Chapter 139

Chapter 139: The Cutest Arthropod, Bar None!

"Thud—!"

"Ugh…"

The brutal impact shook Albert Drake wildly, and the full ripples delighted Trilobite.

Albert Drake herself was thrilled.

"What a rush!"

The Ether Queen grinned, her smile twisting with glee.

"I feel brimming with divine grace and power!"

"Ugh…"

Just remembering the "massive information" flooding her brain sent violent shivers through Albert Drake.

"Praise the Giant God!"

"That feeling—divine grace flooding my mind, my soul bursting as I faced a new world—was utterly addictive!"

"And tearing apart prey, crushing those once-proud nobles, swallowing them into my stomach, warming my insides…"

"Hiss…"

She parted her lips; her neat white teeth seemed to warp under unseen divine force, becoming monstrous fangs!

Tearing apart prey and swallowing them whole amidst their wails filled her mind with pleasure, making her very soul tremble!

Yes.

Noble deities weren’t invincible.

Even when facing mortals, deities still bled and howled in agony.

Perhaps "humans die when killed" was stating the obvious; but "gods die when slain by humans" became a thunderous revelation that tore away their sacred veil!

At this moment…

The last shred of divinity faded within Albert Drake.

The god opposing the Giant God had degenerated from deity to prey!

"Who knew tearing flesh from prey could bring such delight."

"Thank you, Giant God, for granting me this wonderful ‘thirst for flesh’."

"Now—!"

Though still diminutive against the etheric serpent, the "Ether Queen" lunged violently, sinking her teeth deep into the serpent!

"Pshhh—!"

The wet sound of flesh entering her maw, the coppery tang of divine flesh flooding her "throat"—it thrilled Albert Drake, set her trembling.

"Yes! This! Exactly this feeling!"

"Hah… Hahaha… Ahahaha…"

"I, Ether Queen Albert Drake, shall never betray the Giant God!"

"Annihilate all enemies of the Giant God!"

"Blood sacrifice for the Giant God! Offerings to the Divine Throne!"

Yet the etheric serpent remained divine, no easy foe.

"Crreeak—groan—!"

Agonizing creaks echoed through the hull as it twisted under immense pressure.

"Ungh… Gnn…"

Albert Drake clenched her teeth against the pain radiating through the ship.

Just then, the serpent’s sneer pierced through:

"Hah! Foolish mortal!"

"No patron god can save you now!"

"Don’t imagine scraps of divine favor will turn the tide! Even if He came Himself, He couldn’t save you!"

"Hrrrk—!"

The serpent constricted tighter as terrifying magic erupted from its scales.

"Ngh… Aaargh…"

Magic’s torment wracked Albert Drake’s body, yet still she laughed.

"Hehe, fool!"

The Ether Queen mocked.

"Dealing with a half-hearted amateur like you doesn’t require the mighty Giant God’s intervention!"

"The two of us alone can finish you!"

The etheric serpent raged.

"What!?"

"Who are you calling half-hearted!?"

"Wait—did you just say ‘the two of us’!?"

"You brought backup!?"

The answer arrived instantly!

"Buzz—!"

Behind the etheric serpent, violent currents roared, followed by…

"Crack—!"

Purple "sparks" ignited within the etheric liquid!

"Thud!"

"Urk…"

The serpent felt a devastating impact detonate against its back. Even its pride—the divine vertebrae—barely endured the blow.

"One distracts from behind while the other ambushes the front, is it?"

"But you’ve miscalculated!"

"External strikes can’t breach my def…ense…"

Its voice faltered as unease struck. Beyond the blunt force, a piercing agony tore through its back—as though a blade had shredded its hide, muscle, and bone before plunging deep into its Soul core.

"Oh?"

Albert Drake’s sneer echoed through the serpent’s fading awareness.

"Who claimed the weapon the Giant God granted Sulya merely strikes?"

With final effort, the serpent wrenched its head around…

"Wha—!?"

Its widening eyes witnessed…

"Pshhh—!"

A strange beetle-shaped warship retracted a razor-sharp "blade" from its body, unleashing a spray of divine blood!

That lethal edge protruded from the beetle’s impact hammer.

Usually, the blade and hammer were one seamless piece, only unsheathed when necessary!

"Ugh…"

"Boom—!"

The enormous body of the etheric serpent slowly sank through the etheric liquid, crashing onto the net path’s floor.

"Huff… Huff… Huff…"

Sulya’s labored breathing echoed through the agile network.

Along with it came her trembling voice, thick with disbelief.

"We… we’ve slain a god!?"

Indeed, one might say so.

Because…

"Squeak—Hush—Mmm—Lee—!"

A deep, solemn, sacred yet crushing voice resonated in Sulya and Albert Drake’s minds.

Each syllable carried overwhelming information, nearly shattering their consciousness!

But this sanity-rending voice brought neither fear nor destruction.

Instead…

"The Giant God cheers us on!"

"The Giant God approves of us!"

Albert Drake trembled violently.

This was her first true encounter with a deity’s "divine proclamation"!

Sulya, having experienced this before, remained comparatively calm.

"Exactly!"

"This is indeed a milestone moment."

"But remember—the Giant God also gave us new orders and expectations!"

"He commanded us to stand firm here!"

Albert Drake nodded.

"Right!"

