Chapter 270: ICISEI Episode 256
Episode 256: The Goddess of Creation’s Intent to Return to the Surface
『 At this very moment, all the light converged into one and struck with pinpoint accuracy into Tiamat’s massive body.
Immediately following, thick, purplish-red lightning chains danced and leaped wildly around her body.
The roaring sound resonated once again throughout the entire land of darkness, accompanied by intense tremors that refused to cease for a long time.
But this was not the end...
The attacks... still had not stopped.... 』
『 .....』
〜Dimensional livestream, Chat Room〜
[ Paimon (Genshin Impact): "Very good, it’s having an effect." ]
[ Paimon (Genshin Impact): "As long as we keep attacking, it should be enough." ]
[ Umaru Doma (Himouto): "Come on! Fight!" ]
[ Shinomiya Kaguya (Love Is War): "It seems that this battle might be successful soon." ]
[ Chika Fujiwara (Love Is War): "Great, this scene has been way too long, it’s finally coming to an end." ]
[ Chika Fujiwara (Love Is War): "Although so many people are already gone." ]
[ Utaha Kasumigaoka (Saekano): "While that’s true, it does align with what’s recorded in history." ]
[ The Doctor ⦍11th⦎ (Doctor Who): "It’s nice, the Sumer in my world was also destroyed completely because of other things." ]
[ Umaru Doma (Himouto): "Wait, what do you mean by that?" ]
[ The Doctor ⦍11th⦎ (Doctor Who): "Exactly, I am in the Sumer of my world right now, but it’s completely different from the one in the footage." ]
[ Oyama Mahiro (Onimai): "That’s nice." ]
[ March 7th (Honkai: Star Rail): "If only I could travel through time too, then I could know about my past." ]
[ Dan Heng (Honkai: Star Rail): "..." ]
[ .....]
『 "How about that!" Ishtar looked at Tiamat, who was clearly already struggling, and a very smug smile appeared on her face.
The smile contained a hint of disdain and mockery, as if she were saying: "Look at the pathetic state you’re in now, are you completely out of options?"
However... Tiamat, after her dragon transformation, seemed to have momentarily ignored their existence. She suddenly threw her head back and let out a long, thunderous roar, a bellow that shook the heavens like a mountain flood, filled with fury and unwillingness.
That pair of giant claws, full of bestial characteristics, once again plunged deep into the earth of the Underworld. The ground was torn apart at that moment, revealing jagged cracks.
Tiamat climbed upward like this, as if nothing could stop her progress; even the solid ground of the Underworld could not withstand her power.
RUMBLE—! RUMBLE—!
As she crawled step by step, every movement of her massive body made the entire Underworld tremble.
The intense vibration seemed to signal an impending disaster; every sound made one’s heart tighten.
"No way... this guy... is actually planning to return to the surface..." Ereshkigal’s voice was filled with astonishment and disbelief; clearly, she had not anticipated Tiamat would have such an intention.
Following the goddess’s words, the others reacted quickly as well.
They finally realized that this Genesis Goddess, Tiamat, actually wanted to return to the surface to regain that near-invincible power! This was a threat akin to the apocalypse itself. 』
『 .....』
〜Dimensional livestream, Chat Room〜
[ Gabriel (Gabriel DropOut): "Good heavens, if she lets her go back, all previous efforts will be for nothing." ]
[ Paimon (Genshin Impact): "So, we can’t let her go back." ]
[ .....]
〜Demon Slayer World〜
"Running again?"
At this very moment, the boar-headed boy Inosuke couldn’t help but clench the blades in his hands.
Perhaps driven by instinct, or perhaps a habitual reaction, Tanjiro saw Tiamat trying to escape, much like he saw the Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji trying to flee, and couldn’t help but stare fiercely at the creature before him.
Of course, as fellow beasts, Muzan’s thoughts were not much different from Tiamat’s; one wanted to return to that invincible state, while the other wanted to escape death—essentially, both were for the sake of survival.
"We’ve already come this far... absolutely.... absolutely cannot let her get away!"
—
『 At this time, Fujimaru Ritsuka also seemed to feel this urgency, and his eyes instantly hardened with determination.
"That’s right... what we need to do hasn’t changed at all!" he said decisively, his tone firm and forceful.
"We must stop Tiamat’s advance here... completely!"
Fujimaru Ritsuka’s unwavering gaze and loud, clear voice immediately gave those around him a great boost, inspiring all the warriors to continue fighting with all their might, everyone working together to move toward victory.
BOOM—!
BANG—! BANG—! BANG—!
