A saintess? She's just a bad woman.

Page 21

Some important information is carved on stone tablets and walls for future generations to read. Some is stored in crystals that can preserve memories, images, and words. Crystals can only store a limited amount of information and are very expensive. They are quite common on the seabed because such crystals are everywhere.

Expensive and rare only relative to land-based nations, because the wealth in the ocean is unimaginable to land dwellers and is almost a monopoly.

For a time, the Kingdom of Tico made a fortune by exporting rare products to land-based nations, becoming the most powerful of the underwater kingdoms. But that was hundreds of years ago, and Saint Karina couldn't remember it very well.

She needs to travel and make contact with others constantly to recall the details she forgot during her slumber.

"..."

She sighed and used magic to light a specially made candle that could be used underwater.

A pale blue candle rested atop an exquisite coral candlestick, its orange flame flickering with the ripples of water, creating a unique ambiance. Her room was spacious; a single candle could not illuminate every corner.

Ever since she climbed out of her coffin, she couldn't stand living in a cramped room anymore. It would stress her out and bring back terrible memories. The cramped the room, the more it resembled a narrow coffin.

Sleeping is merely a formality; she doesn't need much sleep in her current state. Rather than lying in bed, she should follow those fragmented memories to find clues to regaining her power.

"The ruins of Tico and Lenia... Interesting, definitely worth seeing for yourself."

Saint Karina remembered that before she fell into a deep sleep, she loved adventure and often sneaked out of the palace with Emperor Ernest VII. At that time, Ernest VII had not yet ascended the throne. She was a saint and also the emperor's tutor. The two had an exceptionally close relationship and could talk about anything.

They arrived in the airship over the waters of Santa Marta. Saint Karina suggested they take a walk along the beach, and Ernest VII, who had always longed for the underwater world, agreed without hesitation.

That was an unknown realm that even humanity might never be able to reach in its entire lifetime. Vehicles capable of diving into the deep sea couldn't withstand the immense water pressure, thus preventing them from descending to the theoretical location of the underwater kingdom. Saint Karina's power was just enough to carry one person down, albeit for only a few hours.

If you encounter a wandering merchant from the seabed, you can buy disposable trinkets from him, which can extend your stay in the ocean. If you buy enough, you can stay even longer. Although the items are very expensive, Ernest VII bought a lot, just to see the true face of the Kingdom of Tico.

As she recalled those blurred details, she walked out of the room and into the courtyard.

Salt City has returned to normal. The coral palace lanterns emit a ghostly blue light, appearing more dreamlike than the lights of the human world. Several soldiers clad in scale armor, wielding long halberds, stand guard at the entrance, like motionless statues.

Saint Karina stepped out of the courtyard and onto the path leading away from the palace.

She had no recollection of what happened in Tico back then. She had participated in that great battle, and some of her power must have been lost somewhere in those ruins, which had to be retrieved as soon as possible. Delay would only lead to unforeseen changes, and Saint Karina couldn't wait any longer. That place was extremely dangerous, listed as the most forbidden area, even more dangerous than the Death Realm and the Great Rift Valley on land, where countless monsters and sea monsters lurked in the shadows.

Generally speaking, underwater structures that have been abandoned for too long are often inhabited by a particularly powerful sea monster, and exploration can only continue after the monster is eliminated or suppressed.

She asked the guard for a portable ever-burning lamp, and before leaving, she gave the guards some special instructions.

"By the way, please don't reveal that I'm leaving."

"clear."

"Thank you."

Although this matter would eventually become known, Santa Karina did not want to drag this underwater kingdom called Ilparaiso into those dangers. There were too many things stirring within those ruins, too many secrets, and there was absolutely no need for others to know.

After leaving the Ilparaiso Palace, Saint Karina communicated with the Heart of the Ocean and obtained a swimsuit that offered relatively high coverage, instead of wearing the erotic dance outfit from the altar. After all, the outside world was different from the palace; it couldn't possibly only have female mermaids or sea creatures.

The outer structure is a ring-shaped underwater city, which is actually very similar to the stratification of human society. With the palace as the center, the economic level gradually decreases outwards, and the poor naturally live in the outermost slum.

It can be a bit dangerous there, especially for someone like Santa Karina who is dressed neatly; she could easily become a target for those people to surround and rob. Every country has its poor, and Il Paraiso is no exception.

Although many people in the city recognize her, once outside the city's barrier area, and due to the impact of the war, it's not just the mermaid race that's affected, but also other races that depend on mermaids.

Saint Karina doesn't consider herself a philanthropist, nor would she help those able-bodied, capable-to-make-a-living good-for-nothings who choose to loaf around and wait to die. Truly ambitious people don't rely on moral blackmail to improve their lives by taking advantage of passersby.

When a group of ragged sea creatures surrounded her, threatening her with rusty halberds, a fierce killing intent ignited in her azure eyes. Anyone who threatened her life deserved no mercy.

"I'm giving you a chance now. Get out of here now, or don't blame me if you get hurt. If you anger me, you might die, and I won't show any mercy."

She swept her cold gaze over the sea creatures, her tone flat, only anger burning within her.

Centuries ago, some ungrateful sea creatures, after receiving her help, turned around and tried to steal her property and kill her and Ernest VII.

Despite Ernest VII's best efforts to stop her, she still managed to slaughter them all with her own power. Blood flowed like a river, and the surrounding seawater smelled foul and bloody.

As the fragments of memory were pieced together, she recalled the whole story.

Her blue eyes instantly turned blood red. The sea creatures were stunned for a few seconds, first exchanging glances, then becoming even more determined to rob her. She was just a woman with no strength to even kill a fish; her ability to change eye color didn't mean she was powerful.

"Damn outsider, this is the territory of the underwater people. If you want to live, leave your valuables behind, or you won't leave this place alive. Judging by your fine clothes, you must have a lot of valuables on you, right?"

The leader was a disheveled, filthy male sea creature with an ordinary appearance, but his eyes were extremely greedy.

For this kind of person, Saint Karina just wants to beat him up to teach him a lesson.

43. Demon Flower Princess Oborozuki

"I do have a lot of valuable things on me, but do you even deserve them?"

Saint Karina smiled, a smile as bright as the rising sun over the tundra, but her words were merciless.

Hilarious! Just because he saw that I had the aura of a higher level, he wanted to attack me? He's really courting death.

"You #underseaman swearing#!"

The leader started hurling insults; he was no longer just making verbal threats, but was now planning to physically assault Saint Karina.

Faced with the halberd thrusting towards her, Saint Karina pulled out an even larger one—

"Collapse!"

With the trident of Poseidon swinging, the leader appears beneath his feet a trench hundreds of meters long, tens of meters wide, and completely unfathomable in depth.

In the trench, there are pairs of blood-red, ferocious eyes, their gazes gleaming with malice. One can imagine that anyone who falls in will not have a good end.

"what!"

A heart-wrenching wail echoed from the seabed; in the deep trench, a bloody feast was taking place.

It was an instant kill. Saint Karina watched them wither away indifferently, her heart unmoved.

"Nora is really generous, handing over the artifact to me for safekeeping."

Under normal circumstances, she, at her level, would have no chance against these sea creatures.

However, with the Trident of Poseidon, this problem is no problem at all.

After resolving some minor troubles, with no one blocking Saint Karina's path anymore, she chose a direction and continued walking towards the location of the Tico Kingdom ruins that she remembered.

Despite the unclear memories in her mind, Saint Karina was able to find the right path by following her inertia.

Of course, the journey underwater is so long that she could never walk on foot alone. The most common mode of transportation underwater is the seahorse, which is larger than a human body and has reins and saddles, much like horses in the human world. In a sense, it is a horse specially designed for the underwater world.

The Royal Palace of Ilparaiso has a special area for training seahorses. The manager selected a gentle and fast seahorse for her, so that no one who rides it has to worry about being thrown off.

Saint Karina also had some fragmented memories of riding seahorses, when she and Ernest VII rode together to explore the forbidden depths of the ocean.

Once you step onto the seahorse, you'll know how to ride it.

Human instincts are not lost due to memory loss, and neither are acquired skills.

With transportation, travel time was greatly reduced. Leaving the concentric circle structure of the city-state of Ilparaiso, the surrounding scenery appeared dark and chaotic. Although some bioluminescent sea creatures along the way provided some light sources to prevent the visibility from becoming too dim, lighting still required personal effort.

Fortunately, the ever-burning lamp in her hand could dispel the darkness, so Saint Karina wasn't too worried.

Some evil spirits and vengeful spirits lurking in the depths of the trench will approach people when there is no light source in their hands. They will gradually break down people's defenses and willpower through mind infiltration, leading them astray into the abyss, where they will eventually be devoured or transformed into a soulless monster, also known as a sea monster.

Saint Karina is not afraid of those things because of her special constitution; they all have to avoid her when they see her.

Directly ahead lies a dark underwater forest, the plants' shapes and structures differing from those on land; the trunks resemble giant plant roots, entirely transparent.

The leaves are broad, each one far exceeding the size of terrestrial plants, with a length of over a meter and a width of tens of centimeters. They are also crystal clear, like ice crystals.

The dark seabed was beautifully illuminated by these strange plants. It seemed that she and Ernest VII had been here before, and the innocent girl danced gracefully in the forest, more radiant than the beautiful sea creatures on the altar.

"The Forest of Fluorescent Light..."

She stared at the forest in silence for a long time before suddenly remembering that she hadn't gone out to admire the scenery, but to hurry to the underwater throne ruins of the Kingdom of Tico to find clues to restore her power.

Years ago, she planted a magical seed named Ji Longyue. During its germination stage, Saint Karina nurtured it with her own magic. If this flower has grown up now, she should be able to directly absorb it as her own energy.

"rustle."

"Click."

This is the sound of going deeper into the ruins. The seahorse refused to go any further outside, so we'll have to walk from here on.

To find out the reason why this happened, we need to investigate further.

Walking alone in an open space is a scary thing; you have to be highly alert to avoid making a mistake.

"clang."

Just as Saint Karina was delving deeper into the ruins, following her memories to the place where she had planted the seed, something struck the protective shield formed by the trident of Poseidon.

The sound was exceptionally crisp, causing ripples to spread across the entire protective shield.

"what?"

Saint Karina became alert and immediately looked in the direction from which the attack was coming.

It was a huge, bizarre, pink, enchanting flower.

It resembled a succulent plant magnified hundreds of times, plump and fleshy. The petals that should have been full looked like a cannibalistic flower that ate human flesh, with eerie blood-red patterns flowing across them.

Its size was at least as big as a dump truck. Beneath the pink demon flower were roots thicker than sewer pipes, the ends of which were deeply embedded in the soil. Their length was indiscernible, but their width was at least half a meter.

Not only that, perhaps because it lives in the deep sea and often hunts prey, the surface of its rhizome is covered with terrifying sharp thorns, the tips of which are black and most likely contain toxins.

At this moment, Saint Karina was grateful for her caution and the protective shield of the Trident of Poseidon. Otherwise, even if she hadn't been caught in the roots, a mere touch would have likely turned her into fertilizer, given her current strength.

"You actually attacked me?"

Saint Karina was furious when the flower she had raised tried to eat her instead, and she laughed in exasperation.

"Water cannons!"

The reason she has been able to wield the Trident of Poseidon for so long is not because of her face, but because the Mermaid Queen charged the Trident of Poseidon when she gave it to her.

It can be used for a whole day, but you must be careful about the number of times you cast the spell, otherwise you will not be able to activate it again once the internal energy is exhausted.

"Whizzing."

Several jets of water, thicker than the hoses of a high-pressure water gun used in firefighting, were thrown directly at the pink fairy flower.

However, the Trident of Poseidon, which was like a divine weapon, failed to pierce the demonic flower for the first time. Instead, it was blocked by the strange blood-red light membrane on its petals.

The barrage of shots, aside from depleting the energy within the Trident of the Sea God, left Ji Longyue, the demonic flower, completely unharmed.

44. Heroine paired with beauty

Before Saint Karina could attack again, a strange pink gas, resembling pollen, spewed from the flower's core.

"Om."

The gas was blocked by the protective shield, but more severe fluctuations were clearly visible.

Immediately, Ji Longyue's roots burst forth from the ground, about a dozen of them working together to smash into the protective shield.

“Squeak… squeak…”

Drops of corrosive liquid fell to the ground, creating uneven, deep pits.

Saint Karina frowned. Letting the enemy bombard the protective shield was definitely not an option, and she didn't have the advantage in a protracted battle either.

After some thought, Saint Karina finally decided to let Ji Longyue eat her directly and then refine her from within.

"Click."

The protective shield shattered instantly, and Saint Karina used most of the energy from the Trident of Poseidon to form a water film covering her body.

The demonic flower was ultimately a plant, lacking any consciousness, and swallowed Saint Karina whole.

Without wasting any time, Saint Karina used the remaining energy of the Trident of Poseidon to form a transformation array and began refining it directly.

Time ticked by in the harsh conditions, and three hours passed in the waiting.

Finally, the closed flower bud, as if it had swallowed something dirty, suddenly began to tremble violently, its petals tearing apart like pages of paper.

"Sizzle sizzle".

The waves scattered like celestial maidens scattering flowers, then, with the waves, they formed a whirlpool that suddenly exploded.

When the explosions subsided and the petals scattered, the figures inside were finally revealed.

She was an ethereal beauty, with long pink hair, pink eyes, and skin as smooth as cream and as white as snow. Her skin even emitted a faint glow in the pitch-black depths of the sea.

Her facial features bear a resemblance to Saint Karina's previous white hair and blue eyes; if one did not know her identity beforehand, it would be difficult to connect the two people as one person.

"cough."

Santa Karina's throat was sweet, but she coughed up some blood.