"The battle isn’t over!"

"Damn it! More Outer God larvae keep swarming in!"

"And… oh no!"

Albert Drake’s spiny fish-shaped body whirled abruptly.

"Screech—!"

"Splash…"

On the other side of the net path, a gap appeared.

Then…

"Bang!"

"Boom—!"

Several little fish-like fellows suddenly darted out, waved their tails, and swam away wildly!

"Those are etheric worms!"

"What slick little guys!"

—-

"The tide has turned!"

Trilobite happily noticed that the faces of the two young ladies had become much healthier, and their beautiful eyes sparkled with life again.

Though shocked, they showed more joy and excitement.

Even better things happened!

"Clatter—!"

Suddenly, the sound of "coins deposited" rang in Trilobite’s mind—the noise of many Chaos Points being credited.

"Oh! 500 points!"

"That means the two young ladies earned a total of 1000 units of Chaos Energy!"

"You did great!"

"Keep it up!"

"As for this side…"

Trilobite shifted his gaze to the "symbiotic creature Number Three" he had just captured.

It was also the body of the "white-haired sister."

"Well, this sister is indeed cold."

"Looking at her avatar, she usually kept a serious, expressionless face."

"She seemed as emotionless as an inorganic object."

"But once I teased her, she became incredibly cute."

"This contrast…"

"Made her even more adorable!"

"Hehe…"

Trilobite’s soul grinned foolishly as he looked at the white-haired sister, comparing her current stern—even "cool"—expression to the "fiery" and very "feminine" one she had when he held her earlier.

"Ah, and her body is also special."

"It turned out to be a ‘jumping spider’!"

"I don’t know how it got swept into the lake."

"Aha, that’s quite charming!"

The jumping spider was considered a very advanced type of arachnid. It not only inherited powerful organs like venomous fangs and silk threads from spiders, but also deeply modified its compound eyes, expanding their range and attaching many complex visual nerve cells behind them.

This made the eyes of jumping spiders remarkably similar to those of vertebrates and cephalopods like octopuses, giving them incredible vision!

Their eyes also became quite large.

When eyes were big, whether it was a spider or anything else, it often turned out looking very "two-dimensional" and adorable.

Because of this, jumping spiders became the "most adorable" spiders, even the cutest in the arachnid family, and they became a popular choice for pets.

However, a typical jumping spider was only about one centimeter in size, and according to the resolution of Trilobite’s calcite compound eyes, he could not see the jumping spider clearly. He could only see a series of color blocks and patches.

He couldn’t truly appreciate its cuteness.

But the one in front of him was quite large!

It had a diameter of at least "ten centimeters"!

"After all, this is the Carboniferous period… or maybe the Devonian period, or even the Permian period."

"Ah, it shouldn’t be the Devonian period."

The oxygen content in the atmosphere during the Devonian was only 75% of what it is today, so insects with their tracheal breathing system couldn’t grow to giant sizes; however, with plants extensively colonizing the land, a large rainforest system formed in the Carboniferous period, raising the atmospheric oxygen levels to 160% of today.

Even after the rainforest collapsed at the end of the Carboniferous, the oxygen level in the atmosphere still reached 115% of today’s level.

But in the subsequent Mesozoic Era, the oxygen content dropped sharply.

Thus, it was believed that dinosaurs grew so big because of high oxygen levels in the atmosphere, but this was actually a wrong understanding.

Oxygen levels in the Triassic period were only 80% of today’s; large dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Mamenchisaurus strutted on the earth during the Jurassic period, when oxygen levels were only 68%, almost like the Tibetan plateau.

Although oxygen levels increased in the Cretaceous period, they were still only around 90% of what they are today.

This showed that dinosaurs did not rise to become rulers because of high oxygen levels and a good environment; instead, they thrived as tough beings in low-oxygen and harsh conditions.

If in the future, humans no longer lived on Earth, and the planet had climate changes that lowered oxygen levels again, the descendants of dinosaurs, birds, would surely rise in the natural world, gaining an advantage!

But oxygen levels greatly affected insects.

"So, under the boost of high oxygen in the air, this ‘jumping spider’ has actually reached… uh… at least the size of a wolf spider, so I can barely see it."

"Ah, but it might not be a jumping spider."

"It could be an old spider-like thing that looks like a spider but isn’t one…"

"Anyway…"

"Ah! So cute!"

Trilobite suddenly felt grateful for his "pixelated" vision.

Since his pixelated vision could not see details, any odd color patches, bumps, or bits smaller than the lowest resolution of his compound eyes were automatically "smoothed out" by his visual nerves.

All the barbs and spines that should be on a spider had completely vanished!

It was almost like a beauty filter!

In Trilobite’s eyes, this "big jumping spider" looked like a cute little creature with big eyes, eight legs, and a pair of "big fangs"!

"Well, let’s give you something else."

"Anyway, upgrading little creatures isn’t expensive."

"And now, it seems like I have to upgrade!"

"But before that—!"

Trilobite quickly sank to the bottom of the water, camouflaged himself as a "Large Stone."

"Buzz—!"

After a surge of magical energy, the "Ball Joint Armor" was placed on the "jumping spider young lady."

Almost the next second!

"Whoosh—!"

A fast little fish suddenly rushed by, biting onto the "big jumping spider" that was floating in the water.