Whether it was Merlin, Ishtar, or Ereshkigal, all of them flew into the air, continuously launching attacks at Tiamat, who was known as the Mother of Humanity.
Their techniques were as swift as lightning, striking her massive body time and again, bringing forth bursts of explosions.
Accompanied by the deafening roars of the air being torn apart, wave after wave of attacks continuously slammed into Tiamat’s body, as violent as countless meteorites falling from the sky.
Yet, even though they left wounds of all sizes, this ancient goddess showed no intention of stopping, still insisting on her goal and climbing upward.
"Don’t even think about it!" The Heavenly Boat suddenly transformed into a giant crossbow form, firing arrows of silvery-white light toward Tiamat, intending to interfere with her movements and interrupt her progress.
WHOOSH—! Although Tiamat tried her best to ignore these daunting attacks, the facts proved...
Injuries were always inevitable.
Perhaps precisely because she realized this, she, as the Goddess of Creation, also began to realize that running away alone could not truly solve the problem. Thus... every pore behind Tiamat seemed to have been magnified many times over, and then...
An unexpected scene occurred. Beneath her pores, that familiar black and red intertwined, highly aggressive, and invasive black mud appeared before everyone’s eyes once again.
The surging tide left horrifying traces on the land of the Underworld.
That terrifying pressure seemed to be telling everyone that a single touch would instantly turn them into dust, returning them to the earth.
"Is she... trying to turn the Underworld into her domain......?"
Da Vinci watched everything happening before her, her heart filled with disbelief.
If that were true, her strength would increase several times over.
Even if that guy known as the Old Man of the Mountain had granted her the concept of death, her existence would still be beyond standard specifications.
However, fortunately, this black mud did not continue to be released endlessly.
After a while, the black mud had only eroded the deepest layer of the Underworld’s earth, and Fujimaru Ritsuka and her companions had already moved to higher ground to avoid the danger.
Although they had avoided this thrilling threat, at this moment, the Underworld was already covered by that substance, mixed with black and red, which made one feel even more suffocated.
The already lifeless land was permeated with an even heavier pressure.
It seems Tiamat is also approaching her limit; expelling such a large amount of black mud must be a last resort, aimed at preventing Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others from continuing to launch attacks on her.
"Careful! Do not let those things touch you!" Although very aware of this, Fujimaru Ritsuka still frowned, using almost all his strength to loudly warn those around him.
"Got it!"
Hearing this, the others responded one after another and immediately heightened their vigilance.
In this urgent moment, everyone quickly adjusted their postures, nimbly weaving and moving in mid-air, preparing to launch a new round of attacks.
However...
Just as everyone slightly relaxed their guard, several extremely familiar yet abnormally hideous faces also appeared in the sky of the Underworld.
These creatures...
They were all Lahmu—beings with strange, ugly forms, covered in peculiar structures, and possessing only a single giant mouth.
They had actually emerged from that black and white intertwined filth, floating high in the air.
"Gugu gugu..."
That bone-chilling laughter reached the ears of Fujimaru Ritsuka and his party once again.
A trace of panic and unease gradually appeared on their faces.
"This is..."
"One.... two.. three..... four...... eleven...." Ishtar began to count down in her nervousness.
Accompanying her countdown, Fujimaru Ritsuka and his companions soon recovered their serious expressions, preparing to deal with the impending crisis.
Unlike the situations encountered before, the massive black bodies of these few Lahmu and their hard, armor-like shells were clearly conveying a message—the enemy they were facing this time was definitely not a simple opponent.
Every detail hinted that these few Lahmu before them were powerful existences that could not be compared to ordinary mass-produced products.
Without a doubt, these few were among the Lahmu that had nearly destroyed the entire city of Uruk not long ago and had almost turned the entire Mesopotamian continent into scorched earth; more importantly, they were far from the weakest individuals of their kind.
Thinking of this, several people couldn’t help but recall the Uruk giant beast that had once swallowed the Holy Grail and brought great disaster to the world.
"It seems....... to truly stop Tiamat’s resurrection, we must first clear away these monsters!" Merlin broke the brief silence with words that seemed relaxed but contained deep meaning, also slightly easing the tension permeating the air at that moment.
"But... what we must do has not changed because of this." Fujimaru Ritsuka’s gaze became firm.
He knew clearly that although the road ahead was full of unknown dangers, facing it bravely was the only way out. 』
『 .....』
〜Re:0 - Starting Life in Another World〜
"Sigh... if only I could hand over my Return by Death ability to them.. that would be great.."
Natsuki Subaru, who said this, had actually been paying attention to the video. However, whether he sat waiting for death or took the initiative, he would eventually die at the hands of that Bowel Hunter woman. As long as the timeline kept moving, he could not avoid the situation of death.
