I can actually get along well with an Honkai beast... If I tell others about it, I'm afraid people will laugh at me, or even be extremely horrified. After all, someone like me who can "understand the language of Honkai beasts" will probably be judged to have been corrupted by Honkai.

　　Well...but Mobius would probably be excited.

　　Griseo... had originally promised her that I would go to see her...

　　And Sakura... Rin... Elysia... I made them worried...

　　Xiwang's mood became increasingly depressed.

　　[Two-legged beast, sad?]

　　Having finished its portion, it swam to Xiwang, touched him gently, then swam back, raised its head, and showed him its snow-white belly.

　　[Two-legged beasts, don't be afraid, let's go together!]"

"[Hunting! Becoming stronger! Going back!]

　　"...Um."

　　Xiwang couldn't help but smile, nodded, reached out and touched its snow-white belly, and said softly.

　　"Hunting, getting stronger, and then... returning to land."

　　But after that... what should it do? It's just an Honkai beast... a special Honkai beast?

　　Maybe we could ask Professor Mei and Mobius to help? Ask them to shelter an Honkai beast in the name of "research"?

　　[Two-legged beast, cute! I like it!]

　　"......"

　　Xiwang looked at its jubilant and somewhat honest appearance, feeling the happy emotion it exuded, and felt a little helpless.

　　...I don't know if it will succeed.

　　[Two legs, night, hunting!]

　　"Well...it's time to start the night hunt."

　　After eating the last bit of wreckage, Xiwang quickly followed it into the dark deep sea and began to search for "rare prey" hidden in the deep sea.

　　You were quite lucky today, as you encountered a giant octopus. This guy had many tentacles and was very strong. It seemed to be more difficult to deal with than the eel-shaped Honkai beast at noon. It took you some effort to deal with it... but the harvest was also rich, and you can enjoy a rare midnight snack.

　　[Two-legged beast, awesome! Cute, good, I like it!]

　　Perhaps because it was a rare midnight snack today, it was in a particularly good mood and was humming its own song while eating.

　　"Two-legged beasts... is what you call humans. It's normal."

　　Xiwang didn't feel anything about this title, but after thinking about it for a while, based on the friendship between them, Xiwang still spoke.

　　"But you can call me Wang. This is my name."

　　[Wang? Name?]

　　"It's just like a name that refers to me specifically. Well... after all, we are considered 'friends,' so it's only right that I tell you my name."

　　[Wang? Friend! Really!]

　　It wiggled its tail fin happily and then took a bite of the octopus's tentacle.

　　[Look, like! Cute! Close!]

　　[Name, no, Wang, don't know, Wang, friend, unhappy]

　　...It must be trying to express that it has no name, so it's worried that I'll be unhappy?

　　Xiwang roughly understood what it meant... Tsk, how come he can now understand the language of Honkai beasts so clearly?

　　[Name, Wang, help!]

　　It exposed its belly and wagged its tail fin towards Xiwang, expressing its grievance.

　　[Name, no, friend, unhappy, Wang, help!]

　　"...You want me to help you think of a name?"

　　[Look, understand, good! Cute! Like]

　　It affirmed Xiwang's words and expressed emotions of anticipation and joy.

　　"Um..."

　　Xiwang was thinking while eating his midnight snack.

　　Then Xiwang seemed to suddenly think of something and a name that was very suitable for it popped up in his mind, or Xiwang thought the name "killer whale" was very suitable.

　　'This name suddenly popped up in my mind, as if I had a deep impression of it...' but Xiwang felt that it was indeed very suitable for it.

　　After all, it also happens to be a feminine name.

　　"Why not call you [Skadi]?"

　　Xiwang said so.

　　[Skadi? Good! I like it! Skadi, the name!]

　　It seemed very satisfied with the name and swam happily around Xiwang holding the tentacle of an octopus beast in its mouth.

　　[Skadi, look, friend! Okay, let's do it together!]

　　"Yes, friend."

　　Seeing it so happy, Xiwang didn't want to interrupt it. He just nodded slightly and responded to it casually.

　　But after a while, Xiwang thought of another question.

　　"Speaking of which... Skadi."

　　"Why did you save me in the first place? And why did you keep following me?"

　　Although Skadi is intelligent, as an Honkai beast, it should be hostile to humans.

　　[Look, Two legs, be friendly! Skadi, help!]

　　[Two-legged beasts, land, Honkai , confrontation, awesome! Good!]

　　[The ocean is collapsing. So bad!]

　　[Hate it! Hunt it! Eat it!]

　　"…What did you just say?"

　　Xiwang's expression became a little strange.

　　"Do you know about the Honkai?"