I Became an Evolving Deep-Sea Creature

Chapter 4. The Stone of Authority

Arktar was acting friendly, but he still couldn’t be trusted.

For some reason, Yul had also heard the order to eliminate within this defense system.

It could very well be that he was planning to coax Yul out from the laser cannon.

‘Can you understand what I’m saying?’

-Ultrasonic waves are not within my audible range. But I am a magic practitioner who trains in mantras. Intentional translation is not difficult.

Arktar fiddled with some sort of device and set it up beside his head.

-Now I can understand your little ultrasonic waves to some extent.

‘Really?’

-Yes. Now, can you understand that I am willing to talk and have no intention of attacking?

‘It’s hard to believe.’

-As the guardian of this seal, I can manipulate the laser cannons you are using as a shield at any time. But I’m keeping them active so you feel safe.

‘……!?’

-And besides, I do not harm cute things……

At this point, it was clear that this Arktar fellow truly meant to converse.

Yul, who had been squirming, slipped out again above the laser cannon.

He approached Arktar, who still made no aggressive move.

For the moment, he made eye contact.

The eyes of this ‘alien’ were flashing with a mysterious light.

-Small and cute creature…… so precious……. Must protect……

Did his way of speaking just change all of a sudden?

In those eyes, Yul could read part of his emotions—it felt like the sense of being healed just by looking at something cute.

If he had knees, Yul would have slapped them. This was it. For some reason, even though the system had ordered Arktar to eliminate him, he really bore no hostility.

‘You’re not going to kill me?’

-Of course not. Now, please flap your fins for me.

Yul fluttered his fins back and forth. Arktar then rubbed the tentacles on his face furiously and twisted his body.

-Ugh. Too cute, my heart……!

Who would have thought that being cute could actually help? At any rate, seeing Arktar suddenly turn friendly, Yul had a question to ask.

‘So then, where is this place?’

-You came here without even knowing where this is? This is a sealed ground, forbidden to ordinary creatures. It has also been my post for a thousand years.

‘A thousand years?’

—Well, let me tell you about it.

Arktar looked like some sci-fi armed super alien come to destroy Earth, but in reality, he was sensitive and full of complaints, just like an aunt you’d meet in the marketplace.

Apparently, though, his species had no distinction between male and female.

As for his story, it went like this: Arktar had originally been living well on his home planet, Jurgen.

But one day, while drinking tea at some café, he was suddenly conscripted like a marine, forced into a “Wanna die, or wanna work?” scenario—and dragged here to work without pay.

Yul gazed at Arktar with pitying eyes and asked:

‘What is kept here?’

-Here lies the Stone of Authority. It holds the power of 「Madness (狂化)」, one of the seven Authorities across the universe. That power was sealed here, in this sea, the Phantaratsa.

Yul realized that this entire sea was called Phantaratsa.

‘The sea is called Phantaratsa? Then, by any chance, is there land here too?’

-Of course, there is. But deep-sea creatures like you can’t go there. If you ascend, you’ll die from the pressure difference. Wait—how do you even know about land in the first place?

Arktar, fascinated in many ways, propped his chin as if in thought and then spoke.

-If it’s a small and clever being like you, it might be possible. Could you perhaps help me?

‘Help with what?’

-To take out the Stone of Authority.

Huh? Was the guardian seriously encouraging him to steal the very thing he was supposed to protect?

Yul was so dumbfounded that he stopped speaking. Arktar pointed at the metallic device hanging around his neck and began to explain further.

-I’m stuck here because of the Stone of Authority. If I leave this spot, the necklace will explode, so I’ve injected cryogenic fluid into my body and guarded this place for a long time in hibernation.

-There are two ways for me to escape. Either fulfill the designated term, or the Stone of Authority disappears.

What, is this a quest?

Hearing Arktar’s words to retrieve the Stone of Authority, Yul hesitated.

-I’ve never been able to leave this place, so I couldn’t remove the Stone of Authority myself.

‘What exactly is the Stone of Authority?’

“The Authority,” huh. Come to think of it, the status window had an Authority tab locked. But he didn’t know the condition to unlock it.

Maybe getting hold of that stone would unlock the Authority.

-I’ll explain the effect of the stone that holds the Authority of Madness. Once used, you’ll enter a state of Madness.

‘Oh?’

-The user’s strength will surge dozens to hundreds of times beyond the body’s limit. It grants tremendous power, and at the same time bestows an “Invincible” state. With invincibility, for as long as Madness lasts, no matter what happens—even if the universe is torn apart and destroyed—your durability won’t be consumed.

‘That’s insane!’

Yul recalled something from his past life that fit the most. Wasn’t this like that mustached plumber, Mr. Ma, when he ate a star?

(T/N): He’s referring to ‘Mario’ of Super Mario.

‘But is it really okay for you to betray like this?’

-It’s not even really betrayal. I don’t even know if what I’m guarding is the real thing or not.

‘Eh, what do you mean by that?’

-A long time ago, our species’s High Council created something like hundreds of millions of replicas to hide the Stone of Authority. Then they scattered them across the entire universe and placed guardians like me.

So basically, to protect a dangerous relic, they mass-produced fakes and spread them all over the universe?

‘And?’

-Yeah, so the Stone of Authority here is most likely a replica. But even in a degraded state, it should still function. If you get your hands on it, you can keep it.

‘Hmmm.’

-You said you were curious about the land, right? I don’t know how a jelly octopus like you would make it up to the land, but I can put the entire map of Phantaratsa into your head. How about it?

After a moment’s thought, Yul agreed.

-Great! Then I’ll tell you the way.

* * *

Yul received the interior layout of the structure from Arktar and then headed for the second chamber.

