Episode 250: Tiamat Is About to Manifest Her Complete Form?
『 "So… that's how it is…" After listening, Fujimaru nodded in sudden realization, his hand unconsciously touching his chin as he fell into deep thought.
Then he clapped his hands sharply, an irrepressible smile blooming on his face.
"It seems… this is a privilege unique to Ereshkigal! That's truly amazing!" he exclaimed sincerely.
To such straightforward and sincere praise…
"Ahem…" Ereshkigal responded with a gentle, soft cough.
Afterward, she proudly crossed her arms over her chest, a triumphant smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Unfortunately… in this tense and perilous situation, this pride didn't last long.
Realizing that the most important task right now was to quickly end the Primordial Mother Tiamat before her, she rapidly returned to a stern posture, raising her weapon to launch a fatal blow:
"Although handling it this way might be a bit of a betrayal of the trust and support King Gilgamesh once gave me, however…"
She then said firmly, her eyes revealing incomparable resolve: "Primordial Mother Tiamat, allow me, the ruler of the Underworld, to end this dispute with my own hands!"
After saying this, Ereshkigal stood proudly before Tiamat, holding her weapon as if to prove her authority, her aura soaring.
For a moment, the weapon in Ereshkigal's hand surged with purple-red light.
The light surged like waves in her hand, as if it were the symbol of her power.
"Hear me, gallu spirits of the Underworld! the spears of rotting flesh and death!"
She shouted, her voice filled with determination and defiance.
Purple-red flames instantly illuminated the towering beams of light behind Ereshkigal, as if the guardians of the Underworld had awakened.
These beams seemed to gain life in an instant, surrounding Tiamat in the blink of an eye.
The encirclement was airtight; it seemed any chance of escape no longer existed.
"Receive the sanction of us who have descended upon the Underworld, intruders!" Ereshkigal's words were resonant, her voice filled with firmness and anger.
Then, she swung her jade arm down violently, and the purple-red crystals condensed from the beams of light fell at her command, slamming heavily into the four corners where Tiamat stood.
Tiamat, facing this sudden attack, seemed to feel immense pain; its cry almost pierced the sky.
"AAAAAAAHHH!" Its roar shook the entire battlefield, causing the surrounding air to tremble.
In this tense moment, Ereshkigal held her weapon firmly, pointing it at her opponent, no trace of fear or hesitation in her eyes, only calm tenacity. 』
『 .....』
〜Dimensional livestream, Chat Room〜
[ Umaru Doma (Himouto): "So amazing." ]
[ Umaru Doma (Himouto): "Wait, how many times have I said that today?" ]
[ Paimon (Genshin Impact): "But it really is amazing, anyway, it's much stronger than anything I've seen, whether it's that Kingu from before, or others, or even right now." ]
[ Gabriel (Gabriel DropOut): "Whatever, if it's amazing, you have to be surprised." ]
[ Keqing (Genshin Impact): "Indeed, fighting for one's own survival is worthy of admiration." ]
[ March 7th (Honkai: Star Rail): "That's right, that's a true warrior." ]
[ Yusuke Godai (Kamen Rider): "This is also fighting to protect other people's smiles." ]
[ .....]
〜One Punch Man World〜
Saitama's house—
Watching this scene, Genos's face couldn't help but turn toward Saitama.
"Sensei… I'm tired of it… This kind of attack, so dazzling it makes people dizzy every time, surely this time, that Underworld goddess will launch an even more exaggerated attack. After all, those lightnings of hers are already comparable to the previous goddess's attack…"
"To be honest, I'm starting to feel unwell…"
Genos said his thoughts in front of Saitama, but…
Saitama could only show a helpless, fake smile…
He still couldn't understand why these attacks were so flashy while his own attacks were just one punch…
No matter how he thought about it… It was all Genos's fault.
Saitama got angrier the more he thought about it, thinking he'd dismantle Genos in the next second…
But, as his beloved disciple, how could Saitama do that to him?
Since Genos said this attack would definitely be stronger than the last one…
Saitama's face slowly revealed a trace of an evil smile.
"If you can't reach the effect of this blow, just commit self-termination and go replace your parts."
Saitama's words suddenly became cold and ruthless. After all…
One can't always be too gentle with one's disciple; one must be serious occasionally. It was definitely not because he had ulterior motives.
Hearing this request from Saitama, Genos seemed to accept it, silently watching the video in front of him.
