Deep Sea Hunter, but Deep Sea Titan

Dario was no stranger to the name; he too was an Iberian who grew up listening to the stories of Nautilus.

"Are you trying to say that the bronze giant you saw that destroyed Tidestone Town was actually Nautilus?"

"Is that Nautilus who would smash ships if they didn't pay tithes?"

The survivor nodded and said tremblingly:

"Through the recording equipment, we also heard blasphemous remarks spoken with strange accents, all of which were the most blasphemous attacks against the great Iberia..."

"Scratch!" With the sound of a pen slicing through paper, the young judge, Elena, slammed her hand on the table and roared:

"How dare you try to fob me off with such a low-quality horror story in front of His Excellency the Grand Inquisitor?"

"Don't be so impulsive, Elena."

Dario calmly waved his hand, gesturing for Eleanor to sit down first.

"Our understanding of the enemy is far less profound than many people believe."

"Thank you for your assistance, soldier. I will arrange the best sanatorium for you."

The two judges watched as the haggard survivor left the reception room, still shaken.

"The preliminary characterization of the perpetrators is that of a diving suit killer and an Agor cult member?"

Elena frowned and wrote the following sentence in her journal.

"No, I'm afraid those cultists are trying to cover something up with horror stories. These fragmented pieces of information are not very credible."

It was strange that Tidestone Town could hold out for so long on its own, and the disappearance of the judge sent to make contact was even more suspicious. Dario believed that it was completely unreasonable to simply assume that the three people were in cahoots with the cultists.

Just then, a crude curse spoken through a diving suit, with a Yan accent, startled Dario and Eleanor. Eleanor could only quickly stop the recording with a heavy expression.

"They're getting close to the safe zone; we'd better go check it out ourselves."

If this overly straightforward and passionate young girl were to go alone, there might be very serious consequences.

Dario rubbed his temples. If those words from the video had come from an Iberian in a safe zone, they would probably be capital offenses.

Unfortunately, Lotin didn't buy it; he simply stated that Iberia had no right to judge him.

Moreover, Loting never dreamed that there would be three versions of his story during the system's hosting period: Iberia, the Deep Sea Church, and Agor, with each version having different details!

Chapter Fifteen: If Tithe Not Paid, the Seas Boil and the Mountains Shake

Working at the outposts on the edge of the safe zone is no easier than going into the occupied zone. Here, the quarantine checkpoints have to screen not only those infected with Oripathy, but also cultists who may be mixed in with the refugees with the utmost care.

The issues of infected individuals and cult members became intertwined, forcing the tribunal to implement the highest level of control measures over the infected communities while simultaneously using infected individuals as soldiers to maintain basic stability in the safe zone as much as possible.

On this day, the checkpoints along the route of Lotin and his two companions received a mysterious notification from the Grand Inquisitor, instructing them to pay special attention to a man wearing an old-fashioned heavy deep-sea diving suit, and to say that he was accompanied by two people who might be Agorians.

"Once discovered, report it immediately to avoid conflict and delay. The higher-ups will then handle it."

The above words were clearly stated in the remarks column.

Along with the notice was a digitally altered photograph depicting a brutal brass demon and two fierce Agorians.

This mysterious notice quickly became the focus of attention among the quarantine checkpoints in that area, with numerous speculations about the identities of the three individuals.

"Are you crazy? Isn't Nautilus a blasphemous figure fabricated by those heretical writers decades ago to disrupt the unity of Iberia?"

As a disciplinary army engineer inspected a drone, he began to complain about the strange notification from his superiors.

"We've been fighting those monsters for half a century. Haven't we seen enough strange things?"

A veteran who was transferred to work at a sentry post after being injured showed a completely different attitude.

Little did they know, this was already the most reasonable speculation about Loting.

At other checkpoints, even more outrageous versions abound, for example:

"Nautilus actually collected tithes!"

"That bronze giant actually has little intelligence; he acts entirely on the orders of the witch Agor on his shoulder."

"That Agor man with the greatsword on his back, who's a bit dull-witted, is practically a human-shaped catastrophe!"

There were even some more radical remarks, but unfortunately, these overreacting disciplinary soldiers were quickly discovered by the inquisitors and sent to solitary confinement for "reflection."

On the moss-covered cobblestone road outside the checkpoint, Lotin was repeatedly checking the old map. Although their current direction of travel was indeed the shortest route to Kazimierz, the "planned checkpoints" marked on the map almost divided the entire Iberian Peninsula.

