Chapter 44: An Increasingly Deviant Existence

'It's strange. I could actually hear the word 'Honkai' from the mouth of an Honkai beast. Moreover, this Honkai beast is hostile to Honkai and wants to 'hunt' other Honkai beasts... Am I dreaming?'

　　If Xi Wang had not been certain that his life in the ocean during this period was real, he would really have doubted whether he was still in the dream of the Eighth Herrscher.

　　"Where did you learn the word 'Honkai'?"

　　[Honkai? Two-legged beast, tell me, water, memory, fragments! Come on land! Ocean! Skadi, know!]

　　Skadi tried hard to express to Xiwang how she knew the word, but her expression was too fragmented, forcing Xiwang to think carefully about its meaning.

　　[Look! Water! Debris! Land is coming! Know!]

　　"Don't worry, let's do it one by one... You learned this word from us humans, right?"

　　[Wang! Smart! Skadi, vocabulary, knowledge! Two legs! Know!]

　　"It seems that you learned the meaning of these words from us humans..."

　　This answer was somewhat unexpected, but Xiwang was not surprised. After all, the meanings of the words expressed by Skadi matched the meanings in his cognition, so they must be human words.

　　"And you learned this knowledge because of water, right?"

　　[Wang, smart! Like! Water, memory, fragments, land, ocean!]

　　"Water will record some things, and when it flows from the land into the ocean, it will also flow into the ocean with the recorded things, right?"

　　[Fragments! Fragments! Put them together and you will know!]

　　"The memory is fragmented? So we need to piece it together again to know?"

　　[Wang! Smart! Friends, like it!]

　　Skadi swam happily, eating the last bit of the giant octopus Honkai beast.

　　"......"

　　Xiwang finally understood what was going on with Skadi.

　　According to it, there are some 'other things' in water, which can be regarded as the 'memory of water.' After all, it is the water that 'records' these things. When water passes through land, it will record some things, and then flow into the sea along streams and rivers, bringing what it has recorded into the sea.

　　Although a drop of water can record very little, and a puddle of water can only record fragments of an event at most, there is still a lot of water. As long as you are willing to sort it out, you can still piece together these broken 'memories' and get what you want.

　　And it was from this that Skadi learned the human word expressions, as well as the situation of humans and Honkai on land.

　　Xiwang felt a sense of déjà vu... Isn't this the 'dream' you've had these past few days?!

　　Now it seems that it was not a dream at all, but you received the broken 'memories' in the ocean.

　　This is good news, as it means you can use this method to know the situation on land... although it is difficult. After all, there is so much water in the ocean that it is extremely difficult to find the 'memory' you need from it. Moreover, you must piece together the fragmented 'memories' to know the whole coherent thing. It can be said to be like 'looking for a needle in a haystack' in the true sense of the word.

　　But this is still a hope, at least it is better than having no idea about the situation on land.

　　But at the same time, this is also bad news... According to this speculation, Xi Wang can receive the 'memory of water,' which can be said to be further accepted by the 'ocean.' In other words, he is closer to the existence of Honkai beasts like Skadi.

　　But it doesn't matter, he will persevere until he returns to them.

　　And now there is one last question...

　　"Skadi... you know you are a Honkai beast... right?"

　　Xiwang asked the question softly.

　　[Know! Skadi, Honkai Beast! Bad! Wang, Skadi, friend! Wang, good! Like! Close!]

　　It seems to have a clear self-awareness...

　　"So why are you hunting other Honkai beasts?"

　　[Honkai! Damage! Hate it! Skadi, blood relative! Eat it! Gone! Honkai! Hate it!]

　　"...sorry."

　　Xiwang thought of the killer whale in his previous 'dream'... He seemed to have accidentally come into contact with Skadi's past, but did it have intelligence at that time? Xiwang still remembered that vivid emotion.

　　However, having inadvertently revealed its scar, Xiwang still apologized sincerely.

　　[Wang, friend! Good!]

　　Skadi stuck out her tongue and licked Xiwang as if to indicate that she forgave him.

　　[Land, Two legs, good! Honkai, bad! Two legs, like! Two legs, Skadi, together! Wang, Skadi, friend!]

　　It seems that Skadi learned about the humans on land fighting against the Honkai through the 'memory of water,' so she regarded humans as allies... That's why she saved him at that time. In addition to her own love for humans, there was also the element of 'saving allies' in it.

　　This way, we can understand why Skadi did all her previous actions.

　　[Look, touch! My friend, touch!]

　　Skadi opened her mouth towards you and stuck out her tongue, motioning towards you.

　　"Okay... why do I feel like I have a pet?"

　　[Pet?]

　　"It's the companion of mankind."

　　[Partner! Wang, the two-legged beast! Skadi, the pet!]