And precisely because of this, he hadn’t been paying constant attention to this video.
But now... having been reborn back at the apple stand, he felt a moment of bitterness and despair.
Multiple deaths and rebirths had already made him feel increasingly bitter. In a situation that was almost impossible to break, Natsuki Subaru really didn’t understand why the world he was reborn into was so strange, and furthermore, he had no powerful abilities, only constant resets.
"If... if only I could transfer their abilities to myself, I’d blast that woman into smithereens in a minute."
But saying is one thing; life has to go on.
From the moment the timeline started, he had to keep running around.
—
〜Naruto World〜
"It seems.... the Goddess of Creation Tiamat is not a piece of meat that’s easy to chew...."
Uchiha Itachi, looking at the stalemate before him, had a very serious expression on his face.
"These guys.... actually came up with new forms again..... they really have a lot of tricks."
Even Kisame Hoshigaki, who was on the side, showed a very strange expression for a moment, his words filled with sarcasm.
"Now it seems, how ridiculous what these guys said was.... claiming they are new humans.... in fact, they are just monsters birthed by Tiamat, and, a group of monsters that have no self-awareness at all, humph!"
One could feel Kisame’s dissatisfaction with the Lahmu before them in his words.
"Kisame..."
Realizing his loss of composure, Kisame quickly adjusted his state.
However... the more he thought about it, the angrier he got.
Kisame’s look of dissatisfaction appeared on his face once again.
"But..... Itachi-san.... aren’t these guys exactly as I said, despicable?"
"Hmm..."
Uchiha Itachi did not refute his words at all, but instead nodded lightly.
"Then..."
Before Kisame could finish speaking, Uchiha Itachi interrupted him.
"It’s just that.... we can’t help with anything. If they lose, we can only acknowledge the fact that the new humans are about to dominate the world."
"Other than that, there is no way."
As if helpless, and as if sighing with emotion, Uchiha Itachi said this very plainly, leaving Kisame, who was originally very angry, speechless for a moment.
Indeed... he couldn’t help with anything, nor could he do anything. Simply complaining here was meaningless.
Although, Kisame himself was not a good person, not even counting as a good person, but even so, he was still a human being.
Deep in his heart, he also sincerely hoped that Fujimaru Ritsuka could protect the epic of humanity and become the savior of mankind.
—
『 When this group of Lahmu, which was completely different from anything seen before and displayed a brand-new, terrifying image, appeared before everyone, everyone couldn’t help but be stunned.
That these ever-changing and highly aggressive creatures chose to appear at this critical moment was truly maddening.
Even worse, under the influence of the brood, these monsters, which were already ugly and disgusting, now looked even more like humans.
In fact, at this very moment, the Lahmu’s bodies were no longer just simple limbs.
Instead, they were forms evolved from pitch-black, viscous substances, even more lethal and efficient. Although this evolution made them even more terrifying and bizarre, they still retained that ugly appearance that made one unable to look directly at them.
Eleven such monsters floated in mid-air, making various poses while wearing very smug smiles.
The powerful pressure and the aura that made one feel fear made everyone present, and those watching from afar, clearly realize that this group of guys was absolutely much, much stronger than the ordinary minions they had encountered before.
It could be said that these were the top-tier subordinates created by Tiamat.
As for how strong their actual combat power was? It would still need to be verified through the upcoming actual contest.
Just as everyone was still immersed in surprise, one of the Lahmu, robust and full of strength, suddenly stretched out its arms and rushed toward the unprepared Fujimaru Ritsuka at an extremely fast speed.
"No!" Ishtar was the first to discover this emergency and shouted, trying to attract the attention of the partners around her.
However, even though she, as a guardian, was not far from Fujimaru Ritsuka, in such a short time, wanting to rush over and make an effective defense against this sudden attack was still an impossible task.
BANG—!
Fortunately, after Ishtar issued the warning, Mash, who had been maintaining a high state of vigilance beside Fujimaru Ritsuka, reacted quickly.
She raised that iconic giant black shield, blocking it exactly between the two, thereby safely neutralizing the opponent’s forceful strike.
The intense collision instantly erupted with several fire-red rays of light between the Lahmu and the shield.
With every contact, sparks flew, as if infinite power were being released in this small skirmish.
Whether it was the Lahmu or Mash, both had fallen into a stalemate in the battle, with neither side able to gain the upper hand.
BANG—! BANG—! BANG—!
Following this series of explosions, Lahmu finally chose to retreat temporarily, putting some distance between itself and Mash. 』
『 .....』