At this moment, he was admiring Saitama-sensei in his heart…
As expected of Saitama-sensei, surely this kind of attack might be a drizzle in his eyes. If I can't reach this effect, I'm naturally unworthy of being Saitama-sensei's disciple.
The atmosphere… suddenly went quiet, making Saitama very awkward.
Hey… no need to take it so seriously.
Although Saitama wanted to say that, thinking of the noisy and infuriating Genos just now, Saitama decided to torture him a little.
—
『 "Even if it's Tiamat, in the Underworld, she's just an ordinary god…" She said slowly, "In the face of the all-out attack launched by me and the Gallu spirits! She is still a vulnerable existence!" Although she said this, it carried a bit of provocation.
But reality is often crueler than imagination—those purple-red crystals that had once surrounded Tiamat suddenly began to crack one after another.
The black mud attached to Tiamat's body finally fully appeared at this moment.
Upon hearing that series of crisp sounds, even a powerhouse as calm and self-possessed as Ereshkigal could not help but have beads of sweat the size of beans appear on her face, obviously frightened by the current situation.
Never having expected things to turn out like this, Ereshkigal was already very panicked inside, but standing behind her was the person she longed for—Fujimaru Ritsuka.
This thought gave her the reason and courage to keep going.
No matter what… she couldn't retreat now…
"Vul… vul… vul… nerable… is she…" At this moment, she was speaking with a noticeable tremble.
Above the sky, waves of black mud rolled, constantly surging and changing shapes, the pressure they brought upon Ereshkigal making her unable to maintain that calm and serious state from before.
"WAH!" With an exclamation, those constantly rolling and rising black mud actually broke through the defensive line formed by the purple-red crystals and directly wrapped around the unimaginably huge enemy below.
All the attacks Ereshkigal had launched before were reduced to a few remaining crystals still carrying out their strike mission as planned.
BOOM—!
When the last bit of explosion ended, Tiamat, completely covered under the thick black mud and having suffered no damage, appeared even more terrifying and hideous. 』
『 .....』
〜One Punch Man World〜
Watching this scene, Genos was stunned… but soon… he laughed again.
"It seems Sensei must have foreseen this scene, not wanting to make things difficult for his disciple."
Saying this, Genos knelt on one knee in front of Saitama, then clasped his hands together like a loyal warrior.
"Thank you for the test, Sensei. I will definitely be able to become stronger in the future!"
Saitama's face revealed that professional fake smile again…
—
『 At this very moment. Seeing this scene, everyone present fell into an unprecedented state of despair, and for a while, no one found a way to break the deadlock.
After all, they hadn't expected the battle situation to deteriorate to such a terrible point.
What was even more unexpected was that Tiamat would choose to avoid the sharp edge.
Most importantly, the goddess Ereshkigal, who usually guarded the depths of the Underworld alone, didn't actually have much combat experience to refer to.
Initially, she intended to end this dispute in an extremely cool and stylish way and leave a deep and beautiful impression on her beloved.
Sadly, reality often turns out to be harsh and unforgiving, nothing like what she had imagined.
Caught in a state of confusion, Ereshkigal stood blankly on the spot like a lost soul, looking silly and not knowing what to do next.
"The Chaos Tide is starting to erode! This is terrible! If it continues like this… the entire Underworld will likely fall into the hands of the enemy!" Accompanied by the anxious voice of Dr. Romani, people finally understood Tiamat's true purpose.
However, the only person who seemed to have completely collapsed and lost her mind at this moment was Ereshkigal. She hugged her weapon tightly, not daring to relax her vigilance, her face pale as paper, filled with helplessness and panic, completely losing her sense of direction.
The scene at this very moment could be said to be very scorching.
"The Chaos Tide is eroding the land of the Underworld. If this continues… the situation is really very bad! If we let this situation continue, eventually even the entire Underworld will be occupied by her!"
In this tense and critical moment, Dr. Romani and Fujimaru Ritsuka seemed to finally show the posture that the masters of the Underworld should have, explaining the terrifying scene happening in the Underworld to everyone.
And among all the speakers who were listening silently, the most eye-catching was Ereshkigal, who instantly turned pale and trembled all over upon hearing this.
"W…what! What on earth is happening! Tell me quickly, what is the situation now?! How could I not have noticed this happening at all?!"
At this moment, the weapon in Ereshkigal's hands was also trembling non-stop with her voice.
On her originally beautiful face, only fear and shock flickered alternately.
Well, seeing this once powerful character looking so disheveled, everyone watching finally reached a consensus: she was undoubtedly the one most likely to hold them back in this battle.