There were several reasons he accepted the request.

One, his trustworthiness rose because who would want to be a guardian, waking from hibernation every time a problem occurred for a thousand years.

‘A thousand years unpaid… that’s horrible.’

No matter how long that species lived, a thousand years was a long time, even with a hibernation device.

And the Stone of Authority was tempting. Even if it was a replica, if it retained a degraded version of the original’s power, it would immediately help Yul.

Also, what Yul lacked was offensive power. All the beings he’d met in the deep sea so far were monstrously strong.

He could at least hunt shrimp, but he wanted some special strength to stand up to stronger predators.

He didn’t want to become a Xenoia again and be picked on like clams in the mudflats.

‘Is this it?’

The dazzling chamber had something like a keyhole. Normally, one couldn’t pass unless one had a specific mantra pattern.

-I’ll handle all the facility’s internal codes.

‘I can squeeze through narrow spaces anyway.’

As a human, he’d had a mild claustrophobia, but as an octopus, he actually enjoyed squeezing through tight spots. It felt kind of like being a cat.

Before they set off, Arktar cast a mantra imprint on Yul—some kind of magic. He lent a bit of his guardian authority so they could share vision and communicate in real time from a distance.

Slipping through the gap revealed the second chamber. As Arktar had said, the second chamber had narrow passages and a maze-like layout.

‘Why would such a structure have to exist?’

-This was designed as a testing ground. It’s meant to test whether a being has the destiny and qualification to take the Stone of Authority. But too many ages have passed since it was sealed.

Escaping this maze would take a lot of time, but Arktar knew the locations of the entrance and exit.

So Yul used every trick to pass through—squeezing through very small gaps that an ordinary creature would be unable to.

-Ooooh. Cute and… smaaart…!

Arktar’s speech, once again, had become strange.

‘I’m not a pet!’

-Even getting angry… is cute…

Having passed the second chamber smoothly, Yul went through another dazzling door and headed for the third chamber.

-In the third chamber, another guardian who protects the Stone of Authority. He’s the final guardian—a knight of our species, entrusted by the High Council with the noble duty of guarding one of the Seven Stones of Authority…!

‘A sarcophagus?’

-You’ll have to put in considerable effort to persuade them. Or you'd have to defeat him. But the latter is impossible, so…

Sure enough, there was a sarcophagus. The problem was that the lid of the sarcophagus had been smashed.

‘It’s broken?’

-What?! That bastard—abandoning his duty to guard the Stone of Power, and trying to escape before me? A wretch with not a shred of loyalty!

‘Huh?’

An infuriated Arktar began to fiddle tut-tat-tat with the device on his arm.

-Reading the traces of magic, he smashed the sarcophagus and teleported down to the lower levels! That bastard! And he hacked the system to make the integrity read 100%! Now I’m the only one running around doing all the work!

Arktar seemed furious at being left behind.

‘So… you guys don’t actually believe the Stone of Authority here is real, do you?’

They were all trying to run away, not guard it. Even if it was a replica, still—

If it were really important, would they store it like this?

-If it were truly important, they wouldn’t have conscripted the likes of us and dumped us at the edge of the universe, don't you think?

‘But there’s at least a chance, isn’t there?’

-If so, then we can just curse the High Council for their terrible management.

‘That’s… true.’

Come to think of it, neither Arktar nor Yul needed to take responsibility for this.

‘By the way, is your species numerous? To have so many of you spread out as guardians?’

-Our species? The Ktazar number is in the hundreds of trillions across the galaxy.

Yul was startled. So that was why they could snatch up a hundred million guardians and scatter them across sealing grounds—because there were simply that many of them.

-Damn it. At the end of this chamber is the Stone of Authority. A password is required, so share the vision I show you. Once the Stone of Authority is gone, I’ll be free too. I’ll return to my home planet!

‘Hmm. All right.’

Though disappointed that the final guardian wasn’t in the sarcophagus, he still headed toward the door. Whether it was the real Stone or a replica, he would pull it out and see.

Through the shared vision, he entered the sequence of strange symbols in order, and the door began to open.

Once the code was complete, the inner door opened, and a chilling aura seeped out.

The stone was perfectly round, glowing sky-blue, with strange characters shining in its center.

The moment Yul touched it with his tentacle, he felt its texture.

‘Huh? What the—?’

The Stone of Authority was being sucked into his body. He felt it burrow into his tentacle and then disappear.

He searched all over himself for the stone, but it was nowhere to be found.

-It’s done…! We did it! Yahoo! The necklace is off!

‘Uh… Arktar?’

-Farewell, jelly octopus! I’ll keep your cuteness as a memory in my photos! And I've implanted the map into your mind through the Mantra engraving.

‘Wait! Don’t go! Listen to me!’

-I’m finally going home! Telepoooort!

‘No, damn it, I said don’t go!’

The freed slave—no, guardian—Arktar vanished, and Yul muttered:

‘This stone… it doesn’t feel like a replica. It feels real.’

Because right before his eyes, a status window had appeared:

[You have absorbed the Stone of Authority. The previously locked Authority slot has been unlocked.]

* * *

At that moment, somewhere in the universe. The Ktazar High Council.

One of the council leaders, a Ktazar with skin entirely white, opened his eyes from meditation.

-Yorum, answer my call.

At once, someone appeared behind him. A young Ktazar, white-skinned, with strong, striking brows.

-Disciple Yorum, I answer your summons.

-One true Stone of Authority has been activated—against impossible odds, swept into the torrent of destiny. Locate the location where it lies, and retrieve it.

Yorum’s eyebrows twitched.

-It will take a long time, Master.

-Even if it takes centuries, find it.

-Yes.