Chapter 952 - Dissecting the Demigod (Patreon)

Due to the presence of that water and the nature of the Demigod's body, teleporting it outside is difficult even if the lion is dead. Demigods also seem to have something akin to the natural barrier people with the system have.

The natural barrier helps with many things and grows more powerful as you level, though leveling up strengthens it very little. The biggest leaps in its power come with body upgrades and with titles such as Champion or Absolute, or even their candidates.

Without it, someone with [Telekinesis] would be able to just reach inside of you and squeeze your brain to mush, or move you around with said [Telekinesis].

Of course, it is possible to brute force past that passive natural barrier, and almost everyone does things to add on top of it to make it more resilient. The higher up you get, the more aware you have to become of such attacks and look out for them.

Overall, it is a very simple yet elegant solution, and I read up on it a bit in the guild library. Some people in these books and papers wonder why we even have natural barriers. Most think it is due to balance and to stop such attacks as [Telekinesis], but many people, much like myself, think the system would not care at all.

It is possible that it is just a side effect of the system's imprint onto our very being. It would imply that there is something akin to a framework onto which the system installs all traits, passives, and upgrades.

Others say it is more akin to a field that mana hearts generate. Much like how the molten iron core spinning inside of the Earth generates an electromagnetic field that protects us from space radiation.

I even read about someone saying the main intention is to mark us as belonging to the system, and either fully cut us off or make it more difficult for us to gain any powers outside of the system in order to make us reliant on it.

Either of the options makes sense, but even if it is difficult due to the nature of the Demigod, I can break through with a combination of black mana and a Scalar Beacon.

Scalar Beacons work in a way that entirely ignores the need for a direct connection. Where placing a mark or tether leaves something akin to an invisible, imperceptible line towards you or another mark, the Scalar Beacon looks down on that rule entirely.

If you have the coordinates to a beacon, it almost entirely ignores anything in the way that would stop you from teleporting to it. This is, of course, assuming it is still stable and that something does not interrupt your teleportation attempt.

The drawback is the difficulty and the required time to prepare, as placing it down takes much longer than a normal mark.

A few days ago, I used the array I had left down there to stop the water from suppressing me and placed that mark on the Demigod using black mana. Now, I am using that same black mana to move the Demigod out, and as much as I dislike relying on it, sometimes it is just too useful not to use, exactly as in this case.

While Lily keeps an eye on me, I concentrate deeply and run multiple triggers, letting my passives deal with a huge part of the strain so I can focus entirely on the teleportation. With my current mana, the scaling on some of these passives is ridiculous.

And in the end, the entire process isn't even as straining as I would have expected. I wouldn't call it simple, but it isn't too difficult.

I don't have to push myself to the brink, I don't have to use all my mana, nothing goes wrong, and Lily doesn't even need to heal me. I just push through it all, and a few minutes later, in a massive spray of the water that was covering its body, the Demigod appears on the surface, crashing heavily onto the ground just in front of me.

Without the water absorbing some of that body essence to act as an insulator, the energy is much more piercing and directional. This is even if it lacks that overwhelming feeling from the ever-present water.

But even so, Lily and I are prepared, and we activate our upper arcane shielding pendants made specifically for similar situations. Their effectiveness isn't perfect, but it doesn't need to be, as each of us has twenty or so of them. If they break in a few minutes or in an hour, we will just use another one. Yet, each of us also has a low pristine version.

All of that is meant to allow us to concentrate on the next steps, and to help us resist a presence comparable to a dead Absolute.

Lily already holds a big axe with an edge on only one side that I created. There is also a short sword, a saw, and multiple other items. All of them are made of black mana, meaning they will drain all the mana Lily has, and she will have to rely purely on the physical power of her body.

With even less hesitation than I feel, she steps ahead and swings the axe, cutting deep into the huge lion's neck to start to separate the head from the body.

Under the body, there is a sheet placed over a big area and angled on a slope so all the blood drains into the tanks we buried in the ground. Nearby are many huge containers made from green metal, which also possess shielding properties. We thought plenty ahead and came prepared.

I search my memory, bringing up a schematic that details how we'll be dismantling the lion. I then let out a sigh, moving to the back part of the Demigod to search for the reproductive organs for the Doc.

Due to the sheer size of the body, it takes much longer than expected. I knew the body would be tough, and even though its nature doesn't affect the black mana that much, or actually very little by now, the process still takes us two days of working nonstop.

We closely follow the schematic I had Talon commission from a guild specializing in this exact kind of dismantling, designed to harvest every ounce of value from the body.

Having prior experience with lions and monsters of this size, the schematic also showed which bones would be better to cut and which would keep the most value at their untouched size, along with other similar details.

I am sure we made a few mistakes, but I won't have any sleepless nights because of that. As for the biggest parts, we don't have a container for them. Instead, they are now rolled up in sheets of shielding material that is akin to a combination of durable aluminum foil and thick textile.

