Chapter 76
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
You can buy coins here to unlock advanced chapters: https://gravitytales.com/coins-purchase-page/
Chapter 76: Are We Currently in the Phase of Receding Seas?
The shell of the world—the Crystal Walls—was an invisible barrier; it acted like the transparent outer layer of a soap bubble, separating the orderly world from the chaotic "universe."
It was now slowly closing and sealing under the drive of "world magic."
Once the magic was activated, it became a long-term, automatic process that didn’t require the caster to do anything.
Therefore, the world will of Miss Themis could continue to chat casually with the "Deposed Noble."
【You… you are not the Deposed Noble at all! You are terrible! Clearly just like me, yet you pretend to be…】
“Oh dear, who I am doesn’t really matter. Everyone has had moments where they dress up in a disguise, putting on a ‘personality mask’ to slip into their sisters’ homes for some fun.”
“Compared to that, Themis trying to destroy the ‘ladies’ agreement’ between the sisters, locking up the great ‘Savior’ in her home for her own enjoyment, is truly terrible.”
【You… what are you talking about!?】
【I… I know nothing! Hmph!】
System Lady… no, Miss Themis stuttered in her responses.
“…”
However, she did not receive any affirmation or rebuttal from "Arachne," only a moment of amused silence.
【Don’t doubt me! I am telling the truth.】
【I tightened the Crystal Walls just to protect myself!】
【Cutting off the main pathways means those with divine ranks can no longer enter!】
【Then I will be safe!】
“Hmm-hmm-hmm~”
Deposed Noble laughed with amusement.
Even when facing the great will of the world, she spoke in a teasing tone, “Oh dear, then I’ll take your word as the truth.”
【Right! Right!】
【Let me tell you! That guy is not a ‘Savior’ at all; he is just someone with poor eyesight and a messed-up view of the world.】
【Everything he does is pure luck! He’s just getting by on chance to save the world!】
【I can’t be sure he’ll stay lucky outside my territory.】
【And your territory, though close to mine, is too ‘sick,’ so he’ll face many dangers there and die horribly!】
“Hmm-hmm-hmm, Miss Themis is so cute; do you care that much for him?”
【Huh!? What are you saying! I don’t care about that unreliable, self-righteous…】
“Oh dear~”
Deposed Noble Arachne playfully cut off the esteemed "world will."
“Sweet, bubbly Themis, don’t you see?”
“Your attitude toward the Giant God isn’t like a great will caring for all life and the whole Crystal Walls.”
“Instead, you seem like a girl scared of losing something, stuck in a tough spot.”
【You… you… what were you talking about!?】
【Were you saying this young lady likes that self-righteous guy!?】
System Lady hastily denied it, not even noticing the sudden change in Deposed Noble’s tone!
“……”
“I never said that, dear little Themis, hee-hee~”
【Ah—!】
System Lady… Miss Themis seemed to suddenly realize she’d given something away, letting out a scream like a marmot.
“Alright, I’ll stop teasing little Themis now.”
Deposed Noble Arachne spoke again.
Her tone held a condescending edge, like an upperclassman teasing an underclassman, chuckling to herself as she watched the younger one blush and squirm.
But soon, Arachne’s tone turned serious once more.
“Little Themis.”
“Here’s some advice: quit playing clever games.”
“They’ve grown to this point, foiling chaos’s undefeated ‘Time of the End,’ saving an entire world. If you claim it’s all luck and twisted perspective…”
“Themis, you’ve gotten bold while I wasn’t looking. Taking me for a fool?”
“But then again, if they truly got this far by luck and warped views, as you say…”
“That’d be even more amazing!”
“It just proves they’re ‘loved’ by the whole Crystal Walls universe.”
“No matter what—chaos’s cruelty or your ‘affection’—nothing can bind them!”
【Who’s ‘in love’!? With whom!?】
Themis snapped furiously, like a kitten whose tail got stepped on.
“Well, time’s almost up.”
“This disguise has served its purpose. Farewell, my dear friend, adorable little Themis~”
“One last warning: you can’t keep them locked away!”
With that…
“Whoosh…”
Golden sparks drifted from Arachne’s gray robe, flying beyond the Bubble World “Themis.”
As for Arachne herself…
“Swish—!”
An empty robe floated to the ground, swept into the sea by the currents.
【Honestly.】
【That infuriating woman!】
【I won’t share my treasures…】
Unfortunately, Miss Themis’s daydreaming was only halfway through…
“Boom—Boom—Boom—!”
A loud sound came!
This time, even though the noise was earth-shattering, it seemed only Miss Themis herself noticed it!
【This sound was really coming from the Crystal Walls!?】
【Is it digging into the Crystal Walls!?】
【That heartless thing! Is it really leaving!?】
—-
In fact, whether Gimmerly completed the impeachment of Wabla to take over as the new Commander, or the System Lady launched world magic and talked to Arachne, it was already a week after the "failed Time of the End."
Trilobite had finished assessing his surroundings and evolving just before this.
“I figured the time around me was a wasteland after a Mass Extinction.”
“I didn’t know the other reasons for this great catastrophe, but there was one very important factor—sea retreat.”
Sea retreat was when the sea level dropped fast over a short geological time, exposing lots of land and badly harming the shallow sea ecosystem.
Terms like the End Ordovician Mass Extinction and the Late Devonian Mass Extinction came to mind.
Trilobite felt the current situation was quite similar.
“The sea retreat might not have happened long ago, so it was still damp there.”
“When the ocean receded, low-lying areas filled with seawater, while higher ground became drier. If it was on a plain, it created a special landscape of lakes and swamps stretching for miles!”
This kind of landscape wasn’t seen in Trilobite’s past life.
Even human history had never witnessed it.
However, some older folks might recall that before 1949, when water facilities weren’t good, after rivers flooded, the miles of water puddles and muddy ground called "flood zones" might have been a weaker version of this landscape.
Because sea retreat was a repeating thing, this landscape might last a long time, even creating a unique ecosystem that adapted to it.
“The lake I was in, though it was a lake with no ocean nearby, most creatures were ocean leftovers, so it was likely a ‘saline lake’ made by sea retreat, cut off from the ocean itself.”
“Outside the lake, there were miles of saline mud, with some spots polluted by toxic stuff from the disaster, making it hard to find big plants.”
“But other places became lush because of the mud.”
“By then, vascular bundle plants should have appeared!?”
“Maybe there were giant primitive ferns like banyan trees!”
“In the shallow water of the mud, there were likely lots of algae, plant roots, and early ferns like reeds growing.”
“Many microorganisms thrived there; perhaps even bigger ones!”
“Further on, there might be richer lakes!”
“There must have been many tasty things!”
Though evolution’s driver was adaptability, in Trilobite, it showed as appetite.
Facing growing Hunger, to boost his hunting speed, food choices, and hunting grounds, Trilobite made big changes to his body!
Even his species changed!