Lotin had no way of confirming exactly how many checkpoints had been built over the past half-century, so he simply followed the shortest route. If he encountered an inspection, he would give them some gold coins to appease them and let them save face. If these punitive troops were really determined to cause him trouble, Lotin wouldn't mind collecting the "taxes" owed by Iberia first.

"Nautilus, is it really okay to keep having Laurentina sing this kind of song?"

Although the long journey was indeed very boring, Skadi thought the lyrics of the song were a bit too explicit and straightforward. The song cursed the Sea King once and Iberia the second time. The refugees who happened to be traveling with her dared not approach, for fear of being judged as blasphemous heretics by the court.

"Hunter, she is your blood relative. Shouldn't it be your responsibility to look after her?"

Lotin was also extremely bored, so bored that he almost wore out the system's shop interface and was about to memorize every piece of equipment in it. In addition, the content that Laurentina sang was something he enjoyed hearing, so he didn't stop her.

Skadi glanced at Laurentina, whose spirits were improving day by day, and could only say that she was happy as long as Laurentina was happy.

"He's here! He's really here!"

The lookout saw through his high-powered telescope that the bronze giant was carrying Sister Agor on his shoulders and was gradually approaching the outpost, while the Agor at the front was turning his head and talking to the two behind him.

The occasional refugees around avoided this strange combination, the 4-meter-tall brass giant standing out conspicuously in the middle of the road.

The alarm was sounded without hesitation, all the drones took off, and the ballistae and mortars were put into a state of readiness to fire, but no one dared to launch an attack, not only because of the orders from their superiors, but also because of the invisible pressure emanating from this brass giant.

"Iberians, lay down all your weapons, and the merciful Nautilus will consider extending your time for paying taxes!"

Laurentina brandished her circular saw and shouted loudly at the outpost. The punitive soldiers froze in place as if out of their own control, unable to fire or disarm.

"what?"

This was the second time that Lotin and Skadi had simultaneously raised their questions in surprise.

“Civilizations related to the sea will all have the story of Nautilus. Rather, it is said that there are a thousand Nautiluses in a thousand people’s minds, but even if there are a thousand Nautiluses, they will only do two things—collect tithes and smash ships.”

"The story of Nautilus can be summed up as 'If you don't pay a tithe, the sea will churn and the mountains will shake.' Specifically, it refers to collecting taxes and smashing ships. In essence, it is about a brass water ghost seeking revenge against traitors."

Laurentina, in her nun personality state, can vaguely recall some knowledge she acquired during her normal personality period. This knowledge was actually taught to her by her art history teacher, who happened to be an expert in folklore.

"Lauren Tina, how did you know all this?"

Skadi began to doubt whether Laurentina's mental state had truly improved, and she now somewhat regretted letting Laurentina approach this enigmatic salvage worker.

"Although it's vague and unfamiliar, it's something I remember someone who claimed to be my art history teacher saying."

He also enjoys the reputation of being a "Nobel theorist".

Luo Ting was completely dumbfounded. He could only question the system again, asking it what exactly this "adjusting posture to reduce ocean current damage" method meant.

Adjust your posture to reduce damage from ocean currents.

The system's response was still just this one sentence.

This left Loting speechless; the system's answers had made him almost unable to recognize the Chinese characters for "adjusting posture to reduce damage from ocean currents."

As a result, no matter how boring or mentally challenging it might be, Lotin would never dare to use the system's hosting function again. Who knows what "Nautilus" did during the system's hosting period?

He now prefers to pass the time by telling stories to that mad nun or listening to her sing some strange songs attacking Hai Si or Iberia, rather than touching this so-called "hosting function" again.

These punitive soldiers saw that he didn't run away, but just froze. It seems that the Iberians are still slightly braver than the larger groups.

Luo Ting and his group passed through the checkpoint as if it were empty, until a deep male voice called out to them.

"Please wait a moment, everyone!"

Grand Inquisitor Dario arrived at the scene somewhat late.

Chapter Sixteen: Who's going to make up for the experience I'm missing?

“You have violated the Iberian Law—”

Elene, holding a copy of the Iberian Law, was about to list the various crimes committed by the people in front of her when she was stopped by her teacher, the Grand Inquisitor Dario.

Fortunately, this high-ranking judge was sensible enough; otherwise, if he had acted as impulsively as the hot-blooded little bird beside him, they would have been the ones in trouble.

Lotin is worried about collecting the experience points to level up to level 4. Hunting Originium creatures along the way only serves to replenish food and trigger the pay-to-play event, and the experience gained is pitifully small.

Reaching level 4 means that Lotin will get a free chance to reselect his talent.

