Chapter 198: You and Your Riddles Make Me Laugh
Without a doubt, the thing in Steven's hands was far more attractive to Kal'tsit than he had expected.
As he thought—what was useless to him could be invaluable to others.
Kal'tsit quickly accepted the deal and began explaining what she knew about Ægir and the Abyssal Hunters.
"A ridiculous race."
That was the first thing she said—a heavy statement right from the start.
Good thing none of the three Abyssal Hunters were around to hear it.
Otherwise, with Skadi's straightforward personality, even if she didn't say anything, she'd probably just start a fight on the spot.
Luckily, Steven wasn't an Ægir himself—he had no attachment to the country or the race, so he simply shrugged and continued listening.
For Kal'tsit to say something this direct, she must have had good reason.
She might like speaking in riddles, but she wasn't one to lie about important matters.
"And why exactly are they ridiculous?"
Steven played along, prompting her like a sidekick, while casually pulling out a bag of sunflower seeds and munching away right in front of her.
Kal'tsit ignored his antics and shifted the conversation.
"You've been in Iberia for quite a while now. You must have encountered the people of the Church of the Deep… and faced attacks from those monsters in the ocean, right?"
Steven responded with a simple nod.
Faced attacks?
More like he had farmed those creatures so much that he had nearly ten thousand WAP just from their loot.
"Those creatures are generally referred to as the Seaborn."
"And the Ægirs, being an underwater race, have always considered the Seaborn their greatest enemy."
"As for the Abyssal Hunters, they were originally Ægirs who underwent modifications to enhance their ability to fight the Seaborn."
Kal'tsit paused for a moment, then smiled slightly.
"Using the power of the Seaborn to fight the Seaborn, creating human-Seaborn hybrids for battle, is that it?"
Steven responded calmly, unfazed.
"Makes sense. Science works that way—once you abandon ethics, there's no point talking about humanity anymore."
This revelation didn't surprise him in the slightest.
The moment he had seen Irene's skin developing the same texture as Gladiia's, he had already figured it out.
To him, killing those monsters was no different from cutting vegetables—but for ordinary humans, it was a completely different story.
Even a highly trained soldier would struggle to take down even the weakest Sea Terror in one-on-one combat.
"Then you must have noticed something else—these Seaborn creatures have a rather terrifying trait."
"You mean adaptive evolution?"
Steven nodded, then shrugged.
"Can't say I really felt the impact. Armor stacking is just passive defense—I'm more of an 'offense first' kind of guy. If they evolved offensive adaptations, maybe it'd be interesting… but all I've seen is them adapting to my damage."
He shook his head in mild disappointment.
This wasn't him bragging—it was just fact.
Even armor stacking had a limit, and the core he had just handed over was proof that the creature he fought had already reached its.
"Not everyone is a freak of nature like you, alright?"
Kal'tsit sighed, rubbing her temples.
"Your standards are absolutely absurd."
Kal'tsit couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.
She still couldn't see where his upper limit was, but based on what she had observed so far, it seemed that even the Seaborn Elite, a named Seaborn, couldn't properly adapt to his attacks.
Honestly, the sheer ridiculousness of his strength was borderline absurd.
"Go on, then."
Steven smacked his lips together, unsure how to argue back on this point.
I mean, being too strong wasn't exactly his fault, was it?
"Leaving aside freaks like you, what makes the Seaborn's adaptive evolution truly terrifying is that their evolution is shared among their kind. That's why the Ægirs ended up creating the Abyssal Hunters—these inhuman warriors."
Kal'tsit let out a long sigh.
The physical strength of an Abyssal Hunter was beyond words—a level so rare that only the pure-blooded Wendigos like Patriot, or the Dracos, descendants of mythical creatures, could compare.
But Ægir, through biotechnology, managed to manufacture an entire race of such beings.
"Modified warriors who share the same roots as their enemies… What are they? Underwater Kamen Rider?"
Steven muttered under his breath.
This whole setup sounded exactly like one of his favorite Kamen Rider plotlines—warriors created to fight monsters, but whose power ultimately came from the very same monsters.
"But I still don't see what's so funny about this. If anything, isn't this a good thing?"
He scratched his head, genuinely confused.
The Ægirs fought against the Seaborn and created Abyssal Hunters specifically for that purpose.
That was a logical response to the crisis—far from being "ridiculous."