After Romani's rapid and accurate information summary and analysis, although the overall situation had become clearer, it was far from comforting—on the contrary, things were many times worse than expected.
"I didn't expect that even the Underworld couldn't be spared… to think that even this place would be invaded…"
Standing on the side observing the changes in various data and letting out sighs of exclamation was another companion—Da Vinci.
Facing such an unprecedented situation, she appeared both surprised and deeply worried.
Because if even the place known as the most mysterious and profound in the world could be easily controlled and transformed by the opponent, then Tiamat would likely become an invincible and unstoppable opponent.
How to find an effective way to restrain such an enemy became one of the key problems that needed to be solved immediately.
Even the progress made at the cost of countless life-and-death tests and the loss of many comrades could not guarantee a final victory.
"This is not the end… the energy level carried by Tiamat's own spiritual core has completely regressed to the mythical era or even more ancient times… accurately speaking, it should be at the level of the prehistoric dinosaur era…"
Romani added with a slightly urgent and helpless tone. Such words undoubtedly meant that the situation everyone was about to face would become even more severe and complex.
Just after he finished speaking, another Chaldea technical staff member followed up with more specific test reports.
"It has now been ascertained that the relevant activities regarding the plan to stop Tiamat's expansion have all been declared invalid. At the same time, it is monitored that her core part is undergoing multiple continuous reboot programs."
"More importantly… those traces that originally caused serious damage to this area and were scattered everywhere are gradually recovering and disappearing!"
Looking at the rapidly rising energy reading curves on the screen, even Dr. Romani, known for his composure, couldn't help but show a rare look of horror, his eyes trembling slightly.
"Dragon body transformation process complete… the one standing here and about to launch an offensive is the true deity."
On the other side, at the location of Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others, Tiamat, who had been crawling on the ground on all fours, suddenly straightened her body and stood up.
The ordinary horns originally located on the top of her head had quietly turned into huge hook-shaped protrusions covered with sharp, hideous dragon scales.
In addition, compared to her previous appearance, her volume had expanded by more than double.
"AAAAAAAAAAA!!"
Accompanied by this deafening roar, all the witnesses on the scene saw countless gravel falling from the high sky and smashing into the surrounding open areas as if pulled by some strange power.
The land of the Underworld was on the verge of collapse!
Everyone could only stare blankly at the boundless black mud flowing in, their eyes filled with uncontrollable panic and anxiety. Among them, Ereshkigal was so scared that her face turned white; she hugged her head with both hands and shook her head repeatedly, refusing to accept the fact before her eyes.
The Tiamat that appeared before was not even the final complete version…
Compared to the appearance when first seen, transformed from the Creator standing before everyone, now, could be called completely reborn and unrecognizable.
Tiamat's huge, terrifying body and the pressure she emitted made everyone present feel a chill down their spines, unable to control their trembling.
"…"
Romani's almost desperate scream echoed in the space for a long time.
Even though not many people had high expectations for them from the beginning, whenever they saw such shocking scenes, they couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts and sigh repeatedly.
But…
Watching those Heroic Spirits sacrifice their lives one after another, constantly using up their magical power, letting everyone see hope in one desperate situation after another.
As if moved by that heroic spirit, the audience's hope was slowly pinned on them.
Originally thought that after the world-destroying attack by the goddess named Ishtar, there would be a counterattack, but…
The current situation had once again fallen into a desperate situation. After all the Heroic Spirits had sacrificed their lives, they discovered that the Primordial Mother Tiamat… hadn't even used her full strength. 』
『 .....』
〜Naruto World〜
"Is there really no way?"
Uzumaki Naruto looked at the scene before him, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.
He clenched his fists tightly and hit the tree beside him hard. Blood slowly flowed from the tree.
"Is it destined that human history must perish…"
Uzumaki Naruto said, discouragedly.
Jiraiya, on the side, didn't know what to say at this time, so he could only put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and stroke it gently.
For such an existence, even the strongest existence in their world was far behind.
Even the knowledgeable Jiraiya couldn't think of any good way to escape this danger in the face of such absolute power.
So… what they could do was only to firmly believe, believe that they could protect human history, believe that they could achieve final victory.
Only Might Guy on the other side was still constantly training with Rock Lee, to become stronger in the future…
(As expected of the Taijutsu King).
—
( Translator-kun: Naruto was too immersed. He forgot that what he was watching belonged to another world, not his own... )