As someone who had almost died once, Lotin didn't know the true level of the Terran natives when he first landed. Therefore, he was extremely conservative in his talent choices, only choosing "Overgrowth" from the three infinite growth talents, and also choosing biscuits, which provide continuous supplies, for his secondary talent. It wasn't until he entered the fortress that he realized the average level of the Terrans was nothing special, and that he was fully qualified to pursue the upper limit.

He's now just waiting to level up to 4, modify some specific choices in the "Resolve" rune tree, and then reselect his secondary runes to make use of Gathering Storm.

Luo Ting also learned his lesson from the lack of a strong reference point; otherwise, he would have definitely chosen to greedily take advantage of the situation.

"They say the Punishers are life itself, the coin of Iberia."

"It's not impossible to give them to me as tithes."

Luo Ting naturally uttered a terrifying statement.

Elene, who was clutching a copy of the Iberian Law, was immediately stunned by the bloody statement. She broke out in a cold sweat. Even when she interrogated dangerous cultists, she had never felt such a chilling sensation, as if her spine were being soaked in icy seawater.

Laurentina, perched on Lotin's shoulder, was actually gloating over Elene's outburst, while Skadi looked troubled and wanted to avoid the negotiation.

The Grand Inquisitor's hands had already instinctively gripped the lantern and the cannon, but the brass giant before him showed no sign of panic.

“Give me three passports from Kazimierz, and I can pretend today’s events never happened.”

Lotin had more important things to do, so he turned a blind eye to the Iberians' respectful behavior towards him.

Grand Inquisitor Dario had to marvel at the man's utter arrogance. As a suspicious individual, he dared to force his way through the checkpoint, intimidating him while making inexplicable demands—a complete rebellion against Heaven!

"Your Excellency, the Grand Inquisitor, you don't want Iberia to perish, do you?"

Laurentina is trampling on Iberian law with sarcastic and sarcastic remarks.

However, what she said was true. If they angered this deep-sea titan now, Iberia might really be finished. But if they were sincere enough and pleased Lotin, Iberia might still be saved.

Eleanor's face turned from pale to bright red with shame and indignation. How dare that wicked Sister Agor speak such nonsense before the laws of Iberia!

Where are you?

Dario still asked the question. His power as the Grand Inquisitor was second to none in all of Iberia, yet now he had to be as observant of this bronze giant as a sailor in a story who hadn't paid his tithe.

"Accepting the fact that Nautilus actually existed is not easy for anyone."

Instead of answering directly, Lotin responded with another question:

"You, as the Grand Judge, cannot even distinguish truth from falsehood in what you see with your own eyes."

"Then how should the laws of Iberia be enforced?"

Seeing that Dario did not respond, he continued:

"Your soldiers have become puppets of evil spirits in the fortress."

"Your town has become a living hell where people survive by cannibalism."

"Even the corpses of your colleagues have been defiled by monsters from the abyss."

The light in the brass giant's eyes focused on the High Inquisitor's face, and he slammed the giant anchor into the ground, uttering a soul-piercing question:

"If even these things cannot be seen, then who exactly is Iberia protecting?"

"No wonder Iberian law has been distorted and exploited by those cultists."

Lotin snorted dismissively, grabbed the anchor, and prepared to leave. He knew that the Grand Inquisitor would not be so reckless as to continue to obstruct him as his student had, and he did not intend to linger in Iberia any longer.

Only after the three men left were the soldiers in the outpost gradually able to move their bodies.

Even the bravest of the Punishers dared not take a step forward, much less activate any weapons. Only those who knew the story of Nautilus could feel the oppressive power of the deep-sea titans.

Lotin was basically satisfied with the outcome, so he magnanimously refrained from causing trouble for the Iberians for the time being, and simply chose the shortest route to Kazimir.

Elena stood there, clenching her teeth, ready to rush up and chase after Loting and the others at any moment.

“He is not our enemy, Elene. If Iberia is to continue to exist, we cannot be his enemy.”

Dario had always been pessimistic about the future of Iberia, but Lotin's appearance gave him a glimmer of hope in that bleak future.

"Right now, we don't need to make things difficult for each other. They are the enemies of those filthy creatures of the abyss."

He was convinced that Nautilus was not just a legend, but a living legend whose wrath could destroy Iberia and the threats in the sea. The choice the deep-sea titan would make, or rather, the amount of tithe he would impose on Iberia, would be closely related to Iberia's subsequent actions.

"Elena, go to the border affairs bureau and have them prepare three Kazimierz passports."

Moreover, Dario secretly reviewed some records about the Fool and discovered that the only time this unusually large diving suit was actually used was on the Fool.