Chapter 188

Chapter 188: Fishing with a Net

“Cough cough…”

“I’m fine, no… I don’t need your help!”

Sulya’s body still trembled, drenched in sweat.

She leaned weakly against the wall, gasping for breath.

“Honestly…”

“How disgraceful.”

“After finally composing myself, has my stamina not recovered?”

She’d just managed to suppress a series of chaotic movements entirely unbecoming of a "living saint"…

But Sulya had forgotten her stamina remained depleted.

Thus, her appearance of being too weak to stand without help was witnessed by the permanent secretaries aboard "Giant God’s Radiance."

Naturally, Sulya had recently received "new divine grace."

Communicating with the Giant God proved immensely difficult.

Proper dialogue was nearly impossible.

Brief "oracles" might be manageable.

Yet once the "conversation" grew complex, a massive amount of information flooded her mind, filling her thoughts with countless strange, twisted images beyond comprehension.

Facing these terrifying, forbidden visions, even a soul blessed by the Giant God teetered on collapse.

Often, this forbidden knowledge gave her such splitting headaches that she’d beat her head against the floor, writhing in agony.

Then the Giant God would mercifully halt communication and withdraw regretfully.

In contrast, more purposeful "bestowals" proved easier.

Though sometimes excruciating—as if her mind might burn out—they could also bring intense "pleasure," equally overwhelming…

Yet after repeated encounters with the Giant God’s will, everything gradually became "pleasurable."

"Has my soul adapted? Have frequent divine visitations molded me to the Giant God’s form?"

This thought struck Sulya as somehow improper.

Though she couldn’t pinpoint why.

"Regardless, now isn’t the time for such trivialities."

“Cough cough…”

She glared fiercely at the whispering, oddly excited permanent secretaries.

These "minxes" gossiped shamelessly.

Several married rotation secretaries behaved worst of all.

"Exactly! The living saint’s reaction was just like mine back then."

"No, no—it should’ve been even stronger…"

“Cough cough!”

She coughed forcefully twice more to emphasize the gravity of the situation, then declared in her most commanding tone, “I said I don’t need assistance!”

Waving her hand, she dismissed the eager female guard rushing to support her.

“Now, to business! Show me the project’s progress immediately! I should’ve transmitted the technical templates to the engineers via the Soul Network by now!”

Both permanent and rotation secretaries had regained their professional composure.

“Confirmed!”

A permanent secretary overseeing progress stepped forward.

“The construction templates for the net path nest city, ether fortress, and ether starport—bestowed by the Giant God and based on magic-conducting threads and ether-resistant membranes—were distributed to all technicians. The craftsmen are astonished and celebrating this breakthrough.”

“Per your final directive before… well, before your fainting spell, a basic ether fortress nears completion thanks to the engineer ships. Simultaneously, a net path nest city is under construction, currently at thirty-two percent progress. Additional engineer ships could—”

The secretary fell silent as Sulya raised a halting hand.

“Cease net path nest city construction at once! Redirect all resources to build the net path fortress with maximum speed! Mobilize all net path fleets to highest combat readiness!”

Another permanent secretary, though puzzled, snapped a crisp salute. “Understood! Relaying orders via Soul Network immediately!”

Sulya juggled countless responsibilities and contacts; even the Soul Network couldn’t enable direct oversight of every individual. Just as no CEO assigns tasks to each employee in a thousand-person company, the permanent secretaries aboard the Giant God’s Radiance existed to coordinate and disseminate commands.

Noticing their confusion, Sulya clarified, “Albert Drake’s ether fleet reported: the evil god’s forces advance. War approaches.”

“Uh—”

Sulya’s knees buckled again, pain lancing through her skull as her eyes rolled upward. Another “oracle” from the Giant God had arrived.

But this time, the oracle came quickly and left just as fast.

“The Giant God bestowed His great and unyielding will!”

“We must open a small portal on the net path to let those evil gods in!”

—-

“Oh oh oh!”

“Something interesting was coming!”