Now, Lily and I stand there, completely covered in blood, pieces of flesh, and things I would rather not think about, while what used to be a Demigod lies packed all around us. Only now, after we have stopped, does most of that reality finally hit me.

I have to wonder. If I were to get killed in the future, would someone spend a similar amount of effort to disassemble my body? For my heart, eyes, brain, flesh, and bones?

Due to the brief thought crossing my mind that I would probably do that to a powerful opponent of mine, I realize other people would definitely do it to me, and for a moment a sudden wave of nausea washes over me.

But while I hold myself back, Lily actually does throw up and rushes towards the water we brought here in the water canisters.

While walking towards her, I open the community chat and send a message in a way to avoid being censored by the system.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - movement?

Sset (Hell, group 4) - as expected, but at normal speed.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - got it, thanks.

Confirming that the kaiju has started moving towards us, I close the community chat. Then I tap on Lily's shoulder, and she puts her canister down to look up at me.

Pinching her nose briefly, I then clean my hands and pour water from a smaller canister onto her face to start washing it. I almost cannot see her skin due to the blood she is covered in, but I slowly wash it away while she continues to look up at me.

"I know I promised you the heart, but would you mind if I keep it for a while?" I ask her.

She just looks at me with those big eyes, seemingly not blinking or minding as I pour water over her face.

"Huh?" she mutters.

"The Demigod's heart."

"Oh. OH! Just for a bit, but no changing your mind. And you can't take it to Beyond, I bet that lynthari would steal it."

"Deal." And as a reward, I pour the entirety of the water canister over her head all at once. Just as she is about to say something, she breathes in some of that water, causing her to cough it back out.

Satisfied with my work here, I turn around and start walking away. My senses are brought to their utmost as I fully expect a cowardly attack directed at my innocent person.

Yet it doesn't come at all, and that actually scares me. When I glance back, Lily just stands there with her black hair clinging to her face. Catching my gaze, she gives a smile and waves at me before turning away.

I might have made a mistake, but it is too late now, and my curiosity overwhelms all other thoughts as I reach the cubic metal box that is further covered in sheets of shielding material.

Swiftly, I pull it all to the side and open the huge box to look at what used to be the Demigod's heart. It is the size of an SUV and likely weighs just as much.

It was only with the help of me manifesting my vessels, utilizing the cranes I made out of mana, that we were able to move and deal with some of the bigger parts.

The heart I am looking at still moves slightly. It beats ten or so times per minute, and I suspect that over the coming weeks and months, it will gradually slow down until it stops fully. But hell, it might take years for it to stop moving.

Each of these contractions generates the same feeling of mana rejection, and with the container now open, that spreads for miles in every direction. Unlike the essence in the other body parts, the essence from the heart soaks into everything around it, causing that effect to linger for much longer. It might even stay permanently on certain items that remain near the heart for an extended period of time.

That is even if the heart doesn't beat anymore. The heart will likely generate that effect for decades or hundreds of years longer before it even begins to weaken.

I am actually highly annoyed by not being able to get a correct estimate. I don't speak with much confidence, as most of this is built on suspicions, and I am just not entirely sure even with the information I have gathered. In Beyond, there is no information on any attendee killing a Demigod, or it is very closely guarded. Unfortunately, there is no encyclopedia on dissected Demigods either.

But I think Lily could make the heart beat for longer, especially if she grows some sort of contraption for it. It should then be possible to just place items or materials near the heart in some specialized rooms, and these items would permanently gain effects that reject mana, possibly forming barriers akin to the ones the kaiju used to have.

The number of options and possibilities makes my mind spin, and of course, there are already plenty of items placed near the heart. There are some mana stones, as well as javelins made of incredible quality endurium or other materials. There are also some shields, armor, and much more, all placed there for testing. And if whatever eldritch shit Lily is planning to do takes longer than expected, we might be able to make some really nice shards by selling those items.

This entire operation, pendants, containers, shielding, materials, and things I bought in preparation for my attempt to force evolution, cost me a total of 30 million shards. I do think I will earn much more back, but it still stings a little.

I also think it would be fun searching for the materials that are the most compatible with the rejection effect the heart is generating, but at the same time, I am also curious about what that petite healer is planning.

But for now, I am okay with giving the heart up, and I am trying to enjoy these weeks until the fourth tournament as much as possible, as me and Lily also plan to rejoin the others soon. I don't plan to kill any further kaiju and will leave them to the others so they can do a total sweep of this floor.

After all, once the fourth tournament is over, I will be splitting from group 4 and heading to the 13th floor alone, in order to clear it alone too. Then, I will only be able to see them once in a while when I go to Beyond to hunt Champions on the 5th floor or do Beyond quests.

I close the box containing the heart and then head over to the pile where the less valuable body parts are kept, grabbing some that I begin to drag over to my Mana Tree to feed it. Soon I will go on another round trip to the catboy for more mana water, as well as to deliver his promised body parts, and then put some of the others up for auction or have Talon trade them for pristine items.

There is still plenty to do.

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