"Heh. Don't tell me you really haven't noticed where the Church of the Deep got their technology from?"
Kal'tsit sneered.
"When you were investigating them, I'm sure you saw more than a few human experiments being carried out, didn't you?"
Steven's eyes narrowed slightly.
Now that she mentioned it…
The Church of the Deep's tech always felt off to him—way too advanced for Iberia's original foundation to have developed.
But if Ægir was involved…
Then it suddenly made sense.
"Wait, you're telling me that the very people who were supposed to fight the Seaborn ended up with a bunch of traitors in their ranks? Like… internal collaborators?"
Steven rubbed his head.
If that was true, then things were actually getting interesting.
Some people willingly chose to become Seaborn?
That sounded exactly like the Church of the Deep's philosophy.
"Not just a few traitors."
"The vast majority of Ægirs have already made that choice."
Kal'tsit's voice was cold.
"That's why I said they're a ridiculous race. The Abyssal Hunters were created to fight the Seaborn, willing to sacrifice everything for that cause… only for their own people to betray them in the end."
"And despite all that, some of them still dream about returning to Ægir—returning to the people they swore to protect."
"But what's waiting for them… won't be the welcome of returning heroes. It'll be something far more 'interesting.'"
Kal'tsit let out a mocking chuckle before falling silent.
That was all she was willing to reveal—for now.
"Damn…"
Steven rubbed his chin.
"This isn't just funny anymore—this is straight-up clown-tier."
"A real-life case of 'Your Majesty, we are prepared to fight to the death! —Wait, why are you surrendering?'"
If Kal'tsit was telling the truth, then his "daughter", as he liked to call her, was in for a truly tragic revelation.
At first, they sacrificed part of their humanity to protect their nation's people—becoming monsters in the process.
And now, those very same people had abandoned them, treating them as disposable trash.
The sheer emotional weight of that reality was overwhelming.
Just thinking about it made Steven pity them.
He shook his head.
Honestly? Maybe it was a good thing that his "daughter" was just goofing around as his clueless sidekick now.
At least this way, she wouldn't have to worry about betrayal ever again.
"So? That's it?"
After fully digesting all this information, Steven narrowed his eyes at the green-haired Feline in front of him.
Just how long had Kal'tsit lived to even know about such deep-seated secrets?
No wonder she always bragged about being all-knowing.
Longevity was power—the more you lived, the more you knew.
Kal'tsit gave a small nod, indicating that this was all she could tell him for now.
"Hmm. To be honest, just this bit of intel doesn't really feel worth trading for this thing."
Steven toyed with the boss core in his hand.
Sure, Kal'tsit's information was hard to come by and undeniably important, but it still wasn't quite enough to be worth the thing he held.
After all, at the end of the day, it was just information—and he had only listened for fun.
He hadn't actually gained anything tangible from the exchange.
Kal'tsit seemed to realize this as well.
She slowly nodded in agreement.
"If there's anything else you don't understand, I can answer it for you."
"As long as it's something I already know."
She didn't boast about knowing everything this time.
She just calmly met his gaze, waiting.
Steven actually preferred her like this.
At least now, she was speaking directly instead of hiding behind riddles.
Even if she went off on tangents, they were always at least related to the main topic.
"Eh… Honestly, I don't have much left to ask. Oh—actually, wait, there is one thing. No idea if you know about it, though."
Steven had originally planned to save the question for later, but suddenly, something clicked in his mind.
He snapped his fingers, flashing a curious grin at Kal'tsit.
She tilted her head slightly, signaling him to go ahead.
"Speak."
"Since you already know about those freaks being called the Seaborn, do you also know what 'The Firstborn' is?
"Not trying to mess with you using some dumb wordplay—I'm genuinely curious."
"It sounds kind of terrifying."
Steven had always wondered about the title—especially since it was tied to Skadi, that lovable meathead of a girl.
So, he figured, why not ask Kal'tsit?
She seemed to know everything else, after all.
But what Steven didn't expect was for Kal'tsit's usually unshakable expression to suddenly shift into something dead serious.
For a brief moment, he even caught a glimpse of panic in her eyes.
"Where did you hear that name?"
Her voice was sharp—almost demanding.
"Listen carefully."
"No matter what, do not attempt to awaken it."
"This world… is not ready to bear the consequences of its return."
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