　　"... You should forget it."

　　Xi Wang touched its tongue in silence and then expressed helplessness at its overly straightforward thinking.

　　[Hmm? Skadi, that's not right?]

　　Skadi expressed a feeling of being aggrieved, like a little girl who had made a mistake... No, no, she is just a child, right? What on earth was I thinking?

　　"What I just said was not quite right, just forget it."

　　Xi Wang rubbed his head and said with a headache... He felt that there was really something wrong with his cognition.

　　[Hmm! Wang, the two-legged beast has more knowledge! Skadi has less knowledge! Skadi, be obedient!]

　　"......"

　　Why does it feel like I'm cheating on a child?

　　[At night, rest! During the day, be quick! In the morning, hunt!]

　　It seems that it wants to rest. Yes, the biological clock in its body is also telling Xiwang that it is time to rest.

　　They restrained their own breath and hid in the seabed, deceiving the Honkai beasts that only stayed in the shallow ocean, making them think that there were no high-threat individuals here, and then wandered around in this sea area. In this way, Xiwang and Skadi would be able to catch these Honkai beasts upstream tomorrow morning and enjoy breakfast."

But I don't know if it's because they can communicate directly, or simply because she has experienced too many happy things, but Skadi has become a little restless tonight.

[Look, rest, together! Water! Memory, fragments! Knowledge!]

Well, it seems that in the past, Skadi kept quiet during this period of time in order to receive and sort out the "memory of water" instead of resting... Hmm? Isn't this similar to Xiwang now?

[Together! Friends! Wang, good! Close! Like!]

You can see that it is really happy.

Xi Wang couldn't persuade it, considering it had always been so friendly, today he had clarified a lot of doubts about it, and it was really happy... so he just let it be.

'Yeah, I'm not making excuses, absolutely not' - Xi Wang comforted himself in this way as Skadi kept rubbing her head against him.

Honestly speaking, it was a bit scary to see such a huge creature with a body length of nearly 30 meters rubbing against me. After all, it was... really too big.

Fortunately, Xi Wang is a fusion warrior, otherwise, he really wouldn't be able to withstand its closeness.

But today is really fun, isn't it?

Xi Wang slowly closed his eyes, ready to start today's "dream"... or to accept the new "memory of water."

[Look, touch!]

"Skadi, can you please take a break? We have hunting to do tomorrow."

[Hunting! Good! Honkai! Hunting! Eat!]

Skadi accepted this reason and became quiet beside Xi Wang.

...Well, as expected, Skadi is a silly "little" cutie who is very easy to deceive.

——————————

[Because you can communicate directly, you and the killer whale Honkai beast named "Skadi" become "friends," and you also learn some secrets of the "ocean" through it.]

[The "ocean" is tolerant; it will accept even memories and sink them into the unfathomable seabed. Beings blessed by the "ocean" can get what they need from it, whether it is memory or power.]

[The "Ocean" always loves its children and is willing to give them everything, but correspondingly, the "Ocean" is also a mother who loves her children too much and is unwilling to let her children step onto land, endure the pain of dryness, suffer the torture of fire, and be killed by... humans.]

[You suddenly understand why you can't return to land because the "ocean" won't allow you to. It has long regarded you as its own child, a "poor child" who has suffered from the hardship of drought, and the torture of fire, and has lived alone for several years. Therefore, it attaches great importance to you and is no longer willing to let you return to land.]

[You vaguely guessed this and felt a little distressed. This means that you need to fight against this "living ocean" to return to the land and to them. Your ability comes from this "ocean." It is really unwise to use its power to fight against it.]

[But this is not a reason for you to give up. You must return to them.]

[After another failed attempt to return to land, you silently returned to Skadi's side, manipulated the sea water to create "ocean currents," and continued to head to the next hunting location.]

[Hunting, continue hunting, hunt all the Honkai beasts in the "ocean," then become stronger, keep getting stronger, until you can escape the ocean.]

[You started hunting from warm waters and continued to the extremely cold seas... Is this the Antarctic or the Arctic? It doesn't matter. You and Skadi only know that there are Honkai beasts here, and you have to "hunt" them and then eat them. That's enough.]

[Today's breakfast is still transparent jellyfish, delicious, you like it very much; lunch is manta ray, not very delicious, but Skadi likes it; for dinner, you caught a few seals, delicious; there is no midnight snack, what a pity...]

[......]

[Breakfast was still transparent jellyfish, but this was the last time to eat it. It seemed that you had eaten all the transparent jellyfish, and you couldn't find any more. Please cherish them. Lunch was a large "fish," which was a special Honkai beast formed by many small fish Honkai beasts. It was delicious, but it was troublesome to eat. For dinner, we caught a shark, which was not delicious. In the middle of the night, we caught a giant anglerfish, which was ugly and not delicious!]

