Vespa's flesh twisted together, halting the bleeding. Fortunately, Fish-Men possessed a certain level of self-healing ability.
If not for that, that single strike would’ve claimed half his life.
With a growl, Vespa reached for the Golden Ring still clutched in the black-robed figure’s hand. He slid it onto his own finger.
"So now I have two," he muttered under his breath.
But his true goal was Adam's Treasure Map.
He needed to find Adam quickly and leave. The Priest hadn’t ordered him to collect all the Ancient Artifacts here, so there was no need to concern himself with them.
Vespa moved deeper into the Serpent’s Hand base. But as he reached the farthest reaches, he found something strange. There was only one woman waiting.
She stood motionless before a strange, otherworldly statue.
Vespa approached cautiously. Before he could take another step, the woman suddenly turned her head. A pair of cyan snake eyes flashed with a predatory gleam.
"I see you!" she hissed.
Vespa froze, stunned. A heartbeat later, his body began to turn to stone.
Is this a Curse-type Ancient Artifact?
It was over.
Crack.
In an instant, Vespa’s body became nothing more than a cold, lifeless statue.
The woman approached him, her fingers easily plucking the Golden Ring and curved blade from his stone grip. With a casual flick of her wrist, she donned a pair of sunglasses, concealing her snake-like eyes from the world.
At that moment, several black-robed figures arrived.
"Eva-sama, this Fish-Man killed John and..."
Before they could finish their sentence, Eva tossed the two Ancient Artifacts to them.
"It’s alright. Just find new owners for these Ancient Artifacts."
"Yes."
...
Meanwhile, at Kitsune headquarters in Asia.
Zero sat at his desk, pouring over documents. “The Serpent’s Hand. Their two leaders: Adam possesses the Treasure Map that can locate Ancient Artifacts, along with a ghost ship.”
He paused, eyes narrowing.
“Eva possesses an Ancient Artifact called the Unripe Apple. Eating it grants the user an ability similar to Medusa’s petrification.”
Zero’s lips curled into a grim smile. “This is also a very difficult Ancient Artifact to deal with.”
At that moment, Naira Sorkin entered, her footsteps quick.
“Chief, the Right Hand retrieved the Curse-type Ancient Artifact, Pandora’s Box, but... we couldn’t capture that vampire.”
Zero frowned. “Right Hand, vampire?”
“Wasn’t the Right Hand still in training? Who ordered you to capture the vampire? Did I give that order?”
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Naira’s face faltered. “It was an order from the O5 Council.”
What?!
Zero’s fists clenched. He could already picture what had happened.
“Those corrupt officials!” he spat under his breath.
They wanted the vampires so desperately?
Zero had been protecting 008, preventing those in power from researching him. But those officials couldn’t wait.
They had acted behind his back, using the pretext of collecting Ancient Artifacts to hunt vampires, even sending the Right Hand—still in its experimental stage—to do their bidding!
Zero had planned to keep the Right Hand in reserve, revealing them only when the time was right, as a surprise card against the monsters. But now, those incompetent fools had squandered it!
If news of this spread, any intelligent monster would quickly figure out how to counter the element-controlling soldiers.
Even if the Right Hand finished training, catching a prepared enemy off guard would be nearly impossible now.
Zero gritted his teeth, frustration boiling inside him. His next target was 002.
But this time, it wasn’t just about the sea race. It was also the vampires—now mad with fury after losing 008—and the rapidly rising Serpent’s Hand. Along with all the Ancient Artifacts that had begun surfacing.
It would be a long, drawn-out war. Revealing their strength too early would be disastrous.
Zero’s strategy had always been to collect as many Ancient Artifacts as possible in the early stages, avoiding direct conflict with the vampires, Serpent’s Hand, and Fish-Men. The more they clashed, the more their enemies would learn about them.
He planned to reduce casualties, gather strength, hide their true intentions, and then strike decisively at the right moment.
But the new high-ranking officials didn’t care about the long-term picture. They were only concerned with unlocking the secret of immortality from the vampires!
Their reckless actions had completely derailed Zero’s plans.
“The Kitsune is really in a state of internal and external chaos.”
Zero’s eyes narrowed, his mind racing.
It seemed it was time to take matters into his own hands.
...
In the crack space, Chino presented Mei with a pile of Ancient Artifacts, all four types. As she gazed at them, a deep contemplation settled over her.
“The Ancient Artifacts appeared out of nowhere.”
“002’s evolution seems to have touched upon a certain threshold, causing a ripple effect, creating these Ancient Artifacts.”
“At the same time, the origins of the Ancient Artifacts point to four people. To a certain extent, they’re all connected to 002.”
“Four pirates from different eras. Zaik, the King of Gold, collected treasures and hid them on a certain offshore island.”
“In the second era, the pirate Francis plundered and killed. He reigned supreme at sea, becoming the nightmare of sailors. Even after his death, sailors claimed he never truly perished, but became a ghost, continuing to plunder with a ghost ship.”
“In the third era, Francis’ shadow faded. In the Great Pirate Era, Barrosa unified the seas and led sailors to the legendary end of the ocean, unleashing the curse of the sea.”
“The ancient monsters of the ocean were freed. In the fourth era, the great adventurer and explorer, Karen, sought to seal these creatures.”
“He spent his life searching the seas, finally discovering the key to solve the disaster, but died on the vast ocean before he could bring the news back.”
“By connecting these four stories, the timeline can be traced from 1146 to 1750.”
Mei carefully compiled the information from the Ancient Artifacts, slowly piecing the story together.
But it still felt odd. What was the connection between this tale and 002’s evolution?
“Could it be that his existence brought these things into being?”
She considered the possibility, comparing it to a child and its mother. If one exists, the other must, too.
A smile tugged at Mei’s lips. Perhaps she was on the verge of finding the answer.
“Two hypotheses. The first: Everything already existed, but was forgotten, and now it’s resurfacing.”
“There were always hidden things in the world. Whether it’s a person or an idea, someone sealed them away—or perhaps they were simply forgotten.”
“002’s evolution might correspond to these forgotten things, so they’re now reappearing.”
“The second hypothesis: Everything didn’t exist before, but exists now because it does.”
“Like a child—it wasn’t born out of nothing, it must have a mother. The existence of the child creates the existence of the mother.”
“Even if these things never existed before, the moment they do, the world rationalizes their presence. It creates a backstory for them.”
“Perhaps the world even has a self-adjusting mechanism, a kind of patch to accommodate new things.”
“But why did only 002’s evolution trigger this? Have other lives not reached the same level of change, or have they already changed and I just haven’t noticed?”
A headache began to form as Mei pondered the complex ideas.
She shook her head and decided to stop overthinking. Reaching for two vials of potion, she left the crack space.
Emerging from the crack, she found herself in a bookstore.
The space was empty. Mei casually placed the potions on the counter before picking up a book and settling into a chair.
She had opened this bookstore the same way she had once opened a café. For some reason, Mei found herself enjoying the simplicity of it all.
“Being a normal person today. What do you think, great serpent?”
Several snake eyes blinked open from the bookshelf, then quickly closed again.