“War was about to begin!”

Sulya took the war seriously, but Trilobite viewed “war” lightly.

To put it bluntly, why be so serious about watching two groups of “ants” fight?

Of course, Trilobite would not consider his side to be just “ants.”

Those were the paper young lady and Trilobite bugs!

Yet, he was still quite excited because this was his first time using the traps set by his spawn to catch prey.

You could say it was like setting a fishing net.

The Lorentz Jar and Olfactory Membranes had already informed him of the movements of the “fish schools” above the mud layer.

“It should be a group of lungfish and multi-finned fish that had caught the scent of my Trilobite bugs.”

“These fellows thought the Trilobite bugs were easy to bully and were preparing to come down in droves for a feast.”

“Hmm, my Trilobite bugs seemed to be pretty good bait.”

“But they were not just my bait; they were also my fishing line and net!”

Trilobite twisted his neck, looking at the spectacular underwater great net!

“I didn’t expect this social behavior to have a wonderful reaction with the ‘silver spider’s’ underwater web, forming a massive underwater web system!”

“This really felt like catching fish with a net!”

“I would just wait there to see how many fish my net could catch!”

—-

“Kill—!”

“Time to feast on mortals! Mortals are delicious!”

“Hahaha!”

“Dig!”

“Excavate tunnels!”

……

A large group of etheric worms and etheric serpents gathered like sardines, crazily digging deep into the Primal Mud.

Although they were undoubtedly the lowest members of the Ether Dragons, akin to bugs and little fish, these fellows possessed the capability to excavate the deep Primal Mud that the Star-Eater Plutonium Dragons and most Chaos Demon Gods did not have.

As the lowest-level deities, they needed to avoid the predation of other savage Outer Gods in the Quagmire Universe.

The etheric worms and etheric serpents were mostly strata deities who had lost their drive to evolve. They sought not excitement but mere survival.

Thus, these creatures would burrow deep into the Primal Mud like loaches, creating small "Cities of Dimensions."

They hid within these tiny realms, occasionally rolling through nearby Primal Mud to scavenge fragments settled from the Sea of Ether.

Naturally, tunneling into the "Bubble World" to devour delicious, defenseless mortal creatures was even better.

If hired by the Chaos Demon God, earning shards of divine rank to grow larger and gain advantage over rivals was equally desirable!

Sometimes, such jobs yielded unexpected prizes.

For instance…

“Haha, caught a mortal-made ‘big fish’!”

“Tear it apart!”

“Shred it to pieces!”

“Hahahaha…”

…

“Boom——!”

Soon, the mortal-crafted vessel suffered damage and exploded under the etheric worms’ assault.

Yet this mortal creation was massive—armored with tough "divine skin" and framed with "divine bone," rendering it incredibly sturdy.

Even arriving etheric serpents failed to bite through it.

Thus, the "battleship" hung adrift in the Sea of Ether like shattered timber.

Countless "tiny figures" spilled from its breaches.

Etheric worms darted around them, widening giant jaws to suck these "small creatures" into their maws.

But once the human creation ceased leaking "things," they grew bored and swam off to resume digging deeper into distant mud.

Among the feasting horde, one large etheric worm failed to notice a "small creature" stubbornly clinging to its teeth, wedged between them to avoid the digestive tract.

Neither the etheric liquid’s corrosive capability nor the worm’s "divine might" subdued the dark-skinned, blonde "creature."

Of course, this oversight occurred because the worm ignored the insignificant "tooth-wedge."

Its digging crew struggled.

Beneath the etheric mud, they struck an impenetrable "hard shell."

Some bizarre "mortal creation" had bound the Primal Mud with mystical threads, forming "Crystal Walls."

But etheric worms and serpents knew every "Crystal Wall" had weak points—persistence would reveal an entry.

Sure enough…

“Crash——!”

A cave entrance appeared with a thunderous roar!

“Here it is!”

“Charge!”

“If mortals built defenses, mortals dwell inside!”

Etheric serpents and worms rushed in eagerly.