In the distance, the flickering lights of the motel swayed in the night.
Serie and Riley leaned against the car.
"You mean..." Serie turned her head to look at Riley, who was fiddling with her phone, "Centipede and Toad didn't go to launder money at all, but betrayed everyone and simply ran off with the funds?"
Doesn't that sound ridiculous?
The Wild Beast Gang really has a lot of 'talented' individuals.
Are they playing a game of triple-cross here?
Riley nodded, her voice tinged with annoyance: "It's a pity, I didn't check their location just now, I thought... they might already be in international waters, they're really fast."
Serie also felt a hint of regret.
Mission failed, two ability points gone.
Although it would be easy for her to catch up now, the ability points couldn't be recovered.
However, just as Serie was feeling depressed, a new mission suddenly appeared.
"Neon Shadow Witch Mission: Cross-Ocean Pursuit"
"Target: Arrest the evil Toad and the multi-armed Centipede. Please note, they are not human."
"Reward: Ability points * 2."
Serie's heart leaped with joy; there was still a chance to salvage this?
She shot up: "Which direction did they go?"
Riley was startled by her sudden movement, then immediately understood: "North! But--"
Before she could finish, Serie had transformed into a purplish-blue electric light tearing through the night sky, vanishing from the spot.
Serie, eager to make up for the lost mission reward, surged towards the northern coastline like a falling lightning meteor.
She reached the beach in an instant.
Streetlights exploded with crackling sounds, and power lines burst into dazzling electrical sparks in her wake.
Serie stopped at the empty beach, casually tossing her jacket onto a nearby bench.
She stretched her slender limbs languidly, feeling the cool sea breeze.
A sense of ease even flickered in her heart; this remedial mission felt like two free ability points.
Quite humane, actually~
As for the Viper, her parents, and even the Neon Shadow Witch's backstory about fearing seawater, they were all cast aside at this moment.
With "Walk on Water," the boundless expanse of water was merely another smooth path for her.
Perhaps Billy simply couldn't swim before.
As the last stretching motion was completed, purplish-blue electric arcs suddenly burst forth from around her!
Warm-up complete, in peak condition.
Serie didn't hesitate, lightly tapping her toes and gracefully stepping onto the gently rippling sea surface.
"Walk on Water" activated, her speed increasing rather than decreasing, transforming into a purplish-blue phantom streaking across the sea, breaking through the waves towards the open ocean!
In a few breaths, she was deep in the heart of the ocean.
Searching for a target in the vast ocean was incredibly difficult.
She could only stop occasionally, looking around for any possible ships.
But as she ran, the seawater beneath her feet became pitch black at some unknown point, and an absolute dead silence descended, even the sound of waves vanishing.
A chill, almost instinctive, made Serie feel as if something was watching her.
She abruptly stopped, hovering above this boundless darkness.
The intense unease left her no room for hesitation; violent electric arcs erupted from within her!
Blinding purplish-blue light instantly exploded, like a flashbang thrown into the boundless darkness, illuminating the surrounding sea with perfect clarity—
The moment the light pierced the darkness.
All of Serie's blood instantly froze.
Just beneath her feet, that profound darkness seemed to lead to the depths of the earth's core.
It wasn't a shadow.
Nor was it a trench.
It was a suffocatingly massive, terrifyingly regular circular outline.
Under the stimulation of the strong light, it actually... contracted slightly?!
What in the world?!
Serie frowned deeply, staring at the profound darkness with confusion.
But the next second.
An utterly absurd thought, yet one that made every cell in her body scream in confirmation, exploded in her mind—
That was...
The pupil of an eye!
A creature so vast it could overturn all her spatial perception was lurking in the depths of the Pacific below!
Its very existence seemed to transcend the definition of "giant" for a creature; it was an absolutely unspeakable leviathan!
Because just the pupil of its eye, currently focused on her...
Its diameter was like a large meteorite crater on the seabed!
Its full form?
Serie couldn't possibly take it all in!
That might be a terrifying outline spanning the entire ocean basin!
Extreme fear instantly overwhelmed Serie!
Her scalp tingled, and the hairs on her body stood on end!
The instinct for survival overrode all reason!
Serie's electrostatic field spread, and she concentrated all her mental power again, turning the world before her purplish-blue, as if falling into a "time amber."
The churning sea surface instantly stilled. She didn't even have time to think; her body, driven by instinct, erupted with static shockwaves across the sea surface at a limitspeed that tore through the sound barrier!
Her vision blurred and distorted from the high speed until she crashed hard onto the cold beach, and the electrostatic field surrounding her hummed and dissipated.
The powerful buffer caused only minor abrasions, but her body trembled uncontrollably.
"Spirit D → Spirit D-"
Easy mission? Humane? Ha...
Serie slumped onto the cold beach, her rapid breathing not yet calmed, her mind a chaotic hum.
Only now did the impact of that cognition-defying terrifying sight fully awaken her from the allure of the mission reward.
Serie finally understood now why Billy couldn't escape Australia from the nearby seas.
Why... Billy was afraid of seawater.
What... what exactly was that thing?!
Neon Shadow's body still trembled uncontrollably, the lingering fear washing over her nerve endings.
Serie couldn't calm down at all. She made a decisive decision, leaving only 10% of her mental power, allowing Neon Shadow Witch to go home and rest.
Her main consciousness instantly withdrew, returning to her own body.
But the moment her eyes opened to darkness, Serie's spine instantly tensed. That giant deep-sea eye seemed to re-coalesce in the depths of this darkness.
She hugged the golden retriever doll by her bedside, which emitted a faint jasmine scent, tightly to her chest.
The soft touch and comforting scent finally acted like a weak dam, barely holding back the terrifying waves churning in her mind.
Her rapid breathing slowly calmed amidst the doll's fur.
That thing... was an anomaly.
And it was definitely the most dangerous S-class, perhaps even a true world-ending existence.
Its very existence, its unimaginably vast body, every unconscious stretch, every shift in the deep sea, could release destructive energy capable of tearing coastlines apart.
Serie felt a little anxious, finding it hard to imagine. She even somewhat understood some of Heinuma Hayato's theories now.
With such a thing lurking beneath the planet's waters...
It was indeed enough to keep any informed person awake at night, fearing that the next time they opened their eyes, it would be the end of the world.
But then again.
Serie didn't think her threat could be greater than that monster's.
Serie buried her face deep in the doll, letting out a muffled snort.
If Heinuma Hayato, that madman, had the guts to show off to her, why didn't he shove his arrogance and experimental equipment into the deepest part of the Pacific and discuss with that monster whether the end of the world would happen?
Isn't this just bullying honest people?
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