[Another attempt to return to land, failed. It seems that there are not enough Honkai beasts to hunt. Continue.]

[Should I say it really deserves to be called the "gentle ocean mother"? It actually really preserved most of its "ecology." You and Skadi even found a group of Honkai beasts that looked like penguins... Of course, they were soon "hunted" by you.]

[We had a good harvest today. You and Skadi hunted a large whale Honkai beast. It was really big, enough for the two of you to eat for a day.]

[Today, I saw a group of fish-shaped Honkai beasts flying in the air... The prototype is a flying fish? You remember that it was this kind of Honkai beast that made the Fire Moth set the rule of "flying above the clouds in the open sea area." It is a very troublesome Honkai beast. The water flow controlled by you and Skadi is difficult to hit them in the air... But it doesn't matter, you still hunted them.]

[After all, they are "fish," Honkai beasts that belong to the "ocean." No matter what, they must return to the "ocean" in the end.]

[hunting]

[hunting]

[hunting]

[Tried to return to land, failed, but you can indeed feel yourself gradually getting rid of the "ocean." You can now see the land clearly, although it can only be seen on the distant skyline, but you can indeed see the land clearly, which is a good sign.]

[hunting]

[hunting]

[I caught a big crab. The shell is very hard and not tasty. The inside is delicious.]

[hunting]

[Hunting, speaking of which, the "Gabriel" gene in your body seems to have been inactive for a long time. Although it has been very active, you don't seem to have any obvious abnormalities. Hmm... that's a good thing.]

[Hunting, there are too many "memories of water," and they are too fragmented. It's hard to know the information on land... But it's okay, as long as I know that this method works.]

[Hunting, the prey seems to be getting less and less. Have all the group-living Honkai beasts died? Why is there only a single powerful Honkai beast left? Hunting is so troublesome.]

[Trying to return to land again, failed... It's okay, continue.]

Hunting, hunting, hunting...

————————

[Wang Friends]

"Okay, touch it."

[Like! Close!]

Xi Wang has become accustomed to Skadi's behavior of wanting to "suck" him from time to time. He always feels as if he has really raised a particularly clingy pet... To be honest, it's quite strange.

"...What's wrong?"

Feeling Skadi approaching again, Xi Wang temporarily stopped eating and asked.

[Look, body, strange]

"Are you talking about this? This is for clothes. After all, I am a human being. I can't always be naked."

Xi Wang looked at the dark blue clothes on her body and spoke while eating the remains of the Honkai beast.

[Clothes? No, look, skin!]

Skadi shook her head and denied it.

"......"

What Xi Wang is wearing now is certainly not real "clothes," but a "thing" similar to hair or skin fluff, or to be more precise, a "shell"?

Xi Wang came up with this idea on a whim after a hunt. He succeeded after several attempts and finally created this dark blue "hunter suit" with pretty good defensive performance.

Well... after all, you need to go out hunting often, so there's nothing wrong with wearing "hunter's clothes," right?

[Look, strange]

Skadi leaned in a little closer, expressing doubt.

[Look, get close, Skadi, another]

"......"

Xi Wang didn't say anything.

He could understand what Skadi meant... As he stayed with Skadi for a long time, Skadi felt that he was becoming more and more like another Skadi.

To put it simply, it is becoming more and more similar to Skadi and more and more like Honkai Beast.

Xi Wang knew of course that when he constructed this "hunter outfit," Skadi said that this "clothes" was very similar to the "skin" of the Honkai beast. From then on, Xi Wang fell uncontrollably in a bad direction... No, it started when he chose to start "hunting," but this "clothes" was a symbol of his reaching a certain depth.

However, Xi Wang didn't care. As long as he was conscious and still remembered them, it was enough.

[Look, Skadi, close! Blood relatives! Like!]

"…I am not your blood relative."

Xi Wang has felt helpless about Skadi's inexplicably stupid thinking more than once... Forget it, one can't have too high expectations for a Honkai beast.

[Wang! Blood relatives!]

"I already said I'm not..."

[Hope, Skadi, the same! Wang, blood relatives!]

"......"

Why can't this kid understand?!

Xi Wang looked helpless.

Although I know that the killer whale that Skadi was based on is a social creature that prefers to be with its own kind, Skadi's kind should have disappeared long ago... Even if you want to "replace your meal," you wouldn't go to him, right? He's just a human "bipedal beast."

[Blood relatives! Wang! Blood relatives! Good! Close! Like!]

"I already told you that I'm not your blood relative... I'm not a killer whale."

[…嘤]

Skadi's voice suddenly became aggrieved.

"... Never mind. It's up to you."

[Wang! Like! Blood relatives! Skadi! Happy!]