However... even if he gave up Ascension, it doesn't mean the power of Ascension just disappeared...
The power used to pierce the barrier between worlds, which brought Goki to Terra during his wandering, has already scattered throughout Terra, even more fragmented than the shattered Shikon Jewel.
Clearly, a small part of that power was discovered by the Director.
[third umbilical cord (Part)
A great relic, also known as the Cord of the Eye.
All infant Old Gods possess a nascent form of this umbilical cord.
Every Old God loses its Divine Child, then yearns for a substitute.
The third umbilical cord was involved in the encounter with the Pale Moon, an encounter that summoned the Hunter and constructed the Hunters Dream.
Used to increase Insight, and what people call the Inner Eye, although no one understands the true nature of this item anymore.]
In a narrow, dim room, five emaciated monsters lay sprawled on the ground.
Each of them had a head like a sea anemone, with tentacles thicker than their own withered arms extending from the back of their heads, but all had lost their life and vitality.
"Are, are they all dead...? Phew, what in the world are these things?"
Hidden in a secret room, Muelsyse / Muir Sais's Clone was continuously patting her chest, trying to calm her shaken nerves while looking at the lifeless strange creatures at her feet.
Although she was an Incarnation unafraid of death, when the opponent used its tentacles to stab at her, Muelsyse / Muir Sais felt the threat of death for the first time through her Incarnation.
Even looking at the corpses of these monsters, the feathers at Muelsyse / Muir Sais's hairline couldn't help but tremble a few times.
However, what surprised Muelsyse / Muir Sais was not just these monsters—but the black-haired man standing in front of the storage shelf, staring blankly at a small fossil-like object.
On the monster corpses on the ground, there were various types of wounds that were completely different.
Traces of flame burns, scars from axe chops, flesh torn by serrations, everted skin cut by sharp blade-whips, bullet holes from penetrations, and bodies blasted apart by a large number of shrapnel.
Not long ago, Muelsyse / Muir Sais still believed that Goki, standing before her, was just an ordinary person—whether he was the kind person who cared about Ifrit earlier, or the pervert who dared to spank her just now, he was still within the realm of an ordinary person.
After all, she had also seen Goki sparring with Saria; Goki was completely surpassed by that Vouivre / Wyvern woman in both strength and physical toughness, almost being beaten down.
Even if Muelsyse / Muir Sais herself stepped in, even without much combat experience, relying on her powerful Originium Arts, she could easily subdue him.
But... just now, this man, as if by magic, pulled out all sorts of strange and ancient weapons from who knows where.
With skills like a dance, he slaughtered all the monsters before him, efficiently and mercilessly.
These silver-white monsters were very strong; Muelsyse / Muir Sais's Incarnation was completely unable to break free, but Goki could easily penetrate their tough skin with his burning arm, directly destroying their internal organs.
This combat experience even far surpassed Saria, the strongest fighter in Rhine Lab—after all, the latter didn't have as much real combat experience.
And facing these monsters that defied scientific understanding, making Muelsyse / Muir Sais tremble uncontrollably, monsters that belonged more in a horror movie than reality, this man named Goki showed not a single trace of fear.
Even, while slaughtering these monsters, Muelsyse / Muir Sais found a hint of excitement and joy on Goki's face—he seemed to feel joy from butchering these monsters.
It seemed that Goki was the natural enemy of these monsters.
Muelsyse / Muir Sais had been assassinated by many people and faced many of the most professional assassins; they were all cold and decisive, killing her Clone in a single strike, but Muelsyse / Muir Sais had never thought highly of them.
But for some reason, facing Goki, Muelsyse / Muir Sais felt that when she uncovered one secret about him, even more unknowns would be exposed.
Muelsyse / Muir Sais was extremely curious about Goki—this man was very interesting!
"Hunters like to call them Mind-suckers, monsters that drain the will and Soul of others—if you get hit by one, you'll most likely become an imbecile."
Goki didn't turn around. Instead, he held a Mind-sucker's corpse in his hand, observing it carefully, while looking at the small, strictly sealed segment of umbilical cord.
Even after killing these Mind-suckers, Goki immediately gained nearly ten thousand blood echoes, more than he had gotten from killing a boss before, yet his expression remained solemn.
"Our Madam Director is truly an extraordinary person—I now understand why the Kazimierz exploration team suffered brain damage."
The Mind-suckers in Goki's hand were not parasitic Yharnamites, but uniformly Kurantas, with already deformed horse ears.
Based on his years of hunting experience, Goki deduced that these people, infested by Mind-suckers, had probably been dead for hundreds of years.
And judging by their race, these things were brought out of a certain ruin in Kazimierz—no wonder those expedition members were recorded as becoming imbeciles; so it was the Mind-suckers that sucked their brains out!
And it seemed that the Director had indeed discovered something extraordinary and intended to do something extraordinary.
"Muelsyse / Muir Sais, listen carefully to what the Director says. I need to... make a call."
Looking at the small, dried segment of umbilical cord before him, Goki took out his phone, no longer considering whether others might intercept his signal, and directly dialed Kaltsit's number.
The next second, the call was answered immediately, and Kaltsit's icy voice came through.
"Goki... it seems what you've discovered requires our direct intervention?"
And looking at the half-segment of umbilical cord before him, emanating a familiar aura, Goki sighed.
"Yes, bring Skadi. We'll begin our operation—but before that, you need to ensure you're not hiding anything else from me. I saw your name in the files."
Initially, Goki only intended to look for some information about gods here to help Kaltsit stop the Ifrit Project, which was merely a side task.
But now it seemed... their two goals had become one.
Rhine Lab—was the enemy of both Goki and Kaltsit.
What the Director wanted to do might be good, or it might be bad, but no matter what, Goki had